AN: I wish I was a better writer. Alas.
No word from official political sources about the details behind Anzu's retirement from the Anbu Black Ops and subsequent legal guardianship of me: Kurokusa, Genin of Konoha. I didn't consider this strange, the whole thing was probably classified, but I had no idea why they thought so highly of me, a person who scored a perfect fifty percent across the board in the ninja academy.
"Listen my cute little student…" She was now sitting atop a rock meditating? "...Today we were assigned a B-rank mission. So, I'd like to see examples of what Jutsu you know."
Oh boy. Here we go. My big reveal.
"Chakra release: Chakra bullet!" I made a finger gun and pointed it at the target on the opposite end of the training field.
The chakra bullet made an explosion at the tip of my finger before the magenta energy shot forward and slammed into a tree. The tree, in the path of the supersonic blast of chakra withstood the attack but a small chunk of bark blew off.
"Oi… oi… wait… what?" Anzu immediately stood up and looked at the tree and back at me multiple times. "What the hell was that?!" She was wearing her mask so I couldn't see her face again. I thought Anbu had to hand their masks in but I guess she didn't want to be seen in public without it. So while she still wore it, it wasn't white anymore. The colors were inverted. It was purple with white stripes instead of white with purple stripes. What that meant I had no clue. But she no longer had her Anbu Captain white cloak.
"Chakra release: Chakra bullet?" I suggested.
"Pure chakra… with no element?" She asked, her hands were out to her sides.
"Yeah. I don't have an element. So I can't use elements."
"Everyone has an element, are you saying… wait…" She walked up to me and pressed her hand against the top of my head. I felt chakra, how invasive. She went silent for a moment.
"I… don't understand." She said, withdrawing her hand and entering a deep thought. Then all of a sudden she set her first into the palm of her hand. Coming to a realization. "Natural energy! Your chakra is probably natural energy…? But how…? Show me again. Something bigger."
"Bigger?" I asked.
"Destroy that tree, if you can." She shrugged and the last half of that sentence sounded smug.
Of course I can, who does this chick think she is?! God I hate it when people doubt my power! My perfection! How da-
I ended my thoughts before they became too much of a hindrance and channeled more chakra into my finger tips, holding both of them out and pointed at the same tree. More chakra. Truth be told if I released all of it at once the recoil or blasts would probably kill me. And I had tried it before. But not as much chakra as this. Wait what the hell was I doing?
Two giant magenta balls of compressed chakra formed at my finger tips and I release my hold on the opposing side. It was a difficult thing to do, one that I mastered. Holding compressed chakra, releasing it, resealing, and then releasing.
"Chakra Release: One hundred bullets!"
To the naked eye, it may have looked like an A10 Thunderbolt II or Warthog strike. It sure as hell sounded like it. I watched the entire treeline erupt in splinters and dirt, but I was sent flying backwards, even with my heels dug in.
"Wahahahahaha!" Anzu started laughing diabolically, right into my ear as she caught me. "That was fucking awesome!"
My ears were ringing.
"Whoa! That was so cool!" Narumi shouted as she ran over to us.
So anyways. Chakra exhaustion. The world faded to black around me and I slumped into unconsciousness.
I stirred, my eyes cracked open. I couldn't believe my eyes. "Oh what the fuck!"
I was dangling over the edge of a cliff next to waterfall and I couldn't move my arms or legs. I was… in a sleeping bag?! I saw Narumi's sleepy eyed smile, she was run ragged. We cleared the cliff-face and Anzu rolled me onto the ground, I struggled free of the sleeping bag and looked at her with contempt.
"Explain." Was all I said as I struggled to regain composure. How did I not wake up being carried by a ninja in a sleeping bag?
"Well princess. Somebody had to carry you… and you're a lot heavier than when you were a baby!"
Well that would explain why I didn't wake up. "Wait what? You were the one who carried me to the leaf village?"
"Yeah so?" She shrugged. "What I want to know is why you know that?"
"I was told that I was brought from Grass after my
parents were killed." I lied, truthfully I remembered everything as a child but I didn't want to let her know that.
"I see." She said, and shrugged.
It probably wasn't a big deal to her, she'd probably done it many times before. She was an Anbu back then too if I remember. With the same mask. Though a lot younger.
"Alright? You good? Now be quiet so I can brief everyone on our mission. We're close." Anzu said and dropped to a crouch, we did the same around her. Then she told us what we're doing out here.
Apparently there was a bandit encampment that was harassing civilian caravans. Scouting reports indicated that they were hole up inside of a natural cavern with
multiple entrances and any attempts from local land of fire samurai enforcers typically ended with the bandits abandoning the hideout long before they ever made it inside. So, with that in mind. It was likely that the enemy had a ninja or a few that regularly patrolled their perimeter so they could escape whenever they wanted. Due to the density of the forest and rough terrain around the caverns, the samurai couldn't mobilize a sizable enough force to move fast enough through the forest to capture them. So that's where we came in. A samurai force was on standby on the road leading from the capital to Hanasaku-Gai. They had our reward and we were getting paid per body or prisoner.
"They expect us to carry the bodies to them?" Ryuko asked.
"Yeah, it was hard enough to carry Narumi, how are we gonna actually carry a dead body?" I was of the same opinion.
"Tch. Unbelievable." Narumi muttered.
"That, my cute little students is where these come in." She had a whole satchel of them, and plopped them down in front of us. Small scrolls with a red exterior. "Corpse scrolls." She said bluntly.
"Ah! That makes this a lot easier. I guess I can fight with all I have and not have to worry about how big the people I kill are." Ryuko said with a smile.
"Hmm…" Narumi nodded but was lost in thought. "Are we really ready for this?"
"That, Narumi-chan… is something for you all to decide on your own." Anzu said cryptically and rose to her feet. Thus marked the end of the briefing.
Apparently we were just going to stealthily approach and then invade the hideout before they knew we were there. Not like simple bandits could run away from us. The real problem would be the nin. However many there were.
"Two hours of rest. Then we make our move." Anzu stated.
"Good." Narumi slumped onto the ground and was out like a light.
Ryuko found a spot in the trees to get some rest.
"How hard did you push them?" I asked.
"Hard." Anzu started and disappeared in a flicker. Guess that left me to watch over my teammates in the middle of the fuck knows where forest.
The time passed slowly. I used chakra to heighten my senses, I could feel an occasional flicker of chakra just within range. It was familiar, so it was definitely Anzu.
Beyond the sound of Narumi's regular soft breathing and Ryuko's snoring. There was no sound. It was eerily quiet. Like the birds knew if they made a sound, they'd die or something?
Anzu landed next to me. "Boo." She said.
Felt her coming. "Not this time." I said with a sigh and got up from my resting place in the trees.
"Time to go."
So we kicked Narumi's leg. Rolled Ryuko out of the tree and began our assault.
Like cheetahs, we ran, like jaguars we stuck to the trees. Well they did, I kind of slithered with unexaggerated movements like the ever elusive river eel. Grotesquely unnatural natural movements that looked as though I was walking on a familiar path with my hands in my hoodie pockets. I took the path in which I wouldn't have to duck or lower my posture. To do so I was forced to go the long way and yet managed to keep up with my teammates despite making no obvious increased effort to do so.
Finally, we came to a stop in the treeline, it was a clearing. There was a freshwater spring here, a viable location for a camp deep into the woods. Water flowed out and down into a small creek. I spotted at least three different entrances in this cliff face, about a kilometer in length.
There were bandits outside and talking freely without a care in the world. Tables were brought out and it was obvious that this was the right place.
"How many do you think you can take out with those chakra bullets of yours?" Anzu's head was turned in my direction, but although I couldn't see her expression I could hear the anticipation in her voice. She could probably just as easily kill them all with kunai but she wanted to see it in action against living targets.
"Maybe about fifty percent of them." I stated bluntly.
Narumi rolled her eyes. "Then we'll do the rest on your signal."
"Mmhm. I want to see this as well." Ryuko stated.
Now we're talking.
"Chakra release: 10 chakra bullets!"
It was explosive releases, they never got a chance to hear the sounds though. I used one hand to shoot, bracing my arm with the other. And blasted holes through the heads of the bandits, their bodies jerked violently to the ground. And there was-
"So much blood!" Ryuko's eyes both glowed red and she leapt into the fray, her Sharingan were brilliant.
Narumi threw kunai next to me while Anzu followed after Ryuko. The two of them charged into the caves and the only evidence of where they were was the sounds of screaming coming from the entrances.
I scanned our surroundings. Three nin approaching from different directions. One from behind us.
Shit!
I pushed Narumi out of the way and shot the kunai with a chakra bullet at point-blank. I had barely felt the tip of it on my finger before it flew back towards the one who tossed it.
Tango down.
The nin fell to the ground, but I felt a sharp impact hit my ribs. Careless!
"Kuro!" She shouted.
I was sent flying through the air and the impact of a tree at my back knocked the wind out of me. I struggled to gasp for air. Damn it! Calm down! I looked up from the ground to search for Narumi.
Narumi was at the Nin's throat with a Kunai. Her iron grip had prevented his escape and she had stabbed him with so much speed and force that he was nailed down by the Kunai to the tree. His entire body was limp and the blood spray had covered her entire upper body in flecks of red. She jumped away. Eyes filled with terror, remorse. She was on the grass, wretching.
One left.
I recovered, got to me feet and put myself between him and Narumi. Where the hell were the other two? Anzu was so careless.
Just as I was thinking that. A kunai shot at me so fast I could barely register it. Still that didn't stop me from managing to deflect it. The man that came through the trees was dressed in all black with rage and tears in his eyes. "You… you killed them?! My brothers!? Die! You worthless scum!"
His killing intent was overpowering, and my knees locked in fear for a second. Still, I charged a chakra bullet and shot it at him. "Damn it Anzu!" I shouted and fired.
It made contact with his kunai, mostly deflected but left a large gash across his arm. I couldn't stop him, I raised the kunai and aimed to deflect it. I don't know why I'd throw away my life for somebody who just became my friend officially like last night. Maybe I was just that lonely of a bastard.
I grinned.
Then the man was gone, with a flash of white. "Eh?"
I looked in the direction the white flash had gone to see Anzu's foot crushed into the man's skull against a tree. Such brutality. In a way, I envied that man, but she wasn't bare foot so I could live with it.
I patted myself down. Unharmed. Mentally okay. Just a near desth experience. I looked at Narumi. She was pretty hit by the fact she killed somebody.
"Hey now… it's gonna be okay. You did good, you completed the mission and kept your friend safe."
"Mm… but still… the look in his eyes. I don't think I'll ever forget it." Narumi murmured.
Well, as long as she understood. I left her alone and looked at Anzu.
She was bloody, but none of it was hers. "I'll start sealing the bodies. Wash yourselves off and take a break." She said after a moment of looking us all over, to make sure we were unharmed, physically at least.
My ribs were sore, I don't think they were cracked or anything but they were definitely bruised.
Narumi got up again and started washing the blood from her clothes, hands, face and hair. She was shaking. I went with her. Ryuko was wearing a grin when walked up to us, but then came to a realization, and her expression sobered a bit. Maybe she felt her bloodlust was unnatural and didn't belong or something. I waved her over. She came.
We washed the blood of combat from our gear together, in silence.
Then I let out a deep sigh. "Really?!" I shouted, three more chakra signatures in the forest.
I dropped into a combat stance once again and Anzu was right next to us this time. "Don't do anything reckless this time Ryuko…" Anzu sounded irritated.
We waited, they were coming to us.