Hello
How are you today? How's your week going?
I'm back with another update!
MASSIVE shout-out to everyone that's stayed with this story. I'm well aware that I can be inconsistent at times, but I'm always grateful for everything.
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 14
Neji shadowed Hinata and Mikoto, as his clan head ordered him to.
He observed them.
The two of them walked shoulder to shoulder, lingering in the middle of the crowd of the Konoha/Suna delegation. Hinata had her hands at her back, her thin fingers laced and a slight skip in her somewhat slouched step, and Mikoto's hands were tucked deep into the pockets of her white hoodie, walking with a lazy slink, yet despite the difference in their posture and confidence, the girls strolled closely alongside each other.
They weren't conversing, animatedly listening to the Leader of Hidden Chill as she led them through a walkway, where bronze and plastic prosthetics were displayed in glass cases, showing the gradual progression from their very first finished prosthetic—which was a glorified metal peg—to their latest model, a sleek and functional reimagining of the human arm or leg.
"Although our engineers are working on a way to make these prosthetics more affordable and easier to construct, our tests so far have been wonderfully positive," Yumi lectured the crowd, stopping by the last glass case and making a flourishing gesture with her right hand. "Human trials have shown that a person of reasonable ninja proficiency can quickly adapt to their new appendage. Civilians might find it harder to move about, but not impossible."
Neji hummed when Mikoto leaned sideways to Hinata and murmured something, and the other girl smiled slightly and rolled her eyes, not replying.
Their group continued on their tour, and Neji dwelled further on the girls' unexpected friendship.
Hinata was a quiet girl. Withdrawn and overly gentle, though Neji had seen her dote and worry over her baby sister, and her new friend, Mikoto. And on the other side of the spectrum, Mikoto was wild and expressive, excessively energetic at times and oddly focused at other times; Neji was well-aware that the village considered her to be a genius on par with her father and her older siblings, and with the analytical, yet snappish, way she flicked her blue eyes, he was inclined to agree.
He had heard gossip that she had spent a few hours in a Zyouki holding cell for assaulting Tsunade Senju, so Neji suddenly didn't feel too confident in his summary of Mikoto's recognized genius.
Still, for the whole week after her return to the village from the retrieval mission, Mikoto had spent four days sleeping over in the Hyuuga clan head's house. Despite Hanabi's staunch complaints and disagreements, Mikoto made herself at home.
So much so, she brought a spare futon from her home in the Uchiha compound to Hinata's room.
The forced inclusion of the Fourth Hokage's youngest child into their daily routine was something the clan head could no longer look away from; he could tolerate the girl sleeping on the couch in Hinata's quarters, and he didn't have an issue adding another seat to the table, after all, money wasn't an issue for them.
The futon, strangely enough, was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Honestly, Neji relished in his uncle's ire.
He enjoyed Hanabi's griping.
He tolerated Mikoto because she was a bothersome addition to the clan head's house.
Something he didn't like, though, was seeing Hinata smile.
Neji chewed his tongue, watching another exchange from the girls; Hinata turned a little to Mikoto and whispered something, and it made Mikoto snort aloud, stopping the tour to look back at her.
She sheepishly smiled, waving her hands apologetically. "Something flew into my mouth. Sorry."
Yumi hummed, fixing her eyes on Mikoto, studying her curiously.
The Hokage chuckled, clearly nervous, "You were talking about the upgraded medic pack."
"Yes…" was Yumi's delayed murmur, tearing her eyes off her friend's daughter and giving the man a fleeting smile, walking ahead into a classroom. The plaque above the door of the class read: Auditorium 1-A. Four people were waiting in the auditorium on a raised platform as the delegation streamed inside. They were all wearing white lab coats with red armbands on their right arms signifying that they were medic trainees. One was lying on the floor, two were kneeling on either side of the one on the floor, and a fourth stood back with a notepad and pencil. Yumi waited for everyone to flood into the class, standing at the podium at the front of the lesson hall on the raised platform, saying as they gathered before the stage, "Some of the students prepared a quick demonstration of our latest improvement to the medic pack."
She nodded to them and the students began.
One of the students on his knees eased a slim backpack off his back, laying it down near the head of the boy strewn on his back. He unzipped the pack and removed a flattened oxygen mask from inside, pressing it over the mouth of the student on the floor. The flat instrument steadily regained its shape as the boy on his back breathed shallow breaths into it.
The student with the notepad came forward and narrated in a cartoonishly chipper voice, "The inclusion of basic fuinjutsu to the curriculum of medical and engineering students of this institute, at the prompting of Lord Hokage, has made carrying large bundles of portable medical equipment on the field easier." Her classmate took out a row of syringes arranged on a belt from the pack, rolling it out on the ground close to their 'victim'. "It almost seems obvious, that medical equipment is carried about inside storage seals, but fuinjutsu isn't an art that appeals to the masses."
Yumi cleared her throat abruptly, but the student eyed her, finishing his words with the same upbeat, peppy energy.
"But, knowledge of basic fuinjutsu has worked wonders in terms of convenience." He bowed, "Thank you."
Sakura jumped in her applause, earning a flourishing bow to the girl from the student with the notepad. A few other claps tentatively joined Sakura's, and Yumi eagerly ushered them out of the auditorium.
"Please, save your questions for the end of the tour," she pointedly smiled at Sakura, calming the jittery girl with a harmless drop of her allure. It did the trick, easing the girl back on her heels, spreading out and eliciting a longing sigh from most in their group.
Except for five particular people.
Minato was immune to Yumi's allure, and Neji and Hinata's byakugan allowed them to look through any perceived sensory manipulation.
Mikoto and Gaara were peculiarly unaffected.
Neji noticed a redhead with a large gourd on his back sidling up to Hinata's side, realizing Mikoto's subtly raised heckles. Two Suna Genin slid up to Neji's right, behind the redhead. Neji spared a glance to one of the Sand ninjas at his side, the one wearing purple war paint on his face and grimacing fiercely at Mikoto's back.
Neji easily recalled who the Suna redhead was, remembering his and Mikoto's calamitous fight in the Chunin exams, and how he had to be carried off a stretcher long after the battle, in critical condition.
Their group didn't notice, chattering amongst themselves as they kept pace with the Leader of Hidden Chill as she directed them to a train station; the Hidden Chill Medical Institute was a large school entirely dedicated to developing and evolving the medical profession, and this involved medicine and medical technology. Plenty of funding had been poured into the growth of the school from Konoha. Although Hidden Chill spanned the entirety of the subterranean landscape of the frozen wasteland, the medical school took up a good fifty per cent of it. A short train ride was needed to travel the full length of the school.
Their journey was to the school's north annexe, twenty minutes away.
The two trains dedicated to transporting medical students were steel grey and dark brown. The preferred minimalist designs of Hidden Chill meant that the trains were rigid rectangles and not very flashy, powered by steam. The delegation was more amazed by the cleanliness of the subway, seeing their blurry reflections from the cream-coloured tiles and the clear white fluorescent lights hanging horizontally throughout the underground train station.
Asuma and Kurenai stopped at the map of the train route. Kurenai traced her finger from her position to the other end of the medical school, a straight line that would have taken a few hours if their group decided on trekking.
"I've been meaning to apologize for what happened in our match," Mikoto said, bringing Neji back to observing Hinata and Mikoto. She spoke with a half-smile and cast a dark gaze around her friend to Gaara, whose narrowed eyes stayed facing forward. He didn't sport any bandages or injuries on his face, and his stoic expression hardened at the perceived joviality in Mikoto's voice. She glanced a look at Hinata, and the worried girl shook her head, taking her left hand and pushing it into Mikoto's right hoodie pocket, taking her hand. Mikoto's glower lessened and her smile lifted, facing Gaara and chirping, "No hard feelings, ok?"
A slow smile crept up Gaara's profile, an alien expression that he wasn't used to displaying, and he flicked his eyes to Hinata, flicking his eyes up and down the girl before tilting his head around the Hyuuga to Mikoto. "Seems like you've been declawed, Namikaze." His eyelids lowered into a simmering stare, crossing his arms and shrugging his stiff shoulders. "And here I thought we could have a rematch. But what's the point of fighting a neutered animal?"
Mikoto's eyes momentarily flashed red, and her teeth sharpened, though retreating to normal a split second after displaying a full grin to the other Jinchuriki. She blinked away the wild expression, saying through tight lips, "Let it go, Gaara. Let's not cause a scene."
"Why?" he said in a scratchy whisper. They walked into a train car. "You were more than eager to put me in the hospital. The doctor said it's a miracle I can still walk. Those chains of yours nearly crippled me, Namikaze. And that's not even talking about the concussion. The surgeries. The therapy."
A glimmer of regret passed Mikoto's face and she shifted back. Hinata pulled her back, but Mikoto didn't meet her searching gaze. Instead, Mikoto gnawed on her bottom lip, mumbling, "You made fun of my brother, that's on you, but I lost control, Gaara, and that's my fault. I'm sorry—"
"You don't get to be sorry, Namikaze," Gaara snarled, his tone was quiet and grating, choked with emotion. The Jounin at their back, Suna and Konoha alike, were more preoccupied with settling Genin into their seats. Mikoto, Hinata and Gaara took a seat, and behind them, Neji, and the two other Suna ninjas—Temari and Kankuro, Neji reminded himself—pushed onto the same seat. "You're not sorry. Not yet."
"You want a rematch? Huh, Gaara? Fine," Mikoto spat. She could overlook Gaara's foreboding threat, but Neji couldn't, especially when he saw the subtle shiver of Gaara's sand gourd. "We'll fight when we get out of Chill."
"No," Gaara hissed, his eyes darkening with tailed beast chakra. He threw an arm around Hinata's shoulder and smiled, twisted and deranged. The train pushed forward with a smooth jolt, chugging firmly on the tracks, but Gaara didn't look to care about where he was. His fingers elongated and sharpened, tickling Hinata's neck, and the uncomfortable Hyuuga cringed away. Mikoto's eyes widened and Gaara trilled, not so quietly, "We fight here. Now, Namikaze."
Neji shot off his seat and said in his loudest voice, "Lady Hinata, Lady Mikoto, I believe I just heard Kakashi-sensei calling for you."
Everyone in the car turned to them, and Gaara looked over his shoulder at the stoic Hyuuga, pulling his fingers back to normal. The Hokage, the Kazekage and the Chill Leader, sitting at the very front of the car, stopped their conversation and turned back to look at Neji. Kakashi looked up from his orange novel across the aisle, and his brow lowered when he saw Hinata's discomfort at having Gaara's arm over her shoulder, and Mikoto's panicked face. Neji sent him a look and Kakashi's jaw hardened before he shook off the expression and replaced it with an easy smile.
"Yeah, you never told me about how Lady Tsunade sent you flying." He nudged Sasuke and jerked his head to Sakura, who was also in their seat. "Hinata can come too." He beckoned to them, patting the seat beside him with a patronizing eye smile. "Come, come."
Sasuke grumbled and got up with Sakura, switching places with a grateful Mikoto and Hinata.
Neji sat back down and crossed his arms, ignoring Temari as she appreciatively nudged his knee with hers. Kankuro didn't share his older sister's sentiment.
Relative normalcy returned to their group.
Meanwhile, Gaara and Mikoto, sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, never looked away from each other.
Unwittingly, the features of both Jinchuriki mirrored their simmering emotions; Gaara's eyes swirled yellow and the area around his eyes darkened, while Mikoto's stare elongated into a vulpine red as the markings on her cheeks thickened.
It was only a matter of time before they exploded.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Twenty minutes from the train
Somewhere in the Hidden Chill Medical Institute
Hidan slurred a laugh, too addled with drugs.
His eyes looked down at himself, amusedly tittering at his dismantled body parts laid out on the operating table, strapped down and pumped to semi-consciousness by a steady IV drip of anaesthesia.
The Konoha ninjas that had cleaned up Ame didn't bother cashing in his bounty in Hot Water country, rather they donated his immortal body to Hidden Chill to be studied.
"You…motherfuckers," he swore, his tongue too heavy for his mouth.
The pain they subjected him to was delicious.
They had sawed open his skull and studied his brain. They examined his reaction to different volts of electricity, different concoctions of poisons, and different manners of physical trauma. All the while taking eager notes and speaking excitedly about how much of a medical marvel he was.
The Chill Leader and the Hokage weren't particularly compassionate about what they did to him, and Hidan loved it.
More than six times that day, he had blacked out in orgasmic bliss.
"I'll kill…all of you…motherfuckers…" his curses followed the scientists as they left the room, flicking the lights off. "Lord Jashin…free me…these cocksuckers…need to die." His blistering thoughts, sluggish yet boiling, focused on the Chill Leader and the Hokage. " Ohhh…the things I'll do…to you…. Both of you…"
His detached toes curled, euphoric as another wave of pain rolled over his body.
In his delirium, he saw the darkness close to the operating table he was strapped to bulge from the ground, rising and facing him.
"The hell…?"
" Nice seeing what's left of you, Hidan," the shadow said with a lilting laugh, its dark tone heavy in the darkness of the operating room.
Hidan coughed a weak laugh, whispering shrilly and frothing at the mouth, "Zetsu. Get me… the fuck…off this thing. And get me…my mother…fucking… scythe ."
" Gladly."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
That evening in Konoha
As soon as Naruto was allowed to leave the hospital, Rin led them down the street to a diner squeezed at the very back of the village's redlight district.
The sun had set and the dusky orange lightbulbs of the diner buzzed busily, crackling as bugs tapped against them. A thin cloud of smoke hung above the seats and tables; the cigarette buds the smoke wafted from, perched between fingers and lips, sizzled red in random areas of the dim diner. A greasy cook whistled a jaunty tune from the kitchen, a stark contrast to the gloom of the diner, collecting another order from a sickly waitress, sliding a plate of fried fish and red dipping sauce, touching the bell to get the attention of another wait staff, a slouching boy with listless eyes.
The twins found a table somewhere close to the kitchen door.
Rin laughed a little, a sweat drop sliding down the side of her face as she eased herself onto her tall stool, carefully watching her amused brother slide onto his stool.
"What?" he asked, shifting his chair a bit from the kitchen door as it swung open. Another wait staff bumbled out holding two trays in both hands and stumbling his way to a booth near the restroom.
"This isn't as fancy as I wanted for our first date after your discharge from the hospital," she smiled uneasily as a portly woman at the table behind her coughed wetly, snorting deeply and blowing her nose into a dirty yellow handkerchief. "All of the restaurants around the village are all fully booked. Ichiraku is packed. That Akimichi bakery we love eating at is jam-packed." She pursed her lips and looked away from her brother, throwing her eyes at the depressing diner. "This is the best I could find."
Naruto sat forward on his perch, placing his right elbow on the table and setting his head on his palm, fixing his purple eyes on Rin. His other hand reached out for hers, and she gripped it with both hands. "This is perfect, Rin."
She pouted, petulant, "Stop lying."
His eyes sparked and he smirked, "Well…" a slow smile lifted the girl's expression, gently squeezing his hand at the look he was giving her, as if she was the only person he could see in the damp, grimy diner. His words oozed admiration for her, "As filthy as this place is, I honestly don't mind as long as you're here."
"Flirt," she snorted, sitting forward with her right elbow balanced on the table and her chin perched on the back of her hand, lacing her fingers with Naruto's. A foot jokingly kicked Naruto's shin and Rin flushed, winking at him. "How do you make it look so easy?"
Naruto's chuckled at the faint glow of her cheeks. "What? My effortless charm?"
She rolled her eyes. " Shush." Raising her hand and the listless waiter came slinking over to their table. She flicked her eyes to her brother, saying, "What do you want? My treat."
Naruto scoffed with a knowing smile, "Is that why you didn't bring my wallet?"
For the week he had been in a coma, Rin was the one to bathe and dress him. And throughout waking up, his wallet was the very last thing Naruto was concerned about. Going out to eat, the twins usually had a system where they alternated who paid for the food, on days one couldn't pay, the other would handle the tab while the defaulter paid for two outings. This didn't happen very often. Currently, it was Naruto's turn to pay.
The boy leaned back and gave his sister an acknowledging look. "I'm impressed." His reply from Rin was a wide, sunny grin that she had been caught red-handed. Naruto turned his attention to the waiter. "What's the special?"
"Chef's pretty proud of his rice curry," the waiter shrugged.
Naruto nodded, "I'll have that then. Put in some beef strips and a bottle of your best soda." He expertly smothered a smirk when Rin discreetly felt her pocket for her wallet, glancing under the table and peering inside. She closed her eyes, relieved, lifting her purple eyes to her brother and giving him a clownish frown. "Is there a problem?"
"No problem at all," she huffed and Naruto's small smile widened. She turned to the waiter and asked, "Do you guys accept debit card payments?"
The waiter crushed her hopes with a dull "no".
Rin cursed soundlessly. Naruto relished in her discomfort, shuffling uncomfortably in her seat. "That's alright." She sent a scathing look to her brother, tightening her grip on their laced hands, and the boy withdrew with a slight smile, zipping his lips. "I'll have sushi and water. Thank you."
The waiter left without needing any more prompting.
"I haven't gone on any mission all week, so I'm a bit dry," Rin admitted with a one-shoulder shrug, refusing to be ashamed as she lifted her chin. "Bite me."
Naruto was quick to reply, furrowing his brow and leaning forward on the table. "You've been looking after me all week, and I'm more than thankful." Rin brought herself forward, tilting her head down to their hands. "We could have pushed this date to some other day."
"You've got that solo mission to Iwa tomorrow, right? And I'm going with Itachi to the Valley of End to check out that Uchiha bonfire. Then there's the fact that the Fourth War might happen any second now. Who knows when our next date would be?" she was brought out of her rising panic when her brother nudged her shin with his foot. Rin groaned, letting her brow touch the table, sighing as Naruto idled a thumb to draw soothing circles at the back of her hand. "Thanks."
"Is that why you've been stressed?" the boy smiled at her grunt, teasingly sliding his right foot up and down her left calf. Because of their connection, her worries reflected off him and dipped his shoulders. He made a decision and told her, "I'll take you somewhere after we eat. There's something I need to tell you."
She lifted her head from the table, eyes steadily lighting up. "Where to? What do you need to tell me?"
He winked and Rin narrowed her eyes, suspicious of him.
"Naruto…"
"It's not far," he assured her with a pat on the back of her hand. "It'll make both of us feel better, I promise."
When their food came, they ate with muffled conversations, brief smiles and flirtatious pokes with their feet under the table. They finished their dinner and were content to leave the diner within an hour, walking hand in hand deeper into the redlight district by Naruto's beckoning.
Usually, Rin could easily read her brother's thoughts, and vice versa, so she was quickly able to pick up where he was taking her to, meandering buildings until they burst out at Konoha's eastern coast. The earth was an uneven mix of rocks and sand, peppering the length of the coast where fishing boats had long since been pulled out of the water onto dry land, away from the tide.
There was a solitary sailboat bobbing on the calm water five miles from the coast.
Naruto took his sister down the coast to a place both of them knew.
It was to a capsized rowboat lying upside down on the ground, thoroughly eaten up by rot and termites, and a crumbling home for crabs. The paint of the boat was long gone, worn off by the elements, replaced by a dry green shade on its underside and a dusty white everywhere else.
It was a moonless, starless night, illuminated by the bright lights cast from the village at their back.
Rin smiled quietly, kneeling by the boat while her brother watched, tracing their parent's engraved initials, circled in a rough heart. Her fingers traced the heart and the fond smile on her face softened when she heard her brother wander to the shoreline, where the tide just barely reached his feet, looking out into the sea at the lonely rowboat bobbing out at sea.
The person on the rowboat glanced up, formerly reclined. Their silhouette was that of a young girl. The lights from the village showed her red hair and purple eyes, glinting behind a pair of glasses. She laid back down on the boat, looking up at the featureless night sky.
Naruto licked his lips and said, speaking in a shallow voice, "For some weeks now, I've been hearing rumours that the Uzumaki that are still alive—part or full Uzumaki, old and young, ninja and civilian—are gathering on Whirlpool country and rebuilding."
Rin's brow lowered and her eyes squinted at her brother's profile, peering out into the open waters at the boat, his hands went to his back and his shoulders slumped. "That's…great, right?"
"I…was thinking…that…" the boy said with delayed words, hesitant. "When everything over here calms down, I'm going over to Whirlpool to help rebuild." He rubbed his nose and glanced over his shoulder at her, as his sister slowly got to her feet, remaining by the boat and watching him carefully.
His sister asked, "Ok?"
"I was hoping…that you'd come with me," he finished, taking his eyes off her and back to the water, in the general direction of Whirlpool country.
There wasn't any delay in her answer, stepping up to him and taking his left hand in both of hers, looking at him with a warm look. "Of course, I'm going with you, Naruto." Her temple creased lightly as she smirked, "But why this all of a sudden?"
It was a valid question.
The twins identified more with the Namikaze clan than the Uzumaki clan; they were speedsters, they were as flighty as their nomadic clan, and they had taken residence with the Uchiha clan when the Namikazes' all died out. Although the two of them had abnormally large chakra reserves, it was nothing compared to that of an Uzumaki Jounin.
Mikoto, their younger sister, was more Uzumaki than them.
Rin searched her brother's face for an answer.
Naruto mulled his next words carefully, gently prying his sister's hands off his hand, and facing the water.
"After mom died, I used to be jealous of you, Rin." His sister's breath caught in her throat and her eyes glazed over. He gave her a brief smile, looking at her. "Sometimes…some days…I still am."
"…Why?"
"I'm drowning," he stated, exhaling and pursing his lips. After a short pause, he continued, "When I push against the current, I lose a part of my soul. When I let the current take me, I lose parts of my mind." His eyes flashed red, evolving and devolving in an instant for her to see his Mangekyo sharingan. "I got this curse when I saw mom die, when I pushed against the current." He touched the side of his head and spoke with gritted teeth. "Whenever I use them, and I let the current take me, I always see her. Always." He turned to her and gripped Rin's hands, squeezing. "What's worse is that I see you too. Dead. Father and Mikoto. Dead." He brought her hands to his lips and he pressed them on her knuckles, shutting his eyes and speaking solemnly, "You've been able to weather the storm, Rin. You stayed on the water, despite the storm after mom died and everything else you're going through, and I was jealous."
Rin swallowed the lump in her throat, bringing herself close to him.
"Whenever I think I'm going to lose myself, you pull me out of the water." He pursed his lips again and closed his eyes, saying, "What I'm trying to say is that…with you, everything always works out in the end." A whisper of a smile wavered onto his sister's expression, leaning in and setting her brow against Naruto's. "This time, I want you to trust me when I say…everything is going to work out. Whatever happens, wherever we go, however far we are from each other, everything's going to work out for us in the end."
"What about you being Hokage?" Rin scuffed her foot on the ground. "Dad wants you to be his successor."
Naruto smiled, kissing her knuckles again, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
"And the Aburame kid Lord Shibi wants you to train?"
"Don't worry about that."
"So," Rin smirked saucily and waggled her eyebrows, "You want us to go to Whirlpool and help 'rebuild', right?"
Naruto laughed at her double meaning, and she grinned, proud of herself.
"I'll take that as a yes-"
Naruto came in and pressed his lips against hers.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Chojuro watched from the treetops as Konoha's prison transport carriage trudged out of the village gates, surrounded by guards armed to the teeth, cautiously moving to the Fire country supermax prison north of the village.
While Konoha had the resources to imprison their criminals inside the T -managed penitentiary in the Forest of Death, some strings had been pulled as the Hokage was out of the village to transport one particularly high-risk inmate from Konoha's penitentiary to the Fire country supermax prison.
The solid iron transport purposely moved at a sluggish pace for the guards ahead to clear the way of potential roadblocks.
Kiri's mole in Konoha hadn't been able to convince the T to reduce the guards around the inmate.
Thankfully, the Mizukage prioritized retrieving the prisoner over being discreet. Which was why he sent two of his swordsmen on the mission, both heavy hitters in their own right.
The two Kiri ninjas followed the transport till Konoha's gates were far out of sight, skirting outside the field of detection of the guards.
A spindly man wearing an eggshell white mask bent down inside a bush far from the road inside the surrounding forest. He clenched the Nuibari, needle longsword, in his right hand, and with his right hand he formed a single-hand sign, flooding the area with mist.
Chojuro took that as a cue to attack, and he dove in with Hiramekarei. He noiselessly fell on the floor and made a beeline for the transport carriage, bounding over the thick ninja wire that crisscrossed in his path, threaded through the guards and tangling them in horrific positions. The teen ignored the wails of agony as Kushimaru yanked at the thread spooled through his needle sword, whipping the guards away from the carriage into the forest.
Not even the horses were spared.
The screaming subsided abruptly, bathing the woods in heavy silence.
Chojuro kicked at the back of the carriage but a seal manifested, absorbing the kick and remaining firmly on the door. The locking seal hummed blue over the sole entrance of the windowless carriage and a barrier seal thrummed a translucent bubble over the iron frame. The teen pushed his bandaged sword against the locking seal, and the blade began absorbing the chakra without needing any more prompting, drawing in the chakra and weakening the seal.
When the locking seal crumpled into droplets of useless ink, the barrier seal fell as well.
The teen sliced the locks and hinges of the iron door and tore it off.
Kushimaru joined him, standing at his back with the needle sword balanced on his shoulder and his wrists limply perched on either side of the flexible sword.
"Too easy."
Chojuro ignored his comrade's snide comment and marched into the iron carriage. Soon after, he exited with a trembling Kabuto Yakushi.
Authors note
That's it for chapter 14.
I'm really, really sorry for the late update. I was meant to publish this chapter on Friday, but I ran into some issues with the FFN website. Good news though; I barely made the deadline for finishing my first draft for Ticker, but I did, and I'm happy :D
As much as possible, I'll try to update this story twice a week until I finish it. I can't say for sure how many chapters are left, but we've still got a lot of adventuring to do.
Chapter 15 should be ready on Friday ]
What do you think of this chapter?
What do you think of the story so far?
Tell me what you think, I really want to know. Stay happy and stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I'll see you when I see you.
Foy.