Chapter Eleven: What a Mysterious Death
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With summer gone, rains came cold and hard. Gentle downpours cooled the air ever so more, and pattering sounds kept filling the spaces about the ones who hid underneath leaves. Wind came seeping from between the dense foliage and set the rain-coated leaves to rustling. A deathly cold heralded the coming of autumn, and once it came, all noise and storms, it refused to quiet down till winter's fatal stillness did not overcome its nature. It would not be long before these leaves, desperately clinging onto the trees' branches, died and withered away—winter's kiss was deadly.
A solid trail made by the dexterous ninjas from Konoha had worn away and lay forgotten under the assaults of recent storms; covered thickly with grime and moss, it was indistinguishable from the greens, yellows, and reds and mud about the ground.
Only a week had passed since the start of storms, and, like a secret passageway in children's faerie tales, the path marking the village's outskirts was well-covered in rotten leaves. (The strange climate change, which began nigh two decades ago, had steadily increased autumn's duration—and no one knew why!) Hinata looked to the north: low storm clouds draped the Leaf's sky in grey. Quick blue flashes danced amidst that darkening storm, and seconds later, the whole place shook with its unwelcomed wrath.
Hinata's hand started for her feet to wipe away the dirt covering her toenails—she stopped. Then she slumped back against the tree. Ten hours had gone by without a wink and in a hopeless search. She did not understand why Sasuke had dragged her out here: she was still in training!
Feeling the nerve-biting cold hit her senses hard, she wrapped her arms around herself and looked from between the wet hair flopping over her eyes; Sasuke stood in his Jōnin clothes a good twenty feet from her. For some reason, he did not look happy: he had been irritable all day. Presently, he stood over tree roots, with one foot resting on the thickest one reaching out of the ground like a half-buried human arm.
He had a kunai in his grasp, a silver string tied to its smooth handle. He had the fine string wrapped round his finger. Throwing the kunai straight down at a sharp angle, he created a deep and clean cut in the root. Then he pulled it back and grabbed it as it flew up into the air and repeated the same process all over again. He had been engaged in this quite pointlessly for the last ten minutes that, now, the root was about to be cut in half.
Cold!—Hinata trembled, and her flaming-red cheeks stood out like the thick theatrical makeup on a jester's countenance. She could not form words the way she wanted; she felt that she had lost her voice again. She was thirsty. Despite the cold chewing at her cheeks, her tongue was bone-dry. Looking about, half-concerned by Sasuke's irritation, she made a scoop of her hands and collected droplets of rainwater. They tingled on her palms.
Raising her hands to her lips, she drank the rainwater at a draught. She had placed a little pitcher by her feet. A musical and metallic sound disturbed the air as rain droplets struck against its surface. It was half-full. Thankfully, Sasuke had not said anything about the noises, which broke rain's gentle rhythm.
Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes arrogant—the character of his features slightly marred by irritation. She knew what she had to do! She raised her hands and pointed two fingers upwards, curling the rest of them into firm fists. Then she pressed her knuckles together in front of her face and turned on her Byakugan.
Hinata felt the last of her chakra plummet to its limit: she looked around . . . and, for a few kilometres, as far as her eyes could allow her, she did not find anything strange. She turned off her Byakugan, breathing heavily, her eyes downcast as she slumped over her knees. Now, she would no longer be able to use Byakugan without messing up her sight.
She raised her head a little to catch a glimpse of his face: it was slightly turned, and, with cold red eyes, he was looking out into the distance. Rain droplets stood on his cheeks and neck, and his whole face glistened under the weak sun. His lips were blood-red from cold, and his tar-black hair plastered to the side of his face, drenched through at his forehead.
Sasuke was distant . . . again . . . his moods changed erratically. Sometimes, she felt that his passion, perhaps, was an aberration of her mind. Only two nights ago, he had made love to her. She remembered it almost vividly—a phantasmagoria of her dull dreams during duller nights.
Hinata remembered the intense desire when he stood over her, his eyes catching sight of something beyond the window. She had turned her head then and looked to the blackness of night and faint outline of trees; their branches shook outwards in the drafts. The Sharingan in his right eye turned on mechanically . . . in rhythm with the powerful impulses from something outside—something she could not see. He kept looking outside and listening to the flaps of a lone black bird as its wings beat the air ferociously; and then it was gone!
It flew far away, beyond the distance his eyes could measure, and suddenly, his right eye lost that intensity. Sweat oozed out from the pores in his brow, but his face did not betray him—completely. Quickly, he masked that little anxiety with passion, took off his jacket, looking down at her with nothing but lust hovering in and out of his eyes.
Her eyes traced a familiar path across his white skin and the wonderful contours of his lean body. Blood rushed in torrents upon her heart, and it betrayed her in ways that felt shameful to her spirit. Her heart could not keep up with the demand of its beats whilst he kissed her and brushed his fingers over her breasts and moved his hands down her sides to grip her hips.
He took her roughly again, his thrusts hard and quick; it did not seem as though he knew how to be gentle, but her body was always ready for him: how he completed her; how she wanted to meet an end in the light of his sinister eyes, as he stared down at her and met the helpless gaze of the betrayed with a ferocious will to bend and break and dominate her.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined to throw away her honour and lie beneath a man she was not wedded to, but there was such passion, such thrill in this union. She had discarded everything she was taught; but she loved it—loved it as he breathed deep breaths against her ear and shuddered in every limb whilst he touched her in ways foreign to her; she felt nothing but the deepest pleasure as he plunged into her repeatedly. In him, she had found solace, life that she did not think possible; and she was not ready to give it up—not yet!
Raindrops fell on her lashes and blurred her vision. With child-like movements, she wiped at her eyes and looked ahead. Sasuke was still diligently trying to cut that damned root in two. He did not want to bring her along, but one of the elite Root members had gone missing two days ago, and a large search party was organised to scour the outskirts of Konoha where he was thought to have disappeared.
Sasuke was called back from his mission and instructed by Itachi to search an area of about fifty miles within a day. He divided up the squad into two teams: Neji led Naruto and Sakura and five other Chūnins. Since he was blessed with Sharingan, he did not mind taking the less privileged Dōjutsu user, Hinata, whose eyes required a lot of work to even touch the limits of Neji's skill!
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief when Sasuke turned towards her with his Sharingan on. He looked away with irritation on his face a moment later; his Sharingan could tell that she did not have much in her now.
Two ninjas were digging a large square-shaped hole in the ground to set-up traps. They stood waist-deep in the hole, their uniforms muddy. They needed to set-up camp to rest for a few hours.
"Is this enough, S-Sasuke-Sama?" one of the men sputtered, with an awkward grin. He drove the spade's tip into the ground and leant on it. He was exhausted.
Sasuke looked down into the hole and then brought his hard eyes back to him. "That's not even five feet," he said, grabbing that accursed kunai again and throwing it back down at the exact same spot. "Dig deeper. Make it twenty, and then set the traps. Get to work."
"But—isn't this enough?" he protested and looked to the other man for support, who did not respond back and continued digging.
"Start digging or I'll smash open your skull with that spade," Sasuke rasped, watching as the man quickly pulled out the spade and started digging with immense speed.
Hinata looked at the pitcher. Rain had mellowed down quite a bit, and cold began to fade away. Only a few drops fell down from the trees now—the strength of rain was not enough to make it past the leaves overhead. She grabbed the pitcher and tipped it. When the last drop went down her throat, she looked guiltily at Sasuke . . . he had not taken a drop of water since they left camp.
She put it down and hoped that rain would come pouring down—again! Her thoughts were suddenly broken into when Yuu jumped down from the trees, with two other shinobis in tow. He had few supplies with him. He handed a water bottle over to Sasuke and began, "Sasuke-Sama, I've checked the area up south, but I didn't find anything. Perhaps we should wait for Neji?"
Sasuke rested his back against the tree and took a few sips of water. "Give her a soldier pill. I needed her eyes, but she's almost out—after only six Byakugan uses. She needs more training," he said with an air of annoyance and handed the bottle over to Yuu.
His words bore through her and hurt her pride. She dropped her eyes down to her sandals and the mushrooms dotting the tree's foot about her. (Raindrops sat on their tops like pearly dews.) The handsomest man, Sasuke, in the world was only passionate in bed: his tongue was sharp, and he knew how to push everyone's kunais and wound their emotions. Today, he angered her!
She looked up and took a sickly blue pill (which was quite big, too!) from Yuu's hand. In the going glow of light, his face was soft and kind. He gave her a small loaf of dry bread and a water bottle. "You should ask for supplies next time," he said and sat down beside her; then he touched her wrists and ankles to check her chakra points. "Sasuke-Sama doesn't indulge anyone, and it's your own responsibility to take the necessary supplies with you—or ask me for them."
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know," she said in a small voice and took a small bite out of the milky bread. She was so hungry and thirsty. How could she have not known about something so obvious? She was ashamed . . . and even angry at Sasuke's habitual annoyed indifference.
"It's all right. We all make mistakes. Besides, Sasuke-Sama is quite strict. It's no surprise he didn't tell you," Yuu said kindly, touching her wrists and ankles again to calm her tense muscles. "Your stomach isn't empty now. Take the pill and tell me if your chakra flows smoothly through these points."
Hinata swallowed the pill and gulped down the water. The pill was tasteless. She closed her eyes and felt it give her energy almost instantly and sensed her chakra flow without obstruction through her key-points. Yuu was a good medic. "Thank you, I feel better now!" she said and got to her feet.
Yuu smiled in response and raised himself up to his feet, too. He turned around sharply when Sasuke spoke before Neji jumped down. "Well?" he asked and knitted his brow. "I hope you found something important on this fool's errand."
Neji jumped down, followed by Naruto and then Sakura. His sandals squelched in the layer of mud over the rot. Hinata averted Naruto's blue eyes, deepened to ocean-blue by the lack of light. His sun-darkened skin was covered with a film of rain and sweat; but Hinata looked away, not meeting his eyes that were still looking her way, though she did not understand why.
"I've found some bodies. They could be theirs," Neji said and turned off his Byakugan to save up chakra. His lips were parched and he looked tired. "I left two Naruto clones with the other shinobis, but . . . "
"Let's go," Sasuke said and turned his head to Hinata, with the same expression as before. "You, come with me and don't turn off your Byakugan even for a second. The other two are waiting at a safe distance?"
At Sasuke's command, Hinata took quick but timid strides and stopped right next to Neji. She was terrified and did not want to follow Sasuke deep into the forest, not when everything painted a picture of bad omen; but it was not as though she had any choice in the matter: he was her Squad Captain—she had to obey . . .
"Yes—but, Sasuke-Sama, it might be a trap," Neji protested and stood before Sasuke to block his path.
"So?" Sasuke asked, feigning ignorance. "Let's just kill the spies and be on our merry way. Do I make myself clear?"
Neji bowed down his head, looking defeated; Hinata did not like Sasuke's tone. "You two, stay here with Yuu," Sasuke said to Naruto and Sakura; Sakura nodded in reply, unusually silent.
"But I can help with Bunshins," Naruto said and grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm. "You don't have to go alone, you know. You could get hurt. Hinata won't be of much use. She's still in training."
"That's why I'm asking you to stay behind. If things get hairy, I'll inform your clone and you can come as back-up. I'm only taking Neji and Hinata with me. The rest of you, prepare the traps here—just in case," he said and turned around before Naruto grabbed his arm again.
"Here, let me tie this around your wrist!" Naruto said in an excited voice, his eyes shining, and produced a weird charm out of his pocket.
Sasuke gritted his teeth and slapped it away. "Hey! It's from my mother, you grouchy jerk!" Naruto squatted and picked it up from the mud.
"Superstitious fool," Sasuke grumbled and jumped up—followed by Neji and Hinata. They left Naruto behind whilst he waved the charm in the air and begged Sasuke to, at least, take it inside his pocket for protection.
It took them roughly fifteen minutes to arrive at the spot where the other two ninjas were hiding. Naruto's clones grinned happily when they saw Sasuke. "Boss, they're rotting the air about forty metres from here," one of them whispered and the other poked his head out of the thick bush and took a gander at the space between two big trees where the bodies lay.
Sasuke turned on his Sharingan. He could not see anything out of the ordinary. "Keep your Byakugans active. I'll go first and then Hinata can follow you two," he said in a low voice and curled his fingers around the hilt of the sword on his back. "Naruto, one of you stays here. The other one comes with me. Let's go."
One of the Bunshins stood behind him and readied himself to flash-step out. Using Body Flicker, Sasuke flashed out and stopped right next to the bodies, with Naruto about twenty metres behind; he immediately hid behind a tree and readied himself with two smoke bombs in his tight fists. Sasuke looked around and did not find any traps close to the bodies. He signalled Naruto who gestured Neji and Hinata to make their way out of their hiding places.
Neji turned on his Byakugan, but his sight was quite bad. He had been using Byakugan for the entire day, without any respite from the arduous task—he understood now why Sasuke had decided to bring Hinata along. He flickered up the tree and scanned the area, but his eyes failed him. He could not see very far, so he immediately took a soldier pill he had stashed away inside his pocket.
The pill eased up the burden on his vision, but only just. His eyes were strained for the day. Now, it was up to Hinata's Byakugan to scan the area; but Hinata's heartbeats were like temple's bells in her breast, pressure mounting in her veins and shaking her body to a state of panic. This was too much for her! Why did Sasuke bring her along—today of all the days? She felt a strange sense of resentment towards him. He was supposed to . . . help her, even a little! He was not being fair!
She jerked up her head when she felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry! Sasuke's got his Sharingan on. You'll be a'right!" the clone assured her, with the warmest smile. Hinata looked at him, almost taken aback by the loving smile on his face. His words clouded her eyes with a coming deluge of tears, but she looked away before he could see her resolve go before him.
Wiping her eyes on the sleeve, she stepped out of the bushes and started for the other tree that was about twenty metres from where Neji was. She only made it midway when Sasuke's ears wriggled and his eyes dilated with danger; her foot sank into something, and it twisted her ankle painfully.
A barrage of Senbons flew at her. She could not even react—it happened so fast! She saw a bright sliver of something and a brighter spray of red. Trees whooshed past her eyes, a raging torrent of hues, and she squeezed her eyes shut from the agonising pain in her ankle. She got thrown to the right and hit the ground hard. She opened her eyes and looked at Sasuke through a blurry vision. The ache in her body was replaced by the warmth of Naruto's engulfing arms.
"Hinata, are you a'right?" Naruto asked, worried, but she kept looking forward, hair flowing in the wind, a single tear clinging desperately to the tip of her nose.
Sasuke stood upside down on an unbending tree branch now, a sardonic smile dancing about his lips. "Not very classy—targeting a weak girl like that," Sasuke said with a smile in his voice and bent his legs a little to jump off the tree.
He landed smoothly on the ground and watched with satisfaction as the man had yet to realise that he had been cut open at eight different places. Sprays of blood shot out from the deep wounds, and he thudded to the ground—dead!
"Sasuke-Sama." Neji rushed to Sasuke and then looked at Hinata for a fleeting moment. "Are you all right? Hinata—she—"
Hinata's breaths were loud; her eyes, vacant. Fear had her in its tightest grip. She had never come this close to death before. Her heart was racing with mad abandon, unable to find that right rhythm.
"She stepped on a trap. I told her to keep her Byakugan on," Sasuke said, without looking at her, his eyes locked on the dwarfish shrubs few metres away.
"Sasuke-Sama, we have to—" Neji began and focused his vision on the purple skin on her ankle: it was bruised and stretched taught.
"It's over. Come out, or I'll kill you where you're hiding. I don't like playing hide and seek," Sasuke cut him off, holding his gaze.
A sharp and bright electrical current went up and stabbed through the tree branch overhead. Not a moment later, a dribble of blood plopped on Neji's cheek. It was as if colours washed over the man and he materialised! His eyes popped out of his sockets as Sasuke's Chidori Blade's tip had run clean through his left lung.
The pinned-man made a hand seal and started something, accompanied by a loud sizzling sound. "He's still conscious!" Neji yelled and held out his palm to use Air Palm but, before he could try anything, several sword-like Raiton blades speared out of the spy's body like a bright star. His torso exploded in a shower of red. He died violently, and, as soon as Sasuke stopped the flow of Raiton, he fell down onto the grassy ground.
"He isn't now," Sasuke said and clenched and unclenched his fizzing hand. Then he looked back at Naruto. "Her ankle is broken. Take her to the infirmary. She's done for the day." Then he walked to the bodies lying under a tattered cloth, not looking behind towards Hinata who was still clutched by mortal fear.
"Now, will you look at that!" Sasuke said, chuckling, as he lifted up the clean corner of the blood-soaked cloth and revealed clumps of blond hair matted in mud and blood. The man's face was frozen in mid-scream and intense agony.
"Is that . . . Fū?" Neji said, with an incredulous expression. "This isn't good. Root never told us that one of Danzō's guards had gone missing. They'll have a field day with this."
"They won't have a field day with anything. Write down a couple of consolatory lines and slap it in their faces. This was never our problem—they dragged us into this. Let the Yamanaka handle their own troubles," Sasuke said distastefully and stood up.
Neji nodded in reply. Sasuke was right—it was not their problem. He looked back at Naruto as he carried Hinata away from the area. Her face was still deathly pale. He did not know how to feel about this; but, perhaps, Sasuke had made the right call. If she wanted to stay on the squad, she would have to face this sooner or later—better now than never!
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When night hit, wind became rough. Old wooden windows rattled, and the red lantern's flame flickered. It was dark inside Itachi's office, and the noise outside nearly drowned out his calm voice. Sasuke sat across the table from his brother on the tatami mat. Fire blazed in the hearth and warmed the office.
"Is this all of it?" Itachi asked and ran his eyes down the medical report compiled by Sakura. "I do not think you should have killed all of them, though it is past the point now."
"Yes, that's all of it," Sasuke paused, ignoring the rest of his brother's remark, and pursed his lips, "but I'm sure Yuu could've done a better job."
A ghostly smile crossed Itachi's lips. "She is a lot more talented than you give her credit for. You do not seem to enjoy her company, that is all," he spoke gently, getting a little amused by the formation of a frown on Sasuke's face. "So the neck was almost completely severed? This was done very cleanly. Whoever did this is an exceptional swordsman."
Sasuke did not say anything. He looked at his brother as he placed the scroll next to the weakly glowing lantern and locked his eyes with his. Red rose from the deep inside his black eyes and spread like a vivid stain there—a wound. Then they took on the carefully crafted shuriken patterns of Mangekyō Sharingan. Not desiring to meet his brother's eyes, Sasuke looked down, bowing respectfully. "Nii-Sama, can I take my leave?" he asked, with child-like innocence, not looking up.
Itachi took in a deep breath and spoke, "look at me, Sasuke."
In spite of not wanting to, Sasuke raised his eyes slowly and they came alive like a pulsing heart, redder than the reddest heart. The colours disappeared in the world they knew, and he found himself in a monochromatic realm, sitting on his brother's lap . . . in the form of a little child.
The child buried his face into Itachi's breast, closing his eyes, feeling the slow and loud thumps of Itachi's heart vibrate through his fingers and limbs. He could hear it—he could actually hear the beats of his brother's young heart! (This illusion was so real—so lovely!)
Itachi had turned into a twelve-year-old boy. He smiled and touched Sasuke's soft round cheek tenderly. "Sasuke," Itachi said in the mellowest voice of a boy and held Sasuke's tiny hand in his, "did you . . . kill Fū?" Itachi's expression changed and an innocent kind of curiosity enveloped his young face, his eyes a little wide as he looked at the small and anxious face of his younger brother.
The world, in which they existed now, quivered like something alive and restless, and black rain descended down in waves. Mist roiled everywhere as Itachi's soft words seemed to echo endlessly. Sasuke, still in the form of a four-year-old child, kept looking down at the broken toy by Itachi's feet. Suddenly, his lips quivered into a smile . . .
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Canon Manga Info: Over-usage of the Byakugan can mess up the sight for some time. In war, Neji couldn't tell Akamaru apart from Kiba.
This chapter showed the advanced shape manipulation of Chidori Blade: the more varied a change in form, the more complex a technique, which, in turn, depictures the talent and skill of the user (as stated in the manga and the Data-book). The combination of the change in Chakra Nature and Chakra Forum alone, according to Kakashi, is an above A-Rank feat. (A-Rank is Jōnin-Rank.)
Sasuke, contrary to the popular beliefs (and there are many made-up beliefs in this regard), is the best Raiton-user and Ninjutsu-user in the manga bar none as all of his Raiton techniques (bar one and he has nine of those) are divided between A and S ranks in terms of Nin-Jutsu complexity.
Furthermore, when Sasuke reversed Sage of the Six Paths best Nin-Jutsu endeavour (faster than the time it took for Kurama to complete its short dialogue, which was filled with caution for its host), The Creation of All Things (as Kurama stated), he turned a colossal and mountainous amount of Bijū chakra into Raiton; thus, he applied highly advanced Nature and Form/Shape Manipulation on the said chakra (he created several weapons out of the morphed chakra in a matter of seconds!) whilst simultaneously morphing his Perfect Susanoo into a Gedō Mazō (which Kurama explained).
Keep that in mind that the Susanoo's shape is nothing more than stabilisation of and control on chakra—another thing explicitly mentioned in the manga by Onoki and Madara. That's why Kurama compared Sasuke's skill and talent, no one else's (despite being Lord knows how old and having seen countless Shinobis in his lifetime since the Sage), to the Sage of the Six Paths. Sakura, actually, is the weakest link in regard to Ninjutsu talent in Team-7. She's talented, but she isn't even close to Naruto and Kakashi, let alone Sasuke, on this front. I'll touch more upon this in the coming chapters' Author Notes.