Author's Note: I want to thank KnightOfGlory26 for his fanart which is now the cover image for this story.
I rose from my meditative pose and Ichi handed me a Kiri hunter mask. It was mostly white with Kiri's symbol on the forehead and purple swirls going around the sides. I quickly turned to the side and slipped the new mask on while storing the old one in my inventory. Turning back around I saw the remaining members; Ichi, Ni, Roku and Shichi waiting for me with their new masks on.
"Right we need to move. Kyuu, from now on don't use any crystal jutsu and everyone should try to stick to water jutsu as much as possible." We all acknowledged him and then set off towards the South. There was no need to keep wearing compromised armor so as we ran I slipped out of my armor and put on a new set.
The run was enlightening to me as well and not in a great way. There was no question that a normal human or hell even a ninja would still be alive after losing a heart and a lung. I was not only alive, and running, but having no real trouble keeping up with everyone even though I should be out of breath. It brought the uncomfortable question of whether or not I even needed to breath and I had just been unconsciously breathing because that was considered normal before I died.
'No.' I firmly crushed the thought. 'I already don't need to eat, drink or sleep and I refuse to throw away what little I have left in common with other people.' With that troubling thought thrown away I looked back through my notifications that had appeared during the fight but I had been too distracted to read them. Most of them were about health loss and one bleeding status effect that I already resolved but there was one new skill.
Ding!
Corrosive Chakra Resistance (Passive) LVL 1 – 38%
Reduces the effects of the Tailed Beast's corrosive charka properties by 1%.
A useful skill I suppose but if I never had a reason to level it I would be happy. I was distracted by the rush of new memories as my clone, which had been healing me, popped letting me know I was back to full health once more.
Looking forward I saw Ichi stop in a gully and I dropped down next to him. "Alright, take us out of here." Chakra strings extended to everyone and once they were secure I took us out of the ID.
As we landed back in the real world the first thing I heard was the distant clanging alarm coming from the North. The first thing I saw was that we had exited right in front of a chunin patrol. The world seemed to freeze as both sides tried to come to terms with the other before I acted. I knew my teammates would be moving much slower than normal after just coming out of the ID so as quickly as I could I created a thick obscuring mist to hide in so we could recover.
The mist seemed to form from nowhere. It was so thick I couldn't even see my hand if I held it in front of my face but it didn't matter to me. Not even one of the chunin had learned how to hide their chakra signature yet so they all stood out to me like a beacon in the dark. I leapt to the left along with Ni while everyone else went right as lightning flashed through our last position.
To their credit they didn't panic and managed to form a diamond pattern with their backs to each other in a short amount of time. 'Time to test their formation.' I felt a jutsu form on the other side of them and sent in my own wind blades at them so they would have to react to two fronts as well as sent a clone underground. There was a cry of pain that echoed out from the mist and I felt one of their signatures flutter then die just as my clone reached their position. One of the chunin's signatures suddenly shot downward into the ground before it disappeared and my clone popped, its task complete.
Another startled shout echoed out before being cut off as I felt Ichi appear next to the last chunin that was still standing before their signature disappeared as well. Satisfied with the results I let the mist fade away to reveal Ichi standing over one of the corpses cleaning off his blade and a heavily injured chunin nearby. The injured chunin must have been from my wind blades yet Ichi didn't move to finish him off and instead motioned us to leave.
Confused but not willing to speak up about it I leapt after him and as we left the gully I saw a scroll "slip" from Ichi's pouch to fall onto the ground. 'Ah, I see, so this is the bait and the survivor was a witness. A little flimsy but they would come after us just for the chunin we killed.'
What was in the scroll? I signed to Ichi.
Yugito's head. 'Well that would definitely send them sprinting after us.' Good thinking with the mist.
I acknowledged it and kept on running. About 20 minutes after the fight two red flares shot up behind us alerting us to the fact that the chase was now on.
It's too soon. Ni set up some road blocks for any pursuers.
She nodded and three clones appeared next to her. Before they could leave I tossed each of them a scroll roll.
I made some proximity seals. Set them up and get further than 15 meters away in 30 seconds. They react to the amount of chakra in the area and explode if there is more than a genin's worth nearby.
They were actually one of the first seals that I made from scratch, with Kushina supervising of course, and they were almost like a claymore. You see regular explosive tags simply expanded in a ball of pressure and fire when they went off sometimes leaving the target singed but alive. My seals had a storage component where I put bits of iron scrap so there would be fire and an expanding arc of flying metal pieces. Kushina had simply praised me for my ingenuity and then told me to never use them near allies which was more than fair. They couldn't tell chakra apart so they were a danger to everyone once they had been activated.
After I explained the seals Ni's clones had bounded off and not 5 minutes later explosions lit up the night behind us. To my eyes they were a bit too close for comfort really as it meant our pursuers were right behind us. Movement in the distance caught my eye and I focused in on the area to see a young man, probably a genin, shift around as he tried to hide. Almost as soon as I spotted him what I assumed was their jonin sensei stepped out of the shadows to look back and forth between the explosions in the distance then us. I could almost see the indecision before she grabbed the genin and dragged him further away.
One jonin and one genin with more possible at 9 o'clock.
Acknowledged. Mist, clone and shift right.
I created another bank of mist and each of us created a clone that continued on our original direction while we took off 30 degrees to the right. The sound of explosions in the distance was tapering off as our pursuers became more cautious as they followed us which was good as it gave us a greater lead on them.
After about an hour my clone popped in the distance and the news it relayed was grim. Killer B was after us and boy did he seem pissed off. The amount of chakra he was putting out dwarfed Yugito's by a large margin and 4 of us had died just to kill her. I didn't even need to relay the information because I felt the mood become even tenser before Roku signaled for a stop.
20 enemies ahead from 10 to 2 o'clock about 5 minutes from interception.
20 enemies was too much for us to handle unless they were all genin which they were surely not. I glanced at everyone else and lamented the fact that I couldn't just keep popping us in and out of the ID. Extensive testing with Orochimaru had shown that people who went into the ID needed about 4 times the amount of time outside of it for every minute spent in it otherwise whatever was tearing them apart would, well, tear them apart and we couldn't afford injuries right now.
I heard a tsking sound from Ichi so I refocused my attention on him. Clones forward while we head East. Kyuu, make more clones to give us a concealing mist.
We complied and our clones were sent forward in a suicidal run while we started running to the left. I also made several water clones who shot off in every direction as mist sprung up around us. All too soon the sounds of combat sprung up behind us and I felt a team of probable chunin pass uncomfortably close by as they tried to circle around and entrap our battling clones. Thankfully they didn't notice us and we were able to escape the encirclement. As we burst through the edge of the thick mist I was distracted by the familiar sound of a pop up.
Ding! Level up.
'Huh, must have killed enough people with seals and back in the mist to level.' I grimaced as my clone burst giving me the memory of a fiery demise just after I had stuck a sword in someone's chest. Our course altered to resume heading Southward and I couldn't help but think about those 79 banked points just sitting in my menu. Now would be a good time to use them but could I use them without slowing everyone down?
The one time I did use them I was incapacitated as my brain literally rewired itself to give me a perfect memory. Would something similar happen if I tried to increase my physical stats? What about luck?
I almost snorted at that. Luck was… nebulous. I wasn't sure how changing it would affect me and to be honest it was the one stat I was most wary off. If I changed it would it start to affect the real world if it got high enough? Would my enemies start missing me? Would the world itself bend to accommodate my luck? We took a sharp right to avoid another band of enemies and I closed my eyes for a moment. 'We need all the luck we can get right now.'
I poured 20 points into luck and read the blue screen that popped up.
Ding!
Gained Loaded Dice (Passive) LVL MAX: Grants a 10% increase for a favorable outcome in games of chance.
Learned Jinx (Active 100 – 700) LVL 1 – 0%
Have you ever had a bad day where nothing seems to go right? Well that's too bad but misery loves company so spread it around. The target will experience minor annoyance after minor annoyance for a minimum of a day to a maximum of a week. This can cause minor injuries but the target will never die as a result of this curse.
I don't know what I was expecting but I was hoping for something more than a prank skill. Oh sure it could probably be used for combat but the part tacked onto the end was a bit of a letdown. I blinked as soon as I thought that and ruefully shook my head. Not every skill had to be about killing your enemy but I seemed to have fallen into that mind set.
We had to switch our direction again to avoid another group of pursuers. They seemed to be coordinating a bit more than before and I couldn't help but feel like a fox during a fox hunt. The groups of enemies being the hounds and Killer B the huntsman. Shaking off the stray thought I focused back on the skill.
Still that bit on the end was odd. If I used jinx on someone and then tried to kill them would I be unable to or was it meant to be literal? As in this curse can injure but never kill while outside forces can still kill them. If that was the case then it was a great skill for combat. Who doesn't want your enemies to have horrendous luck when you're fighting them?
A sudden outpouring of potent chakra behind us caused me to swivel my head around. In the distance, yet still far too close for comfort, a huge oxen head reared as eight squid like tails rose behind it. I heard someone swear but I really wasn't paying attention. It would seem that Killer B was playing for keeps right now by going into a full tailed state. I turned back around to see Roku already signing at us.
-there is a cordon of forces in front of us. 'So that was a display to force us into a panic and run into a trap.'
Is there any way around it? Ichi asked and Roku seemed to spend a moment concentrating before shaking his head.
They've encircled us. The poor fools. I had to smile at Shichi's comment. She seemed like a fun person.
Quite right. Kyuu do you have any more of those seals of yours? I pulled out another roll of them and I could almost feel Ichi's smile. Good. Create some mist to give us concealment while we set up those seals. Once we're done we'll escape this trap using your jutsu.
I handed off the roll of seals to them and they split off to go set them up as I created another wall of mist to surround us. Then I created a water clone to maintain the mist when we left so whoever came close would be blind. Not even a minute later everyone rejoined me and I brought them to my ID.
"Okay you guys should be able to stay in here for about 30 minutes so let's make the most of it." They all nodded and we set off at our best speed to the South. We made it pretty far away from where Kumo tried to entrap us before we were forced to return to the real world. Thankfully this time we didn't end up smack dab in the middle of an enemy patrol and we continued onwards.
Based on the topography of the area, the patrol schedule intel and the amount of forces that tried to entrap us back there I could assume that surrounding area was lacking in forces able to stop us. I was quickly proven correct as we didn't run into a patrol for hours. In fact we were actually nearing the sea before we started running into patrols again.
By this time we had been running for hours and hours on end and the sun was high above our heads. Nobody mentioned anything about stopping though as we needed to get beyond Kumo's borders before the news caught up to us and they tightened their patrols on their Southern border. The random chunin left alive and the scroll would point to Kiri in a flimsy way but unless Ichi planted more "evidence" that I wasn't aware of it was a paper thin lie at the moment.
Is there anything else we're doing to implicate Kiri? I asked and there was a long moment before Ichi shrugged.
All we can do now is just get to Kiri. They should be able to find our chakra trail and if we hip hop across the islands they should be able to follow us all the way to Kiri.
They can do that? I swear I felt bemusement from the rest of them as we reached the water and after we were out of sight of anyone watching I picked them all up with my chakra strings. Almost immediately everyone but Ichi fell asleep and I couldn't blame them for it.
Whenever we empower ourselves to go faster with chakra we leave an imprint of chakra in the air and ground. It's a really minor trail being such a simple skill and it'll usually fade within a couple of hours but with everything we've been throwing around they'll get a good feel for it and be able to follow our trail pretty easily.
Huh. Taking this into consideration it really does seem like an operation gone wrong. We took out the target, Yugito, muddied our chakra signatures by exploding everything and then simply had the misfortune to come upon an enemy patrol. This could actually work.
I'm going to sleep as well. Head for Ishigaki island and wake us about an hour out from it.
I acknowledged it and he went to sleep as well leaving just me running along. I continued running as the sun shone down on us and the only sound was the lapping of waves and the distant cry of sea gulls. It was peaceful and I allowed myself to relax slightly until 4 hours later as I had to wake everyone up as we were approaching Ishigaki island.
The island itself was a heavily disputed island that was about midway between the lands of Kumo and Kiri. Kiri claimed it was theirs because they were an island nation and the large island boasted a major natural harbor making it perfect for trade. Kumo of course wanted it as well for many of the same reasons but sometime during the Second Shinobi war Kiri had gained control of it and never relinquished it since although that was not to say that Kumo hadn't tried.
Usually there would be quite a few forces here guarding the island but with the recent civil turmoil taking place the defending force had been stripped down to a skeleton crew. This made it quite a bit easier for us to slip onto the island quietly where we waited for several hours to allow any pursuing force to gain on us and ensure that they could find our chakra trail if necessary.
Once that was done we set out again towards Kiri leaving Ishigaki island behind as we ran across the waves. The sun set and the moon rose then nearly set itself before we came to one of the many small islands that made up the nation of Kiri and its namesake mist. It wasn't thick enough to be a real problem but it was seemingly ever present and a bit of a bother.
For now we continued onwards traveling further and further towards the heart of Kiri. As we traveled I saw the devastation that the civil war had already caused as we passed by abandoned homes and bodies swaying in the breeze as they swung from trees. I even heard the sounds of battle carry over the water sometimes as the rebel and loyalist forces fought. Whenever such things occurred we shifted away from the fighting and just continued onwards.
By the time the sun had passed its zenith and was dropping down over the horizon we cut Westward towards Konoha held lands. Nothing particularly interesting happened during that time although I noticed everyone taking the time to down some type of pill. When Ichi offered me one I saw that it was a chakra and caffeine pill so I declined. We kept running until we came to a small outcrop of land barely 30 meters wide and almost submerged in the lapping water.
We'll stop here for the time being. Then we'll wait for two days to see if there is any pursuit.
I took another look around the godforsaken rock with nothing on it and held back a sigh. 'This was going to be really tedious.' Of course I didn't say boring even in my mind because that would invite the universe to screw you over. Thankfully? Our luck held out and nothing came close to us in the two days that we spent on this rock getting coated in water and salt. It was not a fun experience but it certainly beat fighting for our lives I suppose.
At the end of the second day we traded our Kiri hunter masks back for our Root ones and took off for Konoha. It took a day and a half to reach but as the village walls came into sight I had to bite back a sigh of relief. I was going to relish taking a bath and removing all the accumulated grime off me. The others seemed eager to get back as well if their increased speed was any indication.
Before we could relax we had to report in so just a short time later I found myself standing at attention while Ichi related what had happened on our mission to Lord Danzo while he listened intently. Several times during the report one of us would have to take over talking as Ichi couldn't be everywhere at once and during when I reported how I killed Yugito his eyes had briefly flickered to my chest but he made no comment on it. When we were finally done he leaned back in his chair before reaching down to a drawer and pulling out 4 slips of paper.
"I want to thank each and every one of you for what you've done you've done Konoha a great service." He paused for a moment and then bowed his head. "I know losing a comrade is always hard and for the next two weeks consider yourselves off duty." He stood up and walked over to hand the slips of paper to Ichi. "I expect a written report of the mission by tomorrow morning but for now you have something to do."
"Of course sir." Ichi slipped the pieces of paper into a pouch and saluted Danzo.
"Dismissed." He said quietly and we all filed out of the room.
Ding!
Quest Taming a Cat complete!
Rewards: 30,000xp, 50,000 ryo and the rank of Special Jonin
I quickly read over the popup and refrained from making a face. For the amount of trouble that the quest gave me I would have thought the mystery reward would have been something more than a promotion. Whatever. I made to leave but Ichi's hand clamped down on my shoulder stopping me. I looked back at him and tilted my head curiously but he just shook his head.
"Just follow us." I followed along for now until we reached a large room that I hadn't been in before with rows of stones with writing on each of them. As I got closer I noticed that the writing was actually names and I suddenly understood what this was about.
We slowly walked until there was an empty area before we stopped and each of them took off their masks. I only hesitated for a moment before I took mine off as well while Ni took out a bottle of sake and poured each us a cup full. While she was doing that Ichi was using some type of earth jutsu to carve four new names into the stone and once he was done he turned to face us, receiving a cup of sake from Ni.
"We gather here today to honor those of us that have passed before us." Ichi solemnly intoned as he raised his glass. "Though neither your names nor deeds will be known to all but a select few we honor the sacrifice that you have made in the line of duty. It is our privilege to stand before such heroes and it is our responsibility to carry on their legacy. May you rest easy knowing that your duty is finally over and may you find peace in your final resting place." There was a long moment of silence after Ichi finished his speech before, at some unseen cue, we all took a deep drink from our cups.
"So," Roku began some thirty minutes after our first toast and subsequent refills, "who wants to join me in taking a nice long bath?"
"I do." Shichi chimed in with both Ichi and Ni agreeing soon after. The change from the solemn and serious mood to a seemingly cheerful one threw me off balance for a bit and I merely nodded when they looked at me to see if I would join. I suppose being surrounded by death for so long you begin to harden yourself for the inevitable and I think that was what was going on here with them. They cared, don't get me wrong, but they didn't let grief drag them down or they hid it well.
Regardless we went to a private mixed bath within the base and after washing myself thoroughly I joined all of them relaxing in the hot water while sipping sake. This went on for a while before I noticed them giving each other glances and after clearing his throat Ichi spoke up. "Um, Kyuu, while it's great to have you here do you think you could leave while we have some… adult discussions."
I felt like laughing as he danced around the subject. Sure you can order a kid to kill other people but talking about sex is a big no no. Just for that I'm going to tease them a bit. "Um, okay I guess." I scratched my cheek awkwardly. "Do you want a jutsu to help with your… adult discussions?"
It was glorious to see them sputter until Shichi sent a coy smile my way. "Now why would you know something like that?"
"Oh, well I did have Jiraiya as a teacher for a bit and he taught me this jutsu that all the adults seem to love." I shrug helplessly. "I don't know why though it seems pointless to me." I had their attention now and after Shichi prompted me to continue I performed the tongue extension jutsu before waving my meter long tongue at them.
Shichi burst out laughing. "You're so cute I could just gobble you up." She pulled me closer and gave me a peck on the cheek. "If only you were a bit older but then we'd have to go through that sensei of yours." She let out a low chuckle. "Thanks for the jutsu but it's time to leave and let the adults play for a bit."
"Don't mention it." I muttered as I retreated from the room. Shichi had turned the table around on me at the end there and as soon as the door was closed I heard giggles from inside.
Blocking off any stray sounds with an application of chakra to my ears I got dressed and left them to their fun. I suppose that that's another way to get over grief. I just wish I knew my remaining teammates names but if they didn't volunteer them it was… improper to ask. It was just the way Root and ANBU worked I suppose.
On the way out of the base I had a sudden thought that caused me to do a 180 and head towards the mission desk. I had vowed to kill the fat bastard and now was as good a time as any to put a hit out on him. The mission room was mostly empty and I grabbed the forms necessary to start the mission rolling. One tedious session of paperwork later I plopped the papers down on the desk along with 80,000 ryo.
The agent behind the desk skimmed it over and pulled out a scroll which he read before giving me a nod. "The target is not on the do no assassinate list so your request to kill him in a painful yet humiliating manner within a 2 to 6 month period is accepted, pending approval." He started stamping things and then paused and looked at me. "I have to ask. Why don't you just do it yourself?"
I gave him a lazy shrug. "Maybe I want to help out the local economy and can't be bothered doing it myself."
"Heh. Fair enough." He started stamping my paperwork again and I left him to it. I was probably breaking some ninja code of allowing those you've slighted time to gather their strength but this way it would seem unrelated to Konoha and there would be one less pedophile in the world. A win-win scenario for everyone except him but I don't care about him so he doesn't matter.
Drinking sake with everyone had left me in the mood for more so I stopped by a liquor store and grabbed a few of their more expensive bottles. The clerk had been dubious selling to an 8 year old, ninja or not, but something in my expression convinced him to sell me the bottles. Once that was done I headed up to the top of the Hokage's mountain and settled in to watch the sun set.
Not even five minutes after I sat down I felt Hina's chakra come up behind me. "Hello Hina." I called out cheerfully as she sat down next to me.
"Hello Shiro." Her nose wrinkled as she watched me take a sip from my cup. "I saw you come back today and now I find you drinking alone on a mountain. Do you want to talk about it if you can?"
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes. 'Was that a hint about knowing that I'm in Root? That's dangerous territory she's straying into.' "Why Hina," I turned to her and batted my eyelashes. "I didn't know you cared so much. Oh I can see it now. You standing on the walls, holding a handkerchief, as you gaze off into the distance awaiting my return."
She sputtered but didn't turn red to my disappointment. I guess she built up a tolerance to my antics by now. Eventually she huffed and turned away with her arms crossed. "Fine. Be that way. It's not like I was worried when we got back and everyone was panicking because we're about to go to war then you disappeared without a trace for a week. Ass." The last part hurt coming from her and I let out a sigh.
"Can you check if anyone's around?" I saw her shift around and the veins around her eyes bulged for a moment.
"There's an ANBU close by." Almost as soon as she finished saying that I felt Saiko's chakra appear next to us and I looked up to grin at her.
"Hey there sensei. I was just about to tell all my woes to Hina. Want to join in?" I patted the ground next to me.
I could feel the long hard look even through the mask but in the end she sat down next to me. "Brat, if you're telling woes I'm going to need alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol." That was no problem at all and I simply pulled out another cup and poured her a glass.
"Hina, do you want a glass?" She was still looking at Saiko with an odd look on her face but my voice seemed to snap her out of it and she paused for a moment then shrugged.
"Sure, why not." I grinned and poured her a glass as well.
"So," I began after I handed Hina the glass. "I was taking an enthusiastic walk late at night."
"How enthusiastic?" Hina played along with the story.
"A very enthusiastic walk." I said emphasizing the very and laughed a little at the reference even though they wouldn't get it. "Now everything was going great. The sky was clear, the air crisp and I felt like I was on top of the world." I took a moment to swirl my sake before I took a sip. "Then along came an angry person who shoved their arm right through my chest." I tapped right above my heart and I saw Hina paling.
"What!?" Saiko's voice was oh so flat and the killing intent flowing off her was warping the air around her.
"B-But I didn't see any damage to your chest."
'Oh Hina, you really just set these things up perfectly. How could I not take advantage of that and not say a punchline?'
"Oh ho, Hina how bold. To check me out while pretending to be on the lookout for people." Her face turned bright red and I swear that steam came out of her ears before I felt an iron grip clamp down on my jaw and turn my head towards Saiko.
"Flirt later. Finish telling me how you got horrendously injured now!" I gulped convulsively and nodded until she let go.
"So, um, like I said an angry person punched a hole through my chest and I didn't have a heart or most of a left lung for 20 minutes. They're dead now, by the way, because I killed them for it. Still not having a heart for 20 minutes is kind of the reason why I'm up here drinking, even though it doesn't affect me, and I was going to just be contemplative for a bit." At the end of my hurried speech I saw Saiko's shoulders sag before she downed her cup and poured herself another.
"How did you survive?" There was a hint of awe and not a tiny amount of horror in Hina's voice. I turned back to her and saw that her blush was mostly gone although she was still a bit red.
I let out a chuckle that came out kind of bitter. "Apparently my body is special like that. I'm not even sure I can count as human anymore." There was a sharp pain on the back of my head and I turned to glare at Saiko who had her arm still extended after she hit me.
"Idiot. Just because you're different doesn't make you less human. Besides, you're still the annoying brat I had to train."
"Ah, I knew you cared sensei." She just huffed and drank some more.
"Um, I think she's right. You're still the same Shiro that teases me all the time." I looked back and forth between them as I grinned widely.
"Well if two beautiful women both tell me the same thing it must be right."
"Damn straight." Saiko muttered and Hina let out a giggle as I took a sip of the sake and looked up towards the night sky. It was good to have people that were able to keep me grounded.
Age: 8 years - 2 months
Title: Root Shinobi, Son of a Kage
LVL: 29 - 34% to next LVL
HP: 1,610/1,610
Chakra: 63,714/63,714
Elemental Affinity: Water, Earth
Bloodline: Crystal Release
STR: 169(219)
VIT: 161
END: 159
DEX: 174(191)
INT: 151(161)
WIS: 132(141)
LCK: 50
Points: 59
Money: 641,359