Chapter 115 Set sail

Sakura Haruno tapped her fingers anxiously on the thick railing of the Blade, a ship as long and pointed as its name. She looked out at the dock, looking through the colorful packages of the Tea Kingdom merchants and nobles, searching for the unique figures of her teammates.

"Take a deep breath, Sakura, you're almost wearing out the boat," Sensei Kakashi scolded from behind her.

Sakura was startled and quickly removed her hand from the railing, only to find that she had indeed left an indentation in the mahogany that was the exact shape of her finger.

"I'm sorry, Sensei. I'm just a little anxious."

"A little bored, to be more precise," Kakashi mused, leaning against the foremast, hiding his face from a cheap pornographic novel.

Sakura had to admit, the disguise was working – so far, no crew member or noble passenger had dared to approach him, although if they had really looked closely, they would have noticed that he hadn't turned a page in over an hour.

"Why are they taking so long to get here?" Sakura complained. "I'm starving."

Kakashi looked up at the sky, lost in thought.

"The delegation should be here soon. If they don't hurry up, the ship will leave before they get back."

Sakura leaned against the railing in frustration.

“I just want to eat my pork buns and dumplings,” she muttered.

"They shouldn't be long," Kakashi assured her, though he was surely just as hungry as she was—at least she had eaten breakfast before leaving, and Kakashi-sensei was too busy taking care of them and his ninja dog to have had time to prepare a meal for himself.

"They better not be late," she growled, her stomach growling again, successfully grabbing her attention.

The four of them had only been in the Tea Kingdom for a day and a half, and Sakura didn't dislike the place.

Yuhai City has the largest port in the entire country, extending all the way to the shallow green sea that surrounds the Tea Kingdom.

The wide squares and alleys are filled with all kinds of goods, including a wide variety of goods shipped from all over the sea.

As one of the few neutral zones, the Tea Kingdom can trade freely with most major nations, so it's home to a wide variety of goods, from fine silks and textiles to exotic cuisines.

Yuhai City is very peaceful because a group of contracted ninjas are rotated in every few months to ensure fairness and reduce corruption and espionage.

But it's also very boring.

"Sakura." Teacher Kakashi called her softly but sharply. Sakura immediately turned around and looked in the direction of her teacher's gaze.

A ship was coming slowly into the harbor, a vessel of fine painted wood, with a hull of crimson and dark blue, and a sail not of cloth but of thick waxed paper, reinforced with horizontal strips of bamboo.

This was a type of ship commonly seen in countries far to the south, and now that she saw it clearly, she understood why the delegation had chosen to change ships at the dock - unlike the Blade, this well-made ship had almost no defenses.

It had been decided before they had accepted the mission that the delegation would travel on this ship almost the entire way to the Fire Nation - a sea voyage would be easier to defend against attack than a land caravan, and it was clear that the trade deals the delegation carried would be of great importance to the Fire Nation Daimyo - and any elemental powers that could get their hands on them.

"How contrived," she muttered.

"It's better not to say that in front of them, brat." Kakashi reminded her. "They are guests of the daimyo after all."

"And they're also obviously used to being treated like royalty."

Kakashi just looked at her and Sakura sighed.

"Okay, okay, I'll keep my sarcasm to myself," she compromised.

"Just don't let them hear it," he assured her kindly. "They are, however, quite late."

"What the hell are they doing? I bet they stopped to do some shopping. Sasuke would spend all our money if no one was watching him."

"Naruto's here, he won't do that," Kakashi retorted, standing up straight and snapping his book shut. "Anyway, there's no time to wait for them. Let's go."

Sakura sighed and followed Kakashi over the railing to the dock to greet the incoming ship.

The sailors ran to the ship's rigging, climbed over the ropes, scrambled up the mast, furled the sails, and guided the luxurious ship slowly into the harbor.

Sakura could see the delegation coming out, surrounded by numerous soldiers, a dozen guys in ornate lacquered armor, who were shouting and acting as personal bodyguards.

"They should realize that this won't do them any good, right?" Sakura muttered.

"The Tamaki Islands and their dynasty are located far to the south of the Jade Sea and can't really interact with the elemental powers," Kakashi explained. "They've been expanding north quite a bit lately, so they're here to hand over these trade deals in exchange for Konoha's protection from the Hidden Mist Village."

"Have they ever dealt with real ninjas?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi smiled.

"rare."

"That's good," she muttered.

"Just think of it as practicing your patience."

The boat stopped in front of them, and with a splash, a gangway was lowered and placed on the wooden board a few meters away from them.

Almost at that moment, a small figure rushed down the gangway like a rocket. He had black hair, blue eyes, and a series of crazy giggles.

Behind him came two armored guards, who shouted curses and chased after the child.

“Master!” shouted a man at the top of the gangway, an old man with gray hair and a goatee, but the running boy paid no attention to him. He was cackling madly and spinning around on the dock like an out-of-control windmill, not caring at all about the narrowness of the dock or the fact that he would plunge into the water at any second.

But he lucked out with Kakashi, who was used to dealing with kids who were naughtier and required more responsiveness and control than an overexcited four-year-old.

He grasped the collar of the child's dark blue embroidered gown between two fingers and pulled him back from the edge, placing him safely back on the board.

"Bo Hai!"

The child turned around and faced the other figure standing at the top of the gangway, a young man in a golden gown, he had the same black hair and light green eyes, he couldn't be more than a few years older than Sakura.

"I'm sorry, Master." The older guard sounded annoyed, as if this wasn't the first time this had happened. "We weren't paying attention for a split second, and he..."

"You can't let him out of your sight for a moment." The young man roared as he walked down the gangway. "A blink of an eye is enough. Bo Hai, come here."

The child screamed "Brother!", then ran back to the gangway and threw himself into his brother's arms.

"You must be Kinkai," Kakashi said as the young man held his brother in his arms, Hirokai was busy playing with his brother's black hair, plaiting it into messy braids.

"That's me," the young man replied, looking a little uncomfortable. "I guess you're Kakashi. They told me I'd be meeting more people."

"The rest of our team will be back soon," Kakashi assured. "Their absence will not affect the departure time."

Kinkai nodded, looking a little confused, his eyes moving from Kakashi to Sakura and back again.

"Okay. We'll need about an hour to move the supplies, and then we'll be ready to go."

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