18 Encounter

The sun was getting low on the west horizon. Its red rays illuminating the waves as if petals of roses were floating on them. Takeru was sitting near the bow of the ship seeing the calm waves crashing on the hull. It had been 3 days since Team 9 left the Land of Whirlpools. The ship they were in was a merchant ship. There were many passengers on the large ship. Most of them were merchants, returning from the Land of Whirlpools. There were some were families, three families, as far as Takeru could tell. There were some guards too, average joes, all of them except two. The two people, who Takeru sensed, had substantial amounts of chakra, unaffiliated shinobis most probably. Shikatsu had been training Takeru about the fundamentals of wind release. Takeru practiced regularly and with the help of his shadow clones he was making progress. Biwako had been practicing medical ninjutsu on fishes, she caught during their travel. She had even surpassed Takeru's mother, Akane with her medical skills. Shikatsu was somewhat stable in this journey. He was feeling a little ill but nothing serious as the last time. He practiced wind release sometimes with Takeru and sometimes by himself. Shunsui taught all three of them shinobi skills like deception, espionage, counter espionage, tracking, counter tracking, etc. He told them his experiences about unclassified missions and various adventures. He also told them about his younger days, about his clan history and such. The three genins listened to all of Shunsui's lectures with rapt attention. They memorized the key points and learned from those. They realised that a job of a shinobi was not so bright and beautiful. Shunsui had seen various things in his career. Some were good but most of them were bad. Shunsui described those disgusting and revolting events to his three students. He made them realise that they too, would have to experience them in the future. They would have to make hard decisions on the spot. Sometimes in dire situations they would need to shed their morality and do dirty things to survive or to complete a mission. The moral dilemmas Shunsui faced in his career made them realise that it would be hard, very very hard to face those situations. But if they wanted to survive and overcome the difficulties, they would need to have courage to face those difficulties head on, to laugh in the face of danger. They would need to believe in themselves, believe in their comrades and most importantly believe in their nindo.

Takeru had been sitting near the bow of the ship for quite some time. Soon, the sun went down the horizon and slowly darkness shrouded the sky. Takeru stood up and left for their cabin on the ship. He entered the cabin to see Shikatsu sleeping on his bed, Biwako practicing medical ninjutsu and Shunsui reading something from a small book. "I thought you would stay outside the whole night. Not that I am complaining, the weather is actually quite good." - Shunsui spoke. "Yeah, the weather is nice. What are you reading sensei?" - Takeru asked as he sat down on the ground. "Oh, this? This is my notebook of sorts. I note down important things in it. And no more questions about the notebook, Takeru. Shinobis had to have their secrets, you know" - Shunsui smirked as he closed the book. "Alright, I will not ask about that. Sensei, can I ask you something?" - Takeru asked. "Sure, ask away." - Shunsui put the book inside his backpack and relaxed as he waited for his student's question. Takeru asked, - "How does your sharingan work? In fact how do the dojutsus work? I mean I know that it is a kekkei-genkai of the Uchiha clan just like the Hyuga clan has byakugan. But I do not understand how both functions". Shunsui sat upright a little and explained, - "Well, dojutsus are like elemental kekkei-genkai, in the way that it manifests in the people who belong to the same lineage, family, clan or bloodline as the progenitor of the said kekkei-genkai. Say, let us consider Lord Hokage for an example. His kekkei-genkai is wood release. It is a mixture of earth and water release, which he had inherently. His kekkei-genkai will be passed through his progeny. So, it is possible for another member of the Senju clan to awaken the same kekkei-genkai as Lord Hokage in the future. It is the same with ours too. I had my sharingan awakened when I was 10 years old. Many people from our clan awakened it earlier or later. Some could not awaken it for their entire life. But that does not mean that they do not have the potential to awaken it. They either did not have sufficient stimuli to awaken it or they did not have minimum talent required. It is a bit different for byakugan of the Hyuga clan as they all awaken their byakugan at their birth. They just need to practice enough to make it work. Now, my sharingan works the same way like byakugan as chakra is sent to my eyes directly. It gives me enhanced vision, impeccable memory, it lets me use genjutsu through my eyes.." - Shunsui was explaining as he activated his sharingan, "..it also lets me see the chakra of another person. I can see your cha...Oh my God! What happened to you Takeru? Why do you have so much chakra?" - Shunsui exclaimed. Takeru tried to be as nonchalant as possible. He asked confusedly, - "What about my chakra, sensei?". "You mean, you do not know? You chakra increased at least 10 times more than you had previously. You have 4 times the chakra I have. Are you sure you are not from some offshoot branch of the Senju clan?" - Shunsui asked incredulously. "I know my chakra is increasing but I did not know to what extent. And no, I do not think that I am related to the Senju clan. My father was a samurai in the Land of Iron and my mother is from the Land of Grass." - Takeru answered fully controlling his body language to look as truthful as possible. "This, this is amazing, Takeru. You have not even reached puberty yet. That means your chakra will grow even more in the coming years!" - Shunsui laughed out loud. He was ecstatic at this find. He knew Takeru was genius. But for a clanless kid to have so much chakra in such age is nothing but incredible. 'Hahahaha! See that Tobirama. My students will stomp on yours in the chuunin exams. Then we will see who is the better teacher. Hehehe, fuck that white haired creep, Takeru is far better than that Sarutobi brat' - Shunsui thought gleefully as he imagined Tobirama's disappointed face making sad noises. "Uh, sensei? Sensei, what happened?" - Takeru asked as he saw Shunsui getting lost in his daydreams with a nasty smirk on his face. "Huh?! Oh, nothing. It is nothing. Takeru, listen to me closely. You have a bigger chakra reserve than anyone your age. Even members of prominent clans have less chakra than yours. Now, you have to perfect your chakra control, so you can use ninjutsu with perfection. I will increase your ninjutsu training when we get back to the village. You understand?" - Shunsui said seriously. "Yes, sensei. I understand." - Takeru agreed readily. "Alright, now you practice your wind nature transformation." - Shunsui ordered as he closed his eyes and started napping, while letting out creepy laughter sometimes.

It was dead in the night. Team 9 had their dinner and they went to sleep except for Takeru. He stayed awake to practice wind nature chakra. Shunsui, Biwako and Shikatsu were asleep. It was in midnight that Takeru was done practicing wind nature chakra transformation. He made some progress but it was as slow as practicing earth nature chakra transformation. He, instead took out the book Shibuya had gifted him before their departure from the Hidden Whirlpool Village. He opened the book and read the contents. The book focused on barrier fuinjutsu, its ninjutsu counterparts and creation of seals using chakra only. Takeru was grateful to get such a valuable gift from him. Takeru knew shit about barrier fuinjutsu much less barrier ninjutsu. And he desperately needed instructions on how to use chakra to make seals as using ink and brush was not efficient and totally ineffective in any battle situations. He read the book from the start taking in every piece of knowledge from it. He meticulous in his reading as he did not want to miss anything. Takeru was reading silently when suddenly he felt uncomfortable inside. He looked around to see his teammates asleep. He activated his senses and suddenly noticed three large ships sailing directly towards them. 'Pirates!' - thought Takeru as he put the book inside his inventory, equipped his armor and weapons and hurriedly readied himself. He had just finished readying himself up when Shunsui tapped his shoulder lightly. "Good, you are prepared. Wake your teammates up and tell them to be ready. We are going to have visitors soon. I will go and inform the captain and the guards." - Shunsui whispered as he flickered away. Takeru woke Biwako and Shikatsu up and told them about the situation. They prepared themselves and started a small discussion. They knew that this would be their first live combat experience. Takeru told Shikatsu about the details he could sense about the pirates. There were 283 pirates in total in those 3 three ships. Most of them were average people but 12 of them had chakra. Takeru sensed one pirate, who had nearly jounin level chakra reserves. Shikatsu thought a bit and told his teammates that fighting in their ship would be dangerous as there were regular civilians and families staying inside. He told Takeru to make 4 clones and transform them into their physical appearance. Shunsui came inside the cabin just then and Shikatsu described the rest of his plan to the whole team. Shunsui agreed to the plan as it was good. Shunsui ordered Biwako and Shikatsu to stay in their ship transformed like random civilians. He ordered them to lookout for any pirates who would board their ship and ordered them to neutralize those pirates. He told them to follow his orders strictly. Shunsui would take Takeru to the pirate ships to attack those pirates from behind stealthily. The transformed clones of Takeru would stay inside the cabin as a decoy. They all went out of the cabin and to their own objectives. Shunsui, before he left, made an earth clone to look after Biwako and Shikatsu as a precaution.

Shunsui and Takeru were running across the water towards the pirate ships. Takeru asked, - "Sensei, do we have to...". "We will try to knockout as much pirates as we can. But if things go south, we will have to do things the hard way. Remember Takeru, this is what you signed up for, this is the life of a shinobi. You can not hesitate. Any bit of hesitation could cost not just your life but also mine and your teammates lives too. Focus on the task at hand. We have to quick at it" - Shunsui interrupted Takeru and calmly stated. Takeru stayed silent and as a precaution controlled his emotions. He entered a state, what he named the Battle Mode. His emotions were controlled to an inhuman degree. This was not like the past when he faced those bandits. Takeru had practiced his emotional control ability after that battle and now it had reached an unprecedented level. Takeru became calmer and more composed. His whole focus was on the task. Shunsui and Takeru soon reached the pirate ships and boarded the one of the left by climbing from the back side. The two traversed stealthily and sneaked to the nearest pirate. Shunsui, with his sharingan flaring in the dark, knocked the pirate out by hitting him hard on the back of his head. Takeru quickly placed a pre-made restriction tag on the pirate. Takeru made the tag in such a way that only some other person can remove the tag and the tag would work by sucking the tagged person's chakra. The more the person struggled, the more the restriction would become stronger, sucking even more chakra from the person until he became unconscious. Shunsui saw it and asked Takeru to give him some tags using hand signs. Takeru gave him a bunch of tags. They conversed using hand signs a bit and decided that they would seperate and attack the pirates from two fronts. Takeru was going to leave when Shunsui held him back for a moment to say one last thing to him. He told Takeru incapacitate the pirates and kill only when necessary. Takeru nodded and they both flickered away in the darkness.

Takeru flickered from shadow to shadow as he incapacitated each and every pirate he could find. He put a restriction tag on each of them. Takeru would make clones and transform them into the incapacitated pirates and masquerade around to give the rest of the pirates the sense of normalcy. He could sense Shunsui doing the same thing in the other part of the ship. Takeru had just knocked and tagged another pirate when he sensed a pirate with genin level chakra reserves coming into the hallway. Takeru immediately used his chakra strings to put the pirate into his genjutsu and knocked him out. After he tagged the pirate down, Takeru sensed that Shunsui was also done. The whole pirate ship was cleared. He convened with Shunsui and both of them left one clone each to man the ship. Shunsui and Takeru made 2 earth clones each and sent them to the smaller pirate ship on the right side. Takeru could sense that the main ship was getting close to the merchant ship. And the most powerful pirates were in the main ship. Shunsui and Takeru, both of them went to the largest ship in the middle. They sneaked into the ship and saw that the ship was clamoring with pirates shouting, cursing and laughing around. The ship was just minutes away from reaching the merchant ship. Both of them were just heading off to take out the pirates, when a loud gong sounded off. Immediately all the pirates started rushing towards the main deck. Shunsui and Takeru nodded at each other. They both quickly took out and tagged the pirates nearest to them. They then transformed into the downed pirates and went with the other pirates to the main deck. As the pirates were going towards the deck, Shunsui and Takeru knocked out at least 10 other pirates. They made clones and the clones transformed into the pirates. Shunsui, Takeru and their transformed clones all went to main deck.

All the pirates of the main ship gathered at the main deck. The two shinobi of the leaf and their clones also did the same and stood at the back. The pirate captain or leader was standing in front of the gathered pirates. Takeru and Shunsui conversed with hand signs and simple hand gestures. Soon, the pirate leader started his speech. Takeru sensed the main ship when he found some people, chained and locked at the bottom of the ship. He told Shunsui that there were prisoners in the bottom of the ship. Shunsui also told him that they would have to keep the battle here. Takeru nodded and silently created a shadow clone, behind his back. Shunsui also did the same. Shunsui's clone went down inside the ship to free the prisoners. Takeru's clone on the hand flickered away in the darkness stealthily. Clone Takeru waited at the side of the ship waiting for a signal. The pirate leader was done with his speech and was ordering and shouting at his subordinates. Shunsui, Takeru and their transformed clones followed the orders and took the weapons and readied themselves when Takeru and his clones felt a rush of memories. The smaller pirate ship on the right side was also cleared. All the pirates in that ship were incapacitated and tagged with restriction tags. Takeru nodded at Shunsui as he nodded back. Takeru made a simple hand gesture when clone Takeru sprung into action.

The merchant ship, Team 9 were travelling with on the other hand was clamoring with guards. The captain was shouting at everyone to ready themselves. All the women and children went inside their rooms and stayed there while every able-bodied men stood outside with weapons. The clones of Takeru were also present there. They stood with the other guards and the two unaffiliated shinobis, who were the captain's guards. The transformed Biwako and Shikatsu also stood with other guards to defend the ship. The people of the merchant ship were frightened. The pirate ship was almost near them and they could hear the pirates loud and clear. Suddenly, the shouts of pirates stopped as sounds of fighting, weapons clanging could be heard from that ship. The captain and the guards were confused. Takeru's clones nodded at Biwako and Shikatsu as they understood what was happening.

The moment clone Takeru emerged from the side of the ship, the pirate captain noticed him and attacked immediately by throwing shurikens. Clone Takeru dodged them with ease and flickered to the nearest pirate with substantial chakra and swiftly disabled him by severing his tendons and ligaments with a swipe of chakra scalpel. The hidden transformed clones of Shunsui and Takeru attacked the other nearby pirates at the same time, incapacitating each of them with efficiency and swiftness. With the sudden attacks coming out of nowhere, the panicking pirates were running around like headless chickens. The pirate leaders were trying to calm their subordinates down but they noticed that their own subordinates were fighting each other, so they also joined the fray. Soon, a big fight erupted as the Shunsui, Takeru and their clones fought with the pirates in a confusing and random battle. The pirate captain confronted clone Takeru. Clone Takeru dodged the pirate captain's attacks as he flickered around disabling as many pirate leader as he could. Finally when the surrounding pirates were down, clone Takeru rushed at the pirate captain. The captain was well versed in taijutsu as he could keep up with clone Takeru with relative ease. They suddenly seperated as the pirate captain weaved some hand-seals and a big gust of wind rushed towards clone Takeru. Just as the wind came near clone Takeru, he spat a fireball towards the pirate captain. The fireball with the help of the wind became even bigger and flew towards the pirate captain. The pirate captain dodged the sudden fireball barely as it smashed the ship's port side away. Clone Takeru once again was going to engage the pirate captain when Shunsui came in and told him to dismiss himself. Shunsui faced the pirate captain. Takeru after checking on the rest of the pirates, safely transported the prisoners to the merchant ship with the help of his and Shunsui's clones. He and his clones incapacitated each and every pirate swiftly. Those who could be knocked out were knocked out nicely and those who could not be knocked out were swiftly disabled as their muscles, tendons and ligaments were severed. Takeru for the very thorough in his work as he and the clones tagged each and every pirate, not missing anyone of them. When the last of the prisoners were safely escorted away. Takeru scanned the surroundings with his senses.

Shunsui was standing at the main deck as the pirate captain whose both hands were chopped of, had fallen unconscious. All the pirates were either moaning or groaning in pain and agony. All the still living prisoners were being treated by Biwako and his clones. Shikatsu was searching the ships for anything else. Takeru sighed as the sky was getting brighter and brighter. All the passengers were cheering as the sudden misfortune had passed. Shunsui came near him and patted on his back, - "Good job, Takeru. You kept your calm all the time". "I was doing my job, I had to. What are we going to do with these pirates and those prisoners for that matter?" - asked Takeru. "Do you know how to sail a ship? No, I suppose you do not. We are going to take the pirates, the rescued people and the ships with us. The pirates, well they are mostly illegal traffickers to be exact. And the prisoners were their merchandise. So, now those pirates will get a taste of their own medicine. After we get to the mainland, we will contact the local authorities and they will decide what to do with the pirates and the rescued people" - told Shunsui. "Alright, but what now?" - asked Takeru. "Now, you just sit here and enjoy the sunrise" - Shunsui smiled as he went away. Takeru looked at the east horizon and saw the sun slowly rising above as the darkness slowly dissipated.