Valley of Spirits: Spirit of Vengeance

Six weeks ago, Team 6 had been formed and—considering Anko's bloodlust, Yakumo's borderline schizophrenia, Keith's attitude, and Naruto's killing sprees—began operating the codename of Team Psycho.

Every so often, they'd watch movies on time off—and for numerous reasons (not the least of which being that Anko was absolutely terrifying when she felt like it), only went on C-ranked missions.

Today, though, was different.

"All right you three, today our mission is B-ranked: we're going to a place called the Valley of Spirits. Once we arrive, we are to protect the settlement there from bandit and rogue ninja attacks for as long as necessary while attempting to wipe out all of said enemies. The town we're supposed to be guarding is called Inji Ko-ru, by the way."

None of them had ever heard of the place, but the name—both of the town and its location—were pretty… foreboding to say the least.

Shrugging it off, Keith asked, "How powerful are the ninja we might encounter supposed to be?"

Anko smirked and told him, "C- to B-rank; it's almost enough to warrant making it an A-Rank mission, but we'll have some help once we get there. Get home and start packing for at least a week of travel—we'll meet back here in twenty minutes. Now move it!"

On her signal, the three Genin departed, Naruto dropping off Yakumo at her place since he was so much faster.

And sure enough, right at twenty minutes later, the three had reassembled at the meeting point.

"I'll take point. Naruto and Yakumo will follow me in a triangle formation, with Naruto carrying Yakumo if she gets too tired. Keith, you bring up the rear."

Nodding, they seemingly disappeared, but really were just moving faster than normal eyes could follow.

Things were quiet for most of the way; not quiet enough to warrant suspicion, but a normal 'business-as-usual' kind of quiet. On the second day, however, Anko suddenly shouted "Get down!"

Naruto's Spider-sense had caused him to react just a split-second before, pulling Yakumo and Keith to the ground while practically flattening him in the process. It wasn't the most graceful landing, but it kept them alive.

Looking up, Naruto was shocked to find someone smirking down at him.

With an ultra-sharp circular blade slung over her shoulder, the black-haired woman looked positively lethal. Her lips appeared purple and there were dark rings around her eyes.

She looked at the team, and upon seeing Anko, said, "It's about time I found you, Neechan."

Shocked, the snake mistress exclaimed, "Neechan?! Just who the hell are you?!"

With a bitter smile, the woman said, "I doubt you'd remember me, Neechan. After all, we haven't seen each other since I was born. I know about you, however, because Mizukage-sama was dumb enough to tell me who I really was."

Suspicious, Anko asked, "And just who are you really? I can't trust you until you prove to me you're not some kind of spy."

At this, the woman sighed with relief and said, "Neechan, I can prove I'm on your side—that I'm your little sister—if you just give me a chance."

Trying to reach a decision, Anko settled with a brief delaying tactic.

"Well, my team is currently on a mission. I guess you can come along… but you'll answer to me and my genin. Got it?"

The woman suddenly leaped forward and hugged Anko around the waist, saying, "I promise you won't regret this Neechan!"

Naruto suddenly spoke up, "Two questions: 1) what's your name, and 2) why did you throw that spread of shuriken at us?"

The young woman scratched the back of her head, saying, "My name's Tira! As for why I threw the shuriken—I couldn't think of another way to get your attention! Sorry 'bout that, by the way…"

Sighing, Anko merely had the group continue to the Valley of Spirits, listening to Tira's story on the way.

"Actually Neechan, I'm only your half-sister, because we have the same dad but when your mom died he apparently got married again and his new wife had me about four years later! However, or so Mizukage-baka told me, I was abducted shortly afterward and raised in Mist to be some sort of superweapon, because they thought I had a genetic anomaly that makes me more powerful or something like that, but if I do have it then it never manifested. Anyway, I wound up becoming one of the Seven Swordsmen—even though I'm really more of a Swordswoman—and because I knew the official story about me was total bullshit, I eventually tricked Mizukage-baka into telling me the truth! And when I found out that I was your little sister, Neechan, I started trying to think of how I might be able to get out of Mist and find you, so here I am!"

Tira mostly seemed to just prattle on in a similar manner, but in her movements—hell, even subtleties in her tone of voice—revealed that she was just as deadly (and at least as bloodthirsty) as her so-called Neechan.

Severely interested, Keith asked, "If the Mizukage had you abducted and tried to use you as a tool, then how did you weasel the truth out of him?"

Tira smiled like an innocent six year-old as she said, "I got him drunk and flirted with him 'till he told me what I wanted to know!"

At that, Yakumo almost tripped over a branch. "But isn't the Mizukage older than the Sandaime Hokage?"

Smiling just as sweetly, but much more darkly now, Tira chirped, "Not anymore, he ain't—'cause age don't count when you're dead, see?"

Gawking, Naruto asked, "You killed the Mizukage?"

At this, Tira pouted and said, "The crazy old perv had it coming, I swear!"

Naruto, Yakumo, and Keith thought to themselves, 'That settles it—they ARE related.'

Anko, however, was trying to think. Tira—known both as the "Misguided Angel of Death" and the "Jester of the Mist"—was known for her insane pleasure in taking lives on the battlefield, her unusual style of fighting, and the fact that she was both bipolar AND had split personalities.

Apparently, Tira's 'Jolly' side was dominant for the time being, and seemingly posed no threat. But if her other side took over… things could get very, very dangerous.

An hour or so later, the group of five showed up at Inji Ko-ru, where they were greeted by a man who looked—quite frankly—like a bum. His jacket was a bit tattered, his gloves had no fingers, and he wore what looked sort of like a cowboy hat.

He said, "My name's Onimaru Kasaiken. And before you ask about my name, my father was a religious fanatic who for some reason believed that I would catalyze Armageddon. He couldn't kill me outright—he considered fratricide of any kind the worst of all sins—so he called me 'Demon Man' instead. Do I look like a demon to you?"

His voice was one that on the surface appeared calm, even slightly amused, but deep down spoke of great, repressed sorrow.

The question had been rather sarcastic, so Keith gave a sarcastic response: "Hrm. Well, considering the noticeable lack of horns, cloven hooves, tails—forked or otherwise—along with the fact that your teeth and nails are exceptionally unpointed… no, you look just like the average town bum who grew up with a religion-obsessed and probably alcoholic father. Yessir, I can firmly vouch that you are, in fact, a human."

Yakumo was about to berate him for being rude when Onimaru burst out laughing. Eventually, he managed to get out "From a kid your age, that's refreshing." Then, to the adults, he said, "I don't know what you're paying him, but give him a raise anyway."

Still shaking a bit from laughter, Onimaru led the group into town and began briefing them on the situation. "Lately, we've been under siege from bandits. Normally, they'd just come and take what they want, but they aren't shinobi. Or at least... that used to be the case. But recently we received a message saying that tonight, we either give up or they come at us full-force. And they've got rogue ninja with them. Supposedly, their leader is a Jonin. Normally, I'd be able to handle all of them myself, but I wouldn't be able to fight the entire syndicate and protect the town at once. Because of that, we decided to hire you shinobi for aid."

Her curiosity peaked, Yakumo asked, "Then do you fight the bandit army while we stay back and defend the town? You don't look like much of a fighter…."

Onimaru sighed and said, "Correct. I don't look like much right now, but when night falls…" He shook his head and finished, "well, you'll find out then."

Frowning at the man's hesitance but choosing to let it slide for now, Anko simply nodded and told her genin to try and build some extra fortifications or to set traps.

In the ensuing silence, she just knew she'd forgotten something, but for the life of her couldn't figure out—

"What about me, Neechan? Watcha want me ta do, huh?"

Oh. That. Scratching her chin in thought, Anko said, "Tira… you go help set up traps. Then, when the fur starts to fly, you just go ahead and… do what you're best at. OK?"

Raising her hands into the air, Tira said, "Yippee! Don't worry about a thing, Neechan! I'm gonna set traps like you wouldn't believe!"

As the raven-haired bipolar schizoid left to start making traps, Anko threw her hand into her face and muttered, "I need a drink…."

Onimaru, still snickering, said, "I'd get you one if I could, but the sake is under lock and key right now. Nobody gets drunk until after the battle."

"Who said I wanted sake? Is there anything stronger around here?"

With a shrug, he replied, "Not that I'd be able to get you. Yeah, there used to be rum and whiskey, but we sold the rum and already drank all of the whiskey. Granted, there's still the vodka, but I don't think you want that."

Quickly growing irritated, Anko growled, "Give me the goddamn vodka. Now. Do it for my sanity, please. Because I swear that if you don't get me a drink now, I'm going to take every bottle of alcohol in this pathetic little town in gulp it in the course of an hour after the battle."

Pondering this, Onimaru just shrugged again pulled out a bottle of vodka, and said, "Here you go. Thou mayest drink to thy heart's content."

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Anko took the bottle from his grasp and gulped some down before he could do anything about it. Then she called Naruto over and had him store it in his symbiote. "I'll be needing that later, so make sure to keep it safe."

"All right, Neechan. Although, you really shouldn't drink alcohol. It'll kill off your brain cells and damage your liver until you die from it."

Laughing, Anko ruffled his hair and said, "I'm a ninja, so I'll probably die young anyway. It's good to know that you care, Naru-kun, but sometimes… you're just not living unless you're on the edge of death."

Raising an eyebrow but not replying, Naruto just went back to work, mumbling something about "crazy Neechans—it's already affecting her mind."

Anko froze at that. Naruto had used 'Neechan' in the plural, meaning that he was already beginning to consider Tira as an older sister.

And that meant that Tira wasn't triggering whatever sixth sense Naruto had that alerted him to danger.

Analyzing that, Anko realized that—since Naruto's sixth sense (or as he called it, 'Spider-Sense') was a hundred percent accurate and never failed—Tira wasn't a threat.

Relaxing now, Anko took another drink of vodka. "Damn, this stuff's good."

That night, a man in shoddy brown rags came in and asked, "Do you surrender?"

He held an oversized katana (yes, you can imagine Sephiroth's Masamune if you want to) and his eyes were fully dead.

Tira twirled her ring blade around her hands before saying, "Not a chance in hell!"

The man's voice dead as night, he simply replied, "So be it."

With that, he disappeared as numerous fireballs began falling towards Inji Ko-ru. Anko summoned a massive snake that was impervious to flame so that he could intercept them. Roughly the size of a Wal-Mart (just assume that Konoha and the other Hidden Villages have a Wal-Mart in them), the ember-red viper said in a silken voice, "Ah, Anko-chan, what need have you of me tonight?"

"Genkaiju-sama, I just need you to help protect this town from the bandits and rogue ninja. Oh, and don't eat Tira—we think she's my half-sister."

Nodding, the massive serpent began to do his mistress's bidding, wrapping himself in coils around Inji Ko-ru until it looked like the Roman Coliseum.

At the same time, Keith leapt into the fray, using electrified kunai and shuriken to deadly effect. Yakumo also began casting Genjutsu on various bandits, killing them with illusory weapons such as flying demonic scythes, levitating broadswords, and so on.

Naruto himself was in his element—a pure, unadulterated bloodbath. He actually started singing "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC!

"I won't take no prisoners, won't spare no lives—nobody's putting up a fight!" he wailed.

While the mass murder was going on, Tira had chosen to stay in the town to kill any that managed to get past Team Psycho and Genkaiju. A villager who saw her fight would later describe her style of attack as "a lethal dance so beautiful, you just wanted to stop and watch—and while you were watching, she would kill you."

_______

As Onimaru Kasaiken backed into a corner, faced with over two dozen bandits, one of them said, "Give up you fool—you're not even a ninja. You can't beat us!"

With a sardonic grin, he agreed, "No, I'm not a shinobi."

Then, he changed: his entire body was engulfed in flames, until he looked like a flaming skeleton. His clothes were still mostly intact, but a little tattered. As he started pulling out a chain—which also promptly lit on fire—Onimaru finished his sentence.

"I'm worse."

Then, he used the fiery chain as a whip, slicing three of the scum apart as he yelled, "Vermin!"

One of them tried punching him in the face, only to simultaneously break and burn his hand. Grinning, Onimaru said, "My turn, you rat," as he gave the idiot a stiff right hook to the gut, going right through the stomach.

Then, revealing what looked like some kind of crossbow—but without the actual bow; just the stock and the place where the bolt was put—Onimaru pulled the trigger, unleashing a sudden burst of hellfire, which killed all but one of the remainder.

Then, being roughly shoved against the wall, the last man asked, "What… what the fuck are you?!"

Deciding that there couldn't be any harm in answering, Onimaru said, "I'm the Ghost Rider."

Then, his voice took on an even darker tone—one that the occasional high-level shinobi would recognize as meaning that the Ghost Rider was about to use an incantation.

"Look into my eyes… your soul is stained with the blood of innocents. Feel the misery they suffered at your hands. Suffer the Penance Stare!"

As the bandit was forced to watch every sin he'd ever committed through the eyes of the victim, his soul burned until he was simply a statue made of brimstone.

As the Rider turned to hunt more sinners, he struck out with his chain, so that the poor bastard's petrified corpse was completely shattered.

______

Having slain all the bandits around him, Keith began to look for a teammate to help when he felt it.

The stench of ozone and rain that was permanently engraved into his mind.

Turning, Keith was already in the middle of hand-signs when he shouted, "DIE YOU BASTARD!!!"

And as he lunged at Aoi Rokusho, he called out the name of his jutsu: "LIGHTNING-STYLE: ELECTROMAGNETIC MURDER!"

As he prepared to fire the blast at point-blank range, Aoi moved his legendary Raijin sword to block…

______

Cliffhanger!! Yes, I'm evil. But I updated twice in one morning, so not really.

Translations:

Onimaru = Demon Man

Kasaiken = Firefist (kasai = fire; ken = fist)

Therefore, Onimaru Kasaiken = Demon Man with a burning fist. (approx.)

Inji Ko-ru = Devil's Thrall (not exactly, but fairly close)

Genkaiju = Illusory monster (gen = illusion, as in "Genjutsu = illusion techniques"; kaiju = monster)

Raijin = Shinto God of Thunder