Prologue: Dark Tides
" How far are we from the border, Yoshihiko?" a young kunoichi asked.
" What? Were you expecting me to keep track? We just escaped from all that crap. I can't even confirm that we are escaping in the correct direction," Yoshihiko answered.
" What the fuck did you say!?" the kunoichi replied.
" Both of you, shut up!" their third member exclaimed.
" But…"
" We are moving in the correct direction, Saya. If we were not, it would be pointless to do so. It would be painfully obvious that we are very far from the border, so don't bother asking. I need the both of you idiots to stay calm and stop freaking out every 5 minutes," the third member replied. " You all may just be genins, but have some level of pride as a shinobi."
" Haruto, you are also a genin," Saya replied.
" Well, a better genin than both you morons," Haruto replied, smirking slightly. Yoshihiko and Saya looked at each other for a second, not before breaking out into small fits of laughter.
The three of them were moving through a thick forest in a foreign country, jumping from the branch of one tree to the next. Several sections of the forest had been clearly destroyed from previous shinobi fights, some areas of the forest burnt and charred, a reminder of the war that was currently going on right now.
As the two small villages, the Void and Light village, started to aggressively expand around their borders, the Leaf village decided to take preemptive action, since their actions were affecting their neighbouring countries. 2 months ago, the Leaf declared war against the two villages, and intense fighting began in earnest. While not directly affected, the Sand village also joined the war with their allies the Leaf, and now the 4 villages were embroiled in conflict.
The three genins were on an espionage mission, and having completed it, they were doing their best to return back to base. However, their infiltration mission was detected, and their pursuers were hot on their trail. They had been successful in shaking off their pursuers, but their enemies were constantly on their tail, and for good reason. The information they had managed to gleam from their enemies could lead to a major victory, but if they didn't return this information in time back to their forces, it could spell disaster.
" Haruto!" Yoshihiko exclaimed.
Haruto was already aware of what was happening. A lone Void shinobi had already caught up to them, and Haruto could barely catch his outline as he ran alongside them on their right. He was probably a scout, and a fast one at that. Haruto casually reached for his shinobi blade which his kept behind his back, knowing that a fight was unavoidable.
" You two know what to do," Haruto replied. Yoshihiko and Saya both nodded their heads, although they still looked nervous. " Split!"
He shouted loud enough for the enemy shinobi to hear, and the moment he did that, all three of them split into different directions. Saya, however, kept with her usual path, and the enemy shinobi sensed this, figuring no doubt she was the one holding the information they had stolen, and instantly made the decision to chase after her.
The moment he did so, there was a flash of light, and all of a sudden, a large fireball was fired in his direction. It lacked any power or speed, so the shinobi managed to dodge it effortlessly, jumping aside to avoid the shot. Yoshihiko fired another fireball, which the shinobi effortlessly avoided, probably figuring these bunch of shinobis were mere genins or ameteurs.
" Hmph, is that the best you can do?" he taunted Yoshihiko.
Out of nowhere, Haruto instantly landed on his back, his hand slamming down onto the back of the shinobis neck, the shinobi blade in his hand instantly piercing the person's neck. Pulling the blade out, Haruto kicked the body aside, which then began to fall to the ground below, ending with a sickening crack. His corpse was strewn on the floor, his head bent at a strange angle, as Haruto had kicked him at such an angle to make sure his head struck the ground first, as if a blade through his spinal cord was not enough to kill him.
" Unfortunately, that is our best. Sorry to disappoint," Haruto replied coldly. He wiped his weapon quickly, not before tossing both the cloth and blade aside. The blood and smell might make tracking easier, so he had to get rid of it. He had also previously made sure when he landed his attack that none of his target's blood splattered onto him. This might buy them mere seconds, but every single action counted when the distance between their enemies and them could be counted by the seconds. " This guy is basically a scout. The rest of them will be coming onto us soon. Move out, now!"
All of them continued on in their previous direction, moving quickly. Things were silent for a while, but after several minutes, Haruto could sense their pursuers moving with alarming alacrity towards them.
" They are catching up," Yoshihiko exclaimed, sounding a little terrified.
Haruto considered their options. At this point, they could split up and go their separate ways, and hopefully they can confuse and divert their attention enough, although they have no guarantee that they won't be found out. Another option would be to slow them down by forcefully engaging them. Saya will most likely run into enemy forces since they are still very far away from the border, but there are almost no more options left for them.
"Yoshihiko, prepare your ninjutsu. We need to delay them as long as possible," Haruto replied.
" What? You two are going to leave me alone?" Saya exclaimed.
" Whatever we managed to steal from them seems to be valuable enough for them to deploy an entire battalion of shinobis to get it back. Whatever it is, it is worth it, and we need to get it back where it will be put to good use," Haruto exclaimed, pulling out another shinobi blade from his back. " No arguments. Yoshihiko and I will…"
Haruto stopped short when he realized that he wasn't alone, and all three of them halted right in their tracks. Right in front of them, standing in plain sight was a shinobi who was wearing an extremely thick coat, almost as if the shinobi was trying to conceal his or her body. A hood was pulled over the shinobis head, and besides wearing rather large tinted goggles, Haruto could barely make out the shinobi's facial features. The only reason he probably wasn't alarmed at this new person's presence was because he or she didn't exudate any form of hostility.
" Relax. I'm here as your backup," a young female voice replied.
The female kunoichi moved past them, not before patiently waiting. Haruto realized that she planned on engaging their pursuing forces head-on. While he would think that would be an unwise choice, this kunoichi in particular didn't seem unfazed by the idea. In fact, for some reason whatsoever, Haruto felt like the engagement was going to be a one-sided slaughter.
Within less than a minute, the pursuers have caught up to them. Haruto sensed five of them, and they were all very fast movers. A female pursuer attacked the kunoichi, who merely countered her by whistling loudly. The female enemy winced in pain not before trying to close her ears, and due to the disorientation, crashed into a tree while moving at top speed, before falling to the ground.
" Deal with her. I will deal with the rest," the female kunoichi replied.
" Saya, stay here. Yoshihiko, follow me," Haruto replied.
" But…" Saya tried to argue.
" No arguments. You are too important to risk getting hurt. Stay here, that is an order," Haruto replied sternly, not before leaping to the lower branches, with Yoshihiko slowly following him from behind.
As the moved towards ground level, Haruto spotted the female kunoichi on the ground, slowly trying to pick herself up. Haruto and Yoshihiko moved in quickly for the kill, not wanting her to recover herself. Yoshihiko formed his hand seals as fast as he could, not before breathing fire from his mouth. The kunoichi spotted his movements, and quickly backed up before the large fireball managed to hit him. Haruto quickly charged towards her, cutting her off, swinging his shinobi blade dangerously at her neck. The kunoichi quickly blocked his attack by raising her hand, meeting his strike by catching his blade between her fingers, but this was merely a feint.
Haruto flicked a senbon needle towards the kunoichi's gut, keeping his other hand low and out of sight, attacking just at the right moment so that she would not notice it. The kunoichi flinched as the senbon needle pierced her gut, and Yoshihiko landed on her head, knocking her off balance. Haruto did not miss this opportunity, shoving her hand aside and slitting her neck. There was a mix of shock and fear in the kunoichi's eyes as her crimson blood started to spill out from her wound, not before she collapsed from the loss of blood.
" It's done. Let's head back up," Haruto replied, and Yoshihiko merely nodded in agreement.
Quite a sight greeted them when they returned to the branches of the trees above them. The rest of the pursuers were dead, most having died violently which was evident from all the blood splatters that coloured the trees. The kunoichi who had arrived to help them didn't look like she had lifted a finger to attack, but their enemies were sprawled all over the place. Whoever she was, she was quite impressive. Haruto had been quick, and lucky, in dispatching the kunoichi he was asked to deal with, but this unknown kunoichi destroyed 5 others in a time much shorter than he did, quite possibly not longer than 30 seconds.
"…Wow, just wow," Yoshihiko replied, looking at the amount of carnage.
" She…she just stood there. The rest of them tore themselves apart the moment they approached her. She didn't even move a muscle at all. Who is she?" Saya asked, looking like she was somewhat terrified of this unknown kunoichi's presence.
" Only one kunoichi of the Sand, who wears tinted goggles, has this particular fighting style," Haruto replied, realizing who she was after Saya described the one-sided fight. " You must be the one they call the Crimson Medic."
The kunoichi turned around, not before pulling back her hood. As if to match her nickname, her hair was a shade of sharp vermillion, but it was obviously dyed. Her goggles were tinted blue, and now with her hood off, Haruto realized that her eyes were not visible. Her forehead protector was tied to her head, and from the looks of it, it had been snapped in half previously and fixed up again, apparently having some level of sentimental value as she was unwilling to just get a new replacement. She smiled slightly, and Haruto was instantly reminded of an older sister trying to comfort her younger siblings.
" That's right. I'm the Crimson Medic, Nagato Suzumi at your service," Suzumi replied.
Author's notes: It's been years since I last updated. I may never finish most of my stories, but this one has been one of my more heavily invested stories, and when I started I didn't imagine the the manga would complete by the time I was done. It would be nice to give this some closure, even if I barely have any time with work/life constraints.