Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 038: The Hooded Medical Expert Kabuto Returns
Hirudeguarn had finished giving his heartfelt speech to Zaire as he proceeded to sit down but his mortician's hat back on and light another cigar. He then glanced over towards Zaire with his red-stained eyes and focused on the entire room before deciding to tell Zaire something.
"Bring Testuga to me once you find it convenient, I have something to ask him, it will be an interesting little event for sure." said Hirudeguarn to Zaire.
"Of course, sir, I will do as you say, especially after your greatest speech yet." said Zaire to his majesty with a proud tone.
Tetsuga was standing outside one of the barracks for the soldiers of Camp Abraham, enjoying a cigar, and thinking of his next move. He walked over towards the skyline of Lazarus and looked up towards the Castle of Leviticus.
"So, I cannot even enjoy a short smoke break for one fucking minute without an interruption?" asked Tetsuga as he noticed that Zaire had appeared behind him.
"Oh come on now, you had three hours to do this shit earlier, besides, Hirudeguarn had given me the directive to ask you to meet with him." said Zaire as he glanced over towards the outer gates of the city.
"Well, if he is the one asking, I can never take that for granted, you know that I don't take things for granted, right Mr. Zaire?" asked Tetsuga to Zaire.
"Yep, sure do, now prove that to me and get your ass to Hirudeguarn, it will probably something fun to do, I on the other hand don't have a goddamn thing to do tonight, oh well." said Zaire as he turned around and started walking towards the main street of Lazarus as the night continued on.
"Alright, I will go there at once." said Tetsuga as he started to walk briskly towards the castle.
"I tell you, this city looks more and more beautiful every night, I am glad to have been able to help with it's thriving culture." said Tetsuga to himself as he approached the front door of the castle.
"I wonder what Hirudeguarn will tell me, could it be something related to Greshem's death, it's not like I knew that fucker Orochimaru and his team were out there." thought Tetsuga to himself.
"So, you are here to help me tidy the place up?" asked Lunesto as he was in the main room of the castle dusting down the various shelves and stairs.
"Fuck no, I am going to speak with Hirudeguarn about something, I could care less about your little endeavors." said Tetsuga as he walked right by Lunesto.
"Well fine then, it's not like I needed help anyway." said Lunesto sarcastically as he continued to clean the main room.
"Then why the fuck did you ask me for you dumb ass." thought Tetsuga to himself as he took the elevator to the lowest level of the castle.
Orochimaru and his team had decided to camp out near the southern shore of the Genesis Ocean, a few miles out from the gates of Lazarus.
"Hehehe, I wonder if Sasuke and Bee had ran into Naruto yet, or perhaps they ran into my brother, in any case, it would be wise for us to lay low for a while until things start to pick up." said Orochimaru to the three members of Taka sitting around him.
"I say we do not approach that place at all until some chaos begins, that should make it easier to infiltrate the castle, where you said your brother resides." said Jugo.
"Or we could just wait for him to come to us, it would make it easier in the long run, would not want to run into another one of those Knights along the way." said Suigetsu as he was swimming in the ocean.
"I cannot sense any chakra around our area, so we are safe for now, but for how long I cannot say." said Karin.
"You are too worried Karin, Lord Orochimaru is here, besides Sasuke and Naruto are around as well, it is not like we are out here without any help." said Jugo to Karin.
"She is right to be distressed, you three do not know of the person that he is, unlike me, he is not even remotely as forgiving, despite viewing me as a demon, he would be considered the devil." said Orochimaru comparing himself to his brother.
"Come on, you are not worried about this now, I thought Orochimaru had no fears." said Suigetsu with a surprised expression as he got out of the water and walked towards the camp.
"It is not fear you imbecile, it is respect, once you meet him, you will share that same respect, I assure you." said Orochimaru with a stern tone towards Suigetsu.
"Okay, sorry I was just saying that this guy sounds like the real deal, but it is nothing that we cannot take care of, right?" asked Suigetsu.
"Don't jump the gun so hastily, until we know what this guy can do, we should tread cautiously." said Jugo towards Suigetsu.
"That is enough talk for now, let me focus for a while, I need to think about how we are going to approach the next day." said Orochimaru as he looked around the area thinking of what could be going on in the city.
Tetsuga had arrived in the throne room where Hirudeguarn was sitted.
"You called for me, Zaire informed me that you had a request." said Tetsuga as he sat down in the chair in front of Hirudeguarn's desk.
"Why yes, I guess he decided to tell you and not ingore my order, good, but more to the point, I have detected a breach in security around the Watering Grounds again, perhaps you can finally meet the little spy who has decided to tread where they don't belong." said Hirudeguarn with a menacing tone.
"Last time it was Orochimaru, but you can confirm that it is the actual spy this time?" asked Tetsuga to Hirudeguarn.
"Oh yeah, it is him, I can tell, go, have fun, and bring him back to me, dead or alive, I don't care." said Hirudeguarn.
"Yes sir, I will have him here by the morning, I swear." said Tetsuga as he began to leave the room.
"About Orochimaru, let him be, I will have fun picking him apart later." said Hirudeguarn with a grin on his face.
"I will sir, I will." said Tetsuga as he began to venture towards the Watering Grounds with anticipation of meeting the spy at long last.
"Hmm, I wonder who it could be, it has to be someone with a lot of courage that is for sure, to dare trespass here without our permission." said Tetsuga as he hurried out of the castle towards his destination.
The rain had picked up in the Watering Grounds, as water was pouring off of the caves and rocks, and the area had slightly flooded as the nearby rivers had begun to overflow. Lightning could be seen in the sky above the area as the fog began to fill the surrounding vicinity.
"Deciding to cover up my tracks from the previous escapade payed off well, it would seem that I still have them guessing." said a man with a hood covering his body, as he walked deep within the forests as the rain dropped on his hood.
"I see, so he is aware of my presence here now, last time he ran into Orochimaru, but I doubt he will make another miscalculation again." continued on the hooded man as he could sense Tetsuga approaching the area.
"Two miles away, that gives me a few minutes to prepare something, let's find out who is the best at espionage, eh Tetsuga." said the man as he turned invisible and jumped onto the bottom of a large branch, using chakra in his feet to hang from it.
Tetsuga had finally arrived back in the Watering Grounds as he decided to hide under a tree in the fog to shield himself from the rain as he began to think over his strategy.
"Whoever this spy is, it will be someone who I have never encountered personally before, it would be best to have my weapon, Ikite Iru, at the ready at all times, and furthermore, for him to be an even better shinobi at stealth than Orochimaru calls for me to be cautious at all times." thought Tetsuga as he activated the Hiding In Camouflage Technique along with the Scent Elimination Technique to make himself seemingly nonexistent.
"Now, we play the waiting game, though my patience has grown a little thin, to put it lightly." said Tetsuga as he jumped into the flooded river beside the basin he was standing at, and proceeded to swim underwater towards the last known location he sensed the trespasser.
"I will have to fight seriously this time, this will be a solo mission, and when all else fails, I will have him come to me, rather than the other way around." thought Tetsuga as he jumped out of the water and ran into a field surrounded by pine trees on all sides as the rain continued to downpour at high intervals.
"Huh, I cannot see him, but I feel his body heat from here, with my eyes focused on that field right in front of me, I can see him through infrared vision." said the hooded man as he descended from the tree quietly and moved closer to Tetsuga's location.
"Now with my two masking jutsu activated, there should exist no one besides Naruto who can find me here, I know that for a fact, not even one with the Sharingan would know of my presence here." said Tetsuga to himself as he had Ikite Iru in his right hand on the ready, in case of a surprise attack.
"Chakra Scalpel Blade!" yelled the hooded man as he appeared behind the seemingly invisible Tetsuga, and thrusted his hand towards Tetsuga's right leg.
"What?" proclaimed Tetsuga with shock as he managed to jump a few meters to the right of the attacker with sweat rolling down his face.
"Hey, who is there, show yourself, and tell me how the fuck you knew where I was at, after all, there is no shinobi better than me in the art of espionage and stealth." said Tetsuga with anger and a wide eyed expression as he quickly looked around the rainy field as he could not seem to find out where his attacker was located.
"Feeling a little nervous tonight, Tetsuga Marshlo, just like how those villagers of Amazeo must have felt when you killed them." said a voice near Tetsuga as footprints could be seen approaching him, but with no physical body that could be seen.
"Is my Chakra Sensing off tonight, I cannot still discern the location of this goddamn fool, but once I do, he is dead." said Tetsuga as he decided to swing his sword in a three-sixty loop to make sure that the attacker was not directly around him.
"Do you think I would just stand right beside you, I am not foolish enough to provoke an attack at such a close proximity, but how long can you stand the pressure of fighting something or someone that you cannot see?" asked the hooded man as he finally made himself visible to Tetsuga, as he was standing around thirty feet in front of him.
"Finally decided to stop hiding like a coward and show yourself, good riddance, now who the hell are you, trespasser?" asked Tetsuga with an angered tone.
"There really is no answer to that question, I am just the trespasser that you were assigned to kill, that is all you need to know, am I right?" asked the hooded man as he majestically walked towards Tetsuga with a blue chakra surrounding his hand.
"Heh, I guess you are right, well let me put that assignment's status to complete then!" yelled Tetsuga as he ran swiftly towards the hooded man and thrusted Ikite Iru right at him, piercing the man's heart.
The man turned into a pile of liquid-like serpents as they all scattered around Tetsuga.
"Okay, what the actual fuck, Orochimaru had a similar replacement jutsu, but this one appears to be different, who the hell is this person?" asked Tetsuga as he used Ikite Iru's magnetic properties to push all of the liquid snakes away.
"So the blade has special attributes just like I thought, it would seem that all eight of you Knights of Dawn are blessed with one, but yours in particular has to do with magnetism and repelling properties." said the hooded man as he reappeared, standing on the tallest pine tree surrounding the rain-soaked field.
"Someone did their homework well this past week, but knowing that will only make you respect the might of my determination to capture, or as I would prefer, kill you." said Tetsuga aloud.
"Then let's bring out a little fear in your heart, Dead Corpse Technique!" yelled Kabuto as four corpses suddenly appeared in front of Tetsuga, all with explosive tags attached to them.
"Huh, one of those corpses is Greshem's, what is this, it is not Edo Tensei?" asked Tetsuga with confusion.
The corpses all ran towards Tetsuga from different directions, as they all let out a ghastly moan as they closed in on the bewildered man.
"Attack Prevention Technique." said Tetsuga quietly as he seemed to merge into the ground and disappear from sight.
"Not bad, but I can still sense your location from here, and I know that you plan to emerge from the very tree that I stand on." said the hooded man as he jumped off of the pine tree just in time to avoid Tetsuga's attack, landing right beside his three summoned kamikaze corpses.
"I see you have some wits about you, but tell me who you really are now, I am not just doing this on orders anymore, I am genuinely curious now." said Tetsuga with a slightly calmer tone.
"The mind's curiosity to learn things that are still unknown to them, it is a driving force that lays within the subconscious of all man, and even those under order of Lazarus are no different." said the man as he began to remove his hood.
"You have a way with words that rivals Hirudeguarn's, hehehe, I always enjoyed being in the presence of another scholar like myself." said Tetsuga as he mockingly gave a handclap towards the man.
The man removed his hood, revealing medium-length ash-gray hair, a round pair of glasses, and black, onyx eyes, with a seemingly sad expression on his face.
"Huh, I know you... you are Kabuto, Kabuto Yakushi." said Tetsuga with a shocked tone as he stepped back a little.
"I am glad to be able to introduce myself under such civil circumstances, and now that you know of my identity, you will now desire a reason for me being here, I can read almost anyone like a book." said Kabuto as he deactivated his Dead Corpse Jutsu and stand across Tetsuga as the rain appeared to die down, revealing a starry sky, with an aura of green radiance covering the sky above their location.
"Well Kabuto, I had no idea that you were the one lurking around here, and you are right I do desire an explanation as to why you have decided to come here, despite already knowing of the operations of Lazarus." said Tetsuga to Kabuto with a demanding demeanor about him.
"Alright, alright, I will play nice for now, but later on when you become my captive, I will have a field day with you." said Kabuto as he walked a little quicker towards Testuga.
"I am ready for whatever you have, but I still expect an answer as to why you are here." said Tetsuga as he was able to remain perfectly calm.
"Then maybe you can come with me quietly." said Kabuto as he appeared behind Tetsuga, with the other Kabuto walking in front of him tearing the fake skin off, revealing itself to be another corpse.
"What, how did I not pick that up, hehehe, psyche." said Tetsuga as he turned into an Earth clone, reappearing in a safe distance behind the real Kabuto.
"Good good, at least I have a knowledgeable captive on my hands, and now to put this little play into motion." said Kabuto as he began to from a series of hand signs with an emotionless expression on his face.
-To be continued next time with Chapter 039...-