Winter in the Ninja World ended unusually quickly. Before anyone had even taken off their winter clothes, the Senju Clan's shinobi had started taking on missions.
Senju Kyogawa was still a month shy of five when Senju Butsuma sent him on a mission.
"This is so soon. Kyogawa isn't even five yet, and he's already going on a mission." Senju Hashirama helped Kyogawa arrange his weapons and couldn't help sighing.
"Kyogawa's Taijutsu is already very good. The Senju need fighting strength, not children. This is just a simple escort mission. Our first missions were this kind too, weren't they?" Senju Tobirama explained.
"Haha, don't worry, Big Brother Hashirama. I'm really strong!" Senju Kyogawa said, eager to get started. This was his first official mission as a shinobi.
Since it was a simple escort mission, there shouldn't be any danger to his life. Senju Kyogawa was very curious about shinobi missions.
Since Kyogawa's older brothers all had missions of their own, a young man from the Senju Clan was assigned to help him get used to the job.
When Senju Kyogawa arrived, he realized the young man was the very same patient he had once treated for severe injuries.
At their reunion, Kyogawa learned that the man was called Senju Chenghe. He'd heard that Chenghe had volunteered to come along because it was Kyogawa's first mission.
"Benefactor, don't worry. I'll make sure you get back to the Senju safely!" Senju Chenghe promised with a smile.
"Don't call me benefactor. Just call me Kyogawa. Our mission isn't to escort me, and you don't want to mistake who hired us, Big Brother Chenghe," Senju Kyogawa teased.
Kyogawa's mission was to escort a noblewoman and her son from the Land of Fire to the Land of Lightning to visit relatives. Since their charges were nobles, the Senju had sent several capable shinobi.
Kyogawa and Senju Chenghe headed toward the noble family's group of carriages.
Seeing the enormous procession, Senju Kyogawa couldn't help marveling.
He hadn't expected the noblewoman to bring several carriages of treasures just for a family visit. He'd thought the Senju had overreacted by sending so many shinobi. But when he saw carriage after carriage of jewels, Kyogawa realized it wasn't an exaggeration at all.
As soon as he approached the carriage at the head of the procession, Kyogawa heard a child crying and yelling.
"No! Mother! I want his scroll!"
"Xiao Xi, be good. Don't hold up the shinobi."
A boy of five or six was leaning halfway out of the carriage, clutching a scroll in the hands of a Senju shinobi. The shinobi held onto it with an awkward expression.
Through the carriage window, Kyogawa could see a beautiful woman trying to restrain the boy and talk him down.
A maid stood beside the carriage, watching over the boy and urging him to let go.
Senju Kyogawa came closer and saw that the boy was still shouting and crying, refusing to release his grip.
"Hey, why do you want the ninjutsu scroll?" Senju Kyogawa asked curiously.
The little boy ignored him and continued to cry.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, honored shinobi. Xiao Xi rarely leaves home, and this was his first time seeing shinobi wielding such impressive swords. He couldn't resist trying to snatch the scroll that held the blade. It was terribly rude of him." The noblewoman, dressed in a twelve-layered kimono, bowed slightly in apology.
"Xiao Xi is just fascinated by everything outside," the noblewoman added.
After hearing her explanation, Kyogawa thought for a moment, then turned and picked a few blades of grass and leaves from the nearby meadow. With nimble fingers, he fashioned them into a grasshopper.
"Xiao Xi, look—a grasshopper!" Kyogawa held it out in his palm for the boy to see.
Once the boy's attention was drawn to it, Kyogawa immediately set the grasshopper on the ground and tugged at it. The grasshopper darted forward.
"A grasshopper! The grasshopper made of grass can move! Mother, I want it!" The boy promptly forgot about the shinobi scroll and searched for the grasshopper that had vanished from sight.
Kyogawa retrieved the grasshopper and held it out to him. The boy stopped crying at once, sat obediently in the carriage, and began playing with it.
With the boy no longer causing a disturbance, the procession was finally able to set off.
"Kyogawa, you're amazing! I guess kids really do know best how to calm other kids down." Senju Chenghe laughed and patted Kyogawa on the shoulder.
Since this was an escort mission and they had to look after the mother and son in the carriage, Senju Kyogawa and the others traveled slowly. But that gave Kyogawa a chance to rest during the several days and nights of walking.
Making a child who wasn't yet five cross several countries on foot for days and nights was asking a lot of Senju Kyogawa, even if he was much more energetic than an ordinary child.
They had set out rather late, and after only two hours of travel, it was already noon.
The group found a safe place to rest and took out the provisions they had prepared.
Senju Kyogawa munched on a steamed bun as he admired the scenery along the border of the Land of Fire and chatted with Senju Chenghe.
The maid he'd met earlier came running over, panting, and said:
"Honored shinobi, my lady invites you to sit with her in the carriage."
As she was speaking to him, Senju Kyogawa asked uncertainly, "Me?"
"Yes, honored shinobi. The young master has been so quiet the whole way. My lady would like to invite you to rest in the carriage as a token of her gratitude."
Senju Kyogawa followed the maid to the carriage. After receiving permission, he climbed inside and sat down.
"Honored shinobi, you work so hard, going on missions at such a young age." The noblewoman sighed behind her sleeve.
"Please don't call me honored shinobi, my lady. My name is Kyogawa."
At the sound of Senju Kyogawa's voice, the boy, who had been absorbed in playing with the grasshopper, suddenly looked up and echoed him loudly: "My name is Xiao Xi!"
Xiao Xi's sudden outburst startled Kyogawa. This time, he studied the boy's expression closely and noticed that his eyes were vacant and his face blank.
The noblewoman stroked Xiao Xi's head and drew him into her arms. She smiled apologetically at Kyogawa.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Kyogawa. Xiao Xi has been a little slow since he was young. Please forgive his earlier behavior."
"Not at all. Big Brother Xiao Xi is very cute."
Senju Kyogawa made a few more little toys from grass and leaves for Xiao Xi to play with. When it was time to set off, Kyogawa had planned to get out and walk, but the noblewoman asked him to stay in the carriage.
"Kyogawa, you're a year younger than Xiao Xi. You're still a child too. Please stay in the carriage with Xiao Xi and me, and keep us company."
At that, Senju Kyogawa stayed in the carriage. Walking the whole way really was tiring.
But sitting there made him feel even more strongly that something was wrong. An ominous feeling kept lingering in Kyogawa's heart.
For one thing, Xiao Xi was clearly not right.
The noblewoman might really have been grateful to him for inviting him into the carriage to rest. He could set that aside for now.
But a noblewoman was traveling across the country alone with a child to visit relatives, and the procession carried several chests of jewels. Yet she had only one maid accompanying her.
Would a noblewoman be so careless? The lady didn't look as if she'd fallen out of favor. How could she travel so casually? Did she really trust the shinobi that much?
Senju Kyogawa couldn't make sense of it. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange.
Senju Kyogawa trusted his instincts. They had helped him avoid disaster many times.
But he truly couldn't spot anything suspicious, and he had no way to suddenly get out of the carriage and tell the Senju shinobi that his instincts said something was wrong with this mission.
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