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Regular speech: "Wryyyyyy."
Thoughts: 'Wryyyyyy.'
Summon's, higher beings regular speech: "Wryyyyyy."
Summon's, higher beings thoughts: 'Wryyyyyy.'
Locations: Somewhere in the deep ocean…
Techniques: Kawarimi!
'Document, quotation'.
Italics can be used for certain kinds of emphasis or snide comments.
Bold can be used for forceful yelling/shouting/screaming.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or JJBA.
Chapter VIII
Minutes went by as the pair of genin laid on the cold tiles, waiting for the enemy's next step. Sasuke had no idea how Haku could disappear without them knowing. Looking at the site from such a distance wasn't of any use, so he decided to approach it closer. Standing up, he was stopped by Naruto.
"Let me check first," he said, keeping his gaze at the pair of swordsmen.
"Alright, but keep your distance," Sasuke conceded, musing that arguing won't do any good against Naruto's bullheadedness.
The blonde jumped down from the roof, slowly walking towards his target, with Sasuke watching his back. Suddenly, the former threw two kunai, missing the mercenaries' heads by a few centimetres, embedding them into the ground.
'Hmm, he thinks they're awake?' the raven-haired genin thought to himself. 'Even if they were, they couldn't just make Haku vanish. No, there must be someone else behind the attack.'
Then, he noticed a gleam of something lying by the bodies. It was as small as a rock, but unnaturally flat and dark.
"There's something lying there, can you see it, Naruto?" he asked his teammate.
After a few seconds of searching, he finally noticed it. "Yeah, it's a cigar case. Looks very old and expensive. Nothing interesting about it though…"
The boy then knelt, taking a closer look at the said case.
"There are some sort of engravings, letters, as if they were written in ink… Looks oddly familiar…" he said, reaching out to touch it.
"Don't touch it Naruto!" Uchiha shouted to the blonde, drawing his attention.
Much to his relief, his teammate sprang back, furrowing his brow in alarm. Then, Naruto looked beneath his feet, as if realising something. Turning to Sasuke, he shouted.
"IT'S A TRA-" was all he could say, before he was sucked intro the ground, akin to water in a bathtub, when the plug is pulled.
"N-Naruto!" Sasuke couldn't believe it — he let his comrade fall victim to enemy's attack! But it was not the time to berate himself, he could still help Naruto and Haku. He just had to figure out what happened exactly.
The genin jumped down from the roof, keeping his distance from the bodies.
'This damned cigar case got to have something with it! I heard Naruto say that it has some sort of letters on it, is it seal-infused?' Sasuke was desperate to find a solution. 'I'm no seal expert, but I know that there are storage seals, but I am not sure that they can confine people in there. And how can I get him out, if don't know how he got there?'
"It's a seal isn't it? Are they going to be alright?" a voice said behind him.
Turning around, he saw Sakura by the opened window, her leg perched on the frame.
"Depends. Did Naruto's clone vanish?" his teammate shook her head, which made Sasuke sigh in relief. "Good, then they're still alive. The question is — for how long?"
Sakura approached her teammate, wearing a worried expression. "What do you mean 'how long'? Can't we do something to set them free?"
He shook his head. "No, the only chance we have is to wait for Kakashi and Zabuza to return, you and I both know nothing about seals, and tempering with them is a bad idea."
"And what do you propose — just wait here and hope for the enemy's mercy?! We can't just gamble on our friends' lives!" she said, concerned with Sasuke not coming up with a strategy.
"We have no other choice! Only Kakashi can free them, we will only endanger Tazuna if we'll fail too!" Sasuke argued with his teammate, failing to notice a black string of letters slithering to him like a snake.
"SASUKE! LOOK OUT!" the girl managed to step on the crawling seal, taking on the hit intended for him, the letter crawling up her leg, encasing her like a chain.
"Sakura, no!" Sasuke was at a lack of words. One by one, he let his comrades fall to the enemy's hands.
"Don't worry, Sasuke-kun," she said, relaxed. "This will probably draw out the nukenin out of hiding, now that you're the only one left. Our fate is in your hands!" with that, she too was drawn into the cigar case.
Sasuke then jumped back, dodging another of the seal's attack. Then, suddenly, it stopped its advance, as if it was blocked by a wall, trying to burst through it, but ultimately it went back inside the cigar case.
'Damnit, I've got only myself to rely on, I can't let them down!' he thought, clenching his kunai, trying to focus on how to win. 'The enemy can't reach me from there though. It seems, his range doesn't exceed two to three meters, and the more the letters distance from the main seal, the harder it is for him to capture the target: it took him notably longer to capture Sakura. He'd have to battle me on his own…'
"Climb out of your hole already and fight!" he shouted, intending draw out the mercenary.
"One by one…" a menacing voice echoed in the clearing, startling Sasuke.
'I-It's him! He'll come out now!' Sasuke was ready to battle.
"In order… I'll scatter you In The House!" a man of medium height, but muscular frame crawled out of the cigar case, resting his hands on his hips. The man was dressed in plain dark-blue pants, a skin-tight turtleneck of the same color, and a light, purely white jacket, coupled with the standard shinobi sandals of the same color. His attire was covered with a plain dark cape, almost reaching to the ground. His scarred face seemed an emotionless mask, staring with his blank stare, devoid of any warmth.
「In The House」
Power - none
Speed – C: the string of letters can move at maximum speed of an average human, which is up to 30 km/h.
Range - E: the user can access In The House seal only directly touching it, but his range of attacks with the seal is two to three meters.
Durability - A: the use of the seal doesn't tax the user at all, the case can be destroyed only with a technique with destructive power of rank A or higher. The seal cannot be rewritten or destroyed in any way, unless the cigar case is destroyed as well. It is unknown if there is any limit to what and in what amount can be stored in the seal.
Precision – C: the user can point out the location of anyone in the range of the seal like a radar, however, they must be touching the ground in order for the user to locate them.
Development Potential - E: the seal reached its peak, it cannot be developed any further.
"Do you have anyone left?" The man asked suddenly. "Anyone who can stand between me and my mission?"
Sasuke gave no response, preferring to stare at the shinobi, as if his sight alone could reduce him to ashes.
"I'll take it as a no, then. My name is Kyori Higeki, not that it will matter to you. I'll have to kill you and your friends, for you stand in my way. Although my seal, In The House, can't kill them directly, it can incapacitate them at my command," the man explained, putting the said case in his inner pocket.
Sasuke started circling the man, thinking of how to win the fight quickly.
'Given that he seems to be knowledgeable about that seal, he must be a seal expert of some sort. That means, he is not focused on taijutsu, and of that I must take advantage.'
"You must be thinking 'The guy's no good at taijutsu', am I right?" the nukenin deadpanned at his opponent.
If Sasuke was surprised by Kyori's statement, he didn't show it. For him, it didn't matter what the main said: he will defeat him all the same.
"Well, if you ain't gonna talk, then let's fight," with that the man thrown his cap in front of him, throwing several kunai from his sleeve through it, out of Sasuke's sight. The genin, however, dodged the projectiles, launching shuriken at the nukenin.
'They're wired,' the man quickly realised, jumping over them, going through several seals.
"Doton: Iwadeppo no Jutsu!" rock bullets rained down on the Uchiha, only for him to slip into the ground.
"Stupid boy! Earth is the last place to hide in against a Doton user! Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!" a rock encased the nukenin's fist, with which he split open the ground, finding the baffled genin underneath.
"There you are!" with that Kyori took the genin's arm, pulling him out of the earthen debris.
However, he only got a clone stuffed with explosive tags, seconds from exploding.
"Shit!" was all he could utter before the clearing was rocked with thunderous explosions, creating a small crater in the ground.
A few meters away, Sasuke resurfaced, trying to catch his breath.
"He almost got me, I barely had the time prepare the clone," he said to himself, drawing another kunai. "Not the time to relax yet, he could be tricking me."
The genin approached the small crater, vary of the last time he put a nukenin in such a situation. Eyeing the remains and not finding a tunnel put him at ease. A moment of him dropping his guard was all that Kyori needed to grab the boy by the ankle from under the ground, and to plunge his kunai deep into the back of his knee.
"AAAARGH!" a cry of pain echoed in the forest, and Sasuke fell on the ground, grabbing his injured knee.
"Stupid boy! A few tags of explosives won't stop a shinobi of my caliber!" the man shook off dirt from his jacket. After that, he kicked the genin in the stomach, sending the Uchiha flying into the nearby tree, making him cough blood.
Kyori then drawn a kunai from his sleeve, wearing a satisfied smirk. "Although I admit, you did allow me to warm up a little, with Gato you don't get even that most of the time. And for that, I'll give you quick death. Got any last words?"
Then, Sasuke grinned at the nukenin. "Just few," with that, genin started chuckling, which then turned into a full-blown laughter.
Sudden change in behaviour puzzled the nukenin. 'Does he have something up his sleeve left? I don't believe he's got any more explosives, after wasting so much on a clone.'
The man started walking backwards, keeping his eye on Sasuke. The boy didn't seem to be going for something, but caution won't hurt. Either way, he could finish him off from that distance.
"It's not me you should fear. Did you really think I decided to throw out all of my explosives just for the sake of it? Or did you think I got nothing to swing with?" the boy started chuckling again, savouring the confusion in Kyori's face.
"W-What do you mean? Answer me! What did you do?!" the man's confidence started to waver. He lived long enough to recognise liars, and when he looked upon the boy's face, not only did he notice a blood-red pupils, he saw triumph of a winner, like when you successfully put someone in a checkmate in the game of shogi.
"I knew I couldn't defeat you myself from the beginning, so I did the next best thing – I stalled and tried to make as much noise as possible!"
'Shit! He does have someone else left! I better get this over with before I get fu-' his train of thought was stopped for good with a Raikiri striking through his heart.
"AAAARGH!" a cry of pain once more echoed in the surrounding area. "How c-could this h-happen? I-I never fail m-my missions! Hnngh…"
"There's first time for everything," a silver-haired jonin said coolly behind his back. "And for you It will also be the last."
With cold body of the nukenin hitting the ground, Sasuke could see tired and dirtied with someone else's blood Kakashi and Zabuza, the latter carrying a small unconscious man on his shoulder. His sensei then knelt down next to him, bandaging his knee.
"What happened? Where are the others?" jonin then asked.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, enduring the pain in his leg. "Hnngh, they are sealed inside this man's cigar case, it's seal infused."
Having patched up his genin, Kakashi stood up and walked towards the nukenin's body. "I see. Let's take a look at it… It's of very old design, its at least 50 years old… Hmm, there's a button with a string of seals which mean 'release'. I guess pressing it will free them."
Having pressed the button, just as he expected, three shinobi appeared next to him on the ground.
The Wave was now free. With Gato's under Leaf's custody and his company's crumbling and its resources being distributed between the people of the country, poverty was soon gone from the streets, shops opening up once more and life returning to the island. The men that were once under Gato's employ were quickly chased away by the civilians led by Inari, who took Naruto's words to heart and overcome his grief.
Haku and Zabuza tried to atone for their sins, helping out the people of the Wave until the bridge was completed. After that, they went on to accomplish their goal of overturning the remnants of the Mist's corrupt government. It would be years before they could manage that.
And for our heroes, after they've had their rest, said their goodbyes, with Kakashi promising Zabuza a rematch, and Haku promising the trio of genin that he would visit them sometime, they returned home.
In The House seal was taken into the Leaf's possession, the few fuinjutsu experts in the village looking through the seals on the cigar case in hopes of replicating the complex technique.
Sasuke, having realised the worth of his teammates and the bond he has with them, stopped being broody, but still jesting at his blond teammate, as per usual. With his now awakened Sharingan, he started to train even harder then before, his goal never leaving his thoughts for long.
Sakura, having found in herself the will to fight, realised, that she is a shinobi first and foremost. Opting for a short haircut and starting to train seriously, she was determined to prove her worth.
Naruto, having faced the hard reality of the ninja world, took to heart the lessons he learnt and the oaths he took. With his newfound ability, he was determined to keep on walking his path in hope of changing this World for the better!
In an undisclosed location…
"It seems that Team 7 from the Leaf managed to capture Gato and to topple his empire for good! All the resources he had with him is lost, and his connection to the yakuza unit in the Land of Fire revealed! Sooner or later it will lead them to you, my Lord. We ought to do something!" a messenger reported, kneeling in front of a figure, sitting in the dimly lit room.
"Do not worry, all the necessary steps have already been taken. Gato is just a tool and his resources are irrelevant. All that worries me is the information he may spill," the shadowed man mused. "But he will soon die from the seal I've placed on him. He will only spill what I need him to. The Leaf is already doomed."
= = = To be continued... = = =
I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving through the sound and
In and out the valley...