A Visitor

At the edge of Otogakure, in the fields near the village outskirts, three youths with red, white, and orange hair were working hard on the surface of a flooded rice paddy.

The three took rice seedlings one by one from their carrying baskets and planted them in the field. As far as the eye could see, the field was almost completely filled with green shoots.

"Hey, Suigetsu! Stop slacking off! The rows are all crooked. Keep it up and I'll dock your pay!"

At the edge of the paddy, Dōmeki reclined on a black magnetic cloud, engrossed in a novel. But whenever anyone dared slack off, a pebble struck them squarely behind the knee, sending them headfirst into the muddy water.

"The past two days, we've been picking up trash and hunting, and now we have to plant rice! Why are we doing this stuff? I'm a ninja, damn it!"

Covered head to toe in muddy water, Hozuki Suigetsu slammed the rice seedlings onto the ground and glared at the leisurely supervisor. Even so, he habitually fired a Water Gun at the red-haired youth.

Dōmeki didn't even lift an eyelid. A small piece quickly split off from the magnetic cloud beneath him and formed a shield to block the Water Gun. Then another pebble shot out and knocked the irritable white-haired boy into the muddy water.

"Hmph. Picking up trash, catching cats, and farming are all in a day's work for a Genin!"

Dōmeki sneered, tucked his novel into his pocket, and drawled, "A guy who can't even farm properly has the nerve to say he'll kill me? No wonder Mangetsu was always saying he had a stupid younger brother!"

"Genin? You're still a Genin yourself, and I've never seen you do any of that! Besides, you could've become a Jonin ages ago, but you won't-"

Suigetsu shouted, only to be knocked down by another pebble.

"Idiot, I used to be an expert at picking up trash. Besides, the title of Genin carries great luck. Which of the Shinobi World's powerhouses goes around with a title like Jonin?"

Dōmeki paid him no mind.

"That's right, Suigetsu's an idiot!" Karin wiped the sweat from her forehead and gave her teammate, who was floundering in the muddy water, a sidelong glance.

"All right!"

The levelheaded Jūgo stepped in to smooth things over and pulled Suigetsu up. Unlike his two teammates, the tireless, uncomplaining Jūgo didn't have a speck of dirt on him.

"That guy's been slacking off the whole time, but he pockets all the reward money from our missions. He's probably saving it up to lose to that big-breasted old woman again!" Suigetsu grumbled indignantly.

"Heh, heh, heh! I work hard taking you all through your training every day, so I'll take the money as compensation!"

Dōmeki jumped down in front of Suigetsu. His foot touched the water's surface without causing so much as a ripple.

He kicked the basket off the ground and released water-attribute Chakra from his foot. Clumps of clear water rose into the air, carrying the rice seedlings with them. With a wave of Dōmeki's hand, the seedlings flew out like Kunai, forming a straight row across the paddy.

"Big Brother Shun, that was amazing!" Karin exclaimed, her eyes shining.

"What's the big deal? I can do that too!"

Hozuki Suigetsu looked thoroughly unconvinced. He gathered water-attribute Chakra at his foot and kicked hard.

"Splash!"

Sheets of muddy water, along with rice seedlings and flecks of mud, flew into the air from Hozuki Suigetsu's kick. Then they fell like rain, drenching him from head to toe.

Green shoots swaying in the breeze on his head, Suigetsu looked miserably at Dōmeki, who had a black cloud hovering over him to block the muddy water. "Why did that happen?"

"Your Chakra control is too weak. Keep working hard, kid!" Dōmeki said helplessly.

"Big Brother Shun, I'm getting a little tired of this too. Could you let us follow Haku and Senior Kimimaro's example and go on missions outside?"

Karin, who had also been shielded from the muddy water by Dōmeki's Magnet Release, came to his side and asked cautiously.

Dōmeki looked at Jūgo, who seemed interested too, and thought for a moment before saying to the three of them, "There might be a chance in a little while. When the time comes, we can all go together-"

Before Dōmeki could finish, his body vanished in a puff of smoke.

"It was a Shadow Clone! I should have known!" Karin sighed helplessly. "How could a training maniac like Big Brother have time to guide us on missions?"

"That's so half-assed!" Suigetsu's face turned red with anger. "Doesn't that mean I can't even measure up to his Shadow Clone?!"

"What I'm more concerned about is the opportunity Lord Shun mentioned. What was it?"

At Jūgo's words, the three immediately looked at one another.

In a secret room, Dōmeki, half his body already turned to stone, slowly opened his eyes only after the Sage's Blade drew the natural energy out of him.

It always feels like something's missing. Dōmeki pondered whether asking Orochimaru for a trip to Ryūchi Cave to learn its Sage Mode might help. And that technique...

As Dōmeki was lost in thought, Xiaobai crawled out of his sleeve and delivered an order from Orochimaru. Tied up with an experiment, Orochimaru wanted the youth to receive a guest in his place for the time being.

"A guest?"

Dōmeki thought for a moment, then vanished from the secret room in an instant.

In a forest not far from Otogakure, a ninja dressed as a Konoha Anbu was looking around warily.

Suddenly, rustling sounded from all around, as though countless snakes were converging on the area.

A sharp light flashed in the ninja's eyes. "He's here!"

Countless swarms of small snakes surrounded the ninja, then gradually merged into a human shape.

The Anbu ninja spoke in a low voice. "Orochimaru, by Lord Danzo's order-"

Before he could finish, his eyes widened. "You... who are you?"

The human figure formed by the mass of snakes was not Orochimaru, as he had expected, but an unfamiliar, handsome red-haired youth of fourteen or fifteen.

"Danzo? So you're from Root!"

Dōmeki understood. As Orochimaru's close collaborator, it was hardly strange for the legendary Pot Kage Danzo to know the base's location.

"Guest, please don't be nervous! Lord Orochimaru can't get away right now, so he sent me to welcome you!"

Dōmeki gave him a cheerful smile.

The Root ninja drew his standard-issue short sword and pointed it at the youth. "Lord Danzo ordered Orochimaru to receive the letter in person, and also... how dare-"

But before he could finish, the weapon he usually maintained so carefully slipped from his hand of its own accord and floated into the red-haired youth's grasp.

Dōmeki hefted the sharp weapon and spoke somewhat casually.

"Huh? I didn't know Lord Orochimaru had become that old bastard Danzo's subordinate."

"Y-you dare insult Lord Danzo!"

The Root ninja no longer cared about the shock of the youth's technique. Just hearing those words was enough to send him into a rage, and he made Hand Seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball-"

Before he could finish, he found his own short sword resting against his neck.

A moment later, the Root ninja hurried away after leaving Danzo's letter behind, shouting, "I'll be sure to tell Lord Danzo about this!"

"A line straight out of a third-rate villain. Just what you'd expect from someone trained by Danzo!"

Dōmeki picked up the letter and complained silently.