I closed my eyes and extended my senses through the natural energy until I found the disturbance created by my lizard and the girl.
“Follow me.” I said and started heading that way with my sensei and Shizune following me.
Soon we reached a couple miles away and approached an inconspicuous looking tree that didn’t stand out at all. “Enemies are gone you can reappear now.” I said and my lizard began to slowly become visible again.
“Who are you?” the girl asked in confusion as she looked at me while dismounting my lizards back.
It wasn’t hard to figure out why either as Mizuhe was on my shoulder and Ren and Akasha were leisurely making their way here as well. In the shinobi world someone like me with such an easily identifiable feature like my many beasts should not be a secret to the other villages at my strength. As a result this girl who was the younger sister of the leader of the bloodline resistance faction in the hidden mist should know all the worth knowing names of the other villages. The trick here however was that I was pretty much a total secret beyond my tutelage under my sensei.-
The other villages only knew that I was learning medical ninjutsu from my sensei and was decent at it but as far as everything else worth knowing was concerned they were in the dark. In a manner of speaking I was seen as an extension of my sensei like Shizune was rather than a combatant in truth. Sure the information that I was learning under my sensei was valuable to know for the other villages but it also served as a red herring to distract them from my other sides. This was something my sensei had long explained.-
“Nobody worth remembering Miss Terumi.” I said politely as I desummoned all my beasts other than Ren.
This was a political matter at this point so I was planning to treat it as such. Like I was taught in the academy I wasn’t going to expose shit nor was I going to volunteer information unless specifically told to. I may as well be a tree for all the good speaking to me would accomplish. The girls seemed to pick this up and pouted a bit before ignoring me and turning to my sensei.
“I am sure my clan will reward you well if you would be so kind as to escort me back to the land of water.” the girl said calmly and like a noble would.
“I will need to send a message to the Hokage about this matter but otherwise that won’t be a problem.” Tsunade said with a friendly smile.
“I imagine that you will protect me until an answer could be had from the lord Hokage yes?” the girl asked and my sensei nodded. “Than please by all means go ahead, I would very much like to get back to my clan as soon as possible.” The girl added easily enough.
My sensei wasted no time at all writing down a report on a spare scroll before using the summoning jutsu herself which made me flinch slightly. Thankfully what she summoned wasn’t a sage beast like her slug summon but rather an older looking monkey in shinobi gear.
“Hmm? Tsunade? If you are summoning me like this you must have something urgent to report to Hiruzen. Hand it over so I can go back to my nap already.” the monkey said with a yawn as it outreached it’s arm.
“I am sorry for disturbing your nap Enma but this is urgent.” Tsunade said as she handed over the scroll.
Enma just waved it’s hand dismissively before sparing me a glance and looking puzzled before shrugging and vanishing in a puff of smoke. Monkey king Enma, the personal summon of the third Hokage and also the fastest method of each of the mans disciples getting information to him but only when it is truly urgent. I was surprised that he wasn’t a sage beast considering all three of the third Hokages disciples had summons from the three mysterious sage regions publicly known to exist. His confusion at myself was understandable though since as far as I know to beasts I seem like a sort of ruler regardless of what type it is. –
“Now we wait for the response. In the meantime can i offer you in any food or water?” Tsunade asked and the girl shook her head.
Seeing as this had rapidly devolved into an awkward silence as we waited for the response I took out a brush I had and started busying myself with brushing out the sand trapped between Rens carapace segments. It always got some stuck there when it burried itself and took a while to get rid of it without help.-
A horse hair wide faced brush worked wonders for getting the stuff unstuck and as a bonus Ren seemed to enjoy the feeling. The girl was the most surprised at how docile Ren seemed while I worked but didn’t do anything beyond watch. Once I was done I smiled and flopped down to take a nap under the speechless and helpless looks of everyone else present. We were in a rare bit of chilly weather at the moment with plenty of clouds to block out the sun so I wasn’t going to waste such a perfectly good oppurtunity for a nap.-
About two hours later there was another puff of smoke and Enma reappeared which woke me up.
“Good lad, you get it.” the monkey king said giving me a thumbs up before handing my sensei a response scroll and vanishing in another puff of smoke.
My sensei quickly read through the contents of the scroll before sealing it and putting it away. “Make room Kenzo we are going to the land of water.” she said and I did as told.
“Get on the scorpion so we can set off Miss Terumi.” my sensei said to the girl who looked very reluctant but did as told.
“It’s warm?” she muttered in surprise after sitting cross legged in the center of Rens back.
My sensei and Shizune both mounted Ren as well and the scorpion set off in the direction specified at full speed which was not as fast as we could run but still much faster than by normal carriage. Unlike a horse that did best on flat terrain Rens legs let it run over uneven terrain without any issue at all and as a chunin level chakra beast it was pretty fast as well.
It took about two days to reach the land of water with us stopping only to rest and give Ren a break. At one point I collected fish from a river to feed Ren and let us eat as well as I roasted them over a fire release technique. Nothing crazy just a simple fire without the smoke that would give away our position and some of a seasoning blend that a merchant we treated gave us as a gift. Ironically it was popular in the land of water according to the girl who was surprised to find us using it.