National Treasure ~ 18
One Week Later
"Get the gas," The man ordered as he paced back and forth across the floor of the warehouse. This was supposed to be an easy job, yet he felt like he had overstayed his welcome. He was going to come in and get what he wanted, and then leave. After this day was over, it would mark a whole week he would be stationed in this village, and it wasn't fun. "He doesn't want to talk, so I have to make him, un."
There were only two other people in the warehouse with him, one man was wrapped up completely in bandages, and had only his onyx eyes visible. He wore a navy coat over his bandaged body with no shirt underneath and a pair of navy pants to match. The man went and got what his superior wanted, bringing back a red container full of gasoline, "Don't make a mess, Deidara," He handed it over to him and the blonde smiled back.
"Please, it doesn't have to be this way!" The man tied up to the chair pleaded and dropped his head to hide his quiet sobs. His black hair looked messy, and he had cuts and bruises all on his face. Getting him into the chair was no easy task, but his morale was broken a long time ago. "I beg of you!"
Deidara raised a brow, "Are you going to tell me what I want to know?" The silence that followed was all the response Deidara needed, and he didn't hesitate to pour the whole gallon of gasoline onto the man's body. His subordinate handed him a simple box of matches and he smiled, "Last chance, un." Every moment that the man didn't say something, Deidara moved the match across the box, and finally it set on fire after a few seconds of silence.
"These people are stubborn," The bandaged man leaned against a pillar within the warehouse and folded his arms over each other. He didn't seem disturbed when Deidara threw the match on the man and his body went up in flames. The smell of burning flesh filled his nose and he rolled his eyes, "Who do we talk to next?"
"I don't know, at this rate I'm probably going to end up killing the whole village, un," Deidara complained and walked up to the bandaged man. The two men were completely unaffected by the man screaming at the top of his lungs right behind them, "Why the hell am I doing this?" He asked to himself and sighed.
"Because Kakuzu pays pretty well," The bandaged man reminded him and smiled. He patted Deidara on the back, "Don't worry, kid, you'll get the right clue and we'll be out of here in no time."
"You better hope so, un," Deidara turned and looked at the burning man, watching until he finally stopped screaming. Once it was over, he pondered on what to do next, while he walked up to the burnt body of the man, and kicked him over in the chair so he wouldn't have to look him in his eyes any longer.
"Boss," Deidara's head turned in the direction of the voice. It was a teenage boy with tan skin, freckles, and jet black hair, tied up neatly into a small up-ward bun. His stale expression always made Deidara feel a bit uncomfortable, "There's a group of travelers requesting entrance into the village, they want to pass through so they can continue on to Kumogakure."
"Are they with those other guys?" Deidara perked up and smiled, but the boy shook his head, and he promptly frowned. "Fuck it, let them inside, un." The blonde haired shinobi pouted and turned his back on the boy. He returned to the dead body, and nudged the body with his foot to get it out of the chair. Deidara kicked the man's corpse like a soccer ball and it landed perfectly in a pile of other bodies that were mutilated in different ways. He had to hold back the feeling of wanting to say 'goal.'
"At what point do you realize that this isn't an effective way to get answers?" The bandaged man asked, watching the pile of dead bodies grow larger as the days went by.
"Pepper go and get the next hostage!" Deidara pointed at the teenage boy and he sighed. The boy walked off to do what was requested and the leader of this small operation turned to face the bandaged man. "I have one last person of interest I want to talk to, if it doesn't lead anywhere; then I'll stop."
The bandaged man grunted and rolled his eyes.
"Now start being useful and go handle our other problems, un!" Deidara yelled out and his subordinate reluctantly complied, walking off mumbling curses under his breath. "I want this town cleaned up by the morning, I'm trying to get the hell out of here!"
. . .
(Unknown Village)
The trio of shinobi jumped from the roof tops in a high speed chase. They were hot on the tail of a single man who was running away from a crime scene, a building that was up in flames not too far behind them. They had been assigned this mission not too far from their home village, along with another group, so they could weed out a group of terrorists, and drive them out of the small town.
He bounced along the roof tops with ease, flipping backward and landing on the ground smoothly. The bandaged man was slightly unsettled when he saw another duo of shinobi ready for him once he landed in the street. He groaned to himself, and promptly after the trio that was chasing him cut off the other side of the street.
"You're under arrest!" Chi-Chi yelled out at the man and got nothing in response.
The bandaged man looked around, there were three genin, and two jounin. He knew in an all out fight he could probably win, but an all out battle isn't what he wanted or needed right now. His assignment was to handle their problem, which was the Kumogakure shinobi, and clean the town of any traces of his group, so blowing it to smithereens probably wasn't the best idea.
"Just surrender already," N groaned, pulling on the draw strings of his hoodie. He stepped forward without any fear and tried to reason with the terrorist. Ever since the genin from Kumo had been sent out on this mission, N had shown just show how skilled and confident he was in his abilities. If there was an alpha in the group, it was probably him, "You're surrounded with no way out."
A man who looked entirely too old to still be a shinobi pushed up his red sunglasses. He smiled, "N is right, there's no way out for you!"
"Maybe you're right," The bandaged man sighed to himself and suddenly ripped his arm out of socket, then threw it into the air. It burst into millions of smaller pieces and landed all over the place. He formed a tiger seal with his only hand, "Kat-" A razor sharp fuuma shuriken was thrown from behind him and severed his head cleanly. It rolled onto the ground and the whole group let out a collective sigh of relief.
On the roof of a building not too far stood Krillin with a grin on his face, "Sorry I'm late." He jumped down and joined the two genin teams, smacking N on the back. "How come you didn't do something sooner, Kiri?"
N groaned, "Because we needed him for information." He didn't seem too mad about it, still lazily pulling on the draw strings of his sweatshirt. The boy walked up to the body and kicked it idly, quirking his brow. "This is weird."
N's teammate, a girl with pale blond hair hesitated to speak up, "N, how come there's no blood coming out of the corpse?" Everyone turned their attention to her and she blushed lightly. She didn't really enjoy being the center of attention. The girl shyed away from the sudden attention and looked to N to say something in her stead.
"I don't really know," N mumbled, kicking the corpse hard in the chest this time and furrowed his brow.
Krillin focused and his eyes widened, "Wait, do you guys hear that?"
The old man raised a brow, "Hear what?" His jaw dropped when he picked up on what his student was mentioning, and he grabbed Chi-Chi off of the ground. All of the shinobi present scattered from the street, and all of the small bits from the bandaged man's arm exploded, as well as his body. They all retreated to different roof tops and watched the street they were on cautiously.
On the ground, the man's body began to reform from all of the bits from the explosion. He leapt from the ground and onto a roof top of his own, placing his hands inside his pockets. He rolled his neck and looked around at all of the Kumogakure ninja scattered across buildings. "I won't really get anything out of killing all of you," He admitted smoothly and walked across the roof top. "I just need a tad bit of information, and then I'll leave this town for good."
N's sensei was a man with straight blonde hair that was tied into a fish-tail braid. His brown eyes tensed up while he focused on the bandaged man, "Why should we help you?"
"Because my boss has interrogated and killed like twenty people, and I don't think he's going to slow down until someone says something," The bandaged man informed the group of shinobi. His eyes looked through the Kumogakure shinobi, and he sighed, "So unless you want more blood shed, I suggest you come out with the information, because I honestly think it's stupid."
"What exactly do you want to know?" N asked with a hint of curiousity in his voice.
"Where are the Gemstones of Kaminari No Kuni*? They're worth some money I hear," The man questioned the whole group, hoping to get some sort of clue, so he could finally leave the wretched town, and Deidara could stop killing random people trying to pry information away from them.
"You're destroying this town looking for rocks?" Chi-Chi hissed through her teeth and tried to hold back her anger.
"If I were looking for rocks, I would've said rocks, but I said gemstones," The bandaged man corrected and rolled his eyes at Chi-Chi. "They're worth a lot of money, and my employer likes money. It's pretty simple to understand if you ask me, but no one wants to tell us where to find them."
"They must be worth something to this village then," N mostly said to himself, making a mental note. He ran a hand through his blonde locks, that was braided like his senseis, but his face was framed by bangs. The orphan started to slowly shake his head, "We've never heard of them though, sorry." He sincerely apologized, because had they known; they would have been successful in their mission of getting the terrorist to leave.
"At least you're honest, kid." The bandaged man complimented and received a simple nod from N. He shrugged shortly after that, "I got what I wanted, so I'm going to leave now."
"If only it were that easy," The old man laughed to himself and got into a fighting stance. "We still have a job to do, isn't that right, kids?"
"Yes, Master Roshi!" All of them yelled out obediently and got into a fighting position. N's sensei groaned and had no choice but to follow suit. He didn't respect 'Master Roshi' like the children did, because he only knew him to be an old pervert, but apparently he talked himself up to make himself look good in the eyes of the kids.
"Seriously?" He asked the crowd and sighed. After a simple roll of his eyes, the bandaged man burst into small bits once more and they all scattered from the building. There was no way he was going to get caught up in a senseless battle with Kumo-nin. They were left standing there trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"That's the weirdest kekkei genkai I've ever seen," Chi-Chi muttered while scratching her head.
"It's not humanly possible to divide yourself up like that," N spoke up and looked at where the enemy once stood. He took a few steps forward and tried to see if any remnants of the man were left, "Either he's not real, or he's some type of monster."
"And we let him get away," Krillin groaned.
"No, guys, wait!" N pointed his finger toward the streets, "I think I see him right there, he didn't get far!"
. . .
(Unknown Village)
Bulma dragged herself through the streets of the town, groaning with each step. Her, K, and Goku had barely avoided being burnt alive by Vegeta's firestorm. Her arms were wrapped in bandages and she had a visible burn on her face that wasn't as severe.
Her sister Tights was wearing a cast on her broken left arm, and she had her ray gun still resting firmly against her right shoulder. The group opted to stay together after narrowly escaping Iwagakure, and being trailed by multiple Iwa sensors for a whole week. The entire Briefs family were declared criminals in Tsuchi no Kuni, and Goku and K had bounties on their heads for helping them escape.
Goku had the worst of the injures, being badly burnt all over, and was nearly wrapped in bandages from head to toe. The doctors said he would be fine with rest, and he could feel himself slowly recovering. He was walking ahead of everyone else in silence, with his head hung low as he strolled through the streets of the random town.
K seemed to be perfectly fine, walking with the two women as they made their way back toward Kumogakure. He had growned used to, and truly enjoyed the silence among them. Normally Goku would be full of questions for the whole trip, so this was an interesting turn of events.
Bulma sped up and tried to catch the boy, while the two older shinobi stayed behind.
Tights frowned while watching Goku, then turned to the older man, "I can't fucking believe you." She said under her breath, and he caught her comment. The woman furrowed her brow, "Why would you wait this long to tell him his grandfather died?"
"The same reason you haven't told your sister about her father," K stated bluntly, not missing a beat as he walked and talked with Tights. She bit her lip and frowned, which prompted K to press on with his point, "I couldn't distract him from his mission. The mission is over now."
Tights raised a brow, "You don't even feel bad?"
"No, why should I?" K questioned back and continued to walk. Tights stopped and stared at K with cold eyes and he paid her no attention.
"Because he's a little kid, you can't just fuck with hi-" Tights was about to scream at the man at the top of her lungs, but he appeared before her in an instant; pressing her lips together with two fingers and staring intensely into her eyes. She felt a cold bead of sweat roll down the side of her face after locking eyes with him.
"He's a shinobi," was all K muttered and instantly released her lips. Bulma and Goku had almost over heard their conversation, and were now looking back at them. An air of awkwardness followed and he simply motioned for them to come back to him, "There's been a change of plans."
"What is it?" Bulma asked, placing a hand on her hips.
A girl yelled out, "That you're under arrest!"
N was about to get the drop on Goku, but the boy swiftly manuevered and planted his fist into the blonde's gut. He stumbled backward and fell onto his butt, and the rest of the genin appeared; ready to fight, but instantly groaned when they realized who they had just attacked.
Goku still had his trembling fist balled up, "What's the matter with you guys?"
The blonde jumped back up quickly and started pulling on the draw strings of his hoodie, "Heh, didn't know it was you, Goku-kun." He stepped forward and looked the boy up and down, cracking a small smile upon seeing Goku wrapped up in bandages like a mummy. "What the hell happened to you?"
"That's nothing to worry about right now," K chimed in and looked down on N with a serious glance. The younger boy stiffened up when he realized who he was in the presence of, "The real question is why you all are here?"
"A group of terrorists are bullying people for information, so Raikage-sama sent us out to get rid of them," Krillin grinned and rubbed the back of his head, being sort of shy in the presence of K. "It's our first real test as shinobi."
"What kind of information are they looking for?" Bulma asked the bald boy with a curious brow risen.
"They want to know where to find the gemstones of kaminari no kuni," Krillin informed her.
"I've heard of those," Tights spoke up, letting her gun fall down to her side, so she shouldn't worry the rest of the shinobi. She walked into the middle of the crowd, "They're the most precious gemstones in the world, and they're made of the most durable and expensive materials you can find. I read that the man who made them spent decades trying to make them perfect, and they're worth billions of ryo."
N nodded his head and furrowed his brow upon hearing about the gemstones, "So that's why these guys want them so badly... I say we find them ourselves, and use them to negotiate with the terrorist group."
"Honestly, they're probably not even in this country anymore. It would take years to find them," Tights admitted and instantly deflated the three genin who were sent on the mission.
"Well we should get back to our team and help them put out the fire," Chi-Chi reminded N and Krillin, who were dead set on stopping the enemy before anything else.
N pulled on his draw string and rolled his eyes, "Ok, let's go."
Goku had been looking off in the distance the whole conversation, and it drew Krillin's attention. He stepped up, but after receiving one of K's signature glares; he turned around and rejoined his team. The boy would have to speak to his friend at a different time.
Tights walked back and leaned in K's ear, "He's going to hate you forever."
. . .
(Abandoned Warehouse)
Pepper may have been the smallest between him, Deidara, and the bandaged man, but he was not weak at all. He carried a grown man over his shoulder like a baby, who had bruises and cuts all over his body, and roped tied around his hands and feet. The man's face was concealed by a burlap bag, and the boy threw him into the 'interrogation chair.'
Deidara walked up to the man and then looked back at Pepper, "Good work, un." He patted the boy on top of his head lightly and smiled, and then redirected his attention to his new hostage. The process of someone being tortured and then brought to the interrogation chair was becoming redundant, and he was more than happy to make this the last person.
The boy rolled his eyes, "Thanks, I guess, boss." He yawned lazily and went to find somewhere to sit within the warehouse. Since the bandaged man was out in the field, he had to make sure Deidara didn't over do things with the hostages. Despite Deidara being a few years his senior, he always felt like he played the older brother role in their relationship. "Let's hurry up and get this over with, boss, I'm getting tired."
"You're always tired," Deidara retorted quickly and groaned. He stepped forward to the man and removed the bag covering his face, and nearly jumped back when a pair of cold blue eyes locked onto him. He smiled awkwardly back at the man, throwing the bag onto the ground. Deidara folded his arms over each other and tried to size up the man sitting before him.
He was an older man, evident by his long gray hair, and thick gray mustache. His expression was stoic and it nearly made Deidara shiver a bit. He wore a simple navy blue bandana with a red ribbon insignia stitched into it. All he could bring himself to ask was, "Why?" He looked between Deidara and Pepper with a cold glare, "Nearly beat me to death and drag me out of my home... For what?"
"Hm, it sounds like you didn't want to cooperate," Deidara stroked his chin and smiled at the man. He stepped forward and the two of them met eyes, the sense of fear disappearing from the blonde once he got used to the man. "We've been asking everyone the same question, and no one wants to give us a solid answer. That's why we're doing this."
"That's because somethings are better kept as secrets, and these people understand that." The man sighed and looked away from Deidara. "What exactly do you want to know, that you'd go through all this trouble to find an answer?" He took notice of the large pile of bodies not too far behind him, and the stench wasn't exactly pleasant.
"A good friend of mine wants to know where to find the gemstones of kaminari no kuni," Deidara grinned and poked his finger into the man's chest, "And I did some research so I could help him, and it led me all the way back to you: Doctor Gero. You made these stones, so you should know where to find them." The blonde terrorist stood up straight and gestured toward his pile of bodies, "If you don't cooperate, then you can join your whole family of idiots. They at least led me to you."
"You're not wrong, they were idiots," Doctor Gero closed his eye lids and smiled. This made Deidara furrow his brow in frustration, "And you're not exactly wrong when you said I created the magnificent stones you've been searching for, but I have long since lost them. It's been a decade and then some since I've seen them with my own eyes; they've probably changed so much."
Pepper had been quiet for the most part, letting Deidara do the work, but he had to intervene at this point, "What do you mean they changed? They're supposed to be made of the most durable material on Earth, if they changed with time, then what are they even worth?" He questioned, perched on top of a box within the warehouse.
"The word gemstone is simply a metaphor," Doctor Gero chuckled, truly enjoying watching Deidara and Pepper grow even more confused as time went weren't the first people to misunderstand what his gemstones really were, "People have searched high and low for these precious stones, and they never thought to look deeper. They were my gemstones, the most important things I had ever made in my life. They were my creations, my children, and I spent years trying to make them perfect." He burst into laughter, "The 'durable material' you always heard about, it was DNA from the greatest clans that ever existed. They had all the perfect traits, and when you mix them all together you would get the perfect human!"
Deidara grit his teeth and glared at Doctor Gero, "So this whole time, I was looking for rocks, and the gemstones are fucking babies!?" The man had a crazy smile on his face, and he simply nodded in response to Deidara. The blonde shook his head, "Ok, cool, where do I find them, un?"
Doctor Gero groaned, "I told you I lost them, thirteen years ago to be exact, and I haven't seen them since they were infants."
. . .
(Hi no Kuni)
A bandit was running through the forests of Hi no Kuni with his arms full of stolen goods. He couldn't hide the grin that was plastered on his face. He had finally done it, "Nobody's going to believe this!" He yelled out, and the moment he chose to celebrate; he tripped over a string of wire that was tied around two trees.
His face was planted in the dirt, spitting out mud and bugs from his mouth. Everything he had in his grasp was across the ground, and when he tried to stand up; he felt the wind being knocked out of his chest. Someone placed their foot on his back, and soon after he heard two kids laughing at his misfortune.
"Didn't make it far, did you, bud?" A girl asked, and he discovered it was her foot on his back. She rolled him over with her foot and smirked at him. Despite it being a simple teenage girl that caught him, he felt like he was scared to death. Her blue eyes looked him over, and then laughed, before running a hand through her blonde hair. "Just give the jewels back to us and you're free to go."
"There's no way I'm giving you these stones, they're worth more than anything in the world!" He yelled out proudly and tried to scramble, but found himself pinned down by a kunai through his shirt. "These are the gemstones of kaminari no kuni! I'd rather die than give these back to you!"
The boy that threw the kunai stepped forward, and adjusted his black bandana-styled forehead protector with a music sign etched into it. He wore a white, black, and gray camo t-shirt with a black longsleeve underneath, and a pair of black shorts. The boy laughed, "Those gemstones are just a myth, they don't exist!"
"You're wrong!" The man stood by what he believed in.
The blonde walked up to the man and kicked him hard in the face, while her twin brother went and examined the stolen goods. He picked up the stones the thief talked about and looked them over, before simply smashing them in his palm and watched as they turned to fine powder. The bandit nearly fainted, and the boy looked at his sister and frowned, "I was right, these aren't worth shit, Lazuli."
"Then this was a waste of time," She responded, shooting a glance at her brother. "You're always playing around, we could've been at home a long time ago." The girl placed her hands on her hips and walked away from the bandit, losing her interest quickly. "Get rid of him and let's go, Lapis."
Lapis nodded, "Yeah, Orochimaru-sama's probably waiting for us anyway."
. . .
Sorry for the wait, internet is down at my house. Until it's back on I'll do double posts whenever I upload. Next Chapter: dyNamite