Chapter 23
Beginnings
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Iruka shook his head, hoping to clear his inner vision of the young man grinning at him ferally. It was him, but at the same time, it wasn't. He had never been ANBU. Never. He certainly did not remember wearing the guards or the outfit. The boy's velvety brown hair was spiked and duller than his own silky chocolate locks. Those same rich brown eyes stared back at him, but were filled with dangerous knowledge. The scar across the nose was the same. How could this be him?
"It's easy, dimwit," the boy said, picking dirt from under his nails. A habit that Iruka was familiar with. "I was sealed away a long time ago. Our esteemed Sandaime thought it best. I don't blame him for that little inconvenience."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Iruka whispered, trying to wrap this new existence around his already shocked brain pan.
Kinkou sighed and blew the hair out of his eyes. "Okay, let me explain it to you in simple and quick terms." He came over and sat beside Iruka, taking off his arm guards. "Much better. Now, let's see. I'll tell you about the time you've lost."
"Time I've lost?" He blinked. "What?"
Kinkou glared at him for a few seconds. "Will you shut it? I don't have a lot of time. Now, when you were eleven, the Kyuubi was wreaking havoc in Fire. By the time you were twelve, it had made it to Konoha and decimated the village and nearly all the surviving shinobi from the war. It killed your parents and you swore you wouldn't be weak like them." He paused and took a breath. "From that point, you threw yourself into your training and became a deadly and effective weapon in seven months."
Iruka chuckled. "I don't remember any of that at all. Besides, Kakashi would have noticed and remembered if there was another 'deadly weapon' in the village."
Kinkou reached over and jerked on Iruka's ear. "He never knew. No one did besides the Sandaime and a select few of the ANBU. We were watched for months before the ANBU approached us. After that, we were sent on various assassination and scouting missions. We were only deployed in Iwa though. Never anywhere else." He paused for a moment, a look of concentration passing over his young face. "I don't know why that was. I only know that we were never allowed to enter any other country. Of course, I think it was revenge against Iwa for their actions during the war. We were scared and exhilarated at the same time," he purred with a smile.
"After a while, all we wanted to do was kill. Our last mission out, we went berserk. The mark was nothing but a bloody mess of bone and unrecognizable meat. There was nothing left to him." Kinkou seemed to think over his next words. "After we came back, the ANBU relief unit reported back to the Sandaime. He feared for our sanity. He had allowed us to become a monster. Sandaime didn't want us to become like some he had known.
"A few days later, he called us to his office and then drugged us. He sealed me away inside you and hoped that the seals would stay in plae for the rest of your life. He had created a monster to rival the feared Kyuubi and he loved you to much to let that happen to you," Kinkou explained with a sweet smile. "I'm actually glad that he did it, though. It gave me a chance to grow up and get to know, if not a completely normal life, then a stable one. You grew into a very fine man. Bad temper, but gentle and loving. You even took the container under your wing and became a father to him."
Here, Kinkou stopped and stared at his hands for a few seconds before looking back at Iruka. "But the time for me to be sealed has ended. You need me if you are to survive this. The crazy bitch is abusing our body and I don't like it." His eyes blazed intese hatred at his own words.
Iruka scratched his head. "Um. This is going to hurt isn't it?"
Kinkou grinned again. "Oh, the seals are weak so it won't hurt, but I don't know about your mental state when the final seals are broken. Those are the memory seals. Those contain the jutsus that we created during our ANBU stint. As well as the memories of everything we did during our missions." He frowned and held his chin in his hand. "That is going to be a very bad experience for you. However," he declared glancing over at Iruka, "I will be there to help buffer some of the pain. Nevertheless, we must hurry. She's getting bored with your unconcious body."
Kinkou formed a complex set of seals then touched Iruka's forehead. "Kai," he whispered.
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Mira was getting so bored. The boy wasn't responding to her cuts or her hands anymore. She was pretty sure he was still alive, but it was hard to tell if his chest was moving under all that blood. He had made little noises earlier, but he had gone quiet a minute ago. She should just take his life, however, she wanted him awake for his death. Forming seals, she touched his forehead to wake him.
Iruka gasped at the pain lancing through his body and mind. Memories that were best left alone flashed by, stabbing his brain with remembered pleasure and pain. Another wave of twisting pain arced through his body as the seals holding back his old power were released. Long forgotten jutsus became second nature, as they settled into their long denied places. And there, just beyond the swirling black and green flow was a white masked boy, waving.
Gathering a deep breath into his abused body, Iruka lay there in blinding pain. He could feel every cut and bruise on his body. The woman was forming seals from what little he could see from underneath the blood coating his eyes. She touched his forehead and a shock went through him. Unable to control his muscles, Iruka jerked. Luckily, with that shock, the extra Chakra settled into place. Smiling to himself, he formed a seal with his left hand.
Coughing, he ground out, "I hope you can fly, bitch." As the last word left his tongue, he reached up and flicked her in the chest, just above her solar plexus. He watched as she flew backwards.
Mira squawked in surprise and was thrown back with a massive blast of air. Landing, she rolled to absorb as much of the shock as possible. How had he done that without forming seals? Crawling to her knees, she gagged and spit out a mouthful of blood. What the hell was this!?
"What did you do to me, boy?" she rattled, spitting out more blood.
Iruka used a small amount of Chakra to staunch the flow of blood and inject some control into his protesting body. Carefully he stood and faced the woman that had wanted to pervert his body and kill him. Controlling the Chakra with very little effort, he sent it into his body to repair the worst of the damage doen to his body. The smaller injuries were annoying, but not life threatening. A few seconds of extreme pressure and the deep cuts were sealed. Opening his eyes, he stared with hate at the woman.
"I hit you," he stated calmly.
She spat another gob of blood into the dirt and stood. "You won't get another chance to do that, boy."
Iruka smiled the same feral smile that Kinkou usually wore, his eyes flat of any emotion except the hatred he felt toward this woman and her perverse mind set. "You will die today."
Laughing, she charged. The bloody kunai flew from her equally stained hand as she formed a water seal. Iruka tracked her movements and formed a counter seal with his left hand. When she threw out her hand, Iruka lifted his left hand and let the green lightning travel down the water spout spiraling toward him. He broke the jitsu before the water spout was within ten feet of him. Stepping aside lightly, he heard the woman's scream of pain and frustration. She was shaking her hand and glaring at him.
"You won't win against me," he called across the distance. "I am to much for you to take on."
Snorting, she threw her long hair over her shoulder. "I doubt that, boy. You're out of Chakra and your buddies are still a long way off."
Iruka shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You will die and I will be doing the killing."
Spying his sword twenty feet away and to the right, he sprang for it, snatching it from the ground. Pivoting, he faced the woman and held up his sword in a ready position. He could hear the whispers of his old self telling him how to infuse the weapon with the black and green Chakra that was his own. Nodding, Iruka changed the course of his Chakra and sent it into the blade. He watched as the blade went from flashing silver to dull dark green. He knew this. He looked back at the woman and smiled at her sweetly.
Screaming in rage, she charged again, drawing two kunai from her hip pouch. Countering the frontal assault, he swung down and across her midsection. Cutting into fabric and flesh, he could smell the burning skin and material. Oh yes, he remembered this blade. As the blade tip passed over her stomach, he jerked up and to the right, knicking her ribs and splitting the skin. Good hit, if sloppy. He heard her gasp of pain. Not letting her take more than that, he stepped into her side and swung down again, cutting across her thigh deeply. As she wetn down, he slid the blade up and drew a line across her right arm and chest.
Mira couldn't move. The pain was agonizing. It burned through her veins and along her skin. What had he done? Why were a few simple cuts making her so weak and giving her such pain?
Iruka cleared the blade's Chakra skin and cleaned the blade on the woman's shirt. He sat cross-legged next to her and watched her writhe in curiosity. His body was starting to react to the blood loss and the fast movements. Light headed was just what he needed right now.
"Wha...what have you done to me?" she gasped out between bouts of pain.
"Nothing really. I only cut you," he exclaimed. "Oh, and I also poisoned you."
She looked at him with death in her eyes, the orbs already starting to glaze. "You had no Chakra left. I saw it. There was nothing left." Her breathing started to slow. "Who are you?"
Iruak was fast losing consciousness and uttered the first thing that popped into his head. "I am Balance and you have been found wanting," he whispered as he passed into a faint.
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Kakashi and Sakura hurried back to the clearing. Both had felt the ebb and flow of the Chakra Iruka had been using. Something seemed wrong with the last of the Chakra that had been used. It seemed old and stunted, as if it had not been used in a very long time. Each looking to the other, they rushed to the last flare. Stumbling to a halt, they could only stare.
Iruka was nearly naked, his clothes hanging is strips from his crumpled body. One eye was swollen shut. Hundreds of small cuts were oozing blood from an already blood covered body. Beside him, a woman with long hair was curled in upon herself. Sakura quickly went to Iruka. She nodded to Kakashi to let him know that he was alive. She checked the woman and jerked back. The cuts across her body had eaten into her. Acid spread outward from her wounds, eating her away.
"Kakashi, this woman is being eaten inside out from acid," Sakura whispered.
"Leave her. Iruka needs to be treated and we need to get out of here," he said, cradling Iruka in his arms. "Get our stuff and follow me. We aren't very far from the Daimyo's estate."
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A/N: Gahhhrrrrr!!! Frustration. Major frustration. I think it's a good thing that I am ending this one soon. The next installment will be posted as a new story, but will have all the juicy goodness of this one. As well as two others. One to follow along with this one and another completely off our fave men. Time to torment Kiba and the others. (laughs like a mad scientist)
Yeah...