Two fires burned that night. One consumed the village, eating away at the many homes that had sheltered its inhabitants for generations, and the other raged within a young shinobi who bore witness to the first fire.
With his nose wrinkling up at the stench of blood, Hikaru's eyes quivered as they passed over the scene before him.
This was it. His first taste of real combat.
Reveling in this wholly new experience, he found himself shaking, which he believed was just in anticipation.
The sounds, the smells, the feeling, it was all almost too much to bear.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ! He picked up on two scrawny fellows, grinning with murderous intent as they hacked and slashed away at a young man that couldn't have been older than 15 who parried what he could with a blade as he continued backing away, receiving an increasing number of wounds.
๐๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
Unfortunately, with a building between Hikaru and his targets, along with the constant bellowing of smoke, he couldn't risk throwing shuriken or kunai, not with his current level of proficiency.
Bending his knees, the Uchiha pumped his legs full of chakra as he sprung forward, leaping straight over the building and right behind the two attackers.
๐๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ
๐๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ
Before he had even landed, he already had his tanto at the ready and performed two precise slashes, creating two thin yet deep lines at the back of the bandits' necks.
Two bodies promptly plopped to the ground, no longer possessing any mind with which to stand.
๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅโฆ Hikaru had made a rookie mistake; he had not taken care to avoid the resulting spray of blood that came after his attacks. Running down his face, creating small streams of blood as they dripped off his chin.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? He didn't feel exuberance. He only felt an innate wrongness in response to his recent action. Even killing the Red Striped Tiger had not had such an effect on him. It was as if a piece of him cried out at the very act of killing.
Without knowing it, Hikaru had fallen to his knees as his breathing became heavy and unsteady.
"Hahโฆ hahโฆ" A sense of panic spread throughout his chest and stomach. It just feltโฆ wrong. He dropped his blade and began frantically rubbing his face, trying to clear the blood from it, only to smear it all over, coating his face red and similarly covering his hands in blood.
Staring at his blood-soaked hands, all sounds of battle disappeared. He could only hear his own heartbeat as it beat against his chest, the rush of blood in his ears andโฆ quiet.
With these hands, he had snuffed out life. With these hands, he smeared the very life force of those men across his own face. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ? ๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ?
Suddenly, a pair of hands shook his shoulders as the pale face of a weary young man entered his vision. "Hey! Hey! Snap out of it!"
Shifting his gaze away from his bloodstained hands, he peered at the man standing over him.
"Iโฆ" He tried to speak but choked before he could say more than a word.
"You need to snap out of it! My friends, my family, they're dying! You need to help us!" Crying, the man covered in wounds fell to his knees in front of Hikaru, bowing his head, "Please. Please just save them. Get upโฆ"
Taken aback by this, Hikaru's head snapped back as he turned it from side to side, finally remembering where he was. Those very sounds that his mind had snuffed entirely entered his ears once more; shrieks of women, shouts of men, and the ding of blades clashing.
"I understand." He said with a detached voice. Rising to his feet, he shook the young man's now powerless hands off his shoulders and glanced around for a moment.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ. ๐๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ตโฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ป๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ง ๐ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ป๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ดโฆ Hikaru didn't need to think any further; it was all too obvious what would happen.
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ.
Seeing movement in the windows of a house, he picked up his blade and rushed toward it. Passing through the splintered doorway, his eyes immediately locked onto the assailant, a brute of a man who must have been in his 30s, with an unkempt brown mane of hair that reached his shoulders.
Observing the situation just long enough to determine that things were as they seemed, he flicked a shuriken straight into the man's back. With a chakra-enhanced finger behind it, the weapon easily tore through his flesh and embedded itself in his ribcage.
The man who had just been huffing and puffing as he wrestled a woman against the back wall of her house jumped slightly before slumping to the ground in agony.
Taking one final glance, Hikaru noted that the victim was not suffering from any significant injuries, just a few bruises here and there and some ripped clothing. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จโฆ Then, he vanished as quickly as he appeared in pursuit of his next target.
In the span of three minutes, the Uchiha had already disposed of more than seven pillaging bandits, saving several lives in the process. None of his enemies required any more than a single sword swipe or shuriken/kunai throw.
Leaping through the air, Hikaru firmly but gently had his arms wrapped around the young girl in his arms as her mother had her arms gripped over his shoulders. Typically, he left the villagers to their own devices after rescuing them. However, he had saved the two from a burning building, as evident by the black ash smeared over his body, the burn marks on the girl, and the coughing of the mother.
Thus, he took them over to where Anzu and Ren were for medical attention and protection. While the smoke made it difficult to see, it didn't take long for him to find his comrades since he had already explored much of the village.
Touching down beside Anzu, who attended to the most endangered villagers, while the others huddled around her, he gently placed the girl down on the ground as her mother dropped from his shoulders and rushed to her side.
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" With tears welling up in her eyes, the girl's mother clenched Hikaru's hand as she expressed her gratitude.
"Just doing my job, ma'am," Hikaru responded curtly and took his hands away from the woman's, turning his head to Anzu.
"How are you holding up?"
The usually chipper girl had an unusually bleak face and a dark countenance.
"I would be doing a lot better if I had more chakra to spare." She replied, not wanting to open the can of worms that was her mental state right now. She just had to focus on the mission, on her job. If she let herself be distracted, then others would suffer as a result.
"Really, even with the Military Ration Pi-" Hikaru cut his words short as he finally noticed the number of patients the girl had already tended to. This was too much for someone with an average chakra capacity, even if they were boosted by a Military Ration Pill. "Well, I hope you have enough spare for this girl, she's not at risk right now, but she inhaled a lot of smoke."
Anzu's expressionless eyes moved from her current patient over toward the young girl Hikaru had brought, flashing with sympathy for a moment.
"I have enough." She stated.
Hikaru nodded, patting her shoulder softly as he turned and saw Ren, who had just been tying up a bandit but now stood staring into the darkness, stiff as a tree branch.
Noticing that something was wrong, he came to Ren's side without haste.
"Problem?"
"Thereโฆ is another strong chakra signature, coming toward us." He pointed ahead.
"This isn't the same one you picked up before?" Hikaru asked while frowning.
"No. He ran off awhile ago, with sir Kazuya in pursuit."
This does not bode well. Instead of immediately taking action, Hikaru asked another question despite the situation. "I've taken out 10. How many have you dealt with?"
"Nineโฆ"
"It seems one piece of scum escaped the fishnet and cried to mommy." Hikaru spat.
"It would seem so."
"Are there any people left in burning buildings, injured or otherwise in need of immediate help?"
Ren shook his head.
"Then we can both go all out against him. There's nothing else for it. Instead of waiting for him to come to us, let's meet him. So that we are away from all the injured and Anzu."
"We are of one mind. Good."
"Anzu!" Upon Hikaru's shout, his teammate looked over at him. "Ren and I are going to engage a strong enemy combatant ahead."
Blinking rapidly, the girl's eyes then flicked between the two. Then, mustering what energy she had left, she went to stand.
This time it was Ren who spoke to her. "No. Stay. There are those that need your help and those that you must protect. If we do not return soon, then take the villagers and go."
He almost wanted to laugh at the farcical nature of such an order. If he and Ren did not return, then that would mean they were defeated, and the enemy would swiftly catch up with the slow-moving group of injured people. However, even if they all set out right now, they'd still be caught in that circumstance, and in doing so, the conditions of those in poor health would only worsen. Therefore, having them stay in the village was the best option in a basket of bad options.
Anzu wanted to object, that they could need her help, that it was dangerous, but she settled back onto the ground, realizing that he was right. She was of better use staying with the injured. "Good luck. Don't lose."
"Don't worry. We wouldn't lose to such trash." Laughing, Hikaru slapped Ren on the back. "Let's go. To our deaths or to victory."
Scowling at the overly familial contact, the Hyuga shrugged Hikaru's hand off his back and began leaping forward.
"You seem to have preserved most of your chakra. Good. We're going to need it."
Jumping forward beside Ren, Hikaru's eyes blazed with a cold passion. "How strong are they?"
Coming to a stop right outside the village, Ren answered. "From what I can tellโฆ they should have the strength of a chunin."
Hikaru fell quiet for a moment. "That'sโฆ manageable. With the two of us, we should be able to-"
"Stall. We should be able to stall. Long enough for sir Kazuya to return."
"Right." Nodding, he refused to argue whether they could outright win. "How far away are they?"
"At their current speed, they'll be here in about two minutes."
The two genin then hastily formed a plan of action and got into positions.
Arriving at the small river running down the hill outside the village, the chunin-level opponent glared at the arrogant young brat who dared to stand before him as an equal.
Standing tall beneath the moon's silvery light, the lanky figure's forehead protector gleamed, revealing him to be a missing-nin from Kirigakure. With sharp, canine-like teeth and beady black eyes, he seemed more animal than man. However, the two short blades held in each hand were a clear indicator that he was no mere beast.
"My man tells me that you are one of those responsible for mucking up our little raid. He says that you and your playmates have killed a good number of my men." A rough growl echoed across the now quiet area, devoid of its previous sounds of battle.
With his palm extended forward, the white-eyed boy from Konoha disdainfully retorted. "Maybe you and your men should have kept your disgusting instincts at bay. Maybe you should have thought twice before raiding the Land of Fire."
"Hahaha, you've a good tongue on you boy." The man's lips curled up, "I'll enjoy ripping it out and feeding it to you."
Casually strolling forward, the rogue shinobi spoke up once more. "If you want to blame anyone for the raid, then blame those idiot villages."
Ren's body tensed as the enemy came ever closer. "What? You're blaming them for your actions?"
"Yes!" Jabbing the blade in his right arm into the air, he slashed it sideways for no explicable reason. "You see, little sapling of Konoha, we were more than happy to just stay in our base, only harassing the village whenever our needs dictated itโฆ." His previously excited voice turned to one of fury as he swung his blade downward. "But those stupid peasants got some stupid ideas in their heads."
He continued moving forward, now no more than a dozen meters away from Ren.
"They got the bright idea of rounding up their men and leading an attack on our base as we slept!" The bandit kicked the ground hard enough to leave a small hole. "They dared to attack us! US! After we were kind enough to not wipe their miserable village off the map and enslave the lot of them!"
๐๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต. Hikaru thought as he lay hidden in a bush not too far away.
"But!" The manic marauder sighed, swinging his left blade up this time, "That doesn't matter anymore. When I'm done with you and your little friend hiding in the bushes over there." He pointed his blade at Hikaru's position and grinned. "Then, I'll take my time dealing with the survivors that you so painstakingly saved."
Throwing both blades into the air, the unnamed bandit formed two hand signs before catching both weapons. The result of his jutsu was quite apparent, as clouds of mist rose from the river nearby and spread throughout the area, blinding all those within.
Both instantaneously recognizing jutsu, the genin sprang into action. Fortunately for Ren, his byakugan completely nullified this jutsu's effect and instead probably benefited him more than it did his opponent, who did not possess an all-seeing eye.
However, Hikaru did not have such a luxury as Ren did. ...๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต! ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ?
Activating his byakugan, Ren effortlessly pierced the veil meant to obstruct his view as he saw his opponent dashing toward Hikaru's position. ๐๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ-๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ? If they were facing a sensor type, then things would only go from bad to worse.
Just as he was about to intercept the bandit, he caught sight of Hikaru, who stared directly at him and shook his head. Thankfully, he hadn't moved from his spot, or the Uchiha would have been shaking his head to the wind like a real idiot.
Deciding to trust in his teammate's judgment, Ren stood still and observed the situation.
Although he was no sensor-type, as an Uchiha, he still had incredibly keen senses, allowing him to just barely perceive the bandit leader as he closed in. If he were dealing with a shinobi of any lever higher than a chunin, it would be all but impossible to sense even the faintest of movement.
Gripping the wire he had been holding the entire time, Hikaru yanked it as hard as possible, pulling taut all of the wires around him in the very same instant. His opponent, who had jumped toward him, now found himself tangled up, dozens of steel wires cutting into his flesh. Gritting his teeth at being caught in such a low-level trap, the rogue shinobi then groaned as he struggled against the wires, attempting to pull his hands together so that he could perform a seal.
Not willing to let a single second pass by without taking action, Hikaru shot into the air and threw four shuriken down at his enemy. But unfortunately, it didn't take the bandit more than a second to overpower the wires restricting his arms and perform the hand signs for a substitution jutsu.
Watching their enemy reappear ten meters away from Hikaru, Ren threw six kunai toward him as soon as he did so, empowering them with as much wind as he could breathe out. With their increased speed and the perfect aim afforded to a byakugan user, three of the six kunai managed to impale themselves on their target before the other three were deflected.
"Ugh!"
Still in the air, Hikaru had been unable to tell where his opponent had fled to until he heard the cry of pain that he knew could not have come from Ren. Rapidly performing the hand signs, he sucked in air before bellowing forth a great fireball toward the source of the cry.
Plucking the three kunai from his body, the marauder then noticed the flaming ball of death heading his way and quickly responded. "Water Release: Water Bullet!" Spitting out an orb of water from his mouth, he completely ignored the resulting collision of jutsu, which canceled each other out and created steam.
"Hah! You aren't bad. Which makes me even more pleased to cut you saplings down before you can grow. If only Konoha hadn't sent such weaklings here, maybe their precious saplings would have grown big and strong!"
Finished with the trash talking, he carefully observed his surroundings. His eyes narrowed at the moment several more kunai appeared before him. Casually sidestepping them, it was then that two palms struck out toward him.
Dodging backward, he brought his blades before him once again, guarding against any more attempted attacks. At that exact moment, a small blade flashed behind him, intent on slicing the area behind his knees.
Faced with this two-pronged attack, the man in between the two genin howled with laughter.
"Yes! Yes! Give it all you've got!" He jumped a breath's hair above the blade's attack and then stomped his foot down on it, forcing it from his opponent's hand and into the ground. At the same time, he sent a kick behind him with his other leg, rewarded with the sound of a low grunt and a body leaving the ground.
Not one to ignore an opening, Ren struck forth once more, this time with a kunai in hand, aiming for his opponent's heart.
Backing away from the Hyuga's attack for the second time, he was just about to make some senseless remark before he felt a kunai embed itself in his right foot. Ren had attacked with one arm as a feint while using the other to attack his opponent's weak spot, an area most difficult to defend.
"AGH!" Red with fury, the man's manic laughter abruptly came to an end. Thrusting both of his blades forward, he was not rewarded with the sweet feeling of flesh being pierced or the sounds of pain as he expected he would be.
"Enough!" He had wanted to psychologically torture the two brats using his go-to jutsu, but he had been unlucky. ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ข'๐ด ๐๐บ๐ถ๐จ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ? Feeling even more pleased that he had cut the coward down as soon as he gave his report, the bandit's mood shifted yet again.
Losing sensation in his left foot, he decided better than to jump or run away but instead utilized the Body Flicker jutsu, leaving the mist-filled area. He again stood on top of the hill he had arrived at minutes earlier.
Now with some time to breathe without suffering from surprise attacks, the man checked his foot. When he yanked the kunai out of it, blood spurted out and onto his hand. While he relished dousing his hands in the blood of his enemies, he did not enjoy being covered in blood from his own body. Wrapping bandages around his wounded foot, he kept a careful eye on his surroundings.
They were weaklings, so they had to resort to tricks and clever tactics. They wouldn't dare face him head-on, so he had to be alert. The irony of the situation being flipped on him was utterly lost on the bandit.
Helping Hikaru up off the ground, Ren's eyes never left the hill beyond the mist.
"How bad is it?"
Coughing, the Uchiha wheezed a little at the same time. "I think I broke a few ribs."
Turning his gaze toward his comrade for just a second, Ren observed his injuries. "One broken, two fractured. Stop being a baby."
"Hah! Easy for you to say, bastard." Standing once more, Hikaru stared in the direction Ren was looking. "So, he left the mist..."
"It would seem he is not as stupid as we might have hoped."
"Yeah, well, his strength is that of a chunin, so he must've survived somehow, and stupid shinobi don't last long."
"If we don't move soon, he's probably just going to head toward the village..."
Frustrated, Hikaru cursed under his breath. He did not truly care for all those within the village, but he had taken them under his protection; one could almost say it was a matter of pride.
"Listen... I have an idea." Detailing his completely original plan to Ren, they quickly came to an agreement.
"Those brats... they've been hiding for too long." The madman's fingers itched to rectify the situation, to spill more blood than had been taken from him. He hated waiting. He began contemplating just heading to the village and beginning his slaughter. That would be fun. What would be even more fun would be the looks on the brats' faces when they saw what he had done; when they knew that they had failed their mission; when they realized all those people died because of their cowardice and weakness.
"Oh... what's this?" A figure emerged from the fog in front of him. The moonlight spread across the area, illuminating the boy approaching him.
Finally getting his first look at the boy's unique eyes, the bandit's face contorted in disgust. "So, you are one of those Hyuga freaks! Well, even if I am no longer a part of Kirigakure, I can at least do them a favor by slaughtering you!"
Despite these fierce words, he did not make a single effort to enact this promised violence. He was too wary.
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to slaughter me?" The Hyuga mocked. "I guess there's a reason why you were kicked out of Kirigakure. Too much of a coward. A weakling who barks but does not bite. I'm surprised they didn't just kill you for the shame you brought upon them."
A guttural growl rose in the bandit's throat, and his body shook with barely contained fury. ๐๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ข ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ.
"No wonder you pick on villagers. Even two lowly genin are enough to scare you off." The white-eyed boy laughed. It was a low, soft laughter that penetrated the bandit's very soul.
๐๐ต๐ข๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ. ๐๐ต๐ข๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ. ๐๐ต๐ข๐บ ๐ค๐ข- His mantra ended suddenly as he picked up on someone approaching from the left. Revealing no hint that he had perceived such a thing, the bandit bared his fangs.
"You little shit! You want to see what I'm really made of. Huh?" Roaring, he raced down the hill, swords at the ready as he slashed at the white-eyed freak.
The moment his blades made contact with his hated enemy, the boy disappeared and promptly reappeared behind him.
Spinning around, the bandit faltered slightly as his right foot throbbed with pain. This small opening was enough to allow the Hyuga a single strike against the man's abdomen, making him grunt. However, that single strike wasn't enough.
Throwing one blade into the air, the marauder grabbed onto the palm which had just struck him and thrust the remaining blade straight through his arm.
Ren tried to strike with his other palm, only for the bandit to slap it aside with his free hand. The second blade then fell back down into the dirt.
Looming over his prey, he forced the Hyuga boy onto his knees and was about to spit some more venomous words before he felt a stinging pain in his hand. The hand with which had used to slap away the boy's palm started shaking uncontrollably, and he lost all feeling in it besides a deep ache.
Gaping like a fish for a second, he turned his attention back toward the boy who stared up at him defiantly. "What did you doโฆ WHAT DID YOU DO?" He raised a leg and stomped the boy into the ground, foot planted firmly on his chest. "Tell me what you did to me!"
Despite the pain, Ren just chuckled darkly. "Did you think I just so happened to attack you in a panic after you grabbed onto me?"
The rogue shinobi's face blackened considerably. "Poison." He spat in a low voice.
Yet, before he could completely crush the little runt's chest, his instincts screamed at him that a threat had appeared. In his anger, he had almost forgotten about the second sapling that he had to crush, almost.
Yanking the blade out of the ground with his only functioning hand, he spun around and easily deflected the shuriken that came spinning towards him.
"Is that all you hav-" The bandit was cut short as the ground beneath him crumbled and fell apart, and a boy with purple-black streaked hair flew up behind him, dragging his tanto across the man's ankles as he did so. He then tried to go for another attack but was elbowed in the face and sent sprawling to the ground beside Ren.
"Ugh..." He spat out a glob of blood from his mouth. He had accidentally bit down on his cheek. Still, his mouth was in near perfect condition when compared to his shattered nose. Unable to endure the pain assaulting his mind in waves any longer, Hikaru's eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness.
"You... You... YOU!" Wave upon wave of bloodlust leaked out of the fallen bandit as he glared at the two runts collapsed on the ground before whipping his head around and staring daggers at the exact visage of Hikaru, that also stood in front of him, shaking in fright.
"A shadow clone?! No... your aura is too different..." Realization soon dawned on him. "THE GIRL!"
Although both of his legs were all but disabled, and he had only one functioning hand, he was still very much an active threat.
Anzu, disguised as Hikaru, trembled as she held out a kunai aimed toward the bandit who had so brutally savaged her teammates and now had his bestial eyes focussed on her.
"D-did you really order the attack on the village?" She managed to stutter out.
Her opponent stared at her for a moment and then barked out a burst of coarse, cruel laughter. "Ha, ha, hahahahah! Yes! It was me. I ordered it. I just wish I could have been there to set the village ablaze myself! Hahaha!"
Cutting his laughter short, he then peered at the girl. "Well, girly? Are you happy now? Do you feel relieved of any guilt? Can you do it? Can you plunge that blade into my throat? Watch as the life drains out of me? I can tell you've never killed someone before. Can you start now?"
Quivering, Anzu bit her lips so hard that they bled. She had long known this day would come, but she had always imagined it to be far off in the future, not during her very first mission! She stumbled forward, taking her first, shaky steps toward the disgusting man before her.
It was him. He was the one responsible for it all. All those that she had been too late to save... All those that she had been unable to save no matter how hard she tried. It was him that had almost killed her teammates. She hadn't known them long, but she liked them. Sure, they weren't the warmest of people, sure, they usually kept their distance from her, but they still trusted her. They entrusted their very lives to her just now. How could she not feel attached?
One step. Two steps. Three steps. Her legs wobbled at first, but as she neared the man, her steps became more steady. Now, she was just a couple of steps away from him.
"Can you really do it, girly? Can you kill me, a defenseless man on his knees before you? Can you kill me?!" His madness increased with every word he spat out.
"She won't have to." A calm but quite clearly furious voice cut in. Before anyone could react to the newcomer, the bandit's heart was torn out, spraying blood everywhere as it left his body in between the clawed hand of one of Konoha's proud jonin. Kazuya Koga
With a sneer, he crushed the still beating heart between his fingers and flung it aside as if it were little more than trash.