Year 7AK
He nearly eviscerates the last man he faces, more from carelessness then actual malice. The gore coating from head to toe has begun to cool and cake adding to his sour mood. "Jiraiya-sama? We have eliminated the last men in this sector. Proceed to join you in the office?" Through smiling pulls the drying blood mask horribly Jiraiya does so anyway - Jali still behaves like a well-trained dog; always eager to meet his master. "Of course Jali, I'll be in the main office in less then five minutes." Walking briskly toward said main office, he listens to the screams still emanating from the West side of the sprawling compound. Lala is obviously still playing with her prey.
Tapping his earpiece, he opens a channel to admonish her. "Lala! Cut it the fuck out dammit! This is an 'in-and-out' okay? 'Wham, bam, thank you ma'am.' Nothing fancy, nothing identifying, and no fucking survivors alright? Now just kill the little peckerwood already!" Cutting off Lala's profanity-laden mutterings and the final animal terror screams of her current victim Jiraiya checks one more installation off the list. Gatou has become too bold - his 'empire' stretching from wispy tendrils in Kumo to robust limbs in the Unclaimed zone. If he kept this up Jiraiya wouldn't even need to kill him - a 'legal' assassination would be ordered by that powers that be.
Still he hoped to keep the fat fucker alive long enough for Naruto to have his breakthrough experience in Wave. Naruto came out a stronger, better person from the experience - not to mention tapping into Kyuubi's power… Thus, the current elimination of all non-Wave situated installations. If Gatou could be forced to squirrel away in Wave for at least a little while then Naruto would have his experience to keep him honest (and sane) later. Later when Kyuubi was whispering all the ways a soul dies to him. 'Aw, I thought you liked me Raiya.' Stupid fox. Ever since the merging with the six-tails and its container, Kyuubi has been acting weird…er. 'Mean. I'm not weird, I'm unique!' With a noticeable twitch, Jiraiya walks into an ambush.
"Geez, you didn't save us any?" Flicking a last piece of unidentible flesh off his sword. Jiraiya shrugs at Leilin's question. "You were moving too slow and I'm too irritated right now to play around with weak-minded fools." Stepping over the broken corpse at his feet the most wanted Nin in the elemental countries steps into the bright, blood-spattered office to raid its files and safes.
"What?!" The fat little butterball fairly quakes with righteous-fury. "This the thirteenth base hit in as many weeks!" Jerking his head to the right he watches as a pale, nervous numbers-cruncher adjusts the wall-encompassing charts. Half the red lights on the location chart are gone now with this one destroyed. The sloping production curve makes him tear up. "Whose doing this shit? Tell me that at least!"
"I'll tell you if you want." The voice is… asexual and almost bestial. If the Cheshire cat were real, this is what it would sound like. She or he lies on the ceiling blond hair stirred gently by the air condition. Thin as a blade with an eye patch, in red and black clothing too big for it, this intruder doesn't seem too impressive. However, the light in its visible eye is unstable and unnerving. "Who da fuck are you?" Tonto - big, stupid, and now rather dead, a spatter all across the ceiling and walls.
Disgusted Gatou carefully wipes the warm … stuff off his face. Whatever else he may be… he isn't stupid so he doesn't shout or bluster. "Who are you and what do you want in exchange for this information?" The psycho smiles eye rolling in its socket with barely contained amusement. "My name is Deidera and I want o kill Jiraiya Noninuzuka. I also want to get paid - pay me and I'll bring you back his head." Gatou is no fool. "How much?"
'How to break into Kohona, kill Root's leader, mind-fuck Sasuke Uchiha, and get out during the Uchiha Massacre.' A dissertation in progress. "Sakumo? Where would an Anbu hide in plain sight?" Sakumo eyes him blankly as Arashi, called Tenchi, runs through another high-speed kata. Tenchi is soulless but his abilities are magnificent as is his mind. "Tenchi, thought exercise!" The key to effective leadership Jiraiya has learned is that it is 9.9 tenths delegation. "Tenchi in this folder is some information. With this information I want you to answer this list of questions to the best of your abilities. When you're done return this to me." The masked figure nods briskly and moves to leave. "Sir, may I finish today's training first?" 'Oh, Arashi.' Smiling broadly with false cheer the sannin replies, "Of course, just don't wear yourself out."
Soon the dojo rings with Tenchi's shouts again before the boy - man disappears to his private training grounds. Sakumo watches his friend for a moment before sliding in behind him. Settling the taller man between his legs, he sighs as he wraps his arms around him. Leaning back Jiraiya revels in the warmth and security of Sakumo's arms. "If it hurts you to see him like this why keep him so near you?" Curling himself up within the space of Sakumo's still strong arms the at least quasi-immortal ninja buries his face in sandalwood-scented skin instead of speaking. Rough hands slide under his shirt. "Sakumo?" Only the note of anxious uncertainty draws the White Fang's attention. "Hmm?" The older man arches up allowing his younger friend access to his neck, collar, and once more his lips.
Humming with guilt-tinged pleasure Jiraiya allows himself to be laid on his back. "Oh!" How a ninja could miss the click of an opening door… sex-addled or not. "Shit!" Struggling out from under a randy, half-naked Hatake is a very difficult task as anyone who's been though it can tell you. Still Jiraiya hasn't gotten to where he's at by giving up (although if he were going to, now would be the time) and so he escapes. Standing warily between a panting Sakumo and a mortified Pari Jiraiya attempts to salvage some dignity. "Yes, Pari?" Flustered by the sight of two half-naked, well-toned men still panting and flushed and...sweaty… Ah, flustered by the sight Pari performs a magnificent impersonation of cannon Hinata's 'nervous stance' - fingertips pointing; face a bright red, stuttering full blast as she stares at her feet pointed inward.
"Oh, Jiraiya-sama…ah. That is-I just… um. I m-me. I m-m-mean…oh." Straightening up as she tries to man up Pari is startled to feel feverish hands on her slender shoulders. No one touches an energy-sucker. "Get off me Sakumo! Fuckin' pervert!" Ah, the irony of which Pari is totally unaware. Understandable since no one except Jiraiya-sama has ever touched her having never feared her… So very, very strange. "Um… Jiraiya-sama, there is an ah… messenger waiting in the main hall. He is a Konoha-nin, a man named Tobe Inuzuka; he says he's your cousin." There is more to say, like how angry and confused he is or how he keeps looking over his shoulder as though in search of someone or thing. However, the brown hands are gone along with their owner.
Toboe growls deep in his throat nose twitching as he wonders for the nth time where the hell Mamosa is? 'It can't take this long to mark this place.' The blade at his throat is a complete surprise. "What do you want and how the hell did you get here?" Sharp teeth gleam inches from his tattooed face. "Geez cuz, stop being so antisocial. Can't family visit family?" Tossing his cousin to the ground Jiraiya snorts. "The Inuzuka have no truck with the ill-bred bastards of "clan less" whores. In fact if I recall correctly when I got these", and here his hidden tattoos appear, "our precious family howled for my immediate termination."
Toboe doesn't really have a leg to stand on regarding that. The clan doesn't want anything even remotely incestuous in it. Close-breeding bred madness as the Uchiha demonstrated or stagnation as the Hyuuga showed. Jiraiya sadly was born of an Inuzuka male and his unacknowledged half-sister, a well-frequented whore named Tsusami. Jiraiya might have - been formally claimed if his father had fought for it, but Tsusami was his half-sister for a reason. Leroho hated her. Their mating was less a tryst of passion then it'd been a quiet rape. As such, Jiraiya has always been the badge of Inuzuka shame, the more so because of his legendary status. Now after all he's done as an missing-nin the clan has decided to not only claim him, but to put him down once and for all. A pack puts down it's mad and the Inuzuka are nothing if not a pack.
At least that was the clan elders' thoughts. Toboe however had far different ideas. He knows things are seldom as they appear. Being a member of the Inuzuka only Anbu squad he knows the intricacies of scent and intrigue in a manner few would ever understand. Having known the child Naruto and the man Arashi, knowing the Anbu Kakashi and the Hyuuga twins - Toboe has come to a starling conclusion. A conclusion borne-up by the clean astringent scent wearing off the man before him. Because of this, he will inform Jiraiya of his coming doom. "There's a blond bitch looking to kill you. As this fits into the designs of the elders one or two foolishly contacted her."
Jiraiya is listening although he is having trouble understanding - no he understands all too well. 'A blond bitch - Deidera.' So Deidera lived…huh. Deidera and probably Sasori unless he didn't in which case it makes perfect sense for Deidera to hate him. Toboe's mouth continues to run. "She killed them, tortured them first and then killed them. Mailed their pieces back to us one by one." The sandy-haired young man swallows quickly eyes suddenly agleam. "They told her everything, including my Anbu affiliation and tracking specialty. I came back to Konoha one day to find my wife gone. She's five months pregnant! Was anyway. I don't know now. There was so much blood. It was everywhere!"
As the man begins to hyperventilate and then shake with sobs, Jiraiya comes out of his slight trance. Voice gruff he bends down to lift the obviously unsettled man up. "Come on, we'll get you something to eat and you can sleep." Whatever reaction Jiraiya was expecting, he certainly wasn't expecting the hysterical burst of laughter he received. "No, no, no! She's coming now! I'm sorry. I'm so fucking' sorry, but now you're all gonna die and I'll get my life back. My poor Yona, my poor sweet Yona. We can have another baby."
As the obviously broken man curls into himself on the ground still whispering to women most likely dead a week already, Konoha's Poltergeist can feel only pity. Every Anbu has a touchstone, an anchor to sanity and Toboe's was clearly Yona. Without Yona, there has been nothing to hold him together. "Sakumo, take him to a room and sedate him. I'll meet Deidera outside the village. Jali, gather the sharpshooters and position them at the highest points of the perimeter." Unleashing all his suppression seals the Traitor of Akatsuki rushes out to meet a madman better off dead.
Pari gingerly takes the body Sakumo gives her wary of feeding off it. Even now she can't really control her vampiric abilities. Concentrating so that sweat stands out upon her forehead, she carries the poor man to a spare room. Lying him on the freshly turned-down bed, she binds him with the weakest grade of her energy-leeching webbing. Reaching back to open the bedside table, she removes a vial of morphine - this is Tenchi's room at times after all. Such horrible nights Tenchi has sometimes - nights only morphine can tame. Pulling the small needle from her apron pocket, she reaches for an alcohol pad in the bedside drawer.
"She's crazier then anyone I've ever met, you know?" His eyes are a sliver of white around deep pits of black. "Her eyes are so wrong. I've met people that were messed up, you know? It's my job after all, but she's so far beyond that point now… Huh. Yona's probably dead now, but if I- it. I at least brought the bitch to Raiya. Then, I don't know maybe they'll take each out and I don't know… 'Two for one'- it's a good deal, right?"
Listening to his fractured laughter as the stench of his fear sweat fills her nose, Pari readies the needle with practiced ease. "Sleep. When you wake up maybe things will be better." The needle slides easily into his arm and soon the manic light in his eyes dims into something human before it winks out. The bronze clock in the kitchen chimes; for once she ignores it to watch this poor, sad boy sleep. Threading her fingers through his tangled hair she decides he can't be much more then twenty.'
'Stupid bastard. I can't stand dogs!' Five-years-old with a pair of monstrous teeth snapping at his heels. Screaming himself hoarse as his eyes roll and the big men laugh like the demons they appear. "I hate dogs, Inuzuka! Especially dogs that bite the hands that fucking feeds them." She drops the head she has been carefully stabbing repeatedly. Drops it carelessly atop the still steaming pile of entrails and skin. Blood, offal, and unidentifiable pieces radiate from the pile to decorate the trees amid the raw, new clearing. Her hands are red, so very, very red because she is very, very pale - with rage.
Teeth gleaming in a wide predatory grin Deidera watches Jiraiya's casual approach. She decides she hates him more then she'll ever hate dogs. 'Bloody huge dog it was. 'Stupid fox, dog, frog bastard fucker!' 'Be careful Deidera. We need his knowledge and that is not something we can obtain if he is dead.' Even as a voice in her head Sasori is a fucking drag. 'Yeah, yeah. Kill him we should, yeah!' They stare at each other - Jiraiya and Deidera, the blond looking the worse for wear. Her formerly heavy drape of blond hair now hangs in short, ragged oddly-arranged strips around his/her head. The head of which half is badly damaged and missing an eye as the other one rolls madly above an unbalanced grin.
"So…ya wanna kill me? Fine. One question -where's Yona, the pregnant chick you kidnapped?" The nearly anorexic female chuckles atonally, shoulders jerking oddly-almost woodenly. "Is he still going on about that? I guess some people just can't deal with their sins." Looking completely malevolent the Deconstructionist stares Jiraiya right in the eye - "He killed her himself with his won blasted hands and he wanted to do it no matter if I held the strings or not." It's clear now. The fools contacted Deidera who killed them and came to recruit the man they would have. Toboe refused of course and Deidera fucked him over by making him kill Yona and think he wanted to. Toboe not being able to deal had then followed Deidera wherever if only to forget.
You can almost see the temperature drop. The sneer on the sannin's face an act of violence in it's self. "Well one of us is definitely going to die here - personally I think it'll be you." They move as one jumping back as the rest of Toboe's squad falls from the trees. Deidera vanishes into the woods leaving Jiraiya to deal with a smirking Inuuk - a girl named Yona judging by Deidera's shock countenance. "You can give up or you can watch your precious village burn." Who knew Inuzuka could sink so low, and yet dogs are little more then wolves.
"And Toboe?" Her face stills so completely it's obvious this is a sore point for her. She shrugs, "He'd become a liability. Liabilities will always be dealt with." Loosening his stance Jiraiya keeps prodding waiting for Sakumo to give the signal… Never mind the idiot should be in the village. "And the girl Toboe killed in your place? Was she a liability? Was the child she carried?" A black-mask snorts higher up in the branches. 'Fast didn't even see him move. And the girl doesn't even bother with a mask… She must be good or this group backing her is.' "Enough! Come on or die here - it doesn't really matter."
"Oh, I think it does." Confusion colors the clearing as a strong voice rings out - one not heard by a Konoha-nin in years. 'Damnit Sakumo! What are you thinking?!' Tenchi steps out of the trees mask in one hand, one of his special kunai in the other. "What the hell is this?!" Black mask doesn't seem so cocky now, but his shout works in rousing Yona out of her stupor. "So it's true?" She speaks to Jiraiya though her eyes never leave Tenchi's face. "You are an abomination playing God. Is it any wonder so many wish to kill you?" As she speaks she draws a large knife from her belt. It shines with an inner light that promises pain. And now her eyes bright with rage bore into the time-traveler's; "For this", she nods toward blond-headed Tenchi, "I'll kill you dead." She strikes like a snake.
Imagine her surprise when her blow is blocked-stopped dead by the blond in her way. "You shall not harm Master Jiraiya bitch." Its doubtful she head him eyes unfocused as she stares into his face. "You look like him, sound like him, move like him, hell you even smell like him." The quiet shock in her voice is almost enough to humanize her. Too bad it's not nearly enough for Tenchi, "I head him screaming. I heard him screaming for you." Tenchi never sounds angry, only degrees of cold. Right now his voice is hitting the absolute zero. A kunai slashes through her throat spraying Tenchi's elfin face.
Before the body can even hit the dirt, Sakumo has sent two more from the trees to join it. The wire embedded in their throats gleams weakly through the sluggishly pooling blood of their wounds. Three bodies out of seven. The remaining four split off in several directions. It's obvious they're heading toward the village. It's just as obvious they aren't aware of the snipers or that Deidera has probably beaten them there. "Sakumo! Tenchi! Meet Jali in the village and make sure all the children and untrained are below ground. This is a level four security code. Kill all intruders on sight."
Watching Hiane's head explode in a shower of gore Esha swears a bloody streak. These thrice-damned snipers are laying down too much fire. He can't get anywhere near close enough to detonate the packages they laid earlier. "I hate liars." Esha freezes wondering how even in this brouhaha he could have missed someone sneaking up behind him. "Who's a liar?" Stupid questions, get violent answers - Deidera naps her fingers causing the ground beneath Esha to explode.
Ever an artist Deidera examines the kneeling skeletal work, which is jawless, mostly fleshless, and armless below the elbow. The red foam-like mess around the still steaming corpse is an excellent touch in his opinion. Walking over to a still twitching hand the former rock-nin removes the detonator beneath it and palms it for later. "I really fuckin' hate liars. I really, really hate backstabbers." 'Deidera stop muttering to yourself and get over to Jiraiya now!' Lowering his head in submission the ex-Akatsuki mutters a 'Hai, Sasori-danna." and proceeds to run-down that 'frog/dog/fox bastard'.
Said bastard is literally ripping the spine out of the last Inuzuka agent along with the idiot's brain stem. Ignoring the inch-thick blood layer he's somehow acquired the legendary nin takes a particularly vindictive pleasure in stomping the bloody head beneath his heel. "Never speak ill of my mother pendejo." "Um, Jiraiya-sama?" Sweat dropping quietly Jiraiya turns about slowly with an embarrassed grin on his face. "Yeah?" Jali sighs and bows with a roll of the eyes. "We have collected all the corpses - there are seven and none seem to have been altered or tagged."
'Good, that leaves only Deidera's psycho ass.' Nodding sagely the mountain hermit grins widely - a little too widely. "Good, don't let down your guard yet. There's still a lunatic on the loose, and no dear I don't mean me." Turning slowly he isn't too surprised to see Tenchi standing in front of him limbs akimbo. Yes, Tenchi's stance rather screams - 'You aren't going anywhere alone'. "You aren't going Tenchi, neither are you Sakumo, don't even think about it Jali. I'm going out, I'll be back - I'm the oldest person here as well as the strongest. Therefore, shut up, mind your elders, and watch the goddamn village! I swear if this place isn't standing when I get back everyone of you is getting the beating of your deaths before I bring you back to finish the job."
Walking off with the snickering of certain critters in his head the sannin Jiraiya isn't nearly as sure of himself as he let on. Deidera was dangerous enough without a deep-seated psychosis. Besides which Iwa-nin have never been his favorite people; too sneaky, too hard to kill, too damn intent on maiming for the sake of it… Or maybe that was just the bastards he was meeting. 'If I were a psychotic he/she who wanted to kill me where the hell would my creepy little ass be?' Abruptly he stops - two choice air or earth.
Faster then he's ever moved he launches himself off the ground and into the air. Still he's caught in the after blast. Doesn't matter the burns he accumulates heal as soon as he gains them. Still he liked this outfit. The shadow overhead is his signal to kawaka with a nearby log. 'Shit Deidera had time to plan. Fucked up, as he is the bastard is a menace given enough time to plan. 'Okay Naruto help me out.' Eyes flickering rapidly behind tightly clenched eyelids Jiraiya "sees" several sequences involving Kage-bushin and one or two well-placed kawaka. 'Okay.'
'Where the hell is he?' Sasori is a calming presence at the base of his skull. Suddenly a barrage of kunai flies at him and his clay bird. Directing the bird higher the clay-artist is shocked to see half the kunai transform into exact replica off Jiraiya, of these half work to propel the other half higher into the air, Those then toss another barrage of kunai - over the bird, There are explosive tags attached to these. They explode in a bright, eye-searing blast. In the confusion, Jiraiya lands a single finger on the clay creature. It's enough. His supremacies are open.
'Break.' The claybird comes asunder with a terrible shriek. Deidera leaps off to somersault upward. Shock of shocks as his rags par t to unleash a set of colossal wings. Or rather, a beautiful ceramic and oil paper rendition of wings. They are the blood-red and bone-white of an avenging angel. Beneath their glare, poor, mad Deidera is beautiful - but these are Sasori's wings… 'Shit.' Five seconds, five seconds - the time it takes to tie your shoes on a cold day and all this has occurred.
The sixth second occurs and Jiraiya is falling toward his waiting vanguard of shadow clones. He'll never make it at the rate he falls. Deidera descending still faster on puppet-master wings. "Elon's waking: Guard of woods." The trees shake themselves before great tendrils of wood spring forth to attack the approaching Deidera. It's not enough, but in the time Deidera must take to adjust Jiraiya is safely encapsulated in the arms of his clones. The clone who called out the justu pants raggedly as he flickers in and out of focus. "Sorry boss - this is too much for me." He gives out and up as the trees freeze into an awkward landscape out of a child's night terrors. Deidera's shadow passes overhead.
"You should be in bed." Pari pads softly after the boy-man Toboe whose face is smeared with dirt from his frantic sniffing. "There are four more bombs - I know it." The other nine are cradled carefully in Pari's stick-like arms. The village is empty everyone either underground or a flicker out of the corner of one's eyes. Level four and if not for her presence Toboe would have been dead four times over before he ever found a single one. "We need to get back to the house." Pari never foes underground - too many people, too much temptation and - She can't let herself think of that.
"Damn you Jiraiya!" Carelessly the skeletal blond stalks through the undergrowth. Two hours they've played cat and mouse. Two hours and he grows weary while this ageless bastard plays hide and peek-a-boo. 'Now would be the time to play your ace.' Right. Patting down his sides and various pockets the androgynous artist finally pulls out the detonator from earlier. "Oh, frog-freak! If you don't want me to blow your little toy town to smithereens you'd best get you're ass out here!"
The forest is silent as she waits impatiently tapping the plastic device against her thigh. Jiraiya steps out of the underwood face a mask of forbearance. "Give me the fucking detonator." Smiling like a rabid fox - the holder of said detonator laughs maliciously." Hm, I think not after all - "After all you're not stupid enough to kill yourself." Toboe hangs from the branch above like some sort of demented bat, Mamosa's head in his arms Yona's blade in its mouth.
"Pari! What da hell?!" Pari sits nestled in the crack of a fallen tree a bundle of platinum strings in her brittle-looking hand, "Sorry Jiraiya-san, but Toboe-kun insisted and it's just as well right?" 'Geez a couple of hours with the idiot and she's got more confidence then I've ever inspired in her.' Pouting as he crosses his arms, the unlikely jinnchiriki watches as Deidera slowly builds to a boil. "Bastards! Dick-headed, cunt-ass, cum-sucking, shit-for-brain sons of the morgue whores! You'll die too! I'll push this button and we'll all fuckin' die!"
"Actually only you and Tobe-kun will die. I feed on energy and besides I have my energy-absorbing webs to protect me. Jiraiya-sama is almost incapable of dying at this point. It'd take a week at most for him to recover from a blast of this magnitude." Toboe smiles, "Right and I don't really have anything to lose at this point. You've taken everything I care about." The morphine's effect is rapidly melting off as Toboe pats the head of his dog never mind the flies buzzing on its golf-ball size eyes. "Not a thing, I don't have a fucking thing… So", and now he pulls out his own detonator, "Let's Blast!" The forest is a show of fire and lights.
"How do you displace an entire village?" Asuma shrugs lighting up another clove-scented stick. How do you twist a forest up like that? How do you destroy an army? How do you do any number of the things that Jiraiya has? Still… "Asuma-san, Kakashi-kun come look!" Trying hard not to laugh at the twitch Kakashi gives at being called kun by Gai the stocky jounin wanders over to an overly excited group. The sound of flies is heard long before the stench hits them. "Aw, shit."
The collective body parts of a group are arranged in a circular pattern around two poles driven into the earth. "How did we miss this before?" A pretty if slightly green chunin answers with one word 'genjustsu'. There are two letters - one on each pole, the first says Hokage, the second says Inuzuka. A large boning knife lies beneath the latter, a blond lock of hair beneath the former. "What does it mean?", ever oblivious Gai still a child at twenty. "It's not like we are really wanna know." It's quiet after that.
End Chapter Seven
Kind of short considering the last few chapters, huh.
Chapter Eight ought to be longer.
As always:
Confused? Post a review for a personal reply or see the forum.
For the record, it's only going to get more complicated from here on.
Next time in Chapter Eight:
Healers, Improbable Children, and the moon sets on the Uchiha