Ambition of an Immortal
I The Serpent's Strike
"Don't come out of here..." said Nesote as he slammed the door. The little girl in the closet shivered with fear as her brother slammed the door. She curled up in a corner of the closet as the sound of Nesote's retreating footsteps were overpowered buy the noise of explosive tags going off. The house shook as strange techniques were unleashed. Women screaming from nearby houses caused her to bury her head between her knees. The light coming from underneath the closet dimmed as smoke filled the room. A tear rolled down her cheek. The far wall of the room crashed down, opening the cottage to the outside air. The little girl fought the impulse to scream.
"Leave me alone!" shouted Nesote. The little girl raised her head in horror to see her brother being dragged by figures clad in dark clothing. Nesote kicked and struggled, but he could not free himself. One of his captors punched him in the gut. He coughed violently, and the little girl covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.
"What... do you want with us..." stammered Nesote as he tried to catch his breath. One of the figures drew a kunai and stuck it into Nesote's leg. He screamed in pain.
"We don't want anything with you..." said one of them. "You are worthless..." He withdrew his kunai and stabbed Nesote's other leg. Nesote screamed again.
"Our village hasn't done anything to you!" shouted Nesote.
"But you haven't done anything for us either..." said the ninja. "We ask so little... We only ask that you not steal our property..." The ninjas holding Nesote threw him to the ground. Another of the ninjas threw a kunai at him. To their surprise, the kunai stuck into a small log. Nesote had used a replacement technique in spite of his injuries.
"He can use ninjutsu…" said one of the ninja. "Although he only has a little chakra, he will be a perfect test!"
They turned to find him pull a knife out and lunge for one of the ninjas. One of them began forming seals with his hands. As he pointed his arms towards Nesote, bolts of lightning leapt from his fingertips and filled Nesote's body with unbearable pain. As he slumped to the ground, the little girl cried out. The ninjas stopped and turned to the closet.
"Wait!" shouted Nesote. The group of ninjas ignored him and pulled the closet door open. The little girl raised her head and saw the dark clad ninjas looking down on her. Their faces were covered except for their eyes. The shining silver forehead protectors that adorned their heads bore an emblem resembling a coiled snake.
"Leave her alone... take me!" shouted Nesote.
"Is she the one?" asked one of them. One of the Ninjas looked at her picked her up. She made no sound, but tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Please stop!" shouted Nesote. "She is my sister!"
"She was your sister..." replied one of the Ninjas. One of the ninjas formed a few quick seals and pointed at the girl. Her eyes began to glow brightly. Nesote screamed in pain and his stomach exploded. Blood splattered across the room. The little girl's eyes faded back to their normal color.
"She will need some time to recharge…" said one of the ninjas. "Let's go."
"Nesote..." she whispered. The ninjas carried her into the woods out of sight. A woman rushes in to the room.
"Nesote!!" she shouts. Nesote struggles to speak as the woman drops to her knees and weeps next to the young man.
"Mom… Imiri... taken..." whispers Nesote. Blood poured onto the floor, and it was clear that the injury was fatal. The weeping woman tried to calm Nesote.
"Don't move... I'll get a doctor..." she whispered as tears rolled off her cheeks and fell onto Nesote's chest.
"Money in floor... hire... Konoha..." Nesote coughed violently and then grew still. His mother's sobs grew louder as life slipped away from him.
"I will hire Konoha... I will get Imiri back..." whispered his mother. She got up and looked around. The sudden violent assault had ended with the capture of little Imiri, and the sounds of slaughter were replaced by the weeping of women throughout the village.
"Why...? Why would they do this? There was no need to kill him…" Hot tears of anger poured down her round cheeks. The woman got up and kicked pieces of debris away from a loose board in the floor. She pulled it up and retrieved a small satchel. She opened it up to reveal a shining stash of money. She closed it and got to her feet.
"I'll be taking that as well..." The woman whirled around, startled. Another ninja appeared before her and pressed a kunai to her throat.
"It will cover our traveling expenses..." The ninja laughed as he reached for the satchel. The woman spit in the ninja's eye. He shouted angrily, but lost sight of his target. The woman rushed out of the house. The ninja followed after her. The woman sprinted out into the woods. She looked behind her but it seemed that she had lost her enemy. She turned again to face the direction she was running. As soon as her head turned, she saw her enemy in front of her. She gasped and skidded to a halt. He grabbed her satchel and threw her to the ground.
"Thank you..." said the snake ninja. "Don't worry, some of your generous donation will be used to support the girl. After all, her abilities will be very useful to our master..."
"Who is your master? What does he want with my daughter?" asked the woman.
"My master prefers to remain anonymous..." replied the ninja. "And I think you already know why the girl would be useful to people of our profession..." The ninja turned away and walked toward the woods. The woman leapt at him. He spun and kicked her to the ground. She groaned and she landed on the earth.
"You do not have the ability to stop us. You should give up," said the ninja. "Even if you managed to get to Konoha, how likely is it that you can convince them to lend you their shinobi without pay? And even if they decided to lend their most powerful shinobi to you out of the generosity of their hearts, how likely is it that they could defeat the abilities that the girl will give us?"
"Shut up!" shouted the woman. "She is not a weapon! She is my daughter!" The woman got up and rushed at the ninja. He again spun around and kicked her in the face. She fell over and blood sprayed from her mouth. She struggled to get up, but after a few moments, darkness overtook her.
After several moments she came to. She coughed and slowly got up. The light of morning began to shine between the trees. She began to walk toward her village. Tears rolled down her face as she saw the demolished homes and gardens. As she entered the town, other townspeople gave her looks of anger. She made her way toward the center of town where the village elder was giving water to injured villagers.
"Tujek..." said the woman.
"Erin..." replied the elder. "Have you come to help?"
"Tujek... I wish to hire shinobi to reclaim Imiri..." replied Erin.
"Erin... do not think me unsympathetic, but we are not in a position to hire shinobi," replied Tujek.
"But Elder... we can get her back, and maybe stop this group that..." started Erin.
"Erin," interrupted Tujek. "Your daughter is no longer a secret. Now that one group of ninjas know of her, even if we defeat them, what is to stop others from doing the same?"
"But Elder..." said Erin.
"No Erin... we lost twenty of our men trying to hide her," said the Elder. "This is not a hidden village; this is a farming village..."
"One of those men was my son Nesote!" replied Erin. "I am going to Konoha!"
"I am sorry for your loss Erin..." replied Tujek. "But you go to Konoha on your own. We cannot help you..."
"I understand..." replied Erin as she turned and walked away.
"Will she get leaf ninja to help her?" asked one of the women helping the Elder administer aid to the wounded.
"I don't know..." replied Tujek. "I hope so..."
"But won't we get attacked again if Imiri comes back?" asked the nurse.
"The Hokage is a person of great repute..." said Tujek. "While she is a skilled fighter, she is better known as a healer. I would think that makes her more likely to be sympathetic to Erin's cause..."
After a day's travel, Erin arrived in Konoha. She was covered with dust, and still had bruises on her face from where she was kicked. Several ninja accompanied her to the Hokage's office.
"Who are you?" said Tsunade impatiently. Erin bowed before the Hokage.
"My name is Erin. I live in a village just north of the country of fire. I have come to beg for the aid of your fine shinobi to retrieve my daughter that was kidnapped by ninja last night," replied the woman.
"This type of mission will not be cheap," replied Tsunade.
"I beg your forgiveness but I have no money... the ninjas stole it from me before I could get here..." said Erin.
"I'm sure you understand, we aren't running a charity here," replied Tsunade.
"I would reclaim the money and my daughter myself, but the ninja stole it from me..." pled Erin.
"Right..." replied Tsunade impatiently. "I'm sure that your enemies would love to foot the bill for us hunting them down..."
"It's not theirs..." pled Erin as tears poured down her face. "And these were not ordinary ninja..."
"All the more reason for Konoha to not risk our shinobi without just compensation..." replied Tsunade. "And what would make you say these were not ordinary ninja anyway?"
"The marks on their forehead protectors..." replied Erin. "Their forehead protectors had the image of a coiled snake..." Tsunade sat up and raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"A coiled snake you say?" repeated Tsunade.
"Yes..." replied Erin. "I do not know what village or group they affiliate with though, and they refused to identify their master." Tsunade rubbed her chin as she thought about the woman's story.
"Why did no others from your village come here with you to persuade us to rescue their daughters?" asked Tsunade. Erin found the penetrating gaze of the Hokage uncomfortable.
"M... my..." stammered Erin.
"Your daughter was the only one taken?" asked Tsunade. Erin nodded. "And no one in your village particularly wanted her rescued?" Tears welled up in Erin's eyes. Tsunade got up and knelt to look Erin straight in the eyes. Erin tried to turn away, but Tsunade pulled her close to face her.
"Do not try to deceive me Erin," said Tsunade sternly. "What are your daughter's abilities? Tell me!" Erin wiped her eyes and turned toward Tsunade.
"She doesn't have abilities that she can use whenever she wishes..." she whispered. "But you are right that she has... powers... powers that others wish to exploit..." Erin cleared her throat and looked Tsunade in the eye. "Under certain circumstances, she causes a person's chakra to become destructive. Even the most powerful ninja becomes a victim of their own power."
"Do you know at what range the technique becomes effective?" asked Tsunade.
"She has to have seen the person once," replied Erin. "But after she has, the power is not limited by distance..." Tsunade's eyes grew wide.
"Then why can she not destroy the ninjas who captured her with this technique?" asked Tsunade.
"She cannot consciously use the ability," explained Erin. "It is activated when she is under the influence of ninja illusion techniques..."
"Genjutsu?" asked Tsunade. "There must be more to it than that..."
"There is..." said Erin.
"Hey Naruto!" shouted Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru!" said Naruto with a laugh. "Where are you going?"
"To Hokage-sama's..." replied Shikamaru. "You are supposed to come too!"
"What does granny Tsunade want now?" asked Naruto. He quickly leapt up until he reached Shikamaru's side. It was not long before they arrived at the Hokage's office. They opened the way and found Lee and Hinata standing next to a woman they did not recognize. Tsunade had a stern expression, but made no movements as the two entered.
"Oh... is this an important person we must protect?" asked Naruto excitedly.
"I do not want harm to come to her," replied Tsunade. "… but protecting her is not the purpose of this mission. Her daughter has been kidnapped. Your mission will be to rescue her."
"Do we know where she has been taken?" asked Shikamaru.
"I will let our client Erin answer that…" answered Tsunade.
"They headed northeast… toward the land of lightning…" replied Erin.
"Did they kidnap her for ransom?" asked Hinata.
"No," replied Erin. "She can be manipulated using genjutsu into turning people's chakra against them…"
"A perfect ninja assassin…" said Shikamaru. "Is the hidden village of Cloud involved?"
"The ninja that captured her wore forehead protectors that bore a coiled serpent…" said Tsunade.
"Oh! A serpent!" said Naruto excitedly. "That must be the hidden village of…"
"Naruto… there's no way you could know what hidden village that would be associated with…" said Shikamaru.
"Yes I do!" said Naruto defiantly. "It's…" Naruto scratched his chin as he thought about it.
"Naruto-kun…" whispered Hinata.
"Eh… ok, what is it?" asked Naruto.
"There are no records of a group that use a coiled snake as their emblem…" said Shikamaru.
"A secret new organization of ninjas that kidnaps little girls?" asked Lee. "If we don't bring her back, then I will run around Konoha twenty times on my hands Erin-kun!" Lee clenched his fist and gave a dramatic determined pose. Erin smiled at his determination.
"I am grateful to you Lee-kun!" she said. Lee began making strange poses as he continued his passionate rhetoric.
"What kind of ninja would try and take a young girl in the springtime of youth?!" shouted Lee. "There is no way they can match the strength of our youth sweat! We will definitely show them that there is no power greater than our hard work! This kind of…"
"Lee!" shouted Tsunade. "Enough! You four… accompany Erin back to her village, then rescue her daughter!"
"Yes Hokage-sama!" said Lee and Hinata. The five began to leave the Hokage's office.
"Shikamaru…" said Tsunade. "I have something to tell you before you go…" Shikamaru returned inside the Hokage's office and closed the door. The other four began to make their way out of the city.
"What is it Hokage-sama?" asked Shikamaru.
"I am sure that you came to the same conclusions about the snake forehead protectors as I have Shikamaru," she said.
"Even though Jiraiya-sama reported that he had been killed…" started Shikamaru. "Do you think it's possible that he is still alive?"
"Yamato reported an interesting confrontation that he and Naruto had recently with his right hand man…" said Tsunade. "I believe he is alive… but one other thing…"
"What is it?" asked Shikamaru.
"This is not the first time that the little girl Imiri has been kidnapped… per se…" said Tsunade.
"What do you mean?" asked Shikamaru.
"Several years ago, Imiri's mother Erin was kidnapped when she was pregnant with Imiri…" said Tsunade. Shikamaru gasped.
"That's right," said Tsunade. "He experimented on her unborn child in order to develop new jutsus for himself…"
"I can't stand him..." said Shikamaru. "That Orochimaru!!"