I'm back!

Summer has been suuuuper busy so this took a bit to puzzle up. But now it's here! next chapter. Yay! This one is much longer than I usually try to make them, about 4000 words longer, so this is kind of a double chapter since I couldn't find a good place to end it until, well... the end in this one. This is a bit more intense, seeing as how last chapter ended, so I hope you all enjoyed it. I did my best! ^^

Warning: self-demeaning thoughts, kinda.
(should I continue to put warnings or no? only when its SUPER intense?)

Loss

I woke up the next day in my bed with nightmares plaguing my mind; apparently I fell asleep? The nightmares of my past has never subsided and the flashes of death get mixed into a bloody mess in my dreams, I've always hated sleeping due to this. And since I always have nightmares, something Yohio has said would always be present only less as time goes by, I've slept maybe 10 times at most during my 8 - almost 9- year long life.

I slowly sit up in bed, mind still fuzzy from my earlier nightmares and my heart is beating fast within my chest; I usually don't sleep on my own accord so someone must have forced me to fall asleep. But who did it and why?

A flood of memories from the day prior invade my senses and I tense up as an array of different emotions filters through my mind. Unease, confusion, horror, fear, relief, shock, anger. My chakra is churning in my chest just like my stomach and I quickly force down the bile that's threatening to rise in my throat when I remember the sensations of multiple reloads; if I remember it all so clearly it must've happened for real then, it's rare that I remember my dreams or that I have any that are somewhat pleasant.

Sho was stated as dead, gone from our list…

To confirm this, I quickly bring up the call menu and scroll through my family member's names; to try and find my cousin's name there as some kind of miracle. But where Sho's name usually is after Setsuko, there's nothing. Only Taro's name who has taken up that place instead…

I let out a shuddering breath, closing the menu as I rub my eyes in preparation for the incoming waterworks; the fact that my cousin has died hasn't properly registered yet but I'm certain it will soon. As I sit in bed and go through memories of me and the two twins, mostly consisting of the many pranks I've joined them in, a heavy lump of shame and sadness grows in my chest. It grows and grows for every happy memory I have of my cousin but despite all of this, despite wanting to cry for my cousin's demise, I can't….

This notion confuses and frustrates me a great deal; the gamer's mind hasn't been as picky to not let me grieve or feel fear before, so now when I want to grieve I can't? Now when I want to be sad over the passing of my cousin; to scream in anguish at the heavens aimed towards the one who managed to kill him, I'm not able to? What the fuck is wrong with me?

The sadness that I'm holding inside my chest quickly turns into a burning rage at this notion and I throw the covers off my legs to stand up. I have to quickly run down towards the bathroom just beside my room and I manage to just reach the toilet before the contents of my stomach escapes me. I'm just so angry as I continue to hulk over the toilet, the memories of the constant reloads making me dizzy and nauseous to accompany my anger. The burning feeling from my chakra is spreading through my whole body and I can hear a loud "crack!" from the wall I'm supporting my hand against as I'm leaning over the toilet; the angrier I am the harder it is to control my Crush chakra. And since I'm not fucking allowed to feel grief over my cousin's passing I can't help but feel a burning rage; when I don't need it to work, the gamer's mind works, but when I DO need it it doesn't?!

I don't want to be angry! I don't want to destroy stuff and curse the world for being wrong just because it's wrong; I want to bawl my eyes out, feel heavy and lonely over the fact that my cousin is not coming back to us. But because The Maker decides that now is the time for the gamer's mind to properly work so I just fucking can't feel any of that!

When nothing more is escaping my mouth and my stomach has stopped rebelling against me, I stand up with a frustrated and angry scream and grab onto my head so I won't touch anything. The anger in my chest only grows and grows when I think about Sho; how I'll never get to hear his laugh again, never hear his smart ass snide comments, how he'll never explain such an intricate and complicated prank plan for me ever again. I want to feel sad; but I just feel angry over the fact that someone has somehow taken him from me, and I'm absolutely furious that I can't mourn him the way I want to!

"Mio? Mio are you awake?"

I can hear my mother's voice from downstairs and it snaps me out from my internal turmoil; right I'm not alone, I'm not alone in this world and I have people I can talk to. Taro and Yohio… They must know how and why it happened, I'm the only one that's supposed to be mortal within the Masago family; Sho shouldn't have been able to die due to his saves. I try to open the door to the bathroom, not bothering to flush the toilet in case I accidentally break it with my unstable chakra; but when my hand comes in contact with the door knob, the whole door explodes out from the bathroom into the hallway and only leaves the hinges behind and the doorknob hanging limp in my grip. I can hear my mother's surprised shout at the loud explosion and I step out from the bathroom onto the wooden splinters, said splinters digging painfully into my feet.

But I don't care…

I toss aside the metal handle I was holding, the metal warped and twisted under my hand as if I melted it, and walk down the hallway towards the stairs where I meet my mother. Her eyes are wide in worry when she sees the huge amount of wooden splinters on the floor behind me, taking a small step to the side so I can pass by her without fear of touching her. The wooden splinters are digging painfully into my feet for every step I take, but I don't care; I'd gladly embrace the pain if it somehow makes me cry, makes me sad and mourn. Makes me feel something other than seething rage towards our Maker.

Because right now I'm just furious at everything around me, and I hate it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it all!

"M-Mio what-? You're leaving footprints! Please, calm down and let me take care of your-"

"Not now!"

I interrupt her sharply, immediately walking towards the door so I can get out of the house before I can destroy anything else that's more important, like my mother… Through the red haze in my mind and the burning anger of my chakra, I still have enough sense to know that I am not safe. No one should touch me and I shouldn't touch anyone, I'm not safe to be around when I'm like this and especially not for my mother.

I'm just so angry at the being we call god.

"I'm going to Taro! I need to know how-why- I need to know!"

I'm unable to steer my thought process very clearly and I can hear a loud 'crack!' Echo from the floor during my response. When I touch the door leading outside, it explodes outward and sprays wooden splinters all over the porch and sand covered ground; the sand dunes are larger than they usually are from the sandstorm but since the sun has risen above the horizon the danger has passed. I can feel my mother hover by the doorway as I make my way towards the largest house in the compound; my feet burning in pain from both splinters digging further into my flesh and now sand clinging to my fresh wounds.

But I just can't find myself to care.

"Taro!"

I scream out loud and clear towards the house, using a bit of chakra to amplify my voice; if I wake up the others in the compound so be it, I can't touch his door. I can feel Taro in there, he has to come out because I need answers; I want to know why and how, why and how for- for everything! He must know, he gotta know, he knows about everything that's going on within the clan so he can answer my questions. I stop in front of the porch, panting heavily for some unknown reason and a hand clutching onto my shirt in front of my heart, said organ beating erratically in my chest; I'm still dressed in a pajamas that I never use, a light blue one that's very comfortable. But I don't care about my state of clothing right now, it's the least of my worries.

"Taro come out! I'm angry! I'll destroy the door! Taro!"

I wait for a few more seconds, my body shaking as I futilely try to control the burning rage within me; I don't even remember why I'm angry anymore, I can't remember why I'm here in the first place. I just know Taro has answers, answers that I need, to questions I don't remember clearly. He has to tell me why and how, I have to know!

My patience is just about to run out when the door opens and Taro steps outside to meet me in the morning sun. His usually neatly brushed curly blue hair is in complete disarray around his head, his bangs; that I never get to see due to being brushed back Aizen-style; is shadowing his eyes almost completely. His usually lively neon green eyes are dull, as if he hasn't been sleeping well even if we as Masago don't need sleep. Seeing that Taro is in such a disarray over Sho's death only makes me angrier; why does he get to mourn when I can't!?

"Why do you get to mourn!? I want to mourn too! Why did he-!? How did it-!? WHY AM I SO FUCKING DIFFERENT!?"

I don't think about what I say or do soon after I see Taro, simply screaming out words that I can't fully understand while I sink to my knees and slam my fists into the ground. Loud 'cracks!' Spread from under my closed fists, but I don't care how far they spread. The action didn't ease up my anger in any way despite thinking that it would, I can only tremble on the ground as I'm fighting every angry instinct inside of me to destroy everything around me. I can't move, I shouldn't move, I can't move any closer or they'll be in danger. I look u from the ground to meet Taro's dull neon green eyes, watching as the clan head steps outside a little more; I can see a small frown on his face while he closes the door behind him, why is he looking at me like that? Don't look at me that way!

"Mio-"

"I want to know! I have to! I wanna cry, I wanna scream, I wanna be a fucking mess but I can't! I can't Taro! What's wrong with me!?"

I don't let him say anything, only screaming out more of my confusion as a desperate cry for help. Help me, I don't get it, I don't understand what's going on and I don't understand why I'm so angry. Without any concerns to his own safety, he walks up to me and places a calming hand on top of my head; I can feel my chakra spark up, try to hurt and push the appendage away but Taro forces my chakra into submission with his own. After a battle of will between my chakra and his, mine finally pull back into a smaller ball inside my chest so I can rationalize my thoughts; a small dark of emotions within my chest that I can't reach, apparently my emotions are tied to my chakra? I wonder how Chakra exhaustion would be on me then...

My body stops trembling as Taro pulls away his hand to crouch down before me; I don't have the urge to hit something anymore, but now I can't feel anything. I'm just… numb. Like a limb that's been numbed by medical chakra, the same has happened to my emotions. I can't feel anything at all, only detachment as I blink up at Taro's crouched form. He has the same, blank look in his eyes; a similar version of detachment but for a completely different reason. His voice lacks emotion when he speaks but still has a serious undertone to it, like the Taro I know is still there but just damped down at the moment.

But I can't bring myself to care at this point, I just want answers.

"I'm sorry Cherry… I would've told you once you had been made chuunin. The people connected to the stories are what we call 'Deleters'. One such person killed Sho…"

I blink slowly once I receive this information, opening my mouth to answer in return. I don't recognize my own voice when I speak, so bland and almost lifeless; a huge contrast to the burning anger I was expressing previously. I'm not sure which I'd prefer at this point, to be able to think but be lifeless or be filled with rage but unable to think…

"So if we're killed by an important person in the story, you die…? Like I'd die? Why…? When?"

"When Shiro-sama was about to pass away he told us this message from the Maker. We became too many and too powerful so they- They instilled it as a challenge…"

"So… I became too many."

I say softly, looking down at the ground as I further process this; Shiro-sama died soon after I was born, the Maker gave Shiro-sama the message soon before his death. So through logic the Maker gave the message after my birth, that we have gotten too many and should be taken down a notch. So it's- It means that-.

"No, Mio. We all became too strong, there's nothing else to it. Don't blame yourself, nothing could be done…"

With that said, Taro gently ruffles my head and stand up; about to move back into his home to continue whatever he was doing previously. But he stops when a ringing noise of a phone travels through the air and I glance slightly to the side; I can see the small red pop up window of an incoming call and a quick glance towards Taro shows that he got the same thing. Someone's used mass call, a command you can only use vocally. I can only hope this is the mass call towards 'free' people and not those engaged in battle. The one who is calling is Yuuto, making me frown slightly as I press the green button to listen in and I hear Taro's voice both from in front of me and from the call line at the same time. Instant voice travel is awesome.

"Yuuto, what's your status?"

I glance towards Taro, blinking slowly as my emotions are still numbed down from his chakra; it sounds like Taro has been trying to contact Yuuto before, he sounds a little less emotionless. A bit more like the Taro I'm used to, serious yet kind. I can hear Yuuto's voice from the other end of the call, whispering softly as to not bring any attention to himself; thanks to our ability we can still hear his whispers clearly as if he's standing right next to us.

"Sorry Taro, a-anyone else... I've been captured…"

My eyes widen when I hear how exhausted he is, the chakra within my chest flaring up when he is in such a weak condition. It also sounds like he's in pain or has trouble talking for some reason, this is something I definitely care about and I sit up a little straighter on the ground seiza style. I continue to listen in, wanting a bit more information before I make myself known to my almost-brother; he wouldn't want me to come and save him but I will, I just need to know where he is… I look over at Taro when he sighs and covers his face with one of his hands, body tense but already in the process of formulating a plan of action judging from the twitching of his hands.

"The reloads… I'm sorry that they were hard on you too, I'll discuss a rescue team. Do you know your position and who your captors are?"

"Y-Yeah, I can still use voice commands… I'm captured by K-Konoha, position Y-15433 X+855. C-Close to Tanzaku Gai I t-think…"

An exact position and revelation of the enemy, this calling function is truly priceless to us Masago. I slowly stand up, swaying a little on my aching feet as I still have splinters inside of them but I couldn't care less about my physical condition. My cousin is in trouble…

"Good to know, we can't be certain how many deleters could be in there so stay useful and don't be killed. I'll be doing my best here on my end to try and get you-"

"I'm going."

I say loud and clear, effectively interrupting Taro in the call and making my uncle look over towards me. I can hear Yuuto draw in a quiet breath and mumble out a soft 'Mio' once I've made myself known but my focus is on Taro. This is the same kind of shit situation that I was in, only he isn't able to get himself out of it on his own. I straighten my back, the emotions in my chest flaring up stronger in determination in commedence to the anger; the council won't want to spend forces on saving Yuuto only to attack the camp he just revealed, but I'd make sure he'd stay safe.

"This is the same kind of shit show I was in and no one came to save me, I can use my ID to get there sooner without any danger. I can bring a force of ninja who can destroy the camp while I make sure Yuuto is rescued if you want that or something, just let me go to him."

My father suddenly joins in on the conversation, voice fierce, similar to Taro's, as he loudly states his protest against my idea. I didn't think he'd be able to join the call too…

"No you will not go straight into enemy territory. It's way too dangerous for you, you aren't even a chuunin yet! Stay home, you can't handle-"

"Yes I can!"

I interrupt my father sharply, the anger in my chest rising further at his refusal. I point out towards the village gates, absolutely serious about saving my surrogate brother now when we still know his exact location; we never know if it'll be changed tomorrow. I imagine that Taro is my father right now, as he's also opposed to my idea I'm sure, and I continue to make my point clear in the argument.

"What if they find out he's a Masago!? Those tree huggers won't sit idly by if they figure it out, they'll either kill him on the spot or move him to a more secure location! Either you bring me a group of ninja who want to join me in destroying this fucking camp or I'm going there myself! In my story all major characters are from Konoha for fuck's sake, every single one of them could be a 'deleter' for all we know!"

Father has gone quiet in the conversation and I'm glaring angrily at Taro as he stares at me with a similar expression, neither of us yielding at the moment. I can hear Yuuto's quiet whispers of 'Mio stop', but I can't bring myself to care about his opinion right now. I'll save him one way or another, and it's only Taro and Yohio who are able to stop me from doing it. So if I manage to convince Taro right now, I'll be able to go and rescue Yuuto no problem; I'm strong enough to handle it if it's a surprise attack.

Finally, Taro yields with a heavy sigh, moving his hair away from his face while looking away from me. I can't help the fierce grin from spreading on my face due to the small victory.

"Alright, you do have a point… Give me three hours Mio, Yuuto be careful."

"I will… Thanks…"

I then end the call and quickly move towards my house; I have to remove the splinters from my feet and put on some real clothes. I can feel Taro's eyes following me as I walk towards my home but I don't care. All I care about is making sure that Yuuto will get home safe and sound, I don't care about anything else concerning this world right now.

It's my fault the deleters exist, they have fucking lied to me for all these years saying that nothing can kill me when these deleters have clearly existed as long as I've been alive. If I had been found out by Kakashi all a year ago when he led me through Kusa, he'd have deleted me from existence and I'd be the first to die. They lied to me about our immortality and he's lying now when he says it isn't my fault. I was damn lucky that I didn't want to die by trying stupid shit.

It's my fault our system got changed, it's my fault we have deleters, it's my own fault that I can't save and it's also my fault that Sho is dead. And I can't even mourn him for that!? That's just fucking bullshit!

So I don't care anymore, I don't care about how things go for me, I don't care if I get hurt or not and I don't fucking care if they think I can't make it. Because what I do care about is to bring Yuuto back home, I can't lose another family member so soon and I refuse to let anyone stop me. If I have to go there alone to bring him back then so be it, I'll be a one man army and make them regret ever putting their hands on my cousin. If I happen to die in the process, so be it, as long as I can make sure Yuuto is safe.

Because the family would've been much better off if I hadn't been born in the first place, I'm sure it'll all go back to normal and be better for them if i happen to die in the process. They won't lose anything from it.

And I can't bring myself to care about my life right now, It's been messed up from the very start.

I gave Taro the three hours he asked for. And now I'm standing in front of three squads of chuunin with 4 ninja in each squad with one jounin leading us all. 4 team squads of chuunin are more common in Suna actually, but 3 team squads are more efficient depending on the skill set. My team will be one of those 3 man team once we become chuunin, unless Yohio suddenly shoves a fourth person on us which I highly doubt. So while I've dressed up in my normal ninja garb; T-shirt, shorts, desert cape, sandals and bandages wrapped around my forearms and hands to try and get more control over my crash chakra; the others are all dressed in the typical Suna shinobi gear of black long sleeves, cargo pants and chuunin vest. Not a single one of them dress up in a unique way, it's pretty bland…

The jounin has been standing next to me while we've waited for the rest of the team to arrive during these last 10 minutes, he isn't speaking to me at all and barely gives me even a glance. As I look over all ninja who are present I start to frown slightly; how exactly am I going to bring all of them with me? I don't exactly have an area of effect for my ID creation, it's a touch ability where they have to physically touch me or someone else who is touching me to pass through. Although I haven't really experimented with it beforehand, maybe that's a thing I should do once I've gotten Yuuto out of konoha custody. So i guess it's the normal chain thing to bring everyone into the ID...

The anger within my chest is still there, simmering just underneath the surface and ready to bust out once more at any given opportunity. But so far my chakra is stable enough where I can control it, my Crush chakra shouldn't act up as long as I manage to keep my temper under wraps. I doubt I'll be able to however… This whole situation is just- they lied to me. And my gamer's mind doesn't let me mourn for what happened. It's all just a pile of bullshit stacked upon another pile of bullshit. I have to turn my attention towards the jounin beside me once he starts to speak to everyone present, squeezing my arms in an attempt to distract myself from the current situation.

"Alright, that's everyone! We've gotten information that Konoha has a base camp close to our borders. We shall travel through Mio Masagos dimension portal to reach our destination unnoticed! Our mission is to destroy their encampment and bring any living prisoner back to Sunagakure. We can expect harsh resistance due to the nature of this camp, but we will have the upper hand through surprise. Don't falter! As long as we act quickly the major threats can be eliminated."

All ninja present nod slightly in agreement and glance towards each other, they all seem determined enough to succeed. I know their priority is to destroy the camp, as should be my own official assignment, but my real priority is to save my cousin at all cost. I don't give a shit about these strangers as long as my cousin is in danger, if I can just reach my cousin and make sure he's safe I'll take care of these guys too. I just hope we don't meet any jounin there…

Or it might be good if we meet many jounin. I could go all out…

I quickly shake those thoughts from my head and take a step forward, holding out my hands towards the large group of ninja. I recognize some of them, they've joined me on zombie hunts before but I have no clue what their names are and I'm not in the mood to observe every single one of them. These people, those 4 who has joined me previously and know what to do, immediately step forward to grasp onto my hands and arms. I stare at the other ninja present, eyes narrowed at their plain confusion.

"I'll be transferring us now, if you don't want to be left behind I suggest you either touch me or a comrade who's touching me. I can only transport people who are connected through touch so far."

Once I've said that the others quickly join in, a bit awkwardly touching their comrades. The jounin, I think his name was Saeki, places a hand on my shoulder and gives me a slight nod to start. I then transfer us into the time lapse world with all three squads joining me in the trip. I don't let their confused and uneasy expressions distract me as I bound off in the direction of Hi no Kuni territory with the jounin running next to me. While I might be slower than they are I'm far from being slow, and with the time lapse 30 minutes is 1 minute in the real world so we don't have to feel pressured for time.

"What exactly is this, child?"

I glance up towards the jounin when he addresses me, seeing the frown on his face before I direct my gaze forward once more. What's he onto?

"I'm Mio, not child. And you said it yourself, an dimension portal of sorts, but in this one time moves more slowly. Why do you even have to ask?"

The jounin doesn't answer me on that but focus on running instead, which in turn makes me frown further. What the hell was that about? Stupid ninja and their sneaky ways, it's the one thing I hate about my occupation. I'm not a fan of lying, at all, so when I'm surrounded by people who specialize in lying and deceit it makes me a bit uncomfortable.

But oh well. As long as I can save my cousin I don't care shit about anything else.

"How did Taro-san come across this information?"

"Why the hell should I answer you when Taro didn't?"

I ask in return, using a slight burst of crush chakra to bound further ahead so I don't have to talk to the squadron leader. I really hate ninja talk, I can't figure out what they want due to my own more honest ideals. I'm more for a direct approach, not dancing around subjects. I'd rather leave that to Taro, Yohio or literally anyone else in my family; I may have high intelligence and wisdom stats but just because I have high stats doesn't mean I know how to use them properly. Intellect is nice for fuinjutsu and wisdom is nice to read expressions and chakra but other than that I don't use it much.

I take a deep breath of the chakra free air, clutching a hand to my chest as I'm struggling to push down the anger within my chest; I really don't want to screw anything up when it comes to our clan secrets so I don't want to answer any of his questions. I know the ground rules to our clan but other small things isn't something I know yet, I'll get to know of them once I've been made into a chuunin. I'm thankful for the silence while we're running through the desert as it gives me enough time to push down my chakra deep into my chest and get more control of my emotions; I'd rather not have it run amok and scare my current team, it would be less than efficial and it would immediately expose my 'ace' to a large amount of people all at once.

I glance back towards the ninja running behind me, the jounin flanking me on my right and the other chuunin following soon after us. To think that we don't have any more ninja than these to spare, it's a fucking base of operation for Konoha and they couldn't send another jounin with us? If I activate all my abilities I could hold my own against a jounin for maybe a minute or less, if this camp has more than 6 or 7 jounin we're as good as screwed. We are too few in number to overpower them and our skills are lacking for that kind of confrontation…

I can't help a small smile from growing on my face, a sudden twisted glee flaring up beside the anger within my chest; the Kazekage have basically sent us on a suicide mission in hope that it'll weaken Konoha enough that he can launch another stronger attack against them. So he finds me disposable huh? Well, I don't disagree with him on that part, I'm far from the most important Masago in the clan. Other people among the Masago have my kind of skill set, I don't doubt that Yohio can overpower me with one of his skills that he has and Chiyoko has way better sensing abilities than I have. The only thing I bring to the table is incomplete fuinjutsu and a stubbornness like no other.

Yeah I can see why I was sent along for this, no one really needs a bitch like myself. I'm sure Rasa would be delighted if I end up dying before I get the chance to show him my improved strength.

After we've been running for 5 hours straight I get a sudden call from Taro when me and the rest are getting closer to entering Kawa no kuni, so I answer the call and bring up the map so I can see the X and Y coordinates more clearly. I completely ignore the eyes I have on me while I speak with my clan head, being mindful of what I say.

"Taro? What's up?"

"Mio, I need to assign you to a private mission, C to B rank depending on the resistance you'll face."

I can't help but smirk slightly, already suspecting what that might be; it's only been 10 minutes in the real world since we left suna so he's most likely calling immediately after our group got dispatched. I ignore the jounin's pointed look in my direction and nod for my clan head despite the fact that Taro can't see me, getting a personal mission won't make this assignment any less dangerous. I'll go down with a fucking bang to save my cousin from capture.

"I'm listening."

I can hear Taro sigh softly from the other end and I continue to run, despite the ache in my legs I refuse to stop moving. I might even increase my vitality through this, it normally takes around two days to reach Konoha borders while you're careful about enemies you might encounter. But thanks to my ID we can cut that time in half if we really want to, it's pretty neat.

"Your mission will be to free Yuuto Masago and secure that no Masago get in the hands of Konoha. The main priority to the mission you're on is to destroy the encampment but I doubt you haven't realized the true intention to your group already… That's why you will have a mission of your own, we can't afford to lose any of you."

"Ah yeah it's strategy, I get it. Any particular reason why you feel the need to tell me something I already know?"

We have now entered Kawa no kuni borders and I shift slightly to move a bit north, Yuuto is more north-west from our current position and normally we'd have to slow down as we enter unknown territory. But thanks to me and my amazing ability, we can just continue to run without a care; though I'm starting to feel a bit of fatigue from running so long.

"Because I don't doubt you'd focus on fighting otherwise, it's best to give you a mission now so you don't forget why you're going there."

That comment causes my steps to falter slightly in surprise, that he could've possibly picked up on that, only for an annoyed frown to appear on my face as my chakra is shimmering angrily underneath the surface. Does he think I can't handle myself in a fight? Is that it? I can fucking destroy it all if I really wanted to. The control of my temper and chakra is wavering slightly but I don't let myself think about that at the moment.

"Oh I don't forget so fucking easy. I'm not some crazy fighting maniac, you know, I only do it because I have to."

I notice the jounin beside me motion towards the side and I nod in return, following him towards a hidden clearing where our group stops. I focus more on what Taro says than anything else, walking over towards a stone so I can sit down on it and rest my tired legs. I better get an increased Vitality point for this...

"I know, Mio, I really do. You're a pure hearted girl who put others before yourself, but now it's important that you put yourself and Yuuto above the others. I can't-. We can't lose anyone else so soon… It's my duty to make sure you don't try to take on too much during this mission. As such you are assigned the mission to rescue Yuuto Masago and then get away from the battle, do not engage unless you have to in order to protect yourselves. Trust in each other and escape as soon as you're able and don't think about bringing anyone else into the ID with you other than Masago clan members. And that's-... That's an order."

I twitch when I receive the order, my chakra and limbs freezing up in a familiar and unpleasant sensation as I'm sitting on the rock I've claimed. I clench my hands tightly, glaring down at the ground as I try to wrestle my emotions back in control; he has no fucking right to give me an order for something like that. I should fight! I want to fight for my life the way these chuunin will be doing! I'm the reason everything shitty has been happening to the Masago family, I caused the deleters to appear and thus I caused Sho's death. So if I die taking on a fight then so be it! I'd gladly accept any fight at this point, hell throw me at a jinjuriki and I'd be delighted to try and take them down with me! So why the hell is he stripping away my right to fight my own battles!?

"Fuck you… That was such a low blow, I'm not here to be some escort! I'm here to fight, not-. I can destroy the whole camp with a single fucking punch if I want to!"

"I'm sorry Mio but I have to make sure you return safely, you're on a suicide mission if the odds are stacked against you. We need intel on the encampment and need to take Yuuto back home, this was the only way to assure that happens."

I grit my teeth in frustration, body trembling as I'm still struggling to not let out my crush chakra. I can see a few cracks spread through the ground from my feet, but other than that I'm successful in keeping my chakra at bay. This isn't fair… This isn't fucking fair. I choke out a quiet "I understand" before Taro ends the call. The cold is still clutching onto my chakra as I look down at the ground, breathing in a few deep breaths while clutching the front of my shirt to get my anger back under control. I still can't fully understand why I'm so damn angry about all of this; is anger just my natural substitute to any emotion I'm not allowed to feel through the gamer's mind? If it is, that'd explain so damn much; I hate being angry like this for no reason.

Why can't I just cry and be sad for once…!?

I raise a fists above my head and slam it down onto the stone I'm sitting on, effectively destroying it and making me fall down onto my back with rubble surrounding me. I ignore everything and just stare up at the sky with an angry frown for the rest of our break, silently cursing the person who killed Sho and made me descend into constant anger once more. I was like this in the past, where anything no matter big or small could trigger my rage, and not all the time I spent improving on my temper is thrown down the drain because the fucking gamer's mind is malfunctioning. It's both a blessing and a curse...

After the break I have to focus on getting Yuuto back home. And try to not get so angry over the orders I received that I accidentally hurt him…

I stop in the middle of a large clearing and look around, double checking with my map and nodding as it has the right coordinates. We're here; after one and a half day of traveling, where we camped out within my ID because I didn't want to bring us out of it to waste time, we have reached the destination. A total of 32 hours of traveling, shortened down to 64 minutes in the real world. I turn towards the Jounin of our group, my chakra still churning angrily under my skin as I give him a nod as well.

"This is it, it's within this small clearing that their encampment is or at least around this area. I suggest either-."

"Good, now you can let me handle the rest. You've done your part."

I twitch and glare hard at the man for his rude interruption, fists clenched angrily at my sides. He's meeting my stare without flinching, firm on his choice and conveying that I should back down through his silent glare. Right, he's my superior, I'm only a genin and this man wouldn't be someone who'd listen to my opinion. Most jounin are like that towards genin unless they're a teacher… So no matter how much I detest bowing down for his decision, I have to do as he says and I look down towards the ground to show I understand his message. I don't like it, I don't like it one fucking bit, but I have to listen to his orders for now.

This is another part I don't like about being a ninja.

At least when I become chuunin my opinions and thoughts would be valid and matter, I can't wait for my promotion; there are a few nice jounin in Suna but they are few and far in between, most of them are hard regarding respect towards superiors and wouldn't hesitate to show others their place. Like Rasa for example, he's a bit on the hard edge on that point, but he's nice enough to put up with my constant challenges whenever I see him. He's been letting up on the 'respect your superiors' part a little since he realized I wouldn't listen to his argument but that's only because we were in the village, out here in the field it would only waste time if I try to argue like that.

Once everyone has gathered up the leader, still don't remember his name, decide that we should appear right outside the camp to take out the nearby scouts first before moving into the encampment itself. Saying that it'd lessen the casualties that way, maybe he's also realized that this is a suicide mission but he's taking it in stride to try and make everyone survive. If there are any deleters in here I doubt the Maker would let them die so soon and so easily, they'd undoubtedly be slaughtered due to the deleter's 'plot armor' they have. But I'll make sure that at least Yuuto and I survive…

"Mio, can you let out small groups at a time from here?"

I turn towards the jounin with a frown, shaking my head slightly and I try to keep my tone from being snappy in any way as I'm still irritated by his earlier dismissal.

"No, I can't. I need 30 minutes before I can use the ability again once I've either entered or exited the dimension. It's either everyone at once or the rest are stuck in here for a long time… 30 minutes here is 1 minute out in the real world, which would mean the team we leave behind would be alone in this space for 900 minutes, 15 hours, total until I can return, if I can return after 30 minutes that is. It's not optimal to disperse teams in short bursts."

I can hear the jounin scoff softly as he turns away from me and I can almost imagine him cursing how 'useless' my ability is as he's looking over all chuunin gathered in front of him, with me standing among the group at the front. The look on his face is making my blood boil, that he shows me such disrespect after I've let all of them enter my ID to get here unnoticed, and a small part of me hope he dies in battle. It's a larger part of me that says that than I'm comfortable with…

The jounin decides to go along with his first idea anyway and we all run away from the camp a good distance so we can exit the ID without any major fear of being noticed. So after another awkward ring of touching, with me taking many calming breaths to keep my chakra under control, all of us exit the ID through the sound of breaking glass within our heads and the sounds of nature immediately invade our senses. Everyone in the group are tense as we look around and I spread out my chakra sense to try and spot anyone. Chiyo wasn't kidding when she said the ogre ID was similar to Hi no kuni, it's all a bit muddled but not so much that it hinders me from sensing ninja from the pointers I received from my aunt.

Even if he didn't ask me to, I sign to the jounin that there are a group of 4 ninja in the trees northwest, 30 meter away from us. The jounin narrows his eyes a bit at me, displeased for a reason I cannot understand, and he nods towards one of the squads that they should take care of it. So the squad of 4 move ahead of us to where I directed them while the rest of us move in towards the camp behind them, keeping our chakra dimmed as we're getting closer to our goal.

I'm coming, Yuuto.

The infiltration goes smooth right until we reach just outside the main clearing, here is where the main force of the camp starts and we have to be careful as to not be seen by them; there are a few konoha ninja standing at the edge of the camp, relaxed but tense as they're conversing about mundane stuff. I recognize none of them... While the chuunin follow the jounin's quiet command to take them out, I slip away from the group using my stealth ability and make my way around the camp to where I can sense Yuuto's chakra. He's at the north side of the camp where there are most chakra signatures so I'll circle around the camp until I reach that side, once I reach it I'm sure the others will draw attention from the other ninja in the camp and the majority of the force guarding Yuuto will be drawn away so I can slip inside.

No one seems to notice my departure and I keep to the shadows with my skill still active. With a reduction of my speed by 85% I'm a lot slower than I'd have liked, but thanks to my ability being level 20 through the many times I've honed the skill I have an 80% increase to my stealth. This makes it much easier to quiet my footsteps and hide my presence from my enemies, I'm very glad that I got introduced to this ability so early in life. The only downside to this ability is how slow you become while using it so it's useless when you have to move fast while being stealthy, but if you have time the increased stealth is highly appreciated.

When I reach the wooden building Yuuto is close to, his chakra shining like a bright beacon to my senses, the commotion of battle has indeed drawn the majority of the forces away from it. This wooden building doesn't seem that old, maybe a year or two and has most likely been built in preparation for the war. Yuuto is a little bit underground, most likely a bunker, so I have to dig underground so I won't be noticed. Or I could just knock out the guards and-

My thoughts are immediately cut off by a sharp, cold pain within my chakra, making me clutch the front of my shirt as I'm duly reminded of the order Taro gave me previously. Fucking damn it… Digging underground it is then. Since I don't know any earth jutsu yet, I'll have to make due with my crush chakra to do it; I just hope I won't destroy too much of everything in the process as I have to be very careful with how it's used.

I take a deep breath and crouch down, my stealth ability still active as I focus my crush chakra on the ground underneath me. I let it break down the ground around me, slowly lowering me to the ground as the sounds of battle starts to escalate and get closer to my position. This causes me to stop and clench my hands in irritation, I just don't have the time to do this discretely if I want to reach Yuuto before anyone else get the opportunity to notice me. The timer for my ID has only gone down by 2 minutes, no more, so I have to grab Yuuto and run away until I can use my ID again.

So still holding onto my stealth ability, I run towards the back wall of the building and let a burst of crash chakra expand from my body so I can enter the building without any resistance; the wood crumbles and breaks apart before I reach it so I don't have to slow down to enter it. I ignore the shocked shouts of people from inside, dropping my stealth ability to activate my swift agility and immediately run down the stairs I can see in front of me. While I still have the upper hand, I shoot out a beam of crash chakra on the ceiling behind me to make the path behind me get blocked by cubes of dirt, stone and wood to buy me some time.

I ignore the other few doors, or cells, that I run past and stop in front of Yuuto's cell, all of them are surrounded by a soft glow of chakra that obviously point towards a seal to which the seal is hidden on the door through genjutsu. I place my hand against the hidden seal and flare my chakra to make it visible, letting me see its patterns and determine what part I need to break to break the seal correctly. I can hear resistance from the makeshift blockage I made while my mind is racing against time, biting my lip as I reach into my pouch and take out a kunai so I can disrupt the seal properly. I know that this is a death seal, it's something anyone would use on a prison cell as it'd kill the person inside if someone were to try and open it by force. It's one of the first variations of seals I taught myself to break, since many of the main country use them to host war prisoners, but I never imagined Konoha would be cautious enough to use these seals on a small prison like this.

I quickly disrupt the seal by cutting through its power connection point and I feel the chakra sputter out within Yuuto's cell. When I feel the seal die, I grab the handle and use my increased strength from my crush chakra to tear it away from its hinges. A wave of relief flood through my system when I see Yuuto's wide eyed expression stare at me, my cousin being tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

"Yuuto! I-"

I'm cut off by a large explosion coming from the hallway and I look over just in time to dodge a kunai to my face. I swear loudly when I see three ninja run towards me, they've already broken through!? Fucking damn it! I quickly enter Yuuto's cell and aim another Crush beam to the ceiling, once again collapsing the entrance to buy some time. I run towards Yuuto and cut off his bonds using my kunai, handing him a health potion while he's rubbing his wrists and looking at me with that same surprised expression on his face.

"Here, drink! Anything they've taken we can buy again, let's go."

"I- Alright."

He doesn't argue and quickly down the health potion while I spread my senses to find the best exit for us, the best angle where we can burst through from the ground. There are chakra signatures around the whole camp, fighting each other and some dying out one after another. And most of them are Suna signatures, we're losing the battle fairly quickly so we can't expect any kind of backup when we get out… The three ninja outside the cell are still there and I can feel them gather up chakra to break through my barricade, we need to leave and we need to leave fast. I could make a way for Yuuto and stay behi-

My thoughts are once again cut off by a cold pain within my core, making me curse silently once more while I aim both hands up towards the ceiling in the direction away from the center of the camp and gather my chakra into said limbs. My body is trembling from the use of crush chakra, but that doesn't matter at the moment. If I can't find an exit, I just have to make one myself. This might break my arms, but I need to do this in order to survive.

"You grab me and run once I've made a way for us, alright!?"

"W-What!? Mio sto-"

"All crush!"

I scream out loudly as I release my chakra blast in the form of a cross shape in the earth separating us from the surface, the recoil of the most powerful ability in my arsenal sending me crashing into the wall opposite of where I'm aiming. My arms are burning in pain and when I try to move them I can't; a pained grunt escapes me at the searing hot pain rushing through my arms and body but this isn't so bad, as long as I made a way out I don't care if I'm in pain. I can feel Yuuto put his arms around me, jostling my arms and making a cry of pain escape me. I can hear my cousin apologise softly to me before we start to move, away from the fight and away from the people following us. Yuuto is a lot faster than I am so I'm confident in his ability to run on his own, but carrying me with him would undoubtedly slow him down. I also don't know what kind of condition he's in right now, he has been interrogated for an unknown amount of time before he was able to contact us for a rescue.

I risk a glance towards my health bar, just to see how much damage I took from that ability, and clench my teeth together in pained disbelief. A third of my health has dropped, a fucking third! It completely crushed my arms, holy fucking shit. Well if I ever want to die easily I could use this one at the start of the battle, but I think this will become more of a last resort than anything else. I'd still like to survive long enough to make sure Yuuto comes home safe, after that I'll-. I'll decide what I'll do then.

"Mio here, drink."

I can hear a distressed wobble to Yuutos voice as he speaks to me and I can soon feel a cold glass vial get pressed against my lips. I don't hesitate to drink the liquid, immediately recognizing the bitter taste of a health potion while I do and I can feel the pain in my arms dim as it's taking effect; really these things are a godsend. I thank the Maker for giving us small mercies in their unforgiving world by letting us have these potions, they cure fatigue and any wounds a Masago has when we drink them and do something similar to others though only temporarily. It's fucking amazing.

Once I've finished the vile, Yuuto stops to let me stand on my own and this is the first time I really pay attention to how he's doing, physically and mentally after being in Konoha's custody. And the condition he's in does not make me pleased… He's pale to the skin and his pupils are dilated as if he's on drugs, he's panting heavily despite the short spurt he preformed; with his Vitality he shouldn't be winded from that; and his limbs are trembling lightly as if they've been put through the same strain mine has. His straight dark blue hair is matted with sweat and is clinging tightly to his forehead and some blood is still present on his skin, as the wounds have healed from the health potion to leave no trace of a wound behind. It shows both psychological and physical torture to get information…

My chakra is churning in anger towards the Konoha shinobi and I quickly steady my cousin when he was about to fall to the ground, a frustrated frown tugging on my lips as I'm trying to hold him up. Just what has he gone through in the hours he's been in their custody? I made SURE that we were moving as fast as we could so he wouldn't have to be there for too long, I'm at least glad I came when he wasn't in the middle of interrogation...

"Yuuto… poison?"

"Y-Yeah… I-... Thank you, Mio. How did you get to me?"

I smile at him, glad to see that he's somewhat okay and lead him to walk forward at a bit slower pace; we still need to get away as I can feel the battle a bit too close for comfort. And thanks to Yuuto having a health potion, my arms are completely healed.

"A squad acted as distraction… I got an underhanded mission from Taro to get you out, I don't know what Taro said to have the Kazekage send us all out to our deaths but I don't care. You're safe now and that's all that matters."

I tense up when I notice a chakra signature way too close to us, turning in the direction it's coming from and put myself in front of Yuuto to protect him. The ninja land heavily on the ground in front of us, the very ground shaking from his size and my eyes widen in horror at his appearance. I recognize this guy…

He has a dark green chest plate connected to leather shoulder pads, very large in size in both stomach and height and long, spiky red hair tied back with a bandana rather than a Konoha hitai ate. When he straighten up and look at the two of us with a frown on his face, I can feel the blood drain from my face when I recognize his purple markings on his cheeks. He's an Akimichi. Akimichi Chouza.

I take a step closer to Yuuto, encouraging him to step back while I take out a kunai to try and seem threatening. But the large man only frown at the two of us as if he's annoyed and I tense up further as a response. My heart is beating erratically in my chest, right now Konoha and Suna are enemies. He's a powerful jounin, part of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and not someone I could ever hope to take on no matter how powerful my Crush ability is.

And on top of all of this, he's a deleter, a canon character within my story that would be able to kill any Masago if he wished. And right now he's staring down at me and Yuuto with a highly displeased expression, obviously here to either drag us back or kill us.

We're so dead…

And Chouza bounds into the scene! Just when they were about to escape too. :) So yeah, to explain Yuuto's predicament a little further for those who want to know: He was out in the field on an sabotage mission and was just running away when the multiple reloads happened. Since he, like Mio, hadn't experienced as many reloads yet he got affected in a similar way how Mio did. Due to Yuuto just suddenly falling to the ground below, the team had to leave him behind due to the ninja perusing them. And these Konoha took him into custody to find out how they knew what to sabotage.

Honestly, I had different ideas when I first started out this chapter but I'm really happy with the changes I've done. I hope you enjoy it as well! And that you're excited for the next one. ;3

This chapter's question: I haven't specified that much of what they eat in Suna, so what do you think is the most popular dish in the desert? Just cause I'm curious.

Review replies:

prisontaker: He has not been sealed, but thank you for guessing! ^^

Praaaaaise be upon you.

Well, since an ability like that is already present in her arsenal I'd have to pass on that one. It sounds a lot similar to Overhaul. ^^"

Ooooh that with 'ability is what you're seen as' seems really interesting. :o The strength one might be a pass, since Mio already has that *cough*Cursh*cough* but to turn opinion into a power would be really cool. Thank you! I'll be sure to check it out to know better how it works.

Ok that does sound really cool... But I want her to use her dragon summon she'll get in the future so I have to pass on that one as well. I mean if she can transform into dragons, why would she use a very stubborn bunch of dragons?

Oooh that sounds very morbid. I like it, but I also have to consider Mio as a person, if she'd ever want to have that kind of ability... I'll think about it thank you.

An extra!? Oh wow, thank you, it's like it's my birthday! :o

ooh that does sound like a reset/reload... I doubt I'd implement it, since the gamer's already have a save system only Mio can't use it, but thank you a lot for coming with the suggestion.

Then I'll continue to say thank you. I really appreciate your continued support. ^^ You've given me so many different and cool powers that I don't know what to do with them, which is a wonderful thing! I really can't thank you enough for liking my story and sticking with me and I hope you'll CONTINUE to like it as it will progress.

EmikoTsubasa bunnydragon: Thank you for your guess but no, he never disappeared. He was simply away on a mission while it happened. ^^

Oh yes I understand what 4th July is, but since I never celebrate it it wouldn't feel like I'd do the occasion any justice if I write what I THINK they do during that holiday. We do have something similar in my own country but it's also vastly different, and I wouldn't want to offend anyone by interpenetrating their holiday wrong. I know I wouldn't be offended if someone interpenetrated my own holiday wrong but everyone are different. As such, I'd be a bit uncomfortable writing about 4th July and ESPECIALLY since Japan doesn't celebrate it either. I might do a new year's special, since I know how new years is in Japan, so that might be a special I do later during the year. Or a Christmas one. ^^

Cupcake: Yes, Sasori! I'm sorry I haven't written about him in some time, there's still a lot of ground to cover when it comes to my lovable little ball of anger. ^^" And yes, it's mostly due to Yohio that his values of art changed early thanks to the two of them building puppets together. The two of them share an equal ideal that they'll create a puppet so great that it'll be used through the rest of time.

Well, deleter. Exactly HOW he died and by WHO... That's a question I won't answer as of yet. ;3 But I was very delighted by your reaction, thank you dear reader. The multiple reloads happened BECAUSE they couldn't return to an earlier savefile.

Yes, I was planning something. And now he's out... only for the two of them to jump out of the pan and into the fire. Sadly he was out in the field and I couldn't ignore it with the multiple reloads.

AnnaRozeDog: Ooooh that sounds very interesting. Thank you! I'll be sure to check it out. ^^

Actually, yes! After your review I made a family tree for the Masago as I'm sure you noticed. I posted it before I posted this chapter and I hope you find it helpful. I added a bit of their personalities in there as well. I'm not that good at drawing, even if I did draw the story cover, but I might someday draw all of the family members. Thank you for asking for it or I would've never thought of posting one.