Chapter 43
We all sat back down again at the table. Sanshou took all the plates and put them in the sink.
"By the way, I do not see Karashi-kun." Lee says. Sanshou sighs slightly.
"Karashi, after seeing you training so hard, became a happy and energetic boy. But then he became too energetic and left the village. Perhaps it was my fault by saying he should be stronger all the time. He said, 'I will become a man! I will enter the Kurosuke Clan!'" Sanshou explained. We all cringe, and Lee hits the table. "Oh! I'm not blaming you, you know." Sanshou says. "You don't have to worry."
"It is my responsibility." Lee says, glaring at the table as if remorseful.
"You know I-"
"Neji-kun!" Lee shouts, raising his hand to the air. "Please add Karashi-kun's retrieval to our mission! Let us bring him back from the clutches of evil!"
"Okay." Neji replies. "Lets make this place our meeting point. After observing the town, lets make a plan and put it into action."
"Hai!" Lee exclaims.
"I would like you guys to stay here." Neji says, looking at Rokusuke and the others. "It'll be troublesome if you are discovered by the Kurosuke Family."
That night we all bunked in a spare room, Lee, Naruto and I sat on the floor playing cards, Neji stared out the window, and Tenten was sharping kunais sitting on the only bed in there.
"Good move.." Lee says to Naruto.
"Yeah well, I don't just watch Ero-sennin ya know." Naruto chuckles.
"It's terrible!" We hear shouting from the other side of the door, followed by pounding on it. The door slides open, one of Rokusuke's friends was there with a panicked expression. "Rokusuke... Rokusuke disappeared!" He exclaims. We all gasp. "He most likely went to the village on his own!"
"That's awful!" Tenten exclaims, standing up.
"Yosh! We must find him at all costs!" I exclaim jumping to my feet.
"And we must be hasty! If he gets caught then Rokusuke-san will.." Tenten's voice trailed off.
"If that's the case," Naruto says, standing up. "then we have no time to come up with a proper plan. We just have to go and attack!"
"No!" Lee says, standing by the doorway. "Lets destroy them!"
Neji nods in approval. "Lets hurry." He says.
We all bolt out towards the mountain where the village is located, we sprint along the rocky path, then jump down a very steep rocky cliff face, and hide behind some large boulders. We were looking down at a very large building.
"That looks like Katabame Kinzan." Naruto says. "So, lets take care of the Kurosuke Family in one swoop before we save Rokusuke-san and Karashi!"
"Naruto, don't get too hasty." Neji says.
"Then what should we do?" Naruto asks.
"I'm curious about what Gai-sensei said." Lee says, looking in that small notebook.
"The boss of the Kurosuke Family might be one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen!" Naruto says. "We don't know what's happened to Rokusuke-san!"
"But Gai-sensei's info doesn't seem to be right.." Tenten says. Lee suddenly glares at her.
"What are you saying? That's absolutely not true!" Lee shouts, he then went to tackle her, when I tackle him first.
"Lee! Calm down!" I shout.
"How can you say that Tenten?" Lee questions.
"Calm down, Lee!" Neji hisses. Lee opened his mouth to say something else but I slap my hand over his mouth. "For now, we'll stake things out."
"Alright!" Naruto says.
We locate a tunnel from where we were hiding, and as we were watching, people, mostly elderly, were walking in and out with large loads of rocks hanging over their shoulders.
"Hey, that guy over there doesn't look so well." Naruto mentions, pointing to an elderly fellow, carrying a rather big load. He suddenly fell over, holding his chest like he was in pain. Near the building located meters away from the tunnel, strange cloaked figures stood around watching.
"What the hell are you doing? Carry those rocks!" They shout. "If you slack off, we'll ask the boss to have your funeral!"
The elderly man scurries to his knees and bows to them. "Please forgive me!"
"I won't forgive them!" Naruto exclaims.
"Calm down, Naruto. We don't know anything about them." Neji huffs.
"That's right. We have to follow Neji's orders." Tenten says.
"But, if we don't do something, that old guy will die!" Naruto exclaims. I was about to stand up when Lee put his hand on my head, pushed me down as he stood up.
"Naruto-kun, please leave this to me!" He says. I was about to open my mouth to retort when he bolted off.
"Wait, Lee!" Tenten calls.
"Dammit! I was going to get them!" I complain, then jump off to follow him.
"Setsuki! Wait, dammit!" Tenten gushes. Out of the four cloaked figures standing around, Lee went after one on the right, so I went for one of the left. Lee runs up and sends a punch to his stomach, I couldn't lift my legs to kick, so I did the same. I was going to beat all of them! I turn around after this cloaked person fell, only see Lee had already pounded them to the ground. I blink and Lee grins, waving at the others.
"Are you alright old man?" Lee asks, offering a hand to the old guy. The others all jump down.
"What have you done?" The old man questions. Naruto pulls out a bottle of water and offers it to him.
"Here, have some water." Naruto says. The old guy whacks it out of his hand. "What are you doing?"
"Please! Just leave me here and go!" The old man cries. "Knock me out like you did to those guys!"
"What?" Naruto asks.
"I think he's lost it.." Tenten says.
"If you're not going to, then I'll do it myself!" The guy exclaims and begins punching himself.
"H-hey! Old man!" I say, grabbing his fists.
"Definitely lost it..." Tenten mutters.
"Please! Let me go!" The man pleads. I shake my head.
"You can't hurt yourself like this!" I say.
"It's terrifying! If they find out that I was the only one left unhurt, what will they do to me?" He questions. We hear a loud crash like a giant symbol being pounded, it made the man jump and cling to me as if he was clinging for dear life. I almost couldn't hold him up. I didn't know what to do so I just pet him on the head.
"What is that sound?" Naruto asks.
"Have they found us?" Tenten asks.
"No, that's the funeral bell." Neji says.
"Funeral?" Lee asks. The man climbs down and stares into the distance.
"The Kurosuke Family rules this town. Their boss, Raiga, has funerals for those who've betrayed them while they're still alive." He explains.
"Buried alive? How cruel!" Tenten gushes.
"Well, that's... during the funerals. Raiga cries bitterly and grieves openly." The old man says.
"I don't get him at all!" Naruto groans.
"But, that doesn't seem to be like the old man's funeral bell." Neji says.
"Yeah. I heard that Rokusuke was caught, so it's most likely-"
"What?" Naruto questions.
"Come on! We gotta go save him!" I exclaim, and begin taking off.
"Right behind you!" Lee shouts, and follows right behind.
"Wait up!" Tenten calls as the rest follow.
We found the cemetery place where they buried a lot of people, broken crosses and posts stick out of the ground.
"Alright everyone, lets go save them, dattebayo!" Naruto says. "Neji I'm counting on you!"
"Alright." Neji responds. "Byakugan! … It's alright, he's still alive. If we can defeat the others, we can still save him in time."
"Alright, lets take them out!" Naruto says.
"Yes, lets go!" Lee says, about to stand up, but I put my hand on his head, push him down while I stand up. He fell to his butt and looks up at me with a frown.
"Yosh! We'll show 'em what it means to mess with us!" I announce and start to bolt off.
"Stop with the haste you two!" Neji sounds, however I kept running, they eventually follow.
Once we got close to them we throw smoke bombs at them.
"It's the enemy!" One of the cloaked people shouts. One starts running away. "Bastards!"
"Tenten, take care of the ninja on the right." Neji says.
"Okay!" Tenten replies, pulling out a three-section staff. She snaps it into place and starts pounding the guy with it. Neji starts attacking another two, Lee goes for a group of four, but I wasn't going to let him. I put my hands together.
"Water Style: Water Gun Jutsu!" I gush out a large ball of water from my mouth which knocked those four down before Lee could manage to get to them. Lee stops and blink, looks at me and raises an eyebrow. I get a smug expression and scoff.
Naruto took down three with his Uzumaki Barrage.
"Be careful." Neji says. "There are still three lef-"
"I am already on it!" Lee exclaims, rushing towards them. "Leaf Hurric-"
"Water Bullet Jutsu!" I manage to knock those two down as well. Lee lands on his feet and looks at me with a fist raised.
"Stop doing that!" He complains. "The Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee, is ready!" He turns to look for the last one, he was hiding behind a headstone, then began whimpering and backing away as Lee ran towards him. He backed into a tree, Lee was about to punch his face when he suddenly stops, his fist inches from the guy's face. The guy fell to his butt, and his hood fell off.
"What's with him?" Naruto asks.
"Well, this person is.. Karashi-san." Lee says. I run over.
"Then he's Sanshou-baasan's.. grandson?" I ask.
"This guy's Karashi?" Naruto inquires. The guy folds his arms and huffs.
"It isn't true that you joined the Kurosuke Family of your own will, like Sanshou-baasan said, is it?" Lee inquires.
"What's it to you?" Karashi says, closing his eyes.
"You!" Naruto growls, making Karashi flinch.
"You see, Raiga-sama is awesome!" Karashi exclaims, looking up at us. "He kicked the evil people out of Katabama Kinzan and set the village free.
"Listen you. Sanshou-baasan, everyday while making curry, was really worried about you!" Naruto says. Lee stands in front of Naruto with his arm raised.
"Naruto-kun, please leave this to me." Lee says. "Karashi-san, didn't you save my life with your Curry of Life? Why would you, who can make such a wonderful curry, join a family that takes people's lives? Why?"
"Hmph. No one praises you for making curry." Karashi grumbles. "Since I was born a man in this world, I must gain power and use it to control Heaven and Earth. It's better than working in a store that's falling apart and rarely has customers come by."
"What did you say? I can't hold back anymore!" Naruto shouts swinging his fist, but then suddenly Lee punches Karashi in the face.
"Lee..." Tenten mutters. I was confused.
Lee holds his fist up and clenches it tighter. "Karashi0san, it wasn't just my life that got saved by the curry that you and Sanshou-obaasan made. If you put your whole heart into it, and make a lot of curry, you can save lives. Even for a person like myself, if I put all of my heart into it, nothing is impossible. That's what you taught me. I see the you of back then as better and stronger as the you now."
Karashi seemed to bite his lower lip, he opened his mouth to say something when Lee cut him off.
"Please promise me! Promise that you will definitely leave the Kurosuke family."
Karashi got to his feet. "I understand." Karashi says. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"
"Well, that's good." Naruto says.
"Hey1 Please let me out of here! It's dark and it hurts!" We all look towards a coffin on the ground.
"Rokusuke-san?" I inquire, then I run over to it and attempt to pry the lid off, it was heavy. "Guys! Come help me!" I call. They all came rushing over and assisted with trying to pry the lid off. It finally did, and Rokusuke sat up right away and took a few deep breaths.
"You guys..." He mutters.
"We made you wait, didn't we? It's all right now." Naruto says.
"I'm sorry. I thought that I might still be able to save my friends that were here." Rokusuke says. "I couldn't just stand around anymore and.."
"Yeah, I understand." Naruto says.
"Neji, what's wrong?" Tenten asks, we all look at Neji who seemed to be looking up to the top of the mountain. He was solemn and like he was concentrating, then suddenly gasps.
"What is this?" He questions. "This sense of murderous intent?"
"Hey Neji-kun! What's going on!" I ask, nudging his shoulder repeatedly. He hits my hand away.
"Don't." He groans, frowning at me. He turns to the others. "We're being watched.. most likely, it's Raiga. On top of that mountain."
"Right! Let's go!" I say and begin marching.
"Hai!" Lee replies and follows.
"What is with those two recently?" Naruto inquires.
"I don't know. I don't really care." Neji replies, the rest all follow.
"Karashi-kun! Please take care of Rokusuke-san!" Lee calls back.
"Uh, okay?" Karashi replies.
We jump to the top of the mountain, only to realize there was no one there.
"There's no one here." Neji says.
"Where did he go?" Naruto asks. Suddenly mist began appearing at our feet, then shrouded around us completely until we couldn't see past our own hands.
"This mist.." Neji mutters. We heard a snigger not too far from us.
"Ninja Art: Hiding in the Mist Jutsu.." A voce spoke. Lee pulls his book out and flicks through a few pages.
"The Kirigakure ninja are especially talented with Mist Style Jutsu." Lee mentions.
"So what Gai-sensei was right?" Tenten asks.
"Damn! I can't see a thing!" Naruto complains.
"I know I know!" I exclaim. "Lee, team up with me and we'll perform a Leaf Hurricane together, that might blow the mist away!"
"Good idea Setsuki-san!" Lee replies. I start running forward when suddenly someone grabbed my shirt and pulled me back.
"Don't!" Neji hisses behind me. I blink.
"What?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at him. He tilts his head forward, I could see that his Byakugan was activated.
"He might be there.."
"Neji! Please try and locate the enemy with your Byakugan!" Lee says.
"What do you think I've been trying to do?" Neji hisses. "Tch... I can't see a thing!"
"That is impossible!" Lee exclaims. "I cannot believe Neji's 360 degree Byakugan cannot see through this."
"What does this mean?" Naruto asks.
"There isn't supposed to be any technique that can block Byakugan.." Neji says. We continue looking around.
"Well apparently there is now.." I say. Neji frowns at me. We then heard a growling in the distance, then two bolts of electricity burst up into the air, making us all jump.
"W-what is that?" I question, becoming scared. The black clouds above us become full of electricity.
"Ikazuchi, surge!"
Suddenly a giant bolt of lightning struck down, directly where we were standing. I was paralysed in fear, I didn't even notice the others had jumped away. I was trembling, recalling my previous battle with that Sound Ninja.
"Setsuki!" A voice snapped me out of my paralysis but it was too late by then, the lightning bolt was inches away.
"Lee d-" Tenten's familiar voice called, but was cut off.
A whimper escaped my lips when suddenly I felt a forceful impact to the side of my hip, it pushed me over off the side of the cliff. It made me cringe and the falling sensation was scaring me. That's when I saw the area I was standing had been completely destroyed by the lightning bolt. I look down to see Lee with his arms around me and his eyes shut tightly. I tried to speak his name but no words came out. I guess it was the shock. I felt the entire impact when we hit the side of another cliff as we tumbled down it, Lee never let go which surprised me. I could feel the sharp uneven rocks cutting me on our way down. But what scared me the most was that I couldn't see the bottom.
"S-Setsuki, hold on to me!" Lee abruptly calls out. I look down at him as he slowly removed an arm from my waist and held tighter with the other. I put my arms around his shoulders and I could feel his pulse beating just as fast as mine.
He reaches out and grabs a rock sticking out and grunts as he held up both our weights. I look up at his struggling face. I was so surprised.
"L-Lee.." I manage to spit out. He looks down at me, his clenched teeth slowly turned to a grin.
"A-Are you alright Setsuki-san?" He inquires. I could see his suit was torn in multiple places. He tries to pull us both up, but it didn't work. I guess all these weights really do have a disadvantage. Although his arm around my waist was still firm as ever, like he wasn't going to let go for anything. I had to help. I slowly lift an arm to grab onto the same rock, when I accidentally put my hand on his. My face burned up and his cheeks turn red. I quickly move my hand away and grab another part of the rock. I didn't feel like speaking now. Lee clears his throat and we both pull each other up properly. We both sat on the small ledge panting. I look up at the spot we were attacked, the smoke was beginning to thin out. I sigh of relief, and look at Lee staring into space while panting heavily. I couldn't hold myself back, I hug him tightly.
"Thank you Lee!" I cry. I felt him tense up.
"S-S-Setsuki-san..!" He stutters. He pats my back. "I.. You're welcome!" He says, clearing his throat, he raises a thumb at me. I blink. "I cannot let a comrade be hurt, my duty as Gai-sensei's student to protect my comrades! That would be conflicting with the power of youth otherwise!" He exclaims. I don't know why, but it sounded like he was hiding something, but I didn't pry.
"Thank you.." I sniffle, and let go.
"C-come on, lets go find the others." He says, standing up. I nod and stand up but then a tremendous pain struck my leg, I cry in pain and fall, only to be caught by Lee. I cringe then look up. "A-are you alright?"
"I-I don't.. know.." I reply looking down at my leg, noticing a lot of blood falling from my right leg. Lee also must have noticed because the next thing I knew, he swept me off my feet and was holding me in his hands. My eyes widen.
"I will carry you, maybe Tenten can help with that!" He says, then before I knew it, he was jumping around the cliff searching for the others.