The pink mist was lingering in the air of Tesseineko's harbour. Gorou was frowning at the setting sun. Their supplies were refilled, the crew ready, but his damned pilot was still missing. He was the only one of them who knew the sea around the Silent Island, so they couldn't just leave him behind.

The men sent after him an hour ago returned with no findings. The captain was a second from blowing up when part of his crew laughed out loudly. – Finally we see you drunk! – they shouted to someone. Gorou was relieved to see his pilot, the deep blue-haired man they always mocked for being abstinent and quiet, now stumbling on the docks. His reddened face, cloudy eyes and voice along with his gestures made his fellow pirates shed tears of hilarity.

- Lis'n here ya li'l sheeets. – he pointed up. – Imma no drunk.

Gorou couldn't help laughing. – Gwahaha! Alright, we're sailing to the north-east. Bring Tetsuji into the hold! I don't want to pull his ass out of the sea.

- Noooo-no-no-no! – the pilot opposed. – Imma take the wheel, capt'n…

- It's the other way, you idiot. – the captain pointed at a member of his crew, at Tetsuji, then down. The man nodded, and grabbed the pilot's arm to lead him away. Barks and orders from above were heard as the two disappeared in the hold and the Suzumebachi left the port. A bit later Gorou retreated into his cabin, leaving his quartermaster in charge of keeping the ship near the coast. They had to sail around the largest island of the Land of Water at first.

Later the quartermaster finally noticed something: the man who had been ordered to take their pilot into the hold was still missing. He handed the wheel over to a crewmember, then went down to give that man a lecture on idling.

The hold was as quiet as a cemetery. Of course, there were the sound of cracking wood and he heard shouting from above, but it was still too strange. The pirate wasn't afraid of enclosed spaces or darkness and never felt scared on that ship. But the stiff and cold air worried him, and something else too, which he couldn't name. His tensed searching ended when he found his lost man sitting on the ground. – What do you think of yourself, you lazy pig?! - he stopped when he noticed something twinkling on his chest. A knife was stabbed into his heart.

He didn't have time to react: gloved hands appeared from the darkness, and with a crunch, they broke his neck. The very same hands caught his falling body and helped it down. The killer accidentally made eye-contact with the corpse and turned his head away. But in the end, he faced the dead and closed his eyes.

Kese staggered back into the shadows. He was sweating and jumpy. He wasn't so certain about what he had planned to do. This time killing wasn't for survival. Was it truly necessary? Couldn't he figure out any other way?

He quickly chased away his doubtful thoughts. He remembered those two nights when his village, his family and his own life and freedom had been in grave danger because of them. He had to do protect these, even in advance. And, by the way, he was on their ship, he couldn't just run away.

He looked up and imagined the pirates walking up and down above him. 'I have to thank you all for giving me a good opportunity to do it away from home and away from anyone, especially those shinobi', his muscles tensed. - We won't delay our final encounter any more. Now is the time, bastards.

He moved towards the entrance unsteadily, when a sudden loud noise made him hide. He listened, but only felt the calm rocking. Although he had seen dreams and visions about a few sailor ancestors, he didn't know much about how they worked or about sailing. He peeked out of a window to see whether they halted or not, but it was almost pitch black out there.

The hatch to the decks flew open. – Kaede! – a pirate stepped down on the ladder and started to walk around. – The capt'n called for ya… Kaede?! Where… –he noticed the corpses and his eyes widened. - What the-upfhm!? – Kese's arm embraced his neck in a stranglehold. He winced when the pirate elbowed him, and when he got hit on his scar, he couldn't hold him anymore. – Who the hell are ya? Hey, everyone, co-

The blacksmith's blade snapped out of his sleeve and sank into his throat, cutting the man's speech and artery in half. As he pulled back, the blade ripped its way out of the man's flesh, and his blood dyed everything crimson it touched.

The pirate's heart was still beating when Kese wiped his face into his sleeve. He watched the bloody blade on his left: it looked exactly like the ones he used to see in his dreams. But the smell and touch of the crimson on his hands, and the whole event made everything more intense than he could ever imagine. He felt some kind of nostalgic and artistic pleasure. 'So your first prey was this one, eh?', he spoke to his blade in his mind. 'We should've asked his name.'

He paid attention to the stamping too late. The pirates of course heard their mate's shout before he died, and the first ones already entered the hold. The blond stumbled to his hiding spot and watched the men scattering around in the darkness. Three of them headed towards the bodies and him. He watched them walking by, and he was glad they didn't notice him. When the last one stepped in front of him, he stabbed him in the chest and pulled him into his hiding place.

The blond laid him down and took his knife. – Wha-? Shit! Up, up! – he heard those quiet orders from the other side of the hold. 'Oh, nice, they noticed me.' He thought, then stepped to the nearest two pirates and quickly dispatched them, then threw the knife at the last one on the ladder. He cried out loudly, but fell down, the blade pierced into his back even further, slowly but surely killing him. 'Now what?' Kese asked himself. 'They must be waiting for me, ready to chop my head off when I happen to peek out. How in the hell could I lure them down here?'

Before he could have found a solution, something was dropped into the hold. Right after this, a tiny dark cloud started to grow under the entrance. 'Is that… Smoke? Do they want to me to choke?… Or… they want to force me out?!' he backed from the billowing cloud. 'I don't have much time to figure out how to escape this-wait… Yes, escape! Escape right through that hatch! But first, I need another smoke bomb! If they had one up there, then these guys or the supplies must have more. I need to find one quickly!'

He started to search through the corpses. The cloud had almost filled the whole hold when he finally found a smoke bomb on the body of the quartermaster. He took a deep breath and walked to the hatch while switching on his other senses. Then he aimed, threw the bomb, and hit a pirate right in the head. He waited for a few more seconds before going up. He inhaled from the fresh air at the mouth of the entrance, and found himself surrounded by smoke again. He used his trained perception and hidden blade to kill as many of them as he just could before the wind blew the smoke away.

At the last moment of his invisibility, he pulled a pirate in front of him and pushed his blade to his throat. He took a second to look around. There was only a few lamp which gave him enough light to examine the eight remaining, armed men around him. Two of them seemed agile but weak, three of them strong but slow; the others average. One was afraid: either not used to be in battle or he had recognized the hooded blond. The last two's stance and gear told Kese they were experienced and had been ninjas once. 'I have to dispatch those first.' He thought as he reached into his hostage's pouch and found shurikens*. To divert the pirate's attention, he slit their fellow's throat, then moved aside and threw the weapons at those two. One hit a neck and the pirate fell, the other shuriken sank into the other's chest, but not deep enough.

They attacked him right away. He grabbed an armed hand and used it to deflect a sword from the other side. He stabbed both of them with the hidden blade, then seized a sabre from one of them. Now, with two weapons he was twice as deadly as before. He didn't waste any movement: he tried to carry out every single strike with accuracy and swiftness. He was outnumbered, he couldn't just play with them kindly. Of course, he failed most of his attacks thanks to the pirates' good defence strategies and collaboration. He noticed he wasn't as good as them. But no matter his fails, no matter the wounds he got, he strived. He strived to get free, he strived for his island, he strived for his survival. And it paid off.

'Only two remained...' he panted. One of them was a bit faster than him, the other was the former ninja. They were circling around the blond, trying to attack him from opposite sides – and Kese tried to avoid it by keeping on stepping back. He heard noise from behind him: it was the sound of a hardly oiled door being opened. He quickly turned, and fended off sword strikes before he got kicked. He fell and he had to roll away from more attacks until he got up. He cut into a leg, and before getting impaled he pulled a man in front of him. He saw a blade coming out of his enemy's back, then tossed his body and sliced the other's neck.

He panted heavily. He wanted to rest, but he knew the last one of them was there somewhere. 'He attacked me from behind… Will he strike like that again?', he turned and stopped his last opponent's katana from taking his head. The pirate's grin reached his only ear. Kese pushed him away, then stepped back to catch his breath. – Captain. – he greeted him with a bow. – Last man standing on your sinking ship?

Gorou laughed and let his mocking fly by. – If I knew you'd come to us, I'd have prepared a seat and drink for myself to welcome you. For I feel damned honoured to meet a myth walking on two feet. – he pointed at the frowning blond with his weapon. – A skilled fighter with a white hood… and with a blade hidden up in his sleeve. – he grimaced. - I thought your kind was extinct, Assassin.

Kese shuddered at his last word. 'What?… Me? Assassin? My ancestors… Wha-what is he talking about?' he noticed Gorou smirking at his disturbance. 'Damn him, I can't let my guard down!'

- Along with the others I too did not believe those ancient fairy tales. But now, seeing you… – the pirate hissed. – To hell with those tales, you just slaughtered my crew! How do I sail back alone now?

And he attacked; with moves too fast and too strong for a mere human. They were enhanced with chakra, and forced Kese to use his own resources as well. Their abnormally swift blades clanged as they met, or spilled redness when they reached skin and flesh. The pirate didn't swing his katana with elegance; he was rough and thirsty for his opponent's blood. He preferred slashing to thrusting, and he was more aggressive, Kese couldn't do anything for a while but defend himself. Despite of the Bleeding Effect and his own training, he was still less experienced in actual, chakra-based combat than Gorou, whom he could barely keep up with.

He liked it. This was the first time the blond was fighting with another chakra user besides himself and Emiko. It was intense, fearful and tiring. But he enjoyed it very much. Gorou was the challenge he had been waiting for, for a long, long time. And so, in the middle of a life and death battle, he grinned like a fool child. 'I can finally test my limits and break through them!'

He was excited, yes, but cautious as well: he had to be, the captain almost killed him several times. Fortunately for him, he was swift. And Gorou was getting slower. Or Kese was getting faster? He didn't know. The pirate's katana wasn't as quick as it had been, and he couldn't dodge the blond's blades so well anymore. Kese kept on getting closer and closer to the captain's vital points, and managed to cut him several times. After a good strike Gorou was limping and trying to get a few metres away from the blond. He suddenly stopped using his chakra. 'Did he run out of it?', the blacksmith thought as he attacked again. He hit the katana out of the other man's hand; but the pirate grabbed his hand and shoved him away. Kese fell, and got ready to defend himself on the ground. But Gorou didn't come for him. The blond looked around and saw him disappear in his cabin. 'Don't run away from me!', he growled as he rushed after the man.

He didn't understand what Gorou was doing in the cabin. He was digging in his chests and bags, throwing scrolls everywhere and he was iterating. - Where? Where? WHERE?! Goddamn it, where is it?! - his voice got louder and angrier until he noticed Kese stepping in. Then he grabbed a knife and charged at him.

Kese countered on reflex. His sabre cut through his enemy's arm, and then came his hidden blade. He stabbed Gorou right in the chest, then swept his legs and pinned him down.

The pirate's face was distorted and he cursed at the blond in pain. Kese pulled his blade out and got ready for his last strike, when Gorou's words stopped him. – What do you think you achieved with this, eh? Do you think you succeeded?!

- Yes. – he hissed. – You will leave my village be, and you won't get your filthy hands on that thing.

Gorou grew a smirk then a chuckle burst out of him, which made his opponent uneasy. – Do you think we were the last ones wanting it? – his chuckle ceased. - You saw it, didn't you? – he breathed heavily. - He won't give up on something like that, he won't... They… We will get it... You are nothing to us, Assassin!

His arm moved, and he hit towards the blond. Kese dodged it, and couldn't help but answer with his blade. Gorou's widened eyes slowly lost their light as his jaw dropped and let his last breath out of his body. The blade had pierced into his heart, and Death inevitably came for him.

Kese moaned as he got off his body and sat down to rest. He stared at the corpse for a while as he tried to catch some air. – Over… - he breathed. – It's over. It is… done… I can't believe it! – he pushed his hood back and ruffled his hair.

He felt a strange taste in his mouth. It wasn't salty like sweat, but it was sweet. Sweet like blood. He was still so full of adrenaline, he didn't feel any pain. He went to check his teeth with his tongue, but halfway he noticed what was wrong.

His lips were bleeding. He had received a quite long vertical cut on the right side of his mouth, almost reaching up to his nose and down to his chin. Luckily, it wasn't deep enough to cut through his lips only his skin, but later it got quite annoying. 'Where did I get it?' he wondered, and noticed something in Gorou's still hands. It was a bloody knife: the pirate had managed to cut him with his last strike. - Mystery solved. – he sighed, taking care not to open his mouth too wide.

He didn't want to pay attention to the captain's last word, that certain word. He quickly shook it off and tried to drive his thoughts away. He was done, after all. He didn't have to worry about it, right? Right?

He shook his head. 'I should leave soon… But before that, let's clean up a little… erase my traces… maybe burn down this ship… or sink it... I'll do something right away, just… just give me five minutes…' He leaned his back to a larger chest while rubbing his slightly aching scar and closed his eyes. Not much later, he was breathing peacefully like a sleeping child. He dreamed about…


The village of Tesseineko. He was running on the rooftops of Tesseineko. He saw two ships leaving the harbour as he hurried to the northeast. – I have to get there before them! – he whispered to himself in an unfamiliar yet familiar voice, and began channelling more chakra into his feet.

Then there was some darkness and when he opened his eyes, he was in the pirate captain's dark cabin again. He shook his head. 'I shouldn't have dozed off, what if someone survived and… Shit, what if someone survived?! I have to check it, I can't leave anyone alive. Wait… Oh yes, I don't even need to move for this!' He remained still and slowly drew natural energy into his body to enter Sage Mode. – No one survived. – he sighed. – Wait, what's this?

He liked Toad Sage Mode. When fully mastered, it would allow him to sense every single living thing. It cost him his mobility to induce it however, and it made him very tired afterwards. Whenever he didn't have time or opportunity to sit down and concentrate, he still had his other sense, the sense of the eagles. It did only work in short range and had other limits - but Sage Mode helped him out even on several kilometres.

What he had sensed from far away troubled him greatly. Why were there two ships, full of ninja coming in his way? And why was another chakra user on the island running right towards him? His eyes widened. – God damn, they-

Before he could have finished his sentence a toad fell onto his face. The blond caught Gamashiro as he rolled down from there. – Kese, you have to hurry, I… aaah! Why am I bleeding?!

- It's not you, but me. My lips have been cut. Tell me what you want quickly.

- The Mizukage and the shinobi are on their way here, and they want to destroy this ship! We have to-

- I know. I sense them. – he stood up and placed Gamashiro on the captain's table.

- How-oh! Senjutsu! You're so... What are you doing?

Kese made a hand-seal and suddenly four more of him appeared in the small cabin. The clones immediately rushed out. – Cleaning up. Close your eyes a little. – he let one of his clones carry Gorou's body out. The original him collected the pirate's scrolls scattered around and put them in various chests and bags. 'I don't know what they contain, but they might come in handy later.' – Shiro, could you bring these to Myoubokuzan? All of them.

- I'm not sure, but I'll try.

- Thanks. Now I have to… do things. – and with this, he hurried out of the cabin. Meanwhile his clones started dropping the corpses into the hold. 'Sink or burn? Sink or burn?... Sink. The smoke would sign the shinobi something's wrong. The sea would conceal their remnants.' – Hurry! - he ordered. - Everything that can float and be moved had to get down.

Then he sat down to draw more natural energy into his body. He had to stay in Sage Mode for a few more minutes, to keep an eye on the ships. 'If they keep this pace, they'll get here in an hour. No, half an hour… That man on the ground bothers me more. He will get here in about ten minutes if he has enough chakra to keep on running like a madman. Who is he? What does he want?'

- Kese… - he heard the little toad's frightened and pleading voice from the cabin. He went there and saw him standing in a blood puddle. – Could you… help me? - of course his summoner lifted and even wiped the redness off his shaking tiny feet. – I fell into… this… when I came back.

- Is it ok now?

- Yup! But… It's my fourth turn and I don't have enough chakra to carry the la-… Eh?! – he froze and looked at Kese's hands.

- I gave you some. Go home and don't come back to this ship.

The blond watched as Gamashiro waved goodbye, then disappeared with the remaining chests. A moment later one of his clones stepped to him. – We're ready.

The original nodded. – You two dissolve. – he pointed. – You two: to the lowest part of the ship. You know the rest.

They saluted and disappeared under the hatch. The original Kese jumped off the deck, and landed on the water. He used his chakra to run towards the coast on the surface, but he needed more time to reach than he expected. 'C'mon! A little more and my senjutsu chakra runs out!'

He did run out of it. He was only twenty metres away from the coast when he fell to his knees. He was panting and he felt so exhausted. His legs and hands started to get under the water. 'Can't give up now!', he growled, pushed himself up and quickly made it to the cliffs. He ran up the first few metres, then climbed the rest the traditional way. He could barely get his limbs to move, but he moved. Meanwhile his clones dissolved and he received their memories. He experienced how they hurried to carry the bodies, after this he saw himself ordering them, and they went down into the bilge. They did the jutsu Kese had learnt from his dreams and practised at the toad's place. One of the clones held his hand out and spun his chakra on his palm. The other one went to control it. Once they were finished, there was a shiny ball of rapidly rotating chakra: the Rasengan. When the ball hit the ship's wall, splinters flew in every direction as the water stormed in and hit the clones with devastating force.

Kese had to stop in climbing. The fight, his Shadow Clones, but especially Sage Mode had strained his resources and exhausted him physically as well. With a few last pull and a push, he forced his tired body to the top of coast, and once there, he allowed himself to drop and embrace the ground.

After he successfully gained control over his breathing, he chuckled a bit. 'A few weeks without my usual everyday training, and here, I feel like a corpse', he turned to his back. 'I will work out every day from now on… But not tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm going to sleep and… God damn, I forgot about that man! I have to enter Sage Mode again to see where he is, but… I'm afraid my body can't handle more natural energy and I'll turn into a toad statue!... Argh, there are no excuses, I have to do it!'

At first he adjusted on his seal, to let a little more of his chakra in. Then he lay still and… 'Oh, damn, damn, damn, he's almost here! If he sees me like this with the sinking ship in the background...' He tried to stand up, but he kept falling onto his knees. 'How do I get away now?'

The solution hopped out of his mind like a grasshopper. He rubbed some blood from one of his many cuts onto his palm, made a few hand-seals, and… a little albino toad fell onto him, again.

- Shiro, bring me to Myoubokuzan quickly!

- I can't… I don't have enough chakra for that… I'm sorry.

His summoner's head turned to the direction from where he felt that man approaching. – Then I don't care where, just away from here! Hurry, please!

- Alright, a moment… - he clapped his hands and concentrated. A few seconds later clouds surrounded them, and they were somewhere else. The blond looked around; the indicators of his Sage Mode fading away from around his eyes and his irises returning to black. Before exhaustion gave him his final blow, he recognized the place the toad brought him to. It was Tetsuji's small storeroom near one of Tesseineko's markets. The pilot was there, surprised by his sudden appearance, and there was someone else, too. With his last piece of consciousness, Kese recognized that enormous, dark skinned and dark bearded man too, but didn't have enough energy to react to him. That man's name was his last thought before he closed his eyes to rest.

'Ha… Hagane?'


For those who aren't familiar with the world of Naruto:

*Shuriken = sharpened, four-pronged metal star, for throwing. One of the basic weapons in Naruto world along with kunai.