Incident Twenty – Three are Tested
River Country – Near an Empty Industrial City
Disputed Territory
Immediately Following
Kina sat isolated in the woods, staring down at the much marked up map. Her hands moved over it slowly, wandering along the points of discussion she had crafted with Captain Saito. Her eyes were dry, but only because she thought she had cried as much as she could for now.
The map seemed like an empty reprimand to Kina, a failure. Everything had gone so well, but still the Captain had died. This was the dark message to her, they had made a mistake. They had pursued closely when they shouldn't have, and it had almost doomed them all. Kina could see the mistake, they had bet on their range superiority, thought it would protect them from everything, and hadn't been cautious enough. The next plan would have to be better, utterly complete, to defeat whatever was attempted. The golden-haired sniper resolved she would make it so.
It would not be easy, they would have to find them all first. The three remaining Akatsuki had fled north, and Kina was certain they had taken refuge somewhere in the Rain country. That would make things more difficult, it was all too easy to hide in that country. They would have to lure them out this time, which could be tricky. Kina didn't have any concrete ideas yet; they would simply have to go north and try to gather intelligence. However, she somehow suspected the enemy might well come to them. She would look out for that.
Tapping the map, her fingers circling about the Rain country, Kina tried to make plans, but for now, nothing came to mind. It all seemed so blank, disrupted. There was no voice to guide her now, she was on her own, and lives depended on her, the lives of her siblings, and more. She didn't know how to accept that great trust yet.
She was not so lost as to not hear the noise behind her.
"What is it?" Kina turned, and was surprised to see the face of Tsune, the nun.
"Well, Miss Kina, you're the one in charge now correct?" the nun questioned rhetorically. "So I thought I should tell this to you first."
"Tell me what?" Kina was puzzled, not knowing what business Tsune could have with her, really not knowing why the nun was with them at all.
"It's Yugito," Tsune explained. "There's a problem."
That wasn't good, Kina was certain. The jinchuuriki was complication enough by herself, additional problems were not needed. "What exactly is it?"
"Do you know how jinchuuriki are created?" Tsune asked.
"Vaguely, you seal the demon inside a person right?" Kina really didn't know the details, it had never seemed important to anyone other than a fuuinjutsu master.
"Yes," Tsune agreed. "That is more or less true. However, the seal remains, its presence is the key bond that holds the demon within the human. Such a seal is structured to allow the demon a certain level of access to the human container, partly because blocking it out completely is impossible, like trying to hold all the steam in a boiling pot of water, and partly to use the demon's power as a weapon." Tsune's distaste at the last was clear, though Kina thought it only a common sense measure. "Depending on the level of access the structure of the seal varies," Tsune went on. "And the jinchuuriki may weaken or strengthen it depending on their personal actions. Consistent use of demon power tends to weaken the seal."
Kina began to understand what Tsune was getting at. "Yugito used the bijuu's power regularly didn't she?"
"Yes," the nun answered. "However, that wouldn't be a problem in itself, but something has been done to her seal."
"What?" Kina didn't quite get it. "Shouldn't that have killed her?"
"If she weren't in a coma right now she'd be dead," Tsune explained, hesitant. "Someone who had a good deal of skill has weakened the seal to the point that it barely functions. Yugito's lack of activity restrains the demon within, but if she were to wake up, that won't be the case. The seal would break."
"What happens when the seal breaks?" Kina asked, expecting she wouldn't like the answer.
"I am uncertain," Tsune answered. "All the jinchuuriki are different and this seal has never broken before. In the past, well," her face filled with sadness. "Such things are mostly lost to legend, but it is believed the demon will rip free of the body, killing the jinchuuriki and the gaining the freedom to do whatever it wills, which usually involves great destruction."
"So, it's best that Yugito doesn't wake up then," Kina decided, dealing with a mad demon was not on her list of things to do. "We should just have her taken back to Hidden Cloud as she is then. Surely your grandfather and the rest of the temple members can repair the seal."
"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Tsune's voice was filled with regret. "Master Sadakaze determined the drug used on Yugito. He said she'll come out of the coma within a day at the most, and we have nothing similar to keep her in such a state. Even if we did another dose might kill her anyway."
Kina grimaced. The situation was rapidly growing worse, she could tell one of the Akatsuki members had a cunning mind, and she knew it was one of the survivors, only someone who had expected Itachi and Kisame to fail would take such a step. It was going to make everything harder to deal with that. "So," Kina could tell Tsune had not said everything. "What are our options?"
"I can attempt to repair the seal myself," Tsune replied, though her face held little confidence. "I have the knowledge to make the effort."
"But if you fail, then we have to fight the two-tails, right?" Kina scowled. "Any other options?"
"No," Tsune's voice was steady. "We have no choices."
The nun wasn't telling the whole truth, and it only took a second for Kina to figure out why after seeing it on her face. "That's not true," Kina's voice was cold. "When a jinchuuriki dies, the demon doesn't break fee, I seem to remember learning that. So, we could kill Yugito to spare everyone else."
"No," Tsune said swiftly. "We cannot take a life in that way, even the life of a jinchuuriki is still a human."
"You say that because you are not a ninja," Kina replied carefully, speaking the cold truth. "That's fine, but I'm in command now, and I have to make the decision. I am a ninja," Kina forced her voice to remain steady. "How long will it take you to set this up?"
"Perhaps an hour," Tsune said. "Do you doubt me Kina?" she asked, and her body seemed to grow firmer. "I am inexperienced, but I can do this, this is the reason I am here. My presence with you is not by chance. I was given a purpose in coming to this place and now it must be fulfilled."
"So you say," Kina responded. "Go get ready. I'll have to think about this."
When Tsune had gone Kina sank down to her knees. She felt a great weight had descended upon her suddenly. She knew this weight, its name: command. This was her responsibility now, to make this decision. To let Tsune attempt this risky maneuver, to repair the damaged seal, throwing all their lives into peril, or to make the coldest of calculations and murder a comrade in cold blood. Kina did not know Yugito save by reputation, and that was hardly favorable, but she was still a ninja of Hidden Cloud, and to order her death would be a hideous thing. The rules of command allowed it, but to even contemplate the act was hard. Yet the other choice seemed madness. Tsune was even younger than Kina herself, a prodigy she might be, but fuuinjutsu was the most difficult and time-consuming of all arts to master, and to seal a bijuu was something only the greatest of ninja achieved.
It was a terrible choice indeed, and Kina struggled with the temptation to throw it back to Commander Kato, to let the Raikage's wisdom decide it. She knew this was a false lure immediately. It could not be done. She was the commander at the scene, the decision must be hers. If she did not make the choice she would never be able to command on her own, she would always turn to a higher authority in times of trouble. These lives had been given, by her siblings own will, to her, and now she must prove worthy of that trust.
Nevertheless, Kina would ask for advice, for there was something she needed to know, and only one source for the knowledge.
The golden-haired sniper walked back to the camp and sought out her elder sister, now helping rig a tarp up. "Yadome," Kina ordered. "I need to speak with you."
Yadome nodded, and they walked off to the side, to a place where they could easily see Tsune standing beside Yugito's crumpled form.
"Do you know what the situation is with our jinchuuriki?" Kina asked first.
"There is some difficulty," Yadome replied, but added no details.
"The Akatsuki laid a trap for us," Kina explained. "If nothing is done, within the day the demon will rip out of Yugito. We have either to repair the seal to prevent this, or otherwise…"
"Otherwise, we must banish the demon by removing the host," Yadome finished for her sister.
"Correct," Kina let a breath out slowly. "Tsune says she can repair the seal, but she is so young. Is it really the truth?" Kina let her hesitation show openly, not that Yadome couldn't detect it in any case; nothing could be hidden from those eyes. "You were the only one there with Hidan. Can she do this?"
"She can," Yadome spoke with a confidence Kina had never expected.
"How are you so sure?" Kina's deep rooted skepticism asserted itself.
"Look at her," Yadome instructed. "Look into her eyes."
Kina did so, but saw nothing special. "She seems normal, if anything, not focused enough given what is about to occur."
"Don't look at the shell," Yadome went on. "Look past, look to the world we usually ignore."
Following her sister's words Kina searched deeper, hunting for whatever it was Yadome indicated. Slowly, staring into those soft eyes she let her vision swim a bit, losing the normal preternatural sniper's focus. There she saw a window open, and something flooded out, a vast expanse, endless as the ocean, overwhelming everything. This ethereal glow, ghostly though it was, resonated with power and authority, something great and majestic hidden in the small body of the young nun. "W-what is this?" Kina wondered, and all vanished as she blinked.
"I would never name it," Yadome spoke wistfully. "We do not have the right, but it is there."
"So it is," Kina said, and her decision was made.
She walked up to Tsune. "Are you ready?"
"In a few moments," Tsune replied without looking up.
"Alright," Kina replied. "Everyone!" she spoke loudly and addressed the whole camp, her voice shifting to that of a commander's without any conscious thought on her part. "Gather together. I want a wide ring in place around these two!" she pointed to Tsune and Yugito. "Gather your weapons and prepare. To save the life of Nii Yugito Tsune shall undertake to a great risk to repair the seal upon her. If all goes well we need do nothing, but if not, we may have to strike down the freed demon ourselves. So, form a ring and stand ready. Master Togawa!"
"Yes?" the jounin's answer was filled with some surprise at this sudden turn of events.
"I want your team to take the four cardinal points," Kina ordered. "If it comes to battle you will have to engage the closest while we try to bring the creature down from afar."
"Always the messy jobs…" the jounin muttered, but he nodded.
Kina followed her own instructions then, taking up her bow and joining the ring formed by her siblings. She chose a position to Tsune's right. She wanted a clear view of whatever was to happen.
When they were all in position Tsune stood up. The nun held her shakoju, now covered in paper seals. "I am about to begin," she explained. "Once this has begun you must not interfere no matter what happens. I don't know what the demon will attempt, but the stuggle will between it, me, and Yugito. Do not act, or you could doom everything."
"Understood," Kina answered, and caught the nods from everyone else.
"Very well," Tsune turned to face Yugito's pale form, lying on her back now as if she were already dead. Tsune's voice deepened now, and took on a strange tone, as if she was no longer speaking herself, but another was speaking through her. "In the name of the Dainichi Buddha, the center and all in one, I demand the presence hidden within this body, the Nibi no Nekomata, stand forth and be judged."
Tsune's staff tapped the ground twice in succession, bells ringing.
Dark smoke, purple and warped, seemed to steam off Yugito, as steam rises when water is splashed upon hot rocks. Slowly it emerged above her face, and then took shape, coalescing into the most foul visage of a feline Kina had ever seen. Dark power pulsed from this image, and it instilled fear even shifting in the wind. Kina was able to push past her fear, but she was still frightened, this thing was not like a man, and could not be contemplated in the same fashion.
Tsune gave no sign of fear; indeed, as Kina looked on she thought the ama looked at the demon form with something resembling pity.
"Well little one," the smoke spoke in a surprising voice, its words seeming to echo free of the space above Yugito's mouth. It sounded like a young girl, happy and amused. "You called so I came, but do you really think it will matter?"
"Your remarks have no place here demon, you shall answer to my demands and no more," Tsune ordered.
"Answer?" the smoke shifted, and the voice of the Nibi laughed. A sound sickening in its pleasantness. "Little one, I will soon be free of this pointless prison. When that is done I will destroy you all, slowly, since it has been so long since I last played with human toys. Nothing you do will stop it."
Kina could tell that the demon wasn't taking this seriously. The Nibi was cat-like in form and cat-like in mindset, and seemingly it thought, like a cat, that no human could command it. Yet, Tsune's eyes burned, not with anger, but a force of regret many times more potent.
"No!" Tsune's shakoju struck the ground twice more, bells rang and wind whirled about the strips of paper. A flickering haze wrapped about the nun and the smoke, a boundary as yet unformed, but demarcated. "Before the eternal gaze of the Dainichi Buddha you will bow and be judged."
The smoke recoiled, then pulsed and surged. "Really," the voice remained coy. "Stop this farce little one, and I might just spare your little life. Your enthusiasm amuses me, even though it is pointless."
"Pointless?" Kina had not thought Tsune possessed any cruelty, but this notion vanished in an instant when she saw what happened next. "You are in poor company Nibi. I have had the voice of a dark god himself threaten to rip out my soul. Do you think to impress me?" Slowly, Tsune smiled.
"Worm!" the Nibi's child-like voice vanished, to be replaced by a lion's roar. "You dare mock me! Me! The Nibi no Nekomata, one of the nine mightiest demons of the world!" Smoke surged and whirled about, spinning and crackling, seeking to envelop Tsune.
The ama clapped her hands together, and prayer strips flew off her staff to form a circle about her, and then expand to the limits of the barrier Kina had glimpsed before. Suspended in a wind that was not there, they swirled about, opposite to the motion of the Nibi. "I do not mock you!" Tsune called out, voice soaring. "No, not mock you, I pity you! Creature of Samsara, untranscendant and doomed to an endless animal existence you cannot escape. Your doom is great indeed, and your suffering terrible, but I shall not allow it to excuse your actions!" Tsune's staff was rotating now, it moved in careful circles spun by her wrists.
"Pity?" the lion's voice passed a moment in confusion. "FOOL!" the power of the roaring speech slammed into Kina's ears, and felt as if all the world was burning in the sound. "You say such things! Well, we shall see what comes of it! Here, taste your desires!"
Smoke turned to flame in an eye-searing moment, and those flames wrapped about Tsune, crackled, burning, and consuming. Kina gasped as the smell of charred flesh reached her nostrils, knowing that the nun was truly burning, this was not illusion.
To Kina's left Atsue held her bow, and had taken aim.
"No!" Kina ordered immediately, shouting with all her strength to be heard over the roar of flames and now the laughter of the Nibi. "We must not interfere!"
"But she'll die!"
"We must not!" Kina repeated. "This is not our fight!"
Slowly Atsue lowered the bow, but tears streamed down her face, and Kina felt the rebuke there. To hold back the shot was infinitely harder than to strike out. The golden-haired sniper needed no reminders, she felt doom descending upon her now, for she had lost Tsune's life, and now there would be a desperate fight that it would be a miracle for them all to survive.
A pillar of burning purple flame enveloped Tsune, until nothing could be seen of the nun, but there were no screams, only the scent of death slowly consuming the body. It was hellish, torturous, for surely the Nibi could have ended it quicker, instead the cat-demon was drawing it out, treating Tsune as a housecat treats a caught mouse, a toy for its own amusement, nothing more.
The pillar moved fully away from Yugito's body, and laughter filled the whole world, every peel a rebuke upon Kina's soul, if she survived today she did not know how she would walk on. Still, she made herself watch, even in failure, the others depended on her to save them.
There was a flash of gold.
From within the pillar of flame appeared the bell-bearing end of the shajoku, it lanced downward, to strike a point in the center of Yugito's chest.
Laughter vanished, and words strange and powerful replaced them, the chanting of some strange incantation in a voice foreign to all.
With each word a strip of paper left the spinning cloud and descended to the end of the staff. For a moment it flared, and then the ash vanished. Again and again it repeated, strip after strip.
As each fragment of paper burned and vanished, the fire weakened. In moments flickers could be seen within, and what could be seen caused all the assembled ninja to gasp in astonishment.
Tsune stood within a circle of five other beings, all great forms of bronze skin and wrathful countenance. It was their flesh that burned and smoldered, not the delicate skin of Tsune, but they appeared complete unharmed.
"The Godai Myo-o," a voice, Kina thought it was perhaps Sadakaze's, spoke in awe. "Blessed is this day and great this gift."
Kina knew little of the powers of Buddhism, none of the Shinobi-Ite had been raised to know much religion, but it did not matter now, she could see such mighty beings in plain sight, and understand their tremendous power. The demon, for all its terrible angry wrath, seemed a pitiable shadow by contrast.
When the last of the paper seals had burned away the first of the figures before Tsune snapped his left hand forward, revealing a rope that wrapped about the fiery essence of the Nibi. The fire was bound fast, and could not shift.
"Wretched one," the figure spoke without moving his mouth, his voice the thunderous crash of the avalanche. "You cannot be destroyed, but never will I allow you to escape. Go back to your prison, and all the more terrible now shall it be since you glimpsed a taste of freedom!"
The rope snapped again, and the flame and smoke was pulled down to Yugito's form, and slowly flowed into the pale flesh. When it was done the rope wrapped around the body, and it too sank away, merging with the ninja's essence.
In that moment the five great figures vanished and none could say thereafter that they had seen them go.
Tsune crumpled, losing the grip on her staff, and falling forward. Yilosi Miya, who had stood at the north, reached her first and held her up. "Are you alright girl?" she asked with a tenderness Kina had never expected from the harsh woman.
"I…I…am whole," Tsune replied, her voice tender, her body shaking. "I have been granted far more than I ever deserve, my inadequacy to such gifts is shaming. I must rest, it is too much."
"Here, sit," Miya lowered her to the ground carefully, and propped her against a backpack that had been quickly supplied. "Have some water," she handed a canteen to Tsune.
The nun drank slowly with her eyes closed, but Kina judged she would be alright, and dared to turn her eyes away for a moment. Thus, she saw Yugito's eyes snap open.
"Master Togawa," Kina pointed. "We are strangers to her."
"Right," the jounin nodded; seeming regretful that he hadn't recognized it.
He bent down over her, and Kina stood behind him.
"What…Where?" Yugito began. Her voice was weak, and cracked and dry from some days without real nourishment. "That helmet…the Forked Bolt?"
"Here," Togawa tilted a canteen to her lips. "Drink, but slowly."
Yugito took slow sips, carefully, and her countenance seemed to improve. When Togawa took the canteen away she seemed better, more stable. "What happened?" her voice had regained a gritty edge, demanding.
"The northwest portion of the country of Rivers," Kina said, deciding she would need to assert herself quickly. "You have been a captive for over two weeks."
"Country of rivers? How? I was in Lightning…" Yugito's confusion was apparent.
"You were captured by the Akatsuki," Kina caught the motion of recognition. "They were going to rip the demon out of you and leave you dead."
"Who are you, to know such things?" Yugito's eyes narrowed.
"I am Kina, Captain of the Shinobi-Ite," it was painful to say that, Kina did not feel she had earned the title yet, but it was the truth. "I have succeeded Ukita Saito as the commander of this mission."
"I don't know you," Yugito's voice was angry. "How can you command? Shinobi-Ite, what is this?" She tried to rise.
"Stay down," Togawa held her shoulders. "It's the truth. You've caused a lot of trouble Yugito, and you're damn lucky to be alive. You owe everyone here for that, my team hauled you out of their hole and killed your guards, but without these archers we'd never have gotten close. Worse," and he bent his head down so only Yugito and Kina could hear. "You'd have never woken up if a saint hadn't reached out to save you. Remember that."
Yugito's eyes went wide, and she slowly put a hand to her chest. "Something…something has…changed…hasn't it."
"You will have to ask Tsune," Kina explained. "But wait a while first, she deserves her rest. For now, you, and the rest of us, need some food. It has been a very long day. After that, we can let the Raikage decide what to do about you."
"What do you mean?" Yugito demanded, letting Togawa help her up.
"Exactly what I said," Kina replied. "Yadome!" she called to her sister. "Can you help Yugito here," she wanted her sister to be Yugito's guide, not one of Togawa's team. The jinchuuriki worried her. Whatever Yugito's merits and faults as a person, she still had a demon inside her, and Kina would never let herself forget it. Beyond that, she knew Yadome was the best choice to handle someone marked out like this.
Chapter Notes:
The Dainichi Buddha is the cosmic Buddha revered in esoteric Buddhism. Those are the Shingon and Tendai sects in Japan primarily, which is what Tsune represents; the ninja were historically (and mythically) linked to esoteric Buddhist sects.
The Godai Myo-o is a grouping of five deities (the Five Great Kings). They are the kings of mystic knowledge and they protect practitioners of Buddhist Law and vanquish blind craving (which seems to be a good term for the Bijuu). Fudo Myo-o, who appeared in a much earlier portion of this story and is the speaker here, leads them.