Shinobi Isekai!

Stale Vengeance

The border between the nations of Wind and Fire was not as extreme as the harsh lines on their map made it seem. As easy as it was to imagine a wall of trees cutting off sharply before a vast sea of sand, that wasn't realistic. Instead, there was a patchy grassland speckled with cacti and the occasional tree. The border station was made from adobe like most Wind buildings, but it was built and furnished in the Fire style. Kankuro sat at the high table, his puppet propped up against its side, and drummed his fingers on the wood.

"What's taking them so long?" He griped, not for the first time. His sister, Temari, shot a half-hearted glare his way, but didn't say anything.

She was getting tired of waiting, too.

The Leaf ninja were scheduled to arrive at the border station the day before, and it was already nearing mid-morning. Lord Sankaku, a civilian noble, had begun pacing the floor beside the main door, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. The Leaf ninja were supposed to be escorting his young new wife, if Kankuro remembered correctly, so his anxiety was well founded, if a little annoying.

Still, it was only one day. Things could happen while traveling. The weather could change, wheels could break, things like that.

At least, that's what Baki was saying to Sankaku.

Kankuro was just about to start a round of insults with Temari when the door opened, revealing—

Oh, gods. What was he wearing?

Torn between the urges to laugh and vomit, Kankuro shared a glance with Temari. Good, she felt the same way.

"Greetings!" The green clad ninja said with a wide smile. "I apologize for our tardiness; we had some trouble with the carriage."

Sankaku seemed at once relieved and repulsed, but his voice was even when he asked after his wife.

"Ah! Young Watanabe-hime! Have no fear, she is perfectly well. Young Hanako has stayed vigilantly by her side for the whole of our journey!" Kankuro looked past the green monstrosity to the doorway and—

Oh, gods, there were two of them!

He watched, transfixed, as a shrunken version of the Leaf jounin stepped into the border station, thick eyebrows scrunched as he spoke to someone else. Kankuro eagerly looked to the strange genin's companion, grateful for the chance to rest his eyes. The other kid was a Hyuuga—or, what he assumed was a Hyuuga—with pale, pupiless eyes taking in the building interior with a deadpan expression. They were pretty, and Kankuro struggled to figure out their gender for a solid minute before they met his gaze and held it.

"What do you want?"

Ah, a dude, then. Lame.

Kankuro let a crooked smirk stretch across his face. "Nothing. Just never seen one of you in person, is all."

The Hyuuga bristled, upper lip curling, but didn't reply. His teammate had drawn him into an impassioned, if one sided, discussion about...something. It was hard to tell beyond the wild gesticulations and changes in tone. They vacated the doorway as even more people entered behind them.

Sankaku's anxious expression melted into relief as a young woman stepped into the room, long hair and a many layered kimono marking her as the lord's new bride. She was cute, with a pretty flush on her face as she looked up at her new husband, and Kankuro took the opportunity to look her over. It wasn't everyday he got to see a foreign noblewoman, after all. They dressed so differently from the women of Wind country, showing way more skin and—

Limpid black eyes bored back into his, irises so dark it was like they absorbed the light around them. The genin team's kunoichi wore the most unimpressed expression he had ever seen—Temari's included—over a dark mask which covered her face from the bridge of her nose down. He leered back instinctively, his smile growing as she made a show of looking him up and down. Her straight eyebrows quirked up as she scoffed, dismissing him in one fell swoop.