Author's Notes: Again, no reviews bother. Anyway, I'm going to leave the story PG-13 here, and see what happens. I'm not really sure that's appropriate, given the way in which someone dies here, but I hesitate to deem the story R (yet). Regardless, there's some high action here, if anyone's been waiting on it. I should also note that its getting relatively close to a key point here, only a few chapters more until Ise and Yi finally meet each other (you knew it was coming), and there will be a lot of action compressed into coming chapters and you'll get to see what these characters are really capable of doing.
Chapter 11 – River Shark
(three days later)
Ise had lost the trail. For three days he had followed rumor, sign, and instinct to track the motion of a strange occurrence on the edge of grass country, heeding the whispered remarks of samurai toward what they called only 'the demon girl.' In three days Ise had learned many things about his quarry, and they only confirmed his initial assessment. There is a Mizain lose here, the signs of Mizuho are unmistakable. Ise had seen it for himself, the burnt well where water blasted forth in flames, and the brutal scars it left on the land. His eyes had opened to the Warlord's plan then, when he came to understand some piece of how the Mizuho truly functioned, to grasp its maddening powers. From this he reaffirmed his commitment to succeed, and now he had further motive, for the Grass ninja were searching for this demon girl as well.
Though the intelligence of the ninja was closed to him and he had to rely on his own skills to gather data here, Ise was able to grasp far more of the picture than any of the many warriors aiding the grass ninja in this situation. He knew what to look for, and so it was possible to glean the truth from scattered rumors. Yet in assembling the image Ise was puzzled. The Mizain has been roving here in the south for weeks, and the Grass ninja have been tracking; yet they have not caught her. While it was quite clear the Grass had not devoted their best to this task Ise could tell from the number of ninja he saw openly that there were more than enough here to capture one rogue, especially one whose movements were so erratic. But always they cannot catch her. I don't get it. Again and again they've closed in, and always the net breaks down somewhere, and the Mizain escapes. It made Ise wonder how truly skilled the Mizain here was, and what her purpose was. She seems to wander randomly, yet Mizukage wrote that the family hides itself most carefully, and surely they would never travel about like this. Something was very wrong with the situation, Ise could tell, but he had no idea of the specifics, and no choices. I must find this Mizain and bring her back to Mist; this is likely my best chance.
To complete his mission Ise knew he must catch the Mizain, and he had to do so before the Grass ninja did. He was far from confident of this. They have failed so many times, with many pursuers on their home ground. How can I succeed? It was disheartening, and Ise continued to follow with little hope, aware that there were grass ninja between him and his quarry.
And now he had lost the trail.
Here, in the sliver of dry grassland between desert and plain, supposedly a part of Rain country, but in truth part of no village and patrolled by no ninja, Ise had run out of clues. The samurai and soldiers he relied on for news had faded at the border, and the tracks of the last patrol had faded a few miles back. A mist ninja, born of the sea, Ise's tracking skills overland were not up to the task of following the grass ninja before him south. Why south anyway? Ise wondered somewhat confused. There is only the desert of Wind Country that way, why should a ninja who uses water techniques head that direction? The only explanation he could come up with required the Grass ninja to force the Mizain's decision, but they had not managed it before, she had wandered erratically around the southwest portion of the country for weeks. He could not divine an answer. Still, no choice remained except to proceed.
Lost now Ise could only follow the slow wandering of the river south. This slow snake in the grasslands slowly gathered speed as the land about it became more solid. It was headed southwest, sweeping the edge of fire country and cutting through the badland valleys separating the desert and the forests of the Leaf. This was not Ise's destination, but he had no other guide, and in a foreign land he had no intention of leaving the river until he must.
Wind swept over the grasslands behind Ise as he walked, spear in hand, bringing cold air out of the north, the first twinges of winter speaking out now. It was not a hollow warning, here in this scrubland. The sun beat down a warm tempo when it shone, but heat faded all too quickly for Ise's comfort when it vanished at night or behind the clouds. He recalled his training and knew the desert to come, if he must go that way, would only be worse. The temperature was milder around the river, another reason Ise intended to track with it so long as remained possible.
In the stiff northern breeze the scrubby grasses moved in fits and starts, not waves, a confusing and complex pattern difficult to follow with the eye, and for Ise, focusing elsewhere on his long search, lacking familiarity with this place, many things could be missed at the edges of his vision.
He had only a second's warning then, when the wind shifted direction for a moment. It brought nothing anyone would normally remark save a chill lash to the cheek and the scent of loose and dry soil, but Ise felt the slightest touch of something else in the wind. He could not place it at first, but turned his head into the wind, feeling a tingling at the back of his mouth, a memory that spoke to him, and gave him a vital clue.
Blood.
It was faint, far, far beneath a human's notice, a few dried drops on the skin from some hours old cut or something similarly minor, a wound not even deep enough to draw the notice of its owner.
Ise's shark-blooded senses recognized it.
The recognition of that scent struck through Ise's mind as a crashing wave. He knew no more than the shark voice telling him of blood, the scent of human, and close. Past that point ingrained training took over, and Ise dropped with brutal suddenness to the ground, crouching and scanning all before him.
At first he saw nothing, and he could not pinpoint the scent at all. Fingers tightened around the haft of his spear, and Ise tried to calm his mind. My nose doesn't lie, he told himself repeatedly, the shark can always sense blood, and it never fails. The scent of blood carried with it a dark and patient urge, and Ise hunted for the scent with both near panic and anticipation. Hostility was near, but he had seen it, and there would be a moment to strike soon enough.
A strong gust slashed over the scrubland, and the bushes bent down as to be one with the ground and avoid it, and it was then that Ise saw. Some of those plants did not move quite as they should, and once the initial mask was gone the brown and green forms were revealed. Grass ninja, four of them. His eyes hunted carefully, identifying the platoon of ninja spread wide before him. What do I do now? Ise wondered. He had no desire for battle, not against four opponents, and the grass ninja were neither his enemies nor rogues like the sound ninja, but this was not his land and he was an interloper. They can kill me and Mist cannot complain, but I must not strike first. Ise decided this over the objections of his emotions and the instinct that told him to indeed strike now, while his enemies had not yet decided. No! He told himself. If it comes to a fight I will fight, but I must obey the rules of the ninja! It was a bitter struggle to keep those words locked in his mind. Ise wanted to cry at that, and also to scream.
Then the grass ninja stood up.
Ise copied them immediately, taking in the four as he did so. They were three men and one woman, all in brown and green, none with weapons or tools beyond the standard ninja gear. Three would be similar to Ise in age, in the later teens, and one was older, well into his twenties. It was not heartening. At least a chuunin and three skilled genin, perhaps all chuunin and an ANBU member. Ise hoped desperately for the former, but even so it would not be an easy fight. Grass ninja are weaker than ninja of the five great countries, or so they say, but these ones do not look weak to me. He held his spear carefully at his side, ready to bring it up in an instant.
"So, you managed to see us," The older grass ninja, obviously the leader since he spoke first, began. His voice was clipped, his words as devoid of expression as he could make them. Business only. "I'm impressed, wanderer, you're no mere soldier, why don't you reveal your true self, ninja." He slashed the last word knife-like, clearly certain it was the truth.
Ise shrugged, maintaining his calm outwardly, even as his insides tossed and surged, ready for anything but tense discussion. It was a skill all ninja must master, but Ise was more than adept at it, having grown up with his uncle in the household. He considered his options. Defying the grass ninja almost certainly meant battle. Ise suspected there was no way to avoid fighting regardless, but he wanted a chance to get some information at least. He decided to take a minor risk.
Slowly, so as to assure the grass ninja he was not readying an attack, Ise raised his hands and formed a seal to dispel his henge disguise. He did that, but as the illusionary construct vanished in a flash of dispersed chakra and stirred up dust Ise moved his hand again, and used henge once more. When the dust cleared the soldier image was gone, but instead of his true form Ise appeared as the unremarkable mist ninja he had been traveling through sound. It was a calculated risk, to simply switch disguises instead of revealing his true nature, but Ise thought it would work. A skilled genjutsu specialist could see through the illusion, of course, but the odds were unlikely that one of these four was so skilled. Most ninja would have been unable to do this simply because the second disguise would not fit so well, and their movements would betray them, but Ise had worn this mask for weeks, and he would not be easily spotted out.
The grass ninja gave Ise's new image a dark look. "A Mist ninja hmm…" the older one remarked. "Not quite what I expected."
"What did you expect?" Ise asked casually.
"Someone from a bit closer to home perhaps," the older ninja remarked guardedly, being careful with his words. "But you never can tell. Now," the grass ninja's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here Mist ninja? You're far from home and winter's coming on, did you get lost on your way back from Rain?" The biter sarcasm lacing that last remark told Ise many things more than the words.
"I am afraid not," Ise answered. "I have never been to Hidden Rain."
"Of course not," the grass ninja shrugged. "It would have been nicer that way though. So what are you doing here? Answer the question this time."
"I cannot tell you my mission, I am on the business of Hidden Mist," Ise replied, keeping his voice even, speaking the truth, though it would certainly not satisfy the grass ninja.
"Well, as much as it's nice to know you're dedicated I'm pretty sure I know your mission already," he scowled at Ise. "There's only one reason for a foreign ninja to be here, in this no man's land, heading south. Deny it if you want, but you're after the same thing we are, the little hell bitch who's been stirring up trouble."
"I can't answer your assumption," Ise told him. "But if I was, what would it matter?"
"You might be surprised," the grass ninja said, with a telling amount of reluctance and sadness. "You're a mist ninja, from far away, this is different than if you were from Rain or the Leaf or Sand." He sighed slowly. "You can't go on from here, this girl is ours now, she has the blood of many grass ninja and more samurai on her hands. We're going to capture her and that is the end of the matter. Turn around now and go home, mist ninja, there's nothing for you do here except die. If you turn now and go back north I'll let you go freely. Mist isn't our enemy and there's no need for anyone to die today."
How honest, Ise thought slowly, sadly. This is foolish. He felt only the slightest twinge of desire to turn back, but even as it surfaced twin forces surged in his mind to bury it. I cannot fail! He recalled his promise to the Warlord, his mission more valuable than his own life, or the lives of these grass ninja. That was Ise's voice. Kill them! They underestimate me! That was the shark's voice. Ise did not bother to silence either one, but let them take him. He hated himself as he did so, two parts of him warring together as his hand moved down to his shuriken pouch and grasped a small globe, but he needed both desires now, the burning urge to save mist, and the cold, swift fury to strike down those who thought they could oppose him. I will have to be a shark to survive.
The smoke bomb flew from Ise's hand to detonate against the ground. "I cannot turn back!" He called to the grass ninja even as he broke out from under the cover of the smoke at a dead run, surging toward the river.
Kunai passed through Ise's form quickly, too many for his twirling spear to turn aside them all, piercing him with many wounds, but his body collapsed into nothing save water then.
"Water clone! Damn!" the older ninja shouted commands. "He's gone to the river!" He pointed to a swiftly running figure beyond them. "Split up, take him from both sides before he gets there."
The grass ninja moved quickly over the barren scrubland, but they had lost precious seconds, and the distance was too short while Ise's legs were too long.
The shark-blooded ninja ran out over the water, supporting himself with chakra, as the grass ninja hurled shuriken behind him. Seeing those spinning razors coming at him Ise dove gracefully into the river's flow.
The grass ninja were at the edge in moments. Shuriken cut into the water where Ise had dived, but they could find nothing else.
"Search for bubbles, he must be here somewhere, and keep count, he'll be up in moments, even mist ninja can only hold their breath for so long," the grass leader ordered.
"There aren't any bubbles!" one of the young ninja called in surprise.
"What?" the leader scanned the river, searching, but indeed there were no bubbles. He looked for a breathing tube also, but saw nothing. How, he dove into the middle of the river, where's his breath? A sickening feeling began to develop in his stomach. "Scatter!" He shouted swiftly.
It was almost in time.
There was no way for the grass ninja to anticipate Ise's move, not knowing his true nature. He dove beneath the rivers flow into the cold water, but the cold did not penetrate his shark-tinged skin, and he did not exhale as he did, breathing instead through the gill slits cut into his face, oxygen flowing into his blood as if he was a fish. In this fashion he swim swiftly beneath the obscuring cover of the running water toward the edge, and saw the grass ninja there. The best move first, Ise's thoughts crystallized and his hands moved.
The grass ninja had barely begun to dodge as they heard Ise's voice ring clear in the air. "Water Element: Towering Surge no Jutsu!"
The water burst forth in a vertical blast, towering up from the river to smash across the bank, slamming the grass ninja with a massive cylindrical force. The four ninja tried to block the blast, but were cast apart.
The force of the technique was not enough to kill, only to bruise and slam an enemy to the ground. That was enough. To lie prone in a battle between ninja was as good as dead.
Ise burst free from the water, his chakra power leap carrying him in a low arc above the riverbank. He spun slowly in the air, cast against the sky as a shark leaping above the waves. Ise's left hand pulled on his long spear and it came apart into many segments.
Two of the young grass ninja lay together on the riverbank. They managed to force themselves to their knees, and the one in front raised a kunai to block any attack.
Ise's spear whipped past them suddenly, touching neither, bypassing the defense they had raised in favor of moving. In his mind Ise heard the voice of the Warlord, telling him with words something the voice of the shark's thoughts had already indicated. Trickery is essential in battles of the ninja, never attack where your opponent can defend. Let them waste their energy.
"Water razors!" Ise called the move, and channeled his chakra down the segments of his spear. Water lay lodged in the segments, caught in thin cups where the pieces fit together. At Ise's command that water spun out from those points, stretching into spinning blades of water between each segment, buzzsaws of water all down the reach of the whip-like spear.
With the spear beside them the two grass ninja could do nothing but scream as those razors of water sliced into vulnerable flesh, tearing without mercy and a cruel rasp far more brutal than any sword cut.
Ise struck the ground and rolled, pulling his spear back into its solid form, flipping backwards and up. Two opponents had been eliminated, but two remained.
They stood before Ise, weapons in hand, just beyond the range for a good throw.
"Damn you Mist bastard…" the older one began, and then stopped. His eyes widened as he saw Ise's true appearance for the first time. Looking into those empty, inhuman eyes set into a blue skinned face slashed by gills and topped with gray hair, the grass ninja's face went from confusion to horror to wrath. "What the hell are you?"
"A ninja," Ise answered, his voice empty of human emotions for a moment, not caring anymore. "A ninja of the Hoshigake clan of Mist."
"Bloodline…" the remaining youth gasped. "You should be dead!"
"The hypocrisy of Mist," the older ninja spat. "To purge some bloodlines but not all, to keep the sharks around. I'll kill you now." He flicked his left hand almost imperceptibly.
With surprising speed the young ninja shot forward, pulling and throwing kunai after kunai in a great stream.
Ise spun his spear, blocking each strike in turn, until the boy came in range.
Steel struck wood, and a small chip appeared in Ise's spear as he blocked. He flexed his arms and shoved the youth back, then spun about and smashed the butt of his spear into the ninja's arm.
The crack was loud and the other ninja gasped, his weapon work insufficient for fighting a weapon with such greater reach and an opponent of superior strength. Ise moved to press his advantage, but the grass ninja fell back, he had taken a blow, but accomplished what he need.
"Fire element: streams of running flame no jutsu!" The older ninja slammed his hands against the ground with fingers spread, and from each finger a line of flame cut forward across the ground, spreading into tendrils of fire that dashed toward Ise, burning everything in their path.
Not good…Ise thought, even as the young ninja spun around and moved his own hands through seals.
"Grass element: Cage of roots no jutsu!"
Ise dodged away as the roots of the scraggly shrubs lurched free of the ground and extended toward him grasping claws of woody growth. He tried to move away, but though the roots did not close over him they blocked the way behind him with a tangled thicket of vegetation he could not pass through. He was trapped even as fire raced toward him.
The older ninja, not willing to allow him an opportunity, threw kunai at Ise that he had to block.
Fire racing toward him Ise found himself without a plan. I can't get through the fire to stop that ninja! It will track me however I try to go around.
He rolled to the left, striking kunai aside and hurling several shuriken at the young ninja, buying himself a single second to make a decision. If I stay I will die, I have to attack, but how? The flames will have me soon.
Pain is meaningless. The shark's voice whispered to him, and from that much Ise realized a plan. "Water Clone no Jutsu!" He formed the seal and five water clones appeared around him.
"Now!" Ise charged.
The clones ran before him, straight at the grass ninja, straight through the lines of flame chewing their way across the scrubland.
The first clone reached that fire and steam materialized all about them. It was consumed in seconds, water burned away, and the fire was not put out, but for a moment the fire's heat was stolen away, and another clone moved into the gap after it.
The pattern repeated twice more, fire consuming a clone and the other clones and Ise following, approaching closer and closer, until the other grass ninja saw the plan fully and reacted.
"It won't work monster!" He raised his hands. "Fire element: Swift Fire Missile!" He spat an arrow of flame from his mouth, streaking in with tremendous speed, and it pierced the first clone and the one behind it, blasting them away into nothing. "Burn!"
Ise's shield was gone, but he dashed into that fire nonetheless, slamming his spear into the ground and pole-vaulting over the next attack by the same jutsu, then rolling into the flames to come up within striking distance of the grass ninja. His spear slid forward with his arms, and even as the flames burned his skin, darkening the shark's blue and charring, he held steady and completed the strike.
The grass ninja went down.
Ise jumped forward, out of the flames that continued to burn all around, running for the river.
At the riverbank he heard a voice and turned, but not in time.
"Grass element: Chords of reeds no jutsu!"
The reeds growing by the riverbank lashed about, grabbing Ise's arms and legs, tightening hideously, squeezing with great pain so he could not move. They wrapped about his torso and the top of his head, and as they were snaking down to his neck the final grass ninja appeared in front of him.
"Damn you!" the ninja slammed his fist into Ise's side, eliciting a gasp. "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!" The words were punctuated with punches even as the boy held to the seal with his right hand, the reeds squeezing ever tighter. Tears streamed down the boy's face. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" He shouted, even though he already was killing Ise. "Monster!"
Ninja are cold, controlled, and flawless, always remember that anger can motivate you, but if it takes you over, you're dead. It was one of Akai's first warnings.
The fist came in one final time, and the grass ninja paused for a moment, pulling his arm back just the shortest distance to take a cruel jab. His head was only inches from Ise's.
Reeds curled around Ise's mouth, restricting his movement, and the plant chords about his hands prevented him from doing any jutsus, but a shark can always bite.
Ise clenched his mouth, and then spat out sharp teeth, cutting away the reeds that bound his chin, affording him a tiny bit of leverage. At that moment he jerked his whole body down, bringing his head forward against the springy pull of the reeds, the give that even chakra strengthened plant matter must have.
The sharp shark's teeth filling Ise's mouth connected with the soft, all-too human flesh of the grass ninja's throat. All he needed to do was clench down, the reeds, jerking him backwards as they sprang the other way, did the rest. Flesh tore, and blood poured out of the grass ninja's neck. Shock took the ninja's eyes, and he raised his hands desperately to his neck, trying to stop the bleeding, to heal what had been so callously ripped away.
A moment passed and the grass ninja's eyes went gray, and he fell to the ground. The reeds that held Ise fell away even as he did so.
Ise saw the light leave those eyes, and felt his ability to move restored. Reflexively he threw himself backward, eyes closed, tossing his body into the river. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, exposing it to that cold flow, refusing to open his eyes, trying to deny, trying not to see what he had done, not wanting to believe it. Monster, they said, monster. Ise's eyes were closed, but he could taste the salty, metallic taste of blood everywhere in his mouth, and he could not deny the part of him that seethed with victory at it. I am a monster, to kill someone like that. Horrible, horrible, better to die. Better to die than kill someone like that! What am I! Ise screamed in the water, letting the river carry his words away unheard even as it carried his body swiftly downstream without his guidance, or his caring. He repeated those words until they were raw in his mind, and then suddenly stopped.
No, it is not better to die. Ise knew suddenly, he knew it with absolute, perfect clarity. Death means failure, and failure is intolerable. My life, my sins, everything I do now, it is all subordinate to the mission. The Warlord knew who he was sending, what he was sending. He knew what I might cause should I fight, he has seen Kisame, the same blood flows in my veins. I am not allowed to die, not unless the mission is finished.
There beneath the waves Ise considered something. What am I? It was the question he had never gotten a real answer to. Not from his parents, not from his uncle, not from the leaders of Mist, not from his companions, not from anyone. Now he held the answer in his hands, the grass ninja and the shark inside him had given it to him. I am a blend of shark and man trapped in a form between them both. I am a monster. It was a cold conclusion; one that took all the hope and happiness within Ise and wrapped them beneath a layer of cold revulsion. He could not deny it; he would carry the taste of the grass ninja's blood in him for the rest of his days, as a scent he would not forget, for he did not forget blood. I am a monster, but I cannot die, it was confusing to Ise. What do I do?
Then he remembered something, someone. I am not the only monster. It was the same answer he had found before, the one he had seen in the leaf ninja, the boy Shino. There are many ninja who lack something of true humanity, Shino was part insect, just as I am part shark, but we all still serve. Ise considered this, even as he chose to stop himself against the current. Is that the key? That we serve? Ninja do not lead, they serve only, serve their leaders, serve the daimyo, serve the good of the country, and ultimately the good of this whole troubled world. That does not make us good. Sometimes the only way to bring forth the right path is to strike forth the evil and bury it in your own soul. That is the ninja, the willingness to take the shadow inside. Such were the words of Mizukage. Ise remembered them, for they were taught to every ninja when he inducted them into the academy. The Mizukage must know the answer to this; Ise knew the history just as well as any ninja. If anyone had found that answer it was the Mizukage.
Can I continue to exist, even as a monster, so long as I serve as a ninja? Ise did not know if it was the truth, but it was his only hope now. Denying his nature would accomplish nothing now, and more, it would only result in his death. A normal man cannot complete this mission. That is why the Grass keep failing, perhaps a monstrous ninja can.
His decision made, Ise swam up to the surface, conscious that he must hold to this course and find the answers at the end of the mission, not at the bottom of the riverbed.
The sun was falling below the sky as Ise surfaced, but the land was lit as bright as midday. "By the sea…" Ise gasped.
All about him to the east of the river the scrubland was in flames. "It is the flames of battle," Ise muttered aloud, recognizing how this had happened. The jutsu used by the grass ninja had set the shrubs aflame, and in this grassland, without rain for many days, the fire had spread rapidly. "The way to the east is blocked, I could not turn back now even if I wanted to." Ise knew now that even as he had made his choice beneath the river, the land had made the choice for him. He could only head toward the country of sand, and the Mizain ahead of him. The pursuit was not over, Ise knew there would be more grass ninja in front of him he must still catch, and beyond that the desert, if the chase should go so far.
I must hurry. Ise knew. The burns he received were nothing now, the long stay beneath the river had all but purged them from his skin, and he was bound by nothing.
Let me be right. Ise prayed as he turned away from the river to the southwest.