Hikari did not like the strange obsession Bolt had with Akatsuki.
Not at all.
Bolt sat on a rocky outcropping, reading that god damned journal. Again. She had lost count after the tenth reading. He wore an older set of charcoal gray shirt and pants—which he had found among a stash of Akatsuki uniforms—that replaced the clothes that had been destroyed by his journey to the hawks' domain.
Hikari watched as Bolt read the last page of the journal, then promptly turned to the first page and began again.
No, she did not like his obsession at all. Perhaps if it had been towards a more "respectable" group—she used the term loosely—she might have tolerated it. The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, perhaps? Granted, the group was all but defunct now, but they weren't a terrorist organization hell-bent on world domination.
The Mist's hunter corps education was a little more thorough than that of the average ninja academy. She and her brothers and sisters in arms knew exactly who the Akatsuki were, what they stood for, and what their members did in the name of "peace." They were trained to keep an ever watchful eye out for organizations with similar ideology.
They had found a few, too. They were ruthlessly put down; hunted to extinction to the last man, woman, and child. Lord Chōjūrō would not abide the second coming the Akatsuki so soon after the world knew peace. The Mizukage was many things, not all of which Hikari agreed with, but in his own twisted, cruel way, he preserved the peace.
Bolt suddenly snapped the journal shut and pocketed it before moving to a nearby rack of scrolls. That rack, in particular, had interested him the most. It contained, from what she could tell, the mad ramblings of a man tortured by pain and loss: the second leader of Akatsuki, "Pain."
"What are you doing?" Hikari asked wearily.
"Konan mentioned something about the Hidden Rain," Bolt said, as he sifted through the scrolls. "Nagato had a technique—a water jutsu—that allowed him to control the rain. He used it to spy on the people of the village. It should be here, somewhere."
"What would you use a technique like that for?" Hikari asked, fearing the answer.
Bolt shrugged. "It would be useful. The Byakugan allows me to see for approximately five miles, at my current limit. The amount of optical data I have to sift through at that distance is staggering. If I had this technique, I could expand my range and narrow down the search area—easing the strain on my eyes. Plus, I could create water on demand for any jutsu, instead of creating it myself," he explained at length.
Hikari heard Bolt make a pleased, gasping noise as he plucked a scroll from the middle of the second highest shelf. It was a pleasant dark blue color, with two iron caps on each end of the scroll. A sky blue length of ribbon secured the parchment, which Bolt quickly untied and began to devour the information within. "Rainmaker Jutsu," Bolt uttered under his breath. "Bird—Rat—Ox—Monkey—Rat—Snake," he repeated, over and over, as he memorized the technique.
"Bolt," Hikari said, attracting his attention. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to nip her friend's growing obsession in the bud, before it grew to be something... more destructive. "We're leaving. Today."
Bolt looked at her, wide-eyed and shocked. His expression almost made her reconsider. Almost. "But, Konan left me all of this!" Bolt said, gesturing wide with both arms and spinning. "I can't leave, not yet! There's so much to learn! Nagato was a genius! He had these metal rods which he could use to imprint his dōjutsu on others! Think of what I could do if I learned that? I could give my friends their own Byakugan! And—"
"Bolt," Hikari cut him off. He'd list a thousand reasons to stay if she let him. Instead, compromise. "Konan didn't leave you anything. We are leaving. Tomorrow. Pack whatever you want to take with you."
They had spent ten days in the small cavern, and were quickly running out of rations. They needed to leave, almost as much as Hikari wanted to in order to stem Bolt's infatuation.
His blue eyes darted back and forth as he eyed her, and the room. For a moment, Hikari's breath caught in her chest as she thought he would choose the room over her. Bolt sighed. "Fine," he said.
Hikari released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "But I'll need your help," he said, quickly seating himself and setting the scroll next to him on the floor. He bared his right forearm to her. Slowly, an inky black seal appeared. "I need to modify this seal. It's not powerful enough, or designed, to carry this many objects," he said, gesturing to the entire room.
"What do you need me to do?" Hikari said, kneeling before him. Bolt pressed a finger to the seal, and withdrew his "secret" scroll, as she had dubbed it. The one she couldn't read that apparently contained the wealth of knowledge the Uzumaki clan held on sealing jutsu. He tucked it into his shirt for safekeeping.
"This seal was made by the Uzukage. It's quite powerful, but was designed to hold only a small weight—and nothing that needed to be preserved, like food, or..." Bolt trailed off.
"Or bodies," Hikari provided for him, with a nod. It had ruined her appetite when he had explained that the seals for containing food and corpses were remarkably similar. It made sense, in a sick, twisted sort of way. Both were perishable and needed to be preserved.
"Right," Bolt said. "It's main strength was that it needs Uzumaki chakra to seal and unseal. I want to modify it, keeping its security measures, but increasing both the number of things it can seal, as well as the quantity. I also want to make it permanent."
Hikari watched as he withdrew a small brush and began to alter the seal. "Permanent?" Hikari questioned.
"Most seal masters will use ink for the seals they place on their own bodies, in the beginning," he explained. "But as they grow more experienced, and powerful, they begin to tattoo them. It makes the seal stronger, and more difficult to forcefully remove. I've been studying it for a while now, and I think I'm ready. It's just difficult to focus on the chakra, and work the needle at the same time."
"Ah," Hikari said. He wanted her to tattoo him while he focused on the seal. "Okay," she agreed.
Bolt chewed on his bottom lip as he labored over the intricate characters and designs of the seal he was modifying. The original was a more intricate version of the Uzumaki clan's stylized whirlpool symbol. Bolt enlarged it, drawing more lines that added more arms to whirlpool. They coalesced in the center, forming a dot. Around the outside, he wrote in the archaic script of the sealing language. The words quickly faded, moving across his skin and joining the symbol of the whirlpool like water rushing down a drain. As they did so, several empty circles manifested at each of the cardinal directions on the seal.
Hikari watched with fascination. To her, and many people—ninjas and civilians alike—sealing jutsu was akin to magic. Seal masters could do the most fantastical things with a brush and ink. Things that nobody could even imagine.
"There," Bolt said, grinning at his success. He placed the bottle of ink on the floor between them and brandished his arm. "Just... just be careful, alright? Removing the tattooed seal would be painful."
Hikari scoffed under her breath. Her hands were steadier than most surgeons. Years of experience with throwing needles, combined with her medical training and hunter corps service, gave her perfect control over her hands. Withdrawing an unpoisoned needle, she dabbed it in the ink and methodically began to dye Bolt's skin black.
She could feel his chakra writhing just underneath the skin. Each time her needle punctured him, it lashed out and grabbed hold of the sealing ink and integrated it into his system. Hikari was extra careful when she worked on the outlines of the seal. She could feel Bolt tense every time her needle lowered, fearing that she would make a mistake.
Hikari never did.
An hour later, she discarded the needle and admired her work. Bolt's chest was heaving from exertion—an hour of channeling chakra into his arm and maintaining the seal would tire anyone. But it was done. Bolt had a pleased smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he clenched and unclenched his fist. Unlike before, the seal did not fade when he stopped channeling the chakra to it.
Hikari watched as he fed the seal both the "secret" scroll, and the Rainmaker Jutsu scroll. Both disappeared into the seal with a small wisp of smoke. "It worked!" Bolt exclaimed happily, as he moved to one of the nearby racks of scrolls and began to ceremoniously feed them to his forearm.
Hikari laughed lightly under her breath. She thanked whatever god was watching over her that the seal didn't explode like his attempt at the Explosion Release explosive tag a week ago. It was, by rough calculation, evening. Hikari crawled over to her sleeping bag and curled up. She fell asleep to the sound of rustling scrolls and muffled footsteps.
They left the following morning.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Hikari?" Bolt whispered to her.
Hikari cast a glance backwards. Bolt followed her like a lost dog, wide-eyed and afraid of the world around him. Given the looks the whores of the red-light district were giving him, he probably was.
"Yes," she assured him. She had completed operations of a similar nature many times. She had the situation under control. Didn't he trust her? She wasn't going to let one of the whores steal his innocence. She knew that feeling all too well. Granted, he was a young man, and would probably enjoy his stay at one of the Hidden Valleys' many fine brothels. But Hikari knew the emptiness that followed. She would spare him that, if she could.
"How sure?" Bolt asked nervously. "I think one of them is following us."
Hikari cast a subtle glance back down the road. Sure enough, two whores were indeed following after Bolt, eying him like a rabid dog eyed a steak. She couldn't blame them for their actions. That was the goal of this little operation, after all. That was why she had him wearing a well fitted, dark yukata that was cut almost sinfully deep, exposing plenty of sculpted chest.
"Don't worry," she whispered reassuringly. "We're almost there."
And they were. She turned the corner, pulling him along by the sleeve of his robes. They entered into a dark alleyway with overhanging neon signs. Several businesses were located in the seedy alleyway, all with lanterns lit in their windows. Open for business, they said.
All but one. One brothel whose window's lantern was extinguished. Hikari pulled Bolt over to an even smaller alleyway that ran parallel to the brothel. She found what she was looking for: a door. She rapped sharply on it several times, and waited. She didn't need to wait long. A few moments passed when a scantily clad woman appeared, garbed in a translucent, wispy cloth. "Can I help you?" the woman asked.
"Yes. We'd like to speak with the Madam, please," Hikari requested sweetly. She could feel Bolt's nerves pouring off him in waves behind her. She smiled.
"One moment," the woman said, disappearing into the brothel. There was a loud click as a metal bar secured the door. Hikari palmed several throwing needles, just in case the Madam came back with several bodyguards in tow.
"Alright. You remember the plan?" Hikari asked. She received a single, nervous nod from her blonde companion. "Good. Stall, try to keep your clothes on, and keep it in your pants," she reiterated. "I'll come for you as soon as I can."
The moment she finished her briefing, the door opened again. The Madam appeared, eying both her and Bolt. The "Madam"—Hikari used that term loosely—was a man, who had stuffed himself into a tight fitting dress that left little to the imagination. Poorly applied makeup marred his features, and it was clear to her that he hadn't shaved in quite some time judging by his jutting chest hair.
Hikari bit her lip to force herself to focus on the task at hand. "I have some merchandise I think you would be interested in," she said, stepping back and gesturing at Bolt. This brothel, inparticular, catered to a more eccentric taste according to rumor. She was counting on it. They wouldn't get in, otherwise. And they needed to talk to one of the men currently staying there.
Hikari watched as the Madam leaned forward and parted Bolt's yukata a little more than what would be considered decent, eying his abs. "Yes, I would. Please, step inside," he—she—bade.
Bolt entered first, practically pulled in by his sash. He made a silent squeak, which nearly sent Hikari into a fit of laughter. The Madam led the two of them deeper into the brothel, making small talk with Bolt—his new "merchandise." Bolt cast her a backwards glance, a look of pure horror on his face. It was the look a drowning man gave a liferaft.
And Hikari darted up the stairs, leaving him to his fate. She quickly navigated up to the second level of the brothel, and followed the sound of laughter and the smell of body odor. Her target wasn't very hard to find.
It was all too easy to creep into the room while three naked women fawned over the man. In an instant, she had sunk one throwing needle into each of the whores' necks. They dropped like puppets with their strings cut. The man would have screamed out, but Hikari silenced him with a needle coated in a strong paralytic poison.
She sat across from him at the low set table, admiring how comfortable the cushion was. The man that she sat across from was Gorou Kusakabe, the fifth son of a lesser noble in the Land of Rain. His father was a member of one of the many political alliances vying for control of the Land of Rain. Whilst a minor noble himself, he was still privy to information that was intrinsically valuable. "Hello, Mister Kusakabe," Hikari greeted him.
Gorou looked at her with wide, fear filled eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you. If you answer my questions, you have nothing to fear," she said sweetly. The man nodded as best he could under the effects of the poison coursing through his veins.
"Good," Hikari said, with a smile and a nod. She held up two throwing needles. "This," she said, gesturing to the left one. "Is the antidote to the poison keeping you paralyzed. I'm going to give it to you in a moment. This," she said, gesturing to the right one. "Is a powerful poison that induces necrosis of the central nervous system."
Gorou looked at her with confused, tearful eyes. "If you scream after I give you the antidote, I will give you the second needle without a moment's hesitation and leave you to your fate. You will die slowly, in great pain, as the organs that hold your very consciousness slowly rot and turn to pulp. Do you understand?" Hikari asked.
Gorou nodded with great enthusiasm, despite the paralysis. "Good," Hikari said, stabbing him not-so-gently with the needle that contained the antidote.
In moments, Gorou had regained control of his limbs. He swallowed, his eyes darting from Hikari, to her needle, to the door, and then to the whores. "Don't worry," Hikari said sweetly. "They're just sleeping." His fear of her was very well founded, though she was a little insulted he thought she would kill three innocent women just to talk to him.
"What do you want?" Gorou asked, his voice hoarse.
"I want to know what you know, Mister Kusakabe," Hikari said. "Who are the powers that be, in the Land of Rain? Who is the most likely to emerge as the new Rain Lord? What is the state of the Hidden Rain, and who is their Amekage? What factions are recruiting? Who can be trusted?"
Gorou swallowed audibly, his eyes darting from Hikari's face—a haughty, beautiful noble's daughter from the Land of Water she had copied; the same she used in the Land of Waves—and the needle she held in her hand.
He told her everything.
"Thank you, Mister Kusakabe," Hikari said lightly, carefully pocketing the needle she had threatened him with. It was one of the few poisons she was not naturally immune to, and though she had the antidote to it on hand, she preferred to not tempt fate.
Instead, she stood and calmly walked to the door. Hikari heard the nobleman sigh and sag in visible relief. As she strode through the door, she slung another needle at him, and he joined the whores in their slumber.
Now, to find her missing companion. Hopefully undamaged, and with all his clothes on. Though a small peak wouldn't hurt anyone. She darted down the stairs and slinked through the darkened hallways of the brothel. Hikari didn't know where, exactly, the Madam had taken Bolt, but she knew it couldn't have been far.
She got her answer a few moments later; a loud squeak followed by a crash. Hikari deftly cracked the door open and peaked in. Confirming that it was indeed her friend and not another customer of the brothel, she snuck inside.
Bolt was cornered in the far corner of the room. His robe top had been parted, falling to his thighs. The crash she had heard was a small porcelain vase that had been shattered during his attempt to escape the clutches of the Madam who was looming over him. With the smallest flicker of her chakra, she appeared behind the Madam and struck him in the back of the head. He collapsed in a boneless pile of flailing limbs. Hikari sneered at the man's bulging crotch as she walked over to Bolt.
Bolt looked up to his savior like a damsel in distress. He looked like he had found religion in her very presence. No doubt the monks at the temples would be throwing celebrations if they knew. Hikari extended her hand. He took it, and she hoisted him to his feet and helped him slip back into his robes. "Never again," Bolt said, looking her in the eyes.
She smirked. "Never again," Hikari agreed.
The two of them stuck to the shadows as they avoided the whores of the brothel and slipped out into the night.
The Hidden Valleys really was quite beautiful. It lay nestled between two great towering crags of white stone that had been bowed out through the years by continued mining and expansion. The houses were mostly chiseled from the very stone by skilled masons. High above them, where the top of the crags loomed, were towers that hung like great stalagmites. They were hollowed out and turned into luxurious abodes for the wealthy and powerful. With the night sky and moon shining brightly, the Hanging Gardens of Tanigakure lived up to their reputation of extraordinary beauty. It was quite breathtaking, in Hikari's opinion. Not that she cared for things like that. Not at all.
Hikari noticed that Bolt had stopped following her. She turned, and found him reading a tattered newspaper under the light of a softly glowing lantern. His brows were furrowed and his nose scrunched as his eyes darted from left to right, reading furiously. "What's wrong?" Hikari asked.
"This doesn't make sense!" Bolt exclaimed, slapping the paper with the back of his hand and shoving it in her face.
Hikari took the newspaper and read it aloud softly. "... In a twist of fate, the shocking final conclusion of the Shinobi Union World Tournament came down to a battle between sisters. Kagami and Kagari Akiyama of the Hidden Stone battled each other for nearly three hours before the eldest, Kagami, emerged victorious. Both sisters are renowned for their prowess in ninjutsu..." Hikari trailed off.
Bolt was looking at her expectantly. "What?" Hikari asked.
He groaned in annoyance. "It's strange! One of my friends should have won! Sarada probably, but Mitsuki's wounds weren't that serious and he can easily heal himself with his freaky snake healing technique. I just... can't believe they would lose. The twins weren't anything special when I watched them fight..." Bolt rattled off.
Hikari looked at the picture on the front of the newspaper. The sisters were twins, differentiable only by their alternating hairstyles; the elder wore hers covering her left eye, the younger, her right. She had long since learned to never judge a book by its cover, as it were, but she agreed with Bolt's opinion. They didn't look powerful enough to be the strongest ninjas in the tournament.
Hikari sighed, and placed a reassuring hand on Bolt's shoulder as she crumpled the paper and tossed it into an alleyway. "I'm sure your friends did the best they could," she offered weakly.
Bolt grumbled under his breath. "What are you doing, Sarada? You could have wiped the floor with those twins," he muttered.
"Have you seen this man?" Sarada said, producing a sheet of paper. It had a picture of Bolt in the top left hand corner, a photograph from their childhood that displayed his blonde hair, blue eyes, and prominent chakra scars. The next one was the disguise he had been so fond of; crimson hair and eyes, skin devoid of the "whisker" marks as she so fondly called them.
The barkeep spat on the glass he was polishing and renewed his work with a fervor. "Ain't neva' seen 'im," he bit out.
Sarada rested both elbows on the bar, pushing the paper closer with her left hand and pushing down her glasses with her right. The barkeep leered at her as Sarada looked over the rims of her glasses. Her eyes bled red, fading from black to crimson as her Sharingan spun wildly. The man didn't even have time to flinch.
Sarada smiled ferally as his features slackened and his shoulders drooped. "Try again?" Sarada said. The barkeep put down the glass he had been polishing and carefully examined each of the photographs of Bolt.
His eyes came to a halt on a photograph in the third row. Sarada's heart fluttered for a moment. "Ye', I think I seen 'im," he said. "Leas', me daughter 'as. Red 'air 'ad 'er panties in a twist. Rare round 'dese parts."
She swallowed her enthusiasm. "When did you see him last, approximately? Do you know where he was headed?" Sarada asked.
The barkeep went slack-jawed. Sarada increased the strength of her genjutsu. The man blinked several times slowly, as if he was desperately searching what little brains he had for the answer. "Ye', tink 'e 'n tha lil' missus was 'eadin west, 'bout... week go," the barkeep answered, finally.
Sarada frowned. "Little missus? Was he with a woman? Tall, wears her hair in a bun? Porcelain mask? Or, maybe," she said, producing and unfolding a sketch. It was the woman's face she had seen on the bridge in the Land of Waves. The ANBU said it was unlikely that a trained hunter corps ninja would ever reveal their face so blatantly, so it was likely it was a transformation jutsu. "A woman with this appearance?"
The barkeep frowned and examined the sketch in great detail. Sarada was a fair artist, most Uchiha were, once they awakened their Sharingan. It was easy to draw when you could replicate most things perfectly after seeing them only once. "Ye', thas 'er," he slurred.
Sarada frowned. The genjutsu was taking its toll on the man's feeble mind. "And you said they were heading west, correct? Into the Land of Rivers, or farther, the Land of Wind?" Sarada asked, for clarification. That was an important detail. They only had two months to find and capture Bolt. Almost to the day, in fact.
The barkeep swayed on his feet. "They was goin' ta' River, 'ah think," he said. "Wasn' dressed fo' da' sand."
Sarada nodded. That was all she needed. "Thank you," she whispered, pocketing her two photographs. The genjutsu ended, and the man went back to polishing his glasses. He dropped to the floor the moment Sarada turned her back on him. He'd be fine, but he'd wake up in three hours with a killer headache.
She slid into the booth their team was seated at. "Find anything?" Shikadai asked, with a raised eyebrow. Chōchō was devouring a small feast, and Inojin was doodling on a napkin.
"Yeah. The barkeep says he saw them, perhaps between five to eight days ago. They were heading west, to the Land of Rivers, but he said they weren't dressed or prepared for the desert. Likely, they'll go north," Sarada informed them. Mirai, Himawari, and Mitsuki were out gathering more intel, so they'd have to be informed later.
"The Land of Rain, then," Shikadai muttered. "Troublesome," he sighed.
"Why is that troublesome?" Sarada asked with a frown.
Shikadai sighed. "The Rain is where people go to disappear. Sometimes literally," he said, poking at his food. "They've been embroiled in a civil war for over a decade, and the government is nonexistent. There is a reason travel there is restricted by the Leaf. Sometimes people go there, and they end up floating face down in a river."
"That's probably why they're going there," Inojin commented, lazily sketching the symbol of the Leaf.
"Okay. We head north. The Land of Rivers is harsh terrain. It will take them some time to navigate through it. We can head north, cutting through the western border of the Land of Fire. If we make good time, we can maybe catch them before they get to Rain. If we don't, then we play the same card everyone else does: nameless mercenaries for hire," Shikadai explained.
Sarada nodded. It was as good of a plan as any. "What are we going to do once we find him, though?" Sarada asked. They had, so far, avoided any concrete planning. No one was willing to breech the subject of how, exactly, they were going to restrain him. By the ANBU's estimates, he was as powerful as a high jōnin.
Mirai plopped down next to Sarada startling her. Himawari and Mitsuki sat opposite of her, next to Shikadai. "That is the big question, kid," Mirai huffed.
Shikadai nodded. "Direct confrontation should be avoided. Ideally, we set a trap. With the element of surprise, my team and I can restrain him long enough for Himawari to block all his chakra points. If we fail, well..." Shikadai trailed off.
Mitsuki cleared his throat. "If, and that is if, you fail," he said. "I believe I can fight him, for a short time. I was caught unprepared during our previous encounter."
"And I've been working on my speed, too," Sarada added. "I fully awakened my Sharingan as well. If it comes down to a fight, I won't be helpless."
Shikadai sighed. "The problem is," he said, with a whisper. "Is that you two will risk your careers over a battle you are more likely to lose than win."
"Shikadai is right," Mirai said. "If the ambush fails, we retreat and live to fight another day. No one is risking their bodies over a botched mission."
No one argued with her. She was, technically, the highest ranking officer among them. Shikadai was allowed point to gather experience, at the request of his old man. Sarada thought it was kind of ironic, considering her mother told her the story of how Shikamaru had lead the mission to retrieve her dad. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, as it were. The irony was not lost on her.
"Did you guys learn anything?" Sarada asked, changing the subject. She would drop it. For now. But she had no intention of failure. If it came to a fight, she would fight.
Mitsuki shook his head as Himawari frowned sadly. "Don't worry, Hima. We'll find him soon. I promise," Sarada said, trying to cheer her up. "Want to train? We all should, while we have the chance. We can use the time to practice our ambush tactics."
Everyone seemed to agree with that.
A/N:
Anyone got reading recommendations? I've been on a binge lately, reading "Team 7's Ascension: Blood Wings" (metal as fuck title) by Eilyfe. It's pretty damn good.
Notice: I'm still looking for one more original character to involve in the plot, somewhere down the line. If you'd like to leave suggestions, feel free to do so in a review or contact me via personal message. I'm looking for characters that have an engaging persona and provocative history. They may hail from any land, and may have any powers you deem fit that adhere to canon and are not overly unbelievable (no dōjutsu, sorry!).
Some people were confused on how, exactly, the hawk contract was among Nagato's stash. Since we never saw how Sasuke got the contract, I assumed it was after he killed Itachi and joined Akatsuki, but before he fought Danzo—the first time we saw him summon a hawk. That was a very small window of time, which suggests that he signed it after joining the organization. The most logical conclusion is that Akatsuki was in possession of the contract—as part of Nagato's Animal Path stash.
Anon — You're entitled to your opinion, but I disagree. The summons we have seen have been overwhelmingly shown to be intelligent. The toads, slugs, snakes, dogs, monkeys, weasels, and turtles were all shown to have intelligence. In fact, I would argue that is the key difference between an animal and a summon. Why would a ninja tame a random, mindless mutt when they could have a ninja dog who is capable of complex thought, reasoning, speech, and the ability to use chakra? They wouldn't. Just because we don't see all of them speak doesn't mean they aren't intelligent. I'm also aware of how Reverse Summoning works—whether Sasuke does it himself, or summons a hawk loyal to him, does it matter how he achieves the reverse summon? The result is the same.