Sealkeeper: He Who Binds
Chapter 160-A "Seifuku-sha Kurotsuchi"
Release 2022.07.01
For all they proclaimed the values of stealth and subtlety, Shinobi of this day and age were well known for their flashy Jutsu and the ability to cause great feats of destruction. As Genma looked over what had once been fertile fields he had to admit that they had nothing on the Samurai.
The Chakra blades of the swordsmen were indiscriminate and the shouts that sounded through the air were enough to whip the wind into storms and cause the earth to crack beneath their opponent's feet. The Samurai were all the terrible strength of Chakra use without a single inclination to maintain any form of secrecy.
In complete contrast, the techniques of the Samurai were designed to force the attention of their opponents onto them. Wearing armor that would stop most Jutsu and supplementing their footwork with Doton techniques made them immovable pillars of the battlefield, something that only served to embolden the common forces under their command.
Because Hi no Kuni's armies were made up of civilian militias and semi-trained reservists just as much as it was Samurai. Alone, a Shinobi wouldn't think twice about such opponents on the battlefield.
Under the command of a company of Samurai, though, they could be wielded just as effectively as any blade. When all your attention was focused on the obvious armored figure, being flanked by a dozen armed townsfolk was just as deadly as having a fellow Shinobi get the drop on you.
Shinobi were, after all, still human. They bled and died like anybody else if you stabbed them enough.
To that end, Genma found himself grateful that these were Hi no Kuni Samurai and that the Iwa Shinobi hadn't been accompanied by a company of Tsuchi Samurai. That would have been messy.
Breaking off from the mixed squads of Chunin and Jounin he'd been given command of, Genma made sure he was easily seen as he made his way to an exhausted group of laborers from a nearby town. Before this, it was likely the most violence these men had faced was a fight outside a bar or perhaps a bandit raid. The look in their eyes as he approached made that clear enough.
"At ease, defenders, take what rest you can." He called out as he drew near. Still, they turned to face him, hands hovering over weapons and suspicion in their eyes. "I'm under orders to meet with commander Hatsumari." Genma raised the scroll entrusted to him by the Hokage to display the Fire Daimyo's seal which served to relax them only slightly.
"We don't know where Hatsumari is, but some of his Samurai are over there." The man pointed a curved Nata bushknife towards a nearby farmhouse. "They can tell you more."
Giving a nod of thanks, Genma started heading that way. He offered a brief warning before getting too far. "There are Konoha Shinobi in those trees," He used his chin to gesture towards the trees in question. "Don't be too alarmed if you see anything unless there's screaming too."
The attention of the men immediately moved to the trees, though Genma noticed two of them kept an eye on him as he moved away. It looked like this group had learned quickly.
The farmhouse Genma reached had seen better days, obviously having been the location of an attempted ambush by Iwa Shinobi. Judging by the red that still stained the dirt floors it hadn't gone quite as well as they had hoped. With one of the walls little more than kindling at this point, Genma had a pretty good idea what had happened.
There were very few ways to block a Samurai's Chakra blade and their IaiJutsu combined those blades with a range that was, quite franky, stupid. There was a reason the Iwa Shinobi had gone for an ambush rather than a direct confrontation, it just hadn't worked.
One such Samurai was positioned at the destroyed wall as a lookout and had his hand on his blade as soon as Genma had been spotted. Already holding up the seal of the Fire Daimyo, Genma announced himself.
"Shiranui Genma, Tokujō of Konohagakure no Sato. I've been ordered to make contact with commander Hatsumari. I have forces a kilometer and a half away ready to step in."
The Samurai held out his free hand for the scroll and took a second to look it over. From Iroh to Asuma, it was a pretty clear order to have Konoha Shinobi move to the north-west so that commander Hatsumari could pull his Samurai back towards the capital.
Glancing up from the scroll to the Konoha Shinobi and then back down to the seal he leaned slightly into the barn and called out. "Raikatsu, Konoha's here for the commander."
One of the Samurai within looked up from a table of maps, took a second to look Genma up and down, and gestured for him to enter.
"Raikatsu, I presume." Genma retrieved the scroll from the lookout and made his way inside. "What are we looking at and where does your commander need support?"
"Everywhere," Raikatsu growled. "Bastards split up and scattered. They've been hitting us wherever they can but seem to be keeping to the area. If we can swap out your Shinobi for some of our Samurai we can set up a proper perimeter and sweep the area. As it is, we don't have enough to cover everything at once, which is how they keep slipping past us."
"And they're not trying to go further into Hi no Kuni?"
"No, that's what has me unsettled. They're just trying to cause damage and sow chaos here. They aren't advancing, they aren't retreating. It feels like a distraction but nothing else is happening as far as I can tell."
"This is a good portion of Hi no Kuni's army, from what I understand." Genma offered. "Could they just be hoping to wear down and eliminate it before fully committing the rest of their Shinobi?"
"...Possibly, though I don't know why they would hold anyone in reserve for that. Better to just commit outright so they have a better chance of eliminating us."
"So they're either getting a feel for us or they're trying to keep our attention." Genma stared down at the map. "Tetsu, Ta, Ame, and Kawa- do we have any word of Iwa movement through them? I know a minor force was stopped in Taki and they sent some through Kusa. Are they trying to go around?"
"We haven't heard anything from those fronts, though that doesn't eliminate the possibility. We can't actually enter those countries to check." He gave a pointed look.
Genma nodded. "I understand. Unfortunately we don't have permission either. I'll be sure to have Shinobi stationed along the borders, though, just in case." They would be stationed at the borders but they both knew that's not where they would stay. "I have some trackers we can attach to your current squads, too, they may have better luck locating anyone still lurking nearby."
"And we'll be ready to help push them back when you do. I'll reach out to the commander and let him know what we're starting. In the meantime, I need some of your Shinobi to join up here, here, here, and here." He pointed to several positions on the map. "I have men there that will be able to further direct them into position to facilitate your takeover."
"Sounds good. I'll need to speak with commander Hatsumari at some point but this will work for now."
"I understand, I'll try to arrange something. For now, you're welcome to base your operations here throughout the transition. It's not the greatest, but it will-"
Shouts caught the attention of both men and the other Samurai in the farmhouse. One remained behind, securing the documents that had been scattered over the table, while the rest hurried out to see what the commotion was.
Great spikes had torn across the ground, impaling three of the men who had directed Genma to the farmhouse while a wall of risen earth protected the remaining from a similar fate. Genma's Shinobi had already abandoned their positions and the full might of Konoha fell upon a dozen Iwa Shinobi who hadn't been expecting anything more than farmers.
It was fortunate that the former fields had been reduced to earth beforehand because there would have been nothing left after the waves of fire spilled forth from the emerging Konoha Shinobi and flooded the trees directly across from the impaled workmen.
Even before those flames died out Konoha Shinobi pushed forward, trusting those at the back and their quickly launched Suiton Jutsu to clear the way. The sound of steel striking steel rang out from the treeline as more and more Konoha Shinobi joined in. It wasn't long before the ambushing group of Iwa Shinobi was completely cleared out.
And then a stone dragon rose above the treetops to the east, its gaping maw already opened to discharge jagged projectiles.
Genma had just enough time to curse before it was joined by two more dragons and the trees his forces had just rushed into were reduced to splinters.
From her position atop Sunagakure's wall, Kurotsuchi could only just make out the speks that were fleeing Kirigakure Shinobi and, to a slightly better degree, the Suna natives that were pursuing them into the desert.
The sun was just cresting over the distant horizon and while the morning was cool enough the temperature would soon rise dramatically under its cruel light. Of all times to make an escape into the harsh landscape of Kaze no Kuni, this was probably the least recommended.
As a general rule Shinobi villages weren't fond of foreigners and Suna was likely the least tolerant when it came down to it. Even so, there would occasionally be a foreigner that some of the Kaze no Kuni people took a shine to and they would be advised never to leave near dawn.
The initial lack of heat would help them put distance between them and the shelter they were leaving which meant when they inevitably needed to turn back they would be too far away to make it before the desert claimed them.
At least if they left in the middle of the afternoon they knew what they were in for- and would already be fighting the worst the desert had to offer while they were at their peak- and things would only be able to improve for them. Desert nights might be harsh in their own way, but the cold was much less intense and far easier to deal with than the heat.
These Kirigakure Shinobi really didn't have the luxury of deciding when they would leave the protective walls of Sunagakure and they were sure to be feeling the weight of their critical mistake soon enough. They probably would have had a better chance of survival finding some sort of hidey-hole and bunkering down for a day or two before attempting to flee, and that was just a matter of desert travel. That would take its toll on its own, but the host of Suna natives pursuing them would only make survival even more unlikely.
Good. If no one made it back word of events here couldn't spread and Hi no Kuni would be taken unaware when Kurotsuchi and her troops swept in from the south-west.
Konoha really should have kept some of their own Shinobi here, at least they would have been better prepared to deal with the desert than Kirigakure Shinobi who hadn't left their island in years.
Then again, this was good for Kurotsuchi so their mistake was more than okay in her book.
Something really needed to hurry up and go wrong, though. She was starting to become a bit paranoid with how damn smoothly everything had been going so far.
Sure, Kirigakure was recovering and Sunagakure had lost most of its Shinobi in their invasion attempt but it really shouldn't be this easy to take over a major village.
Or maybe it was. At this rate they'd have to start calling her Seifuku-sha Kurotsuchi.
Pein still didn't look too good- Kisame certainly hadn't ever seen him looking anything other than completely serious, either, so this was beyond strange- but considering what he'd needed to do to make up for the lack of members in the most recent sealing perhaps that was understandable.
Zetsu…was Zetsu. It was always hard for Kisame to get a read on that guy..erm…plant? It had been years and Kisame still didn't actually know what Zetsu was or, at the very least, considered himself to be. They'd really never sat down and had a heartfelt chat, either, but that could be because they were both S-Rank Rouge Shinobi.
…Or because they were both dudes.
Still, if anything Zetsu seemed, well, a bit wilted if Kisame was being completely honest. Not necessarily the plant part, either. That seemed fine. It was the human portion- the white half specifically- that seemed drawn into itself like a plant that had gone a day too long without water.
The shark-man guessed that was probably the equivalent of a regular person looking weary, though he could hardly be considered an expert in that matter. He was scarcely 'normal' himself.
What the hell did a tired shark even look like and had he ever given someone that impression?
Konan, without a doubt, was the most normal of the group. She looked absolutely exhausted.
It was actually kind of adorable, though Kisame valued all his pieces where they currently were far too much to point that out at the moment. While the most normal, Konan was also the scariest. Every member of Akatsuki learned within their first week not to get on her bad side.
Well, everyone but Pein. He seemed to be the only one oblivious to how scary she was. Not because he wasn't afraid but because she never turned her anger on him or let him see her taking it out on the others.
As far as Kisame was concerned, that was the greatest power the man possessed and the only thing that really qualified him as the god he liked to proclaim himself as. Konan was his guardian angel and anyone with such an angel had to be some sort of god.
It was basic logic, really.
Kakuzu and Hidan weren't physically present at the moment but for as immortal as the two supposedly were they probably looked as dead as they ever had at this point. Kisame was willing to put money down on that.
So, of the entirety of Akatsuki- or whatever was left of it- Kisame was the only one capable of more than sitting at the meeting table- he didn't even know they had one, either Pein was beyond tired or Konan had convinced him to utilize it for this- and keeping their head up.
In the case of Konan, she seemed to be having trouble with even that- her head slowly bobbing downwards until she snapped it back up again, eyes unfocused. Kisame didn't know what she needed more; a coffee or a nap.
Still, even despite everyone's exhaustion Pein- and Zetsu, oddly enough- had been very insistent to hear what KIsame had been up to while he was away. Kisame had offered to just write up a report- he'd actually volunteered to do so. Kisame hated writing reports and they all knew it- so they could review it when they were a bit more awake but they either didn't trust him to write it accurately and were hoping to be able to tell if he was being less than honest by his speech or they simply didn't trust him to get that report written up in a timely manner.
To be perfectly fair, it was probably the latter. Come to think of it, he was still only halfway through that written report Konan had required about that fiasco in Kuma no Kuni last year. She must have forgotten about it because she hadn't asked for it since she told him to write it up.
…Unless that was just supposed to be some sort of punishment in and of itself and had served its purpose. That was…far too possible to completely discount now that he considered it.
Sometimes he forgot just how crafty that woman could be.
"Well, I had originally been planning on going towards Iwa and looking for the Yonbi, but I got turned around and ended up going down river until I hit the northern coast of the Hanguri Gulf. That's when I realized I was lost. I turned around, again, but this time too much and found myself halfway into Kaze no Kuni before I found someone who could give me directions." He reached up and scratched the back of his head. "I was supposed to go north to get there but I ended up going through Kusa no Kuni and into Hi no Kuni. I tried to just come back at that point, because I obviously need a partner who's better at navigation-"
The entire table nodded in agreement.
"But then I ended up in Yu no Kuni somehow." He paused, thinking mostly about how much he should tell, and eventually decided it really wasn't that much of a secret. "It was actually pretty fortunate that I ended up there, because I crossed paths with Tobi who's still busy with that personal business of hers-" Zetsu looked increasingly doubtful about that, probably because he knew all of Mikoto's family had been slaughtered by Itachi and his ANBU buddies. "And she took the time to draw a map on the back of my hand so I couldn't get lost on my way back."
Konan seemed slightly more awake and her question showed just how well she knew him. "You still got lost, didn't you?"
"Well, yes," He gave a nervous chuckle. "But only a little. I was in Takigakure, I just hadn't gone south enough. An easy fix."
She raised an expectant brow.
"It was! I just got distracted." Was his defense.
"By what?"
"The Nanabi was out fighting off some Iwa Shinobi. It seemed like a good opportunity and I figured it would be best not to return empty handed after so long."
"But you did return empty handed." Pein pointed out. "Unless you snuck her in at some point and I was unaware."
Well Pein had been out cold when Kisame showed up, so that wouldn't exactly have been difficult by any stretch of the imagination but he refrained from pointing that out and going against Pein's persona of omnipotence.
If he really was omnipotent he'd already know where all the Jinchuriki were and, more importantly, Kisame wouldn't have to be giving any sort of report. The fact that he was served as proof enough against that idea.
"Well I was in the middle of subduing her but the Jounin she was with were slowing me down a bit." And Taki Jounin were nothing to sneeze at, everyone knew that. "And then we were all interrupted when a pack of Wolves started sniffing around."
"You couldn't get the Nanibi because of…wolves?" Zetsu sought clarification.
"No, no, Wolves." Kisame stressed. "Capitalized."
"I still don't see how that would have stopped you."
"It's not the Wolves themselves that are the issue, do you have any idea what happened the last time I went up against Tsukuyomi?"
"When did you go up against Tsukuyomi?" Konan asked, a frown pulling at her pierced lip. She didn't remember that.
"When Samehada was hungry I went back to my old stomping grounds. The Wolves were helping Yagura with the bloodline rebellion, you all remember that. Me and Zabuza found ourselves up against him and I ended up with this." Pulling the collar of his cloak out of the way with one hand he used his other to jab a thumb towards the healed scars that covered his neck. The pink of the burns was fairly pale but against the blue of his normal skin it stuck out vibrantly.
It looked sort of like…a hand?
"...He burned your neck?" Pein asked slowly, not understanding why the shark-man would be making such a big deal over the matter.
"He grabbed me by the neck and then threw me away from the fight. I crashed into Kirigakure's wall with my neck burning from the residual Biju chakra he was covered in."
That immediately caught everyone's attention.
"He was using Biju Chakra during the final battle of Kiri's bloodline war?" Zetsu asked. "Not after defeating Yagura?"
"Oh yeah, right at the beginning." Nodded the shark. "Called it up effortlessly, seemed to have full control over it."
Zetsu and Pein shared a look. They already knew he was in possession of the Sanbi somehow, but did he have another Biju too? Which of the Jinchuriki they were hunting was nothing more than a distraction?
First they were losing their members and now what they knew of the Biju and their vessels seemed to be completely wrong too. The plan was falling apart.
"What color was the Chakra cloak?" Asked Pein.
"Uh, gold, I think. It didn't show any tails, just molded to his armor and flashed through his eyes. He didn't even want to fight us, aiming for Yagura as he was, so he really didn't take me or Zabuza seriously. Gave us chances to retreat and everything. If he was trying to kill us, well, one of us would probably be dead."
"And by one of you…" Konan trailed off.
"Either me or Zabuza, there's no way we could have taken him down."
She nodded. "I see. So you retreated from the Wolves due to the possibility of this Tsukuyomi's presence?" Her eyes had narrowed slightly and Kisame had the feeling it was more out of suspicion than her weariness catching back up to her.
"Well, yeah, the last time I was between him and a Biju things didn't go too well for me. The Nanabi was right there so the chances seemed good he'd come for it too."
Konan's narrowed eyes flashed with something he couldn't quite make out but whatever her thoughts were she kept them to herself. Kisame didn't think he'd said anything he wasn't supposed to.
"Kisame was without a partner. It's to be expected he'd make a retreat when things no longer looked to be in his favor." Spoke Pein, setting the matter to rest. "If he'd had someone with him they could have retrieved the Nanabi before the Wolves happened upon them. As it stands, we can't afford to lose any more members so we must all exercise similar caution."
"Of course, Pein-Sama." Konan conceded with a polite nod. Despite her words, Kisame had a feeling she didn't quite agree with the leader of their organization but she dropped it nonetheless.
"You showed great initiative in your attempt to capture the Nanabi, Kisame." The Rinnegan bearer praised the shark-man. "Get settled back into your room and get some rest. It's apparent much of the plan will need to be reworked with…recent developments that have come to light." He spared a look to Zetsu who gave him a barely noticeable nod. They were on the same page there.
"You too, Konan." Akatsuki's leader turned to his long-time friend. "None of us are fully recovered from the sealing."
"That includes you, Pein-Sama." She pointed out, her tone as close to dissenting as she had ever come.
"I need to go over some of the reports Zetsu has gathered with him. I'll retire to my office afterwards." He promised. The way he said it sounded like he'd be taking it easy and doing paperwork or planning changes for the Akatsuki but Konan was very much aware that was only a front. He'd probably be racked out on his couch in about twenty minutes which was enough to satisfy her need to ensure his well being.
While Konan pushed herself up from the table, Kisame had already made his way to the door.
"Great, I'm starved. Do we have anything good in the fridge?" He didn't wait for an answer- and he probably hadn't been expecting one- before making his way to check for himself.
Konan was glad she kept her food safely hidden in Pein's office fridge. When you were trying to save your meals, having a shark in residence tended to make that difficult. They would, after all, consume just about anything- food or not- regardless of whether they actually liked the taste.
It didn't help that Kisame, very much like his beloved Samehada, was completely insatiable. If he could bite through the steel and concrete that made up the majority of Ame she was sure half the city would have been consumed by now.
"So I just have to create this, only underground?" Ganju looked over details on the rails Juugo had provided and glanced at the map of the elemental nations that planned out- so long as they didn't run into anything that was more trouble to go through than around- the rough course for Tsukuyomi's hidden railway.
"That's how I understand it." Juugo nodded. "Really, laying the track isn't so hard. They could take unskilled laborers and have us competent enough in a week or two that we really didn't need a supervisor unless we ran into issues."
Ganju sort of doubted that. Sure, maybe it had been that way for Juugo himself but from what he'd heard the young man had also managed to become so familiar with one of the earliest engine models that he'd practically reversed engineered the newer variations and discovered exactly what improvements had been made over the half dozen models between them he'd never even seen.
Normal people didn't do that without lots of training and some formal education. Juugo had spent a large part of his life in a cell.
For him, this all seemed as natural as breathing. That made him Ganju's sort of man. It would be nice to have a peer that actually understood him.
"I'm not really worried about the track, it does look simple enough, my concerns mainly lie with running the engine in an enclosed space. The engines are coal-burning, aren't they? Harnessing the heat to spin the wheels?" Ironic, considering it came from the Yuki no Kuni. Heat was not something those people had in abundance.
Ganju briefly wondered if that hampered performance or if it was beneficial in keeping parts of the train that weren't supposed to be heating up nice and cool. Did the constant change of temperature between the running train and one sitting idle in below freezing weather cause issues with the metal over time?
He hadn't had that much time to pour over the train itself- though he really wanted to- because creating a way to use it was much more vital at the moment.
He'd have all the time in the world- minus whatever other projects Tsukuyomi may need him for, of course- to study it in more detail. He couldn't wait to see how the people of Yuki no Kuni had managed to get it to work.
"Very basically, yes." A frown- not that he'd exactly been smiling earlier- tugged at Juugo's lips. "And I hadn't even thought of that. The smoke is hardly an issue when running through Yuki no Kuni. Even in the tunnels that cut through the mountains in some places are usually pretty short and it moves so quickly that the smoke is left behind. In an enclosed space, though, that could become an issue."
"We'll have to find a way to bring in fresh air and remove the smoke without giving away the railway." Ganju scratched his head. This was going to be an…interesting…challenge.
At least they could have Orochimaru's Doton users working on the tunnel itself in the meantime, that would buy them time to figure it out and avoid too many delays.
Ganju would really hate to keep Tsukuyomi waiting. Besides, even if the train took extra time he was sure they could put a country-crossing tunnel to good use.
They were Wolves, after all.
Orochimaru paid no mind to the Suiton Jutsu being shot to douse the flaming wall behind him nor to the men and woman shouting as they rushed to to contain both the damage and the newly-bodied spirit that had caused the issue in the first place.
Maybe letting it know that one of his subordinates held the piece that had been used to summon them back had been a bad idea.
Or maybe the fact that he didn't specify which subordinate had it that was the real issue because he hadn't given the spirit a singular target.
Could just be due to its nature as a fire spirit or because it had been in a bad mood. He was going to have to try this a few more times in order to confirm. Now, was he going to summon more fire-natured spirits to see how they behaved, try something completely new to see what those results were, or try to summon this same spirit again after someone managed to kill it?
There was an anguished scream in the distance, probably another Oto Shinobi being immolated. Orochimaru frowned. He might actually have to put some thought into the safety of his subordinates at this rate, just so he didn't keep running through them so fast. What a bother.
Where was he? Oh, yes, which spirit he should summon. Not that he tended to know the nature- or temperament- beforehand. That would actually be pretty useful but no one actually knew what the hell a majority of these "relics" were beforehand, just that they were old. Their age was the only bet they could make for a spirit being tied to it enough that they could actually pull it back into the physical realm from…well, wherever the hell they currently were.
They actually could be here in the physical realm and either went unseen- Orochimaru doubted that- or were hidden away in a place where people never saw them. Maybe a combination of the two. Like local legends or maybe near small communities who didn't realize they were interacting with a spirit.
Still unlikely but Orochimaru wasn't in the habit of dismissing possibilities without at least making a token effort of exploring them. To do otherwise was just bad science.
He had to have some standards, after all.
The fires near him had been brought under control and the Oto Shinobi hurried off to the sounds of shouting to put out any others that might spring up as their fellows attempted to subdue the spirit.
…Was it really a spirit still if he had given it a body?
Bah, that wasn't important now. He'd come to a decision on that later. For now he needed to move onto the next test.
He paused, glancing around what remained of the warehouse. It didn't really look good and might hold up for another attempt or two before collapsing completely. He wasn't worried about that but unburying equipment- some of which was expensive and delicate, a pain to replace- would be a major delay and if the spirit- Hmm, maybe he did need to come up with a decision for that soon- hurt any civilians here in Hanahime or even damaged some of the other warehouses that were actually used as part of Nami's shipping industry…
Orochimaru winced. Naruto would be most displeased by that.
Maybe relocation would be for the best. At least then his subordinates could continue work here without rampaging spirits interrupting or- worse- impacting the results of their tests somehow. If he couldn't rely on their tests to be at least mostly accurate he would have to actually do all the boring ones himself. That would be an absolute disaster.
Moving would take time though, and he'd have to set up a new base, so maybe he should just adjust the focus of his work for the time being. Naruto did need more information about the clones- and he'd get some when they killed that newly bodied spirit- but Orochimaru also had work to do with the Shiki Fuin that might be good for that request Akishi made. That would be helping Naruto too and it was still early.
It also sounded much more interesting.
He debated it for a few seconds more. Work on the fun one or endless trials with Kage Bunshin in physical bodies to try to discover more about the process?
That second one sounded like something best passed off to his team after he'd relocated his spirit experiments which he really did need to organize.
…Maybe just one Shiki Fuin attempt first, just so he could consider the day somewhat productive. Yes, that sounded good.
After all, what's the worst that could happen?
*Seifuku-sha - Conqueror
*Tokujō - Shorthand for Tokubetsu Jounin, or so the Wiki says.
Sealkeeper: He Who Binds
Chapter 160-B "Credit to the Dead"
Patron Release 2022.07.10
The Shiki Fuin was, if you squinted, sort of a summoning technique. Mostly in the way it summoned the being known only as the Shinigami to perform its designed task, that being sealing. Something that both summoned and sealed? That sounded perfect for Orochimaru's needs in gathering spirits to experiment with and he'd continued to tweak experiments with it between trials of the Edo Tensei and playing about with Kage Bunshin.
When something involved a being like the Shinigami, though, there was no way in hell Orochimaru was going to be performing any part in it. No, he liked his soul just where it was, thanks.
Using one of his intended future bodies- he'd run through the others in slightly different experiments and didn't have the patience to make any more spares at the moment- was probably the closest he'd come to that.
The idea was simple. Instead of just summoning a spirit and strengthening their connection to the physical plain to the point where they were more or less physically present he would have those performing the Edo Tensei bind the souls to a physical body. He figured that would be easier, because there was a ready made anchor for them to attach to.
Of course, then he'd wonder if this way would work better with the original Shiki Fuin method. Provide the Shinigami with a sacrifice, have a host vessel present, and direct them to seal whatever spirit was connected to whatever relic they had on hand into the body as an occupant rather than a prisoner. It sounded more than doable- though maybe Orochimaru should have tested it out with that water sprite first, that probably would have been easier- so he had seen no reason not to give it an attempt.
By which he meant having someone disposable do so, naturally.
The results, well, saying things hadn't exactly worked out to plan was more than an understatement.
At first it just seemed like another failure. The person performing the Jutsu and both of the sacrifices collapsed to the ground as dead as any of the corpses the snake sannin kept on hand at any given time and his own provided body continued to lie there with no change he could see.
That was good, he really hadn't wanted to lose it.
And then it shot up.
Success?
Not quite.
He was pretty sure he had designed that body to have soft brown eyes, not the piercing yellow on black that gazed about the room in confusion. From the observation room Orochimaru frowned, something just felt…off. He didn't like it.
And then it laughed. Well, it was more like a cackle and it was substantially deeper than he would have expected from the body he'd made. When it reached out a pale hand and summoned a Tanto wrapped in red prayer beads Orochimaru had his first clue as to what had happened.
He did not, however, have enough time to stop it as the Shinigami itself burst through the walls and made its escape- with his body.
Goddamnit.
Seconds later the body of the summoner groaned before a flurry of familiar but unknown words poured out of their mouth. It immediately reminded Orochimaru of one of his other rare successes in this project- Atame.
He had to wonder if he could actually consider this a success considering the results were a physical Shinigami breaking out of his makeshift laboratory warehouse and…into…Hanahime…
Shit.
Well, here was hoping the Shinigami had better things to do than slaughter the entirety of Hanahime's populace. Naruto would be absolutely furious if- rather, when- he learned Orochimaru was behind such a calamity.
He really was going to have to set everything aside for now until he had a new lab set up deeper into the country.
Damnit, this just wasn't his day.
When in search of Naruto, there was really only one obvious starting place- Nami no Kuni. Considering the fact that it was absolutely crawling with his Wolves and, you know, he was the Daimyo of the damn place no where else really made any sense. Where else would he possibly go after being pushed from Konoha?
Well, realistically he could go just about anywhere he wanted. With the Wolves at his back and the financial support of Nami he could set up shop wherever he damn pleased. Then again, why would he do that if he had a country to reside in? It didn't make sense unless he was up to something.
Unfortunately the likelihood of him being up to something at any given moment was, perhaps, just a bit higher than most of the world was comfortable with. That was, after all, why Asuma seemed so adamant to have Yugao and her entire ANBU team track him down.
Naturally this should mean that Asuma had been unable to find Naruto through whoever he had keeping an eye on Nami- because, really, the man had to have someone considering the trouble Naruto got into- but Yugao wasn't sure who that was or how good of a job they were doing.
Evidently not that good, if they hadn't had any sign of him since he left Konoha.
Again, that was assuming he would come here at all but Yugao felt the Naruto she knew- had known- would have at least stopped by to ensure everything was running properly before galivanting off across the world. She didn't forget that he had Mai, though, and that girl had been by his side since the beginning. It was possible that he'd entrusted it to her and moved on directly from Konoha.
If that was the case she had no idea how they'd find his trail.
She somehow doubted she'd happen upon a postcard lying around somewhere she could actually access saying exactly where he was.
Still, they had to start somewhere and Nami was as good as anywhere.
They had only reached the edge of Hi no Kuni- Nami's bridge just visible in the distance- when a naked, barefoot woman ran past them cackling, a Tanto held in one hand.
She shared a look with Souji who, in turn, took a second to lock eyes with every other member of the team before turning back to her and giving a shrug. Considering she'd just run off into Hi no Kuni they probably should be concerned but it also had nothing to do with their current assignment-
Probably.
With Naruto it could be hard to tell what he did and didn't have his hands in and she would never dream of trying to understand why, either. Chaos just seemed to follow at that boy's heel like an eager puppy and, to be perfectly fair, he came across as completely capable of directing that puppy to suit his needs.
It was one of the reasons Yugao knew he was going to grow up into a fine Shinobi.
She just wished she could still be a part of that.
Tapping his foot impatiently, Orochimaru released another irritated huff as he shifted his crossed arms. Having to move all the interesting experiments away from Hanahime- which, fortunately, had not been destroyed by the new physical embodiment of the Shinigami. Gods only knew where the hell it had run off to, though- meant the only things still happening back at his warehouse- or what was left of it- was tedious and boring.
Which meant Orochimaru was bored and would continue to be so until his new lab was ready for use. Normally his subordinates should be terrified by the thought of a bored Orochimaru but that was only because he would alleviate that issue through more experiments. That wasn't an option at the moment. Really, that was a double edged sword because he would have that option eventually. The longer they took the more bored he would be in the interim and the greater the consequences when he had his lab but in the meantime they were safe. It was a rather delicate balance and if he immediately jumped into other experiments- such as his projects for his prince- they might even get away with it too.
That was a gamble with some rather poor chances and a dangerous wager but Orochimaru's subordinates would be lying if they said they hadn't considered it at least once already. The glares they received every time they paused in their work and glanced at him did a marvelous job of dissuading them from that course of action.
Standing to either side of him Atame and Atamo stared at the dozen or so Oto Shinobi as they shoveled their way down into the grassy field. They weren't all that fast but the area Orochimaru had assigned for them to clear out for his new laboratory was, well, not exactly modest. With the treeline only a kilometer behind them, the marked area within the fields stretched nearly to the Azi mountains to take up a majority of the forest-free area to the north-west of the Yato pass.
That was not a small section of Nami's land by any means. In fact, that was nearly as large an area as the city of Hanahime itself.
Orochimaru was sure Naruto wouldn't mind, though. Too much, that was. Especially if he replaced some of the dirt over a majority of the buried laboratory. Sure, it might take some time for the grass to spread again but it's not like there were people around here normally anyway.
Well, Orochimaru didn't think there were but, at the same time, surely not everyone in Nami no Kuni resided in Hanahime, right? That would just be strange, so there had to be other people somewhere around here. Well, with any luck they were on the other side of the Anzi and he didn't have to worry about them.
He was feeling slightly regretful that he stopped his Moukuton experiments because a single user should be able to restore these fields in a matter of minutes. That would have been helpful. Not being overzealous and dedicating all of his Doton users to Naruto's projects would have been pretty helpful too, as would having Guren around to throw up a suitable underground foundation for this structure.
He didn't know how he'd not thought to utilize her abilities like that before, it would have saved him so much trouble over the years. Hopefully he'd be able to get her back from Naruto at some point.
Orochimaru grimaced. Who was he kidding? The only woman to spend significant time around Naruto and distance herself afterwards was Mai and she still saw him regularly. Guren was likely as gone as the others.
And himself, if he was to be perfectly honest, so he couldn't exactly be mad at either of them for it.
That was terribly unfortunate. Orochimaru allowed another sigh to pass through Sasuke's lips.
Oh well, at least he didn't have to clear any of the forest for this one. Replanting the trees would have taken forever and immortal or not Orochimaru simply didn't have the time for that.
He had much better things to be doing.
And he really should assign someone to track down and keep tabs on the Shinigami he had running around. That was bound to cause trouble at some point and he'd really rather not have it somehow affect any of Naruto's plans. If he knew of it at least he'd have the chance to fix any mess before Naruto found out about it.
Probably.
Huh, maybe if he herded it towards Naruto it would stick around him too. That was one of Orochimaru's female bodies, after all, and that was the sort of mess Naruto was liable to find himself in. Was it too much to hope the solution was so simple it would practically solve itself?
Orochimaru doubted that very much. Naruto got himself into some strange positions- and got some strange women into his bed- but that was taking it just a bit too far.
He did still need to figure out what it was up to. That cackle didn't bode well for anybody and he had no desire to be an immortal when the rest of the world was dead. There was just no fun in that.
Once again Genma found himself grateful that the farmland of north-western Hi no Kuni had been more or less destroyed before he had arrived with Konoha forces because gazing over them now provided a less than pretty sight. The modest groves of trees the farmers left alone to provide small game had been destroyed in skirmishes- equally between the fire of Konoha and the Doton of Iwa- and the fields had joined together to become a single stretch of gouged, muddy wasteland. Suiton, Doton, and Katon had repeatedly reshaped the land soaking, shifting, and cracking the earth.
The farmers who lived here- those that were still alive, that is- were going to have a hell of a time restoring their farms here. He didn't envy them.
Genma moved his attention to one of the commandeered farmhouses where his forces had set up shop. Those here were either resting from a recent patrol or recovering from injuries sustained during them. Some Shinobi might argue that was the same thing, that if you weren't injured enough to have to stop and recover you weren't tired enough for a rest yet.
Genma more subscribed to the school of "rest when you can because it was better to have you available and capable than losing you because you weren't at your peak." It tended to work better for him because he wasn't about to throw sacrifices out to overwhelm his opponents. That tended to be an Iwa- and to a lesser degree Kumo- tactic. Konoha's Will of Fire expressly forbade it.
Despite that, there were still more individuals in that building than he really cared for. Iwa's first surprise attack had been more successful than the rockheads could have hoped for. Mostly because they'd not been expecting a mass of Konoha Shinobi in the area and were probably just hoping to take out a handful of Hatsumari's Samurai to hamper operations here on the southern portion of the battlefield.
It would give them an easy way to flank a majority of the other forces and as far as Genma was concerned Iwa was already being successful enough with their hit and run attacks. The trees, Konoha Shinobi's preferred environment, had been removed from the equation and Iwa's Doton allowed them to snake around beneath their feet to spring attacks.
Konoha and the remaining Hi no Kuni Samurai who had been permitted to continue fighting here when Hatsumari left to fortify some of the inner towns had made Iwa work for it but he'd be lying if he claimed it wasn't wearing on them.
And for the life of him he still couldn't figure out what their goals were with these skirmishes unless they were just a distraction. Hopefully those Shinobi he'd posed on the border would get back to him with something soon to give him some idea of Iwa's actual plan was because even rockheads weren't this dumb.
If they were going to throw themselves into the territory of another major village just to cause damage and kill whatever Shinobi and Samurai they came across they would at least do so with a larger force. No, there had to be something more to this and Genma wanted to know it yesterday.
Hana had been the one to suggest creating a spirit for the purpose of finally providing Naruto with a personal assistant that suited him and it had already been an idea Orochimaru had toyed with in order to be able to have spiritual beings to test his hypotheses upon. He had eventually discarded them for that, realizing that he had no way to ensure natural- and wasn't that a strange way to describe them- spirits would behave the same way his created spirits would. That would have been a lot of effort for tests that could be skewed- not a prospect that appealed to the Snake Sage.
Hana's suggestion had brought life back to that potential, though, and when he thought about it hadn't he already succeeded in creating a spirit? The ball of fire that hung about wasn't like any of the other spirits he had managed to summon and all three of them- Junto, Atamo, and Atame- all confirmed that something about it seemed decidedly off in ways they really couldn't describe. There was just some sort of instinct- again, a strange concept to be applied to spiritual beings- that told them something was wrong with the little fire when they were in its presence.
Understandably, they tended to keep far away from it. But if spirits who already existed didn't really see it as being the same as them, surely that indicated it was really some sort of synthetic soul he, Orochimaru, had brought into existence…indirectly. Really, it was those captured Shinobi he'd forced to participate in his experiments had done the work to bring it into existence but Orochimaru was more than happy to take credit for that as both the one who had instructed them on what to do- the mastermind behind it, if you will, even if that hadn't been his exact intention- and as the one who was still alive.
There was no point in giving credit to the dead.
Now, he just had to refine the technique.
Or, rather, he'd needed to refine the technique. He'd managed that just trying to keep himself busy as his new laboratory was being constructed. He may have also taken the risk of testing it before the laboratory was finished, making use of the distance from Hanahime and the fact that no one was around as far as he could tell. Sure, there were no walls to contain anything he created and he had no place to store it but if he could be bothered to go after it he was confident he could catch it before it reached Hanahime.
And if it went in the direction of the Yato pass? Well, he had no idea what was on that side of the island anyway so what did he care if it vanished over there? It probably wouldn't be linked back to him and he didn't think Naruto had anything important going on over there that could be interrupted by the spirit.
Probably.
That was all theoretical at this point anyway, as the spirit had been far to disoriented to do much of everything once it had been brought into being. Turns out the key was to increase the number of participants in one of his old experiments. The flame had been born of a single summoner and was rather basic and, well, crude. By sacrificing more in the same way he'd brought about something closer to the others.
Sure, it was ugly as all sin- a vivid green Oni nearly three meters tall with a face only a mother could put up with- and with it taking a dozen people- he'd actually run out of captives and had to utilize four of his own to pull it off- to create one spirit capable of thought it was horribly inefficient but human life was a price the Snake Sannin was more than comfortable paying.
There were, after all, entirely too many of the insects crawling around this world as it was. He was sure it could afford to lose a few….hundred…thousand...without too many adverse effects.
It's not like they didn't reproduce like rats anyway. It would recover in a few hundred years or so, probably. Assuming the population didn't continue taking hits through inane conflicts as humans were so want to do.
…maybe he should make sure he spread those numbers out across a few generations, just in case. Wouldn't do to burn up all his resources early if he was going to be living forever. He had to have something to experiment on.
Of course, with nowhere to actually keep the Oni and while it was confusedly following his instructions, seemingly still trying to figure out what the hell was going on- he was sure it would be trying to do its own thing before long. Orochimaru couldn't have that - he did have another experiment he could start immediately. His new Oni made a perfect participant for it while it was still agreeable to his commands.
So he'd taught it the Shiki Fuin.
His prisoners had taken weeks, his Oni had taken twenty minutes. That confirmed a suspicion Orochimaru had- he'd captured absolutely useless Shinobi. Really, he'd probably done their villages a favor by taking them off their hands.
Never mind the horrid conditions they'd been kept in or the fact that they probably hadn't wanted to cooperate with him in the first place.
With a forbidden technique using Oni and a fresh body- male this time, something he'd been more than capable of whipping up at the warehouse so he didn't have to sacrifice any more of his own bodies.- the plan was simple: summon the Shinigami at the cost of the Oni's soul to move whatever soul was tied to a relic- he was pretty sure it was the remnants of some sort of tool- into the physical body.
Of course, then he had to wonder if it might be better for the Oni to already be in the body, so the Shinigami was just swapping the souls, but that brought up another issue- getting the soul in there in the first place.
That's what he was already trying to do. Could he somehow create the next one within a lifeless body to start with? That would probably be for the best.
Either way, he was far too bored to wait until he had the necessary components- disposable lives- to try again. The Oni performed the Jutsu and a surprised, physical Shinigami appeared in one of Orochimaru's bodies. She blinked twice at the Oni, spared Orochimaru a glance- he could have sworn she smirked at him, and with his own body no less!- and then shrugged. She took a second to glance at the relic placed atop the body and Orochimaru was pretty sure he could see the understanding dawn in her eyes before she looked back up to her summoner- the Oni- and licked her lips.
Orochimaru supposed she'd never taken a synthetic soul as payment before, unless he wasn't the first to manage it- an idea he adamantly refused to even humor.
With her- he did think it was a her now, not that he knew what the Shinigami identified as previously- physically present Orochimaru was able to watch as she pressed the relic into the body with one hand as she sunk the other into his Oni's chest and pulled. The Oni dissolved into a translucent chakra- tinged a slight green like the Oni's skin-which the Shinigami gleefully consumed.
Sparing a second to playfully wag her fingers in a wave at Orochimaru she vanished back to…well, wherever the hell she'd been summoned from, he guessed. Or maybe wherever she resided between summonings previously. Orochimaru really had no idea and he didn't intend to ask. Not while she was wearing one of his faces, anyway.
As the body sat up, just as disorientated as his Oni had been, Orochimaru smiled. At least this had worked, they were making progress.
It was also good to know he'd not completely broken the Shiki Fuin by providing the Shinigami with a physical form. That would have been…inconvenient.
Orochimaru hated being inconvenienced.
To be perfectly honest, Hana really hadn't expected Orochimaru to make progress anytime soon after she had shared her idea to provide Naruto with a suitable assistant. Even more unexpected was the thought that Orochimaru would actually keep her in the loop. She figured he'd take her idea, develop it, and then present the results to Naruto. Really, the first she expected to know of any success was when Naruto had an assistant following him around.
She was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. Instead, Orochimaru had given her a report- it was really just a copy of his lab notes, as far as she could tell, but it was as close to a report as Orochimaru was likely to provide anyone save Naruto himself. - informing her of his latest…successes.
She wasn't sure she could completely agree that they were successes but the fact that he was able to create spirits- the man was manufacturing souls somehow and she knew for a damn fact that she wanted absolutely no knowledge as to how, it was probably horrific.- and then move them into physical bodies.
None of the spirits thus far had been capable of filling the role they would need to with Naruto but Orochimaru had some notes on various ways he was planning on affecting the nature of the spirits he was making. Well, that's what Hana assumed those were. She had no idea what half of it meant- aided in part by not knowing any of the process anyway- so she could really only make attempts at deciphering most of it.
Still, it was obvious Orochimaru was making significant progress and had no end of ideas on how to continue working towards their goal so overall Hana would consider things to be going quite well. Hopefully they would have an assistant for Naruto soon, that's all they could really hope for.
She would attempt to keep from thinking about what uses Orochimaru might have for any other spirits Orochimaru was making- bodied or not.
The thought that Orochimaru could create life was something that should terrify the entirety of the elemental nations. It was, perhaps, Nami's first state secret.
She did wonder if she should be responding to the report by seeing if he needed anything she might be able to supply as the governess of Hanahime.
…Governess of Nami?
Actually, she wasn't sure which it was she was in charge of. Before it was all just one name but now that the city had a name of its own- her name, no less- was she Nami's governess or Hanahime's?
She'd have to ask Sai to see if he knew and, failing that, perhaps Mai. She could check with Naruto too, if she had to, but she had a feeling he probably wouldn't know either.
He would be able to make a decision then, at least, so perhaps she was better off just going to him first.
It would interrupt his vacation but Hana was pretty confident that he'd happily welcome actual work, even if it was such a simple matter. He had to be going crazy with no work to do and Hana took a moment to wonder what the hell he was doing with all his time.
And then she remembered who had gone with him, which gave her a pretty good idea.
Fighting down her blush, she attempted to return to her work with minimal success.
Damnit, she needed to find herself a boyfriend one of these days. Then again, she really didn't have the time.
…Maybe Orochimaru could just make her one? Probably worth looking into.
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