His back flat against the wet dirt under him, his mind was empty. As he had done to so many before, he had been betrayed, set up, killed. Except he lived, if only barely.
He expected anger to fuel his veins, fear to push him forth, but there was only an apathetic 'why'. He showed trust to them, to Kuhou, and they tried to kill him, like a rabies infested dog biting the hand that raised them from birth.
He dragged himself with the rest of his reduced strength up to a nearby tree.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Until he reached an insignificant spot of cover. Like he always did Kumori created a plan. First, what did he now know:
Firstly, assuming Lizard, Serpent and the Friend she mentioned were all from the other world, there were a lot more like him than he first thought. Kuhou was originally an anomaly, but now they were standard. Each Village, each generation, there could be as many as 3. Just one killed Hanzo the salamander. Imagine what 30 could do? Factor in that most of them think they know the future, and you get a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
Secondly, if he got back in time, he could definitely kill the Rain four. They would have nowhere to go and as long as they were separated, he could deal with them. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible in his current state, and doing so would deprive Rain of 4 very important people and cause Leaf to try and destroy Rain in retaliation.
He was spiteful, but not that spiteful.
Thirdly, Leaf knew he was probably not dead. They would send people after him, so he would need to defend himself. Jutsus are all well and good, but without the fine motor skills needed to do hand signs he would need to limit himself or he would burn through chakra fast. However, he could lay down seals with just a brush of a finger. A weapon using that would be a good early defensive tool.
He now had goals. Short term: Get a weapon. Middle term: Fuck up Rain and the Reptiles. Long term: Kill the other reincarnates.
Kumori had a lot on his plate.
…
Minutes from finishing his weapon, a detachment of Leaf appeared. No Hyuuga, so he was safe for a bit. He had a silencing and sent removal seal put down, but he couldn't stop chakra from getting out, he had to keep it low if he didn't want to alert them.
Scribbling away, he was close to finishing the friction removal seal when a Leaf shinobi (Presumably a Chunin) stepped into the noise nullification radius, right next to him. The Chunin noticed that one of his steps didn't make a noise, and though any other day he would have dismissed it, he felt extra paranoid that day, little brainworms like "Wasn't that tree bigger earlier?" or "Is it thorough or thoughrough?" culminating in him deciding the single step, as innocuous it was, was suspicious.
"Wait, I think I stepped near a silencing seal"
Kumori had to stop at the final 2 seals for that, each shinobi in the group stopping in silence.
"Really? If we were near, he'd have attacked us by now, dumbass."
The lapse in concentration from the speech allowed him to finish inscribing the seal on the 5th chamber.
"I'm checking it out anyway, never hurts to be thorou- ah! forget it, I'm going over."
The 6th, the revolver was finished, now for the rounds.
He stepped in the radius again, just as Kumori used an application of earth release to pack dirt into the chambers, shaping them into bullets per the design.
Kumori pointed straight upwards and fired. The man's head ballooned, then expanded, finally exploding from the force of the bullet and the resulting shrapnel.
Instead of gunpowder and lead he used chakra and dirt. Where his body failed, chakra won.
Using the split second of surprise he had, he grabbed the top-headless body and moved it in the pass of a flurry of shuriken aimed at him, using the body as a shield whilst he took 3 shots, blowing the brains of one and rupturing the organs of another, with a cacophonous bang following each cycling of the chamber.
Upon the 3rd shot he ducked with the body, laying on the ground to avoid a ball of fire, exploding behind him with a terrible blast and painting the woodland with flame. He took his 2 remaining shots at the group in front, both aimed at retreating behind trees. Frustration building, Kumori opened the revolvers cylinder and ran it through the dirt under him, aiming it at the oak in front, channelling more chakra into the shot, imprinting a new seal onto it, charging a shot and firing. The shot impacted, and disintegrated the tree, destroying it instantly.
Out of the explosion came a scratched Leaf ninja, body flickering to escape the explosive round, but taking one to the leg, it getting ripped of with the force and pulling him into the air, and getting a massive hole in the torso to make sure he was dead.
Kumori sensed an attack from behind, and seeing no other way, shot in front of himself to dodge the attack, the blast shooting him away, his feet skidding on the floor, and putting him in the perfect position to counterattack, a shot ringing out and decimating the man's upper half of his body.
Anticipating an attack, he turned and shot a hand wielding a sword aimed at cutting his head off, disarming them but also using his last bullet. The kunoichi ran to get her sword, whilst Kumori reloaded his gun with a certain calmness, aiming the newly loaded gun just as she turned around, a blow to the heart bringing an end to their exchange.
Kumori scanned the surroundings for any survivors, finding only one. A lone Genin, couldn't be older than 13, holding a kunai with both hands scared out of their wits. Kumori, put his gun down." Kid, could you surrender please? It'll be easier for both of us."
The boy hesitated, the growing fear evident in their eyes, until a burst of determination flooded their eyes, and they rushed forward like a bullet, kunai held in front of them in an offensive position, cutting through the wind with speed.
Kumori rolled his eyes, stepping to the side of the Genin before smashing the handle of his gun into his head.
At least he had a hostage now.
…
The kid was silent the entire time. He wasn't going to tell him his silence was probably better for him, since the only information the kid could give him would be about low-ranking shit he could figure out in about a minute, and the peace and quiet was greatly appreciated.
Right now, he was working on a seal to prevent the kid from saying his name or pointing out his identity, placed on his tongue. He didn't actually care if people knew he was alive, but he wanted control over as much information as possible, and he was hoping to bait a couple of seal masters to come after him from Konoha, so a seal this complicated would get them sooner or later.
His body was regaining it's once lost strength, muscles growing even bigger and better. He had to discard the armour, so he worked on speed and long ranged attacks, to substitute for his weaknesses, and make him more lethal on every front.
He wouldn't let his temporary lapse in power define him, and he had a plan, a way to reduce the number of reincarnates with them having no way to stop it.
He just had to finish this seal.
…
Two, a couple, if you will, walked together, equipped with sealing paper, kunai, and the woman, with a pair of katanas strapped to her waist. They were silent, steps and all, but even a blind man could tell they cared for each other.
Paranoid eyes, under blond and red hairs scanned the dense forest, trying to find any sign of the rogue sealmaster they were there to find. He was strong, and had been a thorn in the Leaf's backside for the last two months, taking out squads as quickly as they arrived. You'd expect a wasteland to be created by such an adversary, but they had kept the area orderly, perhaps purposeful, the advantage of such a great swath of cover evident, especially if it is just one man like the reports say. One of those reports came from a Boy with a completely new information seal, near impossible to crack and able to completely prevent the mans identity being shown. He also brought no ninja tools into the battle, all tools acquired being from other squads.
Minato and Kushina were chosen because they were the eminent sealing prodigies of the village and strong in their own right. They worked well together, and knew when to disengage when needed. They were there to scout the enemy out, steal a seal and leave. A red maelstrom of death and a man as quick as the wind. The choice was simple
When their target walked from behind a tree and swept Minato's legs, it became anything but.
Minato suspended mid-air, Kushina took her blades out, slashing at the attacker, who had Minato in front of him, used as a barrier. Kushina had faith though, and continued with the attack, Minato flashing away just before the blow, and Kushina slicing into… a tree?
Kumori rose from his ducking position, firing an uppercut into Kushina's jaw, rocketing her into the air, where he flipped up after her, using the momentum of his spin to smash his leg into the rising Kushina, slamming her into the floor.
In the air: 3 kunai in a pattern, each tri-pronged, flew at him. Kumori launched a kunai of his own, making sure they all bounced of each other so that one ended up behind him, then released a plank of wood from a seal in his boots, pushing himself of it and smashing his right fist into a newly transported Minato.
Both ninja prepared jutsus midair, Minato preparing to blow an air bullet at Kumori, whilst he simply shifted the dirt beneath him, crawling quickly under Minato and pulling him down in place with himself. Minato immediately flashed to his previously thrown kunai at the top of a tree, where Kumori was already headed, anticipating this after the headhunt, the two engaging in a quick battle, Minato lashing out with quick kicks and flips and Kumori blocking and dodging every hit that came his way, countering only to deliver devastating blows. Minato stumbled back after a lightning-fast liver strike, Kumori rushing forward for a final strike, when Kushina interrupted, Kumori hand pressing backwards to escape a whirlwind sword strike, then immediately ducking under the sword strikes and punching Kushina straight in the stomach with all of his body, then spinning around with a reverse roundhouse kick, flinging her to the left, just as Minato came back in for another round in taijutsu.
Kumori saw a flaw in Minato's positioning, pushing with a low commitment jab to test the waters. Just as he though, as soon as his jab should have hit, Minato teleported to a kunai a head, rasengan in hand. Smiling with the rush of battle, Kumori unsealed a scroll from his upper half, repelling the technique, projecting it into the forest where it exploded with a terrible crash, Minato staring in awe, just before a knee smashed into his face.
As soon as the blond was hit, a golden chain warped out from the dark of the woods, forcing Kumori to flip to avoid it, with a swarm of these chains coming from the forest in front, each trying to hit him and each failing. Eventually they retreated, and Kushina came out, wrapped in the chains like and armoured suit, and a malevolent chakra bubbling underneath.
Kumori responded by grabbing his revolver, and blasting payload after payload of high explosive round, smashing Kunshina into a tree several times, each shot pushing her back, until the 6th hit was over and the tree broke, Kushina's armour smoking with energy and scratched with misuse, before it faded with her consciousness.
Suddenly, to his right Minato came charging with a rasengan. Kumori tossed a shuriken at him, where then he blinked to a new position behind Kumori, rasengan shooting forward, until Kumori reached out and stopped it with his hand, chakra scraping against chakra. Eventually Kumori pushed more chakra into the ball, and he pushed it upwards, before he grabbed Minato's hand and pulled him forward, putting him in a rear chokehold until he fell unconscious.
Well, He had two hostages now.
…
"You may be wondering why you aren't dead."
The two bound shinobi looked in hate at their captor, his open torso rippling with muscle, a scraggy beard and unkempt faded blond hair, shit eating smile framing his face.
"I want to use you to for an objective of mine. You won't believe it at first, but it will become apparent that this information is only meant to help you."
Hate turned to suspicion, though Minato schooled his expression quickly, returning to a passive resistance. Kumori leant back. "I was part of a group of people. We all lived a second life with the memories of our first. That itself is weird enough, but even more peculiar is that we were all given a vision of the future, though the only way to know that snapshot was real is to live through it, and it didn't include any of us, so it had to have some flaws. I told this group that the future was undecided, and we should do what is right above all else. Essentially, I tried to stop the 3rd shinobi war, and they tried to kill me for it, and took away my rule of Rain. Following?"
The two looked only with confusion now. "Then why are you tellin' us this?" Kushina spoke, frustration evident, mixed with intrigue.
"You two are very important people in this prediction. Minato perfects the Flying Thunder God and changes the course of the war by killing several key Stone nin at Kanabi bridge, and has 3 students, who later would decide the future of the elemental nations. Kushina no matter what has a child who most likely will be the next container for the 9 tails"- Kushina's eyes widen here- "And most likely has them with you, Minato."
The Blond and red head blush at the implication, but Kumori sighs and continues. "Point is, they want Minato's students dead, but they can't kill you two. After the birth, and after Kanabi bridge, you two could be killed to reduce complexity and keep predictions easy to make, so kill them before. The cut off point for killing the students is Kanabi bridge, after that at least one will get killed, so keep them safe no matter what."
"These foes are incredibly strong. They've lived an entire previous life as well as having a detachment to reality, and hence, more esoteric abilities. They could all be interconnected, and more come into being each and every year. The only way to win is to use your advantages to kill them before they can fuck anything up".
Minato spoke up. "I don't understand, how are we meant to know who they are. They are just normal people, right?"
"There are key differences. We have no knowledge of each other when we come into being, so they will act to manipulate people using pre knowledge, like for example, getting close to you after a traumatic event."-Kushina flinched heavily here, sore spot maybe,- " The advantage is these people are easy to spot, and can even become allies. Just say there is a group who wants to destroy the leaf who have done horrible things and know too much, and they will defend you out of a want to defend their own power, illusory of course.
The difficult ones to spot are those in other villages, as if they have a link to Leaf enough to find you, they are powerful, resourceful, and definitely have allies. They will only strike at key moments though. They have a cover, and they want to maintain it."
"How do we know you aren't lyin'?" Kushina asked.
"You don't, though it doesn't matter, I'm just giving you the tools to better kill those who wish to harm you. You will have to use them sooner or later"
He stood up, and started walking.
"Don't tell anyone about this, not even the Hokage. Everyone who learns is at risk, you two were just always at risk. You can tell them I'm Kumori Dokusei by the way. The seals will decay in a half hour. Good night"
Then he bled into the shadows.
He wouldn't enter the light for 3 years.
…
A/N: Minato and Kushina are 16 here, but I accelerated Minato having FTG because I wanted a cooler fight. Kumori is lying his ass of, but it's true enough to work at convincing M&K. If there was a large number of reincarnates, a bunch would team up to fuck up madara, and a key number of those would want to kill Obito beforehand. Kumori knows neither has enough balls to kill Naruto by killing his parents, as they are trying a fix it, they want to actually fix things. Kumori wants to kill them, out of spite and responsibility, so he manipulates M&K by giving them information, enough that they would kill the SI's. Kumori is strong here, but he needs to get a lot stronger for what he wants to do. Also, feedback on the fight scenes would be appreciated. I want them to be both long and fast paced, essentially the direct opposite to Kenshi (Legend).
Thanks for the reviews, and reading.