Original Publish Date: 10th-February-2016
A/N: This one goes out to Jd-dox, who was the only person to laugh at the Ao joke in Chapter 12. The ONLY person. Sniff.
Chapter 17 – Third Eye
Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I see can it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
.
But your pain is a tribute
The only thing you let hold you
Well now I'm a memento
Always there to remind you
- Third Eye, Florence + the Machine
Water Country, Higashikawa Town: Terumī Mei
Terumī Mei took a sip of her tea, happily looking over the other patrons of the tea-shop going about their daily lives. Being out in the open was far more satisfying than she had initially thought.
The benefactor from Konoha had turned out to be surprisingly resourceful.
Then again, by his own admission, he had managed to successfully infiltrate the isolated Water Nation, locate one of the members of the Resistance, and set up an alliance with the future government in less than 48 hours.
Despite their reputation as 'bleeding hearts' and a 'soft touch', one could never accuse Konoha of not producing some of the finest ninja the Elemental Nations had ever seen. 'Nanashi' was yet another example of the genii that Konoha seemed to have a production line of.
Her lips twitched before breaking out into a smile. He may have been an accomplished ninja, a suitable spy and an acceptable negotiator; but despite her original impression, he had clearly never been trained against seduction techniques. For someone like her, who used her sexuality as a weapon, igniting lust in her target and using his hormones against him was child's play. Against men, it really was too easy; a slight change in body language, a flutter of eyelashes, a suggestive lilt in her voice and they became putty in her hands. She sniffed, and they called women the weaker sex.
Indeed, once she had turned on the charm (albeit with her colleague's assistance) he was at her mercy, blushing and stuttering like an awkward teenager.
It was a fact that she intended to take full advantage of. Chivalrous he may have been, but chivalry was a weakness, and she was a seductress first and foremost. To not take advantage of his weakness would be anathema to her.
Although... There wasn't much she could take advantage of at the moment. She had already signed the agreement. He was bound to help her with her revolution, the same way she was bound to upholding the subventions to Konoha. Oh, if only she had realized his weakness during the negotiations...
Then she frowned, the skin on her borrowed face contorting unexpectedly. She had realized it during negotiations. But when she had tried to use it against him, he had retaliated by using a mouse against her. She was still stumped as to how he had figured out her disgust for the filthy furry disease-carrying abominations.
He couldn't be a mouse summoner could he!? She shuddered in revulsion at the thought. That would bury any attraction she felt for the long haired blond.
She was trained enough to acknowledge the fact that she felt a measure of attraction towards him; her job as a seductress was based upon manipulating such feelings after all. He was clearly attracted to her in return as well; heh, she had yet to meet a man who wasn't. Her smile turned shark-like as she contemplated what it would have been like if he had been a target for her to eliminate; she would have devoured him in moments. That smile of hers had been deemed as her 'man-eater' smile; rather than take offense, she took it as a compliment.
But...despite intending to take advantage of him, she was startled to realize that she didn't want to.
Indeed, she had surprised herself when she gave him one of her most expensive beauty-care products on a whim. She took a sinful amount of pride in her beauty; she made it a point to spend ages while grooming herself every morning. The fact that she spent a not-inconsiderable part of the day to care for her looks, and still found time to be the strongest kunoichi in her country, tickled her pink. For her to willingly part with one of her 'magic potions'...
Then again, he had given her the freedom to walk out in the open for the first time in years.
No... That wasn't entirely accurate. The full reason why she gave him something of her own was because she trusted him. It was hard not to, after using that technique.
He hadn't realized all the implications of the technique, she mused. There was a reason it was not widely used to seal alliances. Simply put, it was possible to twist the other person, pervert whatever they stood for. An idea could be supplanted in their subconscious, a genjutsu, anything. Ironically enough, for a technique that was supposed to ensure that each party was trustworthy, it could make a skilled user force his partner into a binding agreement. She had initially thought that the entire point of the meeting was to get her to agree to the technique.
She had been surprised to find out he was serious about doing something stupid.
A reflexive shiver went down her spine as she recalled the feeling of his chakra, his essence, against hers. It was so clear, so bright, so free...if there was a simile to describe his chakra, she would liken it to the very skies.
And just like the skies, there were ominously dark clouds on the horizon; clouds that represented unspeakable agony in his past. It was enough to cripple a normal person; yet, like the very personification of the word 'shinobi', he endured. That sort of fortitude was to be admired.
Once the technique had been initiated, she was constantly looking out for his chakra, just waiting for an attack... But it never came. And she was curious enough to let the situation play out, rather than stage an attack of her own.
Her curiosity had paid off.
When she had asked him about his dream of peace, every single cloud vanished, and a feeling of tranquility reigned supreme. Such was the strength of his conviction that she could actually see people from different nations smile at each other and work hand in hand; she could see the breaking of borders, the dissolution of differences.
It was impossible to be unaffected by such an event. Even now, just the mere memory of that moment was enough to put a peaceful smile on her face.
She paid for the tea and snacks and left the quaint little shop. It had been more than a year since she had been able to simply walk on the outside and partake in life's simple pleasures: take a relaxing walk, buy a little trinket, eat a nice meal. It was very freeing to be able to do these things again.
But even now, she was reminded that while today was a vacation day, her troubles weren't over. What was this horrible reminder?
She couldn't go shopping.
It had been the very first thing she had tried. Unfortunately, the moment she had picked up a dress that was in her actual size, the salesgirl had raised her eyebrows and given her a look, as if to say 'you wish'. Mei had honestly come very close to spewing lava over the condescending bitch, but somehow restrained herself. Her real figure was far more voluptuous and desirable that the thin-skinned skank's; her hair alone would turn the salesgirl green with envy. Rather than get into a pointless fight with the floozy, she walked out of the store.
Unfortunately, since shopping was out, so was the spa.
Even the tiniest amount of damage to her cuticles would likely dispel the Henge: therefore no manicure, no pedicure. This was a tragedy.
This vacation day was not turning out to be as fun as she had imagined it to be.
'Nanashi' hadn't warned her against having a bath though, so she figured that going to a hot-spring should be fine. And if it wasn't, she could always escape; she had gotten out of worse scrapes before.
Thankfully, it seemed that the hot-springs didn't break the Henge, allowing Mei to let out a relaxed sigh as she luxuriated in the hot water. It seemed like the day wasn't a total loss after all; she had indulged in sloth and gluttony, even if her pride and vanity weren't given the attention they deserved. She let her thoughts wander, and they almost naturally gravitated towards the blond with the bright blue eyes.
Her lips twitched at the unintentional cliché, but this was her day off; so she allowed herself to wonder what he was doing…
At the same time: 4465617468
I could scarcely believe my senses.
.
.
.
I slowly extended my quivering hand, anxiously anticipating that delicious moment of contact…
As my fingers touched their moist target, I closed my eyes and shuddered in ecstasy.
.
.
.
My hair was so soft!
The way my fingers melted through my hair reminded me of Hinata's silky smooth hair; even Sakura-chan's hair was about as soft, if not quite as long. I had never taken proper care of my hair before, mostly because I refused to use the supremely feminine hair care products that my erstwhile girlfriends had all but begged me to try. It had been a point of masculine pride; but clearly I had been a fool to not hear them out before. I could clearly imagine Hinata's indulgent smile and Sakura-chan's scoff and rolling of eyes if they saw me fawning over my hair right now.
Why did I keep my hair as long if I didn't do more than shampoo occasionally? Two reasons.
Reason number one: It was a tribute to Ero-Sennin.
Reason number two: Ninpō: Hari Jizō (Ninja Arts: Needle Spines) was a fucking awesome technique.
The safe house we were currently using was sadly lacking in basic amenities; other than running water there was nothing. No electricity, no canned foods, not even any mattresses or blankets, and I was getting tired of smelling like a fish; which is why, in a moment of weakness, I used the stupidly feminine shampoo in its ridiculously tiny bottle. For something that was effectively a shot bottle, it was outrageously expensive. And yet, after seeing the final result, I could seriously understand why women happily paid so much for the items on their vanities. No wonder they took so long while getting ready.
Oh dear sweet Log… was I empathizing with women's idiosyncrasies now!?
I violently shook my head, clearing it of all the thoughts of women and their strange ways. It was hard enough keeping track of the rules of being a man. I didn't need any feminine thoughts clouding up my head. Well… any more of them, anyway. Stupid Ero-Sennin and his stupid birds-and-bees talk and the stupid ridiculous situations it had led to… Ugh.
And now that I thought about it, she was getting angsty; she hadn't been out for a while.
Once more I shook my head, but this time it was because I realized just how amazing my silky smooth hair felt brushing against the back of my neck. A part of me was wondering how long I could make that tiny little bottle last. Perhaps if I washed the grime out with a regular shampoo and then used Mei's shampoo on a second wash…?
All right, this was officially getting ridiculous.
With a sigh of disappointment, I once again transformed into my assumed identity with its short dark hair. Running a hand through my hair, I was pleased to find that while it's length and style was different, it atleast felt like my own deliciously soft hair.
I stepped out of the sealing circle and destroyed it, and finished getting dressed for the day. We still had about 20 kilometers to go, and while we were in a part of the country which wasn't known for its shinobi presence, we couldn't afford to take any risks. Therefore, no chakra until we reached our target.
Shinzō and Fuyuki, my partners for the failed mission, were already up and about. I've never been an early riser or a morning person, but these two nevertheless put me to shame. Still, as long as I didn't make us late or miss my watch, I could do as I damn pleased. Yeah, it wasn't the brightest idea to fall hopelessly asleep with nothing more than not-completely-trustworthy-allies watching my back, but in the face of all the dumb shit I've pulled in my life it didn't even crack the top 20.
We left the shitty safe house about 10 minutes ahead of schedule and started our trek to the new hidden base; well, new for me, I'm sure the rebels were quite familiar with it. It was quite tiresome walking, but after two-and-a-half hours, about 8 kilometers away from the base we could finally get away with using chakra. All of us let out a sigh of relief as we finally augmented our bodies with the mystical force, feeling the unique adrenaline rush after a few days of living like the less fortunate. We turned it into an impromptu race, one that I ended up winning, to my smug satisfaction.
"Is there a reason everyone is meeting up so soon after the last meeting? I got the impression that such large gatherings were not encouraged due to security reasons."
Shinzō shrugged; but Fuyuki's reply was a little more elaborate. "Usually it's only when we have a big target to hit. But it could be for something like discussing new security measures, there's no way to know for certain."
I had latched on to the first part of the statement though, "We're going to see action!? Hell yes!" I exclaimed. It had been a while since I cut loose.
To my surprise even Shinzō seemed to share my bloodlust; Fuyuki seemed ambivalent about the whole fighting thing.
This time the base was an abandoned warehouse, or maybe a factory. Again it was near the ocean; I was beginning to suspect that this was a theme, likely to provide multiple escape routes in case the base came under attack. Unlike last time, it was only when I was next to the base that I sensed the presence of a multitude of chakra signatures. I could probably boost the security further by providing chakra-dampening seals, but that could wait.
Fuyuki gave the coded knock on the door this time, and it was opened by the Scowling Guy. I was beginning to think he was the perennial guard, kind of like Izumo and Kotetsu back home. You know, if they had ugly faces and uglier attitudes.
His scowl didn't worsen when he caught sight of me, but honestly, I don't think it physically could. Once more I ignored him and walked past, going deeper into the base. There were not too many people around, but I got the impression that everyone would start trickling into the base over the next few hours. It was still mid-morning, so there was still some sort of breakfast on a buffet table. At first glance it appeared to be ramen, but a closer examination proved me wrong. It had clearly been a while since they had been cooked, and I wasn't sure what kind of noodles they had been to start with.
"Dehydrated ramen noodles under fluorescent lights; does it get better than this?"
I got an amused smile from Shinzō while Fuyuki just rolled his eyes. Despite his lack of verbosity I was starting to warm up to Shinzō; he kind of reminded me of Shikamaru's dry wit. We quickly ate, or rather swallowed the tasteless noodles, and then headed over to a corner where other members of the Resistance were hanging out. I was introduced to a bunch of people whose names I promptly forgot. Since I had broken the Henge as soon as I had walked into the base I was almost swarmed by the other members of the Resistance, all of whom wanted to ask me a question or the other. Most of them didn't know that I was from Konoha; but I repeated my request about my anonymity anyway. Even speculation could be harmful to my cause, but still, they needed something concrete from this so-called (in their opinion) alliance.
"I've already told this to the other members of the leadership, but my village will not be openly supporting the Resistance until the very end. We will be providing weaponry, medicines and food supplies, along with other items that will be of use, but until the final confrontation we will not be setting foot on the shores of the Water Nation. All of this has been negotiated with the Godaime Mizukage."
"How many fighters will your village be providing?"
I replied with an amused smile, "My Kage has promised to match the numbers of the Resistance. Each of you will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with one of my compatriots."
There was an impressed silence at the proclamation. I realized a few more Resistance members had joined the throng during my impromptu interrogation, and very soon the questions started up again. I tried to be careful not to leak any more information than absolutely necessary, but I'm sure that they picked up on some of it anyway.
Once their initial curiosity was satisfied some of them started to drift away, and I got the rest to open up about the situation in Mizu. It made for a grim tale. What Jiraiya had learned from his runaway was only the tip of the iceberg. The entire nation had taken to the saying 'Might makes right'. There weren't any laws to speak of. If you were a civilian merchant you had to pay shinobi for 'protection'. If you lived in a town with no shinobi garrison then you were on your own. That's not to say that the towns with shinobi garrisons were better off; in-fact the shinobi themselves went around doing whatever they damn pleased. Torture and rape of the civilians was an everyday occurrence. Children were forcefully conscripted from the streets, kunai were shoved into their hands and they were sent out with barely any training. All of it was in the name of the Yondaime Mizukage.
It made simmer with rage.
A few of the Resistance members shared their stories. A few of them were lucky enough to escape with their immediate families. Most however were not. Entire clans had been lost; most notably the Kaguya clan, with their famed Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) Kekkei Genkai. As a matter of fact, the Bloodline Purges had been kicked off by an attack from the bloodthirsty Kaguya clan. Tensions had been steadily rising between the Bloodline clans and the rest of the populace; mostly because the Bloodline Clans' efficiency during wartime was regarded with suspicion. Once the Kaguya clan had pointlessly attacked to satiate their warlust, the proverbial spark had set off a forest fire. Earlier, the persecution and even murder of Bloodline Clan members was almost an everyday occurrence, but after the Kaguya Clan's attack it quickly became 'kill on sight'.
There had apparently been a civilian caste system in Kirigakure, the upper echelons of which had gleefully supported and championed the cause of the Bloodline Purges, eager to increase and further consolidate their power. To their shock and horror, once the Bloodline Clans had been run out of Kiri, the Mizukage did not replace the exalted positions with members of the Upper castes. Instead, in a cruelly ironic twist, he relegated them all to the level of street scum.
From all accounts, it seemed like the Mizukage had turned into a mad despot, concerned only with keeping his subjects subjugated.
I heard so many heartbreaking stories. There was one kunoichi in her late fifties who was the last of the Jinton (Swift Release) Kekkei Genkai; her clan had been ambushed and trapped in a barrier, and her son had managed to free her while sacrificing his own life in the process. A 13 year old girl had watched her family butchered in front of her eyes, hidden by a genjutsu that her father had desperately cast in his final moments. The Yuki clan and the Kaguya clans were believed extinct. Friends had sacrificed themselves for friends. Strangers had given their lives to help other strangers. It was as inspiring as it was horrifying.
It was so familiar.
There were so many parallels with my own future I didn't know where to begin. The horrors that human beings wreaked on each other was so inhumane and pointless, and yet we as a human race did it again and again. Apparently all we needed was a reason to call someone different and the persecution would start. Were we destined to fight each other to extinction?
I only realized that it was late evening when the dying rays of the orange sun fell on my face. I wandered over to the buffet table and picked up a piece of onigiri, belatedly realizing that the base seemed much fuller than when I had last taken a look, a few hours ago. A few groups were scattered around; some were sharpening weapons, others were talking quietly, a few dozing here and there. I noticed that my group had been the largest by some distance; but then again, I was a curiosity. The novelty would wear off in time.
Finishing my onigiri, I went back to the group; but it seemed that nobody wanted to talk any longer. I guess all the depressing stories had taken their toll; hell, even I didn't want to listen to any more, even though it was probably not polite of me to say so.
At some point Mei must have arrived, because I locked eyes with her as she came out from one of the inner rooms in her natural form. I guess I should have paid more attention to who was coming and going, but it wasn't really my job at the moment. A silent wave of expectation spread out throughout the crowd, and everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to their leader. Even the few people who were dozing woke up seemingly without any stimulus. The members of her council formed a semi-circle around her; but I stayed where I was. On some level, I felt like I needed to earn my stripes with these people, despite the fact that I would be keeping them fed and armed.
"We have a target", Mei went straight to the point, causing an audible murmur to run through the crowd. "A shipment of medical supplies is being imported from Tea Country. The ship carrying them will dock in the Port City of Ashorro in 5 days. We need to come up with a plan to intercept them." I had raised an eyebrow questioningly, but Mei was already answering my question before I asked it, "Our need for the supplies is no longer as pressing as it once was, due to the assistance of Nanashi-kun, however, we must keep these out of the hands of the loyalists."
One of the members of the group around me spoke up, "With all due respect, Mei-sama, shouldn't we be focusing on attacking Kiri and the Yondaime directly? Nanashi-san says that his village will provide an equal number of fighters to the Resistance, we should use the opportunity to strike at the heart of his power."
Before Mei could offer a rebuttal I spoke up, "I didn't know you were that eager to wipe Kiri from the map." My words caused a ripple of shock to flow around me. I continued, "Your Mizukage is a jinchūriki right? Have you ever seen a jinchūriki go all out? Have you ever seen the collateral damage they can cause up close?"
There was no response to my rhetorical question, so I continued, my voice having a faint tremble, "Jinchūriki get a bad rap for a reason. They are not known for restraint. If we attack Kiri, by the time we win or lose, Kiri as a village will most likely cease to exist. The resulting power vacuum will cause the other villages to rush in and strip the parts of your country, kicking off the Fourth Great War. By the time it is over, your beautiful country will be nothing more than fallow land, unfit for human habitation."
My grim words caused a silence fit for a graveyard to descend around me; and with good reason. After all, it had happened to Mizu before, in my time.
Once I was sure that my words had their desired effect, I spoke again, "Therefore, we will be staging a series of attacks, slowly escalating in magnitude, all designed to get the Yondaime Mizukage away from his seat of power in Kiri. Once he steps out into the field, the war will be decided."
There was a heavy silence following my words; one that was broken by Mei, who continued as if she had never been interrupted, "One of our agents sent us word that there will be 15 Jōnin acting as a guard for the supplies." The silence turned fraught with tension; 15 Jōnin was a highly significant number. To put it in context, the Daimyō of the Fire Nation only had 12 Jōnin as his personal guard. If it came down to a fight, there would be a lot of collateral.
I asked the most obvious question first, "Is there any way to steal it from the ship? Sneak onboard?"
Mei shook her head, "Even if one of us could make our way on board undetected, using your Henge seal for example, the supplies are likely to be under heavy guard." Her tone changed as she tilted her head at me, "Even if one could get their hands on them, escaping without notice is unlikely in the extreme."
I looked underneath her words to understand what she was trying to actually say…Ah. She was asking me if I would sneak onboard and escape using my Hiraishin. I minutely shook my head; I couldn't risk using the Hiraishin openly. I had been foolish so far, using it twice, once on the Bunny Mission, once to show-off for Mei. Hokage-ji-chan was right; I had to put a blanket ban on using it.
Mei nodded minutely in response, having expected my response. One of her council members took up the narrative from that point. He said, "There is a direct path between Ashorro Port and Kiri, one that is moderately guarded at all times. The chances of a successful ambush decrease the closer we get to Kiri."
One of the crowd spoke up, "Do we know anything about the Jōnin that Kiri is sending?"
It turned out that there was information on 6 of the travelling party, all of which was quickly memorized by everyone present. The next few hours were a blur of plans, counter-plans, procedures to disappear, locations to regroup, traps to set etc. I memorized it all, but it was starting to give me a headache. I asked to take a look at the maps of the area, which was the next best thing to actually walking along the path. I could set up a few barrier seals and a few traps, but Fūinjutsu wasn't the be-all and end-all of the shinobi way. It was a fucking awesome discipline, but it had a few fatal flaws that made it unwieldly.
Ultimately it was decided that a task force of 30 Jōnin were to spearhead the attack; any more and we would not be able to escape easily; even 30 was pushing it. Volunteers were asked for, and I raised my hand along with almost everyone else; there were a few medics and sensors who were not battle oriented who had no business going on an attack anyway. I was not surprised to be selected; however I was surprised to learn that Mei would be a part of the attack. I didn't expect her to take to the battlefield very often, but I suppose that she had to keep her edge somehow.
At the end of the meeting I spent some time walking around the perimeter of the base, drawing a few chakra-dampening seals and a few other security seals that made the base harder to detect. Once done, I went back inside the base and pored over the maps, trying to plan where to place my traps and barriers. That was how the next few days passed for the 30 of us, planning out how to carry out the attack and assimilating any new information as soon as it became available.
5 days later, 3 kilometers outside Ashorro Port: 4465617468
Ultimately, we had decided to carry out the attack as near to the Port City as we dared.
I had played my own part in setting up the ambush. Having had barely an hour to work with, I did the most I could. The first thing I did was split us all up into 5 groups of 6, and arranged us all around the forested ambush site according to our initial attack patterns. Then, I drew a sealing circle around each of the groups, which would hide us from conventional techniques that sensors used to identify their targets. Then I drew 2 sets of barriers around the ambush site; the first one around our potential victims, the second one encompassing a wider area, roughly a circular area of about half a kilometer, with the ambush site as the center. The first barrier would keep our victims imprisoned in the ambush site, but it could be broken through given enough time. It was the best I could do on such short notice, but I figured that we were good for around 30 minutes, given that no enemy would be able to devote their entire attention to breaking the barrier. The second was a wide-area chakra-dampening seal, one that would severely restrict any chakra signatures escaping the location. There was no sense in allowing the loyalists to call for help.
According to the schedule that we had been provided, the ship should have docked just over 10 minutes ago. It basically meant that the Jōnin could show up at any second between now and the next hour. We didn't know if they had to take inventory or complete any other formalities, so we were entirely in the dark about the schedule that they would take once they had picked up the supplies from the ship.
I kept my senses strained, hoping to hear or feel my opponents before I saw them. Right now, out in the field, paranoia was our best friend.
Here's the thing about field missions: they are very boring. Approximately 95% of every mission is about waiting patiently for your objective, and only 5% is actual action.
But that 5% is the most intense, chaotic, adrenaline-filled rush imaginable.
I quickly went over the plan in my head while we waited. There were 15 of them, 30 of us. Each enemy would have two of our number facing them, not letting them breathe without making them fight for it. Since Mei and I were both on the field, I was confident that going on 2-on-1 odds was overkill; but looking underneath the underneath, things were not so clear cut. Kiri's entire military numbered about 10,000 ninjas. From what I had gleaned, Mei's Resistance numbered between 1500 and 2000 of the total. Most of these were Genin and Chūnin level fighters. The Jōnin numbered less than 80. Losing even one of those was a risk she could not afford. There was no such thing as overkill, as far as she was concerned; even if the larger numbers made a successful exfiltration harder.
Coming back to the plan, my partner was, naturally, Mei.
I knew that she didn't suspect me of treachery, since such a thing would void the contract that we had signed. I guess she wanted a closer look at my fighting abilities, and everything I was capable of. But even that theory didn't hold enough water, because during the last 5 days, while all the pairs had discussed their fighting styles and tried to get some rudimentary teamwork, Mei and I had only had a single conversation. I had asked her if she wanted to take point, and she had declined. That's it.
I think she was deliberately trying to make me second and third-guess her motives, but I second and third-guessed that theory as well.
A soft sound from the forest wormed its way into my consciousness.
Finally!
I didn't look around to the others, hidden and obscured by the other sealing circles, but I was aware of their own eagerness. None of them were leaking killing intent, but there was a definite sense of anticipation in the air.
The first two Jōnin, both proudly wearing Kirigakure headbands, entered the clearing warily. Judging by the way they were walking, they were the sensors of the group. Once they had taken a few steps in, a second group of four fighters entered behind them, walking in formation. 2 more groups of 3 entered, staggering their intervals so that no single attack could catch more than one group.
And all of a sudden, there was a choice to be made.
The first two sensors were at the exit of the clearing, about to walk past the trees that acted as the anchor points of the barrier seal; however the final group of three shinobi had not yet entered the ambush site. If I waited, the 2 sensors would be outside of the barrier when it finally sprang. If I didn't wait and sprang the trap now, the 3 fighters of unknown skill would be outside the barriers and able to either run or wreak havoc from outside. The people in my group had a seal drawn on their wrists that allowed them to exit the barrier at will, so they could take on those outside.
I chose to let the sensors exit, reasoning that they weren't the ones carrying the supplies.
Unfortunately for me, just as I made my choice, one of the other Resistance fighters made his. Apparently deciding that he couldn't let anyone escape the boundary, he attacked, falling from the tree to push the two sensors back.
I audibly swore, and there was instantaneous pandemonium.
Even as I swore, in a sudden burst of clarity I activated the second barrier instead of the first one, the one that dampened chakra emissions from the area; and not a moment too soon. Even as they fell back, the two sensors flared their chakra in a code, clearly asking for assistance. Thankfully their pleas would go unheard.
Now that the moment of surprise had been ruined, everyone threw their attacks into the clearing, metallic and chakra likewise. Once again, I swore at their amateurish actions. The only thing this would accomplish would be to give our targets the time and opportunity to mount a counterattack and escape.
I was running through the handseals for the barriers as fast as I could, but it would take another two seconds. The final group of three trailing shinobi thankfully entered the clearing, throwing themselves into the fracas.
The group of four, however, took the opportunity to raise a couple of defensive earthen walls and scatter in different directions, barely escaping the activating barrier.
Two of them broke off and started to run back to Ashorro. One streaked off in the direction of Kiri, and the final one ran deeper into the forest.
Fuck. Those four undoubtedly had the medical supplies.
Time slowed to a crawl.
It had been less than 10 seconds since the initial attack by the idiot from our group, and the plan was already shot to hell.
Analytically I saw the four actions I could take: join the free-for-all below me, pursue the one shinobi running to Kiri, pursue the one shinobi running deeper into the forest, pursue the two shinobi running back to the port, where they would doubtlessly get reinforcements.
I don't consciously remember making the decision, but when time sped back up I found myself pursuing the two running for reinforcements. Behind me, back in the clearing, I heard Mei screaming for 6 groups to pursue the runaways. Good, she too had deduced that they were in possession of the supplies we were targeting.
I only had half a kilometer to stop two armed and capable shinobi from raising an alarm. I had already augmented my body with chakra to boost my speed, but now was the time for me to try something that I had been working on for the last few months.
I channeled raw Fūton chakra in and around my body and pushed myself.
I hadn't yet named the technique, but let me tell you this: it was far faster than an ordinary Shunshin (Body Flicker). In terms of speed, most likely it was on the level of Ē's Raiton Shunshin (Lightning Release Body- Flicker). Ugh, I guess that would mean that it had a boringly ordinary name like Fūton: Shunshin no Jutsu (Wind Release: Body Flicker Technique).
The next second I was in front of the two, both of whom immediately broke apart and flanked me. Instead of launching an attack, however, I did what I do best.
"Aww, you don't want to attend our party? But we invited all the cool kids!" Both of them narrowed their eyes at me, but they didn't make a move, so I continued, "We even brought the prettiest girl around! If you ask her nicely, I'm sure she will dance with you."
We were already two hundred meters away from the failed ambush site. Even rushing through the foliage, it would not take them more than a minute to traverse the remaining 300 meters to the boundary of the chakra dampening barrier seal; although they didn't know about the barrier they needed to cross. The best I could do right now was stall. Fortunately for me, that was something I was good at.
Both of the shinobi were staring tensely at me, waiting for an attack or for me to spring my trap. I visibly started tensing, causing both of them to reflexively augment their bodies with chakra. I then smiled underneath my mask, causing them to dart their eyes around, watching for any incoming attacks.
"Gotcha!" I exclaimed.
One of them rolled to the side; the other jumped high into the air and perched on a tree branch; dodging an attack that never came.
I snickered. "Man, you guys are really easy to mess with."
Their furiously embarrassed expressions made my day.
But this meant that the stalling was officially over. They both channeled their chakra and were about to attack me.
Only one of them managed to complete his attack; a Suiton: Suigadan (Water Release: Water Fang Bullet). The other one was knocked off the top of a tree by a Doton (Earth Release) technique; my cavalry had arrived.
I contemptuously knocked aside the Suigadan with a precise burst of Fūton chakra before palming a kunai and launching myself at the Kiri loyalist with my Fūton: Shunshin. He barely had enough time to react, twisting out of my path but still receiving a fairly deep gash in his left bicep.
Only one team had caught up to us, so I was still on my own against my opponent. Still, 1-on-1 was better than 1-on-2, so I was hardly complaining. If it was a straight-up fight, I think that I could have taken them both on; but it wasn't, since one of them would have escaped as soon as they had an opening.
I was close enough to the Kiri shinobi to make my next move. I drew in a deep breath and spun, "Fūton: Shinkūha (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)!" A large crescent blade of wind expelled from my mouth towards the airborne Kiri loyalist, who could only twist his body to minimize the damage he could take. He chose to let the attack cut across his already damaged left arm; the Shinkūha took off a few layers of skin and sinew, exposing his damaged muscles for a brief instant before blood welled and drowned out the grotesque sight.
Even as he grit his teeth against the pain, his twisting had brought up his right arm which launched a kunai towards me. A sizzling sound informed me that there was an exploding tag attached to said kunai; it's trajectory made sure that I could not dodge towards the escaping shinobi, so I jumped away and threw a couple of Fūton-enhanced-shuriken towards him. Having found some purchase against a tree he used it to change his direction can avoid the thrown weapons.
The entire exchange had not taken more than 3 seconds.
Judging by his weapons, his Suiton prowess and his attack pattern I concluded that he was a long-range fighter. I had already crippled one of his limbs in the short exchange we just had, which is why I needed to make this a close-combat battle. I immediately gathered chakra in my lungs, "Fūton: Fūryūdan no Jutsu (Wind Release: Wind Dragon Technique)!" As soon as the dragon was fully formed I moved along with it, each of us flanking the shinobi in a pincer movement. Slowed by his injury, he took a valuable two seconds to form another Suigadan and fired it off towards the Fūryūdan I had sent his way. He threw another kunai with an exploding tag towards me, but I had expected this and redirected it away from myself, only taking care that it didn't hit one of my allies. He drew out two more kunai and forcibly put one in his injured left hand, preparing to lock blades with me.
Just as I came within reaching distance his eyes widened and he raised his left hand, knocking a shuriken out of the air and preventing it from messily rearranging his face. Ah, my second backup group was here. His left side was open, I saw him hastily rearrange his right arm, expecting me to attack there. That was exactly why I attacked his stronger side; he brought up his hand to block my kunai.
It was the last mistake he ever made.
My own kunai, sharpened to an unbelievable point by Fūton chakra, sliced through his kunai like a hot knife through butter. It continued slicing through his fist and then his forearm, parting his ulna and radius like a boat parting water. He barely had a second to scream in pain before I spat out a second Shinkūha; one that neatly decapitated him.
As soon as I saw the spray of arterial blood coming from the stump that used to be his neck I turned around. The remaining Kiri shinobi was now outnumbered 5-to-1, and didn't last long at all. I and the second team that had backed me up mercilessly pelted him with thrown weapons, not allowing him to dodge without running into another kunai, while both the shinobi who were originally targeting him kept attacking him at close range, not allowing him a moment's rest. Finally, one of the thrown shuriken by one of the team that had backed me up hit the enemy in the back, causing a minute twitch in his arm. That twitch was enough for one of the attackers to slip underneath the enemy's guard and stab him in the gut; the other attacker advantage and followed suit, stabbing the enemy in his lung.
As soon as the second hit landed, I turned to two who had backed me up and barked orders, "You two! Split up and back up the teams who chased the other two who ran away. These four had the supplies we are looking for." They nodded and augmented their bodies with chakra and immediately jumped away.
I turned back to the two who had just finished snuffing the light out of the enemy. "Find the supplies and join back in the barrier as soon as you can!" A distracted pair of nods was all I got, and I was off.
I used my Fūton: Shunshin twice and was back at the barrier in a matter of seconds. I ran a quick calculation in my head: 4 of the enemy had escaped, which left 11 in the barrier. Mei had sent out 6 squads in pursuit plus me, which meant 13, leaving 17 on 11. The group still had the numerical superiority, but the odds were far closer than I liked.
I entered the clearing, phasing through the barrier and ran a quick headcount. I spotted 3 dead enemies bearing Kiri headbands, two of whom looked like the flesh had melted off their bones; undoubtedly Mei's handiwork. There was also a single Resistance shinobi splayed awkwardly across the ground. Log-dammit. 16 on 8. Well, now 17 on 8, including me.
I quickly backed up the group closest to me, distantly realizing that one of them was Scowling Guy, who was using long-range techniques to back up his partner. I channeled Fūton chakra through the two kunai I was holding on to and leapt into the fray. My first swipe was almost unnaturally dodged by my opponent, and on the follow-up swipe my forearm was blocked by the enemy's forearm. I made sure that he paid for it though, as the layer of Fūton chakra around my body immediately sliced into his forearm. He instantly jumped away, but the damage had been done. Scowling Guy's Partner immediately pursued him and engaged him in a Taijutsu battle, one that he was now at a noticeable disadvantage at. I threw a set of 4 Fūton enhanced kunai in a pattern that would be almost impossible for him to dodge. From what I had seen, he was primarily a Katon user, so even if he burned the chakra surrounding my kunai they would still hit him.
To my surprise he took the kunai on his already damaged arm, immediately pulling them out and using them for himself. I took a shocked second to stare at him, impressed. Of course, I would still brutally kill him in a few moments, but I could take a moment to admire his pain tolerance and his resilience. He deserved it.
I then fired off twin Kazeken (Wind Fist) from both my hands, even as I took a deep breath. "Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Spheres)!" I fired off multiple tiny compressed bullets of wind, each of which was capable of tearing through flesh like wet tissue paper; which is exactly what happened when they met the enemy shinobi's unprotected back, having twisted to dodge the twin Kazeken and Scowling Guy's Partner's violent Taijutsu assault. I took a moment to confirm that this wasn't a clone; something that happened when the enemy's jaw was brutally punched into his brain by Scowling Guy's Partner. I really should learn to remember people's names.
As we had all discussed during the last 5 days, the moment our target went down, each of us split off to find a group to assist. Scowling Guy and his partner each immediately went to the closest fight, where two Kiri shinobi were holding their own against 4 members of the Resistance through sheer determination. It would be far harder against 6. By my estimate, this left 17 against 7.
I looked around for another group to join, realizing that the clearing seemed to be cramped. A quick look around showed that between a quarter and a third of the clearing was covered in some sort of mist; one that everyone stayed well-clear of. I spied a leaf on the ground that was on the boundary, and observed it being corroded by the mist. Ah, this must be Mei's famous Futton (Boil Release). That was why everyone was staying away.
Feh, pussies.
I took a moment to take stock of my chakra reserves; I was at about 80-85% of my total. I quickly checked my pouches; 23 kunai, 14 shuriken, 3 high grade explosive tags, 10 medium grade tags, 5 smoke bombs left. I nodded, I was good to go.
I channeled my Fūton chakra around my body and ran straight into the potent corrosive mist.
As I plunged into the caustic fog I was strongly reminded of the first time I faced such a technique, against Zabuza on the Nami no Kuni (Wave Country) mission all those years ago. Heh, I think I had grown up a little since then. A sudden realization made me blink in surprise. Wait. Wasn't Zabuza trying to raise funds for overthrowing the Mizukage all those years ago!? Did that mean he was working for Mei all this time!? Holy shit!
Focus.
My eyes were watering from the corrosive heat; my continuously swirling Fūton chakra could only stave off the similarly named Futton so much. I tried to find Mei and her opponent, sending a few tendrils of my own chakra through the mist…There!
I quickly swiveled and ran at the point where I sensed the fighting, trying to see through my blurry eyes. I made out a few outlines and quickly prepared myself. As I drew closer I realized from the shapes that Mei was fighting 4 people…no. She was fighting one person and 3 of his clones.
Heh. He wanted to play with clones, did he? Well, then, motherfucker, let's play.
As I burst through, in a single moment I took in everything I could about my target. He had a nodachi and was quite skilled with it. The reason his skin was still on his bones was because there was a pool of water on the ground that was saturated with his chakra, and he periodically sent up the water around himself, diffusing the mist before it reached him. His clones kept Mei from directly attacking him; he had turned it into a battle of attrition against an S-ranked kunoichi. It was his best chance, and if he got lucky, he might even pull off a surprise win. No wonder Mei was fighting him 1-on-1, he was more skilled than the rest of the shinobi out there. Most likely he was on the same level as the Thunder Empress.
If I had needed any extra motivation against him, being reminded of the Bunny Mission was it.
I immediately exploded into action, flying through the air in a Fūton Shunshin and throwing myself into the original as 3 of my own Kage Bunshin burst into existence to take on his clones. To my surprise, my Fūton enhanced kunai didn't slice into his nodachi; most likely it was made from Kiri's famous chakra metal. He pushed me back, and I let him, shooting out a simple Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough). He reacted exactly as I expected, sidestepping so that he was still next to his pool of water, unwilling to give up his defence against the corrosive mist. What he didn't realize was, I was now directly in his line of sight to Mei. I mentally smirked; I knew exactly how this fight was going to end.
Rather than take any immediate action I started to spin the two kunai in my hand, locking eyes with him. A sudden burst informed me that one of my clones had dispersed due to running afoul of Mei's Futton: Kōmu no Jutsu (Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique). I mentally frowned; I had miscalculated the amount of chakra I had needed to leave inside each clone for them to stay alive in the corrosive mist. Still, I had only lost one clone while the enemy had lost two so far. Another moment was all I needed and the fight would end; and I had just the method to buy myself that moment. Once again, I let my mouth run loose.
"Naughty naughty", I wagged my kunai at him admonishingly, "don't you know you're not supposed to force a lady to dance against her will?"
A hateful sneer crossed his face, "She's just a freak, just like the rest of you Bloodline cunts!"
"Big words from a little man who is, quite clearly," I leered obviously at his overly large weapon, "overcompensating for something."
He snarled hatefully and flew at me, brandishing his nodachi. It was a technically perfect strike, trying to block it would leave me with a broken or amputated limb; dodging would leave me open to a further attack. So, naturally, I just smirked and hit the floor.
He didn't have time to look surprised at my unexpected movement. He only had time to look shocked at the speeding lava bullet that was headed straight for his torso, flying through the space that I had occupied just a scant moment previously. His feet were off the ground, so he couldn't change directions. In his last moments, he poured as much chakra into his nodachi as he could and swung it, hoping against hope that it would be enough to save him.
Needless to say, it wasn't.
The lava flowed over the blade like a river around a stone, and impacted against his torso. It then continued through his chest, leaving him with a new chest cavity, one that was instantly cauterized. He fell to the floor and lay unmoving, and Mei's corrosive mist finally started biting at his clothing and flesh.
I jumped to my feet, pleased at both the outcome and my foresight that had led to it. That had gone exactly as I intended.
Working with a fellow professional could be so satisfying.
Mei raised one of her exquisitely sculpted eyebrows at me. "You're late."
I tried.
I really, really tried.
But my mouth decided that the moment was perfect and it would not be denied.
It had apparently conscripted my hand as well; because it rose up to sheepishly rub the back of my head. "Ahaha, I'm sorry", I drawled in a manner that was familiar to every Konoha shinobi, "but I got lost on the road of life."
Mei's lips twitched; and I knew that she was suppressing an amused smile. Just as I knew that a country away, a man with gravity-defying silver hair had suddenly stopped reading an erotica novel in public and was crying manly tears of pride for no reason he could fathom.
I jerked my head towards the direction I had come from, "Shall we?"
She delicately inclined her head in agreement and started walking serenely. I walked almost next to her, but I was the tiniest fraction behind her and to her right. In other words, I was treating her like a dignitary; which she would be, once she was crowned the Godaime Mizukage. Hinata had trained me enough for me to pick up on the fact that Mei had both noticed and was pleased by my actions.
"Mei-san", I waved an arm around us, "do you mind?"
"Oh! Forgive me; I thought I had taken care of that." The corrosion from the mist immediately started to lessen. I breathed a small sigh of relief as I could finally stop continually channeling my Fūton chakra. A few minutes in the caustic fog had caused my reserves to drop down to 60%. "I'm surprised you could last in my Mist. It doesn't even look like you broke a sweat. Not many people can accomplish that."
"Well," I murmured modestly, "I do have a few minor talents."
Mei smiled amusedly at me, "Indeed."
We walked out of the now-harmless mist and looked around. There were only 2 enemies left, and almost all of our remaining attackers were focused on them. Mei and I attacking would not have advantageous; it would have been a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.
Instead, I spied one of our forces propped up against the barrier, sitting in a large pool of blood, desperately keeping pressure on a large gash on his shoulder. Recalling that I could now use the Shōsen (Mystical Palm), I immediately moved to assist him, ignoring the ongoing battle. I activated the technique, doing what I usually did, which was drowning the affected area in soothing green medical chakra. There was an audible sigh of relief from the afflicted shinobi as his broken blood vessels knit shut, even as a scream of rage and defiance erupted behind me from one of our last two enemies in his final moments. Ignoring it, I told my patient, "I'm not skilled enough to heal this completely, but I've sealed the wounds. Now you need to keep it disinfected, clean it with warm water and change the bandages every six hours. Understood?" He nodded, but years of watching Sakura-chan do this made me copy her bedside manner, "What do you need to do? Tell me in your own words."
He grimaced and spoke through gritted teeth, "Disinfect, clean with warm water and change the bandages every six hours."
I nodded, "Good man."
At the sudden silence in the barrier, I finally looked up, realizing that the fighting was over for good. A quick look around revealed that the members of the resistance were going through the bodies of the fallen enemies, looting and scavenging whatever they could. Mei, however, was looking at the fallen member of her clique. Now that the adrenaline rush had passed, the emotions underneath started bubbling over; and I felt anger.
Anger at the fucking moron who had blown the plan to smithereens.
Spying the idiot who had caused the pointless death of one of our number, even at 2-on-1 odds, I let out an audible growl as I stalked towards him. I got more than a few wary looks, and one guy actually jumped in self-defense, which would have been funny at any other time. I walked right up to the idiot and got in his face. "You IDIOT!" I snarled. "Why did you jump the gun!? The signal for attack was the activating of the barrier!"
"Yeah! Why didn't you activate the barrier!? Those guys were about to get out of the boundary! I made a judgement call!"
I let out a scream of frustration, "They were SENSORS! They weren't the targets! I knew that they wouldn't have the supplies, which is why I let them out! I could see them every step of the log-damned way, I made the decision to let them leave! Your impetuousness cost you the life of one of your comrades!"
He was still glowering at me; and I was this close to punching the asshole in the face, when a quiet voice spoke from behind me, "Nanashi-kun."
I scoffed in the asshole's face, but acknowledged Mei's voice and got away from him. I stalked off and took down the barrier, glowering against a tree.
I couldn't see Mei's face from where I was standing, but I could see the face of the idiot; whatever Mei's expression was, it must have been truly fearsome to cause him to pale that way. She didn't say a single word, but the effect on the idiot was far deeper than my angry words.
One of the groups that had left after the escaping ninjas entered the clearing that moment. One of them was holding an ornately decorated scroll; evidently the medical supplies. I turned around and saw the first team that had backed me up, each of whom had retrieved one of the scrolls as well.
While we were waiting for the fourth group to return, I got started on drawing my patented Henge-seal on the five people who needed them. Well, four now, since one of them had died. I kept an eye open, wary of being ambushed, since we hadn't heard from the other group yet. I spied one of the shinobi retrieving the nodachi that Mei's opponent had been wielding, and then I noticed something far more poignant.
Mei was walking and looking at the face of every dead enemy with an inscrutable expression.
I pursed my lips. I knew the feeling of killing comrades who considered you a traitor. But atleast I had the knowledge that my comrades had been twisted against their will. It was far more different for Mei; these people chose to believe in pointless propaganda. And yet, she still considered them her comrades.
We spent a few more minutes after I was done waiting for the last team, who finally showed up. Their grim expressions told the story.
The last Jōnin had escaped.
More than one person turned and glared at the idiot who couldn't follow orders; I was the first person who did.
The three people holding the scrolls walked up to Mei and handed them to her. She slipped one of them up her sleeve and the called out, "Kitashi-san." The only one of the council who had accompanied us on this mission stepped forward and accepted one of the scrolls. There was no point in keeping all our eggs in one basket after all.
Mei then stalked towards the idiot who had caused the mission to go awry, and spoke caustically, "You should carry the last one; after all, you bought it with your comrade's blood."
Ouch.
Wow, she really knew how to make her words hurt.
I winced; even through the copious anger I was feeling towards him, I felt a tiny stab of sympathy.
The poor idiot was staring at the scroll in his hands, his expression pained and his colour pale.
"Since the last enemy escaped, I suggest we scatter before the forest is crawling with reinforcements."
Mei's order caused a flurry of movement. Everyone grouped up and took advantage of the chakra dampening seal to run to the edge of the half kilometer radius before putting on their disguises and leaving in separate directions.
The only group left consisted of me, Mei, Scowling Guy and his partner. Mei took one more look around before walking to the body of the dead Resistance member, before kneeling and placing a scroll next to him. Once she had sealed his body, she looked at me with a vulnerable expression. I walked to her and placed my hand on her shoulder.
"You've done this too, haven't you." It wasn't a question.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat and replied gruffly, "Far more than I care to remember." Killing comrades was never easy.
She shook her head and stood up, my hand slipping from her shoulder as she did. "We need to leave."
I nodded, and we all put on our disguises, leaving behind the scene of our 'successful' mission.
Author's Notes: Woot! Finally some action! And a long chapter to boot! We finally get to see Nanashi in his element...and also fawning over his silky smooth hair. How did you like it!?
A bunch of you people thought that Nanashi rolled over too easily in the last chapter when being teased by Mei. Tsk tsk. As I told every one of you in your review responses: Nanashi wasn't the only character in that room. Literally the first thing I told you about Mei was that she uses her looks to get her way; and Nanashiruto has never canonically gone up against a woman who uses her sexuality as a weapon. Compounded with his raging hormones, there was only going to be one outcome.
One of you even mentioned the scene in Konoha where Anko teased him about a threesome with Kurenai, where he managed to bluff his way out. Well, that was a good point, but let me tell you, if Kurenai too had joined in the teasing, the result would have been exactly the same as in the last chapter.
OK, I have a question. If I set up a Pat-reon account, would you guys be willing to support it? Let me know below!
There is a 'Friends' quote buried in this chapter; a digital cookie goes to whoever finds it! Hint: it's a Chandler quote from the first season. They just started to show reruns of Friends on the TV after YEARS, and I had forgotten just how good it was!
So here's the question of the day: which Friend are you, and which Friend would you date? For example, I would say I'm Monica, I have an obsessive kind of personality like hers; and no, this is not an admission of any gender-related issues. As for whom I would date, no question, Phoebe! I love her quirky personality! She even makes getting up from a chair look fun, what with getting a head rush :)
To this day, I maintain that Luna Lovegood is entirely based on Phoebe as a character. If you don't believe me, just imagine Luna singing 'Smelly Cat'. Guaranteed LOL.
So, what about you? Which Friend are you and which Friend would you date?
