-SUPER IMPORTANT UPDATE- MANGA ADAPTATION!
My good friend Moki-Yoki is now making a Manga adapatation of Curse of a Hanyou, Love of an Angel! That's right! You can now read this story as a Manga!
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Well this was only two weeks before this chapters release, lets hope that speed continues. ;)
Oh! And for the people that I know will ask about 'Kurenais Past' that isn't revealed too much in this chapter, just wait till next chapter. ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its affiliated products. I do however own any original plotline and characters in this fanfiction.
Chapter 28 – Dark Shadows, Darker Souls
Stopping almost in complete silence upon a shade covered branch, the three figures waited with anticipation as one of there members shifted his stance slightly, his sensitive nose twitching slightly as he smelt the light breeze around him. Scents of sweet flowers, of old wood, of wet decomposing leaf litter and an abundant number of vegetation and fauna. But when the sudden onrush of scents met him and he found a particularly foul smelling he shuddered.
"This way." It was the only direction he gave before taking off, leaping off the outstretched tree branch in a burst of speed he followed the direction of the foul scent he had quickly come to despise. Knowing his two teammates would be following close behind he took no effort to make sure they were aware of his slight change in direction. They were close to there destination anyway, he could smell it.
The three members of Team 8 continued there hurried path through the forest, each making sure to use as little of energy as possible in there travel, encase the need to fight ever arose when they reached the bandit's encampment. Hinata smiled with pride as she watched her hanyou boyfriend easily follow the bandits days old tracks through the forest, usually he was a little quicker in following the scents, but his numerous stops and pauses proved on how difficult it was following the old smells. Obviously diminished by both the days and the forest's nature scents.
Team 8 were taking great precautions despite on how fast they were travelling, Hinata was constantly scanning in a 100m radius around them at all times with her Byakugan. The ability to see in a full 360 degrees and through solid objects, really came in great use in places like thick and dense forests where vision was greatly reduced. And Shino was continually scouting with his Kikai companions, often sending huge swarms of them out in several key directions, a swarm returning to him every so often relaying any useful information they had found.
They all paused once again as Naruto came to a sudden stop, they all noticed how Naruto landed a little oddly on the tree branch, having to dig his claws into it to keep himself from falling and the movement of his tails stopped and so instantly knew something was up. Naruto paused a little longer, seemingly confused as he stood completely stiff sniffing the air slightly, but that confused look was quickly replaced with one of horror, he quickly turned around while performing a few hand gestures. His whole body trembling and his tails grounding themselves to the tree branch as some sort of comfort and safety.
Kurenai had been following her team from a bit more of a distance, observing how they handle the basic parts of the mission without her guidance. She was at a distance where they couldn't rely on her, but where she could step in and help them if danger presented itself. Upon observing the hand gestures Naruto made, indicated they needed her assistance, but from what she could see they were doing perfectly fine.
"What's the problem Naruto-kun?" Kurenai asked gently, not sure what was worrying her hanyou student. Although when he turned to her, and she sure the pale and horrified expression on his face, she could feel her blood run cold. His eyes were off and distant, almost like he had seen a ghost.
"The scent… I-It changes here sensei. I can smell it… blood… lots of blood! All of it fresh!..." Naruto sounded frightened, and it took a lot to evoke any sort of fear in him. Kurenai was actually really starting to worry about 'how much blood' he could smell to get him so spooked and ordered Hinata to do a quick scan in the direction Naruto was indicating with his shaking clawed hand.
Hinata nodded in understanding before quickly performing the sequence of handsigns for her familys bloodline trait. Her Byakugan activating almost instantly after as the veins around her eyes increased in size, utilizing the telescopic ability of her Byakugan eyes she quickly increased her sight range in the direction she was told, easily advancing her sight 500 meters before she could finally see what Naruto could smell.
Without warning Team 8 jumped and rushed over to her at the shrill of horror that followed Hinata's vision of the camp. Instantly she stopped her Byakugan, before bending over and throwing up on spot. Naruto was by her side in an instant, his tails wrapping around her gently as he supported her and stopped her from falling off the tree. He could smell far more then he let on and could only imagine what horrors his girlfriend had just seen. Kurenai by now had stopped thinking this mission was going smoothly and quickly checked Hinata's vitals to make sure she wasn't going into shock.
"Shino! Send your insects to find out what the hell is out there! Now!" Without hesitation, Shino lifted his arms, a huge sea of black insects pouring out of them amassing above his almost like a large rain cloud hovered above him. With a single swipe of his arm he ordered them off and within seconds they had disappeared into the forest. While he was rather concerned on what had upset his teammates so much, he was slightly thankful that his insects could only relay certain key aspects of things, never anything in great detail.
"Hinata, Hinata! Speak to me! What did you see? Hinata calm down and tell me I need to know?" Kurenai asked with great urgency, her worry sky rocketing as tears fell from the Hyuga Heiress's eyes, her breathing literally hyperventilating and her face as white as a ghost.
"B-B-B-Bl-Blood…. S-So m-much bl-blood! T-They… B-Bodies… E-E-Everything b-blood!" Kurenai watched with rising fear as Naruto held onto Hinata, she clinging to him for dear life not able to say anything more as the tears and shot nerves took over her.
'What did she see?'
It wasn't long until her answer came, as the buzzing of thousands of Kikai beetles flooded in all around her, the huge black sea of beetles swarming in from all around her returning to their master. Kurenai watched Shino carefully as he silently conversed with his companions, and while most of Shino's face was always covered by the high collar of his jacket or the hood over his head she could see the distinct changes in his face, he too seemed quite taken back by the information.
"They say its just a massacre sensei. That everything there was just slaughtered, bodies literally torn to pieces." Shino relayed, his arms crossing as he entered deep thought, trying to sort the information out in his mind efficiently. His voice usually so calm and collected, had a slight tone of urgency and disgust, a tone that worried Kurenai greatly.
"Naruto, stay here and try to calm down Hinata! Shino, keep on the lookout for any signs of an attack, and get Naruto to signal me with a pulse of chakra if you need me to come back. I'm going to have a look for myself, stay here and protect each other!" Kurenai's voice cracked for a split second, losing its commanding tone and replaced with one that reminded Naruto of all the times his bad memories would resurface. As there sensei quickly left Shino caught a look at her eyes, a flash of recognition could be seen within them, a sense of clarity and worry.
'You know what's happened and who has done this don't you sensei?' Shino asked within his mind. His arm raising slightly as a few Kikai left to follow his sensei.
Kurenai raced towards in the direction of the campsite, her eyes narrowing as she approached it, the scent of blood becoming noticeable even to her. 'Massacre? A bandit massacre? Bodies literally torn to pieces… It can't be, they were captured. It couldn't be them?' Steeling her mind from the memories that attempted to claw there way to the surface, Kurenai burst forward, landing solidly on the edge of the camps clearing.
Her only reaction, was to fall to her knees as her eyes shot open wide, refusing to look away from the sight before her.
Everywhere she looked, the camp was utter destroyed, the tents and temporary huts torn and shattered, the wood splinted into shreds while the weightstones were shattered. The pieces scattered all over the grounds. But it wasn't the destruction of the camp that was horrifying, it was the bodies, the mutilated pieces of corpses spewn around the entire encampment.
The bodies, mutilated, there limbs ripped to shreds, each of them being in several pieces and scattered around the encampment. Entrails thrown around like a spaghetti food fight. Skulls crushed and shattered, torso's virtually ripped open and many ribs forced to extrude. Arms, legs, hands, feet and hacked off pieces of flesh were just scattered around like leaves. Torso's and skulls literally hacked into four or five pieces were jammed into the shattered wood and frames of the broken camps. Many of the skulls pieces and the few full skulls had there features completely removed, some having tongues cut out while others had there eyes, nose and/or ears removed entirely.
But it wasn't just cuts and slices that 'insulted' these bodies, many of them were also flayed of their skin, burns and melt marks obvious to her keen but shocked eyes. This sort of demonic mutilation of bodies and manor of killings were not human, no normal human being was capable of such horrific destruction and sickening level of depravity.
Kurenai could feel a sense of insecurity wash of her as she continued to stare at the hacked-corpses before her. She could feel it, feelings of insecurity and fear surging through her, she wanted nothing more then to run, to leave this horrific site and block it from her mind forever. The smell was sickening, and the sight nightmarish. And the more she looked the more she could feel herself slipping away, her mind completely overcome by the horrible sight she could feel herself start to slow as her brain because to pass from the world of consciousness.
It puzzled her slightly, she was a Jonin of high ranking status, and had seen death and been the cause of death many times. So as such her emotions had steeled themselves to such an image. And yet the scene before her was effecting her more then she knew, burning her of her desire to press on and sapping her strength to stand and walk away.
'What… what is this feeling? Am I fainting at such a sight? How… I'm stronger then this…'
A tinge of chakra in the air caught the Jonin's attention, it was only slight, but it was enough to distract her from her slowing senses, giving her something to concentrate on.
'This… this chakra, its light and spread out… and I can feel it one me… why? Wait? Genjutsu! This feeling of fainting, dread and helplessness is Genjutsu!' Knowing she was by far one of the most powerful ninja in the art of Genjutsu she refused to be overcome by a simple emotion altering one. Snapping out of her daze she gathered a massive concentration of chakra, shaping it into a single layer on the palm of her hands.
Jumping to her feet she performed a super quick sequence of handsigns, before slamming her palms together dispersing the gathered chakra in them while calling out her jutsu. "Art of Genjutsu: Disruption!" Kurenai smiled as she could feel her signature jutsu expand around her and the campsite in a sudden burst of violent feeling chakra.
There were two main ways to disrupt and dispel Genjutsu. The first is to create a large enough pulse of chakra to overcome and overpower the chakra of the Genjutsu, or to have someone inject there chakra into you while you are under the Genjutsu the conflict of chakra would disrupt and dispel it. But her signature jutsu was a little different. It worked by expelling a huge mass of her own chakra that was able to identify the chakra of the Genjutsu in the surrounding area and change its form into the exact type of chakra and blend in and power the Genjutsu before controlling it and dispelling it. It was one of her most valued jutsu and the main reason why no one was able to beat her in her favourite art.
As she felt the Area Genjutsu slowly collapse in on itself she felt the pressuring air and soul depleting emotions lift from the air around her. Allowing her to once again stand and regain control of her steeled emotions. Although she was severely disgusted that the campsite wasn't part of the Genjutsu, the bodies, if you could even call them that, remained the very same, the blood and guts covering the entire plain.
Looking around the campsite she did her best to find the artefact they were sent to find, but her mind was still concerning itself about the presence of the Genjutsu, it's reason for existence seemed so trivial. To trap anyone who passed by in feelings of fear and elevating there emotions on the disgusting scene. Naruto and Hinata were probably mildly effected by it which is why there reactions were so severe. The Genjutu amplified fear and any other horrible feelings that you feel when you look at such a sight.
She was brought out of her confusion when a mild buzzing met her ears, on instinct and partially from the after effect of the Genjutsu she jumped into action pulling out two kunai and assuming a defensive stance. But she almost laughed at herself when a small black cloud rose from within one of the shattered tents. A small swarm of Kikai beetles had located the artefact they were looking for. A small golden statue depicting a Sun and Moon hanging in the sky above a bowing man. She didn't understand the symbolism but she was grateful that Shino's companions were able to find it, mainly because she didn't really relish the idea of walking through the campsite of blood.
The Kikai quickly flew head height for Kurenai and flew towards her, gently dropping the statue in her outstretched hands before flying into the forest to return to there master. Kurenai smiled as she quickly stashed the statue away in her travel bag, before turning to follow them.
To anyone who didn't know any better she was now unfazed by the disgusting sight of the mutilated bandits. But it would have all been an act, a wall or mask she was able to put up to block her mind from dwelling on it. Because deep inside her mind she was hurting so badly at seeing the unhuman destruction. Sure they were bandits and all, but nothing deserves such an abominable death. And it was the memory, the memory of seeing this once before, long ago, that played at her mind. She hoped it wasn't, but she knew who might have done this… the only people capable of such a monstrosity for nothing else then just 'fun', and if she was correct then she needed to get her team out this forest and back to Konoha as soon as she could.
'It can't be, it just can't be them. But who else would cause such an inhuman destruction without taking a priceless artefact.'
As she left the clearing she failed to have noticed a shadowy figure hiding on the opposite side, hidden behind the trees and his midnight black cloak. "Well… this has certainly made things interesting. Looks like we might get even more fun then we had hoped for… the others will want to know about this." He stepped back slightly from the clearings edge, further shadowing himself under the blanket of shadow from the canopy. The only parts even barely visible as his visage seemed to dissolving into thin air was a wickedly cruel and murderous smile and the eerie glow of his moonlight grey eyes.
Kurenai appeared before her team in a swirl of leaves, virtually materializing before them. She was pleased to see that with the Area Genjutsu dissolved that all seemed to look calmer and more collected then they had earlier. Although Hinata still held a look of horror as she looked up at her sensei.
"K-Kurenai-sensei… T-They… I-It wasn't r-really like t-that was it?... no one… n-no one could have r-really done that r-right?" Kurenai's smile feel at the frightened tone she heard in her student's voice. Being Ninja they would see far more death, and be the death of some too. But that monstrous atrocity was not death, it was a massacre done by only the most of inhuman of people.
Leaning down to the teenaged heiress, Kurenai forced her student to look at her directly, half prying her from Naruto's comforting hold. "Yes that was real. And there will be times that you will have to kill aswell. I can't say it in a nice way to soften the blow for you but it is our duty. We are by nature 'murderers', 'assassins' we are payed to carry out missions and some may involve killing others." Kurenai saw a fresh load of tears welling in the girl's eyes, and knew that she hadn't fully thought her 'career' path though to that point. But she also saw fear, fear of actually being the one to cause that massacre.
"But what you saw is not killing. What you saw was inhuman, we will never be told to perform such atrocities, it is not the was of the Leaf Village to perform such acts. When we do take life we all feel regret, we do not kill for fun or sport. And we certainly don't mutilate he corpse of who we kill. That is what separates us from common murders, animals and monsters." Hinata's eyes were wet with tears, but even still Kurenai could see some resemblance of understanding form within them. The girl had yet to see death, and seeing that 'image' if you could even call it that must have been more then a little shocking.
Not only that, but she could see the look that passed over Naruto's face at her use of the term 'monsters', she knew he had already taken a life. Abeit he was a kid when he did, but he already knew and could still feel the regret that came with taking life.
"Kureani-sensei… Does it become any easier? I mean, to deal with? Does it become easier to take the pain away?" Naruto asked quietly, his downcast face just staring off at the forest floor beneath them. Kurenai expected such a question from Naruto, particularly in this instance.
"It does become easier yes. But it never truly goes away, but if it ever gets to the stage where you can kill and not feel anything, then and only then, will you be considered a monster." Naruto's eyes widened slightly when he looked at his sensei, an old memory as a child flashing before him.
'… I can take life, I have already killed 8 people… yet I feel the pain every day, I can feel it eating at me, the pain that comes with taking a life. But for that pain I am glad, because if I didn't feel that pain then I would be nothing but a murderer, nothing but a monster.'
Itachi had said that to him all those years ago, and here his sensei was saying the same thing. The villagers were so wrong about him, for while they may hate the Fox sealed within him for the lives it could take without remorse. He himself always felt the pain.
"Right, well we have the Statue we were sent to retrieve so lets quickly head back to Kuzaku Monastery. I don't really like the smell coming from the clearing and I'm sure you three don't want to be near that vile act any longer." Seeing the slow nods from her students in agreement she smiled slightly as they quickly jumped up preparing to leave. Although she could of counted on Naruto attempting to snatch the Statue from her carry sash, his curiosity obviously getting the better of him. Her response to his actions was to simply pick him up by the scruff and throw him over to the next branch.
"Awwww! Why can't I see it sensei? What does it look like?" Kurenai chose to just ignore his question before jumping to the next branch, her team following quickly behind her. And Naruto of course nagging her to let him see it continually as they left.
Kuzaku Monastery, lower bedding chambers
Daisuke's eyes flicked slightly with exhaustion, his long and dirty robes dragging along the ground and passing a shadowed visage along the stone flooring from his bedside candle as he walked over to his resting place. A certain… forlorn and confused expression the only visible sign of emotion on his face.
Flashback
'Uzumaki-san was right, your mother would be disappointed with your actions Daisuke-kun.' Kiharu said in a gentle tone to the broken boy before him. Small tears dropping could be easily seen as the boy looked up at him.
'Your mother loved her duty as Guardian, she told me on many occasions on how proud she was to be the one to protect this monastery and the village. But out of everything in this world she loved you the most Diasuke, you haven't been the only one to lose someone dear to them, there are many others, some that have probably lost them in a harsher way then even Uzumaki-san. At the very least your mother died doing something she loved, protecting others, a trait I know she would have loved to see you continue. You have to live for her, and for what she stood for.' Kiharu figured he had by now said enough, and dismissed himself from his pupil with a simple pat on the head before leaving in silence.
'I… I wont let you down mother, I will stop what I started… I have to be like you.' For the first time since his mother's death, Daisuke smiled. He smiled a genuine smile as his eyes lit up with fire, fires of determination.
Flashback end
Daisuke was brought out of his earlier memories by the smallest of vibrations sent through the stone floor, reacting on instinct and partly because of his current nerves he reached for his staff, already shifting into a defensive stance.
"Hehehe, you don't have to worry about that little wooden toy of yours kid. We just thought we should report back to you. Our mission was a… 'joyful' success." The dark voice seemed to echo all around his solid stone room, and Daisuke almost instantly found himself getting fearful. Not by the way the voice appeared out of nowhere, but more the murderous tone that was used, one that displayed all meanings of the words 'bloodlust' and 'malice' sending a cold shiver down his spine.
Turning slowly towards a shadowed area of his room, Daisuke's eyes widened when he saw a pair of black eyes and a maliciously evil smile glowing in the darkness created from the shadows of the torches along his wall. The eyes and smile disappeared at being seen, before the shadow shifted forward and began to warp and twist into a humanoid shape.
Two figures emerged from the gassy strands of shadow, there forms completing as they took a few steps closer, there menacing poses worrying Daisuke as to what they really wanted here.
"Your pathetic kid, what happened to that look we saw in your eyes last we met, such a glorious mixture of insanity and bloodlust. We were beginning to like you." Spoke the figure behind the taller one in a mocking tone, unsheathing his katana blade and holding it out, a sickeningly evil smile forming on his face at the frightened look that appeared on Daisuke's face. The cloaked figure knew it wasn't exactly from the blade that evoked such a look of horror, but more the fresh blood that freely dripped from the blades sharpened side.
"Hmm? Don't like the look of it? I would have thought you would have, after all… it's the blood of those that killed your precious mother."
Daisuke's eyes shot open in horror as he watched the plentiful amount of blood drip down of the blade and onto the floor quickly staining the stone and spreading through its cracks. He had forgotten… he had forgotten since his fight with Naruto that this is what he had wanted… he had hired these men to kill everyone who was at fault and caused his mother's death.
Scurrying back slight he felt back and fell onto his bed, Daisuke's mind already reeling at what this meant.
The front figure pushed his partner's blade to the side before stepping forward, holding his bandaged hand out as if expecting something. "Listen kid you hired us to do a job and its almost done, hand over the final payment and we will complete the last part and be on our way. We had a lot of… fun the first time and we are eager to keep enjoying ourselves."
Daisuke sat motionless for a few moments, the horror of what they had done and what he had asked for slowly sinking in. His mother would never had done or wanted such a thing, he was just so angry, and wanted them to feel the hurt he felt so much that he didn't know what else to do. But still seeing the blood dripping from the back figures blade he could feel his fear and regret rise, especially when his mind slowly registered that they mentioned the 'second' part of the mission.
Quickly leaping back he pushed his bed forward almost a full meter, before reaching down the side and carefully lifting a small stone block up from its place in the floor. The two figures were slightly curious as to what a simple monk would hide, but there curiosity didn't matter to them when they watched him pull out three more sacks, knowing the amount of money they contained.
Daisuke pushed his bed back into place before walking towards the figures, his whole body shaking as he neared them, his mind almost overexerting itself with fear. Slowly nearing the three bags in the outstretched hand he spoke up, his voice weak, fearful, and croaky at best.
"Yo-you d-d-don't have t-to finish the j-j-job… J-just t-t-take your payment a-and l-leave. I d-don't need the s-s-second part done anymore…" Daisuke had expected they may be a little unhappy about it, but he never expected the outburst that occupied.
Almost instantly the figures seemed to darken even more in appearance, there eyes narrowing as they both lunged forward, harshly pushing Daisuke to the ground, ignoring the bags as they fell with him.
"We knew you would cower out of the job boy!" The front figure yelled at him, practically spitting the last part.
"You don't have the guts and we were even surprised that you payed for the first half! What's the difference who dies! As long as you get your revenge right? Weakling!" Daisuke reacted on instinct as the figure went to strike him across the face, pulling his guard up and thrusting a fist straight up, catching the overbearing figure directly in the gut.
His training was enough that he empowered all his attacks by instinct, he had enough 'strength' to brake through solid walls and crumble even the largest of boulders. So nothing could prepare him for the shock that came when the assassin above him didn't even flinch at the strike. And instead of striking Daisuke back, he just choose to stand up, his wickedly evil smile broadening as he took a few steps back, his hands flashing through a super fast sequence of handsigns.
"That punch of yours was a little different to the normal kind you would expect from a reclusive monk child. Let me show you, my different type hey?"
Daisuke could sense the very air grow cold, he could practically feel the water molecules in the air around him start to freeze from the sudden temperature drop. A huge mass of chakra could be felt emanating from the dark figure infront of him, and his heart was gripped with fear when he began to see small shards of ice form in mid air.
A large pulse of chakra was felt and Daisuke closed his eyes in preparation for the pain he knew would follow, but instead he could slowly feel the air return to its normal temperature. And he could also sense the presence of another person, the third person he hired.
"Brother! Do not sneak up on us, you could have easily been killed just from the fact you got too close!" Daisuke opened his eyes to see the two figures from before holding there blades against vital spots on the thirds body, while one of them clutched him by the throat. But to his shock he imagined the third assassin would have been even slightly frightened but instead just held a mildly amused smirk.
"Well if you were more aware of your surroundings I wouldn't be able to sneak up to you, brother." The third figure spoke, his voice holding a slightly darker and more sinister tone then the other two.
Although Daisuke hadn't spoken to them at length they each had something similar in there speech they made them seem identical to one another, if he was to give it a word to describe it, there very voices sounded of murder. Plus this was also the first time he had heard them refer to each other as 'brothers', he knew they hated each other as was evident at there first meeting, but were they actually related?
Releasing the third cloaked 'brother' from the grip he held around his throat, the two dark figures enquired as to his presence. "Hehehe… I have a small piece of information that you two may like as much as I do. I was staying behind to observe our site of… 'fun', waiting for the team from Konoha that had supposably come. It turns out they are just a new team, consisting of three Genin level ninja and a Jonin sensai."
The other two sheathed there swords as they rolled there eyes. Obviously not interested in the news. "And what is so interesting about a bunch of snot nosed kids and their sensei? They pose no threat to us." At his brother's statement the third figure just laughed darkly before continuing his explaination.
"Oh no, they certainly don't pose any threat to us. It was the sensei that makes the team interesting, its someone we knew quite long ago." The assassin's grin changed slightly at the intrigued looks his brothers shared, and it seemed to take on a nearly lecherous hint as he thought more on the subject of interest.
"It seems our little scarlet eyed princess is still alive, and is the team's sensei."
It took a few seconds for the other two assassins to realise what there brother was on about, but when they did they both stood up straight, a wicked smile appearing on both there faces. "Oh yes that is very interesting news, but after so long how could it really be her? How could you be so sure brother?"
"It is easy to tell: eyes as red as a scarlet ruby and as piercing as a sharpened blade, hair blacker then the darkest souls of men, grace that is grander then the greatest of Kitsune. And as the years have gone on also a figure of a goddess." The third assassin smiled changed to more of a vicious smirk when he saw the glint in the eyes of his brothers. And as they slowly started to walk towards the rooms exit he followed them.
But before he could follow them out of the room he received an almost silent instruction from his brothers. "Do not let that boy leave the room, show him, show him a replication of the first job he paid for.
Nodding his head in understand the third assassin turned to the still slightly shocked Daisuke, grinning evilly as he quickly flashed through a long sequence of handsigns. "It seems my brother's don't want you to follow us out. They told me to give you a gift, you paid for a mission and yet had no proof of its completion. Let me show you my greatest Genjutsu, its my personal imitation of the Uchiha Clans great Tsukuyomi Jutsu. But don't be fooled by it being an imitation, it is near enough for most anyone to agree it's the real deal." Daisuke jumped to his feet when he felt a large pulse of chakra emanate from the dark cloaked figure, he knew what he did was wrong, and he knew he had to atleast warn the Konoha team his village hired. He didn't know what they were on about or why they were so interested in the sensei of Team 8, but knowing what he had hired them for originally he could only guess it was something positively evil.
"Genjutsu Art: Realm of the Red Moon!" Daisuke leapt to grab his staff, but his hand and body froze a mere inch from it, he could feel his mind become heavy, and within a few seconds he could barely register that his body was falling down. Time itself seemed to slow down around him, but his mind seemed to realise every second that felt like they passed. The last thing he saw before the nightmare began, was the assassins face chuckling evilly, his vision slowly becoming fazed with red, it blurring more and more as a large circular figure was all he could see. All that was before his eyes before the screaming of horror started was a bright red moon amongst an endless black sky.
Team 8 knelt down before Kiharu when they finally returned to the monastery. He had been sitting in the same location as before, infront of the great statue. He smiled brightly as Kurenai withdrew a small golden statuette from within her carry bag and handed it to him, his aged face literally shinning with happiness at the return of the artefact.
"You did well Kurenai and Team 8, you retrieved the statue of the First Lord of the Land of Fire, the very statue that contains his ashes. You have exceeded my expectations as I hadn't thought you would retrieve it so quickly, you a truly a credit to your village." He was glad when he saw the smiles of pride form on the team's faces at his complement, but he wasn't so old and naïve to not also see the other emotions that dwelt within there eyes.
"Although something tells me everything didn't go as smoothly at it seemed. You encountered some sort of obstacle perhaps?" The genin of Team 8 just chose to remain silent, allowing there sensei to explain. Both because there were all still a little disturbed and because she was the leader and had seen more then they had.
"That is correct Kiharu-sama, we had one problem. We had quite easily tracked down the bandits that had raided your monastery. But when we actually arrived to there encampment we found them… to be completely slaughtered in the most inhuman ways possible. It was… just a little disturbing to us. And the thing that worries me the most is that they weren't killed and robbed, they were just needlessly slaughtered, we found the statue just lying amongst the corpses so they obviously weren't after anything of value."
Kiharu eyes narrowed slightly in both confusion and worry. It wasn't unheard of to hear that bandits had been killed, but it was increasingly suspicious when valuables were just left alone. And from what he could see written within Kurenai's eyes, she held a slight fear indicating that she either knew who the killers could have been or could be seriously worried for the safety of her students, or more possibly both.
"You seem to have an idea who the attackers might have been, do you think they could pose a threat to the village Kurenai-san?"
Pausing for a second to evaluate her answer, Kurenai nodded slightly before speaking. "I may know who they are, and if I am correct then the whole village and the monastery here might be endangered." Her voice initially was quite and a little reserved, but when she mentioned the possibility of the danger to the monastery and village her voice gained a strong sense of resolve.
"It is my duty to ensure the training and safety of my students, so we will departing as soon as we can as we have finished our payed mission, we can do no more." Kiharu's eyes opened wide a little at that, he knew that it was outside of the mission scope but the mysterious person/people that killed the bandits couldn't be a threat to even a Ninja team from Konoha could they?
"But, I can't just sit by and let a village within the protection of Konoha go unprotected. If I am right about who the murderers of the bandits are then they will have collected a very hefty bounty that is surely enough to more then cover the level of mission. We will be able to bring two or three Jonin teams to bring them down and defend this village if necessary." Kiharu smiled in relief at hearing this, it would be nice to know that there peaceful lifestyle would not be interrupted. But he wasn't known to be a selfish person and immediately thought of some sort of gift he could give in return.
"Your assistance will be most appreciated Kurenai-san, you and your village are a credit to the Great Nation of Fire. I will not allow such a thing to go unappreciated though, if you can ensure these 'murders' are either forced away or brought to justice I can pass on a few of our oldest scrolls to your village. Scrolls containing information on how to better focus your chakra within your own body, to achieve similar levels of training to the type we monks train with." Kurenai was quite surprised at his offer, such scrolls would be valuable beyond belief to even a novice Genin, let alone gifted to an entire Shinobi Village! She graciously accepted his offer before arranging the final matters that needed to be dealt with before she took her team home.
Barely an hour later Team 8 were walking through the town square towards its gated entrance, each of the three genin members quite happy about competing there first C-Rank mission. Although one particular member of Team 8 was restlessly standing on his tippy toes, his sensitive ears twitching and shifting to check for a very particular sound while his nose was searching for a scent he had to find.
If Kurenai didn't know him any better she would have thought he was like a small animal searching for food, but the fact that Hinata was helping him look for whatever it was he wanted suggested otherwise, and she was almost 100% sure what it was.
"Naruto-kun if you want to say goodbye to your little friend and her mother you can go find her, but please be quick as we must had back to Konoha as soon as possible."
Hinata giggled as her hanyou boyfriend literally exploded in excitement, his tails that were comfortably wrapped around her pulling themselves free, much to her disappointment, as he leapt away quickly following the scent he had found. She was sad that his close hold on her was gone though, she had quickly grow accustom to always having him hold her close and she always found herself missing his touch whenever he did something else. Shino however was just standing as still as ever trying to figure out some logical reason for his teammate's constant 'explosive personality'.
Kurenai had been feeling a little 'off' for a while now, and was fine with making sure she could still see where her student went, but a sudden deathly cold shiver followed by an unexplainable urge to throw up forced her to quickly call him back. The shiver was quickly followed by a weird foreboding sense of doom and she immediately expelled her chakra to cancel the sudden Genjutsu she could feel had started to affect her.
Without word or warning a pain filled shriek of a women echoed throughout village's centre square. The cry was quick and agonizing to the ears, but was quickly followed by silence.
Everyone in the centre square including Team 8 froze instantly and quickly looked in the direction of the scream and in an instant the village panicked, every villager running away, dragging there children with them as they quickly evacuated the area, screams of fright filling the once bustling trade centre as they all tried to run from what they had seen.
At the main pathway to the village centre stood three cloaked figures, grinning delightfully at the chaos they had so easily caused. The figure on the left stepped back slightly, allowing the woman he had just impaled with his blade to slowly fall her blood quickly pooling and staining the ground where she had collapsed.
The genin of Team 8 froze as they witnessed a woman probably a bit younger then there sensei just emotionlessly cut down, her life ended so easily and far before her time. It made a sickening feeling fill there stomachs, but nothing could prepare them for what happened as the woman fell.
The clocked figure smiled insanely as he watched his latest victim fall, the blood that pored for the hole through her chest excited him and he could feel his own blood begin to boil with the excitement and urging bloodlust. Wanting to see more of the brilliant crimson red he quickly flashed his blade across his victim in multiple places, causing huge gashes to open her body up and spill more blood across the ground.
The tallest figure placed a hand on his brother, silently instructing him to calm his bloodlust for the moment. Regardless on how amusing he too found it. Before he stepped forward to address the Shinobi Team before him, more specifically: Kurenai.
"When we were first offered a job to exterminate some bandits then some pathetic monks we never imagined we would see you again, while it was fun slaughtering those useless excuses of humans I believe it is more fun seeing you again… Little Sister." Kurenai and Team 8 froze at the last two words, he couldn't possibly mean what they thought he did could he?
"How many years has it been? 10? 15? So long since we last saw you Kurenai-imouto… look brothers, our little sister has gone and grown up on us, even become a Jonin of Konoha it seems." The other two brothers stepped forward, laughing to themselves as they gauged Kurenai's reaction.
Kurenai, was, for lack of a better word: frightened. She had never thought to ever see there faces again, she thought she had been done with them years ago. But it seems even her past could catch up with her. Memories, so many dark and repressed memories came flooding back to her, memories of the three before her slaughtering so many people. Memories of them slaughtering her own parents, before slaughtering her whole town.
"What do you three want? You three shouldn't even be existing in this world!" Kurenai spat the last part, showing her utter descust at there presence before her.
"Awww how sad, it seems our little sister isn't to happy to see us after all. And after we went through so much back then together, I would have atleast thought you would smile at us like you use to. Don't you miss your big brothers?" He spoke with a demeaning term, trying to do a mock hurt impersonation while still seemingly having a vicous and cruel edge to his voice.
"I stopped calling you three 'brothers' the day you slaughtered our family! I have no ties to you three! Not anymore!" She was hurting, she could feel her heart contracting with pain as she spoke. While she sounded so sure and hateful towards them, she was bleeding inside at the memories. She could see her father's face, feel her mother's hold on her once more, all these images and feelings she had blocked away were breaking lose, breaking lose as she remembered the day she first saw those three murder in cold blood, they had the same deranged look back then as they did now. They hadn't changed at all.
"Get out of this village now! You will not harm anyone here! Shino, Hinata, Naruto get behind me, Tri-formation!" In an instant Hinata and Shino stop slightly back from there sensei, each drawing a kunai knife and standing strong. Although Hinata was completely disgusted and slightly in shock of the way they murdered that woman, and was shaking in fear. Neither her of Shino could believe what was just said, were these three really related to their sensei?
"Get out? Oh but we just got here, you see we were hired by a little trainee monk to 'return the favour they gave his mother' although it seems he pulled back on the deal when it came to wiping out the village, he seemed to have lost his streak for revenge, your doings perhaps?" Kurenai just sneered in response, but in her mind she was racing.
'What? What are they on about? 'Return the favour they gave his mother'?... Daisuke! He hired them?'
"Ah I see you figured out who hired us then little sister, well he may have reneged on the second part of the deal but we want to carry it out just for fun. Besides, nothing quite pleases and brightens the day like a good slaughter. Well you may have gotten better dear sister but you could never stop all three of us, we will cut you down if you get in the way of our fun so I sugge-" The tallest of the three brothers stopped mid sentence when he heard an intriguing sound from the weird fox tailed Genin. Turning to him he spoke with irritation and disdain, his calm and slightly mocking tone almost instantly replaced with rage.
"What did you say boy?"
Kurenai didn't know what to do, she couldn't have her team involved in this, she knew the three before her far more then she ever wanted, she knew they would slaughter them all. They had to get away somehow. Her heart was racing almost as fast as her mind, and it was only when Naruto was addressed did she notice he was still a few meters from her, just looking at the ground with his hair shadowing his eyes.
"Naruto get into position now! Naruto! Naruto! Get back!" She couldn't move from her spot to force him to move behind her, they could just lunge forward and get Hinata and Shino, she didn't even know why he wasn't moving, was he freaking out like he did in the forest when he smelt the blood? But instead of responding to her orders all she heard was a mumbled something, followed but a dark foreboding feeling.
"SPEAK UP BOY!" Naruto shifted slightly when being addressed this time. Slowly lifting his head to look at the three brothers.
"You… You just killed her like nothing? What are you?... You were the ones that did that in the forest… You think this is a game? YOU THINK THIS IS ALL FUN?" His voice echoed throughout the village followed by nothing but silence as the three brothers watched the weird boy with interest.
'No Naruto-kun, you will never be considered a monster until you can kill with no remorse, no feeling, or worse actually enjoying and finding joy in murdering.'
'It does become easier yes. But it never truly goes away, but if it ever gets to the stage where you can kill and not feel anything, then and only then, will you be considered a monster.'
The ground beneath Naruto began to hum slightly, the rocks and pebbles near him shaking as the air around him began to 'boil' with heat. Heat of rage and anger, of pure and unchecked bloodlust and murderous intent. In a surge of power, Naruto roared to the heavens, his body quickly changing as his dark Yokai chakra blasted from him in waves powerful enough to knock over some of the merchant stands near him. What villagers still looked out from the safety of there houses cowered in fear at the growing evil feeling coming from the boy they could only see happiness from earlier that day, a powerful feeling of bloodlust surrounding the entire village as they could see red flames of chakra flash around him.
"You… You monsters! How could you so easy take someone's life like that? I'LL TEAR YOU ALL TO SHREDS!" Raging towards them the three figures could literally feel his powerful chakra blast towards them as he yell at them, there excitement extremely perked at the power and bloodlust they felt from him. The flames around him soon settled, but the evil and malevolent presence still remained, his growls nearing demonic as he slowly crouched to all fours.
Shino and Hinata looked over at there teammate with worry, Shino had never felt such rage from his hanyou teammate and was actually feeling fear just by looking at him. Hinata however understood Naruto's Yokai a lot more, and knew that he must be in so much pain for it to surface like it was, she could feel his hurt that fuelled his rage and was worried about his safety. Because she knew he was already too far gone to listen to their sensei's orders.
'Please be careful Naruto-kun… I can't lose you…' She wished with all her love, before turning back into position, her Byakugan activating in preparation as Shino's insect began to filter out of his long jacket.
"I want him Idakai! He is mine brother, cant you feel it? The bloodlust is perfect!" The shorter brother sheathed his blade and stepped over the woman he had just cut, his eyes staring right into Naruto's now glowing scarlet red ones, his hands quivering with adrenilene. "Yes! This child is different! He is mine!"
The tallest of the three brothers just snickered at his younger brother's enthusiasm, although he too was intrigued by the young boy glowing with rage. Perhaps his weird fox-like features could be traits of a Jinkuriki? Or perhaps even something greater? Turning to Kurenai he could see the panic within her eyes as she shifter her glance from him to her student, it was a fright that he knew wouldn't be normal for her, it was a fright that he and his brothers brought to her by there very presence.
"Well Kurenai-imouto, it has been so long since we last seen each other. Lets see if you can stop us this time, or will you end up with another scar as a sign of your weakness?"
Kurenai unconsciously touched the left side of her stomach, a large hidden wound from the past lay there from there last meeting. She had hoped that it was there last, but she wasn't strong enough back then, she hadn't had the ability to stop them or hurt the people she once called family. But staring in there eyes and seeing there bloodlust and insanity she knew they were no longer the older brothers she knew or looked up to, they had completely be overcome by there dark desires.
"It was not long enough Idakai, this time I will make sure you pay for what you did! Naruto, get back with Hinata and Shino! Let me handle this!" Her eyes steel as she watched her once beloved brothers, her heart slowing as she cleared her mind and steadied her thoughts. She couldn't allow her students to help, they would only be cut down, she would have to use everything she knew to overcome all three of her brothers. But as she imagined the faces of her beloved parents she felt a certain peace and calmness wash over her, images of there faces smiling brightly at her giving her strength.
'This time… This time I will not allow them to do what they did to you… mother… father… This time I will stop them.' Without even showing signs of any movement a kunai knife appeared in her hand, her chakra surging as she readied herself for the fight that was unavoidable.
'This time father, mother, I will avenge you.'