Chapter 11:

"Why did you bring him along?"

Raion's question filled the air, disturbing the quiet. Kataki looked at Raion, his face illuminated by the light of the moon, full of disdain. He didn't respond, and continued onward.

Raion grumbled under his breath, his eyes every once in a while darting to the side. Fenris met the brown haired boy's gaze with his own, only his was a lot more mocking. "Hello."

Raion growled, causing Fenris to let out a small chuckle. The joys of annoying the stupid.

Gurei tapped his chin in thought as the group stopped for a rest, surveying the scene.

The area was filled with a low, damp mist, thick enough to slightly obscure your vision, but still see through. The graveyard itself was decaying and old, the tombstones covered in moss.

Under foot, dead roots and flowers could be found, all making a distinctive crunch as Fenris and Raion came to a stop.

"If I may ask," Fenris began, "Are we here under the rumour that a small boy told us?"

Raion went to snap at him to be quiet, but found himself silent. He actually agreed.

"That is a good point. Young boys at that age to have an overactive imagination. He might have just imagined it." Gurei finished, taking out one of his many scrolls and examining them.

"Yes. But if it's not his imagination? We don't know what's at work here."

"True. Sensei did tell us to scout this place out till dawn breaks."

"Why is this graveyard so large?" Fenris inquired. It was true, the graveyard at least stretched out for a mile or so.

Gurei answered. "This place was sight of a large scale battle with Konoha shinobi and Iwa shinobi. It was a bloody battle. From what I can recall, Konoha lost half of the force stationed here, while Iwa lost a third. With the war still going on, they decided to bury all the dead here. There was also a large amount of civilian casualties. With the Sound Invasion happening not long ago, there was a raiding party that attacked the town, being one of the main trading posts outside of the Leaf Village. About five hundred people were massacred."

Fenris took the information in. "Thank you, Gurei."

Gurei smiled at him.

Raion looked positively disturbed that there were so many dead here, unlike Kataki who only nodded, not showing any acknowledgement of the great battle. "Okay. Gurei, send out some of your scouts."

"Already working on it," The grey haired nin muttered as he unwrapped a small scroll.

He took out a vial of ink from his pocket and let a drop of it fall onto his thumb. He then put it away and pressed his thumb down onto a small seal at the bottom of the scroll.

"Release."

With those words, there was a small flash of light and then the small sounds of squeaking. Three mice, all white and watercolour, looked up at Gurei with curious eyes and twitching noses. "Go and scout. Report back in 10 minutes."

With three squeaks of acknowledgement, the three mice fled in different directions.

Fenris, needless to say, was in awe. "How did you do that?"

Gurei looked up at him, smiling softly. "It's a ability I learned a while ago. Forgive me, but I don't feel like explaining it now."

Of course, that meant 'I would prefer not to reveal my secrets to a guy I pretty much don't know'. But, Fenris was fine with that. "Of course, I meant no intrusion."

Gurei smiled softly, before his attention was called away by Kataki.

While those two chatted, that left the two best friends, Raion and Fenris.

Raion crossed his arms, and huffed indignantly. Fenris chuckled.

The brown haired nin's eyebrow twitched. "What are you laughing at?" He gritted.

"You, and your obvious dislike of me. But, why? I wish to know why the fool of the group has it out for me."

Raion turned, seething. "We can't trust you."

"Well, the others seem capable of it. Is it beyond your intelligence?"

Kataki told them both to shut up, which was lucky, considering there would have been a full on brawl. Fenris apologized, much to Raion's chagrin and much to the snowy haired nin's delight.

"Right. We're going to leave now." Kataki decided after discussing strategy with Gurei. "Let's-"

Something cracked. It wasn't very loud, but it wasn't quiet either. Gurei turned around and was met with a grave stone with a large crack that ran down the middle of the tombstone and through the ground right to his feet.

Then there was another crack, and another. Slowly, but surely, the sounds of popping and cracking filled the air, until it became silent.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Fenris growled, grasping at the hilt of his giant blade that sat on his back.

And he was right. The upturning of earth could be heard as ten skeletal hands shot out from the earth, writing and clawing.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Raion hissed, twisting and turning his head as skeletons shambled out of there holes.

Slowly, the ten skeletons rose from their graves, their empty eye sockets boring into the group of four.

Fenris withdrew his big sword from his back, clanging it dangerously on the ground. One of the skeletons let out a roar, but a voice cut through every one's thoughts.

"So, you dare disturb my sanctuary?"

From the mist, a figure stepped forth. She had brown skin, unlike most had seen in the land. Her eyes were almost coal black, even the white's seemed charcoal like. She spoke with a thick, heavy accent.

Her clothes consisted of an Akatsuki cloak, highlighted by the moon and a large bony necklace. She was thin to the point of being bony, her long fingernails tracing down one of the tombstones. In one hand, she held a wooden staff, with all manner of bones littering it's surface. Atop the staff, was the skull of a bull, pointy and clean, through a small crack as a small spear.

"Well," she licked her lips. "Are you goin' to answer my question?"

"Akatsuki." Kataki muttered, withdrawing both of his katana. This woman looked at him, with her coal black eyes, and a small pang of realisation hit her.

"You… your da one they've been searchin' for. Da students of the great Uchiha." Her eyes glimmered with a sense of pride, "And I was da one to find dem."

"Back away demon," Fenris snarled at the woman, taking a step forward. "You stink of forbidden things. Leave."

The woman let out a long, throaty laugh. "You da, the one wif the white hair, you want me to leave?"

She tapped her staff on the ground and the skeletons took a step forward. "Make me, child."

"These are the dead!" Kataki roared suddenly, causing all the skeletons attention to focus on him. "You desecrate the dead and buried. Have you no shame, no honour!?"

The woman scowled ever so slightly. "I would not be insultin' me boy, unless you want to become one of dem."

The red haired nin's grip on his katana's tightened. Raion's jaw flexed with eagerness. "Give the order." He almost commanded. Kataki was happy to oblige.

"Attack."

Fenris moved quicker than the others, raising his large blade above his head and leaping upwards before it came crashing down on one of them. "Minions, rise!" The woman called, causing more cracks to appear around the cemetery. More skeletons to claw their way out, however, some of these ones were different. They had blue, cold flesh, and their eyes were cold husks. They were the recently dead, some with their innards torn and showing, others missing an arm or a leg.

Fenris ducked a club that soared over his head, before lopping off the legs of one more skeleton, before crushing it underfoot.

Kataki had raced forward, engaging the woman with a furious vigour.

The others were holding out as well, from what Fenris could see as he blocked another sharp object, using the hilt of his blade as a pommel to literally crack some skulls.

Raion, orange chakra was pulsing through his fists, was tearing up skeletons, sending them and their bones flying. Gurei was taking a much cleaner approach, using his chakra scalpels as saws, lopping off limbs.

Suddenly more dead bodies rose, and things took a turn for the worse.

These dead had obviously been shinobi, as they ducked Fenris' blow before socking him in the gut. However they weren't that good and two were quickly beheaded by Fenris' massive cleave.

"Destroy the head!" The white haired nin called as he blocked a rusty kunai. The others nodded, and Gurei took that to heart almost instantly as he cut a clean vertical line between the nose and the mouth of the dead.

Yeah, Fenris smirked. He was enjoying this workout.

Kataki's battle had strayed slightly away from the main fight. He was currently swinging furiously at the woman but she kept blocking her every move. "Tell me child," She said as she ducked another sword swing, "What is your name?"

"None of your concern!"

With a roar, Kataki jumped over the Akatsuki's head before swiping at her back, carving her in two. She then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Kataki leapt out of the way just in time as a flurry of shuriken embedded themselves in the ground where he once stood.

"Come now child," The woman flung herself at the red haired nin, and he blocked her by crossing his swords in an X like motion. "Tell me your name."

"Kataki." He gritted. The woman raised her arm and a large hoard of spiders crawled out of her robe.

"You may call me Shizen." The spiders leapt at Kataki but he jumped backwards. He threw his swords into the air as he landed, making a series of hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A loud eruption of fire flew from Kataki's mouth. Shizen, however, made some hand signs herself. "Death Style: Wall of Bone Jutsu!"

A ravenous wretched wall of bones shot from the ground, taking the impact of the fireball. The sound of shattering filled the air as the bone's all collapsed to the ground. But Shizen was still standing, much to Kataki's chagrin. "Come now child, Show me da true powa of the Rimen clan."

The red haired nin's eyes could have caused shitting of the pants.

He brought one of his katana's to his arm, the tip digging into his shoulder. He sliced towards without a second thought.

The sharp eerie sound of flesh ripping filled the air and Fenris looked to see Kataki slicing himself with his own blade.

Blocking a blow and stabbing one of the dead through the ribs, he looked to Gurei. "What's he doing!?"

Raion was the first to answer, smashing one of the dead in the head as it came up behind Fenris. "He's using his Kekkei Genkei."

Fenris didn't get a chance to ask as he was already embroiled in another battle.

The light trickle of blood felt warm on Kataki's skin. It rolled down his arm and began to pool on the ground. He then did the same thing with his other arm. The thick blood felt good in his palm. Shizen watched expectantly, her mouth curled into a smirk.

"You cut yourself?"

Kataki smirked. "No. You're the one that's going to get cut."

Without warning, a tendril of blood shot out from the pool, it's point sharp. Shizen leapt out of the way, but the tendril split into three more smaller ones. For a few moments, Shizen dodged, ducked and parried the deadly spikes before one curled around her leg.

"Got you."

The other two tendrils sped downwards, looking to impale the black Akatsuki member. They did in fact, but she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kataki, however, anticipated the assault that would come and made a hand sign. Four walls of blood formed around, just in time to block the large array of explosive tags.

Shizen had also predicted his movements and sprang up from the ground underneath Kataki's feet. She made a few hand signs, before calling "Wind Style: Death's Gale Jutsu!"

A forceful blast of wind sent Kataki high into the air and she leapt after him.

As she went to impale him with her staff, he blocked with his katana.

"Impressive child," She muttered as they engaged in a mid-air weapon battle, Kataki using tendrils of blood to keep him and Shizen upwards.

Kataki was the better sword combatant, and blocking the staff with one katana, brought the other down hard on her shoulder. Shizen flinched in pain as Kataki pulled the blade out and went to thrust it at her chest.

"No!" She roared, before something shot out of the ground. A large tendril of bone wrapped around Kataki's arms and forcefully yanked him down. Before he could create a shield of blood to lessen his fall, Shizen was already coming in after him.

"Death Art: Bone Senbon Jutsu!"

Raising her fingers, an array of small senbon made of thick bones travelled fast towards Kataki. He grunted in pain as each and every one of them embedded itself in his stomach before he was thrown to ground with a loud thud.

Shizen saw this as her opportunity and swiftly raised her staff to stab Kataki. She came down, but the staff was stopped by his katana. However, that didn't stop her feet, which smashed into his ribs, causing at least one break.

"My my, you are a brave one," She smirked maliciously, putting pressure on the injured ribs. "I thought you would have cracked by now."

"Bite me, bitch!" He spat, blood now lathering her face. "You are the foolish one for underestimating me."

Where the pool of blood originally was, a single figure rose. It was Kataki covered in thick red blood, already making hand signs.

"Blood Shuriken!"

The blood clone span around, before he let loose a large shuriken made entirely of blood. It split into three and headed for one target.;Shizen.

The woman quickly swore, before leaping off Kataki. The red haired nin leapt upwards and performed a substitution with his clone. The shuriken passed through the clone harmlessly, tearing up dirt and rock as they went. Shizen cursed as she dodged one, before another came hurtling towards her from the other side. She managed to evade that one, before she roared. "Enough, these childish games end now! Amulet of Arkay, awaken!"

There was a loud rumbling and before Kataki knew what had hit him, something large and ferocious had leapt up from the ground. The beast roared and Kataki could tell it was about 20 feet tall. But that was all he saw. The beast ran forward at such a fast pace the blood nin didn't have time to put up a barrier. The gargantuan monstrosity charged into Kataki and he was sent flying backwards, tearing up the earth. The beast roared and continued forward at a slower pace, continuing the hunt.

Kataki raised his bruised body, his eyes flickering towards the giant that lumbered towards him. From what he could tell, nothing was broken. Yet.

The red haired nin raised his katana and prepared for the fight of his life.

Fenris heard the hulking roar before he could see the monster. His eyes swiftly travelled and widened when he saw the outline of a beast walking towards a downed Kataki.

Shizen cackled madly as the monster came ever closer.

From what Fenris could tell, the monster had a dark grey hue that glistened with some unmentionable stick substance. Parts of its skin was torn enough, revealing the decaying bone of old. The monster was wide, thick and chunky. Its arms legs were like tree trunks, and his arms like a mountain.

Fenris snarled. "Gurei, keep them off me!"

He ducked a blow from a piece of bone, gifting the wielder with a friendly kick to the ribs. Gurei looked at him like he was insane before he turned to see the giant monster.

"The hell is that!?" Raion yelled.

Gurei nodded to Fenris to go and the white haired nin did just that, sprinting through the hordes of undead.

Kataki backed away slowly as the monster got ever closer. Its mouth opened, revealing soggy wet gums that were covered in black saliva. "Back away," The red haired nin commanded, making a hand sign. "Blood Cage!"

The tendrils of blood started to swarm around the monster like the rings of a chain. Soon, the monster was encased in a thick cage made of blood. The monster roared in anger.

Kataki, however, was forcefully knocked forward by Shizen, who had run up behind him while the crimson nin was doing his Jutsu. He collided with the rock hard cage and winced as he felt blood trickle down from his forehead to his mouth. It tasted sickly sweet and sour, all at once.

Shizen came at him again; ready to impale him in the back. Kataki, however, was a bit quicker than she estimated and smoothly got out of the way, ducking and turning around just enough that his katana was just level with her stomach.

Her staff, however, had pierced the monsters foot. With a pained roar, it thrashed around relentlessly, destroying the cage that was holding the beast. As the tendrils turned into liquid blood and once again fell to the ground, Kataki charged with his katana.

Shizen, however, had made hand signs. "Death Style: Bone Tendrils!"

Long lines of bone shot up from the earth, wrapping around Kataki's wrists, holding him in place.

'Shit!' He swore internally as the monster raised its giant foot, ready to crush and grind Kataki to dust.

"RAAAAHHHH!"

With a fierce battle cry, Fenris leapt high into the air, before thrusting his sword deep into the monsters shoulder. It roared in anguish, giving Kataki enough time to command his blood to pull him free just in time, as the foot came crashing down.

Shizen let out a frustrated shout, leaping up into the air behind Fenris. "Death Style: Bone Senbon!"

Raising her fingers, an array of senbon shot from her fingertips. The white haired nin pulled out his giant blade with a sickening squelch and quickly pushed off from the beast, deflecting the senbon away.

"Foul demoness!" Fenris yelled in defiance as his blade clashed with her staff. They struggled in the air for a few moments, before they fell to the ground and charged at each other again. It was a flurry of slashes and parries, stabs and deflections. The white haired nin, however, proved to be the better at weapon combat. With a loud cry, his leapt upwards, leaping over the staff. He then used the hilt of his blade as a bludgeon, slamming it hard on Shizen's skull.

"This ends-"

Fenris didn't have time to react as the beast, with its unimaginable power, had picked up a chunk of earth. With a high pitched shriek, the clump was thrown. Fenris narrowly leapt out of the way, but was knocked backwards by the force of the throw. He righted himself quickly, just in time to dodge another one of Shizen's Bone Senbon Jutsu. This went on for another few minutes, Fenris dodging and deflecting all the senbon, keeping him far too occupied to notice Kataki's predicament.

The crimson haired nin was rolling and slashing at the legs of the monster, causing oozing wounds of black blood. But he was getting tired and slower. Every move the monster made was getting more erratic and unpredictable. Eventually, Kataki slipped up.

Using one of his katana's as leverage, he used it as a pole and jabbed his other deep into the knee. However, the monster was prepared for this and automatically fell on one knee. Kataki didn't have time to fully get out the way. One of his legs was caught, but not crushed fatally.

Kataki switched from his stomach to his side and made hand signs. "Fire Style: Fire Bullet Jutsu!"

An array of small pellet like bullets flew from Kataki's mouth, scorching the monsters face and chest. It roared in pain and stepped backwards, allowing the crimson haired nin the opportunity to-

"Kataki! Fenris, we need help!" Gurei called desperately.

Fenris swiftly blocked Shizen's staff thrust and kicked her in the gut, knocking her on her ass. He turned and was met with a rather bad sight.

Raion had an axe of some kind stuck in his shoulder, his face covered with small cuts and bruises. His fists were dimming, and the undead were overwhelming him. Gurei was faring better, being quicker, but every blow he took from a club or axe was far more jarring. Raion went to strike, but the dead quickly ducked and socked him in the face. Too weak to fight back, he was then repeatedly beaten with clubs and axes before he was knocked backwards forcefully into Gurei by one of the bigger dead.

With Gurei momentarily weakened the dead used this as an opportunity and smashed a club hard into the back of his head. He clutched it and let out a racked moan of pain.

Fenris gritted his teeth, before running full speed towards Kataki, "Kataki! Raion and Gurei-"

It was all he needed to say. Kataki bolted past Fenris and went straight for his teammates. He dodged past a couple of Shizen's Bone Senbon, making numerous hand signs as he sprinted. Finally getting into range, he leapt into the air and yelled, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A huge eruption of flame emanated from Kataki's mouth, scorching all manner of undead. Raion himself quickly made some hand signs of his own, "Earth Style: Earth Dome Jutsu!"

Slamming his fist into the ground, a dome of earth quickly enveloped the small area, shielding them from the humid heatwave.

Kataki smirked in relief as the dead all fell, blazing like beacons in the night. Raion let his earth dome subside and panted heavily, his chakra almost fully used up. Gurei himself stood shakily and began to heal Raion's wounds with as much precision as possible, even though that wasn't much.

However, their peace didn't last long as the dead rose, their flaming decaying bodies stinking far more than they had before.

Gurei gritted his teeth. They couldn't hold out for much longer at all.

Fenris had never thought he would die being crushed underfoot. Sure, he had thought about dying, even killing himself. But Orochimaru's lap dog would never allow that, oh no. He would have brought him right back to life, that silver haired bastard.

How had he got into this position? Stupidity, that's how. While Kataki was busy defending his teammates, Fenris had elected to distract the monster. It went fine, until he forgot about Shizen.

The wound on the back of his leg throbbed painfully. The bitch had stabbed him straight through the back of the knee. He could barely move his leg. His sword lay a few feet away, completely out of reach. Shizen had forced him down and now the monster would crush and grind him underfoot.

He hated to admit it, but it pained him. It pained him to know he would never get to watch the life drain out of Orochimaru's eyes as he squeezed down on his neck, or watched as his throat spurted blood all over the walls and floor, or his intestines leaking out of the giant hole that his sword had caused. It was all just a futile dream. He cast a glance over to Kataki, torn about what to do. Go help his teammates, or go help the former slave of Orochimaru who he just met two days ago. Yeah, hard choice.

And so, Fenris awaited his death calmly, waited for the feeling of being pulverised and crushed. He waited and waited. It never came. All he could hear was faint harrowed breaths and the bellows of the monster.

Cautiously, the white haired nin opened his eye. What he saw shook him to the core. Kataki was stood there, using his katana as a tool for holding up the giant's foot. He turned, his face covered in blood. "Go," He called out weakly. When Fenris didn't, he called out harder and booted the former slave in the stomach, knocking him backwards.

Fenris had never seen something so brave. To risk oneself for someone you've barely known for two days… The thought baffled the white haired nin. What had he done? Argued with Raion, helped a little bit in the search for his missing partner, helped with fighting? That shouldn't-couldn't be enough to save his life. Yet, he had.

Kataki's back strained to near breaking point as the monster put more and more pressure on his foot. "Foolish boy," Shizen cackled, before running forward. Using her staff, she sliced the back of his legs. With that crippling blow, it was over. With a loud thud, the monster won out, crushing Kataki.

Fenris stared. Anger boiled up inside him. This boy, this man he had known for two days had just risked his life for him.

He stood up, the curse seal on his shoulder flaring dangerously. Kataki had been more of a friend then he had ever experienced in his entire life. With a new resolve, blue chakra began to flow through the root like tattoos, turning them an illuminate blue.

Well, no more.

Fenris, inside his own head, swore an oath to Kataki. From now on, he would protect him with his life. Fenris wanted a new master, but one that was honourable. He would be damned if that was taken away from him now.