Previous Translations: Yorokobi - Pleasure/Delight/Joy

Yokubo - Desire/Lust

Kajo - Excess

Shifuku no Kurushimi - Blissful Throes/Blissful Suffering

Tatakainouta - Song of Battle

Zeitakuna Kutsu - Luxurious Torment

Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art

Konton - Chaos

Kanzen - Perfect

Henka - Change

Harakainokeru - Dispel

Aka-en - Red Flame

Aoi-en - Blue Flame

Kiiro-en - Yellow Flame

Orenji-en - Orange Flame

Tankoshoku-en - Pink Flame

Maho - Magic

Chishiki - Knowledge

Unmei - Fate

Nozomu - Hope

Hoho no Chenja - honestly this one is a mess, but roughly means Changer of Ways

Ryuketsu - Bloodshed

Chikara - Strength

Meiyo - Honor

Budo - Martial Arts

Ikari - Rage

Jumon - Incantation

Himitsu no Sewanin - Secret Caretaker(Keeper of Secrets)

Sento - Combat

Same no On'na - Shark-Woman

Maebure - Harbinger

Shibari no Ashikase - Binding Fetters

Kanpeki - Perfection

Reikan - the closest English word would be Inspiration, but it specifically refers to 'a divine creative impulse'

Sekkyo-sha - Preacher

Aijin - Lover

Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator (Flamer of Tzeentch)

Himeiwoageru - Which Screams (Screamer of Tzeentch)

Shikkan - Disease

Ai - Love

Zetsubo - Despair

Mi Haito - Undivided/Not Divided

Shibo - Aspiring

Koki - Exalted

Chakra no Bato - Coruscating Chakra/Chakra of Coruscation

Gyokai - Industry

In case someone somehow doesn't know, Hi - Fire

Don'yoku - Greed/Avarice

Yokuatsu - Tyranny/Oppression

Yami no Chichi - Father of Darkness/Dark Father

Raimeiton - Thunder Release, what Naruto has decided to name his mix of wind and lightning chakra

Shuryoju - Hunting Beasts (same word for plural or singular), an alternate name for Fiends of Slaanesh, best word I could find for them

Konton no Omo - Lord of Chaos

Kemonojin - a very jank way of translating Beastmen into Japanese, basically would mean Animal-Human

Gyumao - Ox Demon King

Eiyu - Hero

Gyumahime - Ox Demon Princess

Kajomahime - Excessive Demon Princess

Sasuke considered his life as he stared in the mirror of his home bathroom, the new beak was strange. It seemed similar in make up to teeth, so it was a Tzeentch specific variant of the fangs boon as far as he could tell.. Parroting things was an inefficient way to talk, thankfully he was still smarter than a bird. He doubted he'd get much chance to use it as a weapon, but the opportunity might come up and he'd trust in fate when it happened.

The new mostly cosmetic boon aside, Sasuke wondered as he often did about his ambitions and, for once, considered his options for restoring his clan. They were surprisingly limited, he'd had a larger pool in the academy, but most of those girls had dropped out of the shinobi program so he didn't see them anymore. Sakura was pretty much his only option, which was oddly depressing. Ino was no go, she was more annoying than Sakura, and the Haruno would probably kill her.

Besides which Sasuke was Uchiha, the Uchiha of Konoha was pretty much just him and some minor vassal families that lived in the district his family once occupied. If he married the Yamanaka heiress, an only child no less, he'd practically be giving Sharingan to Yamanaka instead of reviving his clan, no matter how much prestige his clan once held. Aoki was disgusted by this train of thought, but Sasuke ignored the Imp.

So he considered Sakura, as irritating as she could be she was a genius and had an odd obsession with him. Her parents were apparently nothing special, so it was a wonder Sakura had such perfect chakra control, focus, and intelligence despite her rage and temperament. If such traits could be inherent in future children, and he trained the children to control their rage, the Uchiha would be stronger than ever. The idea of those children not controlling their anger and falling to Khorne was an issue, as was the fact that Itachi was his brother.

The thought that a child of himself and Sakura might somehow be as bad as Itachi sent chills down Sasuke's spine, the Uchiha did not want to risk it but he had few other options. Aoki attempted suggesting that he just put anyone he wants under genjutsu when it was time to rebuild his clan, have a harem like Naruto. Sasuke ignored that idea out of hand, putting woman under genjutsu to have his way with them was not only not his style, but it would definitely have negative repercussions.

The biggest issue is that Sakura would likely kill any woman Sasuke tried to be with besides herself, which was really the biggest limiting factor of all. He set the thoughts aside from now, he had other things to do before he rebuilt his clan. First and most importantly, Itachi had to die to restore his clan's honor. There was a moment of mental silence as the young Uchiha realized what he'd considered, Aoki pointed out that he should be honest with himself so he could better lie to others.

Despite the warped logic, Sasuke was able to realize he wasn't out to kill Itachi for his dead clan's honor, he just wanted revenge for the emotional turmoil, revenge for his dead clansmen even if his last living relative outside of very distant out of clan relations was the criminal he needed to kill. It was a refreshing thought for the increasingly bird-like genin, but the matter remained he would kill Itachi. However without the matter of it being for clan honor he felt less pressed to do so, he could take his time to come up with a suitable plan.

Aoki pointed out only doing it for revenge would make it hollow, Sasuke outwardly scoffed at that but the Imp insisted he keep in mind the prestige that would come from killing Itachi. The Uchiha didn't bother mentally arguing, he had plenty of reason to kill Itachi, one matter even being that if anyone but Sasuke killed him it would imply that anyone could have massacred the Uchiha, and if he died of old age then it would immortalize the man as an unbeatable shinobi to be considered among genuine legends above even S class shinobi.

Sasuke was prideful at heart, always raised to be proud of his heritage and bloodline. Whether for his pride or out of spite, Itachi would not be considered an Uchiha on par with Madara, that glory belonged to Sasuke alone if the genin had anything to say about it.

Naruto had finished training with Shizune, unfortunately not having made much progress with Dokugiri he was having lunch to help him sober up as he had made himself hungry with his relatively safe method of training with Dokugiri. Shizune had been impressed, but the blonde hadn't succeeded so he wasn't satisfied, he'd train more later though. Whatever chemical messed with his head in the cannabis would be great for combat, as it slowed down his reaction time and messed with his chakra control as he lost his focus.

After twelve bowls of his special spicy ramen order he was feeling a bit more clear headed, hydrated by the bone broth and full of energy again. Before he returned to training he wanted to consider a new weapon though, he'd been hesitant since he didn't want seven weapons, then he realized as long as he had six swords it didn't matter what other weapons he carried. Besides, a kusarigama would be a good reusable short range throwing weapon that he could retrieve via the chain. It was practically an iconic ninja weapon, along with shuriken, kunai, and even the fuma shuriken.

Naruto had recently learned there were actually two Fuma shinobi clans, albeit spelled with different kanji. One was even distantly related to the Uchiha, although they had no Sharingan and they hailed from Amegakure no Sato, they were the supposed inventors of the fuma shuriken. The other clan was in Ta no Kuni, a land currently called Oto no Kuni as Orochimaru had apparently taken control of even the Daimyo.

That was a fact that had bothered Naruto, a Daimyo was currently subservient to a shinobi. Between what had happened in Na no Kuni, Tori no Kuni, and Yuki no Kuni it made the blonde wonder how often shinobi simply conquered lands and went unnoticed. He wondered what the other Daimyo thought of other great land owners being usurped by ninja, no wars seemed to have fully sprung up and they were still in the opening skirmishes of shinobi versus shinobi between hidden villages.

Naruto was so preoccupied by his thoughts on the looming war he knew was likely coming with Oto no Kuni that he wandered into the weapons store and simply blankly stared at the various swords and kusarigama for a moment, Tenten wondered what had the blonde so vacant lately. It had been noticeable that the usually excited blonde had become less voracious for attention, likely as a result of being recognized as a shinobi, but had as a result become rather pensive when not engaged in conversation.

The girl didn't bother with the saleswoman stuff with Naruto, "Oi, what's got you so spaced out? Deciding on a weapon?" she asked, figuring she'd offer him advice more casually, and she was curious about what weapon he wanted now.

"Kusarigama!" Naruto declared, gesturing at it, "Why does it have chain?" he asked, "Why is it farm equipment with chain? I fought a guy with swords on chains, why not that?" he asked his questions rapid fire.

Tenten blinked owlishly, "Most shinobi specific weapons are repurposed farming equipment, like kama and kunai." she pointed out, "I think originally shinobi were farmers, it explains names like Hatake being actual shinobi clans and the tradition of farmers children becoming shinobi exists even today, my Otousan still lives on a rice farm south of Konoha." she explained, "The kusari part is surprisingly versatile, you can pull it taut to block, the weighted end is a decent bludgeoning weapon, and you can wrap people up with it. Technically you could use any weapon on the end of the chain, like a tanto or ninjato, and the most traditional form of the weapon is the slightly difficult to use kama but that tradition only exists because of farming origins."

Naruto listened raptly, surprised at how much Tenten actually knew about weapons, "Woah, you're smarter than Sakura-chan." he praised, prompting a very faint blush from the older girl, "I'll take that one with the really long chain!" he decided, picking one of the weapons with a scythe on the end, the traditional kusarigama.

Tenten should have known Naruto would pick the one with the longest chain, but she figured he would pick a sword, "Alright, why the kama?" she asked curiously.

"Perfect shinobi should master shinobi weapons, bukijutsu is a shinobi art too." Naruto answered with determination in his voice, looking surprisingly serious about his desire. The blonde pulled out his purse and payed for the weapon, taking it with him when he left.

Tenten wasn't sure what else to say to that, in a way she was a little flattered Naruto was trying to learn her chosen mastered art of bukijutsu, but the fact he just saw mastering it as a stepping goal to his ambition was a little insulting. It was rather contradictory, but she tried to lean towards flattered. Although she did decide she would practice more ninjutsu after her shift ended, she needed to catch up if she wanted to be a legendary kunoichi.

Naruto's first attempt at practicing the kusarigama went very poorly, he started by attempting to spin the sickle bladed end by the chain but ended up wrapping the chain around one of his horns by mistake and cutting his own right cheek open just under his eye. The blonde winced as he carefully untangled himself, gingerly touching the flesh around his wounded cheek, "Is it bad?" he asked.

Maemi sighed at the poor showing, "You'll live, but why did you start practicing with the blade?" she asked, "You're lucky it probably won't scar given your healing factor, but you really should have started with the weighted end for practicing that." she pointed out, deciding not to verbalize that he was even luckier not to have lost an eye.

Naruto laughed, "Oh yeah, I guess I didn't think of that." he confessed as he gingerly touched the flesh around the sore in his cheek, wincing slightly when he pressed down but not stopping. Maemi was not inclined to tell him not to play with the injury, since he would heal fast enough he probably couldn't make it worse anyway and it was good that he was exploring other sensations besides just pleasure.

The Imp was slightly annoyed despite herself, Naruto's lacking education was an almost constant issue. He wasn't particularly bright outside of combat situations, but his ability to think on his feet implied an intelligence that was simply not honed yet. However his inability to hone this intelligence was grating on the Muse, she knew his education was sabotaged from a young age but she hadn't been aware it could have such a negative effect on the growth of a young human.

Naruto noticed the pensive look on his Imp and frowned, "What's wrong?" he asked, curious about what was bothering his Familiar.

Maemi crossed her arms and leaned back as if to rest on something, only to halt on nothing behind her, "Just contemplating things, nothing to concern yourself with Naruto-sama." she assured to deflect the question, not wanting to answer it. Her pose served a purpose of confusing the blonde momentarily, he understood just enough of physics to know it shouldn't be physically possible.

Naruto frowned but shrugged, standing up and brandishing his new weapon to continue practice with it. His cheek had already stopped bleeding and would be fully closed soon, Maemi doubted the injury would even scar. The Muse was still confused by the healing factor the blonde had, since it seemed to be a blend of multiple factors. Uzumaki in general seemed to have an innate recovery ability that relied on chakra, and Naruto's had been enhanced by the chakra of the Kyubi.

Then the young blonde had become a Champion of Slaanesh, and his chakra had altered again, now his healing factor was better than ever. Combined with the fact his chakra was near infinite and he might be able to recover from even crippling injuries without medical assistance, but that wasn't something the Imp was particularly eager to test, "Don't spin the chain over your head." she reminded as soon as she saw him start to make the exact mistake he'd already made.

At least Naruto wasn't too slow of a learner, he did not need another reminder to avoid his horns with his new chain weapon.

Tsunade took a sip of tea, trying to limit her alcohol intake at least while she was working on important paperwork. As soon as she signed off on approval for an iron shipment to enter the gates within the next week for a local smith and saw the next file she regretted it, and also wondered who had filed her paperwork in this order for her. She supposed they must have skimmed it and not recognized the issue with a small village going silent for some reason, a minor clerical error thankfully enough.

"Oh fuck you Orochimaru." Tsunade grumbled under her breath, as to her there could be no other culprit for what she know had to deal with. Technically she had no proof, but she felt safe privately pinning the blame on the serpentine man considering how things had been going.

The fact it had been a village closer to Kawa no Kuni than Oto no Kuni that they'd lost contact with was a minor damper on her current running theory but as far as the Hokage was concerned that just meant it was likely not Orochimaru personally at least. Regardless of the actual culprit Tsunade now needed to draft up multiple missions to deal with the problem, since the small town they'd lost contact with was a supplier of silk and Hi no Kuni would suffer economically from losing it.

First thing was information, so she started drafting a recon mission to figure out why the village had gone completely silent. Tsunade considered briefly that she might be overreacting, but she discarded that thought immediately, overreacting would be sending out multiple teams to secure the entire area without gathering information about the situation. She considered her options and double checked who was available.

"No." Tsunade said to herself bluntly as she set aside Naruto's picture, the younger blonde was fast and strong, but also young and impulsive. The hermaphrodite ninso was valuable in a fight, but unfortunately Tsunade was certain from past experiences that all it would take is one person appealing to Naruto for the young blonde to add whatever such a person needed to the mission parameters.

Unfortunately the other options weren't much better, but genin cell eight could probably handle it with a second jonin along for back up just in case. Tsunade did not enjoy being forced to send genin on B rank or higher missions, but Konoha was still recovering and with the current genin stock she was not exactly in a hurry to push for the current academy to graduate early. They could barely spare the chunin required to maintain the academy as it was anyway.

Just in case Haku was added to the team under his alias as a Konton no Oinin, making it a squad of six would likely stop Naruto from insisting on going despite who she was sending, and the dark haired pretty boy was almost as competent as some jonin despite his continued inability to kill. Tsunade quickly came up with an excuse to keep Naruto off the mission, and some other missions for the time being just in case patrol patterns were being leaked.

"Haku-chan, someone is coming to the door." Naruto informed before taking a deep inhale from his kiseru, then there was a knocking sound from the front door. Haku smiled and went to answer it, he was confident that the blonde would have noticed any danger even inebriated as he currently was, but still double checked before opening the door.

"Hello, Kiba-san, right?" Haku greeted as he opened the door to see Hinata's Inuzuka teammate, the iron armed genin nodded and flashed a carefree grin, it was still confusing how the Inuzuka seemed to handle the rage that came with being marked by the blood god. Even after learning meditation exercises Sakura still had difficulties.

"Yo," Kiba greeted casually, "Kurenai-sensei sent me to get Hinata-chan for a mission." he explained quickly, "She also mentioned someone called 'Yukimaru' living here?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Haku nodded, "I'll inform Hinata-chan." he said, deciding he probably was not supposed to reveal that he was that particular oinin even if it was sort of obvious. Kiba would probably figure it out on his own anyway, Inuzuka had good noses.

"Who was it?" Kin asked once Haku returned without the guest.

"Hinata-chan's teammate, Kiba-san, is here to pick her up for a mission." Haku explained, prompting the three armed Hyuga to stand up, "Also myself apparently." he added with a shrug, "As Yukimaru of course, so I'll grab my mask."

Naruto frowned, "Aw, both of you?" he asked with a slight pout to his frown, "Now I wanna go." he grumbled.

Karin sighed, "Naruto-nii come on, they'll be fine." she tried to reason, "Besides, you're in no condition to go anywhere right now." she pointed out.

"My magnificent self could sober up right now and just go." Naruto pointed out dryly.

"Well don't, you seriously need to relax more than you do." Karin scolded as the Haku and Hinata gathered what they'd need for the mission quickly, as to not keep Kiba waiting too long.

"I need to train more 's'what I need y'know." Naruto grumbled with a slight slur, but he poured himself a saucer of sake to show he wasn't going to argue further. Maemi couldn't fault his obsession, or what he took pleasure from, but she didn't think the blonde needed to go on every mission. If anything Naruto's presence on a mission was likely to stunt other champions from gaining boons as it was.

Kiba glanced at Haku, or 'Yukimaru', with suspicious eyes as he lead the older boy and Hinata to the main gate out of Konoha where they'd meet with the rest of the cell for the mission. Kurenai and Shino were already there with Anko, the last person there surprised Hinata but Haku did not actually know well enough to recognize the woman except that she was in the Torture and Interrogation division of Konoha's forces. He was vaguely aware that Isaribi liked the other purple haired woman, and that Naruto was oddly fond of her, and that she had a Juin similar to Sasuke's but with an Imp more like Maemi that granted her some sort of empathic ability.

Shino had not changed much since Hinata had last seen him, Kiba seemed to be a bit more rugged lately and kept his hood down more. Akamaru had gotten bigger too, which likely contributed to the Inuzuka not bothing with his hood as much, but the only noticeable changes to Shino were the oddly gross Imp sitting on his shoulder and his single beetle-like horn.

"Hinata-chan, Kiba-kun, good to see you both well." Shino greeted politely, a little stuffy for conversation with friends but the other two genin knew well enough that was just how Aburame were.

"Yeah you too." Kiba responded casually as he adjusted the bandages covering his iron scaled left hand.

Hinata nodded politely for her response, doing her best to hide her disgust with the appearance of Shino's Familiar.

"Oh so that's who Yukimaru is." Anko muttered under her breath, "Isn't that a little obvious?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Haku shrugged, "Probably, but as soon as people see me using Hyoton it would be obvious anyway so I don't mind." he explained, his only annoyance with the alias was that it was a reference to a dead clan he wanted nothing to do with. The reference was unintentional on Naruto's part at least, so Haku didn't begrudge him, but it was not a very good cover name. The fact said blonde didn't even bother to remember to use it during missions definitely did not help.

"So, what are the mission details anyway?" Kiba asked as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, Akamaru barking once eagerly beside him.

"Kinu-gai, a small village on the border of Kawa no Kuni, is a common rest stop for merchants traveling between Kaze no Kuni and Hi no Kuni." Kurenai began simply as she started herding her team closer to the gate, "Recently, we've lost contact with the village, no merchants going through have come out in the past couple of days." she explained, "Hopefully it's nothing major, but Hokage-sama wants us to be sure just in case. Better to check the situation early than to let it get worse."

Anko nodded in agreement, "Basic scouting shit, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, really boring honestly." she added, "I'm just along as an extra safety net for you kids, I imagine Yukimaru there is here for a similar reason."

Haku shrugged, "If that is why I'm here, I was not briefed as such." he stated, "However, I'll do what I can to assist in completing the mission to the best of my ability." he added with a polite bow.

"Damn, you're stuffy." Kiba scoffed in a joking tone, "Relax a little, Shino is stuffy enough for an entire cell." he assured casually. Haku was surprised that the Inuzuka was marked by the same Kami that had marked Sakura, the boy seemed far more relaxed and at ease than the high strung pink haired girl.

Anko could feel the emotions of the others around her through her link with the Imp in her Juin, Tankoshoku, and was confused herself, "What's got you confused?" she asked once they were out of the gate.

Haku wasn't sure how to answer that but figured blunt honesty would solve his confusion, "Kiba-san seems remarkably calm for one marked by the Ikari no Kami." he pointed out simply.

Kiba blinked owlishly in surprise as Anko laughed, "Oh he's filled with blood thirst." she said and the Inuzuka flinched as Kurenai looked surprised, "I will admit though, his control is intense, even I feel like killing something just being around him. Although I guess that's more to do with my own mark than his." she added vaguely, silently blaming her own Muse for the empathic link.

"This is an awkward topic." Kiba said, clearly embarrassed for some reason that eluded Haku.

"What's awkward about it?" Anko asked, "Lust for violence is a human instinct, as unfortunate as that can be for most." she said in a resigned tone. Kurenai gave her a reproachful look, silently disagreeing with that.

"Yeah, instincts." Kiba agreed with a nod, "Those are awkward to talk about with, uh," he halted mid sentence as he considered how to word what he wanted to say.

"I understand," Shino began as he adjusted his reflective glasses, "discussing such things with those outside of our clans is difficult for Inuzuka and Aburame." he clarified.

Kiba nodded again, "Yeah, so can we not?" he requested, and while Haku was still curious he kept it to himself.

Anko had no such niceties in her mind, "Inuzuka are more in tune with instincts right? It's why you guys still do a whetting ceremony on missions despite most modern shinobi finding it distasteful for genin your age to do so." she exposed casually but without any ill will.

Kiba flinched again, "Yeah, got it in one. My whole clan is already used to controlling a thirst for blood." he confessed, glaring at Anko slightly and annoyed that the woman seemed quite smug to be right.

Haku nodded in understanding, "I can't say I relate, but I think I understand." he said, "Shinobi clans, even without a Kekkei Genkai, are just fundamentally different from regular civilians aren't they?" he asked, mostly rhetorical but he received a few nods.

Kurenai stayed silent, feeling guilty for not already knowing that. She supposed it was something the Inuzuka kept to themselves, but she still felt bad for not understanding her own students better. The Yuhi were a shinobi clan as well, albeit without Kekkei Genkai or even any hijutsu so they were of course only considered minor compared to the likes of the major founding clans. The lack of numbers compared to the likes of the major clans also factored into this, but she was no orphan last survivor like Senju, Uchiha, or Hatake were down to.

The journey towards Kinu-gai was uneventful and the group stopped a fair distance away where Hinata activated her Byakugan, the girl immediately went pale, then green, then looked like she might vomit before she deactivated her Byakugan. Kurenai was concerned about the girl, worried for her health while Anko just wondered what the girl had seen, through Tankoshoku she felt the visceral disgust Hinata had felt but could not connect the feeling to whatever Hinata had seen, but whatever it was made her skin crawl.

"What did you see?" Anko asked, not wasting time with checking on her health since she could feel the younger kunoichi was fine, just sickened.

Hinata shuddered and almost stepped back off the branch she stood on, "Corpses? No, they were breathing, how were they breathing?" she tried to answer, "They're buried alive, being eaten by worms, how can this happen? That was impossible." she continued, barely coherent before she covered her mouth with her hand and tried to push the images from her mind, "How can a living, breathing person, breath under that much dirt? How can a living person decay and rot so much?" she muttered.

Shino frowned, "It sounds like some poor souls marked by Ojiisama." he pointed out, his affectionate familial term for his god still confusing to the others.

Funben giggled, "We should dig them up then!" he insisted happily, his cheer despite the situation disturbing Kurenai in particular.

Shino shook his head, "We do not know if they are friendly or not." he pointed out.

"If they marked by Nurgle-jiisama then they family." Funben insisted with a huff.

Shino sighed, "Mortals are not so cut and dry, I will send kikaichu ahead to burrow and investigate." he assured, looking to Kurenai for confirmation and following through when she nodded approval. The Aburame was likely the only one who could safely investigate anyway, as just looking at the buried people, rotting as they apparently were, was enough to make Hinata visibly ill.

Haku couldn't help but feel something about people being buried alive was somehow familiar, but he had never heard of those buried alive living under the dirt while decaying and rotting. He didn't blame Hinata's reaction, it sounded like a horrifying thing to see, especially with the visual acuity of a dojutsu like the vaunted Byakugan. Just hearing her state what she had seen made Haku feel uncomfortable.

Kurenai pulled out a small scroll and a pencil, starting to quickly note down what they'd learned already, "Anko-san, could I ask you to have a snake take this to Hokage-sama? We may need additional iryonin back up for this." she said as she wrote, Anko nodded in agreement and bit open her right thumb to perform the needed jutsu.

Once the snake had swallowed the scroll and slithered off however, Shino frowned with concern, "It would seem they somehow detected my kikaichu." he warned, "Thankfully they are slow, but those buried people are apparently getting up and moving towards us." he informed quickly.

Kurenai cursed as Hinata went even more pale, the prospect of fighting what she'd seen up close made the Hyuga girl shudder with disgust. Kiba was clearly confused, "So, not friendly then?" he asked, idly adjusting the bandages covering his left hand.

"You don't know that!" Funben retorted cheerfully, his tone at odds with the situation.

Shino sighed at his Familiar's antics, "Hard to say actually, I lack the ability to know for certain, but given their nature if they merely want to speak it may be best for myself to go ahead and intercept." he explained, "I say this because due to Nurgle-jiisama's mark I should be fine if they bring an airborne disease with them, and my kikaichu should be able to help me detect it and warn you all." he clarified his reasoning at length.

Kurenai did not like that plan at all, but could not think of a better one, "Then please be careful, Shino-kun." she warned, giving permission for the Aburame to follow through. Shino nodded in agreement and leaped ahead to intercept, hearing Hinata and his insects describe them did little to prepare him for the state of the people he would meet.

None of them seemed to have shinobi training, but they looked like walking dead. There were roughly twenty of the corpse-like people, each one with rotting flesh and crawling with parasites. Even Shino felt discomfort looking at them, but his constitution was hardier than Hinata's and he was able to remain collected despite the visage of the people. Curiously, each person wore a wide smile, and greeted the Aburame with friendly waves that helped calm his nerves.

"Hello, I am here on behalf of Konohagakure no Sato," Shino began politely, "is Kinu-gai well or in need of assistance? I ask because we have recently lost contact-" he started to continue.

"Konoha?" A raspy voice spoke up from slightly above and behind Shino, alarming the genin who had not noticed someone getting so close to him, "You're from Konohagakure no Sato," the voice continued as the Aburame glanced towards the source only to find he couldn't pinpoint where they were, "just like them..." the voice trailed off with a dangerous edge to the tone.

Shino was concerned, sensing that someone from Konoha had angered this man in the past, "I am a Konoha shinobi." he confirmed hesitantly, "Shino Aburame, just a genin with my cell here to check on Kinu-gai." he added honestly, prepared to defend himself if his clan had offended the man in some way.

"That loud brat, I thought they were just a genin too," The voice continued, coughing slightly as whoever was speaking rose their voice slightly, something their throat couldn't handle apparently, "you seem more quiet and agreeable though." the hidden man decided.

"I can be agreeable." Shino agreed, happy with keeping whoever this stranger was amicable due to their apparent skill with throwing their voice despite a damaged throat and their obvious skills with stealth indicating an assassination specialist he did not want to provoke.

"You seem to have the same Ojiisama as us," The voice continued, "so, are you agreeable enough to help us ensure putting a stop to a bakemono who attempted to separate us from our loved ones with death?" he asked.

Shino did not like the sound of that question, it sounded benign on the surface, but the voice of the man had not long ago had indicated a rather intense hatred for another Konoha shinobi, "I am afraid I have my own mission and duties." he apologized, "My team and I are tasked with checking on Kinu-gai." he reiterated.

There was a long pause before the voice spoke again, "So clinical, you're the worst type of person to have at a funeral, and I get the feeling you aren't very good at showing your love." he said sadly from alarmingly close behind the Aburame, but when Shino turned on reflex to look over his right shoulder a kunai sunk into his left clavicle from another angle above him and to his left. Shino showed no reaction to the pain, instead he swiftly dropped a smoke bomb at his feet and used the cover to make a mushi bunshin to act as a distraction so he could escape.

Shino returned to his team with a bit of sweat, "Not friendly." he warned simply, "We should leave by the way." he warned as a hail of shuriken came at him and were intercepted by senbon in mid air.

Kurenai and Anko both palmed kunai, the former alarmed by the fact she had not noticed the shuriken or senbon until it was too late, the sudden fog rolling in despite the weather warned her that it was likely a Kiri nin of some kind, "Did you identify-?" she began to ask.

"No, I can not, they are dangerous and likely infectious." Shino interrupted, looking surprisingly eager to escape but not leaving without his team. Hinata looked worried, but Kiba just looked confused.

"Full retreat then." Kurenai ordered without further question, if Funben was implying they shared the same mark as Shino and the Aburame called the enemy dangerous and infectious, they'd likely need a squad of Aburame to deal with it.

"Leaving?" The voice Shino recognized from before asked, "Wait, one, no, two of you? Three of you! You have the same mark as that bastard!" the voice broke down into enraged babbling as the source finally revealed himself. Raiga Kurosuki leaped from cover at Hinata, two jagged and rusted blades in hand.

Haku intercepted, kicking the man in the face from cover with a dynamic entry, "He seems oddly familiar." the pretty boy said as he brandished senbon, but he couldn't recall that it was Raiga.

Kurenai however turned pale, "His face is damaged, but that's Raiga Kurosuki isn't it?" she asked, clearly on edge from that.

Haku jolted in surprise, "Raiga? But Naruto-kun-" he began to recall.

"Naruto?" A different voice, equally as raspy as Raiga asked from Raiga's back, prompting Hinata to activate her Byakugan and turn green again, "That's the name of that blonde, isn't it? You're friends of that bastard!" the voice accused before descending into a coughing fit.

"Calm yourself, Ranmaru-kun." Raiga assured as he pulled himself to his feet from where he landed, curiously his blades seemed to be iron scythe blades that had been strapped to makeshift wooden handles with dirty bandages acting as grips, "We'll prove the better men, and give his loved ones a funeral even if he doesn't deserve the closure." the man decided in a deranged tone with a kind smile that was at odds with his words and demeanor.

Haku felt the tension in his muscles and mind alike, "Hinata-chan, I'll hold him off." he promised, not wanting Naruto to lose his first wife.

"No," Shino interrupted, "I underestimated him, but I think I overestimated him too." he said, "I shall-" he began to volunteer himself instead.

"Absolutely not!" Kurenai denied before he could finish, "You shall retreat and receive medical attention for that kunai in your shoulder, that is dangerously close to your neck." she scolded, "This is Raiga Kurosuki, leave him to us jonin." she ordered, "Yukimaru, escort the genin back to Konoha while Anko-san and I hold him off." she ordered, Haku nodded in agreement.

Anko frowned however, "Kurenai-san, I think Shino should do it." she disagreed, surprising the other jonin, "The Kami that marked those two is dangerous, from what I've heard Shino has a better chance of surviving than either of us." she pointed out.

Shino nodded, "If he is infectious, I am immune, further he is lacking his Raito, and if Naruto-san could defeat him then I should be able to as well." he tried to assure his sensei.

Raiga sighed, "I almost want to attack you, but such a show of love for each other, willingness to sacrifice, I'm so moved." he said with his eyes starting to water, "Therefore, I will allow two of you to live!" he offered, gesturing to Shino and Kurenai, "The rest of you are selfish, but you will have funerals that you don't deserve for the sake of those two loving souls!" he promised before his raised voice prompted a coughing fit from him as well.

"Kurenai-sensei, you are not a ninso, let me handle this." Shino asked before turning to Raiga and, to ensure she couldn't interfere, he issued his challenge, "I challenge Raiga as a Zetsubo no Ninso." he declared as he leaped down.

Kurenai frowned with concern, despite her student trying to hide it she could tell the kunai in his clavicle was an injury not to be taken lightly, his left arm had been limp while Raiga seemed unbothered by his visible injuries. Kiba looked irritated as well, "Hold up, you said more enemies were around! Someone should-!" he began.

"No, they are definitely infectious, and they're slow." Shino denied, "Raiga is the threat here, along with whoever this Ranmaru is on his back."

"Not just on his back, in his back." Hinata spoke up with a shudder, "They're connected, even their keirakukei and circulatory system are linked, maybe even the nervous system too since the spines are connected." she informed, looking like she wanted to throw up. She thought she had a stronger stomach from having an Aburame teammate and seeing his hive-like body regularly, but compared to these others marked by the same god Shino seemed clean despite his own necrotic injuries from the last time he fought a rival champion of the same god.

"A challenge? Ranmaru-kun we can't deny a challenge." Raiga spoke to the covered bundle on his back, and a pair of red eyes glared out from underneath the bundle with a glow at Shino, "We'll just have to cripple him before chasing down the others." the man decided before he sighed and took cover in the mist. In response Shino spread out his kikaichu, planning to use them to warn him when the enemy attacked.

Kurenai did not want to leave however, but the situation seemed hopeless, her expression was clearly downcast as she internally cursed her inability to protect her students. Haku and Hinata were fine to follow Shino's wishes and were already moving to make their escape with Anko, leaving Kiba and Kurenai hesitating for a moment before Akamaru whined and the Inuzuka grit his teeth before moving to follow the majority.

Kurenai shivered, disgusted with herself for her weakness, the thought of Shino dying to protect her made her feel more ill than she had ever felt. Suddenly she had a realization, there was another with Raiga. They were connected, so arguably the same person, but they clearly had two minds, distinct enough to talk with each other externally. That gave the woman resolve to do what she'd been warned against, "Then I challenge Ranmaru!" she announced suddenly, palming a kunai and leaping high as Raiga charged at Shino.

Raiga was startled as a kunai flew at Ranmaru on his back from above, twisting to protect the boy connected to him and knock the thrown weapon aside with the makeshift blade in his right hand. The man glared up at the kunoichi with disgust, "Leave Ranmaru-kun alone! He's a defenseless child! I have to protect him!" he announced, incensed by the challenge directed at the red eyed boy.

Kurenai palmed another kunai, "If you need to protect him, you shouldn't bring him into battle." she said coldly, feeling a similar desire to protect Shino. Then she felt a chill and swiftly turned to ram her kunai into the tree beside her, seeing as she'd struck the wood she frowned in confusion as she'd been certain she'd sensed intent to kill coming at her from there.

When the kunoichi turned back to Raiga he was gone, as was Shino, and the mist seemed thicker than ever, "I accept your challenge," Ranmaru's voice came from all around her, "I lack the ability to kill you in a straight fight however, Raiga-san will help once your student is dealt with, then you two can join us for the funeral of those other cowards once we catch them." he rasped hatefully before the mist suddenly thickened.

Kurenai stayed still for a lot longer than she would like to, especially given her current situation, but she couldn't detect Shino or Raiga anywhere. Now that she looked around the unnatural mist, she realized that she didn't even recognize where she was and wondered how she'd gotten lost so quickly. The woman was certain she was not so easily disoriented, then what had happened finally clicked; the jonin commander was in a genjutsu.

Knowing that she was in a genjutsu was one thing, but attempting to break said genjutsu was another thing. Kurenai was stunned to find that her genjutsu expertise was completely overwhelmed by Ranmaru, who seemed to be a child. She looked around as she tried to break the genjutsu, but each time she swirled her chakra to break through and caused the scenery to change, she swiftly realized she was still in a genjutsu and not once did she recognize where she was.

"Ranmaru, just what are you?" Kurenai muttered to herself, wondering how someone so young could have such a mastery of genjutsu.

Shino noticed his sensei suddenly halt and glance around with vacant confusion, "I should warn you, I turned the last person who hurt one of my sensei into soup and bones." he informed his opponent in neutral tones, reaching his right hand into his coat and pulling out a tanto as he did.

"I'd say you Konoha genin are an arrogant bunch," Raiga retorted dryly, "but the last one had some decent power to back up his words. A half rate ninja, but powerful enough to make up for his lack of skill, I hate people like that." he grumbled.

"Do you ever stop complaining?" Shino asked in an exasperated tone, "I do not particularly care about your hatred for Naruto-san but" he began only to be forced on the defensive as mention of the blonde set Raiga off, the man suddenly springing into action. The Aburame almost lost his head and nearly dodged into a swing if not for his insects warning him he was in a genjutsu.

"How? You can escape my genjutsu?" Ranmaru asked, sounding confused and concerned at once.

"Insect brains are more basic than a humas, their senses are not fooled by genjutsu due to this." Shino revealed casually, "It takes very specific jutsu to fool my kikaichu, no human genjutsu could manage of course as no human mind can comprehend the sensory input of an insect." he explained.

Ranmaru audibly grit his teeth with a grinding sound that made even Shino uncomfortable, "That blonde, they were immune to my genjutsu as well..." he growled hatefully.

"Calm down, Ranmaru-kun, this one isn't that one." Raiga said to soothe his young partner, and the red eyed boy under the cloak seemed to relax slightly.

Kurenai scowled as she realized that the lack of attacks directed at her could only mean Shino was fighting still, she tried to muster anger at that, hope that he'd win, anything but the crushing despair that her genin was fighting Raiga Kurosuki. Even without his Raito he was still a former Kiri black ops shinobi, one of their Shinobigatana Shichinun Shu even, the fact Naruto had beaten the man helped alleviate her concerns somewhat but she could not just sit around and hope for her student to save her.

The woman closed her eyes and tried to focus on her chakra more, she'd heard Anko teasing Kakashi for apparently needing to be rescued from Zabuza by his students on their first C rank, even if this was a B rank she could not let herself be in the same position. Most importantly she refused to let her student suffer against a stronger opponent, but no matter how many times she swirled her chakra she just kept finding herself surrounded by thick mist with no sign of Shino or Raiga.

The jonin felt her throat and chest tighten with anxiety at her inability to escape the genjutsu of a child, it reminded her of past failures she'd rather forget. Kurenai shuddered, realizing she was disgusted with herself as she struggled to do something, anything at all to help her student. She kept her eyes closed as she focused on her chakra, the one saving grace was that her opponent did not see any need to torment her further but the fact a child had trounced her in genjutsu and then not even bothered to finish her off just made her feel even worse.

Then Kurenai realized her opponent had let her move, for a moment she felt a glimmer of hope that she could still attack, but attacking blindly when her student was fighting his opponent in the vicinity when she couldn't see, the woman briefly considered leaving her fate to chance, but the thought of hitting Shino instead of Raiga made her bones feel as heavy as lead and she couldn't bring herself to move despite her physical ability to do so.

The fact Ranmaru had trapped only her senses within his genjutsu and not her movement was a blow to her pride, "Stupid geniuses and thei dumb Kekkei Genkai..." she grumbled to herself before placing her kunai in her mouth and starting to weave hand signs, trying to counter the genjutsu she was in or reverse it in some way. Despite the situation she refused to give up, beginning the slow process of trying every single reverse and counter genjutsu she knew in an attempt to turn it back on the red eyed boy helping Raiga.

Raiga charged at Shino, swinging his blades at the younger ninja who went fully on the defensive. The Aburame wanted to counter but could not find an opening to do so, he found a new respect for Naruto as he narrowly avoided losing his left eye, although the blade in Raiga's right hand caught his cheek before the one in his left came at his neck. Annoyingly for Shino his kikaichu didn't seem to be very helpful, Raiga was simply ignoring them as they drained his chakra.

Even the necrotic venom of his mutated kikaichu didn't seem to affect Raiga, at least Shino thought they weren't until he realized the older shinobi was simply unbothered by his flesh turning necrotic and beginning to slowly rot, in fact the man already seemed afflicted with rotting injuries now that the Aburame was close enough to see them.

Shino wondered how he was supposed to keep up with Naruto when the blonde had apparently defeated Raiga when the man had not been rotting and still had his Raito, but the Aburame reminded himself that there was never really telling how a fight would go, or how certain abilities could counter others was never really a certainty until the battle itself.

"That woman," Ranmaru spoke up, pulling the Aburame from his thoughts, "she's actually pretty good at genjutsu. Raiga-san I don't know how long I can hold her." he warned before the mist suddenly thickened between Shino and Raiga.

"Ah, sorry to burden you, Ranmaru-kun, I'll deal with her." Raiga's voice said from somewhere within the mist and Shino felt a hint of panic, the genin swiftly rushed to his sensei with the help of a female kikaichu, offering a silent prayer to Nurgle that he make it in time. The Aburame had developed a habit of putting female kikaichu on his teammates, so that he could use the pheromones to track them if they got separated, but even with that he barely made it in time to catch the blade going for Kurenai's neck with his tanto.

"I will gut you." Shino threatened plainly, his neutral tone at odds with the vein throbbing above his sunglasses on his forehead just under his hitai-ate, "I do not care about your tragic backstory, shut up and die quietly." he ordered coldly before unleashing a point blank Dokugiri.

Raiga coughed on the poisonous gas as he stumbled back and hopped out of the tree Kurenai was kneeling on, Shino giving chase to press the advantage but the man was curiously able to still move and defend himself fine despite the paralytic in the gas Shino had made, "You Konoha genin are really something else." the seemingly undying nukenin commented with some praise, but his tone indicated he was mostly just annoyed.

"Why will you not die?" Shino asked, curious but exasperated by the sturdiness of his opponent. To his annoyance his kikaichu warned him those others were starting to finally approach their battle field, this was an issue as Kurenai was still immobilized. The woman running through hand signs with a determined expression helped Shino feel a bit better about her current predicament, but needing to protect his sensei from multiple assailants would likely be impossible for him alone, and with his left arm as it was from the kunai lodged in his clavicle he didn't like his chances of calling any Daemons in time to help with how fast his opponent was.

Funben peaked out from his jacket collar, "That guy marked too, sturdy sturdy man!" the childish Bubo announced, "Probably won't die even if ya kill him, Shino-niichama!"

Shino didn't like the sound of that, "Ah, I guess you can't kill me since I died already? I don't really get it to be honest, but Nurgle-jiisama said my body was still usable, so he's fine with having my soul later." Raiga spoke up as he started limping towards his opponent, the Aburame hadn't even noticed the legs of the man had been broken and healed incorrectly until then.

Shino's eye twitched as he realized he was having so much difficult with such a massive handicap, his opponent was practically crippled and using makeshift weapons but still outpaced him in a straight fight, "So, I would be right to assume Shikkanjutsu are pointless here too." he muttered and Funben nodded, "A shame, oh well, I shall just have to find another way to defeat this enemy." he decided, but he couldn't risk going on the offense while Kurenai was still immobilized.

Raiga scoffed, "Defeat me? You're barely surviving me." he mocked before he sprang into action, leaping and swinging his blades at Shino, the genin narrowly dodged by diving back and unleashing another Dokugiri as some paper fell from his open equipment pouch, "Ah, this one actually stings, is my flesh melting? That's impressive." the man said, disturbingly calm as his body resisted being turned into soup.

"You seem to forget, Raiga-san," Shino scolded, "we are ninja." he said as he flipped his tanto into a reverse grip and made the seal of confrontation, activating a kibaku fuda he'd dropped and starting a chain reaction with the Dokugiri, the gas proving flammable and igniting Raiga and Ranmaru in a conflaguration, "Oh you have got to be kidding me." he grumbled as the target of his attack walked out of the blast, not unscathed but clearly uncrippled.

Raiga coughed and hacked up a phlegm blob mixed with blood and soot, "Clever, I'm too slow to dodge stuff like that if I'm not expecting it, but see what happens if you try it again." he dared, Shino wasn't sure if that was a bluff or not, but he wasn't going to risk it, "No? Well you're smarter than that other one was at least." the man praised, "However, you hurt Ranmaru-kun with that one, so I have to kill you now." he decided.

Shino took an involuntarily step back, he was running out of options but he wasn't ready to give up yet and flipped his tanto back to a forward grip, "I seriously do not care about your weird relationship with that small child except that it disturbs me, please shut up and die quietly." he requested more politely this time.

Raiga halted at that, "Weird relationship? Calling love weird? How could a callous brat like you ever be marked by Nurgle-jiisama." he glowered, "Ah, no matter, I shouldn't fault Ojiisama's love, it is unconditional I suppose, but I'll be putting you six feet underground, alive, dead, or somewhere in between, it doesn't matter really." he decided, lunging again at the genin.

To Shino's surprise the nukenin rammed his blades into a tree, "Now, Shino-kun!" Kurenai called out, her eyes suddenly clear. Shino recognized his sensei must have finally broken through the genjutsu, but wasn't sure if he even could kill the man. Deciding it was better than doing nothing, the Aburame leaped at the man and slammed his tanto into the man's temple with a crunching sound.

"Ah, your sensei became Oneechama!" Funben announced, much to Shino's confusion until he realized why the Bubo would refer to someone with familial terms. Kurenai seemed to realize too, as she was checking herself over.

Shino jumped in surprise as Raiga's body still moved, the apparent corpse of the man landing a deep cut on the Aburame's shins with a surprise swing of one of his blades as Ranmaru had a coughing fit, "Bastards! I won't let you take Raiga-san from me!" the boy declared breathlessly, his chakra flaring up and into Raiga's portion of their shared body, the aura turning green as he attempted to heal his other half.

Both Konoha shinobi were stunned with the sturdiness of the pair, the cloak falling away from Ranmaru to reveal the sickly looking pale young boy with purple hair, "I know appearances can be deceiving, but you look like a corpse." Shino pointed out, pretty sure his mobility and footwork were going to be diminished by that cut to his shins as it felt like the blade had even grazed as deep as his actual bones.

Kurenai glanced at Shino, finding it ironic that the Aburame was complaining about how sturdy someone else was when he was walking around with injuries that would cripple just about anyone, "Well, I guess this corpse child is my challenge, isn't he?" she pointed out, gesturing for her genin to stand down so he wouldn't get hurt again.

Ranmaru turned his glare on the woman, her countering his genjutsu and placing one on Raiga had been the reason the man was currently lobotomized, "I'll show you a corpse!" he declared, suddenly grabbing the tanto and roughly yanking it from Raiga's skull, pouring as much green chakra as he could into the man. The nukenin shambled towards Kurenai with a vacant expression as the other marked people became visible in the mist as they approached.

Each decaying person marked by Nurgle was weilding some kind of farming equipment as a weapon, mostly shovels, a few scythes and pitchforks, some had rakes, and one even carried a pair of pruning shears. Shino sighed as things just never seemed to end, "Just go away." he ordered, to his surprise they halted their advance.

"No!" Ranmaru retorted, "Kill them!" he demanded angrily, only to be surprised when they all turned on him, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked as they began to approach him, a few with shovels starting to dig a hole. Shino and Kurenai watched in surprise as the group of decaying people with glazed over eyes prepared a grave and dragged the protesting Ranmaru to it with them, heedless of his frantic attacks at them.

Funben giggled, "Oh he's angry! Way too wrathful, they'd much rather obey a cool Oniichama than a brat throwing a tantrum!" the Bubo announced happily, amused by the turn of events. Shino hadn't expected that, he'd only told them to go away to vent his own frustrations at them. Kurenai was disturbed by the sight of the corpse-like people digging their own mass grave and dragging Ranmaru and Raiga into it, the young boy screaming and she was certain the twitching legs was his panicked attempts at kicking with the legs of his other half.

Soon the hole was being filled in by a few of the rake wielding ones from the inside, creating a rather bizarre looking mass grave on the edge of town. Kurenai cleared her throat, "We should probably check on the rest of Kinu-gai." she pointed out, not even sure what to put in her mission report for what had just happened.

Kurenai helped Shino into the silk producing town they'd been sent to check on, but it seemed to be a ghost town. It was in a state of decay as if it had been abandoned for years instead of merely days, and checking on the stores of silk revealed large moths had gotten into the supplies and eaten everything, there was even a layer of dust far too thick to be normal. The jonin wasn't sure what to make of this, but let Shino rest on a bench so he could treat his injuries while she looked around.

Kurenai had hoped to find assistance for her wounded genin, but there seemed to be absolutely no one in the town, "Raiga really screwed us over here." she sighed, returning to slump on the bench next to Shino, "How are your injuries?" she asked.

Shino shrugged, rolling his neck as he did, "The clavicle wound was an issue, but because I left the kunai in there I avoided the threat of bleeding out internally." he reported, "Everything else was superficial, I will be fine." he assured calmly.

Kurenai sighed again, "You're way tougher than I was at your age, and I was a chunin by then." she praised, "So, Nurgle-jiisama, huh?" she asked, testing the true name on her tongue.

Shino nodded, "I have never had family problems like these before, we Aburame are usually far more cohesive." he joked dryly, prompting an amused snort from his sensei.

"Any new boons?" Kurenai asked, not having noticed any changes regarding herself and unable to find where she'd been marked by Nurgle.

Shino shrugged, "Not that I have noticed yet, but sometimes there can be a delay in the boon itself manifesting, especially if it regards my hive. I will have to check over any eggs laid by my kikaichu for the rest of the day." he informed, "Yourself?" he asked.

"I feel exhausted, that's about it." Kurenai revealed, "I don't even want to get up, I think I used too much chakra countering that kid's genjutsu." she grumbled, still embarrassed to have so much difficulty in her specialty against a child.

Shino was silent for a moment as he took in the abandoned town they'd been sent to check on, "Now what?" he asked, wondering if this counted as the mission being a failure or a success.

"Now we wait for back up, I guess." Kurenai answered, "We should probably set up a perimeter." she added with another sigh, forcing herself to stand again.

AN: I don't have an excuse for this particular hiatus, sorry for the almost month long wait for this chapter but I had some serious writers block. At the absolute latest I should be able to manage a chapter a month, but I'll try to pick my pace back up whenever I have inspiration to write.