Third chapter in less than a week kmt i dont wanna hear no more "cant wait till next month" kinda shit
lmao cya in 2 months fgts
Last TimeReminance does a boom boom.
Tamaki does bigger boom boom.
Kamiko goes Allahu Ahkbar.
Part 17
"Kage! Lord Morikage!" Aoi Amigake-Kirishima was a lean man of athletic build rapidly approaching his 50's, with an unwavering desperation to cling on to his youth. He was currently doing so by sparring with several fresh Morigakure Jonin, loudly proclaiming that he was under no stress. Attempting and failing to hide his laboured breathing, Aoi stalked over to his Head of ANBU, secretly thankful for the break.
"What? I was just settling into my rhythm. A couple more rounds and I would've wiped the floor with them." The young woman nodded, humouring the aging man.
"There's been reports of a large explosion not far from the South East coast, just several kilometres behind the border of the Toratsume Clan's private ground. Our spies have reported several carts moving en masse towards the Village. Your suspicions are looking to be right, my Lord." Aoi smiled, wiping his brow with a towel.
"Get my escort ready. And tell your ANBU to get into position, if Takeshi is still out of the country, we can strike now."
Awakening with a jolt, Kazuki opened his eyes, closing them almost at once as he recalled his surroundings.
'Ok, ok, ok. I've got to calm down. At the first indication that I'm awake they'll simply drug me again.' Calming himself down, Kazuki laid stock-still, taking slightly larger breaths than normal to slow down his rapid heart rate. Channeling chakra through his body, Kazuki changed the nature of the chakra and moved it down his left arm. A spark jumped from Kazuki's index finger to his middle finger and he let out a small sigh, glad that he still had complete control over his chakra.
Unsure as to whether he was being watched or not, Kazuki decided to leave movement until later. A brief internal inspection revealed that there was nothing wrong with his body, apart from the large quantity of foreign chakra present in his torso. Inspecting it, he found that it seemed to writhe around his lower abdomen, all the way up to about halfway up his lungs. Prodding the weird chakra with a bit of his own, the mass hit back vigourously, dizzying Kazuki and sinking him into unconsciousness.
Konohuro opened his eyes, staring right into the face of Crono Sabaku. He let out an involuntary sigh of relief, Crono's face falling apart at the soft contact, withering into ash and vanishing in the light wind. Slightly disturbed but otherwise thankful, Konohuro moved unto his knees, inspecting his injuries. His heart was racing, but otherwise for several burns across his face and right hand side and several pieces of sharpnel sticking out of his front; he was practically unharmed.
Having been a former ANBU of the Hidden Ash, he knew of the Kinjutsu that all members were required to have inplanted into their chest, placed behind their sternum and between their lungs. Forbidden Art: Cleansing Explosion was a last-ditch technique that sacrificed the chakra of the caster to ignite an explosion, often ensuring that secrets remained as such. Konohuro frowned. To have been caught out by such a jutsu was both incredibly frustrating and embarassing. Mika Himitsu was literally a once in a lifetime talent, and Konohuro had lived a very lengthy lifetime. To have her taken from him, and by a jutsu that he had helped discover no less was borderline cruel.
The plan to ensnare Mika Himitsu had been a extensive and complicated one, one that had so many opportunities to go wrong. And yet, despite all that, it had succeeded; in his grasp he had the only answer to resurrection from the dead and he was free to exploit it to his heart's desires.
Konohuro let out a deep sigh of defeat, he had instinctively commanded Mika Himitsu to block the explosion with her body, after all, what use would the chakra needle be if the only person who could use it was dead? He could feel the chakra needle, or at least several fractions of it, scattered in at least 3 different directions and broken up into dozens, if not hundreds of pieces. If the needle was destroyed, what hope was there for Mika Himitsu? He let out a sad laugh at the irony, that only Mika would have been able to bring Mika back.
"Did I miss out on a joke? Hey what's funny? Waaaaaaait. Did you get hit in the head? Oh no...Konohuro is crazy..." Hearing the voice, Konohuro's heart dropped, of all the people to survive, he was left with the only Yugure member that lacked even a modicum of self-respect. Looking up with a frown, Konohuro's eyes widened at the sight of Ken, utterly unharmed. Standing with a the typical annoying smirk, he was coated in a thick layer of ice, almost a metre in depth. Of all the people to unlock a Chakra Mix, it had to be this bastard. He responded with an even deeper frown and a single word.
"Urgh."
"Hey! Don't be like that, after all, aren't you saying we need to get more Chakra Mixes? And with Nibui gone, that means I'm the only guy in the team with one. Though this armour did kinda drain all of my chakra...and I don't even remember weaving any signs either...." As Ken merrily continued his rant, Konohuro racked his brain, recalculating, replanning and rethinking.
'I'm going to have to build this team from scratch. And with a lunatic and pregnant woman to start."
Shortly after being taken to Jyuunshin's infirmary, Taiga was ushered to a bed and knocked out with a powerful anesthetic. He found himself woken up several hours later with barely enough time to rejoice about his new leg when he was dragged out into the back of a cart with practically no explanation, and told to remain silent. It took 30 minutes of the dark, damp and uncomfortable journey before Taiga lost his patience. Sticking his head out of the tarpaulin, Taiga squinted through the rain at the man riding not far from the rear of the cart.
"Oi. You. Where's Kamiko? And why we gotta hide? Are you kidnapping us?" Taiga looked the man up and down, recognising him as the bearded guard who led them to the infirmiary after they arrived with Onimaro.
"I can kill you, you do know that?" Taiga's left eye lightened to a yellow color as his heterochromia set in. A sign of his split personality, Taiga's right eye would change colour when he was under great stress. He cast a few hand signs and the wind picked up, threatening to throw the pleading guard off his horse.
"Nonono, please, whatever you're doing, stop, T-T-Taiga is it? Look, please, stay quiet. Oh no, oh no." The guard kept looking back as if running away from something. "Look look look." Moving alongside the cart, the guard held onto the sides to steady himself as his horse began to neigh in panic at the absurd weather.
"The Yugure were attacking the base and Kamiko stayed back to fight them. She told me to evacuate all of you b-but you need to be quiet. Just trust me, please!"
Taking a deep breath, Taiga calmed himself down, cancelling the jutsu with a thought. Retreating into the crowded tarpaulin he sat against several filled barrels, looking at his company for the trip. Shivering, looking at him with wide eyes was Satomi.
"W...where's my brother?" Sighing, Taiga ignored her question, not wanting to be the one to tell her that he was probably dead. He turned to Diamond Lee, the lazy kid somehow managing to sleep through the bumpy cart ride. Frowning in annoyance, Taiga kicked Lee, waking him up from his 14 hour slumber.
"Urrrr, mama...no..." A punch to the gut from Taiga woke up him immediatly. "Ah! Who...where...." Lee descended into panicked breathing, looking around the cart and fighting against phantoms. In the dark, Taiga couldn't see Lee's scarred face but his aggressive reaction reminded him of all the torturing he had endured. Not wanting to have to tread lightly around the subject, Taiga channeled chakra into his elbow, swinging it into the forhead of the gibbering Lee. With a loud knock, he slumped back into a sitting position, his chest heaving as he snored. Looking at Satomi's retreating figure, Taiga leaned back and sighed once again, reminiscing of better times and better company.
Standing over the panel, Reminance stared at the fading light of Mika Himitsu, his eyes tearing up as he thought of both times spent with the pair and the repurcusions of their loss. He had personally tattooed Onimaro, placing his tattoo over his heart at Onimaro's own request. Onimaro had said he wanted his friend to know without a doubt that if his light went out he would have died.
Reminance remembered the scenario clearly, how he had dismissed his friends words with a wave of his hand. How long ago it seemed, how distant. And all because he refused to help his friend, claiming that Roguhanta couldn't turn their back on the very villages they aimed to protect, regardless of whether they were corrupted or not. With a clenching of his fists, Reminance turned to Hisaki. His friend was stating off at a wall, a distant look on his face. Hisaki, although a brilliant assistant, had never even wanted to be a shinobi, much less one with such responsibility. Remiance vowed to give his friend a well-deserved holiday once this was all over.
"Hisaki, call for a meeting." Snapping out of his daze, Hisaki absorbed Reminance's request. As Reminance turned to leave, Hisaki stopped him, confused about the lack of details.
"Wait. Who do I call?" At the question, Reminance seemed to break into a smile, his eyes however, remaining to hold a calm, cold anger.
"Everyone."
"E-even them?"
Reminance turned and left, Takami's silent figure following at a distance.
"Even them."
Somewhere in the Hidden Dust, in a leather, overhanging tent sat 3 men at a table; a decrepit old man, a young black man and a chubby Chuunin with a forgetable face. Vizier Zen'no Sabaku sat meditating, whilst the 2 on either side of him were tasked with attempting to distract him, one of the old man's many odd methods of training.
Whether or not it actually worked, no one really knew, however Vizier's control over the Dust element as well as his prowess in Genjutsu was something that simply could not be denied. It was even rumoured that Vizier was blessed with the God of SandStorm Eyes, however he vehemently denied all claims and had never actually been spotted showing visual signs of the Dojutsu. Floating on a thin film of levitating Dust, the old man sat with his legs crossed over each other and his flowing grey hair wrapped around his torso. Ikiryu Zen'no Sabaku and Ren Tokage no Sabaku sat on either side of him, hollering, shouting abuse and scraping together kunai to distract their Clan Head.
"By the Beasts, this is exactly why people call us savages." Standing at the door of the tent was the fearsome stature of Hayame Kitsune no Sabakue, a man with almost twice the width of most; the leader of the Kitsune no Sabaku's seemed to ooze power with every movement. Coupled with his Sage Mode, Hayame could literally hurl a kunai from one village to another. Whilst it was an impressive feat, it only furthered outsiders' claims of the Sabaku being a clan composed of entirely monstrous savages.
On the bare skin of Hayame's arm was the glowing tattoo of Roguhanta. With a stern look at Vizier, the old man pulled his robes down at the neck, glancing down at his own tattoo and nodding back a Hayame. Still floating on the cloud of Dust, Vizier simply drifted out of the tent, commanding Ikiryo to keep the Clan in order while they were gone.
"Err, Lord Vizier, how long will you be gone for?" With a simple shrug of his shoulders Vizier and Hayame walked off in the direction of the Village's gates, leaving the pair both slightly anxious and confused. Ikiryo turned to Ren, a devilish smile on his face.
"Well. You heard him. I'm in charge now. As Head of the Zen'no and by extension the Sabaku Clan, I
command you tell me where Hayame's stash is." Ren barely had time to respond before a pebble tore through the tent, hitting Ikiryu squarely in the chest. As he rolled on the floor in agony, Ren noticed something odd attached to it. In scrawny handwriting, and littered with spelling errors was a message, likely written by someone who wasn't completely sober at the time.
"If anywone efen
looks at my stach. I will hurl tem to the moon. Sighed, Hagame."
Ren sighed, he'd been desperate to try some too. It now looked like 18 months of reconnaissance was doomed to go to waste. He scrunched up the note and burnt it in his palm. Hopefully somebody else would be dumb enough to try it, Ren however, was going nowhere near the stash. He'd never seen Hayame angry, but that only made him all the more cautious.
Somewhere towards the north of the Hidden Volcano was a single travelling clan and their leader. Shiro Nakai, on a constant crusade for jutsu and tailed beasts, had stumbled upon a small mining village in the midst of a vicious attack. With the help of his clan members and the weapon he stole from Konohuro's very hands, Shiro managed to subdue the Flying Wind Beast, sealing it within his Scythe. 3 months had passed and Shiro was now satisfied with the village's recovery.
Happily accepting an A-rank scroll from the Village Elder, Shiro was now ready to set off with his growing entourage of family, warriors and friends. He raised his arm to signal the beginning of the procession when he felt a dull pain on his chest. Raising his hand again in a fist to stop the procession, he peeked under his armour to find his Roguhanta tattoo pulsing red. Shiro sighed, he was happy being with his clan, even happier on his own, but he absolutely detested public meetings. Knowing it was serious, Shiro turned to his 2 assistants, Rito and Kairu Nakai, briefing them on the fastest route to take and of any potential dangers to avoid. Shiro then turned and stood atop the back of his horse, facing his fellow clansmen.
"I am being called to urgent business, I am sure any other Roguhanta members amongst us have received the message too. Unfortunately for you, I am a far greater asset and will be heading over immediately. You, however, will have to make the 3 week journey by horse back to the Hidden Thunder. If you're lucky it will be 2 weeks long."
Ignoring the mixed sounds of disdain, support and worry, Shiro jumped off the back of his horse unsheating his scythe from his back. He rubbed his thumb over the white orb where the wind chakra Beast had recently been sealed. Controlling, subduing and taking control of its chakra, Shiro was clad in a cloak of white pulsating chakra, sprouting wings out of his back in an imitation of the sealed eagle. With a thunderous clap, he was thrown into the air, soaring dozens of metres eastwards with a single, fluid motion.
Jolting awake once more, Kazuki recalled his last actions. Paying no attention to his increasing heart rate, Kazuki gathered a larger quantity of chakra and surronded the mass, attacking it in one swift motion. It hit back, just as hard as before, but this time Kazuki was prepared. He hit back at the mass, utilising a simple method he often used in combat; bracing an enemy's attack and hitting back twice as hard as they step back.
The tactic worked and the mass stopped attacking, instead opting to gather itself up into a condensed ball. A smile nearly broke out on Kazuki's face as he thought himself able to tame it when he was knocked back out with a loud voice screaming in his head.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
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