Disclaimer: Naruto belongs updates Masashi Kishimoto. Touhou Project belongs updating Zune.
Chapter 36: Shadows and flames
Sarutobi Asuma emptied his sake glass in one gulp. Moments after the liquor has finished burning his throat, he poured himself a glass with a trembling hand. For hours, he remained in his kitchen, offloading the contents of the bottles that his father had carefully collected and accumulated, and he kept to be able to celebrate a special occasion.
The Jonin seized part landed nearby, his hand trembling even more when he stared at the smiling woman with long hair and obsidian eyes of fire.
This mission should have been the last for Kurenai before she retires from active duty to not expose her unborn child, to ensure the safety of the new generation of the village children of the sheet.
Ironically, it was the last.
Asuma poured the strong drink with a bitter taste, sighing before this vintage.
What a great opportunity, indeed. Drink this bottle that would celebrate the birth of their child, in order to drive the resulting loss of sensation in this double death.
Asuma knew that this little creature had barely a month, but during the last week, he had discovered the crushing weight of the new befall him.
Would it be a good father? How should we deal with it? How to arrange the bedroom? How to change a baby?
So many questions, so many worries that tinged his happiness without limits. So many doubts about his ability to properly raise an infant.
And now everything had collapsed.
The bearded man collapsed on the sofa, hiding his scarlet and moist skin, reversing the bottom of his glass on the floor.
When he awoke a few hours later, her headache did not prevent him to get up. Idly, he watched the bingo book under several toppled rolls. Asuma flipped through the pages, bored. When he saw the deadly duo of Akatsuki, he shook the red book in his sweaty hand, tinting sweat pages.
The next day, Asuma and two divisions of the ANBU were mobilized to remove two nukenins Akatsuki who had entered the country.
Yet while Konoha trying to neutralize two deserters, the criminal organization was moving the machinery of his diabolical plan.
While Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki crossed the border and captured Nibi Kumo, Tobi and left to settle near Kiri, to prepare when it came time to launch the mission to retrieve Sanbi devoid host.
With Akatsuki scattered in different countries, their leader was unable to subtly change its plans. In his haste to quickly assemble two Bijus easily accessible, the dictator was too separated its members, with more fighters when needed.
At least he no longer had servants to do his will, because he did not disclose Zetsu. He did not want to endanger Konan, but he did not wanted to reveal himself. The time was not advanced enough for that.
However, what the leader of the Akatsuki did not know was that this problem related to the lack of available men, would soon be resolved.
Amegakure was the bastion of the organization, their main base where they were safe from any reprisals trackers of other nations. The village was a mysterious power, with a more advanced technology than elsewhere, surrounded by high walls. The fortress was not the only reason Protection nukenins, since incessant rain that watered the land was in charge of chakra, allowing the dictator to be constantly informed of the presence of undesirable people on his land.
At present, in the high tower overlooking the village of rain, two people were watching their village from a balcony.
The first person was a man with orange hair, the cold face was mutilated by many dark piercings. Yet what made it even more intimidating, it was his eyes. Pupils he exhibited were a deep purple, with concentric circles occupying the whole of the sclera. The eyes of the head of the Akatsuki shone with a piece of steel inhuman, as he contemplated the rain that was falling noisily on the steel walls and zinc roofs of its citadel.
- See, Konan, he called, holding out his arms to the heavens. Soon, the rain symbolizes the tears of this nation will become a distant memory.
Behind him, the arrested person stepped forward. It was a beautiful woman with blue hair and golden brown eyes. However, this rose was ice, it was long she had imprisoned her feelings, content to be a performing. Follow orders had the advantage of not having to make tough decisions and this allowed him to not have to bear guilt.
It had been years that Nagato had agreed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. The legendary shinobi eyes had deliberately chosen to be the savior, though why he should be hated of all.
- Soon, our dream will come true, he whispered, holding her hand to the moon faintly visible behind the clouds.
Pain felt he could caress the heavenly body, as if he could seize power contained in the satellite, there or resided the sealed body of the woman who was the first to master the chakra.
The shinobi dressed in a long black cape with scarlet clouds suddenly sat up, as his eyes focused to the west.
His village was built on a rocky promontory overlooking a vast lake, but he had always been haunted by the possibility of infiltration. The lake provided a natural protection and the land was swept by the spotlight, but he knew that nothing was breathtaking.
Indeed, the person who had introduced had managed to bypass these defenses, as the stranger who had just arrived was introduced through the air, flying over the wall, before arriving in the deserted streets.
Pain concentrated on his chakra dispersed, following each of the mysterious intruder movements. It was rare to get into his city and he hoped to understand who would dare to do it and why. It turned out that this person walked calmly to his tower, similar to a metal man.
Either this stranger was suicidal, or he did not fear the leader of the organization made the worst bunch of nukenis the world.
Anyway, it would be ready to fight, although he would not be against the idea of recruiting a being powerful and bold.
- Get ready Konan ordered the leader, but do not do anything aggressive.
The woman at the colorful cape of blood clouds nodded, waving several sheets in her sleeves, preparing his shurikens paper.
The visitor was now visible from the balcony. None of it was visible, since he was wearing a large gray cloak and wearing a rice straw hat, like that employed by the farmers to protect themselves from the sun.
When the stranger approached the chief building two shinobi barred the way, but no sooner had they started to ask questions that the steel doors opened, along with the cold voice of their leader who s' raised, to intimate them about letting this stranger.
Both shinobi complied, letting the visitor was guided through the metal corridors to a room occupied by a large desk on which sat a few classified documents, as well as a need to calligraphy.
The stranger looked Pain and Konan, before removing his hat. He unveiled his feminine face, and her long hair dyed a light linen shade of gray.
- I am in the presence of the leader of Akatsuki? declared the mysterious woman, who could not have been more than fifteen years.
- Yes, said the deserter of his cold voice. But if I have tolerated this foray into my office, it is only because I want to know some answers. Who are you and what do you want?
- Clear and to the point, she hissed by watching his eyes burning ruby, I like it. I Mokou Fujiwara and I came to give you an alliance.
The look of heading narrowed, although it flashed any other expression on his face.
- An alliance ? asked he with suspicion. What is a foreign Gensokyo can bring us? I doubt that you understand the objectives of the Akatsuki. Be clearer, if you want to live long.
Mokou frowned. His troubled mind remembered the events of last week.
The phoenix was not a person who exuded joy in life, but she felt that destiny was bent meticulously on it to break. Mokou had made bad decisions in her life, she knew perfectly. The choice to steal and consume the elixir Hourai had seemed a good idea, but after centuries of existence without power to have the chance to die to get rid of all her sufferings, she realized that this path was brought more harm than good. His revenge, causing all, prompted him to get absolute immortality, to massacre all those who supported Houraisan Kaguya list which consisted of half of the Fujiwara clan.
With his hands covered in blood, Mokou had always sought a hope of redemption. She had tried to help others, but deep herself, she did not do it for altruistic desire to relieve others, but to relieve herself. She was deeply selfish, acting not only to relieve his conscience and lighten his burden.
For centuries, the immortal erred, sacrificing his own hopes, without abandoning his vengeance. Continually suspected and feared for his immortality, she had lived as a nomad, traveling the roads of Japanese country, settling in villages before leaving to protect his secret. Obviously, a person who remains young for fifty years attracted suspicion and rumor had spread. Inevitably, Mokou knew she had become a wandering, like a spectrum devoid of purpose.
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century it had arrived in Gensokyo. In this mysterious country, where many creatures possess an extremely long lifetime, Mokou had cherished the hope to share his troubles and lighten his burden with another immortal. Although thirteen centuries are an incredible lifespan for a human, it was fairly under millennia of certain deities.
During one of his visits to the village, Mokou met Keine, a hakutaku youkai who had the task of managing the school of human village, but that turned into a wild beast when the full moon lit up the sky.
Their first meeting in the forest was the trigger for their friendship. Keine was hiding near the village she had sworn to protect. She knew she could control herself, she would not become a crazy bloodthirsty, but she would not take the risk that someone in the way that state. She feared that if the secret is stale, they all start to treat it as a pariah, to avoid and fear as if it was a bloodthirsty monster.
Mokou had discovered, finally understanding why her friend disappeared every full moon. The immortal was not repulsed by this metamorphosis, she understood the doubts of the half-stupid. In the end, Mokou and slowly Keine had sympathized. He had to admit that share the fear of being rejected for what it was, tended to create links.
The immortal had come to regard Keine as her best friend, his only friend. Mokou had even experienced strong feelings for her friend, much more than those linking two best friends. The phoenix had always tried to admit them, but it is constantly held, suppressing his urge to caress the hand of the youkai, refusing to kiss her, for fear of disgust and lose.
There are only a few days, the little joy she felt disappeared. With the death of Keine, Mokou had the impression that fate wanted to make him pay for his past crimes and selfishness, removing what little joy she still possessed. His world had become even darker. The disappearance of the glow had left with nothing but his feelings bubbling. Her grief devoured the long hours, leaving the eyes veined with blood. Then, when the icy tears could be seen all, Mokou remained alone with the huge flames of his anger, sacrificed once more by his hatred. Now that she was no longer afraid of losing precious anyone, she had nothing more, the blaze of hatred intensified further, gnawing the more so as Keine had never done anything wrong . The death of one she loved had left with nothing more than a violent desire to destroy everything.
Mokou hated himself for his choice, but she did not intend to blame for this death. She was not responsible, she knew the killer had acted to eliminate the one who had the power to change the course of history, not to kill the half-beast whose secret was not stale.
Having a culprit was a gratifying thing, it meant finding someone to whom to blame for his suffering. As long as he was alive, that guilty allowed to give him a target that would help to channel the fiery violence that flowed in his veins.
Contrary to what you might suspect, Mokou was not an idiot who used his power to attack without worrying about the consequences. She had led his small survey, but it still did not know who was responsible. She finally got a name but did not know this person. His track seemed vague until she was approached near the bamboo forest.
She had met this strange man, dressed in a dark cloak, his face hidden by the orange disk hinted power.
The man had been cooperative, accepting the guide and tell him or hid the Sponsor. He even offered to put her in touch with an organization that had many grievances against the source of his hatred.
So Mokou had spun in elementary nations, flying to Amegakure, or there was the headquarters of the Akatsuki.
Obviously, she was not a fool. She had spent too much time to feel hatred, to be manipulated by promises, tempting as they may be. The blaze that fed all his impulses seemed to coexist with an icy hatred, born of emptiness that inhabited.
Now she was facing Bread, the time had come to show her what she had to offer.
- I totally fun of your goals, she admitted frankly. What I offer you is working for you, to remove a person from among your enemies. I want to kill Danzou Shimura.
At this time, Pain's eyes were reduced to mere slits, while Konan clenched fists. She still had vivid memories of Yahiko who threw the kunai that Nagato stood, just to save her. She saw slow the body of his friend fall to the ground, his blood mingling with mud staining his cloak, because of the ambush by the troops of Hanzo, assisted by the Root Danzou. The man had left them a souvenir for the less edifying.
- If you give me the position, if you open the way for me and if you let me kill this target, I would do the dirty work you want. Three services on my part, against these three requests, neither more nor less. By cons, she threatened, if you try to betray me, I would burn this village and I would find another way to eliminate it.
Pein remained of marble and stepped over.
- What you're worth fighting? asked he. What can you offer to a god?
- I can show you the smiles Mokou with a wide grin.
Other fighters from Gensokyo were accustomed to use their spell cards, it was a habit so ingrained in them, even if they had other weapons. However, some people hated being restrained by rules and loved him break free. Mokou was primarily a phoenix. A bird hated the restrictions, the rules were like a cage for it, but in this world, it was not obliged to limit its use spell cards. She was finally able to break loose and free the flames of hatred.
- But tell me, Bread, she continued, are you really a god? Art thou not a mortal who got too much power and that thinks that it is not?
- Shinra Tensei! then exclaimed the leader, holding his hand forward.
Mokou did not expect to be projected by such shock wave, since it was pushed over the railing before falling into the void. At least that's what would have happened if she had not emerge a pair of flaming wings on his back.
The phoenix flew up into the heavens, emitting a heat wave so intense, the rain was turning into steam and a fine mist around him. Proud and arrogant, she stared Bread and smiled.
- Bansho Tenin! if he exclaimed, still quiet, attractive Mokou to him, while drawing a long bar of crystallized chakra.
With a gesture, he planted the weapon in the chest of the girl before the stare.
- Not fast enough, he said depressing the deeper bar, piercing the heart of the presumptuous who had so foolishly challenged.
When his chakra came in contact with the heart of foreign, they shared their feelings. Mokou was struck by these two eyes that encrusted in his mind, linking the six other sources of immense power. For its part, Pein was struck by the violence of rage that seemed to have no limits, and he saw a fire engulf the entire world.
Shocked, the leader of the Akatsuki stepped back, leaving his bar stuck in the dead body.
To his surprise, Mokou let out a gasp, before entering the pile and remove it by itself.
From a casual gesture, the immortal rejected the ground bar. The improvised weapon rang briefly when it came into contact with the metal, breaking the silence that had settled between them.
- What are you? they asked simultaneously.
A thin smile won chapped lips Mokou as she thought having more in common with bread, she would have thought.
- I am the heir of the Sennin Rikudo, the god of shinobi, then declared Bread nonchalantly.
- I am the immortal phoenix, she replied with a smile, while an aura of flames surrounded her figure.