Longer chapter than usual. Just warning.
Yoshino Isamu dashed ahead. By her side, her bag banged against her leg. She had forgotten it was there. Kurai seemed to read her mind.
"Isamu, how is your water?"
"I...I think I might have used some. I still have enough though."
"Good, because we'll need it."
Isamu quietly agreed. She reached into the bag and felt the jar. The lid was slightly open, but the inside wasn't of the bag wasn't wet. It hadn't spilt. She dipped her fingers into the liquid. It felt good, calming in the tough situation she was in. The water hardened in layers over her fingernails.
Yuu was furious. Why won't this bitch just die! Violet vapors shot up around her, creating a horrible storm. The night sky clouds turned pink from all the light of her genjutsu.
Natsuki stared, eyes shaking. It was so obviously genjutsu. Just genjutsu she told herself. Genjutsu she couldn't break. But what if it further? What if she went into her mind and made her hurt herself. She pulled her wolf puppet closer to herself. If the girl controlled her, she wasn't going to control her puppets. She was the only master of them.
Yuu's hands glowed with purple flame and she lunched it at her. Natsuki took a direct it. It burned! She could actually feel the illusion burn! She put her hands together and bit down. Break it! Break it! Break it!
It broke, but not by her will.
A green flash appeared; one that was previously overshadowed by the violet genjutsu. Kenpatchi had Yuu pinned knocked down. She hit the ground, bruised a little but no real harm. She didn't seem to think so. The criminal cried out and looked up with wet eyes. She wasn't used to falling like that. She was also hurt that she had been so easily distracted, she hadn't notice the real world sneaking in on her.
"That hurt.." She choked up in a whiny voice, "How could you hit a girl so hard?"
Natsuki calmed down and relax, only to be immediately pissed off by Kenpatchi looking guilty and falling for the act.
"I'm sorry! I just wanted to break the genjutsu! I guess I could have grabbed you from behind and-"
"You're such an asshole!"
"Both of you shut up." Mitsukai said. He managed to make his voice louder but keep it calm. Yuu and Kenpatchi both quieted and Natsuki looked at him with a new respect.
Mitsukai tossed Natsuki a small bag of money. "Your hirer barely had enough money to pay you anyway. I think you two are acceptable missing-nin for being able to stand up to us anyway." Natsuki caught the bag and stared, confused. They were just handing the money over?
Yuu sat up from the ground and rubbed her bruised elbow. She glared at the two teenagers. "You aren't going to say thank you? We're paying you extra than you would have got if we haven't killed the damn captain."
"Thank you-"
"What about the scroll?" Natsuki interrupted. This was too fishy. If they were willing to give extra for that scroll, it must be more valuable than the price they were being offered. Everyone had to make a profit somehow.
"It's a genjutsu scroll for advanced masters." Yuu stated. "Only people like me can use it. That's why I wanted it so badly. I don't want any money out of it."
"It's not worth getting into another fight about anyway." Mitsukai pointed out. "You'll be better off accepting the offer than you would be bargaining."
Natsuki sighed and realized they were right. "...thank you for your business then."
Sora ran faster. They were almost there. He could see Brom's face clearly in his head. He could be standing with him, fighting with him, learning from him again. His chest pounded as he thought for a moment. We could be like father and son again. The thought disappeared as quickly as it came and he barely knew where it came from in the first place.
A cold feeling rushed through him. Like someone dumped a bucket of ice water on him. Sora snapped back to reality and realized he was surrounded by cold water. It swooshed around him, glowing in a weird way that normal water couldn't. His mouth opened and he choked, becoming colder as the water snuck inside him.
Kanemaru turned around suddenly. He saw Sora in the middle of a giant floating sphere of water. The water came from a small pigtailed girl with it's jar at her waist. Her hand went up to her mouth and she mumbled, "Crystal Vortex Jutsu"
A vibration ripped through the water and the whole circle came to live. Sora opened his mouth in a scream as the water tore at him. Slashes appeared in his clothes and cut into his stomach. Kurai stared from under the masked when she saw the metal shine through the sleeves. The water turned red and Kanemaru began to growl.
The growl grow to a roar and he tackled the girl, pinning her to the wall with his front paws. The water splashed down, taking Sora with it. He propped himself up to his knees and vomited the bright blue water up. There were some deep slashes in his stomach and on his legs. His white gloves had been cut to ribbons and his jacket wasn't in much better shape. He tried to take them both off. Kurai kicked him down.
"Kurai!" Isamu screamed. Kurai whipped her head around to see the bear picking up Isamu with his paws and throwing her at her! Kurai caught her, but the two bumped heads hard.
"Go!" Kanemaru called, pushing Sora ahead with his head. Sora got up and ran, ignoring the cuts in his legs and the opening ones in his stomach. He was immortal. Cuts like this were child's play compared to what he could take. Brom had taught him that. And now he was going to save him.
The tunnel seemed to get brighter when Sora spotted the cage in front of him. That had to be him! There was no where else he could go. Kanemaru became equally excited. He jumped up, putting his paws up on the front bars. He put the lock between his sharp teeth and crushed it. Sora ripped paper after paper off the wall, not feeling the pain through his metal hands. If the pain was sent through his entire body he couldn't feel it.
"Brom-dono!" "Senpai!"
Brom stared still taking it in. They came for him. They actually came for him! He had been curious when the sirens started ringing, but he assumed an S-rank had broken from his cage. No, that hadn't been the case. Some one had broken in to get him out.
The door opened and Brom stepped out of his cell. He hadn't been able to sit up in weeks, his cell was far too small for his large body. His back hurt. His dull brown eyes looked down at his rescuers like a shinobi would look at a genjutsu- wondering if it was real or not.
"Am I dreaming...?" He sloped down, back bent. "No!" Sora said excitedly. "No! This is real and we're going to get you out! We have another man ahead who is going to help and..."
Sora talked on, taking Brom's hand in his own and trying to pull him ahead, smiling widely. Kanemaru became nervous. Something was off. Brom looked to different. The beard was expected, but Brom looked far too skinny than he should, as though he were even skipping meals the prison gave him. His muscles were gone. His face looked older, twenty years closer to his real age than it had when he was free. The part they scared him most was the eyes. They were dull, like the life was being sucked out. Dead eyes.
"and we have some insane bitches coming after us so we gotta go now!" Sora gave the hand a final tug. "Say something!"
Brom didn't say anything. His weight shifted and he started to stumble forward.
Kanemaru got under him and caught him before Sora was crushed. The man was heavy but he could carry him. He began walking. "C'mon. We're almost out. Sora, you'll have to handle the girls."
Sora just stared at Brom, realizing the weakness for the first time.
"Sora!"
"Sora...let me talk to him, Kanemaru..."
Kanemaru stopped, "but-"
"Kanemaru you're my summon dammit!" Brom yelled. "You're supposed to follow my every order! Follow my damn order, take care of the guards, and leave us alone!" It was the first time he had really spoken up.
Kanemaru stood still for a moment. Then he hesitantly took Brom to a wall and with Sora's help managed to lean the tall man on it. He looked between them and after seeing Brom's glare, ran back down the tunnel.
"Sora..."
"Yes, senpai!" Sora leaned in. He was starting to get really worried, he wasn't sure why. Why couldn't this talk wait? They were immortal and they had had all the time in the world.
"...what do numbers have to do with Jashin-sama?"
This wasn't the time for such stupid questions. Sora answered, "There are certain numbers that stand out strongly in religion. Any religion, right?"
Brom managed a small nod. "What numbers?"
"Seven, that's why people think it's lucky...Thirteen is unlucky..."
"And..."
"And...three...that's why three is everywhere. That's why it's always three wishes."
"Good...that's why Jashin made three immortals..."
"Three immortals. Yeah. I have the third one with me! His name is Kitai Misuto and-"
"No...Sora that's great, but you're wrong..."
"He's not immortal?" Sora looked crushed.
"That's not what I meant." Brom sighed. "Let me explain.
"A hundred years ago, there were no ninja villages. Just the Lands and the clans that lived in them. The first organized group were the Jashinists."
"The Jashinists..." Sora smiled feeling proud.
"Jashin-sama ruled for years, years before the villages came into power. We were the first the use the number three and create three man teams. I was a member. I had a team."
Sora listened more closely. It was hard for him to imagine a younger Brom. He seemed too old to have ever been a teenager.
"We had a sensei and learned Jashinism from her. I was a member for a few years...then the villages were formed. They saw Jashinism as a threat. There was a genocide."
"Genocide?" Sora had never heard the term before.
"Remember some years ago when the Uchihas were wiped out. It was in the news everywhere. Maybe you were too young-"
"No I remember!" Sora said. He was young, but he remembered the commotion it caused in his small town. Some said the Uchiha Clan was the same size of the town itself. It was possible to kill the entire town, to kill your entire family too! People had been scared.
"It's like that. An entire race was wiped out. The villages decided that a religion that kills should be killed. They tried to wipe us from history." Brom's eyes were far away as he spoke. "The temples were destroyed. Everyone was killed. We watched our senpais and masters fall dead before us. Those who survived only did so because they abandoned us. They joined the villages and killed once-friends.
"We ran away, ran to the edge. But eventually we were caught too. At least close to it. There was no way to escape. Then we tried an experiment. A ritual that would allow us to serve Jashin after death. We commented suicide on Jashin's circle...we fell down and thought we were dead. Really it was more like we were knocked out. We woke up in realized we weren't in Jashin-sama's realm yet. We were still at the edge of the temples...the buildings were ruined...everyone was gone.
"We tested it out and realized Jashin-sama was stronger. He made us immortal so that his power won't ever die. We were stabbed, burned, drowned, shocked, pushed, it didn't matter what happened; each time we lived. We stayed undercover as a three man team, pretended we weren't Jashinists, hiding our sacrifices much more carefully. We discovered the sacrifice and ways to kill..."
Brom stopped and started coughing. Sora stared and said, "What does that have to do with it?"
"Everything." Brom said coldly. "Sora...you're immortal. Do you know why?"
"Because God choose me."
"When did you do the ritual?"
"I..." Sora felt a rock sink into his stomach. "I never did it. I don't know.
"I don't ether. When my team separated we agreed to each pick a follower. In a new generation, there would be another three immortals, each selected by us. But why did you live out of all those I picked?"
"All those you picked?"
Brom looked more distant than ever. "Did you really think you were the only damn kid I picked out of poverty and introduced to Jashinism? Did you think you were my damn kid!"
The words hit Sora hard, each one like a sharp blade. All the open wounds from the water jutsu, all the scars he had from the past. Maybe if all the pain from all of them combined, it might come close to a small percent of the pain he felt at that moment.
Brom coughed again and his breath became shaky. "Find an immortal...answer your questions...Takahiro...Inochi...with me we're the original three. If they don't work, find...find the new ones. I don't know them, but I heard of one...Hidan...an Akatsuki member."
Sora swallowed the lump in his throat. "Why are you telling me this? You're coming with me."
At this, life shot out of Brom's eyes for the first time. He laughed out loud and didn't stop, even as Sora stared at him in horror. "I've been suffering in prison. You have strength I don't. I'm weak. I'm in pain. I've been praying for the pain to end and Jashin-sama's taking mercy on me. Sora..." At this point Kanemaru and Kitai came running toward them. They stopped just in time to hear Brom's last words.
"Do you really think just because we're immortal something can last forever?"
"Sora..." Sora barely heard Kitai's voice. He just stared at his senpai. He clutched his hand tightly, never wanting to let go. His eyes dulled so much, they almost looked like Brom's dead ones. A hand landed on his shoulder, jolting him back to live.
"Sora we have to go. They're injured, but they'll be after us any second now." Kitai insisted. Sora stood up.
"We take senpai out of here. He doesn't deserve to be left dead here."
There was no argument or signs of agreement. They just did it. Kanemaru let the boys put Brom on his back. They walked down the torch lit hallway, their steps heavy. The siren had been turned off a while back, even though they were still in the building. They guessed there was no more need for alert.
They passed the masked girl Kurai and pigtailed Isamu. Isamu was using the remainder of her special water to treat Kurai, who looked like she had been mauled by Kanemaru. Kurai couldn't even notice their presence. Isamu looked at them, noticed the dead man, swallowed and instantly focused all her attention on Kurai to distract herself.
Further down, Sora felt his eyes grew heavy. They felt strange. If he had looked in a mirror in a lighter area, he would have seen thick shots of blood covering the white. The further they walked, the redder Sora's eyes became. They passed Ayumi's unconscious body. Kitai had mercifully knocked her out when he had gotten the chance.
"Dumb bitch, Kitai. Couldn't kill her like a proper Jashinist."
Sora almost tripped over his own feet. He knew that voice too well. It felt even more demonic.
Now was not the time to be seeing things others didn't. He looked straight ahead, straightening his back making him look too casual. He knew the demon was behind him now because it gave a sidesplitting laugh. Sora ignored it, eyes beginning to twitch.
They passed the dark girl, Amaya. She looked like she was sleeping. "Don't waste your breath on these girls." The demon laughed in his ear. "They're not the one's worth killing. They should die, but there is someone much more worth killing on the other side of the door."
"There should be a switch here that opens the door." Kitai examined the wall, looking for the one that had closed the door.
"Kitai-san, when the door opens there is bound to be guards on the other side. Plenty of them. And I can't fight with Brom-dono on my back." Kanemaru pointed out.
"They took one immortal, we still have two." Kitai replied.
"Two that didn't pray for death." Sora muttered bitterly. Kitai found the switch and the door gave a scratchy creeeeeeekkkbefore opening up. Kanemaru had been right. Many Kumo-nin were waiting for them outside the door. The three could tell just by seeing their feet they were organized, with weapons drawn to attack.
Sora saw the first shinobi and his mouth dropped. His eyes became instantly bloodshot.
The man was first and obviously the leader, standing in front with a slightly different Kumogakure uniform. His eyes and hair were both equal shades of brown and the hair was pulled back in spikes.
The face was dark toned and strong looking. His hair was spiked up in the back. He had small brown eyes that were the same shade as his hair.
Sora stared into those beady brown eyes. "FUCKER!" His right arm shot forward. Shinobi jumped back and kunai shot out from the exposed armor. They ripped straight into the man's gut. Sora came closer and yanked at the kunai, making them move but not come out.
"REMEMBER ME!" Sora yanked more each time the man shook his head. Blood was leaking out onto his shirt. "REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID TO MY HANDS!" The metal hands seemed to clank louder in his ears as he shouted.
One of the shinobi cried out "Jiro-sama!"
"Jiro! Is that your name you fucking bastard!" Sora reached into the skin and pulled at the kunai's handles. Jiro's body shook violently and blood shot out of his mouth. Sora yanked the kunai out and pressed the body to the floor.
Kitai grabbed Sora's shoulder. "Sora! NO! NOT NOW! WE HAVE TO GO!"
"Ignore him. He's a failure. He isn't as concerned of getting out. He just wants you to stop. Kill him! Kill them all!"
Kitai jumped back and Sora whipped out his sword and cut his arm. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" At this a few shinobi stopped staring and tried to help their commander. A blonde girl found herself charging first and had the katana thrown at her, pinning her forearm to the wall behind her. Another two men attacked to have Kunai shoved into their faces.
Kitai stared, eyes shaking, as his friend lashed out at any guard who dared to come close to him. "I'm sorry..." He lunged forward again and struck him on the head.
"Sir!" The Kumogakure nin saluted the man in front of her. Her eyes felt wet when he looked at him. He was tall with strong with dark skin only found in the mountains. His brown hair was pulled back into spikes behind his head. His brown eyes looked down at her. He looked so much like him.
"My commander...Your brother Jiro...He was killed during the break in at KumogakureMassSecurityPrison." She spit out as fast as she could. Her throat stung as she tried to talk.
The man just stared for a moment taking it in. He was feeling his heart sink into the ground.
"I see..."
"You two look alike. Why aren't you ever with him."
"Yes, we're identical twins. Jiro always handles...I'm sorry handled...cases in Kumo. I liked smaller cases better. Religious cases, usually far from the village. Odd things happen out there...one time I found a twelve year old murderer."
Brom was buried high up in the mountains far from civilization. They used various rocks to mark and cover the grave. Kitai, Sora, and Kanemaru were the only ones who attended the burial, as none of them could think of anyone they knew who Brom would want to be there.
"I stole you a new jacket." Kitai handed Sora one to replace the one that had burned away in the maze. Unlike his last one, this one was much bigger and looser and black instead of red. It felt sickening getting it at a funeral.
Kanemaru slept at the side of the grave. He won't leave it, even to get food for himself. Sora stared at it and looked at Kitai.
"Brom-senpai explained to me that immortality comes in threes. He said long ago he and two other friends of his became immortal...Do you remember how you became immortal?"
"To be honest...if there was any immortality in me, it's wearing thin." Kitai replied. "When I became immortal, Jashin-sama talked to me. The more I think about it, the more I imagine I was just making it up in my head."
Sora was quiet for a moment, then decided to go on, as though Kitai had never answered. "So last generation a hundred years ago, there was him and his team. They set out to train the next generation."
"I was never trained." Kitai said sadly.
"Well maybe you're just so special that you didn't need training." Sora said hopefully. This time, Kitai acted as though he hadn't heard. Sora kept talking.
"So there's you and me...there's a third one out there. Senpai said his name...one name, no family name...DAMN IT WHAT WAS IT!"
"You don't remember?" Kitai looked back over at him.
"It was...something like Hidden...I haven't heard it before..."
"...well I don't know about Hidden." Kitai smirked. "But there is a guy said to be immortal named Hidan."
This is the end of an arc in Sora's story. Exciting c: well exciting for me anyway. The next coming chapters will take place before Akatsuki and any of the ninja villages, about 100 years ago. Stay tuned.