Consequences

by GrindingV2

The ability to travel back into time is an extremely powerful one, but it always has it's drawbacks. Drawbacks that Hisato is going to have to struggle with, as the status quo crumbles around him and his village once again mobilizes for war. Or, a look into how the ability to replay events has dramatic effects on the mind, and the delicate act of managing different resources.

I wake to electric shocks running throughout my arm. Groaning in pain, I shut off the device and reset my Safeguard. For as long as I could remember I lived like this, waking to a silent alarm clock that kept me from slipping into a chakra exhaustion coma. Humans were definitely not made to be like this, and for the millionth time I cursed whatever cruel being made me this way.

At least I fall back asleep quickly enough.

oOo

I once again wake to electric shocks, this time running at a slightly higher voltage. Ripping the wires off my skin, I get out of my sleeping bag and take up watch on top of a tree looking over our camp, making sure to reset my safeguard once again. I catch the glint of a headband reflecting the moonlight as I look down at our camp. Huh, Natsumi must've forgotten to take off his headband again. Honestly, this was our fourth C-rank, and he really ought to have known better than to wear that beacon of reflective metal when there was a full moon out.

Suddenly, my body jerks to the side and for a split second I can feel blood pooling in my throat before everything goes dark.

oOo

The next thing I know, I'm back in the tree, throat numb, significantly more tired, and looking directly at Natsumi's headband reflecting the moonlight back at me. I try to turn around, but rough arms surround me before I get very far, locking me in place. A hand covers my mouth before I can scream, and the last thing I see is the glint of moonlight in my peripheral vision and everything goes dark once again.

oOo

This time I'm prepared, and as I find myself perched atop the same tree once again I leap into action, hurtling myself back down to the ground. My assailant is taken completely off guard, and his senbon goes hurtling by, only hitting the air where I was moments ago. As I'm falling down, I pump chakra into my vocal cords and let out a piercing screech.

I'm briefly aware of a voice yelping in pain from atop the treetops before I reach the ground and pull myself into a roll. The next instant, Ensui sensei is up and beside me, kunai drawn and spreading his shadow all over the place. I can sense Natsumi and Akari behind him as well, a little slower on the uptake but nonetheless alert. I'm now thoroughly winded, repeated use of my bloodline draining my already diminished reserves from sleeping.

A flurry of senbon rain down on our position, and both of us quickly dash out of the way. I pop a soldier pill, shuddering at the sudden rush and reset my safeguard.

When shinobi fight, it's always a bloody affair. Especially when one side sits still and let's the opponent gain positional advantage. The only time where hunkering down makes any sense is when there's a central target that needs protection.

No such thing hinders me now.

With a second wind given to me from what's essentially a mixture of various amphetamines and herbal remedies, I rush in the direction where the senbon were thrown from, intent on hunting down whoever threw those oversized sewing needles. I find nothing in my search, and hearing the sounds of clashing steel, I rush back to the camp.

I find Natsumi and Akari tag teaming what appears to be a Sound chunin in the middle of a temper tantrum, throwing around his smoke bombs like a deranged monkey, and clouding their section of the forest in thick layers of smoke (huh, looks like those sound guys were entering the playing field with a bang. Ballsy, if nothing else).

Ensui sensei, on the other hand, is taking on four ANBU at the same time, gradually maneuvering himself and his shadows into a favourable position. I quickly form a plan, then discard it, electing to simply bomb rush in behind one of them.

The ANBU senses me running up behind him, but there's a split second of doubt that prevents him from reacting quickly to what appears to be suicidal genin rushing an ANBU. That split second of indecisiveness spells the end for him, as Ensui sensei capitalizes on the moment to add a sudden burst of speed in his shadows to capture him. I follow up on the perfect set up, driving my kunai home and slitting his throat open.

I get a certain feeling in my gut and instinctively kawarimi towards the other three guys, narrowly dodging a sword stroke from one of the ANBU - right into a kunai from another one of their group. Damn, these guys are good.

oOo