Chapter Forty-Four
Sasuke stood in front of the village. A dozen or so armed peasants stood before him, spears set.
He held up his hands and said "Stand back, we have no interest in you or your village. Our feud is with the Kumogakure Shinobi who're about to pass through here."
"About to?" A familiar voice asked. The psycho blue haired bimbo descended from the sky above, laughing maniacally, "We've been here beautiful, you're the one passing through. But don't worry, we'll get you set on your way to the afterlife soon enough."
Sasuke wasn't totally comfortable being called 'beautiful' in the best circumstances, having this woman do it now just made him feel a little sick.
He raised his hand into the air and formed Chidori, "You brave soldiers of Taki can back down, we have no feud with you or your country, all we want is the Kumo convoy. Surrender it to us and you'll live. Fight us and you'll find that my Lightning Blade will cut through each of you in turn."
The blue haired woman laughed and threw a pair of scrolls onto the ground, she nodded to the soldiers as two rather lovely women were summoned.
One had had her throat slit and sewn back together, the other had a bloody stain over her stomach. The first wore civilian clothing, but the second was dressed in the uniform of an Iwa Shinobi.
Both corpses suddenly took on the appearance of the blue haired woman and came to life, one of them blew a kiss to Sasuke, "Hi lover!" She winked.
The other clone turned to the soldiers and waved them away, "We'll take it from here, you'd just get in our way. Go back to your wives and sleep with them and stuff because that's always fun. If you don't have wives girlfriends work equally well, and if you don't have those borrow someone else's. Maybe you want to hook up with other guys, that's hot too, but I don't care, either way just stay in your homes or you're fair game for either side."
Sasuke scowled, "Looking at just one copy of your ugly face is bad enough." He scoffed to the blue haired woman..
"Oh, now I bet you're going to tell me my ears are big too?" The original laughed.
Out of the ground came two more Shinobi, the striking Jounin from before, and the silvery haired woman.
"Uchiha Sasuke." The Jounin said, "I know your name, but allow me to tell you mine. I am Minoru Hikaru. Generally I feel a ninja's name should not be shared with his enemies, but you are no longer our enemy. The Raikage has declared that Kumogakure is withdrawing its ninja from the war. Unfortunate no?"
"Th-that's great!" Shiroi whispered.
"Without Kumogakure . . ." Kurai agreed, sounding surprised.
The Jounin whipped out an odd card, "The three young ladies there are Ina Ami, the mistress of the living-impaired. The young woman here is Yurei Kaori, one of the two survivors of the Yurei clan."
Sasuke scoffed, he'd never heard of the Yurei clan. "And why are you introducing yourselves? Even if w are allies now, we didn't ask for your names." Sasuke said.
"Rude little man." Kaori scoffed.
"My reasoning shall be clear soon Uchiha-san. You see unfortunately for you the orders failed to reach us telling us that the war was over before we viciously killed you in defense of this village. In telling you our names we have entered into a sacred pact, we cannot now let you, our enmies live. Kill us, or we will kill you."
Shiroi staggered back, Kurai put a hand on her shoulder and she steadied. Sasuke scoffed, he thrust his hand forward and the Chidori exploded into a bolt of lightning! Strong blue bolts shot forward, but went through the Jounin and his silver haired companion, slamming instead into the blue haired girl.
She screamed loudly, the Taki soldiers fled in fear, Sasuke ended his Jutsu and glared.
The two clones reverted to their former bodies, the original held her bleeding chest and gasped for air, "Hikaru-kun it hurts so bad!" She complained.
Hikaru glanced over his shoulder. "So what're you going to do about it, Ami?"
"I uh . . . I think I'm going to die." Ami shrugged.
Sasuke scowled, she was far too calm for someone about to die, had it been another--
"Sensei!" Shiroi screamed, shoving him aside, Sasuke spun around and looked to see the real Ami zooming down out of the sky!
She would kill Shiroi, she was coming down far too fast for the Genin to do anything about it.
But Hitomi was faster, she leapt into the air and tackled the blue haired woman, kunai in hand she stabbed her repeatedly.
"Ahh!" Ami screamed, "You little tramp!" The blue haired woman shoved the Chuunin off of her and kicked her up into the air, "Mess with me in the air? What a blasted fool you are!"
"Nah." Hara laughed, and threw a pair of kunai to Hitomi who caught them and threw them at Ami who was too close to block them.
A green light flashed and suddenly Hara was throwing a swarm of shuriken, each one found its mark: Ami.
The Kumo Jounin screamed at first, then just sort of went limp as more and more knives slammed into her, turning her body into a bloody pincushion.
She slammed into the ground, Sasuke expected the body to revert.
It didn't, Ami remained Ami.
Sasuke grinned, "One down."
Ami giggled, it was a lot of work to keep a totaled work of art from reverting to its true form but it was worth it.
Sasuke thought her dead, which left her in the perfect position to-
Suddenly the blind girl sprang for her. Ami, hidden in the trees was shocked but not worried.
She leapt back and began to use her taijutsu against the girl, "How'd you know where I was?"
"Like any puppeteer your chakra connects you to your puppets, and any Hyuga can tell the difference between a living body and a corpse!"
Ami giggled, "You think you stand a chance against me?"
"I don't have to stand a chance against you, I've done my job." The teenager grinned and leapt back.
The heck did that mean?
Ami scowled and changed her location. Simple military principal: if your enemy knows where you are, don't be there. She moved to another location of the woods.
There was an odd buzzing sound.
"What the-" Ami whispered.
A swarm of bugs was coming for her! She leapt into the air, her realm where she would be safe.
It exposed her to her enemy, but it was better than having to ask Kaori for help again.
She sneered at the bug tamer, whose eyes were on her. How had he found her?
It didn't matter, his bugs couldn't get her up here!
Or so she thought until she heard the buzzing!
She scowled and turned to see the swarm of bugs flying up from the woods for her! She tried gaining altitude but they gained on her.
Ami raised her hand and began to gather energy for a jutsu, "Fine bugs, you want some fun have some fun!" She screamed and thrust her palm forth, a huge cyclone tore the insects to shreds in the air!
And then the lightning cut into Ami!
She screamed and her Jutsu failed. She'd gotten careless, she hadn't been paying attention to the other Shinobi!
The long range lightning tore into her side, burning her, zapping her, she felt pain course through her body.
She used the substitution Jutsu for what good it did her having already taken the hit, and leaned against a tree holding her bleeding side.
She coughed, "Don't be mad at me Hikaru-kun." She mumbled.
She heard that blasted buzzing again. Didn't these bugs ever give up? How did they keep finding her?
She held out her hand pathetically against the swarm, it was covered in her own blood. She smiled, "Losers need wings." She said and blasted them with another razor cyclone!
But crawling insects, ones without wings began to cover her body, apparently she'd picked the wrong tree to lean against.
Ami didn't care. She wouldn't ask for Kaori's help again, she wouldn't give Hikaru-kun any reason to be disappointed with her again.
He'd have more respect for her if she died than he would if she got rescued.
But blast she was crap against bugs.
As they covered and consumed her, sucking her dry of her chakra she screamed on last scream.
Kaori heard Ami scream in the way that only the dead or dying screamed. She closed her eyes and lowered her head for a moment in difference to Ami.
She'd been a strong ninja, but a fool. Kaori would miss her in some ways, but frankly they'd never been terribly close.
She nodded. It was time to put an end to this fight. She'd kill the bug herder first, then the other Genin, she'd work her way up as Hikaru worked his way down.
The darkness was summoned, a bit late in Kaori's opinion but at least it was summoned.
She teleported to the side of the bug tamer and struck him.
She could see him in the darkness of Hikaru's jutsu, though he couldn't see her.
He exploded, fell apart, crumbled into a pile of bugs.
For the instant that she struck him Kaori had stopped phasing and in that instant scores of bugs had latched onto her and begun to bite her.
She scowled, and held back a startled scream.
She began to phase but for some reason her afflicted arm did not phase along with her! The bugs didn't drop to the ground, they bit deeper into her and sucked out more of her . . .
Hey eyes widened, they were draining her chakra!
She couldn't phase without her chakra, she stopped phasing the rest of her body, it was just a waste if she could get her arm to go along with the action. She began to sweep the insects off of her arm, and did her best not to make any sound.
But it was impossible, the bugs made a lot of noise and the enemy converged on her. The two Jounin and the Chuunin in black sprang for her from three different directions!
Kaori smiled, "Not that easy." She said and crushed the last bug with contempt, she phased and prayed that her arm would follow suit.
It did, and she was safe! The first Jounin, Uchiha slammed his fist forward, the second thrust a kunai into Uchiha on accident, Uchiha's fist slammed into the stomach of the Chuunin.
They all disappeared, shadow clones!
But if they were clones where were the real-it didn't matter, Koari leapt away from the swam of bugs that was slowly spreading out over the radius of the darkness seeking out prey.
This was tricky, there were four ninja unaccounted for and the bugs were more trouble than they were worth. They hardly seemed fair, but then life wasn't fair. She stopped suddenly, strong arms gripped her, Tetsuo whispered into her ear, "Don't phase through me, don't fight me. Just listen."
"Talk fast." Kaori whispered, watching the ever expanding insects come closer and closer to her. She and Tetsuo had always gotten along just fine, his sister and her brother were on the same team so they'd never bothered to be rivals.
"They're not our enemies, this is a waste of time, chakra, and most importantly life. I know you know the value of life, Yurei. Stand down, let's walk away from this and let Hikaru have his fun by himself. If you always support him he'll never respect you anyway."
"I'm not doing this for his respect." She said.
"Then why?" Tetsuo asked. "Why do this? You know they won't harm the people of Taki, you know they won't harm you if you just walk away. This doesn't have to happen."
"Hikaru does have an ulterior motive for challenging Uchiha, and I'll support him in it because it's important to him. He's not the sort to boast of his power, but he doesn't like the idea of there being enemies more powerful than him. Even if Uchiha is our ally today he can become our enemy tomorrow. All that Hikaru aims to do is determine whether he or Uchiha is the stronger, none of the others truly matter."
Tetsuo shook her, "So what you're saying is that your life means less to him than a mere test? You can die just so he can see how he measures up to one of the greatest of the Konoha Twelve when he cannot even accept a challenge from me?"
Kaori shook her head and phased through Tetsuo, leaving him alone in the dark, "My life is my own responsibility and my choices are mine to make. Until the captain is satisfied I choose to continue."
Sasuke was thoroughly annoyed. He'd missed his chance to watch the Genjutsu again, and yet again though his Sharingan worked frantically he could not see through it.
He could feel Shiroi and Kurai on either side of him waiting quietly and patiently for the darkness to lift even as Kurai's winged sward sought out enemies as well as the darkness's limits.
Because according to Shiroi the enemy could see them even in the darkness they had to remain as well hidden as possible, they'd chosen their hiding place before moving in on the village, Hara had formed Shadow Clones to represent everyone once the darkness began.
So for now this was Hara's show. But Sasuke continued to try to see through the darkness. He could hear just fine and from what he'd heard several shadow clones had been defeated already.
Hara would replace them, his maximum was twenty,
Suddenly he heard Kurai gasp, Shiroi yelped and he reached out for both of them only to feel hands grip his wrists.
"My, my, my. What have we here. You know I hate to be a one trick Shinobi, but the darkness was just so effective on you last time." His voice sneered. "This will all end when you fight me, Uchiha. Win or lose my team will back off once our battle is finished, so come on, show me what you've got."
Sasuke smirked and decided to do just that.
He couldn't perform hand seals, but he had become familiar enough with Chidori Nagashi not to need them. He let the lightning course through his body and felt the hands that gripped him fall away with a scream from the Jounin.
Sasuke got to his feet and heard laughter, "Nice. Very nice. That's some impressive stuff Uchiha. Lucky for me that was just a Shadow Clone. But enough of this idle banter, show me your true strength, show me what the master gave you."
Sasuke frowned, "What master?"
"Our lord Orochimaru. I know he gave you his mark, his blessing. Show me yours and I'll show you mine, Uchiha. Let's see which of us is the stronger."
Sasuke laughed, "That old thing? That's not my true power."
"You can lie and tell yourself that. But I know your story. You went to the master who received you with open arms, became his favorite play thing while I was left alone to try to hide my curse from Raikage and all the rest. While I grew up never knowing why the master had given me this gift and left me alone you learned all there is to know from him, then betrayed him. So let us see witch is better, the rogue who never knew the master's teachings, or the student who helped murder his mentor."
"I couldn't care less about your life story," Sasuke said, "And I don't care about your little Curse Mark Duel, if you want to fight lift the darkness and we'll fight."
"You mean to say you cannot fight an opponent without the use of your eyes, Uchiha? For shame." Minoru scoffed, "Or is it just that you want to see what I've got. Very well then, have it your way. Let there be light."
The darkness cleared away like a receding fog, Sasuke was left to look upon Kurai and Shiroi, both frozen as if they were made of stone. Hara and Hitomi were still in the field, and across from them were a pair of Kumo Jounin, a fourth member that Sasuke didn't recognize and the silvery haired Yurei.
And in front of Sasuke, eyes glowing red was Minoru Hikaru. His skin was covered in black marks that flowed over his face and body as if they were tribal tattoos. Lines flowed over his body in a manner that best resembled a diagram of the human nervous system.
Sasuke scoffed, it was a new mark by him but it looked similar enough to the others.
Sasuke glanced at Kurai and Shiroi, "What did you do to them."
"The same thing I'll do to you if you're not careful." Minoru said with a sneer. "Come on Uchiha, show me what you've got."
"They go free if I defeat you."
"On my honor." Minoru nodded. "And yes, I do have honor."
Sasuke nodded. "Fine." For the sake of his Genin he activated his own curse mark.
It had been so long, the seal throbbed, it burned his skin, it was excruciating.
But he quickly felt relieved, it was like breathing after holding is breath for years! This was who he was, this was his power! How could he have forgotten it? Turned his back on it? What a fool he'd been. The sensation of activating the mark again was greater than any elation he'd ever felt before. He laughed maniacally and glared at Minoru Hikaru.
He'd asked for it.
To Be Continued . . .
Note: It has been my intention pretty much since the first request to make sort of ninja index, I am working on it currently it will contain names, brief biographies so that you know who the ninja is, their age as there are some characters whose ages have not been given, and even an odd note behind or about their creation. It will be posted after the current arc ends, and will be posted along with the first chapter of the Chuunin exams so that those who do not need it will not be short changed with the update. If there is any other information anyone is interested in please let me know now while I am still working on it so it can be as comprehensive as it needs to be. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for all the support!
