The Wanderers
Chapter 63 – The Last Snow Shinobi
A/N: I'm trying a different style for this chapter; I hope it's not too stark of a difference. I just wanted to give it a go, so please do give me feedback on what you think. I'm not going to change the story to this style, but I'd love to hear what you think. This is also a pretty dark chapter.
I'm also shortening the summaries. Not because they were too long, I just don't want to spend much time on them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, they would have stories focused on secondary characters for more than just a chapter or two. It's a damn long story after all.
***Previously-On***
After the battle with Tobi reached its conclusion, the combatants returned to the Mizukage's office. A short conversation later and Yagura completed the transfer of the Three-Tails to Mei, dying in the process. Naruto and Hinata found time to relax in a bath house for the first time in a long time, while Yugito hunted down the renegade Killer Bee, only to find that he was on his way back to Kumogakure. Fu later left the village to go off on her own. In a meeting with the Mizukage, Gaara was able to secure several deals for his home village without compromising his village's integrity. The Mizukage visited the surviving members of the Seven Swordsmen and reached an agreement with Mangetsu to help rebuild the village. The next day both Naruto and Hinata left on their journey to Otogakure to meet Neji, while Gaara left with Matsuri to Sunagakure.
***End Summary***
With a loud curse on my lips, I ducked under a hail of arrows and spun around with my hands clasped together in a basic handseal. The Quiraji soldiers had been relentless in their pursuit, already restringing arrows for another volley from their quivers hidden under heavy cloaks.
I stamped my foot into the snow around my legs as I activated my ninjutsu.
"Hyouton: Yukitama!" (Ice Element: Snowball)
A large collection of snow rose out of the ground in front of me, taking a moment to hover conspicuously as it formed into a large ball before slamming straight into the five Quiraji archers. They'd tried to protect themselves by putting their arms up, but I'd fuelled enough chakra into the technique to topple a small building. The snow buried them deep enough to suffocate them to death while I fled back up the mountain range.
I resisted the urge to throw up as I covered my face with my hood and jumped straight up into the snowstorm that constantly covered the mountain I'd been living on for the past week. I was running dangerously low on chakra and hadn't eaten for days, but with those final pursuers gone I figured there was enough of a lull for me to recover my strength before I brave scouring the village again.
Reaching the shinobi marker on the mountain side, I placed my hands on the smooth rock and took a long breath. I felt a shock run through my arms, forcing me to grit my teeth through the pain as the marker took a record of my chakra and identified that I wasn't an enemy. I thought it was excessive considering our enemies didn't have any chakra, but the others in my group were paranoid.
For good reason too.
The rock beneath my hands glowed slightly before a section of snow fell apart with the automatic door, revealing the lair that we'd been working out of since the village had been taken.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called out as I walked into the opening.
Immediately I knew there was something wrong, as the lights hadn't turned on when I'd opened the door. Pulling out one of my few remaining kunai from my pack, I slowly paced my way through the entrance. I barely had enough chakra for a single technique, having put most of my strength into taking out my pursuers, but if this was how it was going to end, I was determined to go down as an honourable shinobi of Yukigakure.
Within minutes my fears were confirmed as I saw the first stain of blood on the steel walls. I tried to keep myself contained, but before I reached the living area I noticed Lori's body covered in a pool of blood.
"No…no, no, no, no…"
I wanted to drop to my knees and weep, or make my friend's body look more dignified, but my shinobi instincts kept me on my feet.
That saved my life as a sword strike went to take my head off at my shoulders. I brought up my kunai just in time to block the attack, though I forced myself to jump backwards to avoid the shock from the clashing of steel.
A robed warrior glared at me through lifeless eyes as he sized me up in a single moment. His sword was drenched in blood. The blood of my friends.
Throwing any resemblance of caution to the wayside, I charged forward towards the Quiraji assassin, my kunai tracing a deadly line towards his throat.
The Quiraji assassin wasn't just going to let me cut his throat though, bringing up his sword to parry my attack. However I hadn't survived this long by making Genin mistakes like letting the enemy make such a basic manoeuvre.
Dropping my wrist, I twisted my body around the sword strike and disappeared from view. The Quiraji assassin hesitated for a moment and that was all I needed to reappear behind him and drive two kunai into his temples. The assassin crumpled to the floor and I felt a shock through my system as the last of my chakra slowly dwindled away.
Taijutsu had never been my strong suit, but all shinobi of my rank were very advanced in all three areas of shinobi combat.
In a panicked state I stumbled towards the tiny mess that we'd been eating out of, knowing that if I didn't find what I was looking for I'd collapse and die within minutes. After searching the medicine cabinet I found the pill bottle that I was looking for, popping the lid off the top and downing one of the blue tablets contained within.
The effect was almost instantaneous as my wounds knitted themselves back together and my chakra points slowly filled back up. I'd been through worse before, but taking the blue pill was something I wished I didn't have to do.
We didn't have many medicines in Yukigakure and that was the last of its kind that I knew of, but it kept me alive for the time being, even if it was going to shorten my lifespan significantly.
I sank to the ground and tried not to throw up at the horrible smell of my dead comrades. They were only Genin, barely even shinobi, and now they were all dead. I was meant to protect them, to keep them safe from the invaders, but I couldn't.
I wasn't strong enough and now they were all gone.
My name is Sapphire.
I'm the last living shinobi of my village.
I decided that I couldn't stay in the hideout anymore. It had become a place of death and misery, and after burying my friends on the mountain I couldn't stand it anymore.
However if the past week's scouting missions and attacks were any indication, the village was not a safe place to stay in any capacity. The last time I infiltrated my own home village, I'd seen dozens of soldiers searching for any survivors, far more than I could reasonably take out on my own without significant risk.
The Quiraji soldiers seemed immune from certain types of techniques, as one of my compatriots had discovered. He'd tried to capture a group of them in his most powerful genjutsu, a technique that would have made even the hardiest shinobi quiver and wet themselves in fear, incapacitating them long enough for the rest of us to take them out.
The Quiraji cut his throat without a second thought, barely even noticing he was trying to attack them.
Every time I thought about the previous week's battles and the dwindling numbers of our people, I get a horrible mixture of sadness and fury in my chest. I hated that I'd been driven from my home, but it wasn't over by any stretch of the imagination.
There was still one Snow shinobi left in Yukigakure.
oOoOoOo
With my knowledge of the surrounding area it was no trouble to get within a stone's throw of the village, though getting inside was the difficult part.
The Quiraji seemed intent on searching every nook and cranny for survivors, but they maintained a strong military presence on the outskirts, likely looking for any signs of stragglers such as myself.
Feeling inside my weapon pouch, I made a count of my weapons and swore under my breath. I only had three kunai and a dozen shuriken left, with no soldier pills or medicine to speak of. That was barely enough for one or two battles, and certainly not enough to survive on considering what I was up against. My recently murdered companions hadn't had any weapons on them, that's why I had left in the first place, though my mission had been a failure.
Sinking my body low into the snow to avoid detection, I considered my options.
I could flee the area altogether. I knew the mountains of Yukigakure like the back of my hand; I'd grown up here since I was a little girl. There were dozens of caverns and passageways through the mountainsides that avoided the ever-present snowstorms and the likelihood of the Quiraji finding any of them was quite low.
However I dismissed that option out of hand. Surviving just on its own is not living. I had a duty to my home, and my comrades. They had to be avenged and I was the only one left who could do it. My life doesn't matter anymore. It hadn't since I'd lost the people precious to me.
The weapons storage facility wasn't an option either, as it had been one of the first hit during the invasion. The Quiraji clearly knew that when certain techniques didn't work shinobi fell back onto weaponry and other ninja tools. Nearly all of our stores had been destroyed, and I'd already scavenged what little stores we had outside the village.
If there was ever a village that fell due to hubris, it was ours. I wanted to say that I had pressed our deceased leader into being more prepared for what would have been an inevitable invasion, but I'd be lying to myself. I'd been one of the voices saying that the Quiraji could never reach us and that the other shinobi villages would likely take them out for us.
Shaking myself out of my characteristic depressive mood, I took a long breath as I realised there was only one option that I could take.
I swore again and pulled out three shurikens between my fingers, counting the Quiraji soldiers directly in front of me. The night was conveniently quiet, with only a light breeze carrying snowflakes across the air. Under other circumstances it would have made for a beautiful night for a stroll and I'm sure the night sky was drenched in stars.
With no sound at all, I threw the shurikens at the three soldiers standing guard at one of the village's alleyways. They took them all in the throats, sending them face down into snow at their feet. They didn't make a sound as they died, even as I moved stealthy along the snow and ensured that they couldn't rise again.
They didn't have any food or medicine supplies on them, but I pocketed a number of knives and blades to replenish my stock. I wiped off the blood from the shurikens I used to kill them and put them back, before taking up a long sword that the middle soldier had been holding and sheathing it on my side.
I noted that none of them were the main Quiraji danger soldiers, merely the ones that did the marching and the dying. They wore simple armour and weaponry, with strange symbols designating them in the strange dialect they spoke to each other. I went to take one of their cloaks to use as a disguise, but looking at their bodies I realised there was no way I'd be able to pass myself off as one of them.
It wasn't that they didn't have female soldiers; one of those I killed had been a woman. But I had the fair skin and bright blue eyes that I'd inherited from my mother and passed down to my daughter, while the average Quiraji soldier was closer to tanned and had not a pair of blue eyes between them.
I heard a rustling sound inside the village and immediately shot to the side to hide behind one of the towers. I watched as a Black Robe slowly shifted into view, his withered face hidden under his heavy set robe. I silently cursed at his presence, knowing how difficult they were to dispose of.
The Black Robe breathed out a fog of cold air before looking down at one of the bodies on the ground. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, I sprung out of my hiding spot and drew my stolen sword from its scabbard. The Black Robe immediately turned at the sound of metal scrapping on metal, but before he could employ one of the techniques that had turned so many of my friends into corpses I drove my sword into his chest.
His black eyes glared at me hatefully even as he pulled up his hands to grip me by the sides of my face. Leaving the sword in his chest I pulled out two of the kunai from my sleeves and slammed them into his temples. He struggled for a moment before slowly falling to the ground, his hands barely brushing at the sides of his face.
A shudder ran through my body at the touch, but I was grateful that I'd been able to take out the Black Robe with such ease. As his blood began to pool on the snow an idea popped into my head.
It wasn't my best idea to be fair, but hopefully it'll work.
oOoOoOo
Walking with the same deliberate motions I had observed earlier, I made my way through the village very carefully. The robe was heavy on my shoulders and I could feel the blood from the Black Robe's wounds on my skin.
It felt wrong just to be wearing the enemy's regalia, let alone sneaking through my own home. However the disguise was working perfectly as the regular Quiraji soldiers gave me a wide berth and shifty glares, they seemed to dislike the Black Robes' presence just as much as we had. I filed that information for later, though I seriously doubted I'd have a chance to exploit it.
The streets of my home seemed oddly alien to me now, even though I knew every turn and sign that was in front of me. The small bakery that fed the children every day was now a smoking ruin, having been burnt down to the ground with the occupants inside. The apartment building that I met my husband in had a giant hole in the centre of it, though I didn't give it a second glance that would have singled me out from the other soldiers.
I passed my old home without even looking at it; the last memory of being inside had left a horrible knot in my stomach. I tried my best to avoid any contact at all with the Quiraji soldiers around, though I started to notice that there were far more soldiers in the village than the last time I had come this deep inside. I stopped counting after the ninth group, figuring that judging by spacing and disposition the Quiraji had to have several hundred soldiers throughout the village.
They really were trying to exterminate us and I was their only target remaining.
The Black Robe's hood kept my face hidden from the Quiraji soldiers as I used the snow-covered streets to navigate my way around, though I had to take a roundabout route because I almost ran into another Black Robe that would have surely given me away. I knew that my disguise would only last until the bodies were discovered as I hadn't been able to hide the blood trail as well as I would have liked considering the lack of significant snowfall.
After nearly twenty minutes of methodical movement I found the building I was looking for. While Yukigakure itself was built on an icy plateau in the middle of a giant mountain range for a number of purposes, several of the buildings had been constructed through the plateau's surface and deep within were some of our closely guarded secrets.
One such building had already been found and destroyed, as the leader of my village had hidden there with his family and been butchered where they slept.
The Quiraji had spared no one as they rampaged through our village, completely taking us by surprise.
I noticed that the door to the small one-storey building had snow built up against it, implying that the Quiraji hadn't gotten around to checking it yet. On the surface it looked more like a rundown storage unit that had been abandoned, but that's why it was one of our key areas.
Tapping on the door in the correct sequence, the wooden frame slowly creaked open and I slipped inside, ensuring that none of the surrounding Quiraji soldiers saw me disappear within.
Once inside I shut the door quietly and was immediately surrounded by darkness. I had no means of lighting the room at my disposal, but I was willing to be patient. I unshouldered the Black Robe and let it fall to the floor, glad to be rid of such a burdensome garment.
The room slowly came into view as my eyes adjusted to the dark and I recognised a number of the signs that indicated on a way down to the underground level. With a short tug I found a lever cleverly disguised as a gardening hoe that opened up a stairwell in the corner of the shed.
The storage unit was mostly empty, with the outlines of the contents having gathered enough dust to indicate it had been months since a living person had been inside. I hadn't been expecting much, but some extra supplies would have been nice. The room was as dark as the entrance, but with my eyes completely adjusted I was able to notice a single locker that had gone unmolested in comparison to the rest of the room. It had a numbered lock on it, but I didn't have time to try and work out the combination.
I put up my left hand into a handseal, "Hyouton: Aisuyaiba". (Ice Element: Ice Blade)
A hard blade of ice formed around my right hand, which I brought down immediately on to the lock, shattering it under the sharp blade. I knew my use of the technique would likely be detected by the Quiraji above, but it was less risky than taking my time in breaking through the lock with a pick.
Opening the double locker doors, I breathed out a slight sigh of relief as I saw that the reason I'd come there was still intact.
Inside was a set of Chakra Armour, one of the first of its kind. It had been one of the initial prototypes, which had been notoriously temperamental and prone to exploding. They'd been placed into storage when the next generation had been created and all of the sets of Chakra Armour had been destroyed during the invasion when their wearers had been killed.
Except for this one.
It was the female model, which was handy as I pulled it out and struggled with how heavy the main body was. I'd never worn Chakra Armour before; they were reserved for the shinobi above my station. Even at the height of our village's power before the death of the royal family and the disappearance of the princess, there had only ever been ten sets of Chakra Armour at once.
Chakra Armour negates any ninjutsu or genjutsu that is directed at the user, though that gave no benefit against Quiraji warriors that don't even use chakra for their attacks. However the reason I'd risked so much to get here was because Chakra Armour uses several power sources to increase the user's chakra exponentially, and the power of their techniques. I knew it was risky to don the armour, as all it would do is put me in an aggressive mindset.
But I could use some aggression right now.
Removing my shinobi vest and tossing the tattered piece of clothing on to the floor, I shouldered the armour on and grimaced at the cold feel of it against my skin. The moment the first power source slid into my shoulder I felt a surge of chakra through my body, a shock that I hadn't felt for years.
It was such a rush I quickly pulled on the rest of the armour and zipped it up, the other power sources shooting electricity through my body.
I felt like I could take on an army of Quiraji soldiers with my bare hands. I would take their heads and crush them under my boots. They would suffer for the things they'd done.
Though it was a bit tight on my chest.
oOoOoOo
It took only a few minutes for the Quiraji to encompass the building, with four Black Robes and a single soldier clad in dark red armour that I had seen leading them in battle. I had never seen the sensory types that were so easily able to pinpoint whenever one of us used chakra, but they had been the bane of my existence.
However this time I felt powerful enough to take them all out with my bare fists.
I jogged up the staircase and simultaneously ran through a set of handseals, feeling the ominous presence of my enemies just outside the door. I could hear them marshalling for an attack and knew I had to get out of there fast before the building was brought down on top of my head.
Clapping my hands together I slammed my hands into the ground beneath me, praying that the technique would work in the way I wanted it to.
"Doton: Shougeki Tsuchi!" (Earth Element: Shattering Ground)
Expanding outwards from my position within the building the ground began to shake violently, causing a number of items within the house to slam into the ground. Outside I could hear cries of alarm as large cracks began to form all around my position, even as the foundations of the building started to collapse.
It quickly became difficult to stay on my feet as the earthquake began to spiral out of control, with large sections of the building pulling apart as the ground split open as if to reveal the demons within, with dozens of Quiraji soldiers falling in and being trapped deep inside.
I quickly removed my hands to stop the technique, but the aftershocks continued as some of the Quiraji forces recovered quickly and noticed my presence through one of the large holes in the building I was in.
Muttering under my breath I ran through a rapid set of handseals and flicked my hands towards the front row, sending a wide spread of ice shards that impaled them to their comrades behind them, even as I was running forward with weapons in hand.
All the rage that'd been accumulating in my chest over the past few days rose to the surface and my body began to work its terrible duty without emotion or remorse. I didn't care what happened to me in those moments, I just knew these people had to die.
I killed and I killed until I was nearly overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers.
Just as I nearly lost my head in a literal sense, my shinobi instincts kicked in and I fled the scene, leaving a trail of bodies in my wake as I sped back into the mountain range and lost myself in the newly growing snowstorm.
I'd reaped a terrible toll on the Quiraji forces, but as I took a glance back to see if there were any pursuers I realised that while I had killed dozens of their soldiers during my rampage, there were hundreds more still in the village.
I'd barely made a dent.
I normally love the cold. The icy bite on my skin as the wind forces you to acknowledge the power of nature; it was always something that I embraced since I was a child.
Tonight I can't stand it.
I couldn't remember much of the previous battle; the adjustment to the chakra enhancement of the Chakra Armour was like nothing I could have predicted.
The moment the adrenaline wore off I found myself dragging my feet along the snow. I wasn't sure why they weren't pursuing me; I'd left enough of a trail for a pack of wolves to hunt me down and devour me without any effort necessary on their part. I certainly wasn't complaining by any stretch of the imagination, but it was getting harder and harder to drag myself up the mountain side. I had no clue where I was going, but anywhere that wasn't home was enough.
I forced out a chuckle at my situation before squinting my eyes at a strange image in front of me.
Sitting on its back legs and giving me a disgruntled stare was a large white bear, a streak of grey fur running down its back designating it as an old patriarch. It reminded me of some of the younger cubs I used to play with as a child. Those sessions wouldn't last long before the mother came roaring in and my father had to whisk me away to safety, but it was always a memory that brought a smile to my face.
The bear's eyes weren't hungry, or even threatening. It snorted at me for a moment before standing on its feet and slowly turning around before waddling across the snow.
I'm not one to believe in signs. I think I'd tear my hair just by the past week's events alone.
But something about the old bear compelled me to follow it, even as the Chakra Armour kept weighing me down and making every step agonisingly slow.
Keep pushing forward girl. If you can take this next step, you'll be…
I found myself laughing hysterically at the fact that I didn't have a cheesy line to help motivate myself, which felt absurd as I moved around a small rock formation and put up my hand to shield my face as a blast of wind came down the mountainside.
I temporarily lost sight of the patriarch and tried to get my bearings, taking note of the fact that I was much higher up the mountain compared to home than the last place I'd been staying in. The higher up the mountain I went, the less air there was to breathe, though the Chakra Armour was helping mitigate the difference.
After a few minutes of stumbling around and wondering what my next move should be, I felt a strange bump against my leg. I was too tired to spin around and retaliate against the unknown enemy force, figuring that if they were determined enough they'd get through my defences regardless.
To my surprise, at my feet was a small bear cub, backing up a few metres before bounding forward playfully and butting its head into my leg.
I stared at it for a few moments, not sure whether to laugh or to cry at the adorable cub. It charged forward and butted its head again against my leg. With a confused chuckle I reached down and picked up the bear cub, cradling it in my arms.
The cub didn't protest upon being picked up, though it did start trying to gnaw on my arm with its barely-grown teeth. The Chakra Armour wasn't so easily pierced, but it did brighten my mood at the little animal's enthusiasm.
With a shrug, I started to carry the bear cub in the direction that I thought the bear patriarch had gone to. After a few minutes it gave up trying to bite my arm and started to doze off, bringing a grin to my face that had been absent for what felt like forever.
It reminded me of when I nursed my little baby. Though that had been decades ago the feeling was still right at the forefront.
I tried to shake the image out of my head; it would only lead to memories of what had happened last week. I'd been fairly composed about it, but it would only take a few things to bring that all back. I doubted I would be able to function after that, so I needed to stay strong.
Within a minute the bear cub was making adorable little sleeping noises in my arms, even as my legs powered through the snow loudly. I wasn't using chakra to keep myself going, the armour seemed to keep my strength up all by itself, but thankfully after twenty minutes I caught a glimpse of an opening in the mountainside.
I didn't want to wake up Little Cuddly (as he was subsequently named), but shelter would be nice for the remainder of the night. I could get my bearings and re-evaluate my situation.
Walking closer to the opening I saw a pair of young bears standing in the entrance to a wide cave. They growled loudly for a moment as I walked towards the opening, seemingly uninterested in attacking or mauling me. I figured it was because of the cub, but I was still cautious in my approach. The bears sniffed at me for a moment before snorting and turning their gazes back to the falling snow outside.
I sighed in relief that I didn't have to kill such creatures, though in my state I doubted I could've taken them without using chakra.
The moment I stepped into the cave, Little Cuddly woke up and began struggling in my arms. I gently placed him on the cave floor and watched as he fell over his feet trying to run frantically. Watching the bear cub stumble its way into the cave, I shrugged and walked after it, curious as to where it was going.
The cave wasn't as cold as I would've thought, though I suspected the Chakra Armour I was wearing had an inbuilt thermal power source. The cave was surprisingly deep, with a number of different sized bears giving me strange glances but again didn't give my presence the slightest interest.
I'd given up on guessing why I was being given a free pass, though it became clear as I saw the bear cub nuzzling into the size of a massive bear matriarch with a dozen of its siblings.
The matriarch gave me a yellow-eyed glare, but only for a second before grunting a loud sigh that I could sympathise with and laid her head back on the cave floor.
"This is as good as any place, I guess."
I reached up and pulled at my hair tie, letting the blonde hair I'd bundled up fall past my shoulders. It was nice to be able to relax for a change, though if the bears devour me in my sleep…I guess that'd be a fitting ending.
Moving my hands up the back of the Chakra Armour I felt at the buttons, trying to remember what sequence was needed to deactivate the locks.
"Hmm…is that…wait…"
A few minutes later it occurred to me that I'd been trying to open it correctly the whole time and the Chakra Armour wasn't responding at all.
"Ah shit…that would explain why it wasn't being used anymore."
Without being able to see what I was working with, there was no way I was going to be able to get the Chakra Armour off. I almost put my hands into the handseal to create a Kage Bunshin to do it for me; until it occurred to me that I couldn't use chakra without the Quiraji below discovering my location.
While I no longer cared for my own safety, that much was slowly becoming clear, I didn't want to put these creatures at risk.
Seeing nothing else to do about it, I settled myself into a corner and rubbed my arms to try and get warmer. After a little while I found myself drifting off to sleep, once again plagued by things that I wished would just stay away.
Without my noticing, a number of the little bear cubs wandered over and sat themselves on my lap.
Pretty sure I wasn't going to get eaten tonight.
Though stranger things have happened.
The next morning I stretched out my arms and made funny faces at the bear cubs as they sat in front of me in a little pile of adorable fur. I found myself deeply regretting the fact that I couldn't remove the Chakra Armour and a part of me was grateful that none of my friends could see me doing the things I needed to.
But then one of the larger bears came and grunted at me, and I got the message. I rubbed noses with one of the bear cubs who was nice enough to only half-heartedly try and bite my nose off.
I nodded my thanks to the animals, still not sure why they let me stay for the night. As I walked out of the cave into the surprisingly bright morning, the cubs bounded after me until they were scared off by what I assumed were either their parents or their teachers.
Breathing in the fresh air, I wondered what I was going to do with myself. I was going to go through a list of ideas, but just as I was about to go into an introspective mood, I noticed something quite peculiar.
Standing in the snow facing the village was a young Quiraji soldier, seemingly standing by himself with no comrades nearby. His pants were down at his ankles and I figured he was doing something that I was suddenly insanely jealous of.
I wanted to kill him just on general principle, but another idea came to my head that sounded much more promising.
Cracking my knuckles and grimacing as the Chakra Armour nearly made me accidently actually crack the bones knuckles, I stepped towards him.
I was going to take my time with this one.
I threw a bowl of freezing cold water into the Quiraji's face, glaring hatefully at him as he was roused from unconsciousness.
"Do you speak Japanese?"
The Quiraji soldier looked up at me for a moment with a terrified look in his eyes, and it was then I realised that he was just a young boy, probably no older than my son had been. He didn't respond to my question, though it amused me that he'd already begun to wet his pants.
To be fair, I had interrupted him mid-stream.
Under the assumption that he could speak the language, I pointed to the blood stains on the walls around the two of us. I'd cleaned out the bodies of my dead comrades and buried them in the snow, but I hadn't had the heart to clean off the blood, even though I wasn't staying here anymore.
"These shinobi were just kids. They had done nothing at all and you butchered them without a thought."
My prisoner quivered under the hateful stare I gave him, "I'm just a soldier! I haven't killed anyone!"
"Ah, so you can speak." I made my way back towards him and pulled out a kunai, driving into the arm of the chair just next to his fingers. "I don't care if you have been the nicest person in the world. These were just children! They deserved better than what they got."
Reaching over to a table I had prepared nearby, I showed my prisoner a scalpel I had prepared. During my time in the ANBU I hadn't been in the torture division, but after being a shinobi for forty years I knew what to do to get what I needed.
And what I needed right now was revenge.
"Please…please don't hurt me…" stammered my prisoner, but he didn't do anything to dissuade my resolve. "I'm just a soldier!"
I slammed the scalpel into his hand, causing him to scream out in pain. "I've seen what soldiers do! Don't try and use that as an excuse!"
"Okay…okay…I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!"
With deliberate movements I slowly pulled out the scalpel and placed it on the table. He struggled through his restraints in pain, but I felt no sympathy whatsoever for him. It was his kind that had killed my friends and family, and I swore that I would make them pay.
Taking a long breath to centre myself, I wringed my hands intimidatingly and glared down at the terrified soldier. "Now, how many Quiraji soldiers are in the village?"
He stuttered for a few moments, but as I picked up a vial of something that looked like poison despite the fact that it was simply dark green alcohol.
"I…don't know! I'm just a scout, no one important!"
Leaning forward I grinned maliciously, "Then that's unfortunately for you. If you don't have the information I need, this is going to take a long…long time."
"Thousands! There are five battalions deployed here!"
"Interesting," I said with a curt nod. "And what was your goal here?"
To my surprise his expression snapped to a serious hateful glare that was reminiscent of the looks I'd been giving him.
"To kill every last one of you."
A part of me respected his sudden flip; though that meant that my initial approach would no longer work. I moved my face towards his ear.
"You failed."
Moving back to my prepared tray, I started to filter through the tools I scavenged. "Next question. Who is your leader?"
Despite the distance between the two of us, the Quiraji soldier spat into my hair. I clenched my hands in fury, but kept my cool as I pulled up a curved kunai and turned back to my prisoner.
Using my free hand to wipe his spit off of my blonde hair, I started to walk towards him menacingly.
"I repeat. Who is your leader?"
oOoOoOo
Washing my hands for the tenth time in a vain attempt to get the blood off, I considered what my next move would have to be. I was no expert torturer, but I knew enough to know when a prisoner was telling the truth. If I worked on that assumption, I could focus my efforts.
Whoever this Benkei is, he's clearly an important figure in the Quiraji war effort. If he's in the village, then I'm the only one who can take him down. It wouldn't bring back my family and my people, but it would feel really good, and help soothe some of my inner rage.
I'm going to kill him if it's the last thing I do.
Standing with my hair blowing in the wind, I looked down at my village with sad eyes. The information I'd gotten from the Quiraji soldier had made my decisions for me and for once I wasn't unsure about the path I was on.
The time for stealth was over.
Running through five handseals quickly I placed my hand on a patch of snow in front of me. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
Through a small puff of smoke emerged a small wolf cub, scratching its white and grey ears with one of its paws. It looked up at me and a cute smile came over its teeth-filled face.
"Aunty Sapph! Are we going to play today?"
With a shake of my head, I reached down and scratched at the little wolf's head, "No, not today, Mari. I need you to go and get your grandfather."
The wolf cub stared at me through adorable yellow eyes, "Really? Are you sure? He's been in a bad mood for…"
"…about two decades, yes, I'm aware. But I promised him that if it came to this, I'd invite him. He'd hold it against me for…well as long as the last grudge I guess."
I kneeled down and pet the cub before standing back, "Quickly, Mari. I don't have much time."
The wolf cub chuckled and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Looking back down at the village, it was clear that they'd detected my use of chakra, despite how little it was. It was early in the morning, but I could see large groups of Quiraji soldiers mobilising in the passageways of the village. It was difficult to see any specific details of their deployments, but I'd be willing to guess that there were scattered Black Robes within the ranks.
I told myself I wasn't going to flinch. I swore to myself that I wouldn't let him get an edge over me.
But right on cue, a giant cloud of smoke appeared in front of me, blasting me off my feet.
With a loud groan I picked myself up off the snow, watching as the smoke dissipated and a giant white wolf emerged from within. It was easily five times the size of the bear patriarch; its scythed paws were as big as I was. A long streak of red ran across its back, and its black and yellow eyes gave me the same deathful stare that it gave me when I first signed the summoning contract.
As much as I disliked the great wolf, I still gave him a respectful nod. "Good morning, sir."
The wolf lord stared at me like I was a piece of game it was hunting before letting out a loud grunt of disapproval.
"You've gotten old," he said with a gravelly voice.
I frowned and glanced over his large form, "And you've gotten fat."
A loud snarl emerged from his jaws before he turned around on his haunches. "Disrespectful wench. Clearly nothing has changed." He glanced down at the village below, "Why did you summon me? I told you that you'd forfeited the right to call me decades ago."
I let out a sigh and walked around to stand at his side, "You also told me that when it was time…"
"…so it would seem," finished the large wolf. "What are you considering?"
With a load crack of my neck, I began stretching my arms. "There is a man down there that I have to take out. The likelihood of my surviving is pretty low, so I could use some support."
The great wolf turned his head to regard me with an amused look in his old eyes, "You grew some balls, Sapphire. What makes you think I'll risk my pack on something like that?"
"Because you've got nothing better to do?"
The wolf grunted in response before rearing his head and howling deafeningly into the air. I covered my ears and winced painfully, but I couldn't help keep a smirk on my face at his response.
As the roar slowly came to its end, dozens of clouds of smoke appeared around us. The large wolf began scratching at the snow in front of him, while grunting a number of expletives that turned my ears a terrible crimson colour.
The wolves that appeared from the clouds of smoke were scarred and weathered, much like their patriarch. I wasn't sure what was going on at first, as the youngsters of the wolves were almost never absent from a good hunt. But it soon became clear as the last wolf appeared and I counted just over a score at my side, not including their leader.
"I'm honoured that you're fighting at my side one last time."
He snorted and took a step forward, "Don't think this means I like you. Your hair is still stupid."
I barked out a laugh and began running towards my old home. I had no clue where my quarry was, but I would find him regardless. The elder wolves easily overtook me in their enthusiastic charge, quickly followed by the thundering sounds of their leader bounding forward and leading the attack with a series of terrifying roars.
Using the Chakra Armour to boost my speed, I kept up with the summoned creatures as I told the wolf leader the specifics on who we were fighting.
"I'll see you on the other side!" I yelled over the raging wind.
"That still sounds stupid!"
I swore loudly and began to run through a long set of handseals for our first assault.
I never get to have any fun.
oOoOoOo
Marshalling their forces towards the mountainside, the Quiraji soldiers stood in formation and lined up their pikes in anticipation for the charge.
"Why the hell are we fighting animals?" complained one of the soldiers. "In such crappy weather too!"
"Bleh, it's just a bit of snow," said another with a grin. "Didn't you ever get deployed in the Ranges back home?"
The first soldier snorted loudly, "Only deadbeats get sent to the Ranges."
A soldier in dark red armour walked up behind the group, drawing his sword and barking orders at them to stand to. The Quiraji soldiers grumbled but stood ready as it appeared like the mountain was determined to swoop down and destroy them.
The snowy mountain was drowned out by the load roars of what sounded like a pack of rabid wolves charging towards them, though that in turn was drowned out by a strange female voice.
"HYOUTON: FUBUKI KAKUYOKU!" (Ice Element: Swallow Snow Storm)
A section of snow rose out of the mountain side and formed into icy birds that started to swoop down onto the Quiraji forces. The birds slammed into the Quiraji soldiers and cut through their armour and flesh like it wasn't there, killed scores of soldiers in the first volley alone as the wolves leapt into the Quiraji ranks and began tearing them limb from limb.
With the Chakra Armour enhancing the technique, Sapphire leapt over a rank of Quiraji soldiers and began running on the rooftops in her search for the mysterious Quiraji leader. The ice birds continued to slam into the soldier ranks, but the Quiraji had recovered quickly.
The Red Warrior snarled and swiped at a collection of ice birds seeking to take his head off, destroying them with little effort. "Hold the line! They are just animals!"
Several Quiraji soldiers stepped back as an elder wolf tore the throat out of one of their companions. Their leader stepped forward and with a sweep of his sword removed the wolf's head even as it snapped at his arms before dying quickly.
"Get back in line, soldiers," he said threateningly. The Quiraji soldiers all collectively gulped before stepping back and holding their positions.
Skidding on her feet and spinning around to regard her pursuers, Sapphire completed her set of handseals and pointed both her hands towards the dozen Quiraji bowmen.
"Hyouton: Haryuu Mouko!" (Ice Element: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger)
A long ice tiger emerged from her hands and slammed through the Quiraji bowmen, freezing them in place before the force caused them to shatter into thousands of pieces. The ice technique began twisting around and slamming through buildings and soldiers alike, Sapphire letting the technique run rampart while she reconsidered her position. A large portion of the Quiraji force had been at the edges of the village to receive their strike, but there was also a collection near the centre that drew her attention.
"Coward…letting his soldiers do the dying while he stays safe from harm."
She began moving towards her new target, while the wolf patriarch finally reached the Snow Village and started his bloody work. His sheer bulk was enough to destroy buildings with every swipe of his claws, while the Quiraji soldiers that sought to take him down were torn to bits by his giant teeth.
A Red Warrior stepped towards him as his subordinates died to the great wolf's blows, bringing up his sword with a confidence that the summoned patriarch found thoroughly insulting.
He brought his jaw towards the Red Warrior and let out a roar that burst the eardrums of any Quiraji soldiers nearby, though the Red Warrior still came at him unflinching.
The great wolf snarled and opened his mouth wide, "Koori Otakebi!" (Icy Roar)
A large blizzard emerged from his jaws and froze the air between him and the Red Warrior, though it was clear the Red Warrior was not affected by his technique directly.
But the air had gotten very cold, and the Quiraji soldier's strength was drained by the new deadly environment, and was too slow to stop the large wolf slicing him into three pieces with his claws.
A collection of arrows slammed into his side and caused him to roar in pain, far more than he would have thought normal arrows could have done. Turning his giant head to his attackers, the wolf leader sent another blast of icy wind into them from a distance, causing them to freeze and shatter rapidly.
Breathing through his teeth, the wolf patriarch winced as he felt another of his pack fall to the sheer numbers of their opponents. They knew what they were getting into, but the pain still existed in his heart.
With a loud roar of fury, he leapt away and started to create a war path into the centre of the village.
Landing in the middle of a group of Quiraji soldiers, Sapphire extended her arms out and fuelled her chakra through her Chakra Armour to create long ice spears that she gripped tightly before swinging them in a deadly circle, cutting down five soldiers as they charged at her. Spinning like a dancer and dodging each sword strike like it was nothing, Sapphire carved out a bloody path through the Quiraji soldiers before burying her two ice blades into the front of a Black Robe that had been trying to hurl sharp rocks of earth at her from his bare hands.
The ice spears dissipated the moment they pierced the Black Robe's chest, but the force had crushed his chest regardless. Sapphire regarded his corpse for only a moment before spinning around and throwing her body back to avoid a hail of arrows sent at her position. She concentrated for a moment and created two large ice gauntlets covered in spikes on her hands, counting slowly in her head before emerging out into the open and bashing away some of the newly shot arrows before reaching the bowmen and destroying them with her weapons.
She let her ice gauntlets fall to the floor and reached up to feel at her head. Her hand came back bloody, but the adrenaline had relieved her of the pain for the time being. Taking a breath to calm herself as she reconstituted a new set of ice weapons through the Chakra Armour, Sapphire once again moved towards the group of Quiraji soldiers that hopefully contained the man she was determined to kill.
oOoOoOo
A Black Robe came up to the quiet man and handed him a scroll. The large man took the scroll and dismissed him quickly, reading the information before tossing it onto the snowy ground.
"What do we do?" asked a nearby soldier, clutching at his arms in an attempt to fight the cold. "We're getting slaughtered out there!"
The Black Robe gave him a dark stare before turning back to the man he'd handed the scroll to, "Shall we retreat, sir? This village has already been cleansed. What can one shinobi possibly try to do?"
The man turned to the Black Robe and the colour drained from the Quiraji warrior's face. He immediately put up his hands, "I'm sorry for questioning you, sir! I just mean…it's just one shinobi. Surely we can just let them die on their own?"
"That is not the point," said the man as he turned back to the village being destroyed around them.
Just as the Black Robe was about to ask him what he meant, a wolf came bounding over one of their barricades and tore into one of their soldiers with its claws and teeth. Putting out one of his weathered hands, the Black Robe set the wolf on fire in an instant, causing the wolf to yelp in pain for several moments while it thrashed around before dying on top of the dead Quiraji soldier.
"To ensure your enemy is dead, you must kill them with your own hands," said the man, which the soldiers around him nodded quickly in agreement.
The Black Robe replicated the motion before collecting his robe around his feet and moving back to the man's side. "Yes, Lord Benkei."
The Quiraji leader removed his hands from being crossed over his chest and regarded the destruction occurring around them. By the sounds in front of them, their quarry had come to them.
Just as he'd planned.
Suddenly a wolf the size of a building crashed through the Quiraji ranks, killing dozens with each sweep of its giant claws and ripping their soldiers to bits within its powerful jaws. Its dark eyes fixated on the Quiraji leader and it sprang towards him, casting a wide shadow under his feet as it aimed to crush him under its massive weight.
Benkei reached up with a fist before bringing it down to the ground directly in front of him.
The wolf froze in mid-air for a second like it had struck a wall of solid concrete before being sent crashing into the ground with a sickening crunch of broken bones and limbs.
Immediately the Quiraji soldiers swarmed the giant wolf and started stabbing it with their weapons, as their leader barely made a note of the beast's demise and turned his ancient gaze to the remainder of the battle.
The weight of numbers was slowly pulling down the wolves with seemingly minimal casualties, the first assault had been the most devastating but his trained soldiers had recovered quickly and cut them down every time one of them jumped to attack them.
Turning his head slightly as if hearing a sound that no one around him could, Benkei let a shadow of a grin appear on his face before spinning around and putting up an open hand like he was crushing an apple.
Hanging in the air was an armoured shinobi with ice-covered weapons covering her body, a long streak of blood running down what he assumed was meant to be a sandy blonde head of hair.
He took a deliberate step towards the floating shinobi and watched as her icy armaments fell to the ground and the odd blue glow on her armour dissipated.
The middle aged woman tried to struggle in the air, but Benkei's grip was ruthless. He clenched his hand slightly and she screamed out in pain.
"And so dies another shinobi."
He brought the last Snow shinobi closer to him so he could see her expression.
Struggling through bloody teeth, Sapphire stared at him hatefully.
"I die free."
Benkei brought her even closer and whispered quietly, "But you die, nonetheless."
He clenched his hand into a fist.
Sheltering his eyes from the constant storm, Kiba gave his cousin a smirk, "I told you I knew the path. Oh ye of little faith."
Nagisa ignored him and stared down at the village below them, keeping a hand firmly grasping a white tuff of fur of Yuki, her wolf companion. "Something has happened to the village."
The Inuzuka heir gave a suspicious look before taking a sniff of the air. The storm was messing with his sense of smell, but Kiba was a specialist tracker for a reason. "There are hundreds of scents down there. I don't recognise any of them though."
"The men who tortured you aren't down there," said Nagisa quietly.
"I'm flattered you remember them." Kiba patted Akamaru's back lightly as they started to move to a ridge closer to the village proper. "I dunno why Gaara wants to connect with this lot so much. They'd never help with the war effort."
Yuki barked twice underneath Nagisa, causing the both her and Kiba to frown and stare down at the entrance to the village.
"That can't be right…" muttered Kiba, though Akamaru quickly repeated Yuki's observation and the Inuzuka heir snarled in response. "Nagisa, what do you think?"
The dark haired shinobi considered their position for a moment before giving Yuki a slight tap and moving down the mountain slope. Kiba sighed and gave Akamaru a short bark of an order before holding on for dear life as the enthusiastic white dog leapt high into the air and went into free fall on the way behind Nagisa.
Minutes later Kiba and Akamaru slammed into the ground, with both of them giving their companions death glares before turning to the Snow Village in front of them.
"Something is seriously wrong, Kiba," said Nagisa, hopping off Yuki's back and kneeling down to pick up a small collection of snow in her gloved hands.
Kiba sniffed at the air cautiously before giving his cousin a quick set of hand signals. Nagisa nodded and barked quietly at Yuki before hopping back onto her mane and the two of them faded into the white background. Kiba clapped his hands together momentarily and transformed into a white wolf that looked similar to Akamaru before the two of them started running back up the mountain side.
Just as they left a patrol of Quiraji warriors made their way to where they had landed, chatting among themselves as they hide their faces under brown hoods. They continued to talk for several minutes before one of them noticed the strange paw prints that were slowly being covered by the falling snow.
He leant down to check to make sure that they weren't just native wolf tracks, but as his companions huddled around him, the two Inuzukas struck.
Kiba and Akamaru slammed into the group from their blind spot into a cyclonic Tsuuga, ripping three of them apart before they could react. As the remaining two jumped back in surprise and reached for their weapons, Nagisa and Yuki reappeared and bit into their necks, killing them instantly.
Taking a moment to kick at one of the corpses, Kiba spat on the ground and wiped some of the blood from his bushy tail. "So they've come this far into the mountain side."
Nagisa spat the blood from her mouth onto the snow as if it was poison and wiped her red lips, "Gods I hate that taste."
"Then why do you bite? You have claws, and kunai, and plenty of things."
The older Inuzuka shinobi shrugged and looked down at the bodies, "My way is quicker."
"And more disgusting," muttered Kiba, looking over at Akamaru for approval before realising that the large white dog was relieving himself on the body of one of the Quiraji soldiers. "Animal…"
Both Nagisa and Kiba noticed the scent at the same time, though both of them were struggling not to be nauseous at how wrong it smelt.
Holding his nose between his fingers, Kiba struggled to hop back onto Akamaru's back while Nagisa was more gracious on mounting her companion as the two animals gave each other a look before moving away from the village.
"We should…get a look before…we leave…" yelled Nagisa over the distance between the two fleeing animals.
"Not a chance!" yelled Kiba back. "Something like that…no way!"
Nagisa gave him a disapproving glare, but didn't argue the point as their companions quickly put a large distance between them and the village they had spent weeks searching for. She'd worked with him for a long time and wasn't the assertive type to take command, so she understood that he made the decision for both of their safety.
That didn't mean that she wasn't going to disagree with him, but she'd sensed the same thing he had, and had no interest in going back to get some information on it.
Hours later they had made significant distance back to Sunagakure, though they took a few moments to rest before moving on to reporting to the first scouting position at the border to the Land of Wind.
"What are we going to tell the Kazekage?" asked Nagisa, taking a long swig of her water bottle before pouring out the rest onto a small bowl for Yuki to drink from.
Kiba tore a chunk from some dried meat, ignoring the pestering of Akamaru at his side. "We'll have to report what we saw. Yukigakure is gone. We were too late."
Author's Note:
So what did you think? I wanted to convey some of the darker elements of the war, where the good guys don't always win. Please tell me what you think; I'd love some feedback on this style. I switched back to third person for the final battle because there were some bits that she wasn't there for that I wanted to write.
Okay, that chapter was in two weeks. I can do this; I was able to churn out a chapter a week when I was much busier. I'll work harder.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.