It's late in the afternoon. We're approaching the area of the Aku's hideout. Mizuki walks on my left as Takeo and Tsutomu walk on my right.
"My goodness how you snore," Mizuki comments on Tsutomu.
"What? It was probably Takeo!" Tsutomu reflects the blame on him.
"I don't snore," Takeo simply replies.
"It kept waking me up at night…" Mizuki has a sweat drop. "I feel sorry for whoever you marry."
"I like to live the life of a bachelor," Tsutomu proudly smugs as he crosses his arms.
I laugh at their exchange. Suddenly, I sense a presence nearby.
"Stay alert," I warn my group. "We've got company."
We stop in our tracks at the sight of two men approaching. They're wearing casual clothes, one man with dark brown hair and the other with dark orange hair. I examine their necks and confirm who they are with the Aku tattoo.
"Heh. Just when I thought looking for loot was gonna be a pain in the ass," the one with brown hair smirks.
"These guys showed up just in time," the dirty blonde one also smirks. "What do you say we have a little fun with them first, Hiraku?"
"Sounds fun, Katsu."
We stare each other down for a moment.
"Keep your guard up," I instruct my group.
"It's just two of them," Tsutomu says.
"Katsu, Hiraku," another man arrives with three more men.
"Welp, nevermind…" Tsutomu furrows his brows.
"Exactly why I said it…" I say.
"Let's have fun with them first…" Katsu smirks.
Katsu swiftly sprints toward me with a dagger. I take my katana out and block his hit.
"This one's got quite the strength," Katsu smirks at me.
Katsu jumps back and my group suddenly feels our feet sinking. I look down and see the ground has turned into quicksand.
"It's absorbing our chakra," I let my group know.
Takeo wastes no time and freezes the quicksand, allowing us to break free. The four us disperse in different directions. As I'm still in midair from jumping back, one of the men launches a barrage of sharp stones at me. I dodge them in midair and lunge at the man with a hard kick that sends him crashing through a tree. I turn my attention to Mizuki who is taking on one of the men with taijutsu. Takeo and Tsutomu are taking on two leaves me with the last three. They engage me in taijutsu and I swiftly block their attacks. Once they see they're not getting anywhere with us, the men regroup some yards away. I also regroup with Mizuki, Takeo, and Tsutomu. Two Aku men step forward and perform some hands signs. They blow out two large pieces of what appear to be clay. I can see they're meant to detonate as they grow larger. I step in front of my group and activate my Susano'o rib cage to shield us as the two large pieces of explosive clay detonate, causing the area to explode. Dirt and other debris cloud the area and the Aku men smirk as they are sure they got us. Upon the dirt cloud clearing, they are surprised to see us unharmed, protected in the rib cage of my Susano'o.
"What the hell?!" Katsu is shocked. "That shoulda killed them!"
I perform hand signs and place my palms on the ground. Fiery chains emerge from under all the men and subdue them. I deactivate my Susano'o and make my way toward Katsu.
"Where is Kenta?" I demand.
"I'm not saying anything!" he refuses.
"That's fine," I activate my sharingan.
I glance at Hiraku to my right and gaze into his eyes. He shrieks in terror as I scan through his memories. I see images of him brutally murdering dozens of people and taking their valuables, even setting houses on fire. I'm angered and slash Hiraku's chest with my katana, blood managing to splatter on Katsu's cheek.
"Tell me where Kenta is," I demand again.
"Even if you do find him," Katsu is nervous. "You won't be able to stop him and the Aku."
"Wrong answer."
I gaze into another one of the men's eyes and see through his memories. Images of him murdering more innocent people flash, also of him raping women. Again, I slash his chest, splattering blood over the rest of the men who are shocked.
"I know where the Aku hideout is," I say. "I just wanna know where Kenta is at this very moment."
"What the hell do you plan on doing when you find him anyway?" Katsu struggles to ask.
I gaze into the eyes of three of the other men, once again taking a glimpse of their horrible crimes. I slash their chests and they collapse to the ground like the other two.
"You're really testing my patience," I glare at Katsu.
"Kenta is...at the Aku hideout, as we speak," Katsu grits his teeth.
"How long ago was that?"
"He was there right before we left."
"And what about the rest of the Aku?"
"Some are off on supply runs...but most are there with him."
I think for a moment at his response, concluding that he's telling the truth.
"Can you let me go now?" Katsu asks.
"Depends," I shrug.
"On what?"
"On all the atrocities you committed."
Katsu's eyes widen at my words. I gaze into his eyes and scan through his memories. He's killed dozens of people and stolen their valuables. There's one particular vision of an elder man begging Katsu to spare his daughter. Katsu beats him and proceeds to rape his daughter in front of him, murdering them soon after. My blood boils at the memory as I glare at Katsu, who is staring back at me in fear.
"Please...spare me…." he begs.
"Did you spare that poor man and his daughter?" I ask.
Katsu stares at me in defeat. I slash his chest and he collapses to the ground as the chains disappear. Mizuki, Takeo and Mizuki see me trembling. Mizuki walks forward and reaches for my shoulder.
"Hey...it's okay…" she places her hand on my shoulder.
I turn to her with my sharingan eye, still angered at the horrible memories of these six men.
"Let's get to Kenta," I say to her. "And put a stop to him and the Aku."
I arrive with my group at a nearby cave entrance, standing some yards right in front of the opening. There's no one else in sight.
"Odd that they don't have guards," Mizuki glances around.
"Most are busy on those supply runs," I say. "The rest are inside with Kenta."
"So...are we just gonna waltz in there and ask for Kenta?" Tsutomu asks.
"I know a way to get their attention," I gaze at the cave.
I perform some hand signs and blow a massive fireball at the cave entrance. It collides and completely destroys the rocky walls, caving in the entrance.
"That's one way to get their attention…" Tsutomu is in awe with a sweat drop.
We stand there, awaiting what's to come. After a moment, I sense multiple chakra signatures approaching.
"Here they come," I say.
The entrance explodes, causing us to leap back some yards away. The debris clears up after a moment and we see a handful of men at the entrance.
"Who the hell are you and why are you here?" The man in the middle calls out.
"We're here for Kenta," I respond. "And the rest of the Aku."
"Hey. You're talking pretty confidently," he smirks. "You'll have to get through us first."
The five men ready their weapons. I decide not to waste any time. In a blink of an eye, I slash all of the men's chests, except for the main one. He stares in terrified shock as I stand in front of him, staring back at him with my sharingan eye.
"Go back in," I instruct him. "And tell Kenta I want him out here. Now."
The man is entrapped in my genjutsu and turns around to head back into the cave. I make my way back to my group and watch the entrance of the cave.
"What did you do?" Mizuki asks.
"He's under genjutsu," I reply. "He'll go in and inform Kenta he has guests. Once he delivers the message, he'll detonate himself with a paper bomb."
"Wow, so much for not killing the messenger," Tsutomu cracks a joke.
"Keep your guards up," I remain focused. "We don't know what Kenta and his men are really capable of."
After some time, at least a dozen men finally exit the damaged cave. All of them look to be much older but skilled nonetheless.
'Some of them must be missing-nin and rogue ninja,' I think to myself.
Out from the shadows in the cave, a man of a large stature exits the cave from the middle of the group of men. He towers over all of them, standing at least 7 feet tall, with broad shoulders and a muscled body.
"Holy shit!" Tsutomu spots the man.
"That's Kenta," I eye the large man.
"That's Kenta?! Nothing was mentioned that he was a behemoth of a man!"
"I did say he was a man of large stature," I calmly say.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting this bigass guy!" Mizuki exclaims. "Why did he have to be so big?!"
"There's a reason he's got that sword," I point out the large sword strapped on his back.
"Great. He'll chop us to death and eat us," Tsutomu is nervous.
"I don't want to be made into sushi," Mizuki freaks out.
"Kenta!" I finally call out.
The large man gazes at me.
"Which one of you killed my men and damaged my cave?" He firmly asks.
"You're staring right at her," I give him a stern gaze.
"Hn. Somehow I doubt that," he gives me a mocking smirk.
My eyes furrow as I glare at him. In a matter of seconds, a handful of his men have their throats and chests slashed. I swiftly stand where I was originally, almost as if I didn't move. The men around Kenta stare in shock as I keep a calm demeanor. Kenta merely smirks in excitement.
"Finally, a worthy opponent," Kenta smirks. "I was beginning to wonder when the Leaf would get involved. It seems they've sent you to put a stop to us."
"And that's exactly what we'll do," I keep my stern gaze at him.
"We'll see about that."
I scan the area and see that there are about eight men with Kenta after I took down the first handful. They seem spooked but stand ready. After some moments, the men engage us.
"Let's go!" I tell my group.
They nod and we engage them. Takeo takes on two men, I take on two men, Mizuki takes on two, and Tsutomu takes on the last two. I scan around my team to assess how they're doing. Takeo is using his ice to wield a sword to fight off the men. Tsutomu is engaging in taijutsu while using kunai. Mizuki is also engaging in taijutsu but at a much faster speed, managing with the two men she's taking on.
'Damn, Gai really trained your ass,' I smirk at Mizuki.
After my team defeats the men, we stand our ground and turn our attention back to Kenta who is standing at the entrance of the cave.
"Turn yourself in, Kenta," I demand. "It's over."
"Are you sure about that?" Kenta has a slight smirk.
My brows raise in surprise. Suddenly, the men that we just defeated begin to rise up, alive again.
"What the hell?!" Tsutomu exclaims.
My team quickly engages them again. After a while of fighting, the men collapse to the ground, only to rise up again.
"What is going on?" Mizuki is surprised.
"It's going to take more than that to defeat me," Kenta smirks.
I take a moment to examine the situation. I notice quickly that there's something off and figure it out. I then step in front of each of my teammates and gaze into their eyes with my sharingan, breaking them away from the genjutsu. The men gradually vanish, revealing them to be actually dead on the ground as they initially were.
"What the hell is going on?" Tsutomu grimaces.
"It was genjutsu," I respond. "He planned on having you waste your energy fighting nothing."
"Hn. I never thought I'd witness the power of the sharingan," Kenta smirks at me.
"He was also buying time," I explain to my group.
"Buying time for what?" Mizuki asks.
"Reinforcements," I glance around as more Aku arrive and surround us.
"Damn it," Tsutomu grunts.
At least two dozen men arrive at the scene, surrounding us. They begin to engage us and we retaliate in combat. I see Takeo is taking three on and another is about to ambush him. Swiftly moving, I block the man's dagger with my katana and take him out with a strike.
"Thanks," Takeo stands back to back with me.
"Haven't heard you say a thing in a while," I tease. "These guys got you worked up?"
Takeo gives me a slight smirk as he engages another pair of men with his ice style. I glance over at Tsutomu who is knocked to the ground by one of the men. Before the man can strike him with a large mallet, I use my rinne-sharingan to switch Tsutomu out with another Aku member. The man is taken out by the mallet, shocking the other members. Tsutomu stands in confusion as I arrive next to him.
"Keep your guard up," I poke fun at him.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," he gives me a sarcastic tone.
I scan the area to find Mizuki. She is some yards away, engaging in taijutsu with one of the men. After some hits, she manages to land a hard hit that takes the man out.
'You've gotten stronger, Mizuki,' I think to myself with a smile.
Just then, Kenta appears behind her, wielding the massive sword in hand ready to strike down at her. My eyes go wide as I react instinctively. In a blink of an eye, I get between them, holding my katana up to block his sword. My katana barely manages to stop his sword, breaking through mine. At the last second, I shift to the side a bit and feel myself get struck with Kenta's sword. In a matter of a second, I've taken Mizuki with me into a pocket dimension.
"Denizu, where the hell are we…?" She stops mid sentence as she hears a thud.
To her horror, she sees my right arm has been chopped off.
"Denizu!" She shrieks.
"What?!" I holler back.
"Your fucking arm!" She points at my loose limb on the floor to my right.
"Oh," I glance over at it.
"Oh? Oh?! What the fuck to do you mean Oh?!" Mizuki exclaims. "Your arm has been chopped off! Have you no other reaction?!"
"Nope. I guess it's the adrenaline kicking in," I smile with a sweat drop.
"Oh no...what the fuck am I supposed to tell Kakashi?! Your kids?!"
"Hm?"
"What the fuck do I tell your family?!"
"That my arm got chopped off."
"It's not so simple, Denizu!" She blurts.
Mizuki begins to breathe quicker as she's frustrated in panic mode.
"Or…." I begin with a suggestion.
Mizuki turns to me to listen.
"We don't tell Kakashi anything," I suggest.
"What?! Is that really your suggestion?!" Mizuki exclaims. "How the fuck are we going to explain why you don't have an arm?!"
"I'm becoming more like Sasuke now…" I facepalm.
"That's not the matter at hand!" Mizuki flails her arms.
"I know," I bend over to pick up my arm. "This is exactly why I brought you with me!" I fling my cut off arm at her. "Get it while it's still fresh!"
"Eeehhh?!" Mizuki barely catches my arm. "You can't be serious!"
"Oh but I am."
"I've only attempted to attach an arm once! I don't even know if I'll be able to do it!"
"You won't know until you try!" I wiggle my new arm stump.
Mizuki grunts as she gives me a frustrated look.
"Get over here!" Mizuki orders.
I approach her and hold my arm stump out. Mizuki holds my arm close to the stump area and begins to heal with her free hand. She has a determined gaze in her eyes as she concentrates.
"It tickles," I say.
"Shut up! I've got to stay focused," she quickly hushes me.
I watch her focused gaze as my flesh slowly and carefully begins to reattach itself.
"You've grown so much, Mizuki," I say in a softer voice. "I know I'm not in the village a lot...And I miss a lot of what's going on with my family… But I want to say...I'm proud of you."
Mizuki glances up at me in awe of my words. We stare at each other for a moment as she continues to heal me. She then gives me a small smirk.
"Don't speak so soon," she says. "Until this arm is fully and properly attached back on to your body."
"Right," I chuckle.
After a good while of healing, Mizuki finally finishes and examines my arm to make sure everything is intact.
"Done!" Mizuki says with a sweat bead at the side of her head.
"Huh. Doesn't even feel or look like it got chopped off!" I move my arm around. "See? I knew you could do it!"
"Did you purposefully get your arm cut off knowing I could heal it back on?"
"Nope! I was really hoping you could do it," I smile with a sweat drop.
Mizuki scoffs and playfully punches my right arm. I give her a determined gaze as I see that we're done.
"Ready to head back?" I ask.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she nods. "You?"
"I'm ready to return Kenta the favor," I punch a fist into my other hand with a smirk.