Chapter 36: Within The Swamp Of Nightmares
Akane soon found someone she recognized, and they were fighting someone she didn't. The person she did not recognize looked like a girl their age with brown hair held in a ponytail and bangs framing her face. She wore a black battle kimono with mesh armor on the forearms and shins, and appeared to not be wearing any hitai-ate. She moved as well as the one she was fighting. Which happened to be Yugiko.
The Kumo kunoichi and the unknown one were practically bouncing from one tree to another as they attempted to make some kind of injury on the other. Yugiko could be seen displaying lengthened fingernails and toenails, and tried to be slashing her opponent with them. The other kunoichi, which could now be seen as having red eyes, blocked her claws with her armor and kept her distance.
"You are not the one I was made to fight Nibi. Tell me where the third one is and I shall spare you for now." The enemy told her.
"Like I'm going to send you to my cousin, whatever your name is!" Yugiko yelled.
"I am Getsu-san of Mangetsu. You would be wise to remember that, though you are not the one I am interested in, bakeneko."
"Well I'm the only one here, so you'll have to settle." Yugiko then flared her chakra, making it look like she was covered in blue and black fire.
"What's that?" Ichi quietly asked.
"My cousin's chakra cloak." Akane answered just as quietly. "It's weaker than my own, but it burns a lot better since her element is fire."
"Should we help her?" Noburo asked.
"Not now. She's having some fun. Let her for a bit longer, then we'll step in."
Yugiko did two quick hand signs, which had to be difficult with her extended claws. "Fire Style Fireball Jutsu." She then exhaled a large blue-black sphere of flame, resembling the normal version of the attack in all but color.
Instead of trying to dodge, Getsu-san stood her ground and did some hand signs of her own. "Scorch Style Fire Against Fire Jutsu." Around her formed four fireballs that looked like miniature suns that spun in front of her in a clockwise direction. When Yugiko's attack came in contact, the fireball seemed to get absorbed by the mini-suns then burn out but with a heat flash that acted like a sonic boom.
"What was that?" Yugiko asked.
Akane was asking herself the same thing. 'Did she say scorch style? As in the Suna bloodline?'
"Simple, I fought fire with fire." Getsu-san replied. "You may not be the one I was made to fight, but you still can't stand up to me and my chakra, Nibi."
"Try saying that after you beat me bitch." Yugiko stated.
"Weird word coming from a cat of all people." Getsu-san said before readying another jutsu.
All of a sudden, the tree she was perched in quaked and cracked severely at the base. She had to abort the jutsu to get out of the tree as it started falling. When the tree crashed completely, Kirako was seen behind the stump. Getsu-san looked unconcerned and was about to restart her jutsu, but suddenly from behind a dark-skinned Kumo boy had her trapped in a hold. Getsu-san struggled to get out but his grip was tight.
"Heh, you never were alone were you?" She asked Yugiko.
"Oh I was, for a time. But I never said my teammates were far."
Akane nodded and she and her teammates appeared too. "So, you're connected to Getsu-roku am I right?"
Getsu-san smiled. "Ah, 2, 8, and 9, I'm a bit outmatched here. But I'll be back, and with someone more appropriate." Suddenly she started to glow bright yellow.
The Kumo nin holding her let go. "Ouch! Hot!" Before anyone could do anything, Getsu-san ran off into the swamp, the water steaming wherever she stepped.
Rather than follow her, Kirako approached her teammate. "Safui-kun, you okay?"
"I'm fine, just lightly burned. Wouldn't try that again."
"Looks no worse than a sunburn. You should be good to go, though I wouldn't recommend any long-term taijutsu spars if your skin is sensitive now."
As this was going on, Yugiko looked to Akane. "Something up cous?"
"I encountered another unmarked guy who called himself Getsu-roku and was really hard to sense beforehand. What got to me is he knows who we are."
"And apparently this Getsu-san does too. What do you think they want?"
"Maybe they're here to scope you nine out, like spies from some new Akatsuki group." Ichi suggested. Thanks to his past experiences, he knew full well what Akatsuki had been, as did the bijuu girls so they'd be on the look out for any others trying the same thing.
Yugiko looked towards him. "You think?"
He nodded. "The names are clearly aliases, but they're no older than us so they likely aren't the ones in charge of anything. If anything they're more like a planted team."
"Oh, like this team Otou-san told me about." Akane brought up. "They were in the chuunin exams working for Orochimaru, not to actually become chuunin."
"Yes, same principle here." Ichi replied.
"So there's one more of these guys here?" Noburo asked.
"At least. Though with the names they have, I suspect there could be as many as six. Maybe more."
"Anything wrong?" Kirako asked as she helped her teammate back on his feet. The group then brought her up to speed on the issue, though they kept it vague since Safui didn't know bijuus were involved. "Well that sucks." Kirako said, well aware of the seriousness of the situation.
"What do we do about it?" Yugiko asked.
"I think we should at least let the others know." Akane said.
"Hold on, that means we risk not finding a box if we do something else here." Safui claimed.
"I've already found more than one box needed to pass. I'll give you guys one if you help us in this." Akane said, having already received some clone memories from when they tested the acquired boxes.
"Why should we trust you?" Safui asked.
Yugiko put her hands on her hips. "My cousin may be an idiot, but she's no liar."
"Idiot?" Akane asked, glaring at the blue-black haired girl. Then she shook her head. "Never mind that, we've still got to warn the others. And if I make more clones that would only overcrowd the area and make enemy teams pursue my team even more, so how about we split up?"
"There are three other teams with the others on them so we should split into three groups instead of two." Kirako said. "I'll search with Safui-kun. Akane-chan, you search with one of your teammates, Yugiko, you search with the other. Use a flare when you find one and when the third flare is seen we'll all converge there."
No one argued. Akane and Noburo were arranged to search together while Yugiko and Ichi were partnered. With a shared nod, the three groups split up in a triangular fashion.
"Can you smell any of them?" Noburo asked.
Akane kept sniffing the area. "No not yet. None of my cousins have come this way, and with this swamp it's almost impossible to tell what's upwind. Too many natural scents mixing together. I wonder if Otou-san planned on this to make it a challenge for me."
"I doubt it. It's probably something predetermined. Anyway, got any ideas to make this easier?"
"Just one." Akane said before closing her eyes and forming the ram sign, followed by a small pulse of chakra and a silent wince of pain across her face.
"What did you just do?" Noburo asked, not seeing anything new.
"I just dispelled all my old clones to get their memories. Out of all the teams they saw or encountered, only one of them had my cousins in it. We're heading for that one, this way." Akane answered, before jumping in the appropriate direction with her blue-haired teammate following.
"Which ones?" Noburo curiously asked.
"My Iwa cousins. But they weren't alone."
"I hate this place." Safui complained as he lost his grip on the tree thanks to moss he didn't see. Luckily Kirako caught him by growing a tentacle. "This is why Kumo doesn't have swamps."
"That and we're surrounded by mountains instead." Kirako pointed out, retracting her tentacle.
"You know what I mean."
"Man up Safui-kun. This is not the worst thing we've faced. Remember when we had to deal with that rhino that got off the island turtle and was damaging property in civilian towns?"
The tan-skinned boy smirked. "Yeah, though if I recall correctly, you were the one to take it down."
"Only because you and Yugiko helped get it in place."
"Even so, I'm still amazed at how you stopped that beast. It hurts just to remember it. That kekkei genkai of yours is amazing."
"Yeah." The reborn Hachibi replied, remembering her cover story.
In Kumo it was normal for new blood to be brought in to give the village greater diversity in their abilities and numbers in their shinobi. So when A brought two orphaned children to Kumo four years ago, no one thought anything of it.
The weird thing was when the Raikage kept them out of the orphanage, assigned them a regular guardian, and even got involved in their education himself. Usually Kumo's leaders in the past didn't do that. A justified it by saying these two girls had rather unique kekkei genkais that needed to be carefully monitored since Kumo had no experience in handling them before.
A fabricated a story claiming that Kinkaku and Ginkaku were not the only ones to eat bijuu flesh and survive. Evidently some had tried the same with Nibi and Hachibi long ago and survived, and their descendants inherited traits similar to that of the bijuu. In the last stand with Madara he found two girls with these skills that Madara had taken to use for himself and A had valiantly rescued them and brought them back to Kumo, naming them after the recent jinchuuriki to remember them by.
So as far as Kumo was concerned, Yugiko and Kirako were not bijuu but rather false-jinchuuriki like the Kin-Gin brothers. Which explained why Yugiko had catlike traits and could create fire with using hand seals and why Kirako could grow tentacles and use ink jutsus. Only two people in Kumo knew their true identities, A himself and their jounin sensei Kei, who the girls saw as their unofficial mother and father.
Kirako's nose suddenly caught a scent. "Speaking of beasts, get on the ground now!" She knocked Safui off his branch and jumped down to the ground. She landed gracefully but Safui wasn't so lucky.
"What was that for?" He asked, groaning since his muscles ached a bit. But since he was well-armored it would fade in mere moments.
Kirako pointed up and he saw what she had helped him escape, a gigantic python in the trees.
"So tell me, are you interested in my cousin?" Yugiko asked Ichi as they jumped from tree to tree.
"Huh?" Ichi asked.
"Just trying some conversation. I don't like being alone with someone and not able to talk to them. And what else are we gonna talk about when the only thing we have in common is my cousin?"
Ichi shrugged. "She's a good friend, but I think she's more interested in Noburo-san."
"You jealous?"
Ichi shook his head. "Not at all. They make a good pair. Besides, I'm not interested in a girlfriend right now. Wouldn't know what to do if I had one."
"What a shame. You seem like a fine boy to me." Yugiko commented.
"Thanks. A lot of girls think so. You have a boyfriend?"
Yugiko sighed. "I wish, but no such luck. Kei-sensei and Raikage-sama tend to intimidate those I get close to."
"They your parents?" Ichi asked.
Yugiko lightly smiled. "Not officially, but my sister and I like to think of them that way. Especially with Kei-sensei."
"Must be nice." Ichi said.
Yugiko noticed the envious undertone in his voice. "What about your family?"
"Just a sister. She's the woman who dressed like a tiger and had silver hair."
The blunette Kumo kunoichi was surprised. "That woman was your sister? The one who smells like a battery?"
Before Ichi could answer they ran out of trees to jump thru. Before them was a large peat-covered pond with lilies and logs floating in it. Dragonflies flew over it and frogs were eating any bugs they could catch.
The two remained perched in the trees around the pond. "Shouldn't we keep going?" Ichi asked. He saw she looked bothered, and despite her human appearance she looked eerily like an irked cat with her posture. "Can't you water-walk?"
"Yes I can, but look closer at what's in the water." She told him, pointing to the pond.
Ichi looked in and around, trying to see what got her rattled up. After seeing one of the logs move, he realized that the logs were in fact alligators. Well, maybe one of them was a genuine log, but there were no less than six alligators in sight now.
"We go around, not thru." Yugiko told him.
With no argument, the two went to their lefts to get around the pond. However, when Yugiko tried to land on one tree branch, she fell right thru it. Yelling in surprise, she crashed on the mossy ground.
"You okay?" Ichi landed next to her, then saw the tree waver and fade. 'Genjutsu, and not a bad one. Someone's here.' He took out a kunai and looked around. "We got trouble."
The python dropped from the trees trying to eat the two genin. It was big enough to eat them both, but not at the same time.
"Is that an anaconda?" Safui asked, getting into a taijutsu stance.
"Whatever it is, taijutsu won't affect it that much." Kirako told him just as the snake lunged at them.
Kirako jumped and reached behind herself to grab the handles of her two swords, but just as she grabbed them, Safui twisted to avoid the snake and punched it right in the left eye. Then as the python recoiled from the hit Safui adjusted his arm guard so the sharp point pointed out and he ran it again the underside of the reptile's neck, drawing a large amount of blood. Then he did a spin kick from above to drive it into the ground and knock it out.
Kirako landed and let go of her swords. She whistled, impressed by what she had seen. "I stand corrected. And now we can have meat for dinner tonight."
Safui looked confused. "But I thought you didn't eat meat."
"Only beef and steak and anything that comes from a bovine. Anything else I'll eat no problem."
The python twitched a bit and Safui kicked it again. "Even so, do we have time to prepare this? We are supposed to be looking for your cousins."
"My cousins aren't helpless. They'll be fine if we take a few more minutes to get to them. Besides, we're still in these exams too and we could use a little more in our provisions."
Safui nodded and the two paused to cut up and seal away the snake meat for later.
'And here I though we cats always landed on our feet.' Yugiko groaned as she got back up and saw the tree illusion gone. 'Wonder why someone's setting up a trap here.'
There was a rustle in the bushes that got both her and Ichi's attention, and out came a cluster of shuriken. Reacting quickly, Yugiko grew claws and deflected the throwing stars. Ichi grabbed the ones that fell to the ground and threw them back into the bushes, thus avoiding wasting any of his one.
A boy their age jumped out to dodge. He wore a red shirt with black shorts and his hita-ate revealed he was from Kusa. "Fire Style Cremation Cannon Jutsu." He fired a white-hot ball of fire at the two of them.
Yugiko got in front of Ichi and her body was covered in blue flames. The white flame hit her and just seemed to blend into her fire aura and disappear. "Fire won't work on me hothead."
"Then how about water?" A boy asked from behind them. Ichi turned to see another Kusa genin emerge from the alligator pond, wearing a blue shirt, black pants, and a breather mask. He was also covered in algae from head to toe. "Water Style High Tide Jutsu." He then thrust his hands into the water, which retracted and piled up, then got ready to come forward like a nasty wave, alligators still in it.
Ichi reacted in the only way he saw appropriate. "Lightning Style Stungun Jutsu." Small crackles of electricity covered his hands, so he dove forward to reach the water around the blue shirt Kusa nin's feet, thrusting his fists into the water. The normally weak lightning jutsu got empowered by the water and the Kusa nin felt like he had been hit by a full-on cattle prod. 'The water jutsu didn't stop, but now the one who made it should fall victim to it.' Ichi told himself, seeing the Kusa nin collapse on his back and sink into the water.
Ichi used a substitution to get away, and Yugiko and her opponent did too once they saw the approaching wave, which crashed where they had been and scattered the now angry alligators. Yugiko and the red shirt Kusa nin got into the trees and continued their fight, this time using kunai and claws instead of fire.
'I'll help from behind.' Ichi thought, trying to move to get behind the Kusa nin to ambush him.
"Ninja Art Snake Grass Jutsu." Another Kusa nin, this one wearing a green shirt and black shorts, surprised him with. Suddenly a large amount of grass came at him like a swarm of snakes, trying to wrap around Ichi and constrict him.
'Just like Noburo's hair.' Ichi thought before using a kunai to cut the grass. Some managed to get around his ankles and hinder him, but he kept slashing away. The green shirt Kusa nin came up to him and used a kunai to knock Ichi's weapon out of his hands.
The dark-haired Konoha nin reacted by grabbing a flare and lighting it dangerously close to the Kusa nin's face, blinding the enemy and making him wail in agony. He then threw the flare at the Kusa nin who fell out of the trees. "Twilight Style Fantastic Flash Jutsu." Ichi's shadow extended to look like a clawed hand that stretched to grab the flare again. Once it did, the shadow then branched into two hands to attack the person closest to the flare, that being the green shirt Kusa nin.
Once the shadow hands grabbed the Kusa nin's forearms his nerves started to burn but his skin remained undamaged. It was like the heat from the flare was being transferred from the flare right into him thru the shadow. Ignoring the pain, he swung his hands thru the shadows, disrupting the jutsu, only to then notice Ichi jumped out of the tree and delivered a had kick right to his sternum.
The Kusa nin gasped then burst into a pile of grass that fell apart. "Wait, I fought a clone?" Ichi asked.
At the same time, Yugiko's claws slashed the red shirt Kusa genin a bit too close and he burst into a pile of grass as well. "A clone?"
"The real ones are probably still close by. Let's just keep going at planned before." Ichi told the Kumo kunoichi, who nodded.
"We should be getting close, and if they've moved I should hopefully be able to track their scents." Akane told Noburo as they neared their destination.
"How if you couldn't before?"
"We all have an animal scent to us. Like how I smell like a fox. All I have to do is track the animal scent that doesn't belong in a swamp. Like a horse and monkey. Hard to do with people, but easy to do with my cousins."
"Interesting skill. Wish I had that." A strange male voice called from behind.
The two immediately stopped and turned around. They had been more focused on going forward and this guy was downwind so it was only natural Akane didn't smell him. They couldn't see who it was because he wore a black hooded cloak that covered everything except his mouth and chin.
"Hello Kyuubi." They added. "What a pleasure this is."
Akane growled. "Great, another one of these guys."
"Oh, I'm not just 'another one of these guys'. I'm your worst enemy. Call me Getsu-kyu. Or maybe..." He reached up and grabbed the edge of his hood. "You might prefer the other name this body used to go by." He then pulled back his hood, revealing his face and hair.
Upon seeing it, Akane was shocked and lost her balance. Noburo grabbed her and held her up. "What's with you Akane-chan? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"You're not that far off Noburo-kun." She told him, her eyes never leaving the guy calling himself Getsu-kyu.
"You know this boy?" Noburo asked, seeing nothing special about him. This newcomer just had black hair slicked back and red eyes, and a rather smug smile on his face. Overall, just a normal twelve year old like any other he had seen.
"I'll never forget that face. That's the face of my father's greatest enemy. Sasuke Uchiha."
Team Kiri
-Shinbou Kyogami
Appearance: Blue hair held in three ponytails, pink eyes, red stripe down right cheek under eye, green kimono with red edging, mesh armor underneath kimono, green obi, sword at hip, dark green pants, tan sandals
Family: Bijuu cousin
Likes: Swimming, soda, lilies, watermelon, relaxing
Dislikes: Dry places, lizards, spicy food, eavesdroppers, ice
Hobbies: Swimming, getting a tan
Dreams: Become Mizukage
-Misao Namikoji
Appearance: Pale purple hair with white flower by left bang, gold eyes with four point pupils, blue top with shoulders exposed and green strap over left shoulder and lace lining, black pants, pale blue cloth flap on left hip, black shoes
Family: Bijuu cousin
Likes: Lace, relaxing, gardening, fruit, fireflies
Dislikes: Running, heavy lifting, salty foods, being bossed around, traitors
Hobbies: Playing the lute, playing shogi and go
Dreams: Be a hero at least once in her career
-Ginta Asatani
Appearance: Blond hair, red eyes, red tank top under dark blue shirt, blue pants, black boots, black paint streaked under eyes and down arms ringing around wrists
Family: Mother, father, no siblings
Likes: Architecture, barbecued food, percussion music, tigers, journeys
Dislikes: Screaming, vandalism, staying in one place, monkeys, shellfish
Hobbies: Sight-seeing, drawing
Dreams: Build something people will want to see
-Issaku (Sensei of team)
Appearance: Orange hair in pageboy cut, light brown eyes, green haori with light blue collar and red triangles on shoulders, red obi with hitai-ate plate sewn in, green hakama, sandals, and bamboo spear
Family: Mother
Likes: Sea animals, cheese, hockey, reading, fishing
Dislikes: Show-offs, traitors, owing favors, being thirsty, spicy food
Hobbies: Building models, walking exercises
Dreams: Make Kiri a safe place to live