Burdened Slave
Chapter 13
Nara Shikaku was not having a good day. He pushed the door to the hokage office open a little too hard. He noticed Fugaku leaning on the edge of his desk, arms folded against his chest, and eyes closed.
"When you ordered 'high stakes', I was expecting Forest of Death, multiple powerful enemies, a lot of blood, and broken bones," Shikaku said as he put his hands in his pockets. "Then why in the world were they given free rein?"
"Hn,"
Shikaku moved a hand and rubbed his forehead. "Screw Yamashiro's test. We're lucky the explosion didn't kill anyone. Just tell him to change it."
Fugaku didn't open his eyes, but he smirked.
Shikaku didn't like the new feeling that came to him. Not one bit.
"They've moved to the outskirts now,"
"Outskirts," Shikaku said in monotone, having a good hunch on just which parts of the outskirts Fugaku was talking about.
"Ho," Fugaku said in an impressed tone, though his eyes remained closed. "Gai just destroyed one of your trees,"
With his hands at his sides, Shikaku just hung his head dejectedly. "Troublesome."
"Don't worry about your deer," Fugaku said with a toothy grin. "I see there's none around them for miles. They must've been spooked badly."
Shikaku sighed and was about to rush out when his eyes caught the sight of the desk. There was no paper in sight.
Has Hikoboshi been activated already?
Earlier that day
A raven flew against dawn's twilight, invisible. It sent its attention below. Eyes glowing red.
"Maito Gai," Yū recited in a serious tone. Her eyes, and the eyes of her teammates had no trouble seeing the words with the dim light.
"Age. Sixteen," she continued, scanning the file that Aoba had handed her. "Registration. Zero-One-Zero-Two-Five-Two. Jonin of Konoha."
She fell silent for a moment, her eyes taking in every word. She looked at the other pages quickly.
"It says he's skilled at Taijutsu, but if this guy is a traiter, he probably hid a lot of his skills. There's information on his father, who was skilled enough to defeat one of the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsman. I think it's a good bet that this asshole is at least as strong as his father. He also fought in the war.
"There's a list of known associates," she said, pulling out some papers. "Sensei didn't mention anyone else from Konoha being traitors, but—"
She frowned as she looked at each paper, before giving up at trying to look at them all while standing, and so she plopped down onto the ground to spread the papers out.
"We shouldn't take chances. Sarutobi Asuma can be ruled out. He's the Sandaime's kid. Hatake Kakashi too. I remember he was the Yondaime's student, so there's no way he's a traitor. There's also the traitor's teammate, Shiranui Genma. There's no way he's part of this because I know he was one of the Yondime's elite guards. The other teammate, he could be an accomplice. As for the really hot sister—"
Yū suddenly stopped. A small blush on her cheeks. She sent a quick look at Dan, who was crouching next to her, but she didn't bother looking behind her where she knew Haru was standing.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat. She shifted to bring one knee up to prop her elbow on while letting her head rest on her fist—trying to force away an embarrassing ache and to hide the sudden shivers in her shoulders. "The point. Yuhi Kurenai and this Ebisu guy are suspects."
She fumbled with the papers with her free hand. After a moment, her gaze sharpened in focus. She grabbed two papers, not looking at them, and thrust them towards Dan.
"You deal with these two. Find where they live, what their daily habits are, and who they meet. Look for anything suspicious," she told him.
Dan took the papers, looked at them, then the two dark slits in his mask stared back at her.
"Yeah, yeah," she waved off some unspoken words. "I know you haven't mastered your clan's clone technique yet, but we have a week, so just give the time to follow each,"
With that, she put all the papers back into the folder and stood. The sky had brightened a bit more, but it'd be a while before sunrise. She then turned and looked at Haru in distaste. He was just standing there, smiling.
She heard the sound of a brush on paper and turned to look back at Dan.
"Do we even go home at night?" Dan's scroll voiced.
She blinked in surprise. "I thought we'd just camp up here every night. Besides, I thought you'd be fine with it."
Dan nodded to indicate he was.
"I can prepare an empty house if you guys wish," Haru offered.
She huffed. "Forget it. We're camping up here."
Then she blinked in thought and looked at Dan. "Would you pay for food? My savings dried up the other day."
Dan shrugged.
"If we are going to camp here every night, perhaps we should hunt for food as well," Haru said while indulgently smiling.
She didn't notice and her face contorted into a savage grin. "That's even better. We don't need money!"
"I volunteer to do all the hunting," Haru said.
Her face gained a ticked-off look. "What the fuck. I wanna do the hunting! You'll just bring us fish every night."
"I will hunt for rabbits instead," Haru replied while shrugging.
"Where the hell do you think you're gonna find rabbits?!" she yelled. "The hogs are easier."
"The deer?" Haru asked instead, tilting his head.
"Those belong to the Nara. You haven't been fucking with them, have you?" she took a step towards Haru.
"Of course not," Haru said with a slight and almost imperceptible exasperation. "What about the yak?"
"What is wrong with you, those are special and belong to the Akimichi. Not. For. Hunting!" she yelled while pointing a finger at him.
"The serow?" he asked.
She blinked in surprise and a thoughtful look crossed her face. Then her savage grin returned. "That works."
"Would you like to clean it?" Haru offered.
"What? I'm doing the hunting and the cleaning too, so fuck off!" she said.
"That is most—unfair," Haru said with a thoughtful pause.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and she looked at Dan. He made a hand sign.
"Can you even eat that much meat in a week?" the scroll voiced.
She looked at her friend scandalised. Before she could say anything Haru spoke up. "Fish?"
She sighed in defeat. "Fine, whatever. But I'll catch the fish. And clean them too. You can cook them if you want."
Haru nodded with a smile.
She crossed her arms and turned her face away. "The mission now. Dan'll go for those two, but you and I will go deal with the traitor. We'll keep our distance for now to see who he meets and interacts with. But we'll need to figure out a way to capture him. Do you know any good Uchiha torture techniques?"
Haru raised an eyebrow. "I don't."
"That's shitty luck then, because Inoichi-sama promised to teach me some cool techniques if I passed sensei's test. I can't believe how this turned out. I could have used it on this mission," she said and sighed. "We'll just have to do it the hard way. I know someone who can get me free poisons and drugs. The traitor's file mentioned that alcohol affects him in some way, so I'm guessing if we give him something stronger, he'll talk,"
"Will that truly be necessary?" Haru asked.
She scowled. "What, have a better idea?"
"Hatake Kakashi," Haru said simply.
A look of confusion came over her face. "Huh?"
"The files listed Hatake-san under Maito-san's known associates," Haru said. "I happen to know that Maito-san views Hatake-san as his, to put it in Maito-san's words, 'Eternal Rival',"
"Okay," she said, thinking things over. "What's the point?"
"We could try to use Hatake-san's capture to distract Maito-san," Haru said.
"Why would that even work?"
"It wouldn't, except, Hatake-san will work with us," Haru replied.
"Stop being so fucking vague," she demanded.
Haru smirked. "I know Hatake-san's weakness and so does Maito-san. We can set a trap Maito-san will fail to see coming."
"I'm listening," she leaned in closer with interest.
After Haru finished detailing the general idea, she grinned with excitement.
"Don't worry about that part of the trap. I've got the perfect solution." she said with a dark gleam in her eye. "But I think we'll still need those drugs. And some paralysis poison from my friend's summons. I'm good with senbon, so we don't need that other part,"
It was not hard to find Maito Gai. His address was listed in his file. Following him was quite intense as he ran very quickly. On his hands.
Yū and Haru followed. Taking note of everyone that Gai interacted with, which, hours into the morning, was a total sum of zero.
"His training methods are curious," Haru commented offhandedly. "It seems I have some ways to go yet,"
Yū looked at him and raised a mocking eyebrow. "What, the genius is admitting he's bad at something?"
"I certainly did not say I was bad," Haru said with a smile. "But there is always some aspect where a person is lacking,"
Yū huffed and turned away from him.
They followed Gai until just before noon, but then Yū grew impatient. "Alright, I like this area so we'll set the trap here. You go get ready while I set things."
Gai did one last handstand pushup before pushing and flipping onto his feet. "Yosh! It seems like one of them is ready."
One of the things about walking around on your hands all the time is that you see all sorts of things when looking at the world from a different angle.
"That youthful girl needs to work on her stealth," he said to himself as he stretched, waiting for it to start.
Gai mused about where the third teammate was. He knew the boy was a Maboroshi so he assumed the kid was well hidden.
Suddenly a kunai flew at him. He noted the inactive explosive tag attached to it before swiftly dodging, letting it fly past him.
The girl leapt down onto the road in front him. "Why did you betray Konoha?"
He blinked before remembering he was supposed to be an evil enemy.
"Maa, fighting with the squirts now, are we?" a familiar voice came from his side, surprising him.
The white-haired, gravity-defying, masked-Jonin with only one eye visible stood with the girl's teammate at his side.
"Kakashi!" Gai said with a grin. "What are you doing here?"
The kid next to his rival, pulled out a familiar orange book.
"We came to an agreement," the boy said. "We wouldn't tell him what happens after—"
"Now, now. No spoilers. That's what we agreed," Kakashi said, causing Gai to connect the dots.
"Kakashi," Gai said, embarrassed for his friend. "My hip rival. To be caught like this is very un-youthful,"
Distracted, Gai almost did not catch the sound of the explosive tag. He jumped and three things happened. A senbon caught him by surprise across his cheek, the explosive tag went off in a large blast of fire, pressure and smoke. Finally, just as Gai's feet touched the roof of the building he had jumped towards, it exploded underneath him in an even larger ball of fire and smoke.
Before the smoke fully cleared away, Yū dashed forwards to where she knew the Gai was. He was still alive and trying to get up, but the paralytic poison she got seemed to be working. She jumped and gave a kick to Gai's back causing him to fall flat. She pressed the point of her kunai to the back of his head, but not too hard.
"Tell us who you're working with!" she demanded.
Gai groaned beneath her. "How?"
She smirked and pointed towards Haru.
"That was excessive," the boy said with a frown, looking at the destroyed building and rubble, not even looking at the felled Gai. Perhaps not expecting this kind of trap. He should have probably asked.
Gai looked towards him and saw that Kakashi was still standing there. After a moment, Kakashi seemed to morph and shift into a duplicate of the Uchiha boy. Another moment later, the original boy Gai held up the orange book and it morphed into a rock. After that, the boy holding it disappeared with no sign. The only thing that told Gai it wasn't genjutsu was the rock falling onto the ground.
However, the information was enough to make Gai realise what had happened. And it made the man smile. "I see."
With those words, Gai dispersed into white smoke, unbalancing Yū. Not a moment later, a loud laugh was heard.
The two genin looked up at the roof of another building.
"You are most youthful, my little enemies!" Gai yelled. "Come at me with all of your strength!"
With that Gai turned around and ran.
"He's escaping!" Yū yelled in frustration and jumped onto a building and ran after him.
They chased after Gai past the main gate and further into the forest.
When they caught up, they found Gai standing in a clearing.
"Yosh!" Gai thrusted his first forward in front of him.
"Land one hit on me in one minute and I will tell who my evil accomplices are," he said, opening one finger.
"If you cannot do that!" Gai said and raised a second finger. "Then land one hundred hits on me in two minutes!"
"If you cannot do that!" Gai said with much enthusiasm and lifted a third finger. "Then defeat me in three minutes!"
"This eyebrow fuckface is mocking us," Yū spat.
Gai laughed. "Your words are most youthful! Now come!"
"Stay back and look for openings," Haru said with a firm voice.
Before she could argue, Haru disappeared and reappeared behind Gai as if from thin air. Haru kicked, but Gai quickly shot an arm out and grabbed the boy's ankle, only for it to disappear from his grasp as if it never existed.
Gai quickly jumped back, landing on a low tree branch. Just in time to avoid a kick from above that shattered the ground when it hit.
"Your skill is undeniable!" Gai shouted with an impressed grin. "You remind me of Kakashi!"
Haru grimaced. "Please don't compare me to him, Maito-san."
Gai laughed heartily. "Yosh! Prepare yourself!"
Haru's dark eyes widened slightly and he sped to the side. Gai's fist hit the tree that was behind him, completely destroying the trunk.
Gai didn't stop there. He jumped at Haru again and the genin had to dodge to the side. Gai swept an arm at Haru's head, but the boy disappeared then reappeared and threw a punch. It was too fast and to close for Gai to dodge, so he slapped it away instead. The slap rattled Haru to the bones and unbalanced him forcing him to substitute his body with a log at the far end of the clearing.
A kunai was thrown at Gai who jumped away as it exploded. Yū landed next to Haru.
"Don't you know any Uchiha genjutsu or something?" she asked and Haru shook his head, rubbing his forearm that Gai had slapped.
"Shitty luck," Yū said and bared her sharp teeth in a grin. "Just force him to those trees over there. I set up something nasty."
Haru nodded and slammed his hands onto the ground. Multiple earth spikes suddenly flew at Gai who was forced to jump. Activating his Sharingan, Haru tracked Gai's trajectory until he found the right moment. With a swipe of his arms, Haru shot a stream of air at Gai that hit him and pushed him towards where Yū indicated.
Suddenly the trees exploded, but with his Sharingan, Haru could see Gai easily dodge everything and escape. Following the speeding man with his eyes, the earth beneath Haru's hands suddenly cracked as the genin fed chakra into the ground. Just as Gai landed across from them, the ground quaked and quickly shifted and parted, destroyed from within as if by an incredible force.
Gai jumped many meters back and into the trees. After seeing everything that Haru did and his power, Yū couldn't help but stare at his back, a blush coming to her face. She quickly shook herself of any distracting thoughts.
"Alright fuckface," she yelled at Gai. "I saw you get hit with that air jutsu. Now tell us who you're working with,"
Gai laughed once more. "It would seem you've been able to push me this far, but I'm still in the springtime of my youth!"
With that, Gai undid the weights he had on his legs and arms. He dropped the weights to the ground which caused the ground to crack from the immense weight.
"What the hell?" Yū muttered.
First the shithead and now the eyebrow fuckface.
Internally, Yū knew that if it weren't for the eyebrows, then Yū would be feeling a really untimely and awkward feeling towards Gai.
"Tch," she clicked her tongue and focused. "Of course he's going back on his word."
Haru glanced at her. "Actually, a minute has already passed. We have approximately the next two minutes to land one-hundred hits on him."
"That's bullshit," she said, closing her eyes and bringing two fingers to her temples. "But I should manage a hundred hits just fine. Get ready to just knock him out, genius. We'll drag him back to the village,"
Suddenly in the pause between attacks, both Haru and Gai noticed how silent it was. There were no sounds of birds or insects. Only the rustling of leaves and the shifting of an abused ground.
After a moment, Yū revealed her sharp teeth in a grin. Suddenly the trees shook. Out from the leaves, countless birds flew towards Gai from all directions. The chirping around them made it seem like there were a thousand birds or more.
However, unbelievably, Gai blurred around in his place snatching the birds out of the air and casting them away from himself. He tried his best not to injure them, but some couldn't be helped. On top of that, not one bird could get a scratch on him.
"Stop, Yamanaka-san," Haru said in a firm voice.
She snapped her eyes open and looked at him in surprise. "What the fuck? Why?"
"This is not a situation that warrants such wasteful disregard of life," he replied. "There'll never be, I hope."
"Are you kidding me? They're birds!" she yelled. Then she closed her eyes again. "Focus on your job and get the damn bastard,"
For the first time in this world, Haru's face contorted in anger. His Sharingan eyes changed and shifted into a more sinister pattern. Purplish energy enveloped Haru and he extended a hand. In response, a large hand made of the energy shot towards Gai and grabbed him.
"Stop. Now," Haru demanded from Yū.
With a blink, she complied.
"Great job," she said, pleased and impressed while the birds that could fly escaped. "I didn't know you Uchiha could do something like this. It's way better than what the Akamichi can do,"
Haru ignored and caused the energy-arm to shorten in length, bringing Gai towards them. The man was looking at Haru in shock before he looked at Yū and grimaced solemnly.
"Who are you working with?" Haru asked in a cold voice while looking at Gai, the other man saw a small pleading look in the genin's eyes.
Gai chuckled, he would love to go all out, but chose to hold back. "Since you have defeated me, I shall tell you, my youthful little enemies."
Yū took out a kunai. "Just spit it out already."
"Your next opponent is," Gai said with a dramatic pause. "Yuhi Kurenai."
"Who's your master?" Yu asked and she entered a staring contest with Gai. He kept silent.
"Tch," she clicked her tongue and pulled back to throw a poisoned kunai. "At least we confirmed one of the suspects is in cahoots. You're useless to us now,"
Before she could throw the kunai, a gloved hand caught her wrist, surprising her. She looked back and saw a hooded figure, with a mask painted to resemble a dog. Anbu.
"We'll take it from here," the figure said, their voice echoing from uncanny directions.
Another figure appeared next to Gai and waited for Haru to release him, which the genin did. Upon release, the figure disappeared with Gai.
All the while, the original figure didn't let go of Yū's wrist. After a moment he released it.
"Finish the mission," the figure ordered and then disappeared.
"Tch," Yū put away her kunai. "That was our target,"
She looked at Haru. His eyes had returned to their inky-black state. She saw him giving a small smile, but his eyes had some hidden sadness that she also noticed. Her heart fluttered, but pushed back to think about the reasons he was acting odd.
"If not being allowed to hunt was getting to you so much, I'll let you do it instead," she offered, then sniggered as she looked around. "Just not in this forest. Shikaku-sama's gonna blow a gasket,"
She started walking, but stopped. "Oh, and I'll clean the fish!"
"Very well," Haru said and his smile widened. "You wanted to be the greatest med-nin ever?"
She reeled back in surprise by the sudden change of subject, but in the end nodded.
Haru waved at the fallen birds around them. Some tried to fly but couldn't for some strange reason. Others had broken wings. Some were limping strangely. Others weren't moving at all.
"I think you should heal those injured," he said.
She scowled. "Don't tell me what to do!"
He just stared at her and she was quick to crack.
"But there's so many!" she whined.
He didn't let up on his stare and she was quick to give in.
"Fine, whatever," she said and moped. She moved to the first injured bird. Her hands glowed.
After a few minutes, the bird flew away and she moved to the next one, still moping.
After a while, Haru asked a question. "How were you able to control them?"
She looked back at him, petulant. "I'm a Yamanaka, how do you think?"
Haru nodded.
"Tch," she turned to another bird. "Ever since I was little, I found that I could practice my skills with animals. They're so much simpler than people. Not dumb. Just nicer and less complicated in the head."
"I see," Haru said.
They fell into silence for as long as it took her to heal the injured birds. Haru made her bury the dead ones by herself and didn't even help, much to her chagrin.
