The Jinx

As it turned out, Hatake Shudan's potions had become far too notorious in the village. Even Hyuga Hyakusho, who had come around to trusting Shudan, refused to try one. Of course, Shudan had been prepared for this. When he saw that Hyakusho wouldn't test his potion, he didn't press the issue. Instead, he reached into the neatly arranged ninja tools and pulled out a badly damaged mission scroll, then shook it in front of the other three.

"Just as I expected, those Sand ninja were here to destroy the supplies we were transporting and take out the team escorting them. As for the more specific details—like how they learned our route, how many of them came, and whether the risk was worth it so close to Konoha—either they weren't recorded, or the scroll's too damaged to make them out!"

"Shudan,"

Nawaki asked from where he lay on the ground,

"as unbelievable as it sounds, you all made that fight against the chunin look pretty easy. Didn't you want to take him alive? Oh, and I could've spared my opponent too!"

"You're oversimplifying things. Teams like this, the kind that are practically suicide squads, take secrecy very seriously. Genin simply don't have access to anything too important. And even if one of them gets a few scraps of information, it's probably unreliable and could badly distort our conclusions. As for chunin..."

Shudan gave Senju Nawaki a long look.

"When facing a dangerous enemy, don't think about capturing them. Eliminate the threat as quickly as possible. Especially when the enemy is a powerful chunin—if we survive the encounter, we should be thanking our lucky stars. I can tell you for certain that we only managed to grind him down because he was overconfident and we used every trick we had. If we'd given him even the slightest chance to catch his breath, he could've killed us, even with only one breath left in him!"

"So, that's how it is!"

Nawaki looked enlightened.

"Shudan, you sure know a lot!"

Shudan rolled his eyes and ignored Nawaki, whose school lessons had clearly gone in one ear and out the other. He spread out the Sand ninja's spoils across the ground.

"Judging by the ninja tools they brought, I'm even more certain this was a specialized unit tasked with harassing supply lines and hunting us down. They used up a lot of their tools chasing us, but they still had some left.

"Looks like they brought just about everything they owned. Only desperadoes who've staked their lives on this mission would do that. If they complete it and make it back to their village, they'll get a hefty reward. If they fail, they'll die here in Konoha, and everything they left at home will be useless anyway!

"But that works out nicely for us!"

Shudan listed the exact number of tools they'd recovered.

"Not counting the damaged ones, we've got eight kunai, twelve shuriken, twenty senbon, a coil of steel wire rope, four Explosive Tags, a blank Sealing Scroll, forty Ration Pills, and a B-rank area-of-effect ninjutsu scroll: Wind Release: Storm Fang. The chunin must've been learning it, or he wouldn't have brought it along. There's also a small pile of medicine!

"We'll split the kunai, shuriken, senbon, Ration Pills, and Explosive Tags evenly. Water Gate, you learn the ninjutsu first, then pass it to Hyakusho. When we get back to the village, trade it for a Water Release scroll. Don't worry about Nawaki—he's loaded. You can have the steel wire rope too. I'll hold on to the Sealing Scroll and medicine for now!"

When Shudan finished, he tossed the ninja tools to the other three. Nawaki eagerly took his share. But after hearing Shudan list so much, he was puzzled by how little he'd actually received.

"Shudan, you made it sound like they'd brought everything they owned and were fighting with their backs to the wall, but there isn't much loot here!"

"Be grateful for what you got!" Shudan replied.

"Combat destroys ninja tools, and those guys threw tools at us all along the way. More importantly, if they knew they were going to die, why would they leave tools behind for their enemies? They'd burn through everything they had!

"And you wouldn't know the value of things if you didn't have to pay for them. A single Explosive Tag is worth plenty! You searched them too, so you must've noticed your opponent had almost no tools left. Be grateful. If you hadn't searched the bodies, I might've given you just one kunai—and even that would've been generous!"

"Fine!"

There wasn't much, but what Shudan said was true. It fell far short of what Nawaki had expected, but they'd still come away with spoils. More importantly, he'd played a major part in bringing down the chunin. He'd have plenty to brag about when they got back to the village!

"All right!"

Ignoring Nawaki, who was lying on the ground grinning to himself, Shudan spoke once everyone in the squad had finished gathering their things.

"We've already spent quite a while here. While we rested, I used a Ninja Turtle to send the information we had back to the village. It wasn't much use, but it should help the village make a more accurate estimate of how many Sand ninja are involved in this attack.

"That's enough talk. Since everyone's ready, let's keep moving toward the rendezvous point!"

"Understood!"

At his words, all four of them grew serious. They became four dark blurs and vanished into the woods.

"Man, this is boring!"

Not long after the battle with the Sand ninja squad, Nawaki, still fired up from the fight, started complaining as they headed for the rendezvous point.

"When are we going to run into another squad of Sand ninja so I can have a proper fight?"

"A proper fight?"

Hyuga Hyakusho glanced at Nawaki with contempt.

"You call that a proper fight? Without Shudan's potion, the enemy would've killed you. Out of all of us, you're the one who should want to avoid another fight most. Why not just be happy you're alive?"

"Hyakusho, you may be my best friend, but I won't let you insult me!"

Nawaki was furious.

"After that fight, I'm a completely different person from before! I'm not just capable of taking on a genin—I feel like I could face a chunin and not be afraid!"

Thump!

A shadow flashed ahead. A kunai struck a tree, and Shudan spotted the Explosive Tag tied behind it. His eyes shrank to pinpoints.

"Get back!"

Boom!

The massive explosion from the Explosive Tag halted their advance. It also revealed the Sand ninja pursuit squad that had been waiting up ahead. Seeing the undisguised killing intent in the chunin's eyes, Shudan's mouth twitched. He sighed alongside Hyakusho and Water Gate.

"Nawaki, you really are a jinx!"