It was quite a feeling, the first time you killed someone.
Bolt would never forget it. The way the Anbu's eyes widened and clouded beneath his mask. The sound of blood gurgling in the lungs as he breathed his last breath. The way he clutched at his chest in disbelief and horror.
Everyone always talked about how they saw the faces of those they killed in their dreams. On more than one occasion, Bolt had eavesdropped on a few of the grizzled veterans of the third war. It amazed him that they could remember the details so intimately after so much time. Now, he didn't doubt them. Bolt would remember that night in the small forest clearing on the peninsula of the Land of Lightning until his dying day, that he knew.
But, what the veterans never talked about, was the feeling of uncleanliness. His left hand felt like it didn't belong. His skin felt tight, as if it was worn incorrectly. Bolt's fingers twitched as he recalled the sensation of chakra leaving their tips and piercing the Anbu's chest. He felt the overwhelming need to wash his hands, but no amount of soap and water ever made them feel cleaner.
The aftermath of the Anbu attack on their camp was dealt with swiftly and efficiently. When Bolt woke up late the next morning, the bodies had already been been catalogued and piled. The Anbu who had prices on their heads were loaded onto the the ship, and the rest burned in a great pile. Those that died from among the ranks of the Crimson Tide were given proper burials in the forest in unmarked graves, to prevent any grave robbers from disturbing their rest to collect their bounties.
It was a somber feeling, Bolt decided. The very air felt depressing in the wake of so much death. Takeo had sulked around the camp, picking fights with whoever was stupid enough to anger him. Bolt couldn't find it in himself to blame him. He didn't know what he would do if Sarada or Mitsuki had been killed on a mission. He would probably go mad.
Hikari had summarily shoved a plate of food in his face, giving him only minutes to eat, before dragging him out of the camp before Bolt could ask any questions or wallow in his own misery. They had a long journey ahead of them, made longer by the late hour of the day in which they found themselves. The island of Nadeshiko laid far to the south of where they had camped in the Land of Lightning. It was one of the largest islands in the Land of Water, yet remained its sovereignty due to its own fledging ninja village. Whilst the Hidden Mist would no doubt emerge victorious in a war between the two, there had never been enough support to do so—especially with the third and fourth wars, and Yagura's bloody purge of bloodlines.
"Keep up," Hikari chided him. Bolt shook his head, trying to focus on the trees as they leapt through the forest. Hikari glanced back at Bolt as the forest thinned, giving way to rocky hills and gullies. He was taking it much harder than she herself did the first time. Given, he was born in an era of peace in a village that promoted non-violence, and she was recruited into the Anbu hunter program before she had even graduated from the Academy. No one was there to hold her hand and guide her through her own tumultuous emotions, so she didn't know what she could do to comfort her brother-in-arms.
The two of them continued in a strained, awkward silence as they blitzed through the countryside. Blissfully, they encountered no foreign ninja. Rocky crags and gullies gave way to smooth, sandy plains as they reached the coast of the Land of Lightning. Both continued on, channeling chakra through their feet as they sprinted across the waves. Hikari kept her pace brisk yet subdued, always looking back to make sure Bolt followed her. He had withdrawn inwards, and no amount of prodding would bring him out of his shell for long.
Hikari's training ate at her. A distracted mind in a potential combat situation never ended well, for him or his team. Slowing her pace, Bolt continued running on autopilot. Hikari weaved a few hand seals as she kneeled, placing the palm of her hand on the surface of the ocean. A small stream of water reared its head and slammed into Bolt's face before he could react. Hikari was rewarded with the sound of sputtering and yelping as Bolt was rudely awakened and sent sprawling below the waves.
Bolt swam to the surface, his arms flailing for purchase on the water's surface with his chakra. He took in a great gasp of air as he hauled himself out of the water, now thoroughly soaked. He flashed his companion a murderous look, the veins in his temples writhing unnaturally. If Hikari hadn't been wearing her mask, Bolt was sure she would have an infuriating smirk plastered on her face.
Hikari inclined her head, gesturing to continue their journey. Bolt grumbled under his breath and began to wring out his soaked clothes as they ran. After he had removed as much moisture as he could, there was little left to distract him from returning to his dark thoughts. He kept a sixth sense trained on Hikari, however, wary of being drenched again. "The Hidden Mist Jutsu is formed by the seals for Ox, Snake, and Ram," Hikari said suddenly. "The user gathers chakra in their lungs, using nature transformation to turn it into water vapor. Imbued with chakra, it is thicker than natural mist and obscures dōjutsu to varying degrees."
Bolt was startled upon hearing her speak. "Uh, yeah, I guess," he commented. Hiroki had taught him the jutsu shortly after he joined. It was a staple of all Hidden Mist ninjas, and an invaluable technique for stealth.
"Now you explain one," Hikari prompted, before Bolt could go back to torturing himself.
Bolt's brows furrowed as he began explaining the Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu. For the remainder of their trip to Nadeshiko, the two went back and forth, explaining the hand seals required for each jutsu and how exactly it functioned. It became a sort of game, where each stretched their knowledge of techniques to the limit.
Both were equally relieved as the shores of Nadeshiko came into sight. Bolt and Hikari had gone through their entire repertoire of techniques and were struggling to improvise new techniques from their brief battles with other ninja and what they remembered from their time in the Academy.
Bolt hid a small smile as he realized Hikari had played the game to distract him from his sorrow.
Sarada's eyes flickered back and forth as her Sharingan tracked Himawari's fists. She ducked and weaved, evading each strike of the Gentle Fist. The air hissed as the younger girl's hands expelled chakra. Even a single touch would be debilitating, especially when they weren't holding anything back.
She grabbed Himawari's wrist as an open-palmed fist swung wide. Heaving, she threw Himawari across the training grounds like a rag doll. Sarada heard her yelp in surprise and began to weave hand seals.
Himawari recovered, chakra glowing as her feet touched the ground and anchored her there against the force of Sarada's grapple. She darted forward, using the chakra in her legs to give her a burst of speed. With her Byakugan, she saw Sarada's eyes widen in surprise as she appeared inside her guard. "Two palms!" Himawari yelled, striking her friend in the sternum and abdomen. She hesitated as the strikes felt wrong. Sarada seemed to bulge as smoke leaked from her mouth and ears.
Himawari leapt backwards, her hands flashing through hand seals. An earthen dome erupted and covered her as the clone of Sarada burst into flames, incinerating the grass for several tens of feet in every direction. She could feel the heat through her earthen defense. Had she not blocked the fire clone's explosion, she was sure Sarada would be rushing her to the hospital.
But that was the cost of power. Both girls had agreed to hold nothing back when they started training together several months ago. As a result, both improved markedly. With her Byakugan, Himawari could see Sarada standing behind her, inhaling a great breath of air. Himawari bit her thumb and slammed her palm on the ground.
A large toad burst forth, shattering the earthen dome. Without Himawari having to speak her intent, the toad spewed forth a wave of water that countered Sarada's fire technique. The training grounds were covered in a thick steam, but that didn't hinder Himawari's vision. The toad leapt into the air as Himawari inhaled. Gamami needed no instruction as she felt her summoner's fire chakra flare. She spit a globule of oil at the same time Himawari breathed fire. A roaring inferno descended over the training grounds, thoroughly scorching and charring the earth beyond what a normal fire technique could do.
As the toad and her summoner fell to the earth, the ground rumbled under their weight. Sarada chose then to emerge from her hiding spot behind a tree trunk at the far edge of the clearing. She unleashed a wave of arcing lightning that moved faster than the eye could follow. With her Sharingan, Sarada saw the muscles in Himawari's back go rigid as the lightning approached. No doubt her Byakugan could see the attack coming, but her body wasn't fast enough to react to it.
The toad burst into smoke as it was electrocuted, leaving Himawari to fall to the ground as her muscles spasmed uncontrollably. Sprinting forward, Sarada was at her opponent's throat in a moment. She held a kunai to Himawari's neck with a pleased smile on her face. "Give up?" Sarada asked.
Himawari nodded feebly as Sarada put the knife back in its pouch. Her hands glowed green with the Mystic Palm as she soothed Himawari's pains away. "That was a good one," Himawari managed to gasp out as her muscles stopped spasming.
"Thanks," Sarada quipped. "I couldn't afford to hold back with you using toad oil. That stuff is nasty. My mom had to throw out the last shirt that got stained with the stuff."
Himawari giggled at the thought of Sakura scrubbing futilely at the toad oil. According to Gamami, it was a highly flammable variant of the oil the toads bathed in on Mount Myōboku. Whilst the original couldn't be taken from the toad's ancestral home, the flammable oil used for combat could. After a quick demonstration on its properties, Himawari had demanded her summon to always carry some. The heat from the combination of toad oil and fire was enough to blister her own skin, even at a distance.
The green chakra surrounding Sarada's hands faded as the treatment ended. "Better?" Sarada asked, helping her opponent to her feet. Himawari nodded several times. "Up for round two?"
Himawari shook her head. "No, I was going to go bother my dad after we finished," she said.
Sarada had to stifle a giggle. "Your dad has it rough. First Bolt, then you pick up his bad habits," she said.
Himawari just smirked. "He'll give in and train me eventually," she said.
"Or he will just go insane and retire at an early age," Sarada countered.
"That's fine too," Himawari declared.
"You know," Sarada said, as the two of them walked back to the village. "You could always ask Konohamaru to teach you. He taught the Rasengan to Bolt. I'm sure he'd be happy to teach you if you asked."
Himawari made a small noise that told Sarada she hadn't really thought of that. "Plus," Sarada continued on. "Imagine the Hokage's face when you bust into his office with a Rasengan in your hand."
Himawari stopped walking, causing Sarada to stop as well. She watched as an evil grin spread across her friend's face. In that moment, Sarada felt sorry for her teacher and the leader of their village. Himawari began to skip happily through the woods as they headed not for the Hokage's office, but for the Sarutobi clan district and, presumably, Konohamaru's house.
Sarada shook her head and pushed her glasses up as she followed her friend. She knew how demanding Himawari could be, and if she was going to torture her teacher, she wanted to be there to watch. And learn, of course. She was still determined to be the next Hokage.
Nadeshiko was an interesting place, Bolt decided. There was no towns or villages on the island, save for one: Nadeshiko itself. Nestled on the tops of two towering mountains of stone, the village was connected by a large bridge that spanned a ravine between the two mountains. The entire island was covered in a dense forest, crawling with wild animals. There was no clear path through the forest, leaving him and Hikari to wade through the dense underbrush; cutting and hacking their way through.
"Can we go back yet?" Bolt asked as his sword caught in a thick vine for the hundredth time. He was infinitely glad Hikari had revealed a small sealing tag that contained a handful of spare weaponry, among which, were two swords they used as machetes.
"No!" Hikari snapped, swinging at a bush violently. "The Crimson Tide has never failed a mission before, and we won't start now. Especially after last night's raid."
Bolt sighed and allowed his Byakugan to manifest. Focussing his chakra in his eyes, Bolt's vision swam as he scoured the forest for an easier path. His gaze was drawn to the mountains upon which Nadeshiko sat. They were two faces of sheer rock, with no discernable path up. That meant they would either be looking for another path, or using chakra to scale the mountain. Both were equally exhausting, considering the difficulty in which they navigated the forest.
"See anything?" Hikari asked, as she violently cut down a sapling with ruthless precision.
Bolt shook his head, even though she couldn't see him. "No, nothing. Looks like we'll have to scale the mountain," he said. He could hear her audibly sigh. Bolt was beginning to question whether the two million ryō bounty was worth it for the trouble they were going through. Both he and Hikari had agreed they would be claiming the bounty for their target—alive, not dead. It was more for the reputation than the extra million ryō; the money was just a bonus.
Hikari barreled into Bolt, knocking him to the ground. Before he could even sputter an indignified response, she was already hauling him to his feet and throwing him behind a tree. With his Byakugan, Bolt saw a flash of pale skin dart into the underbrush. Looking at the tree he was hiding behind, Bolt saw that there was a dart sticking out of the bark—right where he had been standing. "Pay attention!" Hikari hissed at him. "Or I'll pluck those eyes out and sell them to someone who will actually use them!"
Bolt mentally reprimanded himself before he set about looking for their would-be assailant. The world became a blue monochrome as the trees and bushes became incorporeal; marked only by a faint, gray outline. Whoever had attacked them didn't anticipate facing a Hyūga. Bolt saw their chakra pathway system as clear as day, hiding in the branches of a tree not twenty paces away. Bolt fished a handful of shuriken out of the leather pouch on his waist and hurled them at their attacker. The disembodied chakra of the person leapt out of the way at the last moment. Bolt could see their chakra points flare as they leapt from branch to branch deeper into the forest.
"This way!" Bolt called, jumping after their target. Hikari followed him, a handful of throwing needles in each hand.
Bolt's eyes noticed an irregularity with their attacker's chakra as they chased them through the forest. "I think I managed to hit him with one or two shuriken back there," he informed Hikari, who only grunted in acknowledgement.
The chase lasted for nearly half an hour. After the first ten minutes, Bolt wanted to laugh as their target became increasingly desperate as they realized Bolt's eyes couldn't be fooled. Finally, their target gave up. Too tired to continue on, they stopped in a small clearing and made their final stand. Bolt and Hikari stopped, perched on a tree limb that loomed over the clearing. Their target was a man wearing a headband emblazoned with a stylized flower; the symbol of Nadeshiko. He didn't look particularly strong, but nor did he appear weak. Bolt estimated him to be a chūnin.
Hikari dropped to the forest floor. "Why did you attack us?" she questioned.
The Nadeshiko ninja remained silent as he gripped a kunai tightly. "How do we enter Nadeshiko village?" Hikari asked. Bolt scanned the surrounding area with his Byakugan, ensuring no one caught them unawares again.
The man hurled his kunai at Hikari, who dodged it and threw a fistful of throwing needles in return. The man cried out in pain as they pierced his legs, causing him to drop to the ground. Bolt sighed and dropped to the ground, seeing no other enemies in sight. Hikari strode up to the man, kneeled, and stabbed him with a needle. Bolt watched as his pupils dilated and his muscles slackened. "Why did you attack us?" Hikari asked, again.
The ninja opened his jaw and began to lazily drawl out the answer to her question. "Red colored band," he slurred. "Enemies. Attack on sight."
Hikari fingered the fabric of her headband, the standard color of those in the mercenary company. She slipped it off her neck and deposited it in a pouch on her waist. "How do we enter Nadeshiko village?"
The man's head lolled as he drooled. Hikari slapped him, causing his eyes to flutter. "Hidden entrance," he slurred. "Base of mountain. Rock like tree."
She stabbed him with another needle, and the man passed into blissful unconsciousness. "Can you find it?" Hikari asked Bolt.
Bolt nodded and placed his hands into the Ram seal before channeling more chakra into his eyes. The veins in his temples bulged and writhed as his Byakugan's visual acuity increased twofold. He scoured the mountainside, looking for the secret entrance to the village. He found nothing, but eventually came to a rock formation that vaguely resembled a dead, leafless tree. "I think I found the marker to the entrance," Bolt said, jogging through the trees towards the base of the mountain. Hikari followed closely behind.
The marker was little more than a cropping of rock formed from cracks in the face of the mountain. If Bolt wasn't looking for it, specifically, he would have never found it—even with his Byakugan. With a little imagination, the cracks appeared to take the form of a dead, leafless tree. Once their attention was drawn to it, Bolt and Hikari didn't think the Nadeshiko ninja could have been speaking of anything else.
"What now?" Bolt asked, as he fumbled with the cracks in the stone. He didn't find anything that looked remotely like a hidden passage.
Hikari drew back her arm and slammed her fist into the stone, causing Bolt to yelp in surprise. The rock gave way and revealed a dark cavern. "I guess that works," Bolt commented as he trailed behind her. Looking around, Bolt could see numerous tags stuck to the stone with sealing matrices on them. That was why his Byakugan didn't find the passageway. A ruined mechanical door lay next to the cavern entrance where Hikari had broken it.
"Shouldn't we, you know, be more quiet?" Bolt asked as they ventured further into the cave. Bolt saw her pop a soldier pill—probably to help her see in the dark. Not for the first time, Bolt thanked the gods that he had been born with the Byakugan.
"Probably," Hikari whispered. They came upon what appeared to be an old mineshaft hewn into the rock that led upwards. At the very top, they could see a warm, yellow-orange light. A wooden floor sat at the bottom of the shaft, with two sets of wires anchored to the center. A complicated looking series of mechanical gears attached the wires to the wood.
Hikari gingerly stepped on the wood. No traps activated, she reached out and tugged on the wires. They held. Bolt followed her, watching as she gripped the wires tightly and pulled. The wooden platform moved up ever so slightly. It was a very crude, manual elevator. Moving to the wire opposite her, Bolt pulled down. The platform moved up, again. The two of them fell into a rhythm; Bolt pulled his wire down, and Hikari pulled hers up.
In a matter of minutes they had reached the apex, without using any chakra. They emerged into what appeared to be a utilitarian warehouse with bare, metal walls. A single lantern burned in the corner, sitting upon a small, worn wooden stool. "Security is lax," Hikari commented. "What do you see?"
The veins in Bolt's temples writhed as he scanned the area. "We're in some sort of industrial district," he said. "Lots of empty warehouses. Not many people. I can't see any civilians, so we must be several hundred feet away from the village proper." Bolt sighed audibly, wishing his eyesight was as good as his mother's. She could see for miles in every direction.
"Stay low and stick to the shadows. Keep your eyes open and actually pay attention to what you see," Hikari commanded. Bolt nodded several times to assure that he would, in fact, keep his eyes peeled.
Together, they crept through the series of warehouses and made their way deeper into the village. Soon enough, Bolt was close enough to the village to see with his Byakugan. "We're near the village now," Bolt informed his companion.
"Transform into one of the women," Hikari instructed him. Bolt did so, reluctantly. Hikari immediately copied his appearance, and bid him to pick a man to masquerade as. The two of them emerged from an alleyway as a nondescript pair of civilians. Together, Bolt and Hikari scoured the village for any sign of their target. "Tamako" was a ninja of some renown within her village, and would no doubt be in hiding, or well protected, after her near capture.
A sudden commotion ahead drew Bolt's attention. The crowd of civilians he had been navigating had begun to thin and part, making way for some sort of procession. Bolt and Hikari stepped to the side, mirroring the citizens of Nadeshiko.
A woman strode through the streets, tall and proud. She had her black hair held up in a ponytail, proudly displaying her headband with the stylized flower on it. Her eyes were a piercing shade of dark green that Bolt hadn't seen in anyone. She wore a flowing gown of white that reminded Bolt of the ceremonial robes his father wore, minus the gaudy hat. Behind the woman trailed another, younger woman who couldn't have been much older than Bolt himself. Hikari elbowed him discreetly. Sharing a look, both nodded. The girl appeared to by a younger version of the older woman, but she fit the description of Tamako's wanted poster perfectly.
Hikari trailed the two women and their comrades, with Bolt following close behind. They weaved through the throngs, keeping their target within eyesight. Tamako and, who Bolt assumed to be, her mother, travelled through the village until they came to the tallest building in the village. They entered through a small door, with two of their guards taking their posts outside. In wordless agreement, Bolt activated his Byakugan. He watched as the pair ascended a stairway that led to a sprawling complex of offices and, what appeared to be, barracks. "I think Tamako might be the daughter of their Kage," Bolt informed Hikari.
He heard her curse under her breath. "We'll have to take her at night, then. I'm not risking a fight with a village leader," Hikari decided.
Bolt's eyes drifted to a small house outside the Kage's office. "That house is abandoned," he said, pointing it out. "We can wait there until night."
They didn't have to wait long. Day came and went, and then the cover of darkness descended. A small guard of ninja remained behind, but their number was vastly reduced from earlier that afternoon. No doubt they felt safe enough to not warrant the extreme security measures the larger villages had. There was no war, and Nadeshiko was too small to be considered a threat by any of the five great nations.
Bolt and Hikari stealthily crept from the abandoned house they had hidden in, scaling the walls of the office and sneaking past the guards. Channeling chakra into their feet, they sprinted and ran up the walls, vertically. "Fourth room from the top," Bolt informed Hikari. His eyes began to ache from the continued use of his dōjutsu.
Hikari picked the lock on the window with quiet ease, and the two of them slipped into a small bedroom. A bed lay on the far side of the room, with a body occupying it. With his Byakugan, Bolt could see the chakra pathway system of a human clearly. He nodded to Hikari, who withdrew a single throwing needle whose tip was a shade of purple. Before she could throw the needle, Bolt saw the person's chakra points in their arms flare to life. He opened his mouth to warn Hikari, but was stopped by a gust of wind that threw him into the wall with enough force to knock the wind from his lungs. "Nadeshiko Style: Gale Fist," he heard a feminine voice intone.
The next sound he heard was the sound of stone shattering, as Hikari got to her feet and delivered a punch that missed and destroyed an entire wall. Bolt staggered to his feet as "Tamako" danced across the room, evading every swing Hikari made. The second Gale Fist came, and this time, Bolt made sure not to get hit. He rolled out of the way, using an evasive maneuver from the Uzumaki taijutsu style. In the same motion, he withdrew a kunai and hurled it at the girl's right leg.
Tamako kicked the knife away, causing it to sink deep into the stone wall behind Bolt. The enclosed space didn't allow Bolt to use any ninjutsu without potentially hurting Hikari, so he darted forward, hands raised for open-palmed Gentle Fist strikes.
Tamako was not limited so. She unleashed two Gale Fists in quick succession, causing gusts of wind to buffet Bolt and Hikari. The pair were forced to channel chakra into their feet in order to stay anchored to the ground in the face of the powerful wind. The winds subsided, and the fight spilled into the hallway. A guard from the lower levels must have heard the fighting, for a man rushed out of a nearby stairwell with a kunai in his hand. Hikari's fist met his face in an echoing crunch that sent the ninja to the ground, where he lay sprawled.
Bolt attacked Tamako, chakra lancing from his fingers and piercing her chakra points as they did battle. She quickly realized a taijutsu battle with Bolt would be a fight she would not win, and quickly retreated further down the hall. Tamako came to an intersection, where one hall met another. There was a breeze and a flash of black fabric as Bolt was roughly thrown into the wall once more. His Byakugan saw a woman appear, her leg being brought down in a vicious kick upon Hikari.
Hikari raised both arms to block, but was sent through the floor by the strength of the woman's kick. A gust of wind rushed down the hallway in the wake of the attack. "Hikari!" Bolt yelled. He did not receive an answer.
"Naruto?" a voice called. Bolt turned and came face-to-face with the woman he assumed to be the village's Kage.
He jumped backwards, slipping into a defensive Gentle Fist stance. "Who are you?" Bolt questioned, slightly annoyed that he had been mistaken for his dad. Honestly, Naruto was the Hokage, and much taller than Bolt. Who could mistake them?
"Shizuka," the woman said, taking in his appearance in the dim light. "You must be Bolt. You look so much like your father, you know. Your wanted poster doesn't do you justice."
Bolt darted forward, intending to block her chakra points before he had to fight a Kage on even footing. He was rewarded with Shizuka exhaling a gust of wind that swept Bolt off his feet and sent him careening into the wall. Bolt flipped himself and used his legs to prevent himself from crashing into a wall for the second time. Weaving hand seals, he sent a bolt of lightning arcing from the tips of his fingers down the hall.
Shizuka waved her hand, sending a gust of wind that tore the lightning to pieces. Bolt was already weaving another set of hand seals before the wind had even faded. He spewed forth a wave of water that rushed down the hall and dissipated harmlessly well before it reached Shizuka and Tamako.
Bolt smirked as Shizuka raised a lone eyebrow at his antics. She went rigid as lightning coursed through the water, electrocuting both her and Tamako. Hikari climbed back up through the hole in the floor where Shizuka had kicked her, lightning arcing from her arm. Another benefit of the Byakugan: you always knew where your allies were. "Grab her!" Hikari yelled.
Bolt didn't need to be told twice. He ran down the hall, his footsteps sending great splashes of water skyward. Bolt scooped up Tamako as Hikari led him to the far end of the hall. Hikari sent a chakra-enhanced punch at the wall, creating their own door. Bolt grunted as he felt a fist connect with his sternum, sending a gust of wind into his chest that made him see stars. When his vision cleared, he was laying on his back with the water of his own technique soaking his shirt.
He saw Hikari grappling with Tamako near the hole in the wall and struggled to get to his feet. Bolt gagged as his shirt was pulled taut against his neck from behind. He felt a strong arm wrap around his chest, and the cold touch of metal under his chin. He didn't even have to use his Byakugan to know that Shizuka had a kunai to his throat. "Stop!" Shizuka commanded.
Hikari and Tamako ceased their squabble long enough to see Bolt's predicament. Hikari huffed audibly as she withdrew the fist she had been about to pummel Tamako with. "Why did you come here?" Shizuka questioned both of them.
"This girl is a wanted woman in the Land of Lightning for theft," Hikari informed her. "You are not authorized to detain us for lawful bounty hunting," she added with anger.
"She is my daughter," Shizuka quipped. "I don't care about the law. And she hasn't stolen anything." Bolt could see Tamako's face grow red.
"The Lightning Lord would disagree. I think you'll find that she has several artifacts from his country that your daughter has acquired," Hikari snapped.
Shizuka looked from Hikari to Tamako, then back again. "I don't care," she said. Bolt sucked in a breath as he felt the edge of the kunai press against his neck. "Release her, and leave."
Hikari and Shizuka stared each other down, neither willing to submit. Bolt frantically locked eyes with Hikari, trying to convey some unspoken message. Peering through the slits of her hunter mask, he imperceptibly shook his head. Don't release her, he said.
Taking a deep breath, Bolt closed his eyes and thought back to all the lessons his grandfather Hiashi put him and his sister through. He saw the technique clearly in his mind; never performed by him, only practiced by his sister, their grandfather, and some of the other elite Hyūga clansmen. Steeling his resolve, Bolt felt for the chakra points in his own body. He felt the disturbing sensation of being stretched in every direction at once as he tapped into them. All at once, in a burst of motion, he expelled chakra from as many of the points as he could and spun on his heel.
Bolt heard a grunt of pain as the air was forcibly expelled from Shizuka's lungs as the woman was sent flying backwards and crashing into the wall. He heard the stone crack under the pressure of the chakra he was expelling, and if it weren't for his Byakugan, he was certain he would be incapacitated by a fit of dizziness from rotations of the Eight Trigrams Palms: Revolving Heaven.
Bolt fell to his knees as the technique ended, leaving him drained of chakra and breathless from exertion. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Hikari pricking Tamako with a needle. The girl promptly collapsed into an unconscious heap. Bolt was pulling himself to his feet when Hikari slid to her knees next to him. "Don't move," she commanded.
Bolt stilled as she raised her hands to his neck. They glowed with the green chakra of the Mystic Palm, and that was when Bolt felt a warm liquid running down his chest. Panic set in. "Oh god," he exhaled. "How bad is it?"
Hikari looked from Bolt to the gaping gash that ran from his ear to his shoulder. "Not bad," she lied. "Just a flesh wound. Shut up and let me heal it." Her chakra flowed through his neck, stimulating the cells to knit themselves back together. Personally, she was amazed his carotid artery hadn't been cut wide open.
After a few minutes of intense anxiety, Hikari removed her hands. Bolt gingerly reached up and felt a long line of sensitive skin running from just below the lobe of his ear to the crook of his neck and shoulder. His eyes went wide. "Just a flesh wound," Hikari reiterated. "Next time, don't do something so stupid."
Bolt nodded as Hikari pulled him to his feet. A handful of guards arrived as the two of them hoisted Tamako off the floor. They received a bone shattering kick from Hikari as a parting gift as the two of them jumped from the makeshift door Hikari had made earlier.
It was a long night as the two of them sprinted through Nadeshiko, avoiding ninja and civilians alike as they made off with their two million ryō bounty.
It was a rainy afternoon several weeks after he and Hikari returned from turning in the bounty of Tamako that Eiji finally cracked and began teaching Bolt how to use the Lightning Armor the Raikage were famed for.
Bolt was bouncing on the balls of his feet, despite the poor weather. He had seen first hand how powerful the technique was, and the history books had plenty of information about the Fourth Raikage and his battles with Madara and Sasuke Uchiha. But, in his opinion, the coolest was the Third Raikage, whose Lightning Armor was so powerful it allowed him to go toe-to-toe with the Eight Tails.
Eiji sighed heavily at how enthusiastic his young student was. Hikari was lounging under a nearby tree, out of the light drizzle that was slowly soaking the leader of the Crimson Tide and Bolt. "The first thing you gotta know, kid, is that you've gotta be careful with this technique. You. You specifically," Eiji warned.
"Why?" Bolt demanded.
Eiji tapped his temples. "When someone thinks of the Hyūga, they always think of them eyes. Most people ain't considering their second bloodline: the ability to expel chakra from every one of their chakra points," he said.
"The Lightning Armor functions by expelling chakra from these points and using nature transformation to transform it into lightning. That's actually its greatest weakness, and greatest strength," Eiji elaborated. "Few ninja can control their chakra points outside of they hands n' feet. Those that do, can only use a handful of others. The more chakra points you use, the stronger the armor is, the more likely you electrocute yourself. That's why Hikari is here," he said, nodding at the masked girl. "If you're successful, the armor will make you faster and stronger than any normal person. It'll increase your reaction speed by stimulating your nervous system."
Bolt nodded. "Good," Eiji said, a growing smirk marring his features. "Tell you the truth, I'm pretty excited myself. Ain't nobody seen what a Hyūga could do with this kinda technique before. Either you gonna kill yourself spectacularly or you gonna surpass the Raikage."
Bolt paled at that. "Don't worry, brat. We'll start slow and small. Baby steps," Eiji reassured him. The larger man held out his fist. "Use your Byakugan," he commanded.
With his dōjutsu activated, Bolt could see chakra leaking from the chakra points in Eiji's forearm. Nearly every point in his hand was expelling chakra, but only a handful on his arm were. "Believe it or not, I've actually got pretty good chakra control. Nowhere near the Raikage's level, but enough that I can imitate the technique," Eiji said. "You wrap your chakra around your body, insulating it almost. You try."
Bolt held out his own fist and began to methodically expel chakra from every chakra point from his hand to his elbow. He could see the looks of interest Eiji and Hikari showed as a faint blue glow began to surround his arm. Unlike Eiji, Bolt's chakra was so potent it could be seen with the naked eye when expelled in such quantities. "Good, good," Eiji boomed, his laughter echoing through the clearing. "Now, the hard part. You've gotta transform it into lightning, just like any regular jutsu, but without hand seals. And don't electrocute yourself."
Easier said than done, Bolt thought. His brows furrowed as he attempted to will his chakra to transform. All the while, he continued to leak chakra from his forearm. After ten minutes, Bolt gasped and wiped away the thin sheen of sweat coating his forehead. He had done nothing but waste chakra. There hadn't even been a single arc of electricity.
"Don't sweat it, kid," Eiji said, laughing a bit at his own joke. "Nobody gets it on their first try. Hell, it took me months to even get a spark."
Bolt straightened and flexed, expelling chakra from his arm once more. His fingernails bit into his palm as he clenched his fist and forced his chakra to transform its nature. From the tips of his fingers to his shoulder, Bolt's arm was aflame with blue chakra. His chakra was so dense that it was visible to the naked eye.
It was ten minutes later when the smallest arc of lightning leapt between Bolt's thumb and index finger. "Yes!" Bolt yelled, cutting off the chakra to his arm. He immediately felt his body burn from exertion, but he was too excited to care. He had succeeded, in some small way.
"I'm impressed," Eiji said. "This isn't a technique you learn in a day, or even a week."
Bolt beamed and puffed out his chest proudly. "You're looking at the person who learned the Rasengan in only three days! And that was nearly two years ago, this is nothing!" Bolt boasted.
"Pace yourself, kid," Eiji warned. "You don't want to learn this in three days. You'll end up killing yourself if you aren't careful." He decided not to share the fact that he was impressed that Bolt had learned the ultimate shape manipulation jutsu in three days. Bolt had a big enough head as it was.
Bolt ignored him and shifted into a more comfortable stance as he expelled chakra from his arm again. Now that he knew what it felt like, nature transformation came more easily to him. It started with the smallest arcing bolts around his fingers, but spread up his arm before dissipating. Bolt grit his teeth and forced the lightning to be contained around his body, using his experience with shape manipulation from the Rasengan to aid himself. He focussed on his index finger, forcing his chakra to wrap around itself and keep the lightning held in place.
He was rewarded with a single finger wreathed in arcing, chirping lightning. He moved on to his middle finger next. What originally took him nearly half an hour to do, he eventually narrowed down to mere minutes. Before Eiji knew what had happened, Bolt's arm was covered in a passable attempt at the Lightning Release Armor.
"A true prodigy," Hikari whispered to Eiji as she appeared next to him.
"Yeah," Eiji muttered. Talent like Bolt's only appeared once in a century. Eiji was born and raised in the Land of Lightning. He went to school there, and trained to be a ninja in their Academy. History had been a favorite subject of his. The tale of how the Third Raikage had fought the Eight Tails to a draw, only to face ten thousand enemy soldiers and later perish, was one of his favorites. But, the Third Raikage, powerful as he was, didn't learn the technique he would later become famed for in a day.
So lost in their thoughts were Eiji and Hikari, neither noticed as Bolt leapt headfirst into the shallow end of the pool. He expelled chakra from every point on his body and allowed his chakra to mirror that on his arm.
Bolt screamed, startling Eiji and Hikari. Lightning danced across his chest, burning his shirt and charring his skin. Eiji darted forward, lightning coating his arm as he prepared to act as a lightning rod. Hikari was right behind him, her hands glowing green with the light of the Mystic Palm.
Bolt fell to his knees as the technique went out of his control. He grit his teeth as the lightning began to cook him from the inside out. He wrestled for control of his own chakra; a disturbing feeling, almost like someone, or something, else was controlling his body. He methodically went through the motions of taking control of the chakra points in his body, forcing his rampaging chakra to return to his control.
Even as control of his chakra returned to him, Bolt felt like he was moving in slow motion. Each chakra point felt as if it took more time to wrest control of than the last. After what felt to be a lifetime of pain, the lightning coating his body no longer pained him. Instead, it wrapped around him protectively, giving off a sensation that was both warm and cold at the same time. He felt goosebumps ripple across his skin, despite being pleasantly warm.
Bolt opened his eyes and saw Eiji rushing at him, his hand outstretched to, what he assumed, was to cancel the technique. Hikari was right behind him, fists aflame with the Mystic Palm. "No need to worry, guys. I got it!" Bolt declared loudly as he pushed himself to his feet. He opened and closed his fists, trying to get used to the sensation. It was very different, he decided. Bolt looked up when neither Eiji nor Hikari answered him.
They hadn't moved.
"Guys?" Bolt asked, a hint of worry coloring his tone.
That was when Bolt noticed other irregularities. The rain, a light drizzle, had stopped. Not stopped raining, but that the rain had stopped—mid air. Bolt reached out for a raindrop near his eye. Gingerly, he extended his index finger and pushed the drop. He was rewarded by slightly altering its path. As he watched it, the raindrop continued its descent ever so painfully slowly.
Bolt realized, then, what was happening to him. As Eiji had told him, the Lightning Release Armor functioned by augmenting his nervous system. Lightning chakra was coursing through his muscles, making him faster; stronger. His neural synapses were sped up severalfold, augmented by the lightning stimulating his brain. That was why everything seemed so painfully slow.
Bolt smirked as he realized he had succeeded. He looked around, trying to find something to test his newfound technique on. He saw a leaf falling from a tree at the far end of the clearing he was training in. Bolt ran forward—frowning, as he didn't appear to be any faster than he normally was—and struck the leaf with a simple Gentle Fist strike. The leaf burst into dust; obliterated.
Bolt walked back to the only other people in the clearing, a smile on his face. He allowed his chakra points to close, cancelling the technique and dispelling the lightning. The disorienting feeling of the world speeding up made Bolt dizzy as he returned to the world of the present. He was empty with exhaustion and his body burned from exertion. Combined with the pain from the brief failure to control the technique, Bolt collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Eiji and Hikari skid to a stop as their vision was obscured by a blue light. Where Bolt had been kneeling in agony, now he was laying face down. Eiji blinked, not believing his eyes, whilst Hikari kneeled and removed the tattered remains of Bolt's shirt and began to heal his burns.
"I don't believe it," Eiji muttered, after several minutes. "Is he going to be okay?"
Hikari nodded. "He will be, in time," she said. "But no more of this training for several weeks."
Eiji nodded absentmindedly. "I didn't see anything but a bolt of blue lightning," he commented.
Hikari laughed lightly as the glow around her hands began to fade. "Lightning Bolt... Inazuma," she said.
In a jail cell in the Land of Lightning, Tamako sat on her very stiff mattress and contemplated the choices that had led her to this point in her life.
She had a very tough decision to make when she got out of jail and paid the fine for stealing from the Lightning Lord.
Does she marry Bolt, or the masked girl?
A/N:
Another one.
This chapter is extra long because I already had the training bit at the end written and I was too hyped to cut it from this chapter. Next chapter we go to the Land of Steam and explore a little bit of a religious plot that Kishi never expanded upon. Also, timeskip? Timeskip.
A reader voiced concerns that Bolt was somehow becoming "evil" due to his association with the Crimson Tide. I wanted to clarify a few things. First, the mercenaries are not inherently evil, and in fact, many of their jobs benefit the people at large. The pirate from the last chapter, for example, was terrorizing villages on the coast of the Land of Fire. On the flip side, sometimes they do things that aren't going to be on the up and up. Stealing a shipment of chakra metal that the Cloud and Mist were trading? Not too good of an idea. Second, Bolt is a rogue ninja. He's not exactly a law abiding citizen anymore. He's going to be going around, doing his own thing, whether or not the law says it is okay or not. Also, by definition, a rogue ninja does not go back to their village. That's the point of being a rogue. Your village isn't your home anymore. Stop asking when he's going back.
Shizuka isn't "really" a Kage level ninja, which is why she lost to a point blank Revolving Heaven. Despite being filler, I actually liked the Nadeshiko arc in the anime. Of course, Shizuka eventually has to move on, and finds someone other than Naruto. For those that didn't watch... women from Nadeshiko fight men from other villages. Those that manage to beat them are brought back to the village to marry them. They're very Amazonian in that sense. This is why Tamako is lamenting her fate at the end of the chapter.
I drew the inspiration for the slow-mo scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Quicksilver was my favorite character in that movie, and his scene in the kitchen was awesome. I've taken some creative liberties with just exactly how the Lightning Release Armor functions, as it isn't exactly clearly explained/stated. Bolt's sobriquet is "Inazuma," or "lightning bolt." It's a fun play on words I liked.
As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you guys enjoyed. If you could leave a review, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
- Code Musica