Chapter Eleven: Blind to the Subject

"When you know what you've got, sacrifice ain't that hard. Sometimes we're not meant to be free."


When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at the blank white ceiling of her bedroom.

The dawning sun was emerging, peaking slightly from the view of the hokage monument, allowing a wan light to emanate throughout her otherwise darkened room. She was tangled in her linen bed sheets, an odd feeling of something heavy lingered on her chest and she shuffled to her side to stare blankly out the window.

The thin fabric of the curtains were dancing with the Konoha breeze, sheer and translucent, as it allowed her to get a peak of the village on the cusp of waking up. The usual hustle and bustle of the streets had not yet unfurled leaving it somewhat quiet.

The calm before the storm, she thought to herself.

As Teresa gazed out of the window, she narrowed her eyes, lingering on the empty window sill for a few moments, before picking herself up off her bed to begin her morning ritual.

Today, she would be heading out for her mission in the Land of Waves for her manhunt on the nin who were terrorizing the Konoha outposts. She still had to seal all of her equipment, but that could be done in a matter of minutes.

After having successfully packed up all of her necessary equipment, Teresa slowly crept into her son's room to say goodbye. When she entered, Naruto was sound asleep with his limbs sprawled out on top of his bed. She sat herself on the side of his bed, before reaching out to slightly jostle him awake. When he blearily opened his eyes she leaned over to plant a small kiss on his forehead.

"Goodbye," she said softly.

"Mm...bye mom..." The boy yawned, smacking his lips tiredly. "...Have a safe trip..."

"Safe? I doubt it, my little fox-" he swatted at her in feigned embarrassment at the mention of the old pet name she would often dub upon him since he was smaller "-but, I do promise to come back unscathed."

"...Okay...mom...mm...see ya..."

She chuckled slightly before lifting herself up off of his bed. With one last peak through his door, she closed it slowly and walked past the corridor leading towards the living room.

With her equipment packed, Teresa slung her leather scabbard around her shoulders and left the house.


The mission briefing was quick and to the point.

The hokage had told her that Konoha Intel had not yet received any further information about the perpetrators she was set to find, other than base information.

For one, it was allegedly a man and a young woman.

The man was a swordsman—that was all the information they had scrounged up from the reports filed. The young woman however, allegedly possessed a special kekkei genkai that could produce some sort of mirror-like reality according to the outpost researchers who encountered them.

The information given was not much to work with, however, the cogs within Teresa's brain had already been churning hundreds of deductions.

If the woman could produce these "mirrors," that meant that this genetically acquired faculty was the result of a specialized ability to warp physical ki. She had researched before on the notion of altering physically manifested chakra, it was similar to a practice used by an Awakened Being she had encountered in her past life.

She remembered the demon she encountered in the City of Rabona, as she was on a mission with Ilena. It was a male senshi who had awakened, having managed to produce ki through a physical entity of mirror-like images as an offensive mechanism. After slaying the Awakened Being, she had studied it extensively, and discovered the origin of this ability, and ultimately, found a way to combat it. And after that, Teresa had stored that knowledge within the files of her mind, to use that information when the time came.

She supposed today would be the day she could finally put that seemingly arbitrary information to use.

With one last mental intimation, Teresa walked through the village entrance gates. She closed her eyes, allowing a surge of ki to flow through her limbs. Feeling the familiar sense of energy coursing through her veins, through her muscles, and through her flesh, Teresa inhaled deeply.

With that, she set off to the trees, so fast that it was as if she simply vanished into thin air.


The morning sun was now high up in the sky, signaling that afternoon had come. The environment around her had began to change altogether as she progressed forward and she knew that by this time, she had officially entered the Land of the Waves.

The ecosystem was much more different than that of the Land of Fire. She studied it and kept several notes of this during her earlier travels when she left Konoha a few years ago. In here, the air was much more dense with humidity, while the heat itself was not as severe. Flora here was much different too. The collection of foliage in the Land of Waves called for a different specie of tree that would never be found in the Land of Fire.

She summoned one of her smaller birds to her side since Sora was currently performing a rite-of-passage ritual for the hatchlings back in the Eagle's den.

"You called, Teresa-sama?" the avian asked.

Popo was one of the smaller male eagles, a harpy, that she used for scouting areas for espionage purposes.

"Yes, scout the area for any disturbances or suspicious activity. Check-in with me every hour, alright?"

The eagle nodded before setting off into the sky, a loud screeching squawk indicative of some sort of battle cry could be heard as he flew off.

She had been traveling for hours, non-stop, without taking any breaks. Popo had periodically checked-in with her, usually turning up with nothing. Occasionally, she would stop by some of the outlying villages to gather more intelligence that might lead to her perpetrators.

Popo came soaring down before settling on her shoulder once more.

"Anything?"

"No, so far, I've only seen travelers and some fisherman wandering about. The animals tell me that they have not seen anything out of the ordinary either, but...I'll probably take another look around."

"Thank you," she nodded before he took off into the air once more.

Thus far, all she really gained from the information she had was that the villages as a whole were slowly becoming conglomerated through trade.

Apparently, a shipping magnate had taken over the majority of the trading posts in the more commercialized villages near the ports. Since then, odd criminalized syndicates have been popping up from all corners of the land with no prompting reason. However, Teresa deduced that it had something to do with this "Gato" character who somehow found a way to privatize all trading outposts.

Teresa had been drawing a list of suspects and this man was at the very top of her list. She knew of course that he was not the one bloodying his hands and terrorizing the Konoha outposts, but she knew for a fact that it was his money being pumped into the pockets of the nin responsible. Therefore, this man would be at the top of the chain, the one doing all the bidding. It would seem that fiscal matters were always the reason behind domestic crime disputes.

After she found the two nin who were the top priority of her mission objective, she would make sure to find Gato. There was a high probability that if she allowed this man to continue corrupting the economy in the Land of Waves, more problems would further escalate that could ultimately reach the Land of Fire. And knowing that Konoha held the most power in terms of economic and political matters, this could possibly reach the Village if she continued to let his presence fester.

And she knew despite her better judgement that she could not let that happen either.

The silver-eyed kunoichi never really held the same patriotism the rest of her fellow comrades had for Konoha, but she did have people she loved who lived there and she would not let anything detrimental happen to the place they called their home.

With that thought in mind, Teresa shook her head and continued to travel through the trees. From beyond the clearing she could make out the ocean, and that meant that she would be happening upon one of the larger commercialized sea port villages. Perhaps she could discover more viable information there.


"Haven't seen anything amiss around here, lady," the villager she had been talking to confessed. "...But, strange things have been happening around the forest."

She frowned at his words. "What sort of...strange things have been happening?"

The man scratched the back of his head and untied his apron from his waist as he pat down his pants. A few moments ago, Teresa had come across the village's market and she ambled towards the first stall she could find, a dorayaki shop. The owner was a middle-aged working man, with a worn face, but an intrinsic exuberance that seemed to indicate that he could offer any candid information without hesitation.

"Well, the healers who go out there to collect the herbs for their medicine have been telling me how they've been encountering strange sightings of...What was it again? Ah, of mirror things...I think?"

Teresa's silver eyes flashed and her ears perked up at the mention of this. "What...kind of 'mirror things?' Did they divulge any details in specific?"

"Well, I don't know... They're like these floaty kinda' mirror things, I guess? Ichihara-san told me two days ago about how she went to the bottom of the hills where the Sen-Kyu and Ginseng root grow. She uses them to make the pain reliever medicine for open wounds like cuts and..."

"Those are the main constituents of hydrolyzed tannins—a common medicine that can be ingested or applied topically. Among the isolated constituents of those plants, testing it on human subjects has lead to the discovery of antimicrobial effects and the speed up of healing time among contact. This medicine is often used for flesh wounds...More particularly, that is a type of medicine created specifically for injuries inflicted by swords and other sharp bladed objects," Teresa said knowingly.

That meant if that medicine was being created, there should be a specific reason...perhaps an influx in sword wounds among the villagers? There was no other purpose for its concoction.

Sword wounds...

If the woman she was after could possibly be here, then that also meant the swordsman accompanying her was too.

"...Well, I don't know what you just said, but yeah probably," he shrugged. "You'll most likely get better information about all that stuff from Ichihara-san. We don't have a hospital, but we do have a hospice with all the village healer's three blocks down. They can tell you more about it."

Teresa nodded her head and thanked the man, not before buying a bag of fresh dorayaki. She thought a quid pro quo should be in order, the least she could do was purchase something from his stall for the information he had offered her.

She followed the man's directions and that led her towards the hospice building.

"Well, it happened when I came across the hills where the Sen-Kyu root grew. I was supposed to collect some for the new batch of medicine we needed and then I saw this masked shinobi," Ichihara recalled. "I tried to speak to them, to tell them I meant no harm and that I was just here to pick some herbs, but they charged at me. All I can remember is seeing myself in this...this floating mirror before I blacked out. One of the fishermen found me on the outskirts of the forest. That's all I really remember."

"Was there any affiliation they could have had? Did you get a good look of the headband they had on?"

"I...I think it was from Kiri? The headband they had on had the sign on it..."

"Hmm...I've also noticed your hospice has been producing a lot of hydrolyzed tannin medicine, is there any reason?" Teresa arched her brow.

"A lot of travelers who come through the forest have been getting attacked. They never remember who or by what, but every single person who was always seems to have flesh wounds."

"Flesh wounds...Flesh wounds from swords?"

"Yeah," the woman nodded her head. "Exactly!"

Teresa frowned again. Why were there victims appearing with mysterious sword wounds? Moreover, why would any nin from Kiri be here? This was far from their territory and not only that, Kiri had no business here in the Land of Waves. Something seemed off.

"Did any of your other colleagues encounter the same thing with the floating mirrors?" the kunoichi queried.

"Yes, Haruka-san and Lin-san did too. They told me the same thing happened to them, but what happened to Haruka-san was a little different. She was actually traveling through the forest to perform a surgery on a patient who was bedridden in his home. On her way there though, she was attacked by that same shinobi and all her medical supplies and surgical equipment were stolen."

"Can I speak to one of these women?"

"Yes, yes of course! Haruka-san is in the room next door."

Teresa thanked the healer before trudging towards the next room over to speak to the other victim.

"What? That shinobi who attacked me is a wanted nin?" the woman gasped as Teresa explained the situation.

"Yes, wanted by Konoha authority," the blonde confirmed. "I'm looking for any information you can give me. Even the smallest details can be of use."

The woman gave her an appraising once-over, as if she were studying Teresa. "...So, you're a Konoha shinobi?"

To that, Teresa nodded.

"You...You're the Silver-Eyed Witch, aren't you?"

"I suppose that is what some people know me as..." Teresa shrugged. "But, my name is Teresa."

"Oh my, what an honor! I've heard stories about you since I was a teenager. Even though we don't really have a hidden village, news from the shinobi world travels rather fast here."

"Or so I've heard," Teresa replied. "So, what happened to you on the day when you were attacked?"

"I was walking through the forest to take a detour of the main road from the village, it's quicker if you go through the forest. I had my equipment and everything in a basket, but I forgot to bring an antiseptic medicine for the pre-op stages of the surgery...So, I stopped by the hill where the Sen-Kyu root grew to pick some up. But, on my way there, I was stopped by a masked shinobi."

"What kind of mask were they wearing?"

"It was a...white mask with thin, curved eye holes and a red wavy design in place of a mouth, I think?"

Teresa's eyes flashed knowingly. "That's a hunter-nin mask..."

What was a hunter-nin doing in the Land of Waves, a hunter-nin that belonged to Kirigakure no less?

"Oh, so that's what it was? Well, yeah all I remember was seeing them and then a mirror appeared in front of me before I was knocked out."

"So, where is the general area of all these sightings in the forest?"

"Well, from the stories Ichihara-san and Lin-san have told me, we were all sort of in the South-Eastern part of the forest where the hills that grow herbs were. I think if you exit the side of the village where the port is, that part of the forest will lie directly there."

"Alright," Teresa said while stretching her arms to loosen up a bit. "Thank you for your time."

"Oh, the pleasure was all mine, Teresa-san," the woman waved. "And when you find that shinobi, can you give them a good punch in the face for me? You know, for knocking me out and stealing all of my medical supplies..."

Teresa chuckled. "Sure."

The two women laughed together languidly before the silver-eyed kunoichi finally departed the hospice building.


It was sunset by the time she made her way to the South-Eastern side of the forest not long after trekking through the seaside port. The merchants by that area were suspiciously quiet when she interrogated them for any information about the odd sightings in the forest. She knew for a fact that those men worked for Gato, that meant they were hiding something.

And Teresa did not like that at all.

When she entered the lush shrubbery of the forest she knelt to the ground and closed her eyes. Popo was somewhere above the trees searching the landscape with an aerial view. She allowed herself to concentrate on all the natural chakra that flowed throughout the forest in its entirety—from the trees, to the plants, to the small animals that lived within every crevice. She felt it all as if it were within her, as if the same energy that flowed through every living thing coursed like blood through her veins.

Over the years, Teresa had honed in on her acute chakra sensing abilities to the point where she was able to feel the flow of ki as if it were a living breathing entity. She could even sense each minute flow so vividly, enough to predict where it would go or what it would do. And every single signature was all at the grasp of her hand.

For miles stretched out upon miles, Teresa could feel the chakra signatures of the wandering passerby in the forest. There were at least ten warm bodies, all ranging in depth and prowess. Mostly civilian, but...

One stood out among the rest.

Teresa concentrated on the flow of that string of chakra, reading its every nuance like an open book. Ah, yes... This chakra form was much more powerful than the average. It spiked in several levels that no mere civilian could possess. Not to mention the fact that whoever possessed this chakra was currently trying to suppress every last bit of it. Judging from the flows, she could tell it was different, there were special marks indicative of a binding of one or more natural ki flows—this was the kekkei genkai.

It was about sixty kilometers away, near the mountainous range, on a small flat valley ridge below.

Within seconds, she took off zooming past the trees and in a matter of minutes she had made it towards that pull of chakra.

She had found her target.

Teresa masked her chakra, her ability to sense and manipulate ki allowed her to fully hide every bit of it. It was as if she extinguished it in its entirety whenever she did this, not even the most skilled shinobi could find her. She hid behind the brush, peering over for the person in question.

It was a young man...not a woman.

From the looks of it, he was around the adolescent range. He may have possessed effeminate features, but that did not change the fact that he was a boy—with long brunet hair, brown eyes, and a soft slope of the cheekbones. He was in regular shinobi attire, with the mask his victims mentioned pulled up at the top of his headband. She could see from her distance that he was bent over picking herbs on the hillside.

Teresa narrowed her eyes and noticed that he had concealed weapons in the sleeve of his shirt, his pants, and some secured even in his hair.

He was alone, the swordsman nowhere in sight. Perhaps if she captured him, that would draw his companion out. However, chances were, the swordsman would abandon his comrade altogether—that was the shinobi way as it was. Whatever they were doing, it seemed as if their mission objective was to steal supplies and intimidate any adversaries in their wake; which also included Konoha's outpost shinobi too. Which was why she was here in the first place. Konoha did not like it when their shinobi were targeted for attacks.

She thought of various plans of action in her mind. Perhaps she could injure him and then follow his trail. Attack him and let him go. She had to do it subtly, she had to make him think that he simply managed to get away without the knowledge that she deliberately let him off. Chances are if she did that, the boy would run back to whatever checkpoint he and his companion established, and that would lead to the swordsman.

Yes, that seemed like a more sound idea.

She would attack him and then let him put up a fight with her, then that would prompt him to release his kekkei genkai (giving her enough time to study it because she was actually inquisitive as to how it worked), and then she would make him believe that he beat her and let him get away.

With that in mind, Teresa stepped forth from the shrubbery, making a show of extra noise to alert him of her presence. Teresa placed a curious finger on her lip, wondering if she should have the added bonus of releasing some ki. She shrugged, why not? And just as she stepped out of the brush, she released a sudden wave of chakra—the boy immediately turned and stood on defensive mode.

"Who are you?" He shouted, kunai already on hand and as they met each other's eyes, the boy's cheeks took on a slightly pink tinge.

"It doesn't matter," she said grimly as she unsheathed her blade. "To put it short, you have a bounty on your head, and I'm here to collect it."

Teresa made sure this alibi was foolproof, she did not need him to know that she was a Konoha nin.

"B-Bounty? How? By who?"

"Doesn't matter," she repeated swinging at him all at full force.

He came crashing into the ground flat on his back from the sheer force of her swing. Rocks and debris exploded from beneath the floor upon impact. The sound of metal clanging against metal clashed and reverberated throughout the quiescent forest as he had blocked her with his kunai.

As the dust cleared away, Teresa and the boy glared fiercely at one another before she kicked the kunai out of his grasp and grabbed him by the neck to pull him up. He choked and wheezed as she tightened her grip around his thin neck, and she knew if she added just a little more pressure, she could crush it without warrant.

But, she needed to let him off...though, not without prompting him to use his kekkei genkai.

To that, her grip loosened, allowing him to catch a breath and kick her square in the chest. As was expected. She anticipated his every move, read every tick within the minute flow of chakra coursing through his veins.

Once he was free, the boy flipped several feet back only to produce hundreds of senbon her way. Teresa swung her sword, mimicking Ilena's magnum opus offensive and deflected the senbon away and back towards him. He vanished, only to reappear behind her, and she flipped him over herself, smashing his face into the ground.

He groaned. "What do you want from me?"

"Your blood," she taunted.

She pulled him up roughly and shoved him to his feet. "Get up and fight, I'm tired of your half-assed performance, boy."

He spat blood and charged at her with his fists cocked and she proceeded to dodge a barrage of punches and kicks. She allowed him to get a few punches in before kicking up to bring her leg down on his shoulder. He crumbled to his knees.

"Try harder..." Teresa grunted as she gripped his shoulder and kneed him on his stomach.

The boy flew back, but used the momentum to spin and land safely on his feet. His breathing was becoming labored from her attacks, perhaps she should go easier on him...But, then again she was only trying to coax him into using his kekkei genkai—she wanted to see it firsthand.

When was he going to use it?

It was as if a light bulb flickered in her head as she thought about using one of the newest jutsu she had perfected. It was an amalgamation of elemental wind in tandem with raw physically manifested ki—it could possibly prompt him into releasing his kekkei genkai.

Quickly now, Teresa sheathed her sword and began to form hand seals, boar...ox...snake...ram...and then...

A surge of energy came manifesting from her hands as she summoned her natural affinity as a medium of deposition for the raw energy at her finger tips. The wind came sweeping like a maelstrom and the energy within glowed a bright green as it came crashing down on her targeted opponent. The blast sent him flying through the trees as an explosion soon followed.

When the smoke cleared, the boy shakily stood up. He was bloodied from the blow of the explosion, but he pressed on nonetheless. Teresa had to admit that he did have excellent stamina to keep up with her.

"Come on," she taunted once more. "You have to be better than that..."

And just as she expected, an encasement of mirrors began to surround her. To this, she smiled.

Finally...


Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy reading each and every one of them.