Chapter 2.3.0
The urgency was palpable and was made all the more evident when I sensed Ao's ANBU squad resume their pursuit
the second we entered the range of his byakugan.
No doubt expecting my sensing to guide us while simultaneously urging us to pick up our pace and catch up with them.
Having finally caught up with our mission leader's brisk speed I couldn't help but glance around. Four people on Ao's squad, four people on Zabuza's squad, and last but not least Unmo's three-man squad.
This was almost a shinobi platoon!
But why?
Were they nervous?
Or just incredibly pissed?
According to the tidbits I heard that Mangetsu fellow was well respected, well-liked even, and incredibly strong. So much so that he was given Nuibari, the Needle, and practically already a member of the Seven Swordmen in anything but name.
Couple that with some kind of water-based ability in the body of a sensible patriot and you ended up with a shinobi the rebels and the loyalists were falling over themselves to gain the favor of.
Now he was dead, the legendary longsword gone and his little brother, also apparently a prodigy, missing.
What was the objective?
Retrieve sword and brother, erase any and all traces of the aggressor and deny anything ever happened?
Possibly.
Was this Kumo being brazen again? Were they
daring us to show any kind of aggression against their shinobis, goad us into giving them the flimsiest of justification for more open maneuvers?
I guess I kind of saw now my superiors' line of thinking. Use overwhelming force to dissolve the situation and wipe any traces of anything ever happening away so we could play clueless.
Urgh,
world politics!
But something was tingling, something didn't feel entirely right. The second I had seen
and sensed one of the puddles saturated with faint chakra, puddles that Ao had identified as the little brother's way of leaving a trail, something began to buzz in my mind.
...
Whatever…
Eyes closed I thought about Mei Terumi.
Not these kinds of thoughts…
this time…, but the reasons why she wasn't with us and barely left the village nowadays.
Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, was apparently starting to grow…
erratic. Showing uncharacteristic
lapses.
And when a jinchūriki was behaving weird…
A scowl was threatening to split my face as I carefully maneuvered my steps on this forest floor.
This was the exact opposite of my sunny paradise down south-east.
Massive evergreen trees blocked out most of the sun and remnants of a past rain shower were continuously dropping down on rotting locks, ferns, and lichen. Moss and fungi seemed to cover everything, that wasn't muddy earth or flora.
Of course, the trail would fucking end here.
And yet I wish this was the least of my problems.
No, it was the elaborated cave entrance, that looked like the fucking head of a snake.
Who was I kidding? It was the handful of people I was sensing deep down the rabbit hole with one presence sticking out like a sore thumb.
Far,
far away I had really thought it would actually be quite a few enemy combatants given the vibrancy I had been sensing clustered in that little spot, but no,
NO, turned out it was a just few with one shining like a beacon.
Obviously, I wasn't the only one that thought our unexpected destination and its occupant were rather
unfortunate.
Oh, they tried to play it cool in front of their respective squads, but I sensed Ao's and Zabuza's chakras, they were
tense, which was only made more obvious when Ao stiffly turned around and surveyed his little platoon.
"Unmo, send a summon, detail location and likely enemy," he commanded and took a small breath to center himself.
"Squad make yourself combat-ready, prepare for engagement," he paused, and I saw the veins around his byakugan contract before he visibly scowled. "our enemy is Konoha's Snake Sannin," he continued and I heard those that hadn't known so far shift uncomfortably. "and he knows we are here."
This was a literal dungeon with winding stairs, narrow corridors, and smooth stone lit by feeble torches every couple of feet.
Zabuza in front, me providing cover with my sensing while regretting every life decision directly behind him, then Haku, followed by the rest with Ao providing cover for the rear with his byakugan.
That's how we filed into the biggest room so far after we descended the third staircase, and
instantly I could feel the tension rise to new levels.
Before there had been a dozen chambers, all rather nondescript and humble. This was the size of a mess hall… and filled with cages, the bars on all four sides, so you could walk between them and examine whatever or
whoever was inside from all angles.
Taking a closer look, I could see that some were covered with layers of dust, some spotless, as if recently cleaned, and others… still with blood in them.
The tables with cuffs near every cell door didn't make the picture any rosier.
I swallowed, a stark reminder, that there were always worse things than death.
My pulse was high but steady, my mind focused, no doubt thanks to the fact that I could sense the monster still a couple of floors further down, seemingly content to wait among his subordi…
I swallowed again.
He just moved…and I couldn't help but stop, anxious to feel what he was up to.
My eyes closed, my concentration and sensing going above and beyond what I ever did in front of a kiri shinobi, but I didn't care.
He just…a juts…
I stiffened, which was unknowingly mirrored by my squad.
"Oh sh…"
Laughing
Laughing coming from a darkened corner
of this very chamber!
One moment he was
multiple floors further down and the next he traveled up through the walls like an exploding geyser.
There he was!
His torso grotesquely sticking out of the wall and a cruel smile on his lips, his gaze
intense…
ON ME!
I met his gaze, I barely registered Zabuza drawing Kubikiribōchō and Ao Kiba while jumping in front of us.
My body, chakra, and mind absolutely rigid and I watched as his smile
widened even further.
And he chuckled, low but genuine, and I felt my heart sink like a stone.
"Nothing special," he said with humor, and I just
knew he was talking to me. "Every once in a while, it is
truly refreshing to be proven wrong, isn't it, Daiki?"
I felt my entire platoon's shock and confusion while my thoughts ground to a halt. Face growing slack, my body felt light, and my thinking was reduced to ones and zeros, yes and no, left or right, simple but direct and efficient.
Tension at a boiling point I wordlessly watched as his gaze shifted to Haku next to me.
"And you even brought me such a special specimen."
The words barely left his mouth when something snapped.
The first and second gate practically burst inside my head and wind chakra literally
exploded along my left forearm, racing over my wrist and the side of my hand, to extend more than a foot from my fingertips.
This wasn't the elegance of a sword; this was the chakra equivalent of an
ax!
My arm was still in motion when the remnants of my wind chakra were rerouted to my feet to fuel the perhaps fastest Shunshin I have ever done.
I skidded to a crouch only a couple of meters away; away from the group of now enemy combatants and the missing-nin.
Crouching, my left hand in a one-handed ram seal, and my wakizashi unsealed, I dispassionately watched as the dust cloud I had left behind in my wake billowed through the kiri shinobis and…
"
Haku!"
…the head of the bloodline user tumbled from his shoulder.
This was mercy, I reasoned, this was logical, this was me denying a Konoha missing-nin a valuable asset.
My blank gaze slid from my former team to Orochimaru, and I couldn't help but take note of his expression.
Surprise? Delight?
Then he laughed…again.
"You are truly one of Danzo-sama's finest."
From the corners of my eye, I saw Ao's head whip around in shock and horror, before he quickly schooled his features.
"Zabuza, my team, we engage Orochimaru, Unmo deal with the spy!" he snarled, and my gaze fell on the bandana-wearing jonin who would be my enemy.
The hate-filled gaze of my one-time teacher was unimportant, the hundreds of combat scenarios that flashed through my mind had priority.
"Chōjūrō, Meizu, Gozu retreat!" he shouted forcefully his tone allowing no argument whatsoever. "You must report to Terumi-sama at all costs!" he added passionately, urgency evident.
My focus was on the jutsu and the chakra gathering on my chest, but my eyes and mind tracked the retreating figures, that quickly disappeared up the stairs.
I simply
couldn't allow word of Konoha's involvement to reach Kirigakure.
But…
I had more pressing problems, namely the jonin, that was eying me with wariness and hate.
I met his gaze steadily and raised my chin in a show of defiance with a hint of
mocking.
"I was there when your team was murdered," I spoke matter-of-factly, eyes unblinking.
I watched as he reeled back as if struck, and confident the hidden chakra construct on my chest was stable, I continued my assault.
Definitely feeling rusty, but confident in my abilities for such straightforward technique my hands flew through a handful of signs.
A simple combination of the Hell Viewing Technique and the False Surroundings Technique.
"I watched as my senpai killed Kenchi." I pressed on, but this time he was going to see Kakashi in his ANBU-gear kneeling over his unconscious little student. The faint crackle of electricity clearly audible.
"Unmo!" faintly I heard a panting Ao shout from the background.
"You were there, too." I kept my tone biting and hurtful, while my chakra gave a little push. "Nearby, unconscious, useless, and we
used you!"
Kakashi and Kenchi morphed into Itachi and Unmo himself.
"
Un…" Ao's frantic shout was cut off by the ringing of clashing swords.
I readied myself, I watched my opposite carefully, his gaze was hollow and empty, his chakra, however, told a different story. It was absolute turmoil and my
only chance.
So, I kept going, desperate to push him over the edge.
"We
desecrated their bodies!" I finished my story with a vicious snarl, and again my chakra gave the tiniest of nudges.
Flashes, images, and sounds of the time my team and I probed them up like puppets to tell a story. The crunch of a foot getting crushed in a crack, the short but bloodcurdling sound of kunai being driven into the back of a skull…
Fast!
"
Unmo!"
Vicious!
Predictable!
I managed to hold the furious swings of his katana at bay with my wakizashi, the clash quick and deadly until I saw what I was waiting for.
A powerful overhead swing meant to break or rattle my defense, to push the momentum of this fight in his favor, and to give me no chance to recover.
I put all my chakra-enhanced might into the block…and stopped his swing above my head.
'Bunshin Oroshi!'
A misshapen torso of a Shadow Clone burst from my torso, left arm missing, and his features surely expressionless like a doll, but it was enough.
Its right arm had already reached behind itself into my weapons pouch and grabbed a kunai. A lightning-quick motion and the blade cut deep into the side of my opponent's neck, just above the guard.
The blood splattering my face was just as much ignored as Unmo's shocked and disbelieving stare as I let my clone construct dispel to give myself the much the needed space to drive my wakizashi
deep into the man's skull.
Bear in mind Suigetsu was introduced in a manga chapter way back in 2007. That coupled with the years spent in the Naruto world certain memories are close to thirty years old for Daiki.
At least that's going to be my justification for him walking into this mess.
As usual, I'm thankful for every review and your thoughts.
Cheers.
