Disturbed from the meditative state he had been in for much of the day by what sounded like the loud clanging of metal, Saburo slowly opened his eyes to focus on the large iron brazier lighting in the center of the room, the embers of which drifted up towards the roof and allowed him to see that night had fallen through the small vent-like openings above.
"Has Togusa returned yet, Miyuki?" He questioned in a stern, demanding tone, as he looked over the brazier at his clanmate, causing the girl, who had been sitting without a word in the corner alone, to look up at him; his remaining yellow eye piercing right through the darkness of the room with a ferocity brighter than even the hottests of embers drifting up to the sky.
"No, he hasn't. I haven't seen him all day." The girl replied as a heavy gust of wind battered against the plaster-coated structure they had been seeking shelter in, bringing the man to divert his gaze to the rattling shutters.
"The storm's gotten worse… there's nearly a foot of snow on the ground now. Do you think he's lost?" She asked in a somewhat concerned yet greatly apathetic voice as she pulled her knees up to her chest, to which Saburo closed his eyes and let out a silent sigh.
"He'll be fine, though I feel like his absence is more than likely a result of his own stupidity rather than that of any kind of trouble he may have encountered." The man replied with a hint of annoyance as Miyuki lowered her own glowing eyes down the ground in front of her. Saburo was right to believe there was little that could slow Togusa down besides himself, though part of her wished that were not the case.
With each passing day she could feel her resentment for her siblings growing, as well as her desire to escape it all, despite knowing that it was impossible. She had tried more than once before only to be caught by the combined efforts of her two cousins, each time resulting in a far more severe punishment. If one of them were to be killed it would be far easier for her to disappear, although with how their lives had played out it seemed that would never be.
It wasn't always this way; this never ending string of hating her existence. Infact, there was a time where she was cared deeply for both Togusa and Saburo, back when they first appeared to her and saved her from the destruction the rest of her family faced, though as life dragged on their deeds grew darker and darker that care was quickly placed with resentment, especially after their refusal to allow her to be left alone. She never wanted any of this… they just didn't care.
"You're right." She replied after her brief pause allowing a tense silence to once again fill the room against the howling wind and crackling fire, though after only a few minutes the large, heavy timber door separating them from the blizzard outside flung open, revealing the large, foul mouthed behemoth outside.
"Guah! Damn this fuckin' moutain and damn this fuckin' snow!" He cursed as he quickly pushed himself back up against the door to force it closed, leaving the two others to watch the snow that had blown itself in float aimlessly until its dissolution from the fire's heat.
"There you are. Miyuki was beginning to fear that you may have become lost." Saburo stated as his brother shook violently to shake off the cold that had set in and dropped both his signature weapon and heavy winter jacket at the door.
"I wasn't lost, I was stuck out there doing your job! You were the one who accepted that man's deal, you should be the one out there doing the dirt work!" He complained as he stepped towards the brazier to warm his hands with a scowl on his face, to which Saburo sighed and leaned his head against his hand in anticipation of a tedious argument.
"Come now, Togusa. This arrangement is only temporary. Soon we will be off of this mountain and, with any luck, will be on the way to finally reaching our goal; to finally fixing this… affliction that's come over us." He responded as his eyes narrowed on the now eye rolling behemoth.
"But of course, that all hinges on the completion of our task. I promised that man his army and the sooner it is raised, the sooner we can put this all behind us." Saburo added, causing Togusa to scoff.
"You agreed to this, not me. If it would have been my decision we would have taken that masked man and tortured him until he gave us what we wanted and then tossed his corpse somewhere to rot, not banked on his cooperation once we've delivered him the army of criminals and vagrants he wants. It was your convoluted plan that cost us the knowledge we sought back in the Land of Sound, and it will be your plan again that causes us to go without answers here." He retorted, bringing Saburo's eyes to widen as he stood from his seated position and walked towards his brother and the fire, revealing the brown eye that he had harvested from one of his foes to take the place of the one he'd lost in that battle.
"And it will be your arrogance that causes it to do so just as it did the ritual we underwent all those years ago, resulting in this whole mess from the very beginning." He barked in reply, causing the giant to grunt in irritation as Saburo looked around the room.
"I will warn you to keep your voice down and watch how loudly you voice your opinions about our partner. This may be our only remaining option to break this curse that's been placed upon us and the last thing we want to do is toss it away." He warned, again bringing Togusa to roll his eyes.
"I'm not afraid of that rodent." He replied, again causing Saburo's eyes to cast down upon him in annoyance.
"He may be a rodent to you, but I feel that there is far more to him than his ambitions; something we don't quite understand and would be fools to take lightly. The last thing we want is to make an enemy out of him… so on that note, what good news do you have for me?" He sternly replied, bringing his older brother to huff irritatingly before crossing his arms and turning back to the fire.
"It took me all day and I had to bust some heads, but it appears that I've secured at least another twenty men or so for the cause. Some are shinobi while others are just lowlifes… where they're going I doubt it matters much." Togusa replied, to which Saburo closed his eyes in thought.
"Twenty, huh? That brings our total up to just about a hundred; a bit more depending on just how many you've convinced to see our side of things. That'll be just a bit past half of what we need. If we keep it up for a few more weeks we'll have completed our half of the bargain and will be on our way to finally ending this century-long nightmare." He said aloud to himself as he turned around and slowly returned to his seat amidst another powerful gust of wind battering the side of their shelter, leaving Miyuki to look up at the two of them from the corner of her eye. Another week or two of this? Could they keep from killing one another that long?
Continuing their journey up into the mountains surrounding Iwagakure, Kisa's eyes darted around at nearly every little thing that caught her attention as her left hand grabbed nervously at Akito's necklace and the other gripped at the strap of her backpack. It had been several days since they set off for the Hidden Stone and although it seemed like a world away back then, they were now past the outermost mountains that formed Iwa's natural fortress, meaning it was only a matter of time before that dreaded village came into view.
This was all still very strange to her. Never before had she come so close to the place that took her father, to a place she had grown to hate since she was a child, and despite Akito's reassurance that everything would be alright she couldn't help but feel uneasy about their arrival there. Iwa and Kiri have had their issues in recent decades but it was Konoha that the Hidden Stone never truly saw eye to eye with, making her wonder whether or not being a Leaf shinobi was better or worse.
This was what Lady Tsunade first worried about when she told her of their plan to follow Akito to Iwa to help him, though after concluding that it was for a food cause she relented and granted her consent for their travel. This was surely only because Akito had promised the Hokage that he would keep them safe, but that didn't mean she herself wasn't hesitant. They were Akito's guests, but would that really be enough to keep them out of trouble?
"The air up here is certainly thinner than it was just an hour down the mountain. How do you people breathe?" Takao huffed out as he continued to trek along, bringing Akito to laugh.
"You get used to it after a while, I suppose. There isn't any point in the village below or above that change, so it's not as bad as it seems." The boy replied as he turned back around to look at Takao with a smile, though it quickly faded as he took notice of Kisa's uneasy expression. Ever since they entered the Land of Earth he had watched as she grew more and more uneasy, but knowing now that her anxiety was at its peak, he couldn't help but try and help make it at least a bit better.
"Hey… are you alright?" He asked softly as she looked to him, causing her to shake her head with a smile as she looked down at the road.
"Just a little nervous, that's all." She replied as Akito's smile returned albeit half heartedly. He knew that asking her to do this was a lot, even if it wasn't originally his idea.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." The boy said softly in an attempt to relieve her stress, a sentiment she appreciated despite shaking her head as a small grin formed on her lips.
"I'll be okay. Besides… who else is going to make sure you stay out of trouble?" She questioned as Akito laughed.
"Well I mean, Takao is here." He responded, bringing her to look up at Takao for a moment as he nearly tripped down the steep embankment to their left before looking back at the boy with a playfully sarcastic look.
"Yeah, okay." She responded sarcastically, again causing the boy to laugh as he too shook his head and turned his attention back to the road where he remained silent for only a moment.
"Thank you for coming with me, Kisa." He said softly, bringing the girl to look at him with a hint of surprise.
"Oh? When we first offered to come with you, I believe you threw a fit, so this is quite the change. Have you finally overcome your pride enough to realize how stubborn you were being?" She replied in yet another sarcastic manner, bringing him to shake his head with a short chuckle.
"I'm being serious. I know this is hard for you, and knowing you are doing this to watch out for me, it… it means alot that you are willing to do this just to make sure I'm safe." He added, to which Kisa blushed a bit; the genuine tone of his voice making it clear that his words came from his heart as they tugged on her own heart's strings.
"Don't thank me, Akito. That's what you do when you care about someone… remember?" She replied in reference to his own confession not long ago, bringing his own cheeks to darken as Takao, who had been listening from in front of them a bit, made a noise that mimicked gagging, instantly frustrating the girl.
"You have something to say, Takao?!" She fumed as the man scoffed and formed a wide, sly grin.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no… I just was wondering if I was going to have to deal with this all the time from this point on. If so and the two of you making googly eyes at one another is the new norm, I think I'll just throw myself off this cliff now." He replied as the girl growled and ran after him to kick him in the behind, chasing him past a large rock that shadowed a curve in the trail ahead.
However just as he passed by the large rock formation before them the shinobi came to an abrupt stop as the famed Hidden Stone village came into view; it's outline rising up from both the valley it was nestled in as well as the large stone gate that protected it, through the open gate of which he could clearly see the spiral structures that served as the village's backbone.
"Whoa!" Takao exclaimed as he stopped, allowing Kisa to catch up to him with the intent of striking him, though upon seeing the village in the distance she too froze and opened her mouth a bit in amazement.
This was the place she had resented so much? It's physical description matched what she had been told, but what it lacked was the inherently evil aurora she had always assumed floated in the air around it. She wasn't naive enough to believe that this feeling was in any way influenced by anything other than her relationship with Akito, but even with her opinion altered it was clear to her that Iwa just like many other places was simply another place someone could call home, albeit drastically different than any place she herself had ever seen.
Coming around the same boulder they just had, Akito's eyes immediately focused on his two frozen companions as a small grin formed on his face.
"Well, this is it. This is Iwagakure." He said as he came to a stop by Kisa's side, prompting her to turn to him as he continued to look up at his home with a content grin. She could see in his face that he was beyond comfortable being there; that this was his home and that he felt as if he belonged, making her somewhat lustful of that feeling at that moment as she too turned back to the village's skyline.
"It's much bigger than I assumed." She said softly in reply, bringing Takao to look back over his shoulder with a sly expression, prompting her to glare at him for a second before turning back to Akito as he spoke.
"It is. A lot of people call Iwa home, so in order to keep everyone inside of the village safe within the natural mountains and valleys that protect it, the founders of the village created these stone pillars for us to build our homes and businesses on." He replied as he looked to her for a moment before motioning his head in a suggestion to continue on and waited for her to nod in reply to do so.
"So you all live in these tower… beehive… things? We had towers like this back in Kiri, but not as numerous nor as large." Takao questioned aloud as they resumed their walk towards the village gate, causing the boy to laugh.
"No, not all of us. There are areas of the village that are flat, mostly closer to the base of the mountains. That's where many of the village's farms are, as well as my family's home." He replied as Takao hummed to himself.
"Will we be staying there tonight?" He questioned in a respectful tone due to knowing the fate of Akito's family, to which Akito paused for a moment before nodding.
"Of course. You are my guests, and I wouldn't make you pay for a room if you didn't have to." He laughed lightly with a somewhat halfhearted grin as Kisa frowned. She knew that this false smile likely had something to do with his family, or at least to do with their family home, but before she could question it the three directed their attention forward towards the gate as several Iwa shinobi stepped forward towards them.
"Akito Himaku? Is that you?" One of the shinobi called out to the boy who nodded and held a hand up towards his fellow shinobi, all of whom seemed a bit on edge, furthering Kisa's worry though Akito quickly stepped in to calm the situation.
"It's me! Everything's alright!" He called out as he stepped towards the gate, watching as the group of shinobi looked to one another and relaxed a tiny bit, although after a second or two more another shinobi appeared at the top of the gate and jumped down to the street in front of him.
"Well, well. Look who it is. About time you finally showed up. Have you seriously been in Konoha this time despite the Tsuchikage's orders not to go there?" The woman questioned as she crossed her arms, instantly bringing all eyes to rest on her as Takao grinned in a devilish manner as he reached up to fix his hair.
"Oh hey, I remember you! Kurotsuchi, isn't it?" He questioned in a smooth tone, though as two of the shinobi stepped towards him and drew their kunai he stopped mid stroke, furthering Kisa's anxiety as her own hand went defensively to her own pouch.
"I remember you as well... the loudmouth who held Akito hostage." Kurotsuchi replied in a clearly unamused tone before shifting her eyes past both Takao and Akito to the girl who she now clearly saw as the one the latter risked everything to protect.
"Which makes you Kisa, the woman who nearly killed him." She spat, causing the girl to grunt under her breath in discomfort as Akito stepped closer to her.
"Stop, Kurotsuchi. There's no need for this. They are my guests." He replied as the woman before him came closer as well until the two nearly stood chest to chest.
"Guests? These two nearly killed you a few months ago and now they are your guests?"
Hearing her bring up that event, Akito's face turned to a slight scowl.
"They did not nearly kill me and you know it. What happened was an accident." He replied as Kurotsuchi huffed.
"Sure it was. Next you're going to tell me that they're the reason you missed your check in, causing the Tsuchikage to once again send out search parties to see if you are even alive." The woman fired back before watching Akito's expression change just enough to show she was right, bringing her to scoff.
"Are you serious?" She asked as Akito shook his head.
"It wasn't their fault. My mission didn't go as planned… without them I'd be dead. They saved me and took me back to Konoha." He replied, again causing her to look past him towards the two shinobi before leaning into him in order to whisper.
"So you brought them here? Even as your guests, that wasn't smart. You know how our people feel about Kirigakure ninja." She said quietly as the boy shook his head.
"They aren't Kiri ninja anymore." He replied as the girl tilted her head to the side and shook her head.
"Like that's even the slightest bit better? That's worse. Much worse. After the last war between our villages how could you ever think that was a good idea?" She questioned, to which Akito looked over his shoulder towards Kisa and Takao.
"When that war occured most of us were children… I don't even remember it, and neither do you… neither do they." He replied as she too looked over at the duo momentarily before continuing to argue, bringing Kisa to swallow nervously and grab at his necklace as once again her anxiety ran wild, this time flushed with a hint of something else; jealousy.
It was crazy to her to even think of something like this in this moment, but with the way these two talked to one another, how close they stood and with the memory of just how visibly shaken she was at seeing how badly he was injured in March revived by the worry in her voice now, she couldn't help but feel as of these two shared some sort of bond. She knew that they had known one another since they were children and she wouldn't be as shallow as to believe she herself was the only person in the world Akito was close to, but just how close were they?
Annoyed with the seemingly sempiternal argument between them, Akito took a deep breath, closed his eyes and looked away from his longtime friend to cool down and collect his thoughts.
"Listen… things have happened; things that mean that Takao and Kisa now have a stake in seeing my mission finished. You of all people should understand that, and if not, then at the very least you will just need to trust me." The boy replied in one final rebuttal, once more bringing her to look past him towards Kisa for a moment. She knew that whatever he was talking about was a conversation for behind closed doors with the Tsuchikage, and after a second of staring the girl down the woman let out a short sigh. She knew that he would never intentionally steer her wrong nor would he knowingly put the village in danger, pushing her to cross her arms once more and look away as a sign of formal withdrawal from their dispute.
"Fine, but you'll have to state your case to the old man, not me. I know it isn't worth my time with the way he favors you and gives you what you want constantly, but I refuse to make this decision. If you're going to fuck up, it's going to be on his head." She said as she looked at the handful of Iwa shinobi around the two travelers and then back to Akito.
"Alright, I'll handle this from here. Let's go, and make sure your... friends… stay close by." The woman commanded before turning to head into the village as Akito grinned and turned towards Takao and Kisa with a subtle nod to show them it was safe to follow, finally allow the latter to relax enough to take her finger from the ring of a kunai at her side as quickly returned to Akito's side to take her first steps inside of Iwa.
Looking to her as she walked up beside him closer than she had been before, Akito smiled a bit in a reassuring manner.
"I'm sorry about that… Kurotsuchi can be a bit much." He said softly in a joking, lighthearted manner intended to relieve the stress he could see remained on her mind, bringing her to look at the woman before them.
"I've noticed. I had a chance to speak with her when she came with the Tsuchikage to bring you back home to Iwa." The girl replied, instantly causing a chill to climb Akito's spine as his face involuntarily formed an exasperated and somewhat nervous expression.
"R-Really? What did she say?" He replied abruptly as Kisa looked to him with a small smile brought on by his humorous reaction.
"Nothing really. She was angry with me for what happened. I don't blame her… she had every right to be mad at what I did." Kisa responded, bringing the boy to sigh in relief that she hadn't embarrassed him as her eyes turned to their escort and a bit of jealousy returned, causing her smile to diminish.
"She was really worried about you." She added as Akito looked at her and then back to Kurotsuchi.
"Onoki is her grandfather and she is one of his bodyguards, so I'm not surprised she was there, though I am a bit stunned she was so concerned about me." He replied as Kisa looked down to the stone pathway beneath their feet.
"I'm not. You two are obviously close, so I imagine it would be the same feeling if it were Takao who would have been laying there and I were in her shoes." She stated as Akito shook his head.
"Yeah, well… I guess. She is one of my closest friends, afterall." He replied, bringing the girl to fall silent as she looked up at the village around them. From a distance it was impressive to see the tall, spiraling towers and bridge-like walkways that connect Iwa together, but it was clear that to truly appreciate just how different and special this place was you had to experience it from the ground up.
However, despite finding herself interested in the sights around her she couldn't help but once again find herself thinking about Akito's relationship with Kurotsuchi, bringing her to speak up a minute or two later as the group reached the first layer of the village's inclined pathway system.
"You two are about the same age… did you grow up together?" She reluctantly questioned despite not knowing if she really wanted to do so, to which he nodded.
"When we were kids we were nearly inseparable, so much so that people used to make fun of her by saying that we were together. She used to get so mad over it that this one time she beat up one of our classmates for saying it, and then refused to talk to me for nearly a week." He continued as he looked down at the same path in thought and smiled, inadvertently causing the girl beside him to tense up with even more envy. Were they really so close that people used to think that they were more than just friends? Was that something that continued to this day?
"Really?" She replied due to the lack of anything else to say, again bringing him to nod.
"Yeah. Originally we were supposed to be placed on the same genin team, but before that could happen I was chosen to be sent to Konoha as part of the exchange program." He replied, though as he did so his smile died a bit.
"After that, after what happened… things were never the same. She, myself and Deidara remained close friends, but after he betrayed us and fled she and I drifted apart. I began to operate on my own, spend most of my time myself... but even so, and despite the fact that we argue so much, I know that she's always going to have my back." He replied, relieving some of Kisa's anxiety on the matter while simultaneously prompting Takao to speak up.
"Oh, so she's single?" He questioned aloud with a wide grin, instantly causing Akito's eyes to grow wide and his jaw to drop as their guide, who had been silently listening to the tale from a distance, froze and shuddered in disgust.
"No, Takao-" The boy tried to warn, only to be cut off as the woman quickly darted up towards them and came to a rest nearly up against his chest.
"Excuse me?! Do you even know who I am?!" She questioned sternly with her finger pointed towards the man's neck, causing him to hold his hands up to show he meant no harm.
"Y-Yes, I just, you know-" He began to try and weasel his way out of the situation he had gotten himself into, just as the four shinobi found themselves nearly swarmed by children in the streets, forcing Kurotsuchi to lower her finger in an effort to seem less threatening.
"Akito! Akito!" They exclaimed as they set in around them, bringing Akito to step forward to meet them with a smile as he held his hands out in a friendly way.
"Hey everybody! I'm glad to see you all are doing so well!" He said as the children all came to a stop before him.
"Where have you been? You've been gone for, like, forever!" One of them questioned as the boy laughed.
"I was out on a very important mission, but I came back. Just like I told you all I would." He replied as one of the boys in the crowd crossed his arms.
"Pssh, important? My dad says only the jonin like Lady Kurotsuchi get to go on important missions." He stated, instantly causing the woman behind him to cackle as Akito glared at the boy in dismay, though before he could answer a young girl in the crowd spoke up.
"We've been waiting for you to come back 'cuz you promised us some fireworks, remember?" She questioned as Akito's smile lessened a bit.
"I know I did, but I'm a bit tied up right now. I'm sorry." He replied, instantly causing the children to let out a collective cry of displeasure as he did so, prompting Kurotsuchi to turn her attention to the crowd of kids.
"C'mon now, he may not be a jonin but he's right. We're on our way to talk with the Tsuchikage right now, and I know you are all aware that it is a shinobi's duty to put the village first before everything else, right?" She questioned in the form of an educational lecture as she placed her hands on her knees to lean forward towards the children, prompting Kisa to watch for a moment before turning to Akito as he slowly reached his right hand back into his clay reserve.
Curious as to what he was doing, Kisa continued to keep her eyes on the boy's hand as he pulled a wad of clay from the pouch and ingested it with his hand, only to spit it back out into his palm a few seconds later in the form of a small ball with several bubble-like protrusions across it as he looked back at her and smiled softly.
Raising a brow, the girl watched as he tossed the ball in the air with his left hand and then used his right to send it whistling high up in the air with the help of his kekkei genkai, bringing the children, who had already become quite bored of Kurotsuchi's lecture, to look up just as Akito detonated the explosive mass with a single hand sign, filling the air with both colorful sparks as well as the screams of joy from the children who all desperately wanted to see the display.
Drowned out by the young one's screams of joy, both Kisa and Takao watched the fireworks above for a moment before looking to one another in amusement.
"I didn't know he could do that!" The latter of the two exclaimed with a laugh, bringing Kisa to look at Akito, only to find herself captivated by the small smile that had formed across his face as he watched the sky above. She couldn't exactly explain what it was that made her heart flutter in that moment, but seeing him there was enough to inflame the already deep adoration she silently held for him.
Caught off guard by his move, Kurotsuchi looked up at the colorful balls of sparks above her with great frustration before turning back to Akito and his friends, though her eyes immediately diverted to the girl at his side who stared at him with a great sense of infatuation, bringing her to huff.
"I had just finished teaching them a lesson about how their duties as a shinobi should always come first over playtime. Did you really have to go and be a big showoff?" She questioned in irritation as the children all scattered to run amongst the falling sparks, bringing Akito's smile to grow a bit as he placed the hand guilty of creating the fireworks in his pocket.
"They have plenty of time to learn about being a shinobi, but right now they are children." He replied, to which the woman crossed her arms. As much as she didn't like having to be serious, she knew that it was important to show these children that she was someone from whom they could learn, especially if she really was to take over her grandfather's position as kage some day.
"I liked it better when you were missing. At least then you weren't always on my nerves." She responded as calmly as she could before spinning around to resume her walk as Akito turned to his two friends with a grin.
"What?" He questioned after realizing that the two of them had been staring at him, bringing Takao to laugh.
"Boy, you really are just chock-full of surprises." He replied as he walked past him to continue following Kurotsuchi and patted Akito on the shoulder, leaving him and Kisa alone.
"That was nice what you did for those kids, Akito. That really made their day." She said as the boy looked towards the children running in the distance.
"I know. I promised them I would give them some before I left, so I wouldn't have felt right telling them no." He replied as Kisa smiled.
"Do they always hound you for fireworks?" She asked as they started to walk again, to which Akito shook his head.
"Not always. Once in a while they ask for something else like help with academy assignments and whatnot. I guess some of them see me as someone they can look up to because of my family's name, but I don't know. They're too young to understand that I'm not the kind of person they should look up to." The boy replied in a somewhat disheartened manner, bringing Kisa to frown. Did he really think that? If so, he was wrong. He was one of the sweetest, most loyal and caring people she had ever met, and any of them would be right to see him as a role model. If the world had more people like him, it would be a much better place.
"Don't say that, Akito. They are lucky to have someone like you around to teach them, someone they could look up to." The girl responded, causing the boy's face to darken.
"Y-You really think so?" He questioned, bringing her own cheeks to blush a bit as she nodded.
"I do. You'll be a great sensei to some of them one day." She added, darkening both of their blushes as Akito rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"O-Oh, I don't know about that." The boy responded, bringing Kisa to shake her head at his modesty as she looked around at the town around them as they continued to climb up to the first set of bridges leading to the Tsuchikage's office which, given it's huge side and prominent signage, she knew was the largest building at the center of the village. Soon they would be face to face with one of the most powerful shinobi alive, and all she could do was hope he was as kind as he was the night before he departed Konoha.
Coming to a stop just outside of the doors leading into the Tsuchikage's office after what seemed like the longest walk ever, Kurotsuchi turned back to the group and placed a hand on her hip.
"Alright, listen up. You two are going to show the utmost respect in the presence of the Tsuchikage, understood? You may have met him once before and he may have been tolerant of you then, but that doesn't mean he's going to be so now, and you will not argue with him or raise your voice. Understood?" She questioned as Akito sighed and shook his head.
"Don't listen to her. Onoki spoke kindly of you two, at least by his standards. Everything will be fine." He disputed, instantly catching a glare from the woman as he did so.
"Tsk. We'll see." She replied before turning and opening the doors to the office, instantly causing the Tsuchikage himself as well as his loyal bodyguard Akatsuchi to come into view.
"Akito!" The man exclaimed as the group stepped through the doors into the large office space, prompting the boy to wave.
"Hey Akatsuchi! Sensei." He said as he shifted his view to his sensei and bowed out of respect, bringing both Takao and Kisa to do the same as the Tsuchikage's eyes narrowed on the group. Just like Kurotsuchi he could tell that the two Leaf shinobi Akito brought with him were the friends he had returned to help months prior, regardless of their change in appearance and possession of Konoha forehead protectors on their neck and sheath strap respectively.
"So you went to Konoha after all, even though I expressly forbade it.." He stated aloud with a bit of distaste as the boy walked forward towards his kage and shook his head.
"It's not like that, Lord Tsuchikage." The boy replied, bringing the old man to place his hands on his lap.
"Then how was it? The last we heard from you, you were heading to Amegakure to pursue the group we were told about from up north. How did you end up in Konoha?" He stated in a silent command for an explanation as Akito prepared his story for what felt like the millionth time.
"I manage to track the three shinobi to Ame like I planned, but after infiltrating the village I was ambushed, both by Ame shinobi as well as a rather powerful member of the Akatsuki… someone we've never heard of before. I managed to escape but I was in really bad shape." He stated, bringing Onoki to look back to Takao and Kisa.
"But that still doesn't explain how you came to end up in Konoha? If you were injured, why didn't you return home?" He questioned as Akito looked over his shoulder towards Kisa who, despite her heightened anxiety at the whole situation they had found themselves in, stepped forward and waited for the Tsuchikage to nod in permission to defend Akito.
"Konoha's been receiving reports about a masked man inquiring about the Akatsuki for some time now; Ibaraki, they called him. For the most part the reports went unanswered as they did not appear to be credible enough to waste resources on investigating, but after what happened in Ame that changed. We were sent out to find Ibaraki, to try and figured out if his activity was related to the Akatsuki, but when we caught up to him-" She began to explain before being interrupted by another's voice.
"You found Akito instead." It called out, prompting all eyes in the room to turn to the open window as in-jumped Aoi; the Anbu member who had also escorted the Tsuchikage on his voyage to recover Akito from Konoha.
"So that was you in Ame, then. The one who caused mass destruction inside of the village's core." He stated as he planted his feet on the ground beside the Tsuchikage, to which Akito nodded as Aoi scoffed beneath his mask.
"At first the rumor was that it was Deidara who attacked the village, but after a few days that information changed to an unknown man wearing a green cloak, bearing greey armor and the mask of a demon. I had wished you couldn't have been so reckless as to have done such a blatantly risky thing, but I see now that I was wrong. You put yourself at risk of being exposed and our people of being dragged into war. How could you be so stupid?" He questioned harshly, bringing Akito to look away with renewed shame as Kisa to grunt under her breath.
Aoi seemed to hold the same demeaning, punitive tone towards Akito as he did the day they came to Konoha, and this coupled with the fact that he was the reason Akito was forced to wear a kill seal twisted her stomach into a knot. Why did he dislike him so much? Why did he ever do to him?
"I was outnumbered and facing someone who possessed abilities I've never before seen." The boy replied regardless of his verbal lashing, bringing Aoi to step closer in challenge to what he was hearing.
"I find it hard to believe that with your skillset, kekkei genkai and the aid of a cursed mark that you had trouble dealing with a single man, Akatsuki or not. Describe them to me." He demanded, to which Akito groaned under his breath in frustration.
"I'm not sure, exactly. To me it appeared as if he had the ability to control gravity; pushing and pulling objects as he saw fit… even pulling me right into a blade he created out of thin air." He replied as Aoi looked down a bit in thought.
"I've never heard of such a thing, though it is possible you aren't giving accurate details of this ability. Whatever the case, escaping was the wrong thing to do. We've all taken an oath to keep the village out of our affairs, even if it meant taking your own life and destroying the evidence. You should have used the Body Elimination Technique to destroy all evidence of yourself and the village's involvement like I told you." The man scolded with little emotion, causing Kisa to let out a short gasp under her breath.
"You really would have preferred it if he had killed himself? He saw the chance to run and did so successfully… isn't that better than losing him forever?" She questioned, instantly causing the man's hidden eyes to cast their gaze upon her in annoyance of her outspoken opinion.
"When it involves putting countless lives at risk, yes. And I would advise you to keep your opinions to yourself. You may be Akito's guests, but I assure you that to the rest of the village you are nothing but outsiders… outsiders that many shinobi in this village would like to see thrown off the cliffs to their death." Aoi responded, bringing Takao to growl as he pushed Akito to the side and stepped towards Aoi to protect his friends, instantly causing the Anbu to hold a kunai to his neck, Kurotsuchi to step forward towards Kisa and Akatsuchi to move in front of the Tsuchikage to protect him in the impending fight.
"You're not going to threaten us like that, ya hear me?" Takao growled under his breath as his hands remained at his side away from his weapons, to which Aoi chuckled beneath his mask.
"Such a big mouth for someone in such a bad situation." He replied as Kisa watched on nervously; this incident mimicking their near-scuffle at the gate a short while before almost perfectly, though her eyes shifted to Akito as he ground his teeth and stepped forward.
"Stop!" He exclaimed as he pushed Takao and Aoi away from one another to separate the two of them, prompting the Anbu to shift his angered eyes down on the Himaku, though before he could react how he intended the Tsuchikage stood up from his chair and slammed both of his hands down to the hardwood desk.
"Alright, that is enough!" He ordered out of frustration, bringing Aoi to further step away from the loudmouth swordsman out of respect for Onoki's wishes as the old man looked around at everyone in the room and closed his eyes, only to turn his sight back to Akito a moment later after a calming second of silence. Outsiders or not he agreed with Akito that there was little need for bickering let alone bloodshed, especially not while inside of his office.
"It seems to me that every time you return from a mission, emotions run wild and there are heated words to be exchanged, Akito." He stated in a somewhat joking manner, bringing the boy's stern expression to soften a bit as he rubbed his head.
"It would appear so, sensei." He replied, as the old man stood up straight, placed both his hands behind his back and looked at Akito's friends independently for a moment before resting on Kisa; their conversation the night before he took Akito home still quite crisp in his old mind.
"Thank you for helping Akito in his time of need, intentional or not. It's not easy for me to say that I am thankful for… well, anything really, but especially when it comes from outside of our own means." He stated, causing Takao to look back at Kisa before they both nodded in reply and watched the man return his focus to Akito.
"So you were unable to apprehend the trio of shinobi who were causing all the fuss here in the Land of Earth, and the disguise you were using to operate anonymously has been compromised. That is unfortunate, but we all knew that it wasn't going to last forever." He stated as he turned around and walked towards the window to look out at the village below.
"Were you at least able to find out the identities of the three shinobi in question?" The Tsuchikage asked as Akito nodded.
"Their names are Saburo, Togusa and Miyuki, and they are the same three siblings who I encountered earlier in the year… the three who tricked Kisa, Takao and their fallen comrade Jun into accepting a mission to attack an Otogakure facility and then attempted to kill them in return." He replied, bringing Onoki to look over his shoulder at the boy in surprise before turning back outside.
"The seemingly indestructible cannibals. Hmm." He replied as he did so, leaving Kurotsuchi to turn to her grandfather as a wide smile formed on her lips.
"Let me go after them this time. I'll pick a group of our best shinobi and make short work of these freaks." She stated as Takao huffed.
"Being hard to kill isn't their only talent. They feel no pain, and where one is a behemoth amongst men, the other is a swift, cunning swordmen. They are extremely dangerous and can't be taken lightly… that's how we lost Jun." He stated as the shorthaired kunoichi looked to him and placed a hand on her hip.
"And what about the third? Are you going to tell me she can bring back the dead?" She questioned sarcastically, bringing the man to look down at the ground in thought.
"No. She seemed… normal. Scared, but normal." Takao added as Aoi chimed in.
"This is a problem. Even with how little we know about the group it is clear that these talents of theirs will only serve to assist the Akatsuki. If some kind of conflict with the group is near, then it would be most beneficial to see these three eliminated before they cam be integrated into their ranks." He stated as Kurotsuchi bobbed her head sarcastically.
"All the more reason to let me get them then!" She called out, though almost immediately the Tsuchikage shook his head in protest.
"No Kurotsuchi, I don't think that's a good idea." He stated much to the girl's dismay, causing her to gasp.
"What, why not?!" She cried out in annoyance as Onoki huffed.
"I need you here in case something else comes up. The situation across the world is deteriorating rather quickly and should something suddenly come up I need you to be ready to respond." He stated aloud before placing his hands behind his back once more.
"Besides… based on their presence here in Iwagakure, I can already assume that Akito's friends are here for a reason other than making sure he made it home safely." He added as he turned his attention over his shoulder towards Akito, Takao and Kisa once more.
"So I guess the real question is what exactly is it you plan to do now." He added as Akito looked back at his friends, both of whom subtly nodded to express their commitment as he stepped towards the Tsuchikage's desk.
"I am requesting that you allow Takao, Kisa and I to track down these three and finish this fight." He declared, causing Kurotuschi's jaw to drop at his brazen request.
"Eh?!" She cried, but before she could protest the Tsuchikage let out a short humm of thought and nodded his head.
"Alright." He replied, even furthering Kurotsuchi's anguish.
"You're really going to allow Akito to go back out there with these two, even after everything that's happened?! Don't you remember the last time you let him go off on his own with them?" She fired back, bringing Onoki to sigh in exasperation.
"I know you are concerned about Akito's safety, but I assure you that if I had any real belief that these two were going to hurt him I would have denied the request instantly." He replied, causing the woman's face to darken in frustration.
"I-I am not concerned about him, I'm concerned about the mission! If they fail and these three get away not only will they have failed to stop them from joining the Akatsuki, but they will have opened Iwa up for reprisal! This has to be done right!" She argued as Aoi turned his head towards the kage's granddaughter and then to the man himself.
"Lady Kurotsuchi is right; if they fail and we are exposed as openly attacking the Akatsuki we will run the risk of triggering a retaliation that could cost us innocent lives, let alone putting you at risk, my Lord. If two of their men were able to infiltrate Suna and capture the Kazekage without much effort, I am hesitant to test their combined strength without the proper intelligence on them to do so. However, this means that you will risk the same chance in the unlikely event you fail as well, Lady Kurotsuchi." He stated as the woman scoffed, bringing the kage to look back at him.
"What course of action would you suggest then?" He questioned as the Anbu redirected his attention back to Akito.
"We send Akito after them again, this time using the name they gave him to instill fear in anyone else who may wish to join the Akatsuki. And as for these two, I will make sure they are expelled from the Land of Earth as soon as possible." The man added as he looked towards Takao and then Kisa, causing Akito to growl under his breath as he stepped in front of her in a protective manner similar to how he resisted Raigetsu in Konoha, again causing her heart to flutter.
"You aren't going to take them anywhere!" The boy snapped in retaliation to Aoi's threat, instantly causing the masked man to lean forward towards him in an intimidating manner.
"Part of the deal when we offered you that mark on your neck was that you would continue to be an asset to the village for the time being, following orders without question nor delay. The second you agreed to those terms compliance became involuntary… have you forgotten about that seal on your neck?" He questioned as Kisa again gasped under her breath at the mention of the kill seal. Was he really threatening him with the seal just to bring him into line? What was wrong with him?!
"Don't you dare threaten to harm him with that vile thing! You don't know what happened to him out there, what he had to go through... if he doesn't want to be Ibaraki you should respect that." She responded in order to defend the boy the same way he had just done for her, causing the Anbu to stare at them as Onoki turned around towards the two of them and huffed.
"I agree with Akito on this, Aoi. Ibaraki's name is now known to half of the shinobi world, making him a target for more than just the Akatsuki, and any more usage of that alias will only put Akito into further, unnecessary danger." He declared as the masked man stared at him for a moment before stepping back away from the boy and nodding.
"Yes, Lord Tsuchikage." Aoi responded as Onoki returned his eyes back to his student and the woman who so sharply defended him, reminding him further of their conversation back in Konoha.
"The subject of the three mystery shinobi remains however, so it is with moderately reduced reservations that I ask you three this: can you think that you can bring them down in a discreet, timely manner that will both ensure that they do not escape to alert the Akatsuki to our plans, as well as offer the best chance of your survival?" He then questioned, causing Takao's stern expression to shift into a smirk once more as he walked forward and placed his arm on Akito's shoulder.
"Of course we can. I mean, we were able to bring down Akito, afterall; curse seal and all!" He exclaimed as Kurostuchi rolled her eyes in disgust, bringing Akito to look at his mentor with a subtle nod.
"We will get it done, sensei. I promise." The boy replied, to which the Tsuchikage took a deep breath and nodded.
"It's settled then. Given the circumstances, I will allow you and your friends to find these three and bring them down before they can become any bigger of an issue here in the Land of Earth." He decreed as Aoi stepped forward towards three.
"It won't be as simple as that, however. Since your failure in Amegakure we've lost track of the trio as well as the other Akatsuki cells we were following, likely due to the events that took place there that day. We have teams out there searching for the trail, but until we hear back from them we have no leads." The man stated in a rather monotone voice, clearly displeased by the loss of Akito as an agent as Onoki nodded and looked back at Akito.
"I will keep you updated on what Aoi's men find, but I suggest you remain prepared to head out at a moment's notice." He added before turning to Takao and Kisa with a somewhat softened stare, though he did his best to remain as official as possible.
"In the meantime, however, I welcome you to Iwagakure. You have my permission to stay here for the duration of this assignment but you will be required to stay with Akito at all times, understood?" The Tsuchikage stated as the two partners looked to one another and nodded.
"Yes Lord Tsuchikage. We will." The girl replied before looking to Akito with the same relieved grin he held on his lips. However, as the Tsuchikage turned around he lifted his finger up with one last thought.
"And do refrain from abducting Akito again, please. I'm growing quite tired of having to track him down."