7 First Blood (1/2)

In the Land of Fire, on the road towards the capital, there was a merchant caravan, going towards its destination. It was noon currently, and the sun was hanging on the sky. It had been 6 days since the Yamamoto family started their journey. Takeru and his father were walking behind the caravan talking with each other.

”So you are telling me that you knew I wanted your sword and you kept it sealed inside a scroll?” - asked Takeru incredulously.

”Well, I had to, you know. You were a very active child and ran around the house pretty much all the time. You do not know this but you once cut your hand with a kitchen knife when you were just a year old. I did not want any of such accident to happen again” - replied Toru.

”That is not important. Why did you not tell me that you know fuinjutsu?”

”You want to learn fuinjutsu?”

”Why would not I 'sigh'…Yes, I want to learn fuinjutsu, dad.”

”Well you could have just asked me. You asked me about my sword practices and chakra. I thought you would ask me about it but you did not. So, I thought you had no interest about learning fuinjutsu.”

”I asked you about those because I saw you doing them. I never saw you doing fuinjutsu.”

”You do not 'do' fuinjutsu, son. You either create fuinjutsu seals or use already created seals. It is an art form of sorts.”

”So, can you teach me?” - Takeru asked hopefully.

”Sure, I can do that. But know this, I only know the basics of it. A couple of seals only to be exact. So, if you want to learn more about the subject, you have find a good fuinjutsu teacher.”

”Do not worry about it, dad. I will find one for sure.”

Takeru and Toru chatted along the way. Akane was sleeping inside the carriage. They were at most 2 days away from arriving to the Leaf Village. Their journey was uneventful. Toru made the acquaintance of some guards. They were all simple men struggling to amke a living. He got along pretty well with them. Takeru was behind his father, with his sword hung on his back, keeping a look out. Takeru was practicing his chakra strings and was trying to imbue fire nature in them. It was hard. When he first tried to do so, the whole string glowed up like a burning filament. He hurriedly stopped the flow of chakra, fearing someone might see it. The glowing string completely negated the invisibility of the chakra strings that he worked so hard to achieve. Whenever he tried to minimise the glow by decreasing the chakra output, the strings lost their firepower. Takeru surmised that either it could not be done or he lacked something or did it the wrong way. He thought about it much on the way but could not find a way to make it happen.

The sun was setting on the horizon. The caravan soon stopped beside a small clearing for dinner and rest for the night. Everyone set up their tents, Toru helped unloading the food and utensils. Takeru set up their tent. Soon, the food was being prepared, Akane helped the others preparing the food. Toru and the guards chatted among themselves. Takeru meanwhile maintained his guard. He dispelled the active clones, receiving all the memories. He was going to make 2 clones for lookout when he suddenly stopped. Just before the moment he dispelled his clones, one of them saw a group of forty or so people. Takeru immediately made 4 shadow clones. He ordered 2 of them to stay around the camp and to keep a lookout and sent the other 2 away on the direction of those people his clone spotted. Takeru meanwhile got up and went to his father and sat beside him. He too joined the chat. Soon, the food was ready and all of them started eating. After dinner they went to their tents to sleep. The guards along with Toru took shifts to keep a watch out. Toru was on the second shift. Takeru meanwhile did not sleep. He waited for his clones to send him some information about those people.

”What? Are you not going to sleep?” - asked Toru entering the tent and seeing his son awake.

”No. I think we are going to face problems soon.” - Takeru said seriously.

”What problems?”

”I do not know. I just get this feeling that something is about to...” - Takeru was speaking when suddenly he received memories from his clones back. There were 37 men in the group. Most of them were regular bandits but 5 of them were shinobis, rogue ones most probably. 1 elite jounin, 2 chuunin and 2 genin levels. This complicated things. If they were just regular bandits then Takeru could fight alongside his father and the guards. But with shinobis with them, Takeru had to thin out the numbers or with just him, his father , the 13 guards would never be able to face them. Takeru did not know whether the two hidden shinobis would help them or not. But he could not count on their help. They might just protect the head merchant and their family and escape with them. Takeru hurriedly went out of the tent. Toru seeing his son's sudden change of behaviour also went out.

”Hey, what happened?” - asked Toru in confusion.

”Dad, would you believe me if I told you that I think bandits are going to attack us tonight?”

”Are you sure about this? It could be just because we are out in the woods for such a long time. And it is your first time out of the village.”

”No, I am sure of it.”

”How are you so sure about it?” - Toru asked with a piercing look.

”I do not know how. It is just a feeling. I do not know how to describe it.”

”It is alright. I believe you. I will go warn the other guards about it. You stay with your mother.”

”Huh? You believed me?”

”What is there not to believe? Trust your instincts Takeru. Instincts are one of the greatest asset a warrior can have. My instincts saved me from dying and difficult situations many times. I trust you son and if your guts are telling you that danger is ahead then I am willing to put my trust on that too.” - Toru rubbed Takeru's head a little and went on to warn the other guards. Takeru was stunned. He thought maybe his father would dismiss his warnings as they were completely unfounded. He was happy to know that his father trusted him so much. Takeru swore that he would protect his family no matter what. Takeru dismissed his shadow clones and made 3 other shadow clones. Then ordered 2 of them to keep a look at the camp and pumped the other one full of physical energy and increased its durability, he ordered it to stay beside his mother in his place and to protect her. Takeru went into the forest to the direction of those bandits. He quickly used Transformation Jutsu to transform his appearance into a plain middle aged man with golden blonde hair and a face full of facial hair wearing black ANBU combat gear and a plain white featureless mask. Takeru used his ability to control emotions to dampen his emotions and severely lowered his capacity to feel any intense emotions as he knew that tonight things could get very dirty and he might have to take extreme measures. He then sped towards the bandit group's location, jumping along the trees.