Chapter 1-25

Rebel life was weird…and less exciting than I had initially thought. Not to mention less glamorous given that the part of the rebels I apparently belonged to lived of the land and was constantly on the move.

All in all, we looked like a bigger and more civilized bandit camp.

Bringing up the rear of my current squad I couldn't help but reflect on the last two months.

A handful of weeks consisting of a makeshift vetting process, that ended with the guy in charge of this particular unit shrugging his shoulders and deeming me alright. After my formal inclusion I was put through my paces, which felt like doing a race on half of my cylinders, but was apparently enough to put me on the squad tasked with doing, uh,…foreign needling?

Yeah, it sounded weird when I first heard it, but over the following weeks, I more and more got the gist of what the rebels were actually doing.

This whole show wasn't an open confrontation…yet, but a sneaky war of attrition.

My team, the quick and silent guys, who could disappear and get away from the average Kiri shinobi no problem, were tasked to pose as Kumo shinobis, outfit and all, and visibly 'probe' Land of Water territory.

Another team of my camp was frequently acting as bandits or missing-nins and popped up all over our assigned area.

This happened all over the Land of Water, cells of rebels acting as external or internal threats forcing Kirigakure's leadership to continuously use their resources and manpower to combat these perceived 'issues'. Not least because otherwise they would lose the trust of their very own forces and citizens.

That was the real kicker I had learned only recently about. The main part of the 'rebels' was still an obvious and very sizeable chunk of Kirigakure's active forces.

Between the majority of shinobis and kunoichis just trying to live their lives and the chunk of ardent 'loyalists' the rebels were a number, that the village couldn't do without, and everybody involved knew it.

So…the Fouth Mizukage, Yagura, could do nothing.

Nothing overt, that is.

Sounded like an almost pleasant gig, but the reality was bloody and tense. Everybody seemingly just waited for the one big incident, that would let everything boil over.

No one was safe.

Rebels from the village were regularly put on teams with loyalists, which led to unfortunate and tragic accidents while out on missions.

Children, Genin and academy students, were sent home with nasty injuries suffered during missions and training as a clear message to their respective parents.

Sadly, we weren't the shining heroes in this story. We responded in kind, the heavy hitters of our cells, that posed as bandits and missing-nins actively gunned for known loyalists, that were sent to deal with whatever threat we fabricated.

It hadn't been often, thankfully, but more than once my team was forced to devastate homesteads of people, that had known ties to loyalists in the village. Casualties, depending on the loyalist in question, included.

I shook my head tiredly. In part, because I had honestly thought I had left the dirty business with Root, and partially because I was dead on my feet.

While all that civil war shit was brewing, we also had to deal with this dumpster fire of a country.

These shinobis and kunoichis just trying to live their lives, well, regularly some of them were getting fed up with the ongoing shitshow to the point, where they would pack their bags and run for the hills.

Totally understandable, but we still had to deal with every single one of them. Obviously, there were the opportunistic assholes, who went full missing-nin and ravaged the countryside with impunity, that had to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Sadly, however, we couldn't just go guns blazing on every single one of these refugees, because for every rampant dickhead there were two or three individuals or families just trying to get away from the bloodshed and protect themselves.

Those poor bastards, however, were a whole different can of worms. We couldn't exactly let them leave the country and shout out to the world in excruciating detail what was going on here.

No, we had to convince them, using various methods, to head to certain areas and towns we somewhat controlled and could support the occasional population growth. Best case some joined us, worst case people couldn't be reasoned with and that meant the end of the line for them.

Two month and I was already…agitated and tired.

Fuck up the village, but don't fuck up too much, because you actually wanted to take over at some point.

And that's precisely the reason why my team and I were currently doing a patrol run dressed as regular Kiri shinobi across the northern coastline. Preventing actual foreigners from venturing too far; the irony that I was taking part in this little 'mission' wasn't lost on me.

That particular nugget, the sun, and the beach actually managed to put a little smile on my face...for the fraction of a second...

Fuck this place.

Misaki, a dude with a curtain of dirty blond hair around his head and the leader of our four-man squad. An all-around remarkably laid-back dude was gazing at us with an uncharacteristic amount of tension.

'That's going to be interesting.' I thought, curious what news got my immediate superior so bothered.

"Alright, guys, a runner from platoon 3 further west just reached us with news from Kirigakure. According to reports Raiga Kurosuki went rogue." He paused for a second to let the message sink in.

"Shit!" A teammate to my left quietly muttered while Misaki nodded along, quietly agreeing with the assessment. Apparently, this was a big deal. To me, it just was big-shot with an even bigger target on his back.

"The runner told us, that according to reports, that reached the village sightings of Raiga seem to indicate, that he intends to leave the country…through our part of the coast." He finished heavily.

'Ooh, spicy!' That meant there was a real chance he was going to become our problem.

Couldn't exactly let an Anbu and one of the Seven Swordsmen leave the country, especially with his swords.

"Thankfully," Misaki continued in a resigned tone, that clashed with what he just said. "chances are high that Kuzuro will be able to spot him with his sensing." He pointed helpfully to the left where a squad of also four, our heavy-hitters, were already taking stock of their equipment and restocked whatever they needed from our little camp-side.

Yup, twelve people, four guys responsible for recruiting and camp maintenance, four guys as our hatchet men, and four guys, my squad, responsible for patrols and generally being an annoyance to Kiri.

I hadn't been kidding when I had initially compared it to a bandit camp.

"The plan…, well, Kuzuro and his men will find and confront him while we provide the support. Best case scenario is that we kill him ourselves," a disbelieving snort to my right forced Misaki to pause for a second, which he responded to with a frosty glare.

"The more likely scenario" he continued now with a colder, more professional tone while starring at each of us for a hot second, "is that we have to hold him up long enough for Ao to catch up and finish the job."

"Ao?" The guy, that snorted just a moment ago questioned with hope in his voice.

"Yeah, according to the runner he will be sent immediately after he returns from a different mission." Misaki shrugged.

"We have contact, eta. 30 seconds, prepare for confrontation." Kuzuro declared in a no-nonsense voice from his position at the front, being our leader and our 'only' sensor.

'I'm so surprised.' I was strangely relaxed, despite having sensed the powerhouse heading our way from miles away.

The little chakra network, that clung to the missing-nin's back obviously didn't escape my attention either, which apparently was the case for the boss-man as he had yet to make any mention of it.

My squad as per plan hung back and took position, Kuzuro's squad followed suit just a few feet ahead of us. The positioning wasn't meant to be an ambush as the guys in charge had decided to give the swordsman a single chance to join our side.

I…didn't give a fuck. I was here to take potshots at the bloke and book it in case things turned too sour.

Pretty nice feeling, that it wasn't my country, and I actually didn't have to give a toss about it beyond my mission.

I did, however, give a massive fuck about my wellbeing when the guy burst into the clearing like a bull and without much fanfare fried Kuzuro with a burst of lightning from one of his swords.

"Oh, snap!" I couldn't help it.

My outburst apparently was the starting signal, because immediately every kind of formation was out the window.

As the blackened corpse of our esteemed leader tumbled towards the forest floor from the tree he was perched on my remaining six squadmates went for the rogue in a show of determination and anger.

Eyes away from me I took a gamble.

'Hiding with Camouflage Technique'

Observing…waiting.

Raiga was so far superior to anybody else in that little clearing, that it wasn't even funny. No attack seemed to come close to him, even attacks from his blind spots were dealt with in an off-hand manner, which looked, to be honest, quite impressive from my spot on the sidelines.

The six blokes were no slouches, and it certainly wasn't a walk in the park for the swordsman as he had to fend off six enraged individuals that had fought side by side for quite some time now….

And the first one was dead.

So much for that.

But it confirmed what I was sensing the whole time, the guy that almost got cleaved in half, was the first that got actually pretty close to the big bundle the missing-nin was effortlessly carrying on his back the whole time.

In a show of absolute rage and sparks of lightning Raiga had aborted a strike mid-swing, turned on a dime, and absolutely butchered the poor fellow.

Looked like he had a passenger he was supremely fond of...a passenger who also seemed to help him occasionally.

Interesting...not that interesting mind you, but, well, you know...something different for a change.

Aaaand... the next one went down.

That's it.

I saw it just as Raiga did, given that his enraged panting suddenly turned into a bloodthirsty grin. Exhausted, bruised, and seeing their next friend go down in agony the fight slowly but surely began to leave my little band of renegades.

I closed my eyes in concentration for a split second, picturing in my mind's eye what I wanted my chakra to do.

'Shadow Clone Technique: Orochi'

I opened my eyes and stared at the back of my own head and couldn't help but grin in anticipation.

Dispelling my Hiding Technique, which was now obsolete anyway, because, idiot that I was, I forgot to cover my 'extension'.

My…extension…was my own upper body sprouting from my abdomen, which made me look like a conjoined twin.

Ignoring my own twisted mind and the fact, that my third teammate just went down, I focused on the next steps of my little party trick.

I mean, when else was I going to get such a chance to give it a proper trial run. Wasn't like my home was going down the drain, amirite?

'Water Release: Water Fang Bullet' MY hands went through the handseals flawlessly and the already gathered water in my mouth began solidifying and rotating.

'This is going to be so epic.' I thought brimmed to the top with giddiness.

I held the last handseal for my water ninjutsu and watched excitedly as my 'clone' went through the handseals for the 'Wind Release: Gale Palm', and finished by holding the last seal, too.

Both techniques now just waiting to be unleashed…which I did with my targets firmly in sight.

A javelin of water shot out of my mouth with such force, that it actually whipped my head back, which meant I couldn't see what was happening right in front of me.

I certainly sensed and felt it, however.

The tip of the javelin didn't even pass my clone's head when he unleashed his wind technique. The gale, strengthened and compressed to a small spot in front of my clone, let rip in a drilling motion not unlike my little project…and it fed into the water technique like it was meant to be.

"Rai…" Dimly I heard a panicked childish shout, my little chakra wizardry, having no doubt alerted the boy.

Too late.

I couldn't wait to see the results.