Stray Dogs
Chapter 11
Morino Ibiki watched the two, or was it three?, opponents standing in the quiet forest before him and his team of ANBU. The boy(s) were clearly the infamous and recently resurrected Sakon and Ukon of the Oto-Five, but the tall, dark man in Akatsuki robes was unknown to him, unless...
"Are you Naraku Eiichiro?"
"Yes, yes I am." He smiled wickedly, "And why has Konoha's Expert Torturer come to Otogakure? And with guests!"
"Enough of this," Ibiki signaled and the ANBU attacked, moving like wind through the trees. Eiichiro nodded and Sakon and Ukon vanished. Suddenly screams came from the trees as ANBU corpses fell left and right. Once the screaming stopped, Sakon and Ukon reappeared beside Eiichiro, holding four blood-soaked daggers.
Eiichiro patted both boys on the head, "Excellent job, have you two ever considered converting to Jashinism?"
Ibiki's scarred face twisted in rage and horror, those creatures had wiped out an entire ANBU squad in a matter of seconds. He poised himself to fight, his pride telling him to fight, but his responsibility to his village telling him to bring back the knowledge they had gained.
Ibiki turned and fled.
"No," Eiichiro raised a hand, "You two go back. I'll take care of this one."
Ibiki had covered about two miles of deep forest, leaping from branch to branch, constantly looking over his shoulder. He knew they weren't following him, not yet. He'd played this game before with enemy ninja, only he had been the hunter. By allowing your prey to "escape" and travel far enough to feel safe, then emerging to let them know they never had any chance of escape at all, you could break their spirit. "Torture by hope" they called it, and Ibiki knew torture well. I won't be fooled so easily! He stopped, and began setting a trap.
"Oh my, where is Ibiki?" Eiichiro chimed like a child playing hide and seek. He checked under a few bushes for effect, but it would take a lot to rattle a veteran like Ibiki. The man had been captured by Oto-Nin once, and tortured in a variety of cruel and interesting ways, scarring his face and twisting his heart, but he had never broken, never told them anything. Now he worked as 'The Chief Interrogator' for Konohagakure, a euphemism for 'The Guy who Tortures Prisoners'. Ibiki searched for The Twin's Chakra, but it was far away and moving farther, Eiichiro must have sent them away. Stupid mistake.
"Ibiki, this isn't one of your sessions, the enemy isn't tied and drugged and helpless. Here I have the upper hand." Eiichiro taunted, and Ibiki sprung his trap, activating the explosive tags, sending a pile of trees collapsing on top of the Jashinist, burying him under several tons of timber, then used a Jutsu to set the pile ablaze. Ibiki knew better than to check if his enemy were alive, Eiichiro was immortal, after all, still, this would hopefully hold him for a while.
He had barely gotten one hundred yards when he heard Eiichiro's voice.
"And thus we come to an end."
He turned to see a burned and bruised Eiichiro standing on a nearby limb. The priest made an obscure Jutsu with his hands even as Ibiki's kunai struck him, "Earth Style Mastery: Swaying Branches." He said calmly, and suddenly the forest came alive, the branches began to whip back and forth, striking the Konoha ninja viciously and repeatedly, breaking bones. After a moment, the branches stopped, and Ibiki tumbled to the ground, his scarred head lying at an unnatural angle. Eiichiro pulled a kunai from between his eyes, and several from his chest, and walked over to the corpse. "Good aim, my friend, a pity, you would have made an excellent Jashinist."
Later that night, when Kamizuki Izumo and Hogane Kotetsu went to take up their posts at the village gates, they found a horrible sight. Several dead ANBU were piled up on the main road, right in front of the gate, and the body of Ibiki Morino was nailed to the door itself.
To Be Continued . . .