Chapter 8

The village leaders were in an uproar over the attack. We sat among them, quietly, only speaking when we were asked questions. The fact that they had attacked that area specifically, knowing the coacha flowers were there suggested information had been shared. Teruo wasn't the only traitor amongst them as he hadn't known where the flowers were. Which meant that one of the group or someone among the village's leaders was also a traitor.

Eiji spoke suddenly, quieting those in the room "The damage is done and while we do need to discover how the bandits were able to get to the coacha flowers, our concern now is to get rid of them before they can do anymore damage. Now," Eiji addressed us, "I understand that you have others waiting for your signal once you find the hideout?" A nod from Shino prompted him to continue, "Now that the bandits know we have other shinobi here, your priority is to find their base so that we can take them out at the root. Kenta mentioned you had the means to track them? Good. Go then."

We stood, offering quick, respectful bows before leaving the council behind us. We stopped just beyond the village gates in order to plan as best we could.

"We need to confirm that it's the location of the hideout, nothing more. Don't engage. Once it's confirmed we call Kurenai and the others as quickly as we can," Shino laid out.

"And if we're discovered or attacked?" I asked. It was highly likely with Orochimaru's people was slow to take chances after all.

Shino paused a moment, considering, before he spoke.

"We avoid confrontation. Fighting is our absolute last resort. The strength of the bandits is unpredictable as far as we can tell, but the odds will likely be against us with the numbers alone."

My hands curled into fists at my sides, conflicted about whether or not I should share my knowledge. I sighed, releasing the tension with my mind made up.

"I think Orochimaru might be involved in some way."

Three heads snapped toward me, eyes wide..

"What?" Kiba exclaimed, "and you're just now telling us?"

"I-I wasn't sure at first. The experiments that helped attack the village were what set off my suspicions as well as the familiarity of Karasu's name," I explained, frantically putting together a plausible excuse, "his abilities didn't match up with what I knew about him. He was one of Orochimaru's men who came to our village now and then. But he was never mission leader material. It's possible Orochimaru might have...upgraded him."

That was what worried me most. Karasu, while he had certainly patrolled through the smaller villages in the Land of Rice Paddies, was little more than a useful lackey. The abilities he must have received to be considered powerful enough to run a mission spelled danger. My teammates also seemed to grasp the meaning of my words. Kiba swore softly and Hinata managed to look a few shades paler. Shino almost succeeded in hiding his worry. I might have never noticed were it not for the increase in volume coming from his insects.

"This does complicate things," he said slowly, "regardless, be cautious and don't engage in any sort of conflict unless it's a last resort."

With that, we set out. We traced our steps back to the coacha flower pass until we picked up the trail of Shino's kikakichu. It led us deeper into the woods and eventually began to wind down the mountain before levelling off to a rocky ledge where the path was narrow and treacherous. There wasn't much loose rock where we walked, the rock having been worn or kicked away by dozens of other feet, but the ledges were narrow and large gaps dotted the path where chunks of rock had been broken off in landslides. It was here that the trail ended. Shino looked around with a frown and a creased brow while Kiba and Akamaru sniffed around on their own. Next to me, Hinata used her Byakugan to try to determine something. Their efforts brought us nothing.

Frustrated at this turn events I leaned against the rack wall, thinking. While this was a defendable place without an actual place for a base, it made no sense for the bandits to come here. It was possible that they had learned about the bugs and led us on a chase, but unless they had killed all the kiakichu Shino had managed to plant we would find them eventually and the trails of each had been present as we tracked them, according to Shino. I directed chakra to my hands and feet, wanting to climb the rock face and hopefully find a better vantage point. The outcropping above us hung precariously over our heads and even with chakra reinforced grip I had to climb carefully. Once I managed to reach the outcropping I discovered something interesting; small cave openings littered the wall. Approaching them I was able to hear the din of movement. I wasn't convinced it was the bandits but it was definitely a possibility. Excitedly I scrambled halfway down the rock face, catching my teammates' attention.

"I found something. Looks like it could be cave system and there's definitely the sounds of movement I'm going to check it out."

"Tenshi, wait!" Kiba said, "let us get up there too."

"I don't think it's a good idea. If I can hear them there's a chance the caves could amplify the sounds of movement out here too. The fewer people the better. I won't take any chances either. At the first sign of trouble, I'll come back."

They finally relented, but only after issuing numerous warnings. I nodded, touched by the fact that they cared that much. I climbed back up and then perched lightly on the outcropping, listening intently to the walls for more sounds of movement. As I caught it, my suspicions became stronger. After judging it for a few seconds I moved farther down the wall, listening. The sounds grew stronger and soon I could discern voices. The words they spoke were inaudible, but voices were definitely there.

Then I came to an opening wide enough for me to walk through. Carefully I stepped into the cave, every sense on full alert for anyone who might be approaching. The rocky walls echoed faintly, making my footsteps incredibly loud in the silence. Strangely though as I followed the voices, I encountered no one. People had certainly been here but they were gone now. As I prepared to round a bend, I froze at the sound of a much louder voice, as if they were speaking to a large group. I inched around the corner and blanched at the sight before me. It appeared every bandit was in here and in front of them all, pacing back and forth as he delivered his message was Karasu.

"...ight the last battle. We will finish Yamashiro off with a quick, decisive attack tonight. Their numbers are few and they are fearful. If we wait, they will bring reinforcements from the Hidden Villages. So tonight, we take over Yamashiro!"

A raucous cry rang out from the crowd while I retreated, hissing curses under my breath. This was bad. The village needed to know immediately. I slipped back out as quickly as I could, and had to fight the urge to just jump down to the ledge where my team waited.

I held up a hand, stopping them from saying anything.

"It was the hideout. But we need to get to the village and warn them. The bandits plan to attack the village again and this time obliterate it. Alert Kurenai, then we need to go."

Nearly identical looks of worry flashed across all of their faces before Shino nodded and pulled out the scroll, activating it. It flashed as the chakra reacted with the seal, erasing the writing on it. After placing the scroll back in his coat, Shino motioned for us to head back to the village. We picked our way carefully along the ledge before bursting into a run once we reached the open area before the forest. The trees and undergrowth hindered our progress though and Shino signalled for us to take to the trees.

I was halfway up the tree when a kunai with a tag attached to it embedded itself deep into the wood ahead of me. I twisted away from it, trying to dodge to the next tree, but the blast knocked me to the ground. I looked up to see my teammates in similar states.

"A valiant attempt at escape. I applaud you. Although you really should've known better."

I glared into the trees, meeting Karasu's eyes. He smiled, teeth showing threateningly.

"So you are here Tenshi. Never dreamed I'd be the one lucky enough to find you and take you back."

"Try your best Karasu," I spat as I stood, "I've taken you down before."

He laughed, a sound I hated, "that was before Tenshi. Now I have an army. And a little gift from Orochimaru-sama. Consider this payback for what you did."

Three years ago, when I was twelve, I was still heading up a lot of missions. One of the last few missions before I was…retired was with Karasu as part of my team. We had been sent to retrieve a scroll detailing some technique Orochimaru was interested in. This was after Tora had escaped and I had begun to sabotage some of Orochimaru's smaller operations which couldn't be tracked back to me. However I was still a mission leader and didn't care for opposition to the power I had held for most of my remembered life.

"Our goal is the scroll. Only kill where necessary and leave any civilians alone. Kill only the shinobi who won't stay down," I commanded my team. A derisive snort drew my attention to one of the members of my team. Karasu.

"Do you have an issue with my orders?" I asked with a steely voice and narrowed eyes.

"Yeah. I think you're soft. And you're just a kid. I think that I might just be done taking orders from you."

"Careful," I cautioned, a snarl threatening to slip into my words.

"No. I think that I can take you down. I'm more fit to lead this team anyway."

My eyes were slits now and with a threatening flare of chakra I returned to giving orders, "we can settle this later. For now the mission."

I turned back to the target village and heard fearful cries of, "Karasu! No, don't!"

I whipped around, catching Karasu's wrist and forcing him to drop the kunai he had been coming at me with.

"Foul play already? Doubt your skills that much?" I taunted. Karasu merely growled, swinging his other arm around to hit me. I dodged back and watched him waiting for his next move. As expected, he charged me, but then shifted his stance to deliver a swift kick to my left side. I twisted, blocking it effortlessly. His anger made him reckless and his taijutsu wasn't his strong point.

With a sigh of disappointment, I tapped into the Nibi chakra, allowing a trickle of it into my coils. As Karasu came at me again, I flipped him effortlessly onto his back, slamming him into the ground and placing a kunai at his throat.

"Yield Karasu. You are outmatched."

"Never," he hissed before shoving me off him. I landed on hands and knees and levelled a glare at him.

"If that's the way you want," I murmured. Launching myself to my feet, I ran through a series of handsigns then punched my left fist in the ground.

"Earth Style: Roiling Earth."

Immediately the ground between us began to tremble, shifting enough to make Karasu stagger. As I waited, a portion of the ground moved violently enough to displace a boulder and make it roll between Karasu and I. Immediately as it passed in front of me, I leaped on to it, perching briefly on my feet and hands, holding myself steady with chakra before launching myself of it again, crashing into Karasu. In an instant, my claws were out and at his throat, poised to tear it out if he so much as twitched. His eyes were wide as he realized what had happened and his breath became ragged. I leaned closer to him, my eyes narrowed.

"Yield. You won't get another chance," I hissed. Karasu glared before answering.

"Fine. I yield."

"I should've killed you then," I spat at him.

"I told you Tenshi. You went soft," Karasu replied, "and now, I'll do what you couldn't. You're in my way for the last time. Kill them."

I sank into a defensive position, ready to lash out at Karasu's men. I didn't bother with kunai and instead pulled out senbon laced with a fast acting poison. Leaving these men alive was too much of a risk. The first three who came at me went down immediately, senbon prickling from their necks. They clawed at the needles as they collapsed before they died with a gurgle. The men following them were more wary. I recognized a few of them from the fight yesterday. These ones had seen me take down Ryuk with a senbon too. Hitting them with a senbon in the neck was going to be much more difficult, but there were too many to even consider close combat. A laced senbon to the neck was the fastest way to kill with the poison and the most effective with this dosage. Hitting them anywhere else would impede the poison's progress and possibly even dilute it to non-fatal doses. However it was my best shot.

With a snarl I turned back to the trees, running up the trunk high enough to backflip off of it over a group of the men and rain most of my remaining poison senbon down on them. I didn't pause to see if any of them had hit, instead crashing into a man and ramming an unlaced senbon into his neck quickly ending his life. As I turned back to the fight I narrowly dodged a pale green projectile that whistled by my face. My gaze flew to where the spike had come from and saw Karasu laughing from his tree.

"Like the new jutsu Tenshi?"

So that was what had put him into this spot of power. Although what exactly the green stuff had been, I wasn't sure. Regardless, I wasn't too keen on finding out by having it impale me. My thoughts were cut short by the sight of Ao charging me. I leapt out of the way, my hand instinctively reaching for another senbon, but there was nothing. My entire poison pouch was gone. I looked around frantically. Without the crowd control of my poisons, I would be overwhelmed. My gaze caught on a flash of pale green. This time though it wasn't a solid spike. It was more fluid, moving across the ground like a long gel-like string. A string which in one end held my pouch and at the other dripped from Karasu's hand.

"This is how my chakra manifests now. Terrible for performing jutsu. Once it reacts with the air, it turns into this. But it's still very manipulable," he said with a smirk, "oh better pay attention or Ao will crush you."

I'd been waiting for Ao though and I twisted narrowly out of the way of his fist, dragging my claws across his arm, leaving deep scratches in my wake. Ao roared in pain before turning to glare at me. I braced for another charge and was startled when instead Ao slammed both fists into the ground. A crater formed around him, the force of his attack enough to split the ground beneath me. I was thrown off my feet and had to roll out of the way of Ao's attack. Shaking off a foreboding sense of deja vu, I got to my feet and attacked Ao directly. We traded blows and blocks. His size was dangerous as well as his reach, making me dodge around him more than I would have preferred.

"Tenshi you're holding back. I know you have more to fight with than this," Karasu taunted from his perch in the trees. I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore him. Even if he was right.

Finally I was able to dodge around to Ao's back. I jumped on his back, sinking my claws into his shoulders to maintain my grip. He immediately tried to throw me off, reaching futilely for me and whipping around sharply. Finally he moved to fall on his back, which I'd hoped for. With tremendous effort I swung myself over his shoulder and threw my weight back into him, pushing him harder into the ground. The impact was enough to stun him. I backed away from him and turned to attack the next bandit. Karasu's voice stopped me.

"I suggest you yield Tenshi."

I whipped to glare at him and felt my heart nearly stop. Each of my teammates was immobilized by Karasu's chakra. Shino, Hinata, Kiba, even Akamaru. They were encased in pale green unable to move. I mentally cursed myself. I should've been more aware of Karasu's movements. My lack of vigilance was going to cost us everything. As his men closed in around us Karasu smirked.

"So you really did go soft. Not going to save yourself and complete the mission? How very unlike you."

Although I snarled at Karasu, the words cut deep, a stark reminder of who I once was. As arms closed around me to restrain me, the looks of despair and resignation on my teammates' faces caused something in me to snap. I wrenched my arms free and spun around, slashing open both men's throats with my claws. It would not end this way. I had been through too much to let it end this way.

I turned my attention to Karasu next and sprinted towards him. A few men tried to intercept me but were cut down quickly.

It was Kiba's cry of pain that froze me in place.

"Try anything more Tenshi and they'll be dead. I applaud your attempt but we both knew nothing would come of it."

My left side began to burn as I glared up at Karasu. In some distant part of my mind I realized the danger of this but I quickly pushed it aside.

"I'm just getting started Karasu. Time for me to finish the job from three years ago."

That was the last thing I remembered.

Team eight watched the exchange with growing worry. They could do nothing as Tenshi fought for them. The kikaichu may feed on chakra but they could only work so fast in secret. Soon though, Karasu's chakra should be weak enough for them to break free.

Kiba cried out as the chakra tightened around him suddenly and painfully. The pressure felt like it would be enough to cave his chest in. It relaxed slightly as Tenshi stopped. But it was when Tenshi promised to kill Karasu that they all felt their blood go cold. Never before had they heard such venom and malice in their new teammate's voice, and despite not having known her long, they couldn't have fathomed such darkness in Tenshi.

Whatever past she had with this man, Shino mused, it left its scars on her.

Then something terrible happened. A cold, dark chakra began to seep from Tenshi. Karasu smirked triumphantly, while Hinata went pale, Akamaru whimpered, and Kiba's eyes widened. Shino, however, recognized the chakra and felt the worried shiver that rippled through his kikaichu. Whatever this chakra was, it was dangerous and they wanted no part of it.

Tenshi stalked Karasu suddenly, prowling toward him slowly, like a hunting cat. It was strange to look at, as though no human should be able to move like that. Karasu backed away tentatively, a look of worry stealing over his face. He gestured for the rest of his men to attack Tenshi and they descended in a swarm.

The resulting carnage was horrific enough for team eight to be grateful for their chakra encasements keeping them upright. None of Tenshi's attackers stood a chance. She blurred between them, claws flying and leaving a trail of blood as throats were slashed open and stomachs torn. Men fell suddenly, eyes wide with surprise at their mortal wounds. As some of the others caught on to what was happening, they retreated some and attacked with ranged jutsu. As barrages of fire reached her, Tenshi hissed and vanished into the trees, peering down maliciously at her attackers. Her teammates caught a glimpse of her eyes then and noticed they were no longer teal. One was bright yellow and the other green.

Before they could register anymore, Tenshi dropped from the trees, hitting the ground with enough force to shatter it and send the remaining men flying. When she stood, the burns that had decorated her arms were gone, entirely healed. She turned back to Karasu now, away from her teammates. Blood and gore spattered her hands and lower arms, but Tenshi made no move to so much as shake them clean. Karasu was frozen, eyes wide.

"You've never been this feral," he stammered out, as she closed in. There was no response from Tenshi other than the tilting of her head. Karasu swore then sent ropes of chakra at her. The blue glow of chakra lit Tenshi's claws as she slashed the ropes to ribbons. Karasu turned to run, but Tenshi appeared in front of him, cutting off his escape. He yelled but it was quickly cut off by a wet gurgle as his throat was cut. As he fell, team eight finally were able to see Tenshi. Blood spattered her face and strange patch of blue and black crept up her left cheek. Her wild gaze swept across them and she began moving toward them. The kikaichu had eaten through enough of the solid chakra for the three of them to break out of it, but even free, they knew they wouldn't stand a chance against Tenshi.

"She's not actually going to attack us," Kiba asked nervously, "is she?"

The silence was answer enough.

Suddenly, Tenshi convulsed, shaking hard enough to drop to her knees. Her hands curled into the ground, and tension was evident in the tautness of her body. She snarled before collapsing and lying still.

When Kurenai and her team arrived moments later, they were stunned by the bodies littering the clearing and the paralyzed genin staring at their immobile teammate.

"What happened?" she asked, more sharply than she intended. Shell-shocked eyes met hers as her student struggled to find the words to describe what had occurred.

"We were unable to outrun the bandits and were forced to fight them. Karasu, their leader captured the three of us and then baited Tenshi. Then something I don't understand happened. There was a dark chakra around Tenshi. Suddenly she moved even faster and killed multiple attackers in seconds. She then cornered Karasu and killed him. Then she collapsed," Shino iterated.

Kurenai closed her eyes as realization washed over her.

"Let's take her back to the village."

"Kurenai-sensei," Kiba jumped in, "do you know what happened?"

She sighed as she turned back to her students.

"I don't know everything, but regardless it isn't my story to tell. When Tenshi wakes up, she'll have plenty of questions to answer."

A/N: I updated within a month! Writing is a lot easier right now and now that midterms are over I'm hoping to get through chapter 9 soon and get it up. I've already started it, so give it another month window! Thanks for reading you guys!