Chapter 30 - Suien
Kiba and Akamaru threw themselves at Kirisame, Kiba's claws clashing against the water sword. Kiba frowned as he felt his claws chip when they hit the blade of water. He kicked off of Kirisame, landing a few feet away and watched as Akamaru's claws slashed through Kirisame.
Kirisame burst into water, falling into the lake below. "A water clone?" Kiba frowned looking around. "Akamaru, we're going to the shore!" Kiba commanded, as they rushed towards land.
"Going to the shore..? Not a chance!" Several clones of Kirisame sprung up from the water ahead of Kiba, cutting off his route.
"Suiton: Suiben!" The Kirisames all shouted at once, forming hand seals. Suddenly all five of them had long water whips in their hands, and lashed out at Kiba and Akamaru.
"Gatenga!" Kiba roared as he and Akamaru suddenly rolled at an extremely fast speed. Chakra formed around them like a buzz-saw as they rolled forward, slashing through both the whips and the clones that were in their way.
"Gah!" Kirisame grunted, getting pushed out of the way. Two of his clones had been destroyed and he took a glancing blow as well. Holding his bleeding arm, he snarled and followed Kiba. "Brat! I'll kill you!"
"Suiton: Raibenjin no Jutsu!" Kirisame stuck two fingers in the lake as he rushed forward, gathering water on them and forming another whip. This whip however, was thin and as sharp as a blade, with electricity crackling on the surface of its water as he cracked it.
"You won't have an easy death!" He cracked the whip towards Kiba who had just made it to the shore. Right before the whip hit him however, a surge of beetles flew out from the dome and blocked the attack. Hundreds of beetles fell to the ground dead, forming a small pile.
Shino ran out of the jungle towards the terrified children. "I'm almost out of chakra Kiba." he said, gathering the woman in his arms. "You'll have to deal with him while I get them to safety."
"Got it!" Kiba shouted, never taking his eyes off the crackling whip.
"Be careful, he's the chūnin. The genin are all dead." Shino reminded him, carrying the woman and leading the children into the jungle.
"Hah! I figured that out myself, thanks!" Kiba laughed. 'I have to hold him here. With Shino being almost out of chakra and him having the kids, I can't assume this guy will choose to follow me if I try to lead him away.'
"Now then... I believe we weren't finished yet!" Kiba yelled out.
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Hayate snuck out through the cave entrance and found himself in the roots of an absolutely massive tree. He ran across the roots, eventually coming to a stop on top of a house that he assumed was Shibuki's residence.
As he looked out he could see that this giant tree was situated on an island in the middle of a massive lake. In the distance, he could see the top of the waterfall that they had been under before. Looking down, he saw a large group of villagers that had been tied up and were currently being guarded by a group of shinobi.
'Six genin, two chūnin, and one jōnin. The jōnin looks skilled, but he's nothing I can't handle. It's going to be difficult to take on all of them at once. If Shibuki wasn't such a coward I'd be able to ask him for help with distracting the chūnin, but it looks like I'm going to have to rely on Hinata…'
Hayate frowned. He was going to have to even the numbers if he wanted Hinata to get involved in this. It looked like the shinobi were talking, but he couldn't see their faces clearly and he didn't want to risk getting closer until he was ready to strike.
The crowd of hostages was mostly villagers, but he could see a group of genin that had been tied up as well. One of the genin was still struggling, dangling from a rope with her arms tied behind her back, but she was being whipped by the chūnin kunoichi every time she tried to yell out something.
The girl was very petite and looked to be about Hinata's age. She had mint green hair and wore a short white tank top with mesh armor under it, that revealed her midriff. She also wore mesh armor shorts that went to about her mid thigh, and a white skirt, slit on both sides, that fell to the same height as her shorts.
As Hayate was watching, he noticed that it appeared that the jōnin was arguing with the grey-haired chūnin about something. 'Tasū, see if you can fly a bit closer and listen in. Don't let them detect you though.'
Half of Tasū split off and flew from his shoulder, still camouflaged, and fluttered towards the enemy shinobi. A few moments later he started to get reports. He didn't dare close off his own senses to share Tasū's so he just let it update him.
'They appear to be arguing about the location of something called 'Hero water'. The jōnin seems to be unable to find it. He says the location of it must have been moved. His subordinate is trying to convince him to start killing people off until its location is revealed but the jōnin insists it's useless. No one would know its location except the village head.'
Hayate watched for a bit longer before turning around to return to the others. When he arrived in the cave, he announced his presence before suddenly appearing in front of the two.
"Well? What's the situation like?" Shibuki asked in concern.
"Not great, but not unmanageable." Hayate said in a serious tone. "They have a lot of villagers and genin tied up as hostages. On the genin, a girl with green hair, is still struggling but she's tied up and being tortured by one of the chūnin. It seems the wires that she's been tied with are special. She can't escape from them."
"Green hair? Fū!?" Shibuki looked distraught.
"They're after something called 'hero water'. The jōnin apparently knew of its location before, but can't find it now. You seemed to have ruined his plans by changing its hiding spot." Hayate continued to report. "They might start killing hostages off however, in an attempt to find its location."
Shibuki grit his teeth. "It has to be Suien.. He's the only one besides my late otousan and I that knew of its previous hiding spot. That traitor!" He spat out.
"He's a missing-nin from your village then?" Hayate eyed him. "What can you tell me about him."
"He was my sensei.. He taught me everything I know. He's a water user like me, and a strong jōnin." Shibuki was furious. "He was the one that led these missing-nin to our village… He'll pay for this!"
"Good." Hayate said. "Hold on to that anger, because I'm going to need your help if I'm going to deal with this situation without putting the lives of the hostages in danger."
"M-my help?" Shibuki squeaked out, his previous anger deflating rapidly into fear. "W-what d-do you want m-me to do?"
Hayate sighed. "Nothing that dangerous. You'll leave the fighting to us. I just need you to be a distraction. Get their attention and I'll attack, making an opening for Hinata to take on the kunoichi and rescue the hostages."
"R-right. A d-distraction. I can do that." Shibuki nodded as if to reassure himself.
"Ok shishou. Tell us your plan." Hinata moved over next to Shibuki and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hinata, how confident are you in using your tōton jutsu?" Hayate gave Hinata a look.
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Kiba and Akamaru split up, each charging towards a different side of Kirisame. Kiba increased his speed just as the whip cracked, turning into a blur. He jumped and rotated his body, barely dodging as the whip swept underneath him, the electricity causing his hair to stand on end.
'He's fast!' Kirisame thought, quickly ducking under a sweep of claws aimed at his head from had arrived first, missing the first attack and skidding across the surface of the water from his momentum. Akamaru quickly turned around to attack again, just him time to see Kiba once more clashing with Kirisame's sword.
Akamaru snarled and leapt back in, slashing at his back. Kirisame kicked Kiba away and dodged just in time as Akamaru sailed past him. Kirisame was about to attack, but had to go on the defensive again as Kiba launched another attack at his back.
Kirisame clashed with the duo in a rapid exchange of blows. Every time he blocked or dodged one of their attacks, the other would strike at a blind spot. The most frustrating thing for him was that he couldn't find a chance to use his whip. The close combat forced him into dropping it and focusing on his swordplay.
Kiba and Akamaru pressed the attack, slowly increasing their speed just as they had practiced in combat against Hayate. Luckily, Kiba had a lot of training fighting against kenjutsu practitioners and this man wasn't anywhere near as good at kenjutsu as Hayate and Hinata!
Kiba kicked off the water, flying towards Kirisame at an extreme speed. Kirisame, who had just finished blocking an attack from behind, whipped around to face the new threat. Kiba could see the almost maniacal gleam in the man's eyes as he was barely able to hold on against the duo's assault.
Kirisame slashed at the man-beast that was almost upon him. He watched in horror as the sword and claws didn't clash this time like they had before. Kiba planted his feet on the ground and turned his body as he had practiced against Hayate, catching the inside of Kirisame's sword arm holding him still. "Akamaru!" he yelled, pinning down Kirisame's movement.
"Get off me!" Kirisame shouted, punching Kiba in the face with his free hand, sending the brat rolling across the water. Just as he was about to turn to face the second one, he felt claws dig into his back and rake against his shoulder blades. Kirisame's sudden movement had altered the course of the attack, making it non-lethal, but the pain of the shredded flesh caused him to freeze up for a second, making him unable to counter-attack.
Kiba forced himself to his feet, wiping away blood from his face with the back of his sleeve and flinching at the pain. 'A broken nose..' Kiba grimaced but then noticed the man falling to one knee and breathing heavily. His back was in bloody tatters and Kiba gave another wolfish grin. His prey was on its last legs.
"Now Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, charging at the same time as his partner. Kirisame had just struggled to his feet and was moving sluggishly, his shoulders stiff from the pain. "Gatsūga!"
Kiba and Akamaru rotated their bodies in unison as they charged together, completely synchronized. In a drill-like blur of rotating chakra, claws, and fangs, they were upon Kirisame almost instantly.
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Hinata disappeared from the stop using the tōton jutsu. She had to move slowly, but it was enough to get into position. She followed her shishou's orders and snuck down from the roots of the tree and slowly moved around the group of hostages and enemy shinobi. Hayate had come to the conclusion that either they didn't have a sensor type, or they weren't currently on guard. Either way, it allowed for Hinata sneak to where she needed to be without getting caught.
Hinata watched as Fū was whipped and had to stop herself from attacking right then and there. 'Hurry up shishou…' She thought to herself, wincing in pain and sympathy every time the whip cracked, leaving another bloody line on Fū's skin.
Fū was lightly coated in the red chakra of the bijū, but it appeared she didn't have much control over yet. It was enough to increase her endurance and rapidly heal the wounds she was getting from the whip, but she wasn't able to fight back. Hinata could tell they had used Murasame's customized wires to restrain her and she was afraid of trying to break free. Even if she could snap the wires using her increased strength from the bijū chakra, it wouldn't do any good if she lost her arms in the process.
'Hang in there, Fū. Just a little longer!' Hinata grit her teeth in anger. 'This bitch with the whip.. She's mine!'
"H-hey!" Hinata heard a shout and looked over to see Shibuki standing on a root, knees shaking in fear. "Suien, you traitor! What do y-you think you're d-doing!"
"Shibuki-sama!"
"Shibuki-sama is here!"
"We're saved!"
"Shibuki-sama! Help us!"
The hostages were overjoyed at the presence of their supposed savior, and Hinata couldn't help but scoff at them in her mind.
"Shibuki-oniisan!?" Fū looked over incredulously. She knew Shibuki well, perhaps better than anyone else here. She knew there was no way he'd come out to face all of these people on his own, and if he truly had found the courage to do so, he'd be defeated pretty quickly.
"What are you doing!? Hurry and run!" Fū yelled at him.
"Shut up!" Hisame hissed, showing a malevolent grin as she whipped Fū across the face.
"Well! If it isn't my cute apprentice, Shibuki-chan! You saved me a lot of trouble by showing up, y'know?" Suien said with glee. "Tell me where you hid the hero water and no one has to get hurt!"
"You b-betrayed the v-village! You betrayed me!" Shibuki yelled at him. "I'll n-never let you get your h-hands on the hero water! You won't h-have your way!"
Hinata felt a hand touch her shoulder and knew that her shishou, who was standing next to her, was about to act. She barely heard him mutter "Mikazuki no Mai.." under his breath, and watched in sick fascination as thin red lines appeared almost instantaneously on each of the genin's necks that were currently looking at Shibuki.
"Murasame. Bring me a hostage." Suien ordered the man standing behind him. "Murasame?" Suien turned his head to see Murasame standing there with a vertical line cut open on his throat. Suien's eyes opened wide in surprise. Murasame was clearly dead, why was he still standing up?
"Tch. If I knew your guard was down that much, I would have killed you instead." Suien heard a voice say, seemingly coming from behind Murasame. He watched in horror as a man with silver hair and dark circles under his eyes materialized right in front of him, sword still sticking through Murasame's throat, holding the corpse up.
The horror for Suien didn't stop there though as he turned his gaze slightly and saw all six genins he had brought fall to the ground, heads rolling off their shoulders.
"Murasame!" Hisame cried out. "You! I'll kill you!"
Just as Hisame was about to run over, she felt a stinging sensation on her side and reacted just in time by jumping back. There was a thin line of blood cut along her ribs, if she had reacted any slower she might have died.
"Hey. Bitch with the whip." Hinata said, canceling her jutsu. "Don't think you can just do as you'd like.
Hinata stood there holding the ribbon Mikazuki was attached to, and swinging her blade at a high enough speed that it just looked like a silver blur.
Fū stared at the scene in front of her. She just saw seven people instantly killed and now some badass girl that had just injured her tormentor, was standing in front of her as if to guard her.
"Fū right?" She heard the girl say. "You don't have to worry anymore. I won't let anyone else hurt you again."
Fū just stared at the back of the girl in shock. "Mn… " Fū nodded dumbly. She could feel her cheeks turning a bit red. 'So.. so cool!'.
"Hyah!" Hinata threw out Mikazuki again in a flash of silver, pushing off her back foot to chase after the sword. Hisame jumped back in time to dodge, only to see Hinata reel in her sword and grip the hilt, catching up to her.
"You dare!?" Hisame asked through gritted teeth, dodging another slash of the strange sword the girl was using. Hinata had moved in close to Hisame, ducking and weaving past the whip that never seemed to be able to touch her.
Hisame saw the white eyes on the girl that was now in front of her, and the bulging veins surrounding those eyes. "Byakugan!?" Hisame cried in alarm. She just now noticed the Konoha headband on the girl, and widened her eyes in surprise. "What are Konoha shinobi doing here!?"
The answer to her question was another slash aimed towards her thigh as Hinata spun around her, constantly circling Hisame. Hisame cursed and stepped back, the sword leaving another thin red line on her skin.
"I kill you!" Hisame shouted, turning her water whip into a sword. She slashed down at the girl, but had to jump back again as the girl moved around her once more and slashed at her back. Hisame leapt away and spun around just in time to see Mikazuki arcing towards the side of her neck, having been thrown by Hinata who was currently only holding onto its ribbon.
Hisame raised her sword and successfully blocked Mikazuki, but her eyes went wide when she realized that the girl was in front of her. Not even trying to catch her blade, Hinata shouted out: "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
Before Hisame could react she felt two palms slam into her chest causing a stabbing pain to rake through her body as he tenketsu were forcibly closed. Then two more hit right after, closing another two tenketsu.
The pain of having her tenketsu forcibly closed was great enough that Hisame wasn't able to react at all as the palms slammed into her one by one. The speed of Hinata's attacks increased every time she took another step forward, signifying the next round set of attacks. By the time Hinata thrust forward with the final thirty-two palm strike, each strike hit Hisame almost simultaneously.
As Hinata finished her last strike, she stopped her movement, resting in a side stance as she yanked on Mikazuki's ribbon, bringing the hilt of her sword back into her hand. Her series of attacks had been fast enough that Mikazuki had never touched the ground.
Hisame coughed up blood and her sword forcibly dispersed, bursting in water. "You're… a genin?" She croaked out as she fell to the ground. What added insult to injury was the look of clear surprise on Hinata's face. "You're a chūnin?" She heard the girl ask in confusion right before she fell unconscious.
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Hayate pulled his sword out of Murasame's throat, letting the body fall to the ground with a dull thud. He could hear his apprentice in the background call out to the enemy kunoichi and decided not to waste anymore time.
Hayate didn't bother with banter or questions, instead choosing to raise his sword again slash towards Suien's neck in a killing blow. Right before the sword hit Suien, he saw the enemy's body erupt with water, forming a suit of armor and blocking the slash long enough for Suien to jump backwards.
'No hand seals?' Hayate narrowed his eyes as he brought up his sword into a stance. "You have good mastery over suiton ninjutsu." Hayate commented, slashing out again.
"Surprised?" Suien laughed out, forming a water sword to block the attack. His water sword was clearly a different ninjutsu than the ones the shinobi from Amegakure used. The water in Suien's sword was still violently surging, and every time he slashed with it, water would expand and fly off from the sword cutting everything in its way.
Hayate jumped to the side bringing his sword up to block a slash of water going for his ribs. When the water hit his blade though, it was cut in half and the two halves continued onward leaving a thin slash in Hayate's back and stomach.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Hayate shouted, forming three clones in a puff of smoke. He used the smoke as a cover and slipped away using his tōton jutsu, becoming invisible and circling around to the side of the battle.
Suien stood on guard, looking like a being made out of pure water. He slashed out with his sword at range, sending arcs of water through the air at Hayate's clones. The clones dodged out the way, weaving through them and forming a hand seal.
"Konoha-Ryū Mikazuki no Mai!" All three shouted at once, turning into blurs and leaving a trail of after images behind them. Three swords cut into Suien at once, severing him at the neck, waist, and chest at the same time. His body burst apart into water and the clones realized it had been a water clone just as a huge wave of water was rushing towards them from the roots of the giant tree.
Suien stood on the root with his cheeks puffed out as he shot the pressurized water out of his mouth. It formed a massive wall that circled the three clones. It began to close in on them and batter them around in the surging waves.
Suien watched as all three Hayates burst apart into smoke and his eyes widened in surprise. 'They were all shadow clones!? Where is the real one!?'
"Hiken: Tsukikage." He heard a voice whisper from behind. Before he could turn around in shock, he noticed his world was spinning. It took him a second to register that he was watching his headless body fall to the ground in front of him. He watched as Hayate uncloaked himself and wiped the blood and water off of his blade. Then his vision went dark. Suien was dead.
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Kiba collapsed into the water and watched as he sank down next to what remained of the lifeless body of Kirisame. Kiba had a slash across his chest that ran from his shoulder to his waist. The last attack from Kirisame had been a last ditch effort to make sure Kiba died along with him.
Kiba's victorious grin never faded even as his vision began to go dark. He thought for a second he was starting to hallucinate when he saw himself dive into the water and begin pulling himself to the surface. 'Oh wait.. That's just Akamaru..' He groggily thought to himself.
As he broke through the surface of the water he took in a deep breath and started coughing out blood. He hadn't even realized he had been holding his breath. Akamaru was whining as he carried Kiba towards the shore. 'Don't cry buddy… I'm ok.. see..?' Kiba tried to speak but blood bubbled up from his throat and he just started coughing again.
The last thing Kiba remembered was a second pair of hands helping Akamaru set him down on the shore, and seeing Shino's horrified face looking down at him. He could see Shino's lips moving, but he couldn't hear anything besides a slight ringing noise. His head felt dizzy and his last thoughts before he slipped away into unconsciousness were: 'Don't look at me like that… I'm.. alright..'
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Hinata bent over and checked the pulse of Hisame. "Still alive, just unconscious.." She muttered, before turning around and walking over to Fū. She came to stop and smiled up at the girl that was dangling from a rope. "Give me just a second and I'll get you down from there, okay?"
Fū felt her face turning red again as the girl smiled up at her. "Hey, what's your name?" She asked as the girl walked around behind her and started to carefully cut the wires.
"Hyūga Hinata!" Hinata cheerfully replied. "And you're Fū, right? Shibuki-san talked about you on the way here."
"That's-" Fū started to say, but she was interrupted as she felt the last wire give way. She started to fall and was about to steady herself, but felt herself land on something soft. She blinked and it took her a second to realize Hinata had caught her in her arms. "me.." She finished her reply lamely.
Hinata looked down at the girl she was holding and realized that both of their faces were turning red. "A-anyways!" Hinata stuttered out, setting Fū on her feet. "It's good that you're alright! Ahaha.." 'Oh my god, she's cute and I'm acting like an idiot..'
"I uh.. I'm going to go check in with my shishou!" Hinata said really fast before using shunshin to flee the awkwardness.
Fū just stood there and blinked, staring at the spot where Hinata disappeared. 'What just happened..? Did I say something weird..?'
Hinata reappeared next to Hayate almost instantly. He had just finished up his fight and was sheathing his sword on his back.
"Hostages are secured and the kunoichi is unconscious!" Hinata grinned up at him, saluting.
Hayate looked at his apprentice for a moment. She was looking up at him with eyes that practically said 'I did great didn't I? Pat me on the head and tell me I did great!'.
Hayate smiled and shook his head. "Good job kiddo." He said, rubbing her head and messing up her already soaking wet hair. He was about to say something else but Tasū landed on his shoulder interrupting his thoughts.
'The Amegakure chūnin that Shino and Kiba were fighting is dead. Kiba is extremely injured and requires medical attention as soon as possible. Shino is not equipped or skilled enough to save him.'
Hayate's smile froze on his face. Hinata looked up at him in worry. "What's wrong?" She asked him.
Hayate looked for Shibuki and saw him in the crowd of villagers, untying and comforting them. Ignoring Hinata's question, he disappeared and reappeared next to Shibuki, scaring the shit out of him.
"H-Hayate-san?" Shibuki asked in fright.
"Do you have any skilled medic-nin?" Hayate asked him urgently.
"W-what happened?" Shibuki asked in concern.
"Answer the question!" Hayate practically shouted.
"All of our jōnin are away currently on missions. W-we have a few trainees here though..." Shibuki said with regret.
Hinata appeared just in time to hear Hayate say: "Tell them to come with me. Kiba is severely wounded." She felt her stomach drop, the high she felt from winning her fight leaving her instantly.
Shibuki nodded and ordered two medic-nin genins that had just been untied to follow Hayate. Hinata followed the group as they rushed towards the exit of the village, trying to get to Kiba as fast as possible.