He climbed down from the roof, and with the lightness of a ninja, moved toward the door of her house. He hesitated. He didn't have a plan. He just knew he needed to do this. He knocked on the door, and Nezuko's voice greeted him, without the slightest surprise.
"You can come in."
Akihiro opened the door. Nezuko's house was simple, but cozy. Candles lit the interior, and the air smelled of floral incense. Nezuko was sitting on a tatami mat, a book in her hands. She was perfectly at peace, as always.
"You seem to have something on your mind," she said, her eyes fixed on him.
Akihiro sat in front of her, his posture formal, but his heart pounding. He didn't know how to begin.
"Sensei... I... I need your help," he said, his voice wavering slightly.
"Help?" she repeated, arching an eyebrow. "Akihiro... are you asking me to marry you?"
Akihiro paled, his eyes wide. "What?! N-no! Of course not!"
Nezuko smiled, amused, resting her chin on her hand. "So serious... so pure. I'm too young to get married, you know? And you're my student. How bold."
Akihiro swallowed hard, trying to regain his composure. "It's not that. I... I want to learn Kenjutsu with you."
Nezuko's eyes didn't move, but he saw the surprise for an instant. "Are you sure that's all? A man should be confident when facing a lady."
"Seriously sensei..." Akihiro replied, uncomfortable with the strange look she was giving him. "I want to learn Kenjutsu... and the clan isn't able to help me. So I can only turn to sensei."
Nezuko closed the book with a soft snap, her eyes narrowed. "Kenjutsu, huh? Bold of you to come and ask your sensei for that... and with such a serious tone. It almost sounds like an indecent proposal."
Akihiro blushed, but before he could answer, the door burst open with a bang.
Before Nezuko could respond, the door burst open with a bang. Naruto Uzumaki, the demon of Konoha in genin form, entered the room, panting.
"NEZUKO-SENSEI!" he shouted. "Kakashi-sensei ditched me on my first mission! He said I had to find my team, but I don't know where they are! I'm so confused!"
Naruto stopped and looked at Akihiro. "Oh, it's you. The Byakugan kid. What are you doing here? Your sensei is so cool!"
Nezuko stood up, an expression of pure amusement on her face. She looked at Naruto, then at Akihiro, and let out a genuine laugh. A loud, unrestrained laugh that reverberated through the room and broke the tension.
Akihiro was shocked. He had never seen his sensei laugh like that. She seemed human, not just an enigmatic figure.
"What's so funny, sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing, Naruto," she said, still laughing. "I just found it funny... Two desperate genins looking for a wonderful sensei. So different, yet equally needy."
Akihiro looked at her, confused. "But my request..."
"The mission," she said, a side smile on her face, "is something that cannot be ignored. Now go."
-
The rest of the week was the same monotony as always. Team 69 became Konoha's cleanup crew. They swept streets, cleaned rivers, and helped the elderly cross the street. Every day, Reika and Mika's frustration became more evident.
They were in a dead end, cleaning the street. Mika, bored, used one of her clones to sweep the sidewalk, but the clone, instead of sweeping, started jumping in the dust, raising a cloud of smoke that covered everyone. Sayuri and Akihiro coughed, while Reika, in her fury, threw her broom against a wall.
"This is ridiculous!" Reika shouted, her voice full of hatred. "I can't take it anymore! I'm a ninja! I should be fighting, training to be strong!"
Mika nodded. "Me too! I can't take it anymore! I want real missions! Not these kid things!"
They looked at Nezuko, who was sitting on a barrel, reading her book.
"Nezuko-sensei!" Reika shouted. "We want a real mission! Not this garbage!"
Nezuko closed the book, her eyes fixed on them. She wasn't angry, just calm. "You're not ready. You still act like children."
"We're not children!" Mika protested. "We're genin!"
"You are acting like children~," Sayuri muttered.
"Sayuri is right," Akihiro said, his voice firm. "We're not ready. We can't even work together on a simple mission."
"Then give us a mission that forces us to work together!" Reika shouted. "A mission that has danger!"
Nezuko sighed, with the expression of a person who had had this conversation hundreds of times. "I can't give you missions that are not at your level."
"So, what are we going to do?" Mika asked, her voice full of frustration. "Are we going to spend our whole lives cleaning up Konoha's trash?"
Before Nezuko could answer, a lonely figure approached them. It was an old man. He had a heavy and slow gait, and wore dark glasses. He moved with the uncertainty of a person who could not see, and his cane hit the wall a few times.
"Forgive me," he said, his voice soft, but with a sweetness that seemed strangely forced. "I... I got lost. I was on my way to the mission room to ask for help, but Konoha is so big... And my eyes... they no longer work as they used to."
Sato turned toward Nezuko, but his eyes, hidden by the glasses, seemed to focus on something that wasn't there.
"I need a group to escort me to my village," he said. "It's a long way, and I can't do it alone. It would be a D-level mission, but I would pay well."
Nezuko looked at the old man. She was a Jonin-level ninja, and her senses were sharper than anyone else's there. She felt Sato's chakra, but it was weak, like the light of a candle. It was what was expected of a civilian. But... there was something more. A second pulse, almost imperceptible. Just a reflection, like the flicker of a mirror. She felt he was not blind.
His voice was so gentle, so naive, that anyone's mind would say he was just a lost old man. But his posture was perfect, the way he held the cane was not that of a blind person. It was the posture of a ninja who was on guard.
Nezuko felt the presence of a second person, hidden behind a tree, but their chakra was so weak that she could barely feel it. Sato was not alone. And the mission was not what he said it was.
Akihiro looked at Sayuri, the surprise on his face. They had asked for a mission, and one had appeared out of nowhere. A mission that seemed perfect for Team 69.
"We accept," Sayuri said, before Nezuko could say anything. "We are Team 69, and we are the best for the mission."
Sato smiled, the naive expression still on his face. "Thank you, my young friends. I am grateful. My name is Sato."
Nezuko looked at her genins. They were excited, full of energy. They didn't know that the mission was... She looked at Sato, and a smile of understanding formed on her face. The old man seemed to be having fun.
She nodded. "We accept your mission, Sato-san. We will escort you to your village."
Sato just nodded.