Well, only took me a week, but I got this chapter done. Hopefully it's a lot more enjoyable than the last one. It's twice as long and has lots of action and fighting and actually moves the plot of this first arc along. A lot.
Not much to say. Enjoy the longest chapter (by page) of Loser Uchiha yet!
Loser Uchiha
Chapter IX
All Aboard: Clash in the Great River!
OBITO
The Great River was rather wide, thought Obito.
"Two hundred meters wide, in fact," Errai was saying. Their former guide had been invited to tag along, being Doussai's brother, on their way to the politician's temporary home.
The river was a glistening blue, mirroring the great open sky above it. They had set sail not two hours ago, aboard the The Riverman. Errai had just finished explaining to Obito and Rin about the history of the ship. Apparently it was a famous flagship from during the civil war that formed what was now the River Country. Obito wasn't sure whether to be impressed or worried that they were sailing aboard a more than fifty-year-old ship.
Nevertheless, the vessel seemed quite safe. Powerful, in fact. It was a galleon, great and powerful, a kind that was no longer constructed in these days. In fact, Obito had been surprised to hear that the biggest ship in the River capital's harbor was to be the vessel for their trip. He had expected something quite smaller. Still, he was happy to have gotten the chance for a close up with the Riverman. It was huge, with an equally large mast and blue and white sails, with the emblem of the River Country painted on to them. The crow's nest, Obito was sure, must have been at least one hundred feet above them. Below deck were thirty cannons, although no cannoneers seemed to have been enlisted for the voyage. No doubt, they weren't expecting any attackers, but if anyone did attack, cannons would most likely be useless against them.
They had set sail early in the morning. It was now only eleven. And according to the captain, they would arrive at their destination the next morning, or late at night depending on the winds.
Speaking of whom, Captain Kisoto Shiranui was a strange figure. Obito had immediately spotted him upon boarding, as the captain stood out quite a bit. He wore a dark overcoat and a large hat that covered a majority of his head, which was bald, Obito assumed. He couldn't think of any other reason to hide almost his entire head. Anyway, Captain Kisoto had greeted them almost as soon as they had arrived, revealing a deep voice and an intricate personality that Obito was not likely to forget.
The rest of the crew, as far as he had been able to tell, was easy to get along with. He had trouble understanding some of the sailor lingo that many of them used, although most of it seemed to be orders regarding something on the ship that Obito did not know the name for.
"The river flows across practically the entire continent, actually," Errai said, snapping Obito back to reality. "Almost every country depends on it in some way. Some for water, some for food, others for transport. But its most heavily based here, in the river country. It runs in from the ocean in the south, where it splits off in many directions, heading basically to every country in the world. It all starts here, though… and the splitting of the river provides for great transportation to every corner of the River Country."
Obito hadn't really been paying too much attention to Errai, instead watching the water as the ship sailed through it.
"You know," said Arashi, showing up behind them, "this same river flows to the waterfall at the Valley of the End." He said.
Obito took in that bit of information. He knew of the Valley of the End…that was where his ancestor, Uchiha Madara, had fought the Shodai Hokage. They had created the waterfall there in their battle, breaking the dam that kept out the water of the Great River. It had flooded the area at first, but eventually, with some help artificial aid, it had become a river once more, albeit a much smaller one. After the Valley of the End was no longer filled with water, the statues of the two legendary men who had fought there were built into the mountain, surrounding either side of the waterfall.
"Really? It goes that far?" He asked.
"That…that's what I just said," replied Errai.
"Oh…hehe, sorry."
"I-it's alright," said Errai, realizing Obito had probably stopped paying attention to him long ago.
"Anyway," said Arashi. "I just got finished talking to the captain. The winds should move us at a fast enough pace that we'll arrive there tomorrow morning. Early tomorrow morning, he said. I suppose that means we'll be arriving sometime around 4AM."
Argh, Obito thought to himself, that means I'm gonna have to wake up that early.
He thought once more of their destination. They were headed for Yougeki, north of the capital. There, Doussai would hopefully be safe from assassinations and would be able to continue his work against the civil war in peace.
At least, that's what they had told the Daimyo.
Obito thought back to Arashi's explanation of their decision.
"What're we gonna do if we're attacked while we're on our way?" Kakashi had asked. "I doubt it's going to be a safe journey. If we travel in a big group, then we're just a moving target, ready to get hit by a large rebel force. They'll always have the excuse that when an enemy target is moving around in the broad, they have no choice but to attempt to capture him. But if we travel in a smaller group, say, us and Doussai, we're definitely going to be attacked by enemy shinobi again. And we don't know what level our opponents will be."
"Right as always, Kakashi," Arashi said, sighing. "We've arranged for a ship to sail us through the Great River to Yougeki, as it is probably the fastest mode of transportation we can get. They'll be no need for too many bodyguards, as the ship's crew will be capable of helping us to protect Doussai. However, in the event of an attack, their job is going to be to protect the ship, and our job will be to protect our employer. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the crew will do it for us."
"The reason for all of that is that to attack a ship, the enemy will need ships of their own. The Great River is quite large so there's no way they'll be able to attack us from land. To capture Doussai, they would have to invade our own vessel. A ship is small enough that the four of us should be able to protect it from attackers easily. Not only that, but it's difficult to board an enemy ship, especially since it's nearly impossible not to be noticed. We'll be able to see any vessel before they are able to attack, and hopefully do away with them before they manage to do so. If they are able to board our ship, then we should be able to defeat them with relative ease. If the enemy turns out to be shinobi, then we should still be able to fight them while the rest of the crew continues to keep the ship going."
"I get it," said Rin. "At least this way there won't be any surprises. The worst we can expect is an attack during the night, since it would be harder to spot enemies then."
Arashi nodded approvingly.
"Any further questions?" He said.
"Just one." said Obito. "What do we do if we can't defeat the enemy?
"Standard regulation," answered Kakashi, "protect Doussai at all costs."
"Kakashi is right. Our overall goal is to ensure Doussai's safety. If there's no hope…"
"Abandon ship," Kakashi finished for him.
Obito himself was unsure of the plan, but if Arashi-sensei had come up with it and approved of it, then it was fine by him. He looked up at the crow's nest, where Kakashi was currently looking out for any potential dangers. There was no way they were leaving that position to a sailor who could be mistaken about what they saw.
Obviously, they were taking no chances here.
"Errai-san," Obito said, looking at their former guide, "what's Yougeki like?"
"Hm…well," said the politician's brother, "Yougeki is an industrial city, but its not too close to the river itself. We're going to have to travel a good few miles on land before we arrive. Just what makes it so much safer than the capital, though… I can't say for sure. I suppose it's just harder to get in there. More people enter the capital everyday than any other city in the country."
Obito knew very well that Yougeki was no safer than the River capital. The only thing that helped them was that the enemy would be forced to redraw their plans, and therefore buy time for the shinobi to gather information or receive reinforcements.
Of course, there was always the chance that their move would draw out the enemy, into the open. That was what Arashi was hoping for, at least. Obito personally did not wish for that to happen; they had fought one Jounin and one shinobi of an unknown rank so far, which meant that the others were at least on the same level if not stronger.
Bored and somewhat distressed, Obito later voiced that thought to Rin.
She had a distant, somewhat worried look on her face before she answered.
"Listen, Obito…" she said quietly, looking around. Was she checking to see if anyone was listening? "When Arashi-sensei and I caught that scout…and we interrogated him…there was something he said that I don't know if sensei caught on to."
"What was it?" Obito said, suddenly interested. He glanced at Arashi, up by at the helm, talking to Captain Kisoto.
"It was a name…probably the name of one of the scout's teammates…at least, going by the way he mentioned it, I'm assuming it is. He said that 'Nagenai' had said their mission goal was to eliminate the Daimyo and Doussai."
"Uh huh…"
"That probably means that 'Nagenai' was the mission leader… Anyway, I borrowed Arashi-sensei's Bingo Book and looked him up."
"D-did you find him?!"
"Yeah, I did. But there was almost no information on him… All it said was that he's really smart and that he caused trouble for Konoha in a border skirmish. He's an A-rank enemy from the Hidden Stone village."
Obito waited for anything more she had to say, but Rin did not continue.
"So he's dangerous…and that's definitely the name you heard?"
"Yes, I'm positive. I also looked up the guy that fought you and Kakashi. I didn't have a name, but I'm pretty sure I recognized his face. His name was Yakizate Hiyako. The bio said to beware chakra-infused stone."
"…Yeah, that's definitely him." Obito said, sounding sure of himself. Chakra infused stone. It must have been referring to the bastard's stone jacket.
"Anyway, Arashi-sensei was pretty sure that the scout was a Chunin…he had a flak jacket, but he was young and let his guard down easily."
"So two jounin and one chunin. Although one of the jounin and the chunin are dead… Which means that we definitely still have a Jounin to fight plus someone else."
"And we have no way of knowing if the last enemy is a chunin or a jounin."
"Well…we have a chunin and a jounin, plus the two of us," Obito said. "If it comes down to a fight between us…we should be able to handle it, right? Arashi-sensei will fight the Jounin, and the three of us take the last guy."
"I…I guess. I mean, if the last enemy is a chunin, Kakashi should be able to handle him even by himself. And if it's a Jounin…you and Kakashi stood your ground against one together, so all three of us should be able to handle it…right?"
"Well…we just have to hope, I guess. I mean, we technically beat Arashi-sensei during the bell test when we all teamed up, but I doubt he was fighting to his full potential. He was obviously holding back, then."
"True, but Arashi-sensei's no ordinary jounin, is he? I mean… I've heard things around the village; stories, rumors…sensei is famous, and not just in Konoha."
Obito nodded, remembering what Massaro had told him. Thinking about it now was weird; it felt like it had been so long ago.
"Hey you two!" Obito and Rin turned in surprise.
Speak of the devil, Obito thought to himself. Arashi was making his way over to them.
"Since you guys aren't busy right now, why don't you give the crew a hand? They could use some extra help."
"Sure, sensei!" Obito said. Rin nodded in agreement with him.
And so the two of them set off to help the crew manage the Riverman.
--
KAKASHI
The crow's nest was small, not to mention rather boring.
Nevertheless, Kakashi kept his eye fixed on the waters ahead of them, while his companion, a member of ship's crew who's name Kakashi could honestly not remember, watched the stern and the waters behind.
There was, altogether, not much to see. The river continued well past the horizon, and Kakashi could hardly see anything of the shores on either side. The water was calm and so far not one other ship had come by. Strange, Kakashi thought, because the Great River was heavily relied upon for transportation, especially in the River Country. If there weren't people trying to get to different places, there should definitely be many people trying to get materials to different places.
Dismissing his current train of thought as paranoia, Kakashi focused once again on the horizon.
It had been several hours since their departure, now, and Kakashi had gotten glimpses of the happenings down below on the deck. Arashi was constantly in conversation with the captain, Rin and Obito had been talking awhile ago, seemingly trying to keep their conversation to themselves alone, but they had since begun to help the crew take care of the ship. After all, the Riverman was big, and the crew was a little bit short on men to support it.
Several times during the day the sailors had begun to sing, but often Captain Kisoto had forced them to stop. Eventually, however, he and Arashi had gone below deck and the sailors had continued to sing since. The songs were now dying down as the day progressed into late afternoon. The wind was becoming weaker, causing the ship to slow down. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw oars appear at the sides of the ship, and the Riverman sped up once more.
Looking back up, Kakashi realized that something was amiss. The water ahead was no longer empty and still as it had been before. Kakashi now saw a glimpse of something far out ahead of them, but could not make out what it was. Most likely a ship, hopefully that of a merchant of some sort, making its way down to the capital.
But before Kakashi could look into it a sudden explosion grabbed his attention. He heard it first, before the entire mast shook and he lost balance. It stayed in one piece, however, and, fortunately, Kakashi had not fallen out of the crow's nest. His companion, however, was close to it.
Kakashi helped him regain his balance then looked down to see what had happened. He saw smoke rising from the stern of the ship while everyone down below rushed over to see what had occurred.
Using chakra, Kakashi increased his ability to hear. Suddenly, he caught the voice of the captain.
"All hands! Back to work!" Kisoto yelled. The crew immediately returned to what they had been doing. Clearly, he did not expect there to be any reason to slow down.
Kakashi watched unknowingly, waiting to find out what had happened. When no one returned, Kakashi turned to the other man in the crow's nest.
"Can I leave this to you?"
"Aye," he answered.
Kakashi nodded and jumped out. Using chakra to stick to the wood, Kakashi ran down the main mast towards the deck. On his way down, Kakashi thought he caught a glimpse of something black. An ink seal, perhaps? No, it couldn't be. It hadn't been there before, there was no way someone could have snuck up there and placed a seal without being noticed.
Arashi and Kisoto had returned and were at the wheel. For the first time in the voyage, the captain had taken the wheel himself. Arashi quickly climbed the steps and met up with them.
"What happened?" He asked. Demanded, even.
"There was an explosion down below and we're starting to take on water," answered Arashi. His voice sounded distressed.
"Doussai…?"
"He's fine. The explosion was below in the bulkhead. I doubt it was meant to hurt him, more likely to sabotage the ship."
"How do you know it wasn't an accident, then?"
Arashi held up what looked like a piece of a shredded paper. Kakashi immediately recognized the explosion tag.
"We got no choice but to get to land, for now," Kisoto interrupted. "We'll figure out what happened an' fix the ship, then get back on our way."
Before any more could be said, they all heard a shout from above.
"OY!" It was the man Kakashi had left in the crow's nest. "CAP'N! WE GOT COMPANY!"
Kakashi followed both their gazes out ahead, and realized in dismay what it was that he had seen before.
Ships. Boats, actually, all headed toward them. Enemies… he thought.
The captain turned to Arashi. No doubt he had the same thought in mind as Kakashi. "We're already headed to land. No choice but to keep going and face them there, else wise we'll end up fighting them underwater."
Arashi nodded, accepting the plan as their only way out.
A few minutes later they released the anchor at the river shore. Obito and Rin had joined them at the wheel, while Kisoto began yelling at his crew.
"Make ready for battle!" He yelled.
The two genin and Kakashi looked to their teacher for orders. Arashi seemed to take his time thinking on it.
At last, he said, "We have to protect the ship. Doussai'll stay in the captain's quarters, he'll be safest there. In fact…one of you should guard him."
He observed the three of them, trying to decide.
"Rin," he said, finally. "Go explain the situation to him, and stay with him. Protect him at all costs."
The kunoichi nodded and left.
"As for you two… there aren't many enemies. A few boatfuls of them…no doubt that means there will be shinobi among them. Protect the ship and the crew; if you see any shinobi, fight them. These sailors won't stand a chance against them."
Kakashi looked down at the deck, where Kisoto had finished giving instructions to his crew.
Strangely calm, Kakashi ran up to the port side of the ship (the left) and watched as the boats approached. There were about fifty men, from the looks of it, most holding swords, some bows, and a couple with grappling hooks.
Said couple were tossing their hooks up at the Riverman, latching themselves on so they could begin climbing up. Kisoto shouted some sort of warcry that Kakashi could not understand, and the crew followed his example.
"Back away!" Kakashi yelled as several arrows flew out from below at anyone standing at the edge of the ship.
"Fighting them from here…" Kakashi turned and realized that Obito was speaking to him.
"Seems a bit…easy, doesn't it…?"
Kakashi certainly knew what he was thinking. With the enemy climbing up from their boats it seemed that it would be incredibly easy to pick them off as they struggled to climb over the railing of the ship.
There's got to be more to it than this… he thought, distraught. He was sure that they wouldn't be that stupid.
Unless…these guys aren't actually with the rebellion. Could they be…pirates?
But that possibility was immediately rejected as Kakashi felt a surge of chakra appear behind him. He spun, ready to fight, only to find the main mast collapse and fall down on the surprised sailors.
Kakashi angrily glimpsed the seal he had noticed before. The mast collapsed onto the deck, breaking everything near and sending a barrage of splinters flying in all directions.
Behind the broken mast, Kakashi saw him. Clad in a light brown cloak and an Iwagakure headband stood a teenager, probably only a few years older than himself. They glared at each other, neither blinking or paying attention to the surroundings.
Behind him, Obito noticed the enemy as well.
"It's a shinobi…! Alright, Kakashi, let's go!"
"No," he said. "Leave him to me."
"W-what?!"
"Help the sailors. Make sure those thugs don't get onto the ship and damage it anymore than it already is. They'll need your help."
"But-"
"No but's! Rin is guarding Doussai, and there's probably another shinobi here somewhere!"
Kakashi broke eye contact to look up at the wheel. As he had suspected, Arashi was already in combat with another, older, stone shinobi. He eyed the younger one once more, on the other side of the ship.
"Go."
Obito groaned and did as he said, preparing to fight off the thugs. Kakashi saw the boy on the other side smirk, then jump off the edge of the ship. Kakashi followed, jumping over the collapsed mast and off the starboard edge.
--
OBITO
Obito grunted as he watched Kakashi jump off the ship, following his opponent. He glanced over at the wheel, where Arashi was deep in concentration, fighting a laughing opponent.
Gotta focus, he told himself, I've got a job to do.
He sped through a set of seals, then jumped up on the port railings.
"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!"
Obito sent seven great fireballs hurling at the boats. Several men were hit, taking the burns, but they continued to climb. Obito quickly flipped back onto the ship, avoiding a barrage of arrows that were sent his way.
What the… there were definitely more of them before…
He glanced around the boat, looking for enemies, but none had successfully climbed over yet.
Where did they… Shit!
Realizing what had happened, Obito hurried down below-deck, where the cannons and the crew member's sleeping quarters were. Once there, he found exactly what he had suspected. The bastards were climbing in through the cannon holes!
They immediately took notice of him but Obito was not a fool. Not during a serious situation, anyway.
He grabbed a smoke bomb and hurled it at his foes, then began to prepare a Gougakyuu. Then again, he thought, perhaps it would be a bad idea to unleash a giant fireball inside a wooden ship. In fact…fire was a bad idea overall, as he was supposed to protect the ship from harm.
Damn…those are my best jutsus, too.
He jumped out of the way, hearing an arrow heading in his direction. He bit his lip, thinking of other techniques he could use. But aside from Katon jutsus, he had nothing truly powerful in his arsenal.
This was why he wanted to unlock the Sharingan.
But in the meantime, he had to make due.
"Bunshin no jutsu!" Obito quickly produced two clones, and ran through the now-disappearing smoke at the enemy, kunai and shuriken in hand. He let loose his barrage of steel stars, and immediately found an enemy. They crossed blades, sword and kunai, and Obito spun around behind him and punched him in the back of the head. The man fell forward and Obito moved on to his next adversary.
The smoke was nearly clear, and Obito look around at the rest of the group. They were all in confusion, just now realizing that the smoke had dispersed. Suddenly all eyes were on him, and Obito was surrounded.
"Hehe…" he laughed, weakly. Suddenly, he dropped his kunai and unleashed another smoke bomb. He ran forward with as much power as he could, pushing through the small crowd of men and out the door. The explosion tag he had wrapped onto his kunai set off an explosion behind him, knocking down anyone in pursuit.
Looking to his right, Obito found that some had already run out the door before the smoke had cleared, probably looking for Doussai. Obito followed them to the door of the captain's quarters, which they were banging on, trying to get in.
Obito let fly a few kunai knives in their direction. Three attackers were there. Two noticed his attack, the last was unfortunate enough to get hit in the arm. Said attacker fell down, writhing in pain. The others turned to face Obito, both armed with katanas.
Obito stood his ground, baiting them to make the first move. The two attackers looked at each other, then split up. One ran at Obito, screaming, while the other continued trying to break open the door.
Obito, surprisingly efficient with taijutsu considering his usual practice sessions, easily disarmed the attacker and brought him to the ground.
Must be the adrenaline…!
One enemy down, Obito lunged at the last man, who had just now succeeded in breaking open the door. Obito tackled him to the ground. The man grunted beneath him, and Obito heard Rin gasp, probably not having seen him coming.
"R-Rin!" He yelled. "Throw me a kunai!" The man struggled beneath him, trying to throw him off and get up. Needless to say, the weight difference certainly did not make this simple for Obito.
Rin threw him a kunai and Obito quickly put it to his enemy's throat.
"Who are you after?!" He yelled, not getting up, but relinquishing his grip on the man's arms.
"I think that's a little obv…" began Errai, who had come down with Rin to take shelter from the fighting, but Obito cut him off.
"You never know!"
"…Him." The attacker growled, looking at Doussai.
Obito nodded, grabbed the man's sword, and got up. The attacker quickly stood up himself, but Obito quickly threw a punch to his stomach, knocking him back down. He dragged the attacker across the room and then proceeded to throw him out the window.
"Obito, what happened up there? We heard a crash."
"Shinobi." He said hastily. "Somehow they made the mast collapse."
For a split second, there was a look of horror or shock on Rin's face. Obito couldn't tell which, as it disappeared quickly.
"There's two of them, I think a jounin and a chunin. I couldn't really tell. Kakashi's fighting one, and Arashi-sensei is fighting the other."
She nodded.
"How many men are attacking the ship…?" Asked Doussai. Something in his voice seemed a bit closer to curiosity than fear.
"Around fifty or so, I think."
They were interrupted suddenly when a new attacker came running down the stairs and through the door, screaming. He immediately went in Obito's direction, but Rin flung her arm out and stabbed two finger's into his stomach. The man stopped, gasped, and backed up, fear and shock evident in his eyes. His stomach was bleeding where Rin had…poked him? Obito wasn't sure. Nevertheless, Rin dropped down and sweep kicked him, knocking the attacker down.
Still a bit surprised that Rin had so quickly defeated the enemy, Obito chuckled.
"Are you gonna stay here?" He asked.
"Yeah," she said, "we'll lock up the door again and I'll be ready. If there are as many men as you said then the crew may need your help, seeing as Kakashi and Arashi-sensei are probably too busy to do so…"
"You're probably right," he said, and ran out of the room. Rin shut and locked the door behind him, and Obito stabbed the keyhole with a kunai, just for safe measures. He then proceeded back upstairs to the deck. He glimpsed the room below deck, making sure no one else had snuck in. Everyone that had been there before was still there, knocked out by the explosion tag.
Obito ran upstairs to find that, as Rin had predicted, the crew was losing. It had been two to five when he went below deck, but from the looks of it was now one to five. He quickly spotted Kisoto dueling with another man, but was suddenly double-teamed. Obito ran in and jump-kicked one of the attackers, to Kisoto's surprise.
"How are you doing?" Obito asked, not realizing that he was yelling over the din of the fighting. Men were yelling war cries and the ringing of the swords was rather loud.
"We're losing, as you can see. Good thing you're here, too, or else we'd be mincemeat. Aah!" He suddenly yelled out, stabbing a man in the stomach. Obito grimaced, but was suddenly assaulted.
He fell backward, having been cut on his right shoulder. An attacker stood over him, sword at the ready, but Obito rolled out of the way before he could be stabbed. He pushed himself up on his arms and kicked the man's feet out from under him. As he stood up, he grabbed a pair of kunai from his pouch, the last he had left on him, but instead kicked the attacker. He would need the kunai, and he wasn't yet ready to kill. He decided he could probably leave it to the crew to dispose of whomever he beat down.
They continued fighting, Obito beating down his opponents with taijutsu and an occasional weapon, but neglecting to actually draw blood. He found it strange that Rin had so quickly stabbed a man when he was afraid to do so no matter how many chances he continued to get.
There was not much time to think about it, however, as an enemy tossed a ball at him. Obito cocked an eyebrow.
Oh.
It wasn't a ball; it was a bomb! Obito braced himself when it went off and he fell backwards. He rolled over and quickly stood again, when he was assaulted by a barrage of swords and struggled to parry them all with only the two kunai he held. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw more tiny explosions going off.
I've gotta get rid of that guy. He's causing trouble for everyone with a sword!
He kicked an attacker away, then ran from anyone who tried to hit him and jumped onto the broken massed. He ran down the large wooden wreckage and spotted the man tossing bombs. Obito jumped onto a collapsed beam and down at the bomb-man. At the last second the man moved aside, though seemingly only by luck. Obito landed unsteadily, but quickly regained his balanced. He tapped the man on his shoulder, who then turned, only to have Obito throw a brutal punch to his face. Obito caught him and rolled him off the edge of the ship, into the water, and then returned to fighting.
From the look of it, things weren't getting any better. Obito looked around every chance he got, and continued to feed his hope that there wasn't much hope for the ship. He had no choice, he tried to convince himself, and finally gave in. It was time to bring out his best weapon.
"Captain! You better take advantage of this!" He yelled, unsure of whether Kisoto had actually heard him or not.
He jumped back up onto the mast and run up towards the bow, right in front of the mast's base. He couldn't help but smirk to himself. He had been practicing this; now it was finally time to test it out in the field.
He went the seals, focusing hard, then…
"Katon: Ryuka no jutsu!"
He exhaled a stream of fire that caught the mast and ran down the middle of the ship, catching the entire mast, though broken, on fire. As he had intended, the ship's crew used it as a perfect chance to attack their bewildered enemies.
Despite that, the battle was still not going well. They were too far outnumbered, and Obito was the only shinobi who was able to help them fight. He glanced out at the river, where he saw Kakashi and the enemy chunin fighting…on top of the water?
Somehow they were walking, running, jumping, and fighting on the water as if it were stable ground, but they were fighting nonetheless. Obito couldn't really tell who was winning. He then looked up at the wheel, only to find that Arashi and his adversary were no longer there. He looked down at the shore and found his teacher fighting a big man, bigger than he had been before. Obito couldn't tell what made him look different, as he was suddenly attacked once again.
Realizing he could not keep losing focus, Obito returned to the fighting, determined to turn the tide.
All of a sudden, however, there was another explosion, and Obito, stumbling, fell off the edge of the ship.
--
RIN
Rin heard Obito shove a kunai deep into the keyhole of the now locked door, and that was the last she saw or heard of her teammate.
In the captain's quarters with her were Doussai, Errai, and one of Doussai's subordinates. All three had been rather surprised by her assault on the attacker, much more so than Obito had been.
There was loud noise coming from above. Rin could hear explosions, as well as swords, and, most strangely, cries of battle. These sailors were incredibly loud when they fought…
No, gotta focus, she told herself. She had to remain attentive in case something happened.
Several minutes passed by, with all four tenants of the room noticing a significant rise in the temperature. Had Obito used a Katon jutsu?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, then a bang, and much yelling. It seemed that more enemies had come down there again, looking to capture Doussai.
Rin took her place beside the doorway, waiting. Errai watched her, Doussai and his subordinate in the corner were watching the door. Rin motioned for Errai not to give away her location, and then the door suddenly burst open.
Two men ran in.
"They're here!" One yelled as they entered.
Rin quickly jumped out of her hiding place and shoved a chakra scalpel into the back of one of the attackers, aiming for his spinal cord. She herself had been surprised at her own will to hurt others so badly, but she assumed it was because she knew she could heal anyone she needed to, so seeing others hurt was not such an issue to her.
Her target fell down in pain, and the other turned and glared at her, raising his weapon. Rin pulled out a kunai and parried his blow, but was severely outmatched in strength and could barely hold him back. She slid out from beneath the sword and kicked the man in his Achilles tendon, hopefully rupturing it, and caught his sword arm in as strong a grip as she could.
Errai ran in to help, and dragged the man backwards, throwing him into the wall and down to the floor. Evidently, he could not get back up with an injured tendon. Errai grabbed the sword to use for himself.
Not a split second later, reinforcements had arrived, having heard the first man's call. Rin counted four men at the front, running towards her, with others following.
Thinking quickly, she slammed the door into the face of the first man, knocking him out. The next two came ramming into the door, knocking Rin down and throwing the door open at the same time. More men came running in. Rin tried to get up and help Errai, left alone with a sword and little knowledge of how to properly use it.
The man succeeded in throwing several hard blows at his enemy, who easily parried them and disarmed him. Rin grabbed more of her kunai and tried to attack a man, but another came from behind and grabbed her arms. The man held her up in the air, Rin struggling. She kicked around, to no avail, until she bit down on the attacker's arm. He let go of her and she rammed an elbow into his groin.
Unfortunately, his natural reaction was to quickly bend forward, knocking his head into her back and Rin fell down on her knees. Another enemy came and grabbed her, while other's took her kunai and her other equipment. No matter what she did, she could not escape.
She looked around, seeing Errai held down, and Doussai's subordinate as well. Doussai himself was surrounded by swords. The politician looked quite calm, and rather calculating, as if he was trying to think of a way out of the situation.
But no matter how Rin looked at it, there wasn't. She had failed.
"What do we do now?" Asked one of the attackers.
One of them seemed to be in charge. "Throw the extras out," he said, eyeing Rin. "We don't need them. It's only the politician we're after."
Heads nodded, and Rin suddenly found herself being hurled out the window into the river, Errai following not longer after.
--
KAKASHI
He was losing.
No doubt, Kakashi's opponent was skilled, even for his age.
What he suspected was a fifteen-year-old had been in control of this fight since near the beginning. Kakashi parried an attack, a kunai against his chakra blade. Contrary to where he and the stone chunin had begun their fight, on the shore, they were now battling on the other side of the now destroyed Riverman, atop the water.
Kakashi had no trouble keeping his balance on the water. Chakra control was not an issue for him. But the fight itself was annoying. He had realized from the very beginning that his opponent was not only skilled, but also smart. Having assumed that he would have many earth-natured attacks, Kakashi had immediately began using his arsenal of Raiton jutsus. Unfortunately, his opponent, upon realizing Kakashi's affinity for lightning, quickly moved the battlefield away from the shore and to the water. There, Kakashi quickly realized that if he were to use any lightning or electrical attacks, the water beneath him would conduct the electricity. Even if he were to land a hit on the enemy, it would go through him, through the water, and hurt Kakashi himself as well.
Now he was stuck using weapons as his main weapon. He had lost many shuriken already, and every single one of his kunai, which was why he was now using his father's chakra blade.
The Iwanin through a punch, which Kakashi evaded, but suddenly found himself about to impaled by a kunai. He allowed himself to fall into the water, avoiding the attack, then swam up to the surface and regained his balance.
The Iwanin looked at him curiously.
"Was it you that killed Shima?" He asked.
"I don't know who you're talking about!" Kakashi yelled. He leapt forward, jabbing the chakra blade at the enemy. The exchanged blows for a few seconds before Kakashi dove below him and got himself inbetween his enemy and the ruined ship. He jumped back, caught himself on the hull of the Riverman and jumped up above his enemy.
Like his first move during the bell test, Kakashi came down on his opponent in a vicious slash that proved to be null against the two kunai his enemy now held. He quickly grabbed a smoke bomb and released it. It was almost useless to throw it at the water, so instead Kakashi threw it at the Iwanin's foot. The smoke bomb was unleashed, and Kakashi moved away, avoiding a slash.
Once again, he went down beneath the surface of the water, this time pulling his opponent down with him. He managed to catch the enemy off-guard, and somehow attempted to fight him underwater. Neither could move fast enough to make a pointed weapon useful, so underwater taijutsu was the only thing that worked.
Quickly realizing it was pointless, both chunin shot up to the surface. They had both put away their weapons now, and suddenly found that they were in a taijutsu battle now.
Kakashi took the offensive and ran forward, aiming a strong punch at the enemy's chest, but the older boy ducked down and grabbed Kakashi's arm and leg. He flipped Kakashi over and threw his own punch, which landed hard in Kakashi's chest, throwing the silver-haired boy a good few feet away.
Kakashi quickly got up, noticing his opponent go through a set of seals.
Shit, he's using a jutsu…!
Kakashi prepared to evade whatever came his way, but the Iwanin finished his seals and merely stood there, then fell once again into a taijutsu stance.
What was that about?
Wary, Kakashi stayed in his place, not at all wanting to attack his enemy for fear of a jutsu suddenly being used.
"Tch," the Iwanin said, and he ran forward, jumping over Kakashi's head. Kakashi expected a fist, but instead the opponent grabbed two handful's of shuriken. Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise and he jumped out of the way.
He ended up falling forward, having been grazed in the leg by the shuriken. Painfully, he stood up.
This fight was just getting worse with every passing minute.
Argh…gotta calm down… There'll be no more taijutsu for me… But I've got more jutsu up my sleeve than he thinks.
Kakashi quickly went through his own set of seals, and pretended to brandish the last of his shuriken, firing them at the enemy as viciously as he could.
"Kyoushou Genshi no jutsu!"
The Iwanin evaded the shuriken and prepared to attack. Kakashi saw his eyes widen, hearing the shuriken coming back. He smirked beneath his mask, watching as the enemy ducked and jumped out of the way as the shuriken continued flying around, trying to hit him. At last he brandished a kunai and attempted to catch the shuriken on its blade, only to have the shuriken fly through it, as well as himself, without so much as causing a bruise.
NOW!
As his opponent realized that the shuriken had only been a genjutsu, Kakashi lunged forward using his good leg and punched him hard in the face. This time the Iwanin flew back several feet.
Kakashi flashed through another set of seals.
"Katon: Kagai no jutsu!" Fire element: Fire Scythe!
Kakashi pulled down his mask and unleashed a horizontal blade of fire that flew straight at the Iwanin.
His enemy followed Kakashi's own idea and sunk into the water to avoid the flames, then quickly resurfaced. Kakashi realized quickly that he had used some seals while underwater.
"Hmph. Don't think I'm out of my element here!" He yelled. "Suiton: Mizu Kyousha no jutsu!" Water Element: Water Spear!
A pointed geyser of water erupted from the water. Kakashi barely jumped away in time.
The Iwanin grinned, changing his seal. Kakashi looked up to see the spear twist and come back down at him.
He couldn't just keep dodging, not with his leg the way it was… He had only one other option.
He unsheathed his chakra blade once again, hoping to God that he could get it to work the first time. He empowered it with his own chakra and slashed the water spear.
He closed his eyes hoping for the best, and suddenly felt the water fall down on him. It was cold, but harmless.
Kakashi looked around and found his enemy was gone.
Where did he…?
His question was suddenly answered when a boulder from the riverbed suddenly came flying through the water beneath him and sent him flying. Kakashi landed in the water and slowly got back up, only to have another boulder come at him.
No choice; he had to do it again. It was waste chakra or waste energy that his leg couldn't even use. He prepared his chakra blade and stabbed the boulder as it came flying up at him.
He had expected it to stop where it was. At the worst, he thought, he might get the blade stuck in it.
But the boulder kept going and threw Kakashi into the air once more.
"Argh…"
What the hell had happened? He had felt the chakra surge into the blade… He was positive he didn't mess up. That meant that there wasn't any chakra in the boulder…?
No. That was impossible! It had to have been a Doton jutsu that did that, there was no other way that he could have been assaulted by the earth.
He grimaced as his opponent resurfaced. Kakashi struggled to stand back up, barely managing to put any weight on his injured right leg.
Nevertheless, he gave the enemy a look that clearly said, 'Bring it on!'.
The Iwanin began the seals to another jutsu, then quickly ran at Kakashi. He tried to hold his ground as the enemy ran into him. Kakashi grabbed the Iwanin's arm and attempted the only thing he could think of. He thrust out his right and attempted a Vulcan Neck-Thrust, hoping to knock his enemy unconscious. However, before he could manage it, the Iwanin poked his shoulder hard, then swatted away Kakashi's hand with a kunai and jumped away.
What the hell did he do?
Kakashi looked at his shoulder and found the same seal he had seen before on the mast there. The Iwanin grinned, and put his hands together in one last seal.
"Behold and beware, my greatest skill! Genshuku Baindo no jutsu! Gravity Bind!"
Kakashi felt a sudden weight fall on him, holding him down. He immediately fell forward but managed not to fall. He could barely stand with his leg injured, now he was barely able to stand at all! He felt as if someone had just placed a three-hundred pound weight on his back.
The Iwanin quickly lunged forward and kicked Kakashi's chest upward. He barely moved, but felt the pain nonetheless. His opponent threw a barrage of punches in all directions and Kakashi took every one of them. Still, he was barely moved but felt it all.
"Hah!" Yelled the Iwa chunin. Suddenly the weight was lifted from Kakashi's back. In fact, more than the normal weight was gone. All of a sudden, Kakashi felt incredibly light.
Apparently he had become very light as the other chunin grabbed him by the throat, held him up high and threw him at the hull of the Riverman. Kakashi groaned in pain, taking the hit. He grabbed onto the ship, trying to avoid being taken away by the current. He was tired and weak, and no longer had anything left to fight with.
He was beaten.
The Iwanin laughed out loud, then used another, single seal. Kakashi felt an immense pressure come from down beneath the water, and gasped as a small ship arose from beneath. It bore the same seal as the Riverman''s mast and his own shoulder.
"Ta," the Iwanin said, then turned to face the larger ship.
"Let's go!" He yelled. All of the attackers began to jump off the Riverman and into the smaller ship. Kakashi watched as Doussai, having been captured, was thrown into the ship, followed by another Iwanin who was carrying something on his other shoulder. Weak, fatigued, and bleeding, Kakashi could not tell what it was.
A minute later the enemy's ship was sailing off, with one final explosion destroying the Riverman completely. Kakashi slowly attempted to swim back to shore, fighting the current and his own fatigue.
--
OBITO
When he awoke, it was dark.
Obito slowly opened his eyes to see a great black sky filled with bright stars.
What…happened?
The last thing he remembered was falling off the edge of the Riverman. After that, everything was just blank in his mind.
"Doussai!" He yelled, sitting up suddenly. He immediately regretted it (1).
"Don't overexert yourself," said Rin, who had walked over to him. Obito slowly lay back down. He started to notice everything now. It was cold, but he could feel the warmth of a fire a few meters away. He was lying on the earth, with no blanket or anything whatsoever. Now that he thought about it, though, they probably didn't have any blankets at all.
Obito looked around to see who "they" were. Beside the fire he saw Errai and a few of the Riverman crew. Kakashi was there, too, asleep by the fire.
Arashi, however, was not.
"Rin, what happened? Where's Arashi-sensei? And Doussai?"
"We…we lost. The Riverman was completely destroyed and the enemy escaped on another ship. They took Doussai…"
"What about Arashi? Where is he?!"
"I-I'm not sure!" She yelled. "We…I'm pretty sure they took him too!"
"W-what?! No, that's impossible! There's no way Arashi-sensei would have lost! He must have…he must have escaped or…gone to get help! I'm sure of it, sensei just went off to get help! He must have gone while we were all unconscious!"
"Obito… I was never unconscious. I remember everything that happened… After they took Doussai, they threw me and Errai out into the river and we swam to shore… We've both been awake the entire time. Kakashi and the surviving crew members, they made their way to the shore too… They were awake, too. Kakashi told me what happened to him and then went to sleep… But Arashi-sensei never showed up."
"No… I don't believe you. He…there's…no way. He couldn't have been captured!"
Rin was sobbing.
"Obito…I'm sorry. I… Kakashi, he said that he…he saw one of the Iwa shinobi carrying something large on his shoulder when he boarded their ship… He says…he thinks it was Arashi. He couldn't tell at the time, but after we realized that sensei was gone he became positive that it was him that they carried off…"
"No… But…but why?! Why would they take him?!"
"Arashi-sensei…he's famous all over the world…feared, actually. If they could defeat him, then they obviously would have wanted him captured."
"That…no…I just…I won't believe it…"
"Obito…" she said, "I think you should go back to sleep…"
Obito had been about to protest, but Rin put her hand on his forehead and suddenly Obito fell back into a dreamless sleep.
Hours later he awoke once again. This time, he was much calmer and Rin allowed him to get up.
"Alright…" he said, "I think…I think I can listen now. What happened?"
They were all sitting around the fire, with the exception of two of the Riverman crew who Rin said had gone out to find food.
Rin told Obito of everything that happened after he left. How more attackers had come, how she tried to fight them but was outnumbered and overwhelmed, and how she and the others had been captured and thrown off the ship.
"What happened to you?" She asked.
Obito sighed and began explaining how the battle on deck had progressed, and about the explosion that caused him to stumble off the edge of the ship.
"I don't know what happened after that…"
"We found you a little while after they escaped," she said. "You were unconscious and washed up on the shore. You didn't wake up after a long time and I started to get worried, so I used the energy I had left over from healing Kakashi to heal your wounds. You weren't hurt too bad."
Obito nodded.
"And what happened with Kakashi…?"
For that answer, Rin turned to the silver-haired chunin himself. She knew the story, but she had heard the tired, rushed version that Kakashi had given her after swimming to shore.
Kakashi talked through his fight with the Iwa chunin and his strange seal.
"I think the jutsu he used… It was something like…gravity bind, I think. I'm pretty sure I know how it worked. He had to place a seal on whatever object he wanted to target… It has to have a certain amount of mass, probably. But…the jutsu itself seemed to allow him to control the gravity around the targeted mass. It's how he brought down the mast. I saw his seal on it before it collapsed. And afterward, he put it on me, too, and used it to basically paralyze me while he beat me up."
"It's also how he brought the ship up, I think. He must have put a seal on it and kept the gravity around it strong enough so that it would stay hidden down on the riverbed. Then when he released the seal, it floated to the surface of the water, since it wasn't broken or damaged at all. And then they made their escape…"
"I still don't get how it all started…" said Rin.
"I think I know that, too. That kid…the chunin. I think I saw him on the ship before the attack. He must have been disguised as a crew member, or someone who was with Doussai. He must have been the one to set off the explosion tags that damaged the ship… And then he and his teammate appeared after he broke the mast."
Obito didn't know what explosion tags Kakashi was talking about, but his theory seemed to fit with what had happened.
"No doubt," Errai piped in, "they had a strong plan, and executed it well. They beat us. Badly. And took my brother… This is definitely the turning point the rebellion has been looking for. Most likely, once word gets out, the rebellion will start to amass and actually attempt a coup on the Daimyo."
Obito noticed the expression on Rin's face seemed to be in less than agreement with what Errai had said, but he did not bother to question it. He was too tired. And hungry.
Not long after, the two crew members had returned. They had found some food from the ship, washed up on the beach of the river a little ways away from where they were. The group ate, and found themselves all in quiet thinking.
Suddenly, Obito broke the silence, asking the question that probably everyone wanted answered.
"So what do we do now?"
Rin looked at Kakashi. The crew members first glanced at Errai, but then followed Rin's gaze and waited for Kakashi to decide. Errai did not seem to have any suggestions. He, too, looked to Kakashi for an answer.
Kakashi did not seem to have expected to immediately gain leadership of the group. Nevertheless, he sighed and voiced his thoughts.
"We continue the mission," he said. "It's not in the ways of Konoha shinobi to abandon the objective after a defeat."
"But how do we go about doing that? We were supposed to protect Doussai, and we failed…" Said Rin.
"Then we have to get him back before anything happens to him."
"So we're gonna rescue Doussai?" Obito asked. He wasn't particularly sure about letting Kakashi lead at first, but the chunin seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Obito. It wasn't over yet.
"Well…" continued the silver-haired chunin, "we have no idea where they'll take Doussai…and regardless, we won't be able to beat those Iwanin on our own…"
"So to beat them, we're going to need help." Said Rin. "We're going to need someone strong."
"Someone like Arashi-sensei," Obito finished.
Kakashi nodded.
"Our best bet will probably be to find and rescue Arashi-sensei… But where…? Um… Errai-san, can you think of any place where they might keep a powerful prisoner?"
"I…I can't say for sure." Errai answered. "But… I would say that you…we should probably hope to find him in Kawashuuryou. It's the rebellion headquarters…so most likely they would keep a prisoner like Arashi-san somewhere where they can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't escape anywhere. He'd be safest for them there."
"Kawashuuryou…" Kakashi repeated the name.
"It's northwest of here. If we follow the Great River, it'll fork and we just have to follow it north and then northwest, and it'll bring us there."
"Alright…what else can you tell us about it?"
"Well…we recently found out that it's the rebellion's headquarters. Although…we have some spies there. Actually, the military was dispatched not long before we left to go to Kawashuuryou and find the rebellion's headquarters. We never found out what happened to the soldiers that were sent there."
"I…I see."
"It sounds dangerous," said Rin.
"But if it means finding Arashi-sensei…" said Obito, "I'm willing to go."
A second later, Rin nodded, and they looked at Errai.
"If you want to get there safely, you're probably going to need me…and I want to help rescue my brother. God forbid should anything happen to him…Anyway, he may be there, or we may found out what happened to him there. So…I'm in."
The four sailors who were with them discussed the idea themselves.
"The way we see it," one of them said, "either we go with you, or we jump ship at the first city we reach on the way. So for the time being we're going with you. But we're not promising that we'll stick with you to the end."
Obito nodded. Alright.
They all looked at Kakashi.
The chunin sighed to himself, and stood up.
"It's settled, then. We're setting out for Kawashuuryou, to rescue Arashi."
To Kawashuuryou, Obito thought to himself.
To the River's End.
1: This must be the most overused way for a character to get up after waking up after some sort of fight. But I used it anyway.
Author's Notes:
The chapter was hard to write if only because I wanted to stick a lot of action in it to jumpstart the story again. The first update in 10 months...and Mind Games was hardly a chapter I really wanted anyone coming back to after that long. Hopefully this chapter was more enjoyable. Anyway, I'm gonna write one more chapter for this story before I go back to Shinigami no Nara for a little while.
Reviews:
Ninbunny Alchemist: Hopefully by the time you get to this chapter, you'll have already realized this, as there's a note about it one of the previous chapters. Anyway, I started this story before the Yondaime's name was revealed, and back then I think most people were convinced that his name was going to Kazama Arashi, so I used that. I'm not planning on changing it to Namikaze Minato.
Please review! It helps me write!
Next Chapter: Kawashuuryou