DEFUNCT
[dih-fuhngkt]
adjective
no longer in effect or use; not operating or functioning
no longer in existence; dead; extinct
V
Summary: You never know when an Uzumaki will cause chaos. [Danzou had finally gotten rid of her.]
Genre: Action/Adventure/Humor
Warning (s): crack level humor taken seriously; what-if scenarios; ninjas; violence/gore; unhealthy coping mechanisms; skewed morality; endangerment of minors; alteration of canon events; minor angst; other things I can't think of off the top of my head right now
V
Chapter One: The Hyuuga Incident
V
Year 104 - March 13 - Konohagakure - Fire Country
V
Kita Hachimitsu, or Hachi, was tired in a bone deep weariness that left her wrung out and hollow. She couldn't remember ever being this tired even after the Kyuubi attack and she had been stuck at the Hospital for thirty plus hours straight. But then at the time she hadn't known anyone she knew was dead (and gone - would never see her again or him and now he was gone too and -)
She shook herself just in time to see the gates of Konoha (home) come into view, and Uchiha Shisui (her teammate - only one left now) sighed softly at the sight. Both of them were too tired to speak, had been too tired for days now, and hurting. Hachimitsu handing over their identification cards to the gate guards stiffly, informing them flatly, "Kita Hachimitsu and Uchiha Shisui reporting back in."
The guard took the paperwork and cards with a vague acknowledgement of, "Ah, yes." As he looked over the papers, however, he frowned and looked up at the two, "I believe there is supposed to be three of you?"
Hachimitsu couldn't stop the snarl that tore across her face even if she wanted too. The move showcased the feline fangs that were becoming a trait of her family (and very good at ripping throats out, she had found from actual experience; her twin had been overly fond of using it as a threat), and she knew she shouldn't be threatening a fellow shinobi. It wasn't his fault their teammate was dead. (- that she hadn't been fast enough, or strong enough, or skilled enough, to save him - he was gone - gonegonegonegonegONEGONEGONE -)
(what was she going to tell the little kitten? her-his-their little kitten...)
The touch of Shisui's hand on her arm pulled her from her rapidly spiraling thoughts enough to realize she was growling vocally and not just in her head. She cut her audible growl short, but the one in her head continued ominously with the desire to tear the guard a part - make him bleed - for reminding her of what was now lost.
The twitchy fingers of the guards indicated her eyes had changed as well; had shifted into the eerie green and gold color with the pupil contracting into cat-like slits. The color had no doubt begun to bleed into the whites to make them appear more animal like than human. Her lip twitched, curling back along her teeth before she forced herself to huff and turn away, dismissing them as much as she could.
Shisui could deal with them. He was better at it any way.
"Unfortunately," he began with a cold drawl. "We have to report that Mikan Nishiki has been killed in action. We were able to recover the body." His face had switched unerringly into his Uchiha mask of cold indifference and detachment, and she could never get used to hearing him use the persona of the perfect Uchiha.
"I see," the second guard said, jotting something down on a piece of paper. "We have a note here stating you are to report directly to the Hokage upon arrival if no immediate medical care is needed."
The words immediately caught Hachimitsu's attention and she turned her head sharply to the guard with a narrowed eyed stare. The only time a shinobi was summoned to report directly to the Hokage after a mission was if said mission had been a high risk/priority mission, or something within the village had gone wrong. "We will report now, then," Shisui answered, touching his teammate's elbow to pull her away, sharing a discreet look with her. Their mission hadn't been priority, so that meant something had happened.
The guard simply nodded, as he handing their paperwork and identification cards back. Hachimitsu didn't miss the rather subtle cold glare aimed at her back when they left, and that made her uneasy. There hadn't been anything she had done to ever earn such a look from a fellow shinobi. So, just what had happened?
Both of them would have had to report to the Hokage about the death of their teammate Nishiki, but since they had been summoned instead, they went to the secretary instead of the mission desk. The two shared another uneasy look when they were told to enter the Hokage's office within five minutes of their arrival. It didn't bode well for whatever news the Hokage had to tell them.
The absence of Nishiki was the first thing Sarutobi noted about the team, and he frowned, eyes narrowing as he glanced behind them in hopes that the boy would simply trail in behind late. When the orange haired shinobi failed to appear, he turned his gaze to the other two and asked, "Where is Nishiki-kun?"
There was a long pause, before they answered in unison with dull tones, "KIA."
Sarutobi closed his eyes, bringing his pipe to his lips to inhale deeply. It didn't matter how many deaths he had seen and heard about, it never failed to make his heart hurt with grief. The death of one of his own was always personal. He held the breath for several seconds before exhaling slowly and opening his eyes to study the two.
"I would like your report first," he ordered. The two shared yet another glance, before Shisui launched into their report. Given the length of the mission the two traded off in explanations, only faltering when they came to their teammate's death when the mission had all gone to hell with the appearance of Iwagakure shinobi.
He eyed them for a moment and then asked, "Are any of the Iwa-nin alive?"
Hachimitsu's lips pulled back in a feral grin, her eyes flashing, as she purred, "No. They will be lucky if they can even figure what body part goes with what body. Or that they were even from Iwagakure." The corners of Sarutobi's eyes tightened at the casual mention of tearing someone apart. To Hachimitsu it was a perfectly normal response, and she would never deny that parts of her thoroughly enjoyed doing it. However, she did tend to forget that it was something that unnerved people by how undisturbed her family was about killing people, even for shinobi.
"That's good," he finally said after a pause. "Continue." Shisui finished the report, and then fell silent as the Hokage processed the information. Finally, he said, "Well done on the mission despite complications, and my condolences on Nishiki-kun's death. He will be greatly missed."
Hachimitsu bit her lip and then queried worriedly, "Will you be telling Naruto-koneko? Or should we-" She stopped abruptly, however, at the sudden hard look that entered the Hokage's eyes. Her stomach dropped and she instinctively shifted closer to Shisui.
"Naruto-kun will not be informed. In fact, from this point forward neither of you will have contact with him in any way," the Hokage informed them firmly.
"Ho...kage?" Shisui asked in disbelief, fingers tightening as a frantic worry began to build in his stomach and throat. This couldn't be happening. Not right after Nishiki's death.
It was telling when Sarutobi wouldn't quite meet their eyes. The move was subtle and if the two hadn't been trained to notice those kind of things from even their comrades by Hachimitsu's twin, they wouldn't have caught it. "While before you had been helping Nishiki-kun take care of Naruto-kun and I was able to let it slide, it was Nishiki-kun who was given caretaker duties, not you two," he intoned, sounding only slightly rehearsed.
Wrong.
"He's mine too!" Hachimitsu snarled, baring her teeth at the Hokage as rage reared its ugly head. "You can't just take him away from me - us!"
"KIta!" Sarutobi growled harshly, the use of her last name and the tone of voice cutting through the cloud of building rage that was really hiding the rising panic. It was also a reminder that while old, Sarutobi was still the Hokage and much, much more powerful than her and her alter ego. She wouldn't be able to just kill him to keep her kitten with her and Shisui.
Panther-chan rumbled unhappily in her mind, especially when Hachimitsu pushed her to the back. It took more effort than normal, and she had to struggle to close her lips over her bared teeth. She didn't want to back down from the fight she wanted to start with the man that was taking something else from her.
(her precious people were slowly all disappearing - whywhywhywhywHYWHYWHYWH -)
"Hachimitsu," he started in a gentler tone once she backed down. "You will keep away from him. You cannot take him. Your family is too well known, established, and on the verge of becoming a legitimate clan."
"But Grandfather-" she tried, but knew it would be hopeless.
"Gave up the Uzumaki name when he married your grandmother," he reminded. "None of you can claim ties to the Uzumaki blood, especially as your grandfather chose to never claim the name after Uzushio fell." The reminder of her Grandfather's choice had Hachimitsu biting back a furious growl - and tears. The Hokage continued, tone turning grave, "And even if that could be a legitimate claim to Naruto-kun, with what has happened recently? It's for the best you stay away from him."
Hachimitsu froze, her mind going blank. With what had...happened? Hokage had wanted to see them hadn't he? With that statement...something must have happened to her family. But what?
Her father was a civilian, her mother a mission desk shinobi everyone was terrified of for one reason or another (she never could get the story about the incidents). Her brothers were either happily playing with codes in Intelligence with their cousins, or in the academy still.
Which left her twin sister, who was a paper-nin in Intelligence out of sheer laziness, but still took missions outside the village with her team.
Her mind ground to a halt, refusing to believe anything could have happened to her twin. "Shuukaku?" Shisui asked, correctly figuring that she was the most likely to get caught up in whatever had happened while they had been gone.
"You know of the Hyuuga and Kumo incident?" Sarutobi asked instead, and the two warily nodded. The incident had happened right before their mission, and an agreement had been in the works when they had left. How did this relate to Shuukaku? "Some inquiries were raised on how Kumogakure shinobi were able to get far enough into the Hyuuga Compound and successfully kidnap the heiress before being caught. An investigation was ordered and it was discovered that Kita Shuukaku had been selling information to Kumo."
Wrong.
Shuukaku selling information to a foreign village wasn't feasible. Konoha was their home. It just wasn't possible. Shuukaku would never become a traitor.
"What?" Shisui gaped, disbelief evident. "I think I just misheard you, Hokage-sama. It sounded like you just implied that Shuu-chan is a traitor to the village."
Sarutobi's answer wasn't what he wanted to hear. "That is exactly what I implied. She was arrested and questioned about the incident and denied everything."
Hachimitsu's brain finally rebooted and she protested violently, "Of course she denied everything! She didn't do it."
"Evidence proves to the contrary," the Hokage rebuffed in a gentle tone that she was sure was supposed to be all grandfatherly, but really it just made her want to snarl and rip his throat out. "She was sentenced to be executed, but before the sentence could be carried out she managed to escape. She is now on the run and labeled as a missing-nin with standing orders to kill on sight."
"She didn't do it!" Hachimitsu howled, gnashing her teeth together furiously. "Your evidence is wrong! Check it over again! Someone obviously planted it."
"Hachi!" Shisui hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her against his side to make her heavily aware of his presence. "Calm down!"
Panther-chan was too close to the surface, she mused idly, but it allowed her to easily switch from fight to stalk. Everything was wrong and maybe if she attacked (killed - tore apart - maimed) the old man, everything would go back to being right. But stalk would make things easier. She could find more information, proof that he was wrong, and just who had done this.
Then, she could kill him.
Her posture went from aggressive to a deceptively relaxed state. Shisui kept his grip tight around her, unwilling to let her go on a highly possible killing spree. "I don't believe that Shuu-chan did this. She's been framed," Hachimitsu informed Sarutobi in a cold voice.
He inclined his head in acknowledgement, once more not actually meeting her eyes, and said instead, "In the wake of these events and Nishiki-kun's death, both of you have a two week leave." Without another word, the two left the office, their world officially shattered completely.
It was a testament to his teammate's state of mind when she simply pulled them into the closest empty room and slapped a security seal on the door, rather than leave the tower. Shisui wasn't too surprised when Hachimitsu easily broke his grip and twisted instead so she could hug him and bury her face in his neck. He returned the hug easily as she inhaled his scent deeply. The familiarity calmed her down, but it didn't have enough of her own scent entwined with his.
She pulled back and pressed their cheeks together, rubbing against it enough that her lip pulled back slightly from her teeth and a fang scraped his cheek. He simply let out a long-suffering sigh, and petted her hair. After a several minutes, he murmured, "Feeling better?"
"She wouldn't do that," Hachimitsu growled into his neck.
Shisui hummed back, uncaring of the lethal shinobi pressed against his vulnerable jugular. "I know. What are we going to do?" he murmured back, tightening his grip around her waist.
"Get answers," she replied instantly, a rough tone to her voice that promised potential violence.
"Alright, how?" he soothed, even as he poked her, making her pout and pull away, rubbing her cheek against his one more time, making sure her lip pulled back and her teeth scraped his cheek again, but purposefully leaving a smear of saliva. He gave her a disgusted look, making her wrinkle her nose at him in response.
"You," she started, poking him in the chest. "Are going back to the Uchiha Clan, since I know you have to report back to them. You also need to check on the other kittens." Focus. Focus on something so she couldn't think of how her world was crumbling around the edges.
"They can wait a few more hours if need be," Shisui countered somewhat petulantly.
Hachimitsu raised an eyebrow at him and informed dryly, "I'm going to go talk to Kei-chan." The Uchiha couldn't help but make a face at the mention of Shuukaku's best friend. The teen was utterly terrifying and more than a little crazy, even for a shinobi. She made brutal murders look like a lovely field of flowers.
"Yeah, right, you don't need me for that," he agreed easily with an exaggerated shudder. "I always get the feeling she wants to kill me or something."
Hachimitsu rolled her eyes and pointed out flatly, "She wants to kill everyone." He gave her a face that clearly read, 'and?' She shrugged and continued, "It's just her default personality. You should be glad she's not actually a blood relative of me and Shuu-chan."
"Thank kami-sama," he muttered. "If she was, I'm pretty sure anything that got within ten feet of her would just die."
"Now you're just being melodramatic," she grinned weakly. "Obviously it would be at least two feet."
Shisui snorted and nudged her shoulder with his, "Go have your talk with the bakemono, and I'll go be a good Uchiha and report in."
"Calling her a bakemono is why you're on her shitlist," Hachimitsu informed him dryly.
He grinned at her cheekily and responded, "Nah, it's because she can't take my sheer awesomeness!"
Hachimitsu removed the security seal she had placed, and retorted easily as they left the room, "What awesomeness?" Shisui gasped in mock pain, clutching his chest and giving her an exaggerated wounded look.
V
Hachimitsu knew she wasn't as skilled at stealth as her twin (who took stealth to a whole other level that was frightening at times - but she was the better fighter), but she had enough skill to track Suzuki Kei down and follow her until she was alone. When she did get her alone, she proceeded to kidnap the blue haired shinobi and drag her to her room without alerting her family that she was back. Her mom probably already knew, but she wouldn't get off her shift for another few hours.
Kei twisted out of the other girl's grip, flopping back on her bed and whining, "Seriously, Hachi? You could've just asked me to come over, damn it."
Hachi snarled, "What the hell is going on?"
Kei continued to stare at the ceiling as she said lazily, "Your mom's gonna wash your fucking mouth out." She already knew what Hachimitsu wanted, but she wasn't going to confirm anything just yet. She eyed the ink painted all over the walls, noting there was more than the last time she had been here.
"Like your one to talk," Hachi retorted irritably. "Why do you think we're in my room? It's the securest place I know of."
Kei hummed, rolling over and up into a lounging position against the wall, turning a lazy gaze towards Hachimitsu, "Fair enough. I think you even added more fucking seals since I was last here." She flapped her hand at the walls and ceiling, before shifting a knee up and resting her elbow on it and holding her chin with her hand.
"You're stalling," Hachimitsu growled, even as she sat down in front of the other girl. "What's going on? Why is Shuu-chan a traitor?"
The blue haired girl suddenly looked years older, a tiredness creeping into her face that wasn't her normal laziness. "How secure is this damn room?" she asked instead, sounding too weary for her age of only sixteen years.
"What goes on in this room, stays in this room," Hachimitsu answered slowly, eyes narrowing, and the worry in the pit of her stomach increasing. "It's mixed with so many seals, no one is gonna be breaking it. Even mom can't figure it out."
Kei eyed the seals thoughtfully, before rubbing her forehead and asking, "You know what Shuu was working on, right?"
Narrowing her eyes, Hachimitsu answered cautiously, "She was looking into missing children. It had something to do with Orochimaru." Thoughts spinning as she tried to figure just what exactly was going on, she asked tentatively, "Did she find something?"
Kei scoffed, "Yeah she did." Then, scowling down at the blankets with a furious glare, she continued, "I have no fucking clue if she still needed more proof, or already found some, but whatever the hell she did find alerted this person." The absence of her best friend left a gaping hole in her life, and there wasn't anything she could actually do about it. It left bile in the back of her throat, and it took every ounce of meagre self-control she had not to murder every shinobi that bad mouthed Shuukaku. It wouldn't do to draw unnecessary attention to herself.
"So, Shuu-chan was framed," Hachimitsu muttered viciously, glaring at her wall. "Obviously by someone high up in the ranks, or a paper-nin who knows the system as well as we do." She turned her gaze to Kei sharply, who was watching her with a studiously blank expression that was at odds with her usual expressions. "Do you have any idea who?" she demanded.
Kei continued to stare at her for a moment, before she finally answered in a dead tone, "Danzou."
"Danzou?" Hachimitsu hissed venomously, thoughts racing too fast to actually come up with something coherent. She knew him. He was the damn bastard running a rumor war against the Uchiha. He was basically telling the Clan that the village didn't need them, and they would be better off if they all just died. It was simply idiotic considering the Uchiha were a founding clan.
Kei eyed her for a moment, "Yes. I had forgotten you were working with the Uchiha against him." It seemed stupid to forget that little tidbit, but with everything that had been going on, well, who could blame her for forgetting.
The other girl nodded, clenching her jaw and growling, "He's trying to drive the Uchiha out of the village for some reason, and-" She cut herself off before she could reveal something she shouldn't.
"And?" Kei prompted, when she didn't continue.
Hachimitsu shook her head, "No, sorry. I found some information I can't share without breaking the Uchiha's trust in me."
Kei shrugged easily, "Feh. Whatever." The two were silent for a moment before Kei broke it with a question, "But you think Danzou is behind whatever it is?"
Hachimitsu had to take a minute before she realized what the girl was talking about. "You're saying he's involved with the missing children?" she asked, and continued when Kei nodded. "Well, Shuu-chan only started looking into it because of Orochimaru. He didn't exactly have time to go kidnap kids, nor the funds for the lab we found. She believed there was another party involved. Given the nature of that and the fact Orochimaru was researching and experimenting with bloodlines? Not much of a leap to say he's behind this."
"Well, he has his dirty fucking fingers in all sorts of nasty pies," Kei muttered, tracing the seal lines with her eyes and missing the questioning look from Hachimitsu. She swallowed roughly and, avoiding the other girl's gaze, dropped another bombshell on her, "Shuu's teammates are dead."
Because why not? With everything else that had already happened, why not have her twin sister's teammates be dead as well? Hachimitsu didn't even realize she was letting out a high pitched keening noise until Kei was in her face, holding her cheeks and rubbing them together.
"Hachi, Hachi, Hachi," she was chanting, voice faintly panicked and sounding like she was on the verge of breaking down.
"How?" she choked out, blinking back tears violently, and clutching onto Kei's shirt, twisting the material with her fingers. Kei stuttered out a noise of confusion, and Hachimitsu clarified, "How did they die?"
Kei's fingers spasmed against the girl's face, but her voice was level when she answered, "Officially? A fucking mission accident. Unofficially? I'm positive fucking Danzou had them killed."
"Why? He framed Shuu-chan, not killed," she asked, clinging to Kei desperately and inhaling the other girl's scent somewhat frantically.
Kei swallowed dryly, licking her lips and managing to choke out somewhat hysterically, "I think it's my fault." Hachimitsu stared at her, not letting her pull away like she obviously wanted to. She simply waited for her to continue. After a frazzled minute, she did. "They came to me, ya know? Because like hell they would believe Shuu would sell out the fucking village. They-they wanted to know how to fix it. So-so I-I told them. We needed fucking proof Shuu was framed. They went digging, but they weren't careful enough - why couldn't they have been careful enough? He noticed, ya know? Because why not? He'd already framed Shuu, so why not notice her teammate's digging?"
She took a gulping gasp, fingers curling desperately against Hachimitsu's face, but eyes completely dry despite her voice cracking with emotion. "By then Shuu had already fled, and I guess he figured it was just easier to have them fucking killed in a "mission accident" then frame them too. Doesn't matter much now, though huh? They're still fucking dead and it's my fault."
Hachimitsu was quiet and then huffed weakly, closing their eyes, "They did exactly what I was planning on doing. It's not your fault."
"And now you know the fucking consequences of what happens when you go against him," Kei growled, looking at her fiercely. "This isn't going to be an easy fix, and you're already on Danzou's fucking shitlist because of the Uchiha, so you have better be fucking careful or I will murder you myself, you hear me, Hachi?"
"Is there even going to be a fix?" Hachimitsu asked weakly, fingers tightening in their grip of Kei's shirt, even as she met the other girl's eyes.
"Probably not," Kei scoffed, visibly pulling herself back together. "Shuu's gonna be a missing-nin for a while."
"So, we drop it, go with what everyone believes, and be extra careful about what we're poking at."
Kei gave her a flat stare and corrected, "You mean what you're poking at. If I try to poke at anything, I'm fucking dead. I'm nowhere near skilled enough to poke at something like this. I'm lucky I'm not dead already."
"Fine, me," Hachimitsu rolled her eyes, huffing and slowly releasing the death grip she had on Kei's shirt, just as Kei was removing her hands from her cheeks. Then she rubbed a hand over her face and sighed, "Shit, I'm going to have to tell my family to drop it. Kami-sama, everyone...have they been poking?"
"Not really?" Kei grimaced, moving her arms so she was hugging herself. "I think they were waiting on you to get back before they went all wild cat on the village."
Hachimitsu groaned, hiding her face in her hands, "I'm gonna have to mince my words too, since they won't all fit in my room."
Kei shook her head, "You shouldn't tell them that much anyway. Tell them as little as possible; the less they know the safer they are. Your teammates too." Kei immediately caught the flinch and demanded, "What happened? Are Nishiki and Shisui alright?"
Hachimitsu clenched her jaw and spat, "Nishiki's dead." Kei whined in the back of her throat, and Hachimitsu could see her heart shattering into pieces. And she had forgotten. Nishiki and Kei had gotten involved a few months back, and had been steady and so very obviously in love with each other. She didn't even have to think about it. She leaned forward and drew the other girl into a tight embrace. She knew there wouldn't be tears, Kei had lost that ability a long time ago, but that didn't stop the dry sobs from shaking her suddenly fragile body.
It was a while before Kei had enough control over herself to pull back and ask, "The chibi?"
And then the rage was back with a fiery vengeance. "I tell the Hokage, and he tells me I have to abandon Naruto! That he'll never know! Then he tells me my sister's a traitor and on the run with a kill on sight order. And I can't do a thing about it and her teammates are dead."
"I suppose I should mention that everyone thinks Shuu killed them," Kei added, voice cracking. Hachimitsu let out a little hysterical laugh, and winced when she continued, "I haven't informed my teammates about any of this either."
"Isn't Kenshin a Hyuuga?" Hachimitsu asked tentatively.
Kei gave her a somewhat bitter smile and answered, "We have a silent agreement to just ignore the elephant in the room. It's working pretty well."
Hachimitsu eyed her and huffed, "Of course it is. But then, who does know the truth?"
"Kiyoi knows," she answered promptly. It was kind of a given the blonde would know. All three of them had grown up together and it was only rules that had prevented them from being assigned the same genin team. Though that had actually probably been for the best. "I'm pretty fucking sure no one in your family knows the truth, though they don't believe Shuu is a traitor. Inoichi is basically in the same boat, but is keeping his head down and not asking questions, which is probably for the best since the rest of his fucking genin team are now dead. Other than that? That masked weirdo you call a brother might know something."
"Kakashi-ni-senpai?" Hachimitsu asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "No, he wouldn't know anything and is probably pulling what Inoichi is if he does believe Shuu-chan wouldn't do something like this."
Kei merely shrugged, "That's pretty much every one."
"So just us and Kiyoi know the full truth and we should keep it that way," Hachi summarized, making Kei hum in response. "Well, I'll keep poking around, since if I drop the Uchiha completely it will draw attention in the wrong way, just as much as being noticed I'm poking. I'll just gradually taper off." She grimaced at the idea. She really didn't want to have to do that, but it was better to be alive and able to do something, then be dead and not.
Kei eyed her, still looking a little brittle around the edges, "Good plan. If you do that and manage to keep an eye on Danzou without drawing too much attention, well. He is human. He's bound to make a mistake at some point."
"And then we'll pounce," Hachimitsu purred, getting to her feet.
Kei stood as well, and then added cautiously, "Shuu probably has some plans of her own. She's led all the tracking teams sent after her on a wild goose chase, and I wouldn't be surprised if she drops off the map completely soon, if not already." Hachimitsu nodded in agreement, and Kei leaned over to touch their cheeks together, "Take a nap. Sleep helps."
Hachimitsu grunted, and waved goodbye as the other girl left through the window. She was distracted for a moment by thoughts of seals for her window to make it harder to get in and out of, but soon the day took its toll and she collapsed on her bed and sobbed.
V
Year 104 - March 6 - Outskirts of Takanobe Village - Fire Country
V
Fury was the only thing driving her right now. How dare he. How dare he use her own area of expertise against her. There would nothing left of him when she was through with him.
Kita Shuukaku snarled as she led the current tracking team following her into a secluded part of the forests surrounding the Takanobe Village. It was the only team that had even gotten close to her since she had been forced to flee her village. She had set up a maze of false trails to lead the teams sent after her away from her, and by the time anyone had realized what she had done, she was on the other side of the country from where they were.
However, there was only one tracking team that would have known what she would have done, and it was the only reason she was leading them to a secluded area rather than killing them outright. She would never kill a fellow Konoha shinobi if she could help it.
With another leap, she skidded a little across the forest floor in the clearing, spinning on her foot and relaxing into her taijutsu stance. Not even a minute passed before she sensed two of the group stay further back, while the third rushed for the clearing. It was another minute before a far too familiar form landed on one of the branches, blue eyes staring down at her neutrally.
"Kiyoi," Shuukaku greeted lightly, stance still deceptively relaxed.
The blonde inclined her head, long braid falling over her shoulder and greeted back, "Shuu." There was silence as the two stared at each other before Mori Kiyoi said flatly, "Takeo and Kiyoshi are dead."
Shuukaku's mind went blank. Takeo and Kiyoshi dead? It had only been two weeks since she's fled, how were they dead? Her boys weren't supposed to be dead - they were- they were supposed to be alive and moving on with their lives. They-they would make careers in the Torture and Interrogation Department and drive Inoichi-sensei up the wall.
She-
She would never see them again?
"...how?"
Kiyoi winced, shifting on the branch, and answered cautiously, "Officially a mission accident - though the rumor mill paints it as you who killed them."
Her - kill her teammates? Wasn't it bad enough she was branded as a traitor to her village? Wait- "Officially? What about unofficially?" Shuukaku's eyes had bled gold and her pupils had contracted into slits - Ghost had prowled forward and was rumbling for blood. Her lips curled back around her teeth, showing the feline like teeth that were itching to rip someone's throat out.
Kiyoi tapped her fingers against her thigh nervously, eyeing her best friend. It was one thing when they had been safe together in the village, but now that Shuukaku was labelled traitor and without a territory and pack, she was much more liable to attack. Kiyoi knew she was pack, but she wasn't as close as Takeo and Kiyoshi - or even Kei - and so she wasn't positive she wouldn't be attacked.
"Unofficially, it was the Hawk," she answered lowly, mindful of the fact that even a few dozen yards away, her teammate was still an Inuzuka.
She wasn't prepared for the haunting yowl that escaped the redhead's mouth. The Kita had doubled over, clutching her head and making distressed noises that tore from her throat in between heaving sobs. She hunched down on the ground, making a low keening noise, that had Kiyoi teetering on the edge of wanting to comfort her best friend.
The blonde winced when her teammates appeared at her side, but was thankful when they didn't attack their target. "We're not stupid, ya know," Garou Inuzuka growled lowly, eyeing Shuukaku with a pained sympathy. He had seen his father (strong and tall and so, so proud) breakdown in a very similar way when he heard about the death of his own teammates. He had never been the same afterwards, and not even his mother had been able to help before she had died too.
"Shuukaku-san would never betray the village," Kurama Naoki muttered, tucking his ashy gray hair behind his ear and tugging his headband in a more secure manner. He then tucked his hands into his kimono sleeves and continued, "It's obvious someone wanted to get rid of her. Hokage-sama would've only sent out the Hunter-nin to kill her if she was truly a traitor, but instead he sends out tracker teams?" He shook his head, looking only vaguely disgusted.
Garou picked up the train of thought though, lips curling back in a snarl of his own, "Not to mention, there are other teams tracking her with the intent to kill that I've never seen before in the village. But they still have the scent of Konoha that all of us have."
Kiyoi shrugged uncomfortably, "Drop it." The two boys shared a look over her head, but both inclined their heads in agreement.
Shuukaku finally fell silent, but it wasn't the usual redhead the three were used to dealing with. Her eyes had bled gold entirely, her whites gone completely, and the pupil slit, while her teeth were bared subtly in a dangerous expression. "Where are those teams?" she growled lowly, her voice deep and slightly guttural in tone.
Kiyoi glanced over to Garou, and the Inuzuka bristled slightly, the hair on the back of his neck standing up as those gold eyes turned to him. He knew the gaze of a predator when he saw one, and he was so glad he wasn't the actual target. "They followed the North and West trails," he answered, shifting closer to Kiyoi subconsciously.
"Shuu," the blonde started before the redhead could start her own hunting. "Be careful."
Shuukaku narrowed her eyes, before in a single bound she was in front of the three of them. Gently she pressed her cheek against the blonde's, inhaling deeply. A low rumble emanated from her chest, and Kiyoi pressed back, something inside her easing. Shuukaku would stay as safe as much as a missing-nin could. With one last nuzzle, the redhead vanished without a trace.
"We lost the trail near Kitatsugaru village along the Southern Coast border with Tea Country," Kiyoi said conversationally.
Garou huffed, "The trail turned cold, just like all the others. If we lost the trail it implies we weren't actually looking."
Kiyoi gave him a mild smile, before turning to Naoki with a questioning look. He answered the silent question with, "We questioned the villagers, but no one had seen someone with red hair, or in fact, anyone new. It's out of season for tourists, so they would know if someone new had come through. The surrounding areas showed no sign of shinobi or civilian travel." The three shared a nod, before turning South to make the story a reality. They had to be careful not to arouse suspicion.
Shuukaku headed up North, first. She had laid a trail that had cut through the forests, rather than any of the roads, and made it seem like she was heading for Rice Country. The trail leading West though, made it seem as if she was heading over to the border of Wind Country or towards Ame. However, she wanted to keep them from finding out her real destination, and to also let out some of her rage.
If these unknown squads that smelled like Konoha, but weren't actually Konoha, were a part of Danzou's supposedly disbanded ROOT organization. Well, nobody would miss them, would they?
A feral grin spread across her face and she went into complete stealth mode. No one would be able to see or hear her until she wanted them too.
Her ability with stealth was one of her greatest strengths, but most people didn't realize just how good at it she was. Even when she had popped out of nowhere, they only focused on her scaring the shit out them, rather than the fact they hadn't realized she'd been there. She had drawn attention to her seal work and kenjutsu, rather than her stealth, and that habit would now serve her better as a missing-nin rather than a village shinobi.
It rankled at her that she was a missing-nin when she had given everything to her village. That her own specialty of Intelligence had been used against her. But above all it was the fact that he had had her team killed. Blood would be spilled before even a portion of her rage was soothed.
She reached the border town of Mogami in just over two and a half days and, stretching her senses out, pinpointed the location of the team following her false trail. Ghost let out a rumbling purr, and she slipped away in that direction. The Hunt was officially on.
It was almost too easy to sneak up on the four-man team, and even easier to silently slip behind one and slit their throat. Before the others could react she had gutted another one, and was sliding her sword through the chest of the third. She ducked under a swing from the forth, pulling her sword out in one smooth move as she spun around, blade glinting in the dying light. There was the clash of metal as her blade hit the other's, and in a move only she could pull off, twisted her body, dropped her sword and snapped their neck.
She surveyed the scene and noting that the one she had gutted was still alive, moved over and simply slit his throat. All four of them had blank ANBU masks. She narrowed her eyes dangerously, before rifling through their stuff to see if there was anything useful. Other than the basic shinobi supplies, which she sealed away in the storage seal on her wrist, there wasn't anything of note. Grumbling, she piled the bodies on top of each other and set off the fire seal on the inner part of left arm.
The bodies went up in flames and she left only after they had all turned to ash, cutting the chakra she was feeding into the seal off. The flames went out, and she scattered the ashes, before turning her sights in the direction of yet another border town, Yuza, this one near the Ame border. Goura had said there had been only two teams, so two teams would die. After the second team was hunted, she would make her way to Uzushio to disappear for a while.
If she ran through the night and the next day she'd make it to Yuza by the next night fall at least, and provided everything went relatively smoothly she could make it to the coast within two days of non-stop travelling. She had wanted to be out of Fire Country a week ago, but having to lay false trails had severely cut into her time. Furthermore, with the revelation of her teammate's deaths, she wasn't going to leave until someone was dead. It provided a greater risk of actually getting caught, but she didn't care at that moment.
She was on the Hunt and wouldn't stop until they were all dead.
V
Year 104 - March 11 - Outskirts of Yuza Village - Fire Country Border
V
The battle wasn't as easy as the previous one had been, but Shuukaku didn't actually mind by that point. Ghost was yowling with bloodlust and her blood was pumping through her veins as a feral grin stretched over her face. Her seals were glowing with her chakra and her precious Yasei no Soshaku was singing in wild abandon. She had been able to slit the throat of one of her targets, but the others had reacted quicker than the other group, and a battle had commenced.
Shuukaku had chopped the head off of another one early on, leaving her fighting two on one, but one of them was beginning to lag. She twisted her body out of the way of an oncoming swing, and in a move that contorted her whole body, gutted the one tiring (who as a testament to said tiredness couldn't dodge in time). With only one opponent left, she twisted once more, blade slicing through the air and caught him by surprise, the sword sliding into his stomach with sickening ease.
She pulled the blade out with a nauseating squelch, slicing his throat and then the other one she'd gutted. Once again she piled the bodies, and feeding chakra into the fire seal set them aflame. Only after the bodies had turned to ash, did she start making her way for the coast. She wouldn't rest until she was completely out of Fire Country.
It would be another two days of no sleep, and then a tense resting period stowed away on a ship heading for Tea Country for a week. Once she arrived there, she'd recuperate for a day, and then cross to the other coast, which would take a day and half if she slept for the night. After she reached the coast, she would ship hop with her stealth until she reached Uzushio. That would take a month, give or take, and once she actually arrived at Uzushio she'd probably sleep for a few days just recuperating.
And to Konoha, they'd believe her to be dead, with no appearances or leads.
She would figure out what to do after she made it to Uzushio.
V
Year 104 - March 18 - Konohagakure - Fire Country
V
Shimura Danzou frowned down at the report in his hand, unsure what to take from it. The two squads he had sent after that pest Kita Shuukaku had all vanished, with no traces to be found. There had been evidence of what trail they had followed and where that had led, but after they reached the border towns, they were simply gone.
But he had been a shinobi for too long to believe they were simply gone.
He didn't know how or who, but he would find out. It couldn't have been Kita, she was too low skilled for her to be able to take down two teams of his ROOT shinobi, so something or one had taken them out instead. With any luck, Kita would be eaten alive by other missing-nin if not one of the teams sent out by him or Hiruzen.
Despite the loss of his teams, a good thing had happened and he was at least satisfied by that. Kita Shuukaku was no longer a thorn in his side, and would no doubt be dead soon, if not already.
V
"The trail went cold on the outskirts of the Southern Coast border village Kitatsugaru," Kiyoi reported, face bland. "We questioned the locals and scouted out the surrounding area, but no one had seen anyone new and we couldn't find any sign of shinobi or civilian travel."
The Hokage hummed, inhaling a lungful of smoke, and said, "Very well. You're dismissed." The tracking team nodded in unison and left the office for the week downtime before they were no doubt to be sent out on another mission.
Kiyoi cocked her head at her teammates and asked idly, "Noodle run?"
Garou huffed, but nodded in agreement, whereas Naoki smiled and said, "Of course, Kiyoi-chan." The three had made it a habit to eat out together after missions, and so if there friends ever wanted to get a hold of them after a mission they were all in one spot. Kiyoi knew Kei at least would find them there because if anything else had happened while they had been gone, the other shinobi would inform them the moment they were available.
True to form, the moment they sat down at a table with their bowls, Kei appeared at the entry way, a grim look on her face that only enhanced the tired lines in her face. Kiyoi stared. What the hell had happened? "Kei?" the blonde asked warily when the blue haired shinobi sat down with a grunt.
"Nishiki's dead," Kei responded, voice dead. Kiyoi flinched and let out a low whine, but didn't offer any comfort. No doubt it would only cause Kei to irritated, since she was already grieving, and from the tired lines already broken down at some point.
Naoki's smile faded into a frown, but didn't push, instead asking, "Hachimitsu-san is back?" Garou was simply content to stuff his face with noodles to avoid any emotional bullshit. He wasn't going to touch that situation with a twenty-foot pole. He would only make it worse rather than better, so he wasn't even going to try. Naoki and Kiyoi, on the other hand, were a hell of a lot better at those kind of situations.
"How is she doing?" Kiyoi asked cautiously. It probably hadn't been pretty when the girl had returned only to find out her sister was branded a traitor and her teammates were dead as well. Add all of that on top of the death of her own teammate? She was surprised the village was still standing.
Kei stole Naoki's bowl of noodles with a grumpy look, though the gray haired shinobi gave it up willingly enough. It was the normal kind of thing between the two since they had grown up together mostly as cousins. Kei would "steal" Naoki's food, while the boy only looked amused giving up said food easily. "She's not coping well, but none of us do," Kei grunted, slurping some of the noodles lazily. "She's been forbidden from seeing the chibi, Sushi too."
Kiyoi gaped, and sputtered, "What? But doesn't she have a cla-"
Kei shook her head, interrupting before the blonde could even finish, "Jiji gave up the name and never reclaimed it. Nobody remembers he's one, anyways. But with everything with Shuu, Hachi's been forbidden, and through her Sushi too."
Kiyoi hesitated before asking, "Can you take over caretaker duties through Nishiki-kun?"
The only sign of Kei's emotional state with the white knuckled grip on her chopsticks. "I'm not sure if the Hokage would even allow it. We weren't exactly married," Kei answered blandly, eyes focused on her noodles as she shoved a bunch in her mouth. "Besides, I'm not exactly child-friendly."
Naoki snickered at that, making Kei elbow him harshly in the stomach. Garou swallowed his own mouthful and asked, "Could one of us take up the duties?"
Kei immediately shook her head, "You and Naoki can't, you're fucking clan kids. Kiyoi probably can't for the same vague reasons I can't, despite being more kid friendly. Chances are the chibi will be sent to a fucking orphanage officially." She felt rather vindicated when the other three shinobi all looked appalled. Kiyoi looked like she wanted to storm the Hokage Tower and throttle said Hokage.
Surprisingly it was Garou who pointed out, "Won't that be emotionally damaging to the pup? He's what three? Having a primary caregiver and then suddenly not? He's going to grow abandonment issues."
Kei snarled at him, "Trust me, I know. I don't know what the fuck that old man is thinking, but he's not even telling the chibi Nishiki's dead."
"Are we forbidden from associating with the chibi?" Naoki asked idly, using his own chopsticks to steal one of the tempura pieces on Garou's side plate. Kei opened her mouth to respond, but paused. Well, she hadn't been told she couldn't see the chibi and she'd have to be stupid to think the Hokage didn't know she had visited the chibi before.
"Ya know, I don't fucking know," the girl finally responded, looking contemplative. She may hate kids, but the chibi had grown on her like some stubborn fungus. There was also the fact that the chibi was pack to Shuu and Hachi, and that meant her as well. If nothing else, it'd keep Hachi relatively happy. And if it soothed some of her own hurt, well. That was her business.