Chapter 12
We enter the rebellion base, looking for my mother to give our successful mission report.
Instead we find an old man talking to that guy Chojuro, who attacked me before.
I haven't seen him since then, though I was pretty caught up in my training, so it's possible we just didn't run into each other.
"Byakura Sensei" Zabuza Sensei next to me says towards the old man.
He turns and shows us a wide smile.
"Zabuza! How was the mission?"
"We completed it without injury" Zabuza Sensei says calmly.
"Oh? You have the Kiba blades?"
Zabuza Sensei gestures towards me and I take the swords off of my back.
I channel the chakra in the swords to circulate faster, giving them a faint blue glow.
…I just wanted to show off a bit. Byakura is an advisor to my mother, so he would probably have a say on who the swords go to.
"Hm?" The old man's eyebrows raise and he looks at me with an appraising look.
"I wasn't aware that you could use lightning chakra Saizo"
I smile at him mischievously.
"I can't"
He eyes me strangely.
"Is my Mother around?" I ask.
"She's in the meeting room" Byakura responds.
I nod and begin to walk away with Haku and Zabuza Sensei in tow.
"Ah!" I hear Chojuro yell out from behind me. I turn around to look at him, he looks away bashfully and begins to stammer.
"Um, well, Saizo…I just wanted to apologize, for, um, the stuff from before…"
He seems a lot shyer now than when he was trying to kill me before.
I narrow my eyes at him suspiciously…
His eyes twitch under my gaze and he tries to explain himself nervously, hands now clenched into fists by his side.
"You see…I was angry at you because of your father…and um, your mother, she told me that you hadn't even met him before…also since I respect her so much…and your father and mother were uh…"
…I look at Haku, who looks back at me looking equally confused by what Chojuro was trying to say.
He shakes his head to collect himself.
"My anger was misplaced, I'm really sorry I attacked you" He bows formally.
He doesn't seem like such a bad guy, just a bit weird.
"That's okay, I've already gotten over it" I smile at him
"Ah!" He looks up at me and looks very moved.
"Thank you very much! I hope we can work together in the future!" He smiles, revealing a set of spiked teeth similar to Zabuza Sensei.
I nod at him and walk once more towards the meeting room.
When we get there, my mother is having a heated conversation with the advisor with an eyepatch. I think his name was Ao.
"I swear it! His chakra system was strange, it was cloudy, as if it was being manipulated through genjutsu" Ao says firmly.
"A genjutsu that can last more than eight years?! Have you ever heard of such a thing?!" My mother yells back, apparently distraught.
"It could be a Kekkai Genkai. A dojutsu of some kind…" Ao starts to respond before he notices our presence and my mother cuts him off with a smile on her face. Completely uncharacteristic of her frown from just a few seconds earlier.
…Women are scary.
"Are we interrupting something important?" I ask hesitantly.
My mother sighs and puts her head in her hand.
"It's just…" She looks at Ao, who just nods solemnly.
She sighs again before continuing.
"Ao just returned from a mission to spy on the enemy base. He happened to see Yagura…your father and he thinks he's being manipulated by a genjutsu. While this would certainly explain his sudden shift in personality, we don't know of any genjutsu powerful enough to do something on this scale" She looks towards Ao.
Ao nods in return and continues from where he left off.
"As I was saying, a Kekkai Genkai or dojutsu proficient at genjutsu could be responsible"
"But that's still just a theory. We have no way to confirm that there is a genjutsu and even if we did, we don't have a way to undo it" My mother responds, shaking her head.
"I'm almost one hundred percent certain that he's under some sort of very powerful genjutsu. Everything I saw was consistent with that. The only other thing it could be is something with the Three Tails that I don't understand"
"The Three Tails?" I ask.
Ao and my mother both look at me and then at each other.
"I guess it doesn't really matter at this point" My mother says, sighing again.
…If she keeps sighing like that, she's going to age faster…
I'll keep that thought to myself.
"Yagura is a Jinchuriki. He houses one of the nine chakra demons inside of his body. He's fairly adept in its use as well" Ao takes over and explains.
…Though I still have questions.
My mother continues.
"Yagura told me that the Three Tails was his friend. He was working on being able to use a full body transformation before he…left"
"What's a chakra demon?" I ask. They were missing a pretty big detail.
"It's a giant demon with an incredibly large and powerful chakra. They were all sealed by the first Hokage and dispersed to the various ninja villages. Kirigakure got the Three Tails and the Seven Tails. The Jinchuriki for the Seven Tails became a Missing-Nin several years ago though and his current location is unknown" Ao explains.
I nod in response.
Zabuza Sensei taught me about basic fuinjutsu before, so I understand the principle of sealing something inside of something.
"Back on topic" My mother smiles at me.
…I feel like we're glossing over something really important…
"Would you know how to break the genjutsu if you had the opportunity?" She asks Ao.
He frowns with one eye.
"…In theory" He responds.
My mother nods and starts to think deeply with a frown on her face.
"…Alright, this could very easily decide this war. If we could get him back…" She shows a small but genuine smile.
"What's the plan?" Zabuza Sensei asks.
"Our intel suggests that Yagura doesn't take part in actual battles, he's strictly the leader on the backline. If we can draw most of their forces into a large battle, we could send a small reconnaissance team to Yagura's location" My mother responds.
"Who would be on this reconnaissance team?" I ask excitedly.
She gives me a wry smile.
"Ao obviously, but beyond him, we'll have to examine our forces carefully in order to select to right people. We're not staging this battle tomorrow after all, this war has been going on for eight years, there's no need to rush. We'll spend the next few weeks planning our moves and then we'll act on it"
I nod quietly. I was excited to join the war…
"We will be waiting to hear what the plan is. We're here because we completed our mission. Raiga Kurosuki is dead and we now have the Kiba blades" Zabuza Sensei changes the subject.
My mother nods with a smile.
"Well done. Were there any problems?"
"None. Saizo and Haku performed excellently and no injuries were sustained"
My eye twitches when I hear that. I know I could have done better, I still need to train and get stronger. If Zabuza Sensei wasn't there we would have stood no chance…
"Where are the blades?"
Zabuza gestures towards me, so I hold the Kiba blades out and circulate their chakra, to give them a faint blue glow like I did with Byakura. If I want to be the next owner of these blades, I need to show off a bit.
My mother looks at me with mild surprise.
"You trained in lightning release?"
I shake my head.
Her looks changes to one of confusion.
"Then how…"
She doesn't finish her sentence as Ao interrupts her.
"The blades appear to have their own internal chakra network! It's incredible! How are there no records of this?"
I look at Ao, whose eyepatch is now surrounded by bulging veins.
My mother's forehead gets a bulging vein of its own. She turns to Ao with an empty smile.
"Don't interrupt me in the future if you value your life"
She says it sweetly, but the words are coated in poison and Ao is now breaking out in a cold sweat.
I kind of felt that my mother was scary, but this…
Are all girls like that? Haku seems much nicer…
I look at Haku, who looks like she's studying something interesting and glance at Zabuza Sensei, who managed to maintain his emotionless appearance…yet shut his eyes for unknown reasons.
I hope Haku doesn't pick up any bad habits…
My mother turns back to me and I unconsciously flinch.
"So the blades have their own internal supply of chakra?" She asks me, returning to normal.
I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding and reply.
"No, but they can absorb chakra from real lightning and maintain the supply within itself"
"I see" she frowns.
"Is it something anyone can use?" She continues.
I feel my heart beat. This is it! I can't lie, but I can imply that I'm the best choice.
"I'm not sure. I trained in order to be able to sense the chakra it uses, I don't know if anyone else can use it the way I do"
"May I see them?" She asks politely, hands outstretched.
I nod and hand them over.
She examines them in her hands for a few seconds before closing her eyes.
A couple of minutes pass before she opens her eyes and hands them back to me, my eyes widen in question. Did she sense the chakra? Could she use it like I could? Was the training I did completely pointless?
She shakes her head while smiling at me.
"I couldn't sense anything"
She turns to Ao.
"Could you see any chakra in the blades? Or just the network?"
Ao flinches visibly before collecting himself.
"…I could sense an energy, but it was different to chakra"
My mother nods in response, ignoring his clear discomfort.
"I have a few other candidates in mind for the Kiba blades" She says, but her eyes are smiling so I don't think of it as bad news.
"I'm going to arrange for the candidates to meet tomorrow to test your compatibility with the swords. The final decision will belong to me. So Saizo, make sure to go to the first training ground tomorrow morning" She smiles and ruffles my hair.
I smile broadly and nod.
The Next Morning
I wake up bright and early, excited to finally get official ownership of the Kiba Blades!
I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but if what my mother said is to be believed, them no one should be able to use the swords like I can! Even if they have a natural affinity for lightning chakra, it shouldn't be as strong.
I make my way to the training ground under the watchful eye of Haku, who insisted on joining me.
I'm not sure why, but she started following me to the training ground as if it were obvious.
"You don't have come too, you should get some sleep"
"I am already well rested. I wish to see you become one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen with my own eyes"
She brushed off my concern and kept following me…
My heart feels at ease when she's with me and her confidence in me makes me more confident in myself.
I smile back at her and we reach the training ground shortly after.
My mother is already there alongside two full grown adults wearing Kiri headbands.
"You're finally here Saizo, let's get started"
Was I late? Isn't it like 5 in the morning? The sun's not even all the way up yet…
The male ninja looks at me with a frown.
"Why is he here? Surely he isn't a candidate?"
My mother looks at him with the same cold smile she had used on Ao yesterday.
"He is. I've deemed him suitable to be the next owner of the Kiba blades. Is there a problem?"
The temperature in the air gets a little colder as the male ninja quickly shuts up and shakes his head.
And just like that she's back to normal…
"Excellent" She says with a more genuine smile.
My mother takes out the Kiba blades and hands them to the male ninja.
"Now Teika, these are the Kiba blades. They can harness lightning chakra to become faster, sharper and deliver lightning attacks. Show me what you can do"
Teika is a well-built man with short spiky blue hair and sharp teeth. He looks about Zabuza Sensei's age.
The man named Teika attempts to enhance the blades with lightning chakra…nothing happens. He frowns and then glows blue as he attempts to pour more chakra into the blades…nothing happens.
"Is something wrong?" My mother asks him with a small smile.
He flinches and frowns harder.
"The swords aren't accepting my chakra…"
"Disappointing…" My mother says with a larger smile and moves onto the next ninja.
…I think she's rooting for me.
"Shuri, let's see what you can do"
Shuri was a kunoichi a bit younger than my mother. She had short black hair and wore the standard jonin flak jacket.
Shuri takes the blades and begins with a kata. Her moves are sharp, she's clearly very skilled with two ordinary blades. After she finishes, she too attempts to infuse the blades with her lightning chakra nature…nothing happens.
"…hah, nothing…"
She sighs and hands the blades back to my mother who smiles and moves on to me.
"Your turn Saizo" She nods.
I look to Haku who smiles at me sweetly.
I smile back.
During the previous two attempts at wielding the blades, I noticed that the chakra from the actual lightning bolt (which I'm now just going to call bolt chakra, because I'm confusing myself) present in the Kiba blades was absorbing the chakra the other two ninja put in. The amount didn't increase, the new chakra sort of just dissipated as soon as it made contact with the much more pure bolt chakra.
I should have a much easier time, since I'm the only one who can sense and use the bolt chakra right now.
Here we go.
I circulate the chakra inside of the blades and launch a quarter of the remaining reserves at a nearby tree. The tree gets sliced in half easily and the top half slides off, the ends are burnt black where the lightning chakra touched the tree.
My mother smiles broadly at me and looks towards the other two candidates who are staring at me with their jaws hanging down.
"I think the new owner of the Kiba blades is decided…"
"How the hell?! He cheated! He must have…"
The blue haired ninja name Teika interrupted my mother and started yelling things…
…Which I knew from experience wasn't a good idea…
I look warily at my mother who's already started smiling coldly.
"Teika"
The ninja Teika stops yelling and turns to look at my mother, still frowning. Then quickly realizes who he's frowning at and ends up flinching and physically taking a step back.
"Shut up"
…I think Teika might be lucky to be alive…
"If there are no more complaints…" My mother says snidely, staring at Teika for a second too long...
Then just like that, she switches to a warm smile.
"The Kiba blades will now belong to Saizo Karatachi of Kiri"
She hands me the swords.
It's weird to hear my last name...
"Congratulations" She ruffles my hair.
"Good job Saizo!" Haku smiles .
"Yes, that lightning blast was extraordinary. Well done!" The kunoichi Shuri also commented.
The three women look at Teika simultaneously, who now looks like a beaten dog.
I think I hear him whimper as he flinches and stutters out.
"G…good job…"
The three women nod in unison.
"Let's go tell Zabuza Sensei!" Haku says excitedly, grabbing my hand and leading me away.
It's been a good morning.
Meanwhile
A man wearing an orange spiraled mask looks on.
"How intriguing, Yagura has a son"
A deep voice bellows out.
"They've also finally figure out my genjutsu…"
"This changes my plans"
The orange masked figure phases into the ground.