"Another mission?" asked Shike, yawning widely. The three gennin had now been together for a month, and had managed to bond slightly more.
"What is it this time, weeding a garden? Finding a lost pet?" muttered Izumi, glaring at her sensei.
"Actually, no," he replied. His hawk shifted, preening itself happily. "You three are rookie gennin, but out of the teams made this year, you three are the strongest, the elite."
"Heh, then why is the number one rookie on team seven?" asked Raiko.
"The Uchiha may be the most talented overall, but working together, this team is by far the strongest. And you work fairly well together."
"Get to the point," said Shike, eyeing his sensei.
"Right. This mission is a high 'B' ranked mission, a few levels above any you've been on so far. Our job is to escort a group of people, along with the help of a few strong Waterfall and Sand gennin, from the Wave country to the Hidden Stone, and ensure they reach their destination without detection," said Daisuke casually.
"Why are we going to be working with the Sand and Waterfall?" asked Izumi.
"Well... Our clients were the ones who hired the other gennin, but they also said they wanted to test a few other village's strengths. But there's another catch. The road we are taking to the Hidden Stone is heavily monitered by groups of thieves and bandits, some of which are quite powerful, at chuunin level."
"So we have to escort a few guys to Iwagakure without these bandits knowing? That's impossible," stated Shike matter-of-factly.
"Yes, and no. We should try our best to avoid these groups, but if we are to encounter any, which I'm sure we will, we are to kill them immediately."
"Kill them?" asked Raiko halfheartedly.
"Yep. That's why the jounin are coming along. Our clients are paying alot of money for us to do this."
"Sure, whatever," said Shike. Izumi said nothing, looking up at the sky.
"Are we leaving today then? Is that what these bags are for?" asked Raiko, holding up a backpack. He had asked them to pack a few weeks worth of clothing and other suplies, weapons included, and meet him at the town's gates. Izumi's bag was the same size as theirs, but she knew it contained more. She had only packed two changes of clothes, both the same outfits almost (black shorts and a black t-shirt) along with a cloak and a pair of pants in case it got colder. She had also packed her new favourite weapons, two long, sharp daggers, and a few kunai in a small weapons pouch. She hated using shuriken, so she had not brought any. In her bag as well were a few painkillers and other pills just in case, bandages and soldier pills. She had also packed a pair of black gloves and a length of rope just in case, and thinking about it now made her wonder how she had managed to fit it all in one bag.
"Yeah, as soon as you are ready. It's a day's journey to the Hidden Mist where we will be meeting with the clients. We will be spending the night there and wait for the others to arrive before heading out again, alright?"
"Sure," said Shike.
"Yeah," said Raiko.
"Yeah," muttered Izumi. She opened her bag and pulled out her daggers, which were hanging on a strap, and strapped it across her back in a way so that the handles of the two weapons were protruding above each shoulder, withing easy reach should she need to use them. The straps themselves ran over her back and across her chest, forming a black cross on top of her black t-shirt. The daggers were large, each a little over a foot and a half and each narrowing to a double-edged, cruelly pointed and unbelievebly sharp tip. She closed her bag and looked around at the others.
They had all changed in the last month, becoming more mature and getting along better. Shike had changed the most, becoming quieter and more reserved, less fervent in his hatred towards Raiko and more centered on training and becoming stronger. For the mission today, he wore a black, sleeveless shirt and white shorts that reached down to his knees like Izumi's did. Across his back he had strapped a long sword, the weapon he specialized in using, which was a silver katana in a black sheath. The sword was larger than a normal katana, he had had it custom made, and it was almost the same height as him, almost five feet long. He had apperently been training with it during his time in the acadamy, but had only recently started actually putting it to use skillfully.
Raiko had changed as well, becoming more talkitive and taking the position of team leader. He had grown smarter as well, and although Izumi was still the sharpest on the team, he excelled in strategizing. For this mission he wore short, black pants and a dark blue t-shirt, the same colour as his hair. He also had a new weapon like Izumi, although he never used it when practicing fighting with them as it was too dangerous, easily fatal. They were a pair of gigantic katars, a long, pointed, foot-long blade that he grasped in each hand by a horizontal, metal bar. When he put them on, he would have to attatch a strong brace of metal just above his elbows to be able to control them properly, otherwise they would probably end up breaking his hands or fingers, possibly even his wrists. When not in use, they hung on a loose strap around his waist, dangling below his hip ready to be ripped off and put to use if needed.
Izumi had changed also. Not much in personality, she was still as sarcarstic as before, but in her style of fighting and her looks. She now frequently used her daggers in a complicated and dangerous fighting style used in combination with some hardly-known and yet powerful Konoha ninjutsu. She still wore her black t-shirt and her long, black shorts, along with a leather choker around her neck and her headband tied on her upper left arm, just below her shoulder. Her dark red-purple hair had grown slightly, but was still fairly short and still hung annoyingly in her left eye contantly, but she didn't mind as much now, and didn't bother flicking it out of her face unless she was nervous.
"Ready?" asked Daisuke, standing and lifting his own bag.
"Yeah," they responded, grabbing their own bags and shouldering them. Izumi had grown healthier-looking in the last week, some colour returning to her otherwise white, flushed skin. She also felt alot more energetic, participating fully in practices with her team mates and sensei.
"Let's get going then," said Daisuke. He had come to accept his team slightly more, and had began acting like a normal Jounin sensei, taking more responsibility and caring more about what they did and what happened to them.
They walked through the village gates, heading out of Konoha. For the two male gennin, this was only their second time outside of Konoha, as they had only gone on one other higher-ranked mission. But this time, they would be going far from home, heading through a total of three or four shinobi countries.
"Here, each of you take one of these so we can communicate easily," said Daisuke, handing each of them a headset. Izumi slipped hers on, adjusting the mouth peice carefully.
"Alright, let's go," came Daisuke's voice. "The way there may also contain bandits, so be careful."
They took off through the forest, dashing quickly along the small, winding path towards the hidden Mist. It was hot out, and because she was wearing completely black, she felt like she was being slowly cooked under the relentless sunlight. They ran through the trees for about an hour before resting and walking for awhile.
As the sun began to set, they took off again, dashing through the forest towards the village. By nightfall, just as the sun fully set, they entered the village, slowing down again as Daisuke picked his way through the town towards a large building in the center. They paused outside the door and Daisuke knocked lightly, waiting and putting his weight on one foot. His hawk flew down from no where, landing on his shoulder in its usual place and ruffling its feathers. A moment later, the door opened, revealing a young man around eighteen years old.
"Ah, you are the Leaf-nin, right? Please come in," he said, bowing slightly. He moved out of the doorway and Izumi followed her sensei and team mates inside, looking around in awe. The outside seemed big, but the inside was huge. Everything was neatly organized and arranged to give the impression of enless amounts of space. The young man led them through the first hall and into an equally large room with numerous swords on display on the walls.
There was a desk in the center of the room where another young man was sitting, much older than the one leading them in, looking to be in his late thirties or early forties. He sat up as they entered, his hands folded on the desk in front of him. The four shinobi removed their headsets and faced him, Daisuke standing in front of the three gennin.
"Fujishima Isamu," he said. "You must be the shinobi hired from Konohagakure, right?"
"Yes," answered Daisuke. He stepped forwards, pulling out two scrolls and placing them on the desk in front of the man, who picked them up and read them over quickly.
"Good... The shinobi from Takigakure have already arrived, just this morning, and we are expecting the shinobi from Sunagakure to arrive sometime tonight or early morning. Kenji, please show them to their room for the night."
The other young man nodded and motioned for them to follow. He led them upstairs, into a whole new series of wide halls and spacious rooms. They passed one room where a group of gennins around their age glared out at them with odd eyes that were almost as animal-like as Izumi's, the Waterfall-nin. Kenji led them into a room down the hall from them which was equally spacious, letting the three gennin enter before leading Daisuke to another room where he would be staying.
Izumi flopped back on one of the large bads, tossing her bag on the floor beside her and sighing as she lay back. Her daggers were pressing annoyingly into her back and she undid the straps, hanging them on a hook on the wall.
"This place is a big," said Raiko, relaxing as well.
"No, really," she muttered sarcastically, rolling over. Shike had removed his long sword and leaned it against the wall, throwing his bag beside it and sitting on his own bed.
"Are we starting tomorrow then?" asked Shike.
"I guess so... Whenever the Sands arrive. I wonder if we'll be protecting that Isamu guy," said Raiko, stretching and sitting up again. There was a slight noise at the door and Izumi's eyes shot up instantly alert. There was a Waterfall-nin looking in on them.
"What are you doing?" she asked, getting the other gennin's attention. They all looked up at him interestedly. He wore a completely black outfit that covered every inch of skin except for his the skin around his eyes and his ears. He had his Takigakure headband tied around his right arm in the same style as Izumi.
"Just came to see the new shinobi," he said quietly. His voice was silky and smooth, and Izumi met his green eyes as they fell on her.
"Who are you?" he asked, looking her over.
"Izumi," she said slowly, eyeing him suspiciously. There was a moment of silence as th three Leaf gennin eyed the gennin from Takigakure.
"What the hell are you staring at?" she asked angrily, glaring at him. He looked at her for a moment longer before laughing quietly.
"I like you. My name's Yari," he said, laughing again. She scowled at him, making a disgusted face.
"And I don't like you," she said back to him simply.
"Ouch," came another voice. The other two Waterfall-nin appeared around the corner and she glared at the one who had last spoken. He had dark grey hair and wild eyes that were a bizarre grey, smokey colour and were glossy. He was apperently the leader, which was shown by his look of superiority, and his face had a slightly feminine, pouty look to it.
"What are you doing in here?" asked Shike, shifting uncomfortably. She noticed his hand inch towards his katana and her eyes shot back up to the three other gennin. The girl was strikingly beautiful, but her looks were far outmatched compared to Izumi's and she knew it. She growled at her and pulled out a kunai, taking a step forwards.
"Don't speak like that to Yari-kun or I'll cut up your pretty little face!" she hissed dangerously, taking another step forwards. Izumi was up in a flash, anger flaring through her eyes as she glared at the other kunoichi, narrowing her eyes dangerously and thinking, if only looks could kill....
"I'd like to see you try, you flat-chested bitch," she growled, pulling out her own kunai.
"Woah, she's got a bad temper," stated Yari quietly, taking a step back. The other gennin snorted, turning his eyes back to the two kunoichi who were snarling insults at eachother.
"Hah, she probably died giving birth to you," said the Waterfall-nin to one of Izumi's insults. The statement hit her hard and anger flashed through her eyes violently.
"She did," she growled. Her foot stomped into the ground hard and sent her forwards with amazing speed and power. The other kunoich followed suit, dashing towards her with her kunai raised, but two shadows were suddenly between them. Izumi's kunai clashed with a katana that belonged to Yari. Behind him, Shike was holding back the other kunoichi with his own sword. There was a moment of silence, before Izumi snarled in anger, taking a step back.
"Calm down, Izumi," muttered Raiko, standing. She felt a familiar chakra boiling up inside of her and it exploded out from her, curling around her like some sort of snake, it's red energy crackling like electricity as it exploded out violently, knocking Yari back. Shike edged away from her, leaving her to glare at the now confused and intimidated kunoichi.
"Wh-What the hell is that!?" she hissed. The chakra had curled around her protectively and was clearly visible to the other gennin as it burned the same colour as her eyes. Her hair hung in her face, covering her left eye as she glared fixedly at the Takigakure-nin, concentrating only on her. She took a step forwards, and Shike was there again, blocking her way and grabbing her wrists, holding her back.
"Forget it, Izumi, she's not worth it. Just let it go," he whispered, pushing her back. She ripped her wrists out of his grasp and he ducked aside as she moved back into her previous position. She glared at the frightened kunoichi for a few moments before relaxing slightly and turning away, the red chakra dying down before fading completely, the tendrils vanishing.
"Let's go, Hikari, before sensei finds us here," said the other gennin. Yari turned as well.
"Yeah, and if he found us here he would flip like last time," he said, vanishing. The girl turned away, regaining some of her composure before leaving. Izumi was still facing the wall, her anger slowly fading away as her chakra had. She lifted her hands and examined her arms, they were badly burned from the large amount of chakra she had released in her anger, and she inhaled sharply as they exploded in pain.
"What's wro- woah," said Shike, looking over at her arms. There were a few cuts on them and the blood began to fill the gashes, flooding up before overflowing and running down, dripping off her elbows. Shike produced a few bandages from his bag and quickly spun her around, taking her arm again and bandaging it tightly, down to the last finger of each hand. She noticed his hands as he did this, and where he had grabbed her wrists the skin was red, a small cut on his left hand as well.
'What was that?" asked Raiko, referring to the energy that had just come from nowhere.
"It's... nothing. Sorry about that, I lost my m... temper," she muttered, She had almost said 'mind' instead of 'temper' but had managed to squeeze it in instead. She rubbed her arms, wincing slightly in pain but not thinking about it. Her blood suddenly froze, and she dashed to the window, looking up at the night sky. It was a full moon.
"How many days will this mission take?" she asked quietly, trying to hide the fear that was embedded in her voice.
"I'm not sure... Maybe a week and a half until we reach Konoha again or more," said Raiko casually. A week and a half!? Her mind raced. But in a week I'll.... Oh shit, I never thought of this... What am I going to do if...?
"...Oh," she muttered quietly, trying not to pannic. She sat back on her bed, staring at her dropped kunai for a few moments before falling back in exaughstion, closing her eyes and cradling her burned arms gently. She rolled over on top of her covers and closed her eyes, facing the wall and falling into a sea of nightmares, tossing and tunring all night.
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"Get up," came Daisuke's voice. But Izumi didn't need to be awoken, she had been up for the last two hours, waiting for the rest of the house to awaken. Shike and Raiko sat up sleepily but didn't hesitate to get out of bed as she did. She slowly pulled her legs over the edge of the bed, noticing her shoes were still on as her feet touched the wooden floor and she stood, stretching. Daisuke immediately noticed her bandaged arms.
"What happened to your arms?" he asked, facing her.
"Are we leaving now?" she asked quickly.
"Yeah..." he said, shrugging off the fact she had completely ignored his question. "Grab your things and meet downstairs. We'll be meeting the other gennins and their sensei's along with our clients. Please try to get along, you're trying to make a good impression for your village."
Daisuke vanished, leaving them alone. Izumi sighed, grabbing her daggers from the wall and strapping them across her chest again and grabbing her bag. She glanced down at the kunai she had dropped the night before and picked it up, replacing it in her black weapons pouch before following Raiko out. Shike came behind her as they found their way through the numerous hallways towards the place they had been in yesterday.
They entered, looking around at the people in the room. There was the group of Sand-nin that had apperently arrived last night, along with their sensei. Their taem consisted of the usual two males and one female ninja, but it was what they carried that caused her to raise an inquiring eyebrow. The one on the left, dressed in a black, puppeteer's uniform, carried a large... something... wrapped up in bandages on his back. Beside him stood a shorter boy with red hair and unnerving eyes, and he carried some sort of large gourd on his back woth marking running around the edges. The girl on the right carried a giant fan across her back that was almost as big as her. The three Leaf gennin passed them and stood a ways off, eyeing them suspiciously as they waited for their sensei.
Daisuke appeared moments later, and behind him walked the four Waterfall-nin, led by their sensei. The Waterfall's sensei wore a white trenchcoat with dark blue flames licking up from the bottom edge and he had long, silver hair that reached past his chin before curling neatly under. Daisuke jouned them, standing at the end of their row as the Waterfall-nin fell into line as well. They faced four men, one of them who she recognized as Isamu who had greeted them the night before.
Isamu cleared his throat, stepping forwards. "Please, introduce yourselves for the other shinobi."
He indicated the first in the row, the Sand's jounin sensei. "Baki, the Jounin sensei for the Sand," he said.
"Kankuro," said the one in the puppeteers outfit. She glimpsed at his face and saw he also had kabuki face paint.
"...Gaara," muttered the middle one quietly.
"Temari," sais the girl cheerily.
"Hakushi, Tokubetsu Jounin sensei for the Waterfall," said the next sensei.
"Kazuo," said the team leader.
"Yari," said the dark ninja, his voice even silkier than the previous night.
"Hikari," muttered the girl, glancing at Izumi.
"...Daisuke, Jounin-sensei for the Leaf," said Daisuke. There was an echoing screech and his hawk dropped from no where, gliding to his shoulder and landing in its usual place.
"Raiko," said Raiko, shifting slightly and glancing at Shike.
"...Shike," he said, his arms folded across his chest casually.
"Izumi," she muttered as it finally got to her. Isamu nodded and stepped forwards again.
"Good. Now, for this mission you know you will be escorting a few people to Iwagakure. The people to be escorted are my sons Tashiro and the twins Kaoru and Tenshi.
"I have paid you in advance for accomplishing this mission, and I am trusting you to get them there undetected and in one peice. You may leave whenever you're ready."
As Izumi listened to the way he spoke, she could tell he had hired many shinobi for other jobs. He knew exactly how to phrase things and spoke to them with an autouritve air. The three boys stepped forwards, and she looked them over. The oldest, Tashiro, was probably around eighteen or nineteen, and the twins were around her age, possibly older, but not by much. They stepped aside and led the three boys out into the morning light, stopping just outside the house to go over their plan.
The three jounin said something to the oldest brother before going into a hushed conversation with him about one thing or another, planning, questioning and what not. As they spoke, the two twins spoke quietly with eachother and Izumi looked over at them. They were exactly the same, with the exact same hair, eyes, faces and overall build. Luckily, they wore different outfits, so she would have no trouble telling them apart. They had short, black hair and dark eyes to match, and a thin but well muscled build.
Just by looking at the way they moved, she could tell they were somewhat trained in ninpou, possibly even at their gennin level, but that made her wonder about their past. She shrugged it off, it was none of her business. The three gennin groups from each country were separeated, keeping to themselves, and she knew this would be a problem. If they were going to make this mission work, they would need to show at least a little teamwork. But she wasn't going to be the one to break the ice and get to know them, it wasn't her job. She'd leave that to someone like Raiko.
Daisuke suddenly appeared beside the three Leaf-nin. "I've decided to raise the level of this mission to an A rank... The path we are taking is very dangerous. Anyways, we will be heading out now. For the first few hours, our team will be the ones staying with the group and acting as a close body guard. The other two teams will be hidden in the trees watching over us in case of an ambush, so we won't be needing the headsets yet."
"How long will this mission take?" asked Izumi casually.
"...Around a week to two weeks depending on how fast we travel and how many bandits confront us."
TWO WEEKS!? This is very, very, very bad... Damnit... I'll need to make this as quick as possible, she thought, swallowing hard. Daisuke muttered something to the oldest brother before they began moving. The other two gennin teams and their sensei's vanished, leaving only the Leaf-nin to protect Tashiro, Kaoru and Tenshi.
Izumi walked beside Tenshi along with Shike and Raiko walked beside Kaoru. Daisuke was chatting happily with Tashiro as they walked in front of the younger kids. By the time they had left the village, Kaoru had made good friends with Raiko, who was going on about one thing or another as if he had known the boy his whole life.
Izumi snorted, turning back to the dirt trail and almost feeling sorry for Kaoru, who couldn't get in a word because of Raiko's ceaseless speaking. Tenshi had been quiet up until now, but he eventually turned to Izumi.
"You're Izumi, right?"
"Yeah," she replied, still keeping her eyes on the trail.
"Your team-mate sure talks alot," he said quietly.
"You get used to it."
Tenshi dropped his eyes back to the path, listening to Kaoru who was now speaking as much as Raiko had. Izumi's mind strayed for awhile as she thought of her past. She didn't remember much, only a few useless bits of information.
She remembered her mother had died giving birth to her, and that the only person who had cared about her after that were her two older brothers. She remembered no names, but they had always been there for her. She couldn't even bring their faces to mind.
She remembered being trained at the ninja school of whichever village she had come from, and the jutsu she had learned there were one of the only things she remembered. After that, there was a large blank space before blood. Lots of blood and screaming, then darkness, then Anbu. The Anbu had found her outside of Konoha, and she had no clue how she had gotten there, whether she had ran or someone had dropped her there.
That was all she had for memories, and although she knew that blood usually meant killing or war, she could feel no loss or sadness because she had no clue what had happened, it was just kind of there without meaning. To her, blood was just red water, and water was just a liquid as red was just a colour. It had no meaning to her, and she had no problem with making other people bleed or hurt. It was as if she had lost that along with her memory.
As her mind wandered aimlessly, she suddenly noticed something and lifted her head. The forest around them was completely silent aside from the voices of the gennin and her sensei. She looked around, not a single birdor animal, or even a bug, had made a noise in the last fifteen minutes. She sped up, falling into step beside her sensei and tugging on his shirt to get his attention.
"Have you noticed?" she whispered.
"Yeah, be ready for an attack. We've passed this place three times already."
"Genjutsu?" she hissed, looking around. Daisuke nodded.
"Just wait a little longer, if they don't show themselves, the other gennin teams will find them and root them out, so just act normally."
She nodded and fell back in line between Shike and Tenshi. She glanced at Shike and immediately knew that he had noticed as well, and at Raiko, whos eyes were darting everywhere as he spoke, his left hand straying towards his katars evey now and then.
They didn't have long to wait until the enemy revealed themselves. It started slowly, two wolves trotting out in front of them and blocking their path. The four Leaf-nin surrounded their clients, drawing their weapons and falling silent. Daisuke was facing forwards, Raiko to the left, Shike to the right and Izumi covering the back. The two wolves did nothing, simply sitting and staring at them with wild eyes, but one opened it's jaws, revealing a number of sharp teeth before an unearthly cry split the air.
A moment later, they found themselves surrounded by twenty men, each with a wolf by his side. The leader was facing Izumi, and he stepped forwards threateningly, his wolf baring it's teeth and snarling.
"This is our territory. Why are you here?" he asked. She noticed he had a Cloud forehead protector tied around his forehead. What is a Clud-nin doing here? she wondered. Daisuke shifted so that he was facing the leader and so that Izumi was in his place.
"Let us pass quietly," he said. She noticed his hawk had left his shoulder, and instantly knew what he was planning. The leader laughed, his wolf giving a short bark and stepping forwards.
"You? I remember you, Daisuke-sama," he snapped, grinning.
Daisuke snarled angrily and his hawk plunged from nowhere, taking the form of Daisuke and landing on the back of the leader. From the trees around them, the other two gennin teams burst forwards, weapons drawn as they plunged into battle. Izumi and her team remained around their clients, making sure no one came to close. She watched in amazement as the other teams showed their powers.
The Sand team scared her the most, it's members seeming freakishly powerful. The one called Kankuro was using some kind of puppet to fight for him in combination with some powerful jutsu she had never heard of. Temari had removed her giant fan from her back and was using it to easily blow away or slice in half the wolves and their masters, easily killing them. But it was the yongest that scared her the most. He had not moved from his original position, but was simply stnding there with his arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes fixed on nothing in particular. No attacks were connecting with him, and she finally saw why.
The top of his gourd that he carried across his back had come off and sand had poured onto the ground around him. Every time an attack made its way towards him, the sand would simply form a solid wall and block it. Every now and then, he would hold up his hand and announce another jutsu, and the sand would crawl up a wolf or a man and crush them, sending blood flying. As a droplet of blood landed near her eye from one such attack, she looked towards the other team.
The Waterfall-nin were not nearly as powerful as the Sand, but she could see they were still strong. Yari was running around laughing as he happily sliced people in half with his katana. He moved like some sort of demon, dashing around like a shadow and making quick work of the men. Hikari was using jutsu after jutsu, each as powerful as the one before, and most of which revolved around the water element. She watched as a wolf was blasted back against a tree by a large cyclone of water that snapped its neck, killing it instantly. Kazuo was using incredible taijutsu, a pair of nekotes on his hands as he used them in conjunction with some odd jutsu. He had already killed two men and their wolves, and was struggling with another wolf at the moment.
Izumi watched assertively, her eyes darting everywhere. Something moved and she caught it out of the corner of her eye before turning her head fully towards it. It was the leader, and he was holding something in his hands, his wolf beside him. Her heart faltered when she noticed what he was holding was her sensei's hawk, flapping halfheartedly with a broken wing. Her sensei loved his hawk alot, and should anything happen to it, it would break him. Without thinking, she dashed after the man, leaving her position and taking to the trees.
"Izumi!" she heard her sensei call her name, but continued plunging through the trees, daggers drawn and ready. The man and his wolf were far ahead of her, but she eventually caught sight of them and sped up, dashing wildly as fast as she could towards them. The man suddenly skidded to a halt as he noticed he was being followed and turned to face her, tossing the poor bird aside where it landed clumsily on the ground, unable to fly because of it's broken wing.
"Hah, a gennin is all that Daisuke has to offer? That won't even make a meal for Kumo here," he said. The wolf snarled in agreement, stepping forwards.
"How do you know Daisuke?" she asked, her daggers still raised protectively.
"I suppose he never told anyone, did he? Daisuke is the Raikage's son, but he ran and they never found him. Raikage-sama will be pleased to know of his whereabouts. The Hunter-nin have been after him for years, the Raikage wants some information from him about Kairi and he wants his weapon back."
The Raikage's son!? That must have something to do with why he hates Kumogakure so much...
"That won't be possible. Dead people don't talk," she said, snapping out of her thoughts and falling into a fighting stance. He laughed again, but suddenly charged at her, his wolf becoming a replica of himself as he bore down on her with great speed.
"Kaminari no Dokujin!" she shouted, thinking quickly. Her daggers exploded in light, electricity crackling over their surface as she suddenly dropped, bringing them up and slashing one of her attacker's stomach's open, blood showering down like rain. The one she had cut broke off, landing clumsily on its side before turning back into the wolf, blood gushing from its mouth.
"You bitch! I'll kill you! Bouseki Kiba no Jutsu!" he snarled. He landed animal like a few feet away, on all fours and his foot inches from the poor hawk before jumping into the air. He became a blur as he bagan spinning towards her, ramming right into her stomach. She was knocked back into a tree where blood flew from her mouth, but he was not done.
He landed a few feet off again, skidding to a halt before jumping up again and starting another spin right towards her. Chakra suddenly exploded from her, creating a solid wall that he connected with before flying backwards and screaming. He was clutching his head and rolling around on the ground, covered in his own blood which was leaking from hundreds of gashes all over his body from the wall of chakra. After a few moments, he fell silent and still, his eyes open and unseeing.
Izumi pushed herself up, clutching her stomach and wincing as she moved over to the poor bird. She carefully lifted it and wrapped it in her shirt gently, replacing her daggers and taking off as fast as she could back the way she had come.
"Izumi!" came Shike's voice. It was not far from where she was.
"Izumi!!"
"Right here," she called back, dashing towards the voice. Shike burst from the trees, numerous cuts on his arms and his white shorts stained with blood. He looked relieved when he saw herm sighing in relief.
"Don't scare me like that. We thought those guys... got you."
"I'm fine," she said, breathing heavily. "But sensei's hawk has a broken wing and is shaking alot."
Shike looked down at the poor creature. Its eyes were half closed and it looked fairly comfortable snuggled close to her body, but its wing was folded at an odd angle and the joint was bleeding. Shike's eyes moved past the bird and towards her stomach where she had been hit.
"You're bleeding!" he hissed, taking the bird gently from her.
"So are you," she retorted quickly, cringing at the pain in her side.
"Shike, did you find anything!?" came Raiko's voice. He came through the trees as well and she was suprised to see he was unscathed, save for a single, small cut on his right cheek.
"Izumi! Are you alright? Everyone was looking for you."
"Just fine," she said, clutching her stomach and moving past Shike, who was cradling the poor hawk gently.
"Where's sensei?" she asked, looking around.
"Over where the battle was," he said, turning. She followed him back to the battlefied and looked around, cocking an eyebrow. Nineteen men and nineteen wolves lay slaughtered in various positions, some missing body parts and blood covering everything. Daisuke was crouched beside a body, examining it closely as the other jounin were doing. The gennin were sitting around their clients, relaxing together except for Yari who was nowhere to be found and Gaara who was standing off on his own, looking at the blood in an odd way and twiching. Geez, that guy... He looks like he's gone mad.
"Izumi! I told you to stay! Don't run off like that! What if something happened to you?"
His face was troubled as he looked behind her and saw Shike holding his hawk. The hawk gave a small whistle as it turned its head towards Daisuke.
"Akame!" he said, standing and moving towards Shike and gently taking his hawk from him.
"That man, the leader, was running off with him," she explained. "So I went and got him back."
"Did he get away?" asked Daisuke.
"No, I killed him," she said simply.
"You killed him!? He was at a Jounin level," he said, staring at her in amazement. 'I suppose he never told anyone, did he? Daisuke is the Raikage's son, but he ran and they never found him. Raikage-sama will be pleased to know of his whereabouts. The Hunter-nin have been after him for years, the Raikage wants some information from him about Kairi and he wants his weapon back.,' she thought, recalling the man's words.
"He said something strange about you. He said that-"
"Don't! Come here," he hissed. She followed him away from the other two gennins before stopping a good distance away. Still clutching his hawk, he knelt down, looking up at her seriously.
"Alright, tell me exactly what he said," he ordered. His face was pale and troubled.
"He said that you were the Raikage's son and that the Raikage wanted to know where you were. He said the Hunter-nin had been after you for years and that the Raikage wanted information on Kairi and he wants his weapon back."
"Shit," he hissed, his face paling further.
"Are you really the Raikage's son?" she asked. He sighed, looking away for a moment.
"Yeah."
"And who's Kairi? Why did you run from the Hidden Cloud?"
"Kairi is my sister, but my father only wanted to use her as a weapon. When she turned seven, there was a war and she was killed because he used her too much and her body couldn't take it anymore."
"How is that possible then? If your sister is the weapon that man spoke of, then why would the Raikage be asking about her if she's already dead?"
"Well, no one actually saw her die. They assumed she died because no one could lose that much blood and live, and on top of that, there was no evidence she had escaped with her life, no footprints or marks, just a giant crater with a pool of blood in the middle."
Izumi said nothing, eyeing him. There were many more questions pounding through her mind, but she bit her tongue, knowing he didn't want to talk about it. He suddenly smiled and stood, cradling Akame gently and walking away.
They travelled only slightly further that day before setting up camp for the night. izumi had bangaged her stomach to stop the bleeding, but it still hurt and she ended up taking a few of the painkillers she had packed. Before going to bed, she glanced up at the moon. There was a small sliver missing from it's side.