As the two combatants met in mid air Itachi watched on in a mix of horror and astonishment.
With a crack the red and black creature Daken had referred to as 'Cassidy' speared the larger man to the ground, six blades of bone shot through Cassidy's back. The monster continued to slash and claw at Daken unimpeded. The claws disappeared, likely being drawn back into Daken's arms, before Daken slashed them across the creature's throat.
The red and black head flew into the air as Daken kicked the body off of him. Tendrils of red shot out, grabbing the head from the air and neatly re-attaching it.
Itachi felt his sharingan flare to life as he tried to make sense of what he was watching. Daken stood and casually wiped the blood from his face, the many lacerations the blood originated in were knitting themselves closed before their very eyes.
As the two combatants stood opposite each other the many unsettled members of ANBU realized they had a job to do, as one they moved to assist the extraordinary civilian.
Itachi leapt onto the side of a nearby tree as he watched his captain move to attack the creature, backed by three of their compatriots. Inu stopped next to Daken but one of the three rushed past him. The fairly inexperienced shinobi, Taka if Itachi remembered correctly, jumped into the air, throwing three kunai and drawing his Tanto.
The daggers embedded themselves in the creature's left arm as Taka came down upon him, he slashed his Tanto in wild arcs across the beings chest. Suddenly Black and red spikes shot out all across the creature, four fully impaled Taka.
Cassidy cackled as the spikes retracted and Taka's corpse fell lifeless to the ground. "One down, six to go!" It stated happily, splaying out its arms as its claws grew to mimic the length of Hawks Tanto.
"HAH!" It jumped toward the trio, Inu and his two subordinates dodged but Daken didn't bother moving. Unbeknownst to all of them Itachi rushed through hand seals, muttering under his breath "Katon: Goukayuu no Jutsu." He inhaled deeply, to the point his cheeks puffed out, then he unleashed a torrent of fire from his mouth.
Daken slammed his claws into Cassidy's chest and saw a ball of fire hurtling towards them. As Carnage clawed at him like a cat he placed his left leg behind the monstrosity's legs and slammed him to the ground. Then they were both engulfed. He reared his right arm back and smashed it down into the bastard's throat even as they both screamed.
Carnage's screams were barely human, Daken could hear the man but his symbiote cried far louder, a shrill monstrous noise that belied its alien origin.
As the flames died down so too did Cassidy's cries. An arm of goo slammed into the bottom of Daken's jaw with the force of a car and he was sent hurtling through the trees.
"Fuck." Inu muttered. He began rushing through seals as he barked out orders. "Neko take the left, Kaeru the right, Mogura use your namesake. Where the hell is Itachi!?" As he said that he felt the rush of air as someone fell from the trees, looking to his left he saw his weasel masked comrade land as their squad mates rushed off to follow their Taichou's orders. "I can assume you're the one responsible for the fireball?" "Indeed." He replied. "Good, it's the only thing that seemed to slow that thing down, light up the trees if you have to."
Itachi nodded and began to race through hand signs just as Inu finished. Gripping his right wrist with his left hand the sound of thousands of birds eclipsed the noise of his subordinates engaging the red skinned beast.
The wind whipped in Daken's ears as his back was slapped by leaves and branches. 'Well that went well.' he thought to himself sarcastically.
Pain exploded through his back as he impacted the base of a tree, he heard the telltale snap of bones and he slumped to the ground to rest for a few moments to recuperate. As his spine slowly shifted to fix itself he heard the soft thump of someone landing in front of him.
"And here I thought Carnage and I were the only ones." Daken opened his eyes when he heard the English, standing a few feet away from him was clearly the spider man wannabe Carnage had been talking about. Standing at six foot four a well muscled man in a red and black suit, the red stretched over almost the entirety of the outfit, stopping at the stomach where it began to give way to black save for the red spider logo and the eyes of the mask.
"Heh, I recognize you, Scarlet Spider right?" Daken outstretched his arm for a handshake even as his muscles screamed in agony. The man shifted uncomfortably for a moment. "I always hated that fucking name. The suit keeps telling me to say we're Toxin. But I'm Kaine." He took the outstretched hand and hauled Daken to his feet. "The suit?" Daken asked just as it dawned on him.
The mask split apart where Kaine's mouth should be, black teeth parted as a green tongue snaked out. A face far more reminiscent of Carnage's grinned at him. 'That explains what he meant about progeny.' Daken took a step back as his claws burst through his flesh. "This ain't gonna be a problem is it!?" he asked as he took a defensive stance. 'I hope not cause I'm not fully healed yet.'
"It shouldn't be, judging by the still healing claw marks I'm guessing you ran into Toxin's pa' right." Daken didn't shift from his stance as he replied. "Yeah, what of it?"
Kaine's grin stretched. "I've got a score to settle with that sack of shit."
Daken's claws retracted. He dropped his arms from their defensive position. 'Well that's one way to handle this.' He felt his mouth pull into a vicious smile. "Sounds like we can be of service to each other then. Come on, let's go tear your dear old dad a new one."
The pair of unlikely heroes took off, back in the direction Daken had hurtled from.
Neko dodged to the left as a black and red axe blade embedded itself into the base of a tree. She slashed with her katana, severing the arm the axe was connected to, planting her foot on its chest she spring boarded off kicking it in the bottom of the chin as she did.
Cassidy reeled back, tendrils lashed out and latched onto his arm as shuriken flew past him. Turning around, Carnage spotted a frog masked ninja charging at him. The shuriken from before raced past him once more and he felt metal wires bite into his side while his arm reconnected. The frog ninja pulled his hands back and jumped, Carnage was wrenched forward as the ninja's knee slammed into his collarbone.
Kaeru jumped back, grabbing two kunai from their pouch on his thigh and shifting warily. He may have knocked their opponent down but he had made it clear that he could get back up from the most debilitating of injuries. Just as expected it lurched up and stood, its white eyes met Kaeru's and it hunched down slightly as if preparing for another assault, the sound of birds interrupted the pair, drawing both of their attention to Kaeru's Taichou.
Inu stood forty feet away, his right hand wreathed in electricity. Tendrils erupted from Cassidy's body and shot towards Inu but he merely batted them away with his technique. Carnage prepared to move, to hurtle towards the most dangerous of his soon to be victims. Before he got the chance hands burst through the ground, wrapping around his ankles,.
Carnage ripped his right foot free and stomped down, a spear of symbiote extending from the bottom of his foot. He felt it pierce the underground ninja and the hand went limp.
Before he could capitalize he felt electricity arc through his body and a hand spear through his heart. The incessant noise of birds screeching was deafening and his symbiote recoiled and screamed louder than he did.
After a minute of holding his arm through the monster's chest Inu pulled his hand free and let the steaming body fall to the ground. The red and black visage receded and gave way to reveal a scrawny white man with ginger hair.
As the ANBU captain allowed his technique to fade the surviving members of his squad regrouped around their captain and target. After a long silence Itachi was the first to speak. "That was... Terrifying." Kakashi laughed, it was warm but hollow. "I think that's the first emotion I've ever heard you express Itachi-kun."
Neko and Kaeru laughed. None of them could think of a single instance in which the youngest member of their squad had demonstrated something other than the stone cold mask he seemed to wear constantly, it introduced a bit of levity that they all needed.
"Alright, we should probably seal the corpse up." turning around to do just as he said Inu realized they had made a mistake. The body was gone. "Fuck."
A red foot impacted his face, shattering his mask to reveal a face clad in a black mask up to the nose. In an instant Neko, Kaeru and Itachi moved to defend their captain, Neko unsheathed her sword and attempted to bisect their opponent, Kaeru moved his mask and shot a bullet of water at him from his mouth and Itachi flipped back throwing a kunai that pierced Carnage's throat.
The red and black swathed being dodged the blade and the bullet though, Neko's sword scraped across Kaeru's mask and his water bullet slammed into her left shoulder.
Pulling the knife from his throat and tossing it away haphazardly Carnage laughed. "Ha ha ha, that move your buddy pulled worked pretty well, until the sound went away. As for throwing knives, I have my own!" Throwing his hands forward, shards of black flew out at Itachi, who began knocking them out of the air with shuriken.
Itachi could only hope this onslaught would end soon.
"So does he have any weaknesses or are we just gonna have to drown him in his own blood?" Daken asked as they raced through the trees back to where he had first encountered Carnage.
"Fire and extremely loud noises work, that's about it." Kaine replied curtly, slinging another web to keep pace with Daken. As they drew near to the battlefield they could hear the sounds of combat still raging on. Just before coming through the trees Daken stopped and Kaine landed on the side of a tree next to him. "Why'd we stop, shouldn't we be helping your comrades?"
Through the trees they could make out grey and black figures clashing with a red blur. "Do you smell that?" Daken asked softly, ignoring Kaine's question. "No."
Daken inhaled deeply. He could make out Carnage's scent but it was faint, overpowered by a much stronger smell. "Smoke."
Just as he said that a tree a few feet in front of them crashed down to the ground, it was wreathed in flames. "Looks like they caught on to one of his weaknesses." Daken muttered, although he was sure Kaine could hear him. "Alright, let's go." He jumped on the flaming tree before flopping into a burning pile of leaves. His skin blistered and cracked but he ignored the agony as his clothes caught fire.
Kaine swung high up into the air and leapt as Toxin grew blades on the end of his hands, he saw a flaming Daken jump into the fray and stab through Carnage's back, he tore his claws free and wrapped the red monster into a tight bear hug. Even up in the air Kaine could hear the bastards screams.
One of the black and gray figures began spewing fire onto the pair as Kaine fell, holding his arms out in a diving position. Kaine could hear Toxin laughing in the back of his head as they raced down to meet his father.
Itachi abruptly cut off the stream of fire as he ran out of air to keep blowing. Just as he did he saw a second red and black figure slam into the pair of flaming screaming men. Two massive black blades began tearing apart the being they had spent the last fifteen minutes fighting. From beneath Carnage Daken was using his claws to cut the bastard to ribbons. Daken shoved Carnage off of him as Kaine continued to slam his blade covered fists into his face, over and over again. "Itachi-san!" Daken called out. "More fire, as much as you possibly can!"
Itachi nodded and began racing through seals as he began pouring more and more of his chakra into the technique, far more than he'd ever tried to use at once before. As he neared the end of the hand signs he heard Daken yell in a language he couldn't understand "Kaine, MOVE!"
Kaine leapt back as high as his legs would push him, below him he saw Daken jump onto Carnage and ram his claws through his chest, rolling over so that Carnage was on top Carnage began to thrash, stabbing at Daken with all his might. No matter how hard he thrashed Daken refused to budge, then the pair of them were engulfed in flames.
When the stream of fire ended Itachi coughed and stumbled, then he fell. Before he impacted the ground he felt a pair of arms catch and steady him. He looked up and his eyes met the black and red mismatch of his Taichou's eyes. "I've got you Itachi, it's alright." Then Itachi passed out.
A black and red figure landed to Kakashi's left and he turned brandishing a kunai. The being held up its hands. "Hey I'm on your side, don't worry." With that the black face with large red eyes melted away to reveal light skin and straight brown hair. "I'm Kaine."
Kakashi glared at the man for a moment before softening. "Inu. Is the other guy dead?" he replied. "Doubt it, but he won't be getting back up for a good while."
As the smoke cleared they heard a groan. "DAKEN!" Kaine shouted in realization. He rushed over to the pair of charred bodies lying motionless on the ground, not so gently kicking Carnage's smoking body off of his newfound pal. "You gonna be alright?" he asked as he offered his hand to help Daken up. Waving it away Daken replied. "I'll heal." Hauling himself to his feet he took in the aftermath of the battle.
The ground was pockmarked with craters, he could see a pair of arms sticking out of the ground not far from Taka's corpse. A fire still raged in the trees.
"Kaeru, put out the fires, Neko gather the corpses, I'll seal the bastard up before he gets back up again." Inu's voice cut through the newly made clearing. As he walked over Daken took in his newly revealed face. 'Who wears a mask under a mask?'
"You ok Daken-san?" Inu's voice sounded concerned. Daken looked at himself, his clothes had all burned away and his skin was almost entirely gone, even as he sat there steam rose as a fresh layer began to grow over his wounds. "I'll be fine, thanks."
Daken watched as Inu pulled out and unraveled a scroll, placing it on the ground next to Carnage. His hands blurred through seals and with a 'poof' Carnage disappeared. "What the fuck did you do!? Where'd he go!?" Kaine asked incredulously. Inu looked at him with dismay. "I sealed him in this scroll." he stated as he rolled the scroll up. Kaine looked from Inu to Daken before deciding to drop it, he'd save his questions for later.
Inu stowed the scroll in a pouch on his thigh and looked at Daken. His skin was healing at an incredible rate, a few seconds ago the man had been suffering from third degree burns all over his body, now it looked like he had merely suffered an incredibly bad sunburn. Pointing at Kaine he asked. "You trust him?"
Daken nodded. "He saved all of your lives, I trust him more than most of the civilians in Konoha." 'Naruto notwithstanding.' Inu shrugged. "Then let's go, will you be joining us Kaine-san?" Although Kakashi was loath to invite a foreign entity within their walls, Daken was right, he had likely saved their lives. "I guess." Kaine answered.
"Then let's go."
Inu, Daken and Kaine stood before the Hokage in his office. Following their report the Sandaime had relieved the rest of the shinobi and ordered his secretary to get Daken some clothes. The scroll with Carnage trapped in it sat innocently upon his desk. "So Kaine-san." The Hokage started slowly. "You were fighting this… Carnage over a glass container with your current outfit inside when the pair of you were transported to this world, upon getting here the glass broke and your suit… bonded to you? I'm confused as to how that works." Kaine nodded in understanding. "Yes it's quite confusing but, to put it simply, my suit's alive." as he spoke a neck sized chunk of his outfit sprung off his shoulder, growing a head with two massive red eyes, Its mouth parted as a green tongue stuck out between razor sharp black teeth. "Hiya, I'm Toxin."
A black tendril shot forth from Kaine's chest. Inu and the Hokage jumped back and drew kunai but the tendril stopped over top of Sarutobi's desk and formed an outstretched hand.
After a moment of hesitation the old Hokage steeled himself and grasped the hand, shaking it firmly, once he let go the tendril shot back into Kaine's chest and the head on his shoulder disappeared. "That is… unsettling but it explains things. Is that how Carnage gained his abilities?" Hiruzen asked as he once more took his seat. "Yes, while I was born with my abilities Cassidy gained them when he merged with the Carnage symbiote." Kaine explained.
"So what if we got rid of his Sim-be-oat?" Inu asked, not used to the foreign word. "In theory he would lose all his powers but in practice it's impossible, the symbiote merged with his blood, in essence it is his blood. My advice, put him in a six foot thick metal box and throw away the key." The wizened Hokage nodded. "Duly noted, thank you. Now then." Reaching into his desk he retrieved two things, placing them on his desk.
A green vest covered in pouches and a headband with the swirling leaf symbol on it. "Daken these are for you. I hereby instate you as a Chunin of Konohagakure." Pressing a button on the left side of his desk Sarutobi spoke into a little metal microphone next to said button. "Akari-chan if you would be so kind as to inform the dear fellows over at T&I to bring the latest infiltrator to my office, also could you get me two new headbands and flak jackets please, thank you." There was a moment of silence before a reply came from the base of the microphone. "Hai, Hokage-sama, I'll do that right away."
The Hokage leaned back in his seat as he reached into his desk once more, withdrawing his pipe and tobacco. As he packed himself a bowl he motioned to the chairs on either side of the room. "Please make yourselves comfortable, this may take awhile."
Daken picked up the vest. It was heavier than he had assumed it to be. 'He did call it a flak jacket, it's probably armoured or something.' Putting it on he found it to be surprisingly comfortable. He picked up the headband and stared at it for a moment. "Is something the matter?" Sarutobi asked.
"... Do I have to wear it on my head?" The Hokage laughed, in Daken's opinion far too hard. After a couple minutes of laughing, after which Sarutobi was wiping away tears he answered still chuckling. "No, although it's called a headband you may wear it however you like as long as the symbol is displayed prominently."
Daken nodded and went back to staring at it clearly weighing his options. After a moment he tied it around his neck allowing it to hang. Then he dragged over a chair and sat down to wait.
They didn't have to wait much longer before Hiruzen's secretary came in and placed two pairs of flak jackets and headbands upon his desk. She bowed and said. "If that will be all Hokage-sama." The old man waved her away. "Yes, yes that will be all Akari-chan, thank you." The black haired woman left, closing the door softly.
Sarutobi puffed on his pipe for a few minutes more before the door opened. Daken shifted in his seat to see a tall, heavily scarred man with a black bandanna style head band and matching black leather trench coat. He carted in a wheelchair with a beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed woman strapped to it. The moment the man set the chair to a rest the woman jumped up out of the chair, apparently she had loosened the restraints on the way over. She jumped up and spun, kicking the scarred man in the face. He spun around and she grabbed onto his shoulders, digging her knees into his back and letting momentum do the rest.
They slammed to the ground, smoothly she pulled out one of the man's kunai and held it to his throat. She had managed to do all of this in less than a second. Before she could slit the man's throat she felt a blade be placed at her neck, Inu had reacted before the pair had even landed.
"Drop it, or I'll be painting Hokage-sama's office with your blood." Inu stated menacingly. There was a tense few seconds, Daken wouldn't have been surprised if she killed the man anyways, just to spite them, but she didn't. The kunai hit the floor with a 'thunk' and she put her hands up. "Fine, Fine. I will play nice, for now." As she spoke Daken noticed a rather distinct accent. 'She's Russian!?"
Inu hauled her to her feet and Daken took in her outfit, she was in Black latex, with a yellow belt with a red hourglass symbol on the buckle. "Inu release her. I think she realizes if she tries anything she won't escape alive. Thank you Ibiki, you may leave." "As you wish Hokage-sama." the man intoned before leaving. "Please, sit. Your name is Yelena yes?" Inu released her and pushed the wheelchair in between Daken and Kaine. Taking her seat she nodded. "Yes I am Yelena Belova, You are Sarutobi Hiruzen. The man in the mask is Hatake Kakashi and these two are… Daken and Kaine. Now we all know each other, why am I here? Are you done leaving me in a cell to rot?" She asked accusingly, glaring at the old man.
'At least she knows her shit.' Daken thought in surprise. "Please Understand my dear, you managed to infiltrate every sector of our top secret military complex. We here in Konoha don't take very kindly to spies. But you didn't do it maliciously, despite what we originally thought. No, you did it seeking knowledge of your surroundings." The old man clapped his hands together. "Quite impressive I must say, I would like to offer you a job, I extend the same offer to Kaine here."
"And if I refuse!?" she asked coldly. "You'll go back to your cell." 'Or worse.' She glared at the man for a couple minutes longer. "Fine." she huffed.
"Wonderful, and what of you Kaine? If you refuse you are free to leave." Kaine sat there silently. It really wasn't much of an option, unlike Yelena or Daken, Kaine knew next to nothing about this world. "I accept."
Hiruzen clapped once more and took his pipe out of his mouth. "Perfect, then it's settled then. Kakashi, I'm withdrawing you from ANBU. Itachi can take your place as captain, I'm sure his parents will be overjoyed. You three will be forming a single squad of shinobi under Kakashi's command, you will spend the next few months performing low risk missions under probationary status." Kakashi nodded, though he didn't look very happy with the development. "These are for the pair of you." The seasoned Hokage stated simply, pushing the flak jackets and headbands towards each of them. "Daken you and Naruto will be moving once more, into a bigger apartment, Kaine will be joining you in living there for now. Yelena you will be provided with a flat of your own. The three of you will have tomorrow off to move in and acclimate, until then the pair of you can spend the rest of the night at Daken's house. Goodnight."
With that clear dismissal the three of them stood and left, leaving Kakashi alone with his esteemed leader. It was silent in the office, though the tension was palpable. "Why do I have to be the one to deal with them!?" Kakashi asked icily.
Hiruzen sighed and took a puff from his pipe. "Because Kakashi, you are very well the only shinobi I trust to curb the three of them." Kakashi huffed but couldn't refute him, the few people he could think of with the power to stop any one of them weren't people he would trust with a team of barely known trained killers either. "Fine, but I won't like it." The Hokage chuckled lightly. "I don't expect you to."
It was quiet once more, though far more amiably this time. "Good luck Kakashi, now go get some rest." Kakashi turned and waved as he walked to the door. "You too Hokage-sama. Goodnight." The door clicked closed, leaving Hiruzen alone with his thoughts.
The door swung open and Daken walked into his apartment, sighing happily as Kaine and Yelena followed him inside. Closing and locking the door he could hear one of his new roommates flopping down onto the couch as the other walked into his kitchen and opened his fridge.
"Yeah, make yourselves at home I guess." He muttered as he turned around. Kaine's mask had melted away and Toxin had morphed into a black and red pair of sweatpants. Yelena was rummaging through his fridge, she hadn't even bothered to take her heels off. "Hey Toxin wants to know if you have any chocolate?" Kaine asked. Daken could hear Yelena muttering something in Russian as she searched his fridge growing more and more frantic by the minute.
Daken thought to himself about Kaine's question. "Not sure I'll check." Daken made his way to his kitchen and opened a cupboard with a zip tie holding it closed. Slicing it off with a claw he looked through the cupboard full of candy. There was a bag entirely filled with chocolate, he pulled it out and tossed it to Kaine, a tendril of toxin snatched it out of the air when it was halfway between them and Daken turned to Yelena. "What are you looking for?" he asked.
"Vodka." He paused. "I shouldn't be surprised." He said mildly. "No you shouldn't."
He didn't want to be the one to inform her but he doubted anyone else would tell her. "I don't think they have vodka here." He stated. "WHAT!" She yelled in horror. "Hey, hey, keep the volume down, there's a kid sleeping in the other room." "You have a child?" She closed the fridge in indignation and turned to him. "He's not mine but he's an orphan and apparently I'm one of the only people in the village that would take 'em so yeah."
She stared at him before smiling. "Good. Do you have any alcohol?" Daken sighed.
He motioned for her to move before reaching into the cupboard above the fridge and pulling out two bottles of sake. "Here, have it. Kaine, you want any?" He held a bottle above Yelena and shook it as he asked, simultaneously handing the other to Yelena. "Naw, not tonight." Kaine replied. "Here have them both." He placed the bottle down on the counter in front of Yelena.
She squealed quietly, opened the first bottle and began chugging it like a man in a desert with a water bottle. 'Not sure if I should be disgusted or impressed?' She finished the first bottle and put it down on the counter before grabbing the other one and making her way to the couch, sipping it idly.
Daken walked into his room and grabbed a blanket and pillow from his closet as Kaine and Yelena made idle conversation.
He made his way back into the living room and Kaine asked. "So what's the sleeping situation gonna be?" Daken shrugged. "Yelena can have my bed for tonight, you can have the couch, I'll make do on the floor." Yelena giggled. "What?" he intoned. "You both can join me in the bed if you'd like." As she finished her statement she winked at Kaine and he choked and began to cough. Once he cleared his throat he said. "I'm… good on the couch, what about you Daken?" The way he said it sounded joking. Daken shrugged again and grinned. "I'm down, you sure you don't wanna join us?"
Kaine choked again and Daken laughed. They sat talking for a while, mostly of their home world but they strayed onto other topics, such as teasing Kaine for being stuck sharing a body with a hyper violent, hyper intelligent six year old. Or about sex because that entertained Yelena and Daken.
After a good forty minutes of conversation Yelena yawned theatrically. "I'm tired, come Daken, it is sleep time now." She walked into Daken's bedroom and giggled, then she jumped into the bed. "Goodnight Kaine." Kaine waved and chuckled as he replied. "Have fun."
Daken walked into his room and looked at Yelena. "We're not gonna be sleeping much will we?" She laughed wickedly. "No." He shut the door.
Kaine sighed, hoping that if the need arose Toxin could plug his ears. "Goodnight Toxin."
'Goodnight Kaine.'