Second Chances

Chapter 32

"How are you guys not tired?" Arakan asked as he and the rest of the genin (excluding the quads) tried to catch their breath.

Their ship had docked in the Land of Fire's harbour three days ago. Since then, they had been steadily making their way to the Hidden Leaf. It's sufficed to say that they were way ahead of schedule. The only reason they had stopped was because Arata was on the verge of passing out.

'We've been running for three days straight without a single break and it's all the "quads" fault,' Arakan thought as he glared at the quads.

He and the rest of the genin were sitting under a shaded tree a few feet away from the quads.

"What's up with you four? We've been running for three freaking days and you don't seem the least bit tired," Asami said.

"You guys can't be tired already?" Ai said making the rest of the genin glare at her.

"We've only been running for three days," Aiko said with a frown.

"And we're not even running at top speed," Akihiko said.

"Didn't you guys get some kind of endurance training?" Akihiro asked.

This made the rest of the genin glare at the quads, who were completely confused by their comrade's fatigue.

'Iruka,' Dan thought when he heard what his grandkids had said.

'At this rate those four are going to alienate themselves from the rest of their peers,' Dan thought when he noticed how the rest of the genin were glaring at the quads.

"Well forgive us for not getting special treatment. Unlike you, we are not related to village leader so we didn't get that type of endurance training," Arisu said a bit annoyed.

"Are you sure you?" Ai asked a bit confused.

"I'm quite sure that, that endurance training is part of your school's curriculum," Aiko said as she nodded to herself.

"You're right. We were all there when grandpa helped grandpa formulate the curriculum," Akihiko said.

"Yeah, but it was more like grandpa was telling grandpa what to do," Akihiro said making Dan cough trying to conceal the faint blush on his cheeks.

"Come now little ones, keep in mind that your training was different from theirs and that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses--"

"Oh! What you're saying is, we are too fast for them so we have to slow down a bit," Ai said.

"Not exactly--"

"Right, so we'll just have to slow down to accommodate them," Aiko said with a hint of finality in her voice.

Aiko's words made the four other alpha (Arakan, Arisu, Asami and Atsushi) in their group bristle.

'A beta thinks she has to slow down to accommodate me?!' Atsushi thought as he unconsciously began to growl.

The quads were not intimidated by the alpha's growling. They were more confused than anything.

'What's with him?' they thought.

"Alpha please calm yourself," Au pleaded.

She and Atsushi had been friends since they were young so she knew how to calm him. Atsushi immediately calmed when he heard her plea but he was still furious. The quads noticed the effect Au had on Atsushi and how they interacted with one another. They watched as Au tentatively walked over to Atsushi and hugged his arm. They noticed how that action alone immediately calmed the alpha.

'Interesting,' they thought.

"Arata are you going to be able to continue?" Atsushi asked.

"Yes alpha," he replied.

"Good. Let's get going," Atsushi said as he and the rest of the genin started running leaving Dan and the quads behind.

"You four are almost as manipulative as Kurama," Dan said looking at his grandkids.

"It was the only way to get them to continue," Ai said.

"We can't afford to take a single break with those shinobi following us," Aiko said.

"Especially with your guards watching over our friends from the Land of Waves," Akihiko said.

"And besides, thanks to this, we now know who's in charge," Akihiro said.

"Who's in charge?" Dan asked a bit amused.

"It's like the time grandpa Iruka taught us about the hierarchy in packs. There's as always a head alpha," Akihiro said.

"And we just found out who it is," Akihiko said.

"Now we can plan accordingly," Aiko said.

"Right," they all agreed.

"We gave them quite the head start," Akihiko said looking in the direction their comrades went.

"Yes we did," Akihiro agreed.

"I think it's time we catch up then," Aiko said with a smile.

"How annoyed do you think the head alpha would be?" Ai asked.

"Let's find out," Aiko said as she and her fellow quads went after their comrades leaving the amused Dan behind.

'Why do they all have to take after Kurama so much? I hope the Leaf can handle them,' Dan thought with a smile.

That smile immediately disappeared when he caught a familiar scent.

'That break gave them enough time to catch up,' Dan thought.

"How long are you going to keep following us?" Dan asked as he discreetly scented the air to find out where their pursuers were hiding, "Oh come now, you've been following us since we left the ship. Did you really think we didn't notice you?"

When Dan got no reply he sighed.

'These guys aren't from the Land of Fire,' Dan thought when he caught the faint smell of snake venom.

'These must be the stowaways Ai was toying with. The fact that they followed us instead of the group from the Land of Waves means that they are after me or the quads,' Dan thought as he pinpointed where the shinobi were hiding.

'There are only five, that means the last one is either following the quads or following the group from the Land of Waves,' Dan thought.

He was about to dispatch of them when he was hit by a sudden migraine causing him to stumble backwards. This sudden movement caused the shinobi to attack by throwing kunai laced with snake venom at Dan. Although, distracted by the pain of his migraine Dan still managed to dodge the attack.

'I never thought I'd be happy to get a migraine,' Dan thought when his pursuers came out of their hiding places, 'Idiots.'

"Let me guess, you think the toxin you put in our food and water has finally taken effect," Dan said startling the shinobi.

"You knew that we were on the ship, you knew that we spiked your food and you knew that we were following you, but you didn't kill us?" one of the shinobi said.

"Yes, yes, yes and yes," Dan replied.

"Why?" the shinobi asked completely bewildered.

"It's simple really, you're of no use to me dead," Dan replied.

The sudden change in the colour of Dan's eyes and the way he just switched to his alpha voice scared the life out of them. The shinobi just stood there petrified. They couldn't think straight. The second Dan's voice changed every instinct told them to run, but they were just too afraid to move.

'This was meant to be an easy job. Kill the leader of the Land of Flowers and capture four black haired and black eyed genin. The leader of the Land of Flowers is push over, but his got some skills which is why the boss sent us. Looking at him now, weak, in pain and vulnerable, It'd be so easy to kill him but the look in his eyes...'

Then everything went dark.