Chapter 01: The Fox Mask
"How did it turn out like this?" Minato muttered and he hid in the darkness. His mind wandered as he replayed the conversation he had with the Shinigami a week ago. "Does he realize how many lies I'm going to have to tell?"
(Deception is part of the shinobi job description but that doesn't mean Minato enjoys lying. The man hates it with a burning passion and it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.)
'You are going to join the Black Order to watch over Kami's apostles. Mainly, the child he favors the most.' Minato snapped out of his thoughts as he remembered last week's conversation with Shinigami-sama. His eyes were crying blood indicating the akuma were near (a 'gift' given to him by the god even though it wasn't necessary. This was the Shinigami's way of being funny).
'Another night freeing souls,' Minato thought as he wipe the blood away with his sleeves and slip on his cloak and porcelain fox mask.
Blending in with the darkness, Minato jumped from tree to tree without alerting the akuma group of his presence. He examined the group of what levels will he be facing tonight. The majority of them were level threes and most of them look just about ready to fight (or cannibalize each other, whichever comes first).
It was a larger group than yesterday. The Earl must be frustrated by now not being able to identify Minato with no striking features other than the fox mask and cloak. Not that he blame the Earl for feeling the way he does. Minato would be frustrated too if he had an opponent like himself.
'You will enter the Order as an Exorcist with the Innocence you found a month ago,' The Shinigami voice echoed in Minato's mind. 'No need to worry about it rejecting you, Kami has it covered for you.'
Suddenly, the man winced in pain as the Innocence urge him to fight and the Kyuubi wants to fight just for the pure violence (not surprisingly).
'He never included about the Innocence inducing pain.' Minato thought. 'Hey, you promised to let me fight by my own terms and Kyuubi, stop complaining about your new roommate.' The Innocence eventually calmed down a bit but the Kyuubi still raged inside the man. Minato was a tad bit annoyed but nonetheless, he still has to fight regardless. 'Well, it's time to put on a show for everybody.' Minato thought and did a quick succession of hand seals.
Kanton: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!
Minato expelled an orb of massive flames directly at the group, catching several level ones and twos on fire. The unlucky ones quickly went up in flames and the body turned to ashes, but that's fine in Minato's opinion, he could see the once trapped souls floating away back to realm of the dead. As the flames died down, Minato jumped from the tree he perched on, and struck the closest level three with a Rasengan.
"Wh-" The akuma didn't stand a chance, that's for sure.
"Fourteen down." Minato said and lunge at the next level three with no intention of slowing down. "Fifteen."
The fight quickly became a chaotic dance with bullets flying, explosions everywhere (courtesy of the explosive tags Minato placed a while back), Minato weaving through the ranks and a trail of akuma limbs falling behind him. Minato had to remind himself in the midst of everything to slow down for the Earl to catch a glimpse of his mask.
"One hundred and three." Minato finished. He turned around to see all the purified souls rising from the fallen bodies, they looked eternally grateful for their masked savior before disappearing to the heavens. Minato stood there for a moment before moving on. He could sense another wave of akuma approaching. The new group feels a bit more powerful than the last and the man wondered if he should have brought his homemade soldier pills.
"When are the exorcists going to arrive?" Minato said to no one in particular. (He made sure all the akuma were destroyed, that way, the Earl can't hear a single thing other than Minato counting the fallen akuma.) It was the main reason he's been making a flashy show for the Earl was to also attract the Finders in the Black Order.
Still, the Exorcists are taking their sweet time coming here.
"I should have gone with Plan B," Minato muttered simply. Plan A consists as posing as a Supporter (under a guise, of course) and draw the attention of a group of Finders about flashes protecting the villages nearby from akuma attacks. Hopefully, they'll assume there's a human who has synchronized with an Innocence.
Plan B consists of barging in through the doors of the Order's new headquarters, cause a huge scene, and comment how crappy their seals are in general.
…And the people back home called him a genius?
Minato could feel his eyes bleeding again; the second wave of akuma is near. This time, the group is composed entirely of Level threes.
"Definitely should have chosen with Plan B," Minato grumbled. The loud approach was never his thing but if he's desperate enough, he might just resort to Plan B.
Besides, if Plan A and Plan B fails, he still has Plan C, D and E to back him up.
'If God's favorite child fails and becomes a Noah like Destiny planned out, kill him.'
No matter how powerful Minato was in the past, the Shinigami's orders are absolute.
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"Akuma were destroyed by flashes?" Allen repeated.
"Yellow flashes to be exact!" Komui specified. "And from a Finder's report, a supporter spotted a human wearing a black cloak and a white fox mask fighting a group of level two and three akuma. The unknown fighter was said to have destroyed the group within seconds." The man sounded very excited at the news.
"So the new accommodator's powers have something related to speed." Lenalee said. "Do you think his Innocence is an equipment-type?"
"Maybe, but the report also indicated that he or she has other abilities that do not rely on his legs," Komui replied. "From the data shown where the flashes appeared, the village is in the center of the other villages that the flash has been spotted AND I found past reports of flashes dating back a little over a decade!"
"How did the Science Department missed that?" Link demanded. Looks like young man will be sending another report of Komui's incompetence to the Inspector, again.
"Don't look at me, blame the other head scientist before me," Komui said as he took a sip of coffee. "And Lenalee~~! You're coffee tastes delicious as usual!"
Lenalee could only sigh in dismay at her brother's antics. "Nii-san…"
"Then we have to head for France immediately before the Earl finds out about the new accommodator." Allen stated.
"It's kind of too late for that." Komui replied. "There has been an increase of akuma activity in France; Level threes have been spotted near Autun. There could be a possibility that the accommodator could be there." The head supervisor turned to Allen. "Have you ever been the town before during your training with Cross?"
"I think we were around the general area of Autun," Allen replied. "I think there's a town that's about half a day's walk. I can send everybody there."
"Great!" Komui exclaimed. "Since everybody else is out on missions, Lenalee, Lavi, Link and you will head to Autun to find our new ally."
"So when can we leave?" Lavi asked. He is just as curious as everybody else just who is the new accommodator the Innocence has chosen.
"Everybody will depart from via ark in three hours," Komui said. "But Lenalee doesn't have to go~~! She can stay here and-" Lenalee push her brother away and made her way to the door.
"I'm going," Lenalee replied firmly and left the room. With that being said, the meeting was adjourned and everybody left to prepare themselves for the mission.
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The next day, Minato felt a surge of energy outside of the village and four human signatures appearing out of thin air. His eyes weren't bleeding and the chakra signatures feel human enough.
Which mean one thing: the Exorcists are here.
"Finally!" Minato exclaimed.
He almost threw his books up in air in relief. No more taunting the Earl and he could sleep better at night (not that he really sleeps).
The real mission starts now.
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Author's Note: Writing the next chapter is always hard after the prologue. I wanted it to be longer. Sorry. I'll try to make the next chapter longer.