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
Renkinjutsu - Alchemy
Hankami - Demigod/Half-God
Yuki no Yoroi - Armor of Ice/Snow
Hyoton no Fuin: Yuki no Haka - Seal of Ice Release: Tomb of Ice/Snow
Asuma trusted Kurenai, and he doubted the Hokage had ill intentions for their village. Despite that he couldn't help but be uncomfortable around the Konton no Ninso, despite Kurenai and two of his own students being counted among them. It was now dangerous to his health to be intimate in certain ways with the kunoichi because of her being marked by one of the strange Kami.
Kami with names that were unpronounceable to most, who altered the bodies of their chosen champions and were apparently in charge of some rather questionable domains. Asuma wondered if any of the civilians felt like they were in danger, the Aburame estate was generally avoided before anyway but the Inuzuka had been more aggressive as of late.
Then there were the more drastic and obvious changes, particularly within Kakashi's team. Kurenai's team was another example though, as was Shizune oddly enough.
Asuma wanted to trust Tsunade, she was the granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, considered the greatest iryonin in the world, and the student of his own father. But Orochimaru had been a student of the Sandaime Hokage as well, and the strange mutated corpse on the roof where Hiruzen Sarutobi had died was marked by the same eight pointed star that was now on Tsunade's head.
Kakashi had the same mark, and recently Ino got it as well. Privately Asuma had been relieved his students remained unmarked compared to the rest of what was being unofficially called the Konoha Twelve, he supposed the other genin from Gai's team's graduation year had either not been impressive enough, had retired, split up, or died. He didn't like to think about the last one too much.
Despite his misgivings Asuma trusted Kurenai, and he wanted to protect his team regardless of religious differences. Although the dynamics hadn't changed much, Shikamaru was as lazy as ever, if slightly more competitive about showing off his intelligence, and Ino was just as bossy as ever.
Ironically Choji had changed the most, the chubby boy complained a bit less whenever Ino bullied the boys into training, so gradually that the sensei of the cell had barely noticed. Still as insistent on barbecue lunch as ever, so Asuma was sure the Akimichi was fine.
Hinata on the other hand was making the Sarutobi jonin wonder if his father had perhaps not done enough to stop genin from turning into child soldiers, there had been detractors arguing quietly that the recent generations of Konoha genin were coddled and soft as a result.
Those had died down, the rookie nine were regarded as the most vicious and talented group of graduates to come out of an academy in years. Seeing Hinata have no care for the loss of life she'd accidentally caused made Asuma wonder, but he saw Kurenai's worry and let the kunoichi deal with her own student how she chose.
They finished the deliveries without further issues and no one attacked them on the way back to Hi no Kuni.
Sakura wondered if her luck was rotten, she'd been wrong, or if Sasuke's Kami was messing with her. The reason for her wonder was that Iwa had chosen to send a rather powerful and large scouting group to check the area they were preparing for encampment with Taki's forces.
As a result Sakura and a pair of Konoha chunin were slightly outnumbered, she tried to remember their names but focused herself more on resting her axe in the crook of her right arm as her right hand weaved signs for Kuchiyose and her left slid palm against axe blade. The kunoichi wasn't even as heavily armored as she'd like, she had a mesh undershirt and she'd gotten a change of clothes, but the armor that had covered her chest and shoulders had been destroyed.
Genkei charged and the two chunin evaded thrown kunai, flying blades bouncing off the armor of the Malice and the broken shield he carried. The pair of chunin crossed the distance between themselves and the Iwa scouts first, one managed to engage an Iwa shinobi in taijutsu as the other used Doryuheki no Jutsu to create some cover.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Sakura intoned as she thrust her left palm to the ground, crouching as she hefted her axe to rest across the back of her shoulders as she did. In a burst of smoke a quartet of Bloodletters appeared to even the odds as the Iwa scouts jumped over the mud wall, a pair of them throwing kunai and another pair doing hand signs.
With a fifth engaged with the other Konoha chunin out of line of sight Sakura realized she'd lost track of three entire shinobi, one of which had been a kunoichi with a sword and the pink haired girl couldn't think of any distinguishing features regarding the other two.
The chunin who had raised the Doryuheki seemed to realize his mistake as he cursed, glancing around quickly as he leaped backwards to avoid being hit by thrown weaponry and get some distance on whatever ninjutsu the other two would use.
Genkei rushed past the chunin as the Bloodletters caught pace with the Malice and inevitably overtook the Imp, the one in front swung a long flaming blade at a boulder that flew from the raised wall of earth and the group of Daemons scattered around the stone spikes that raised to meet their charge.
Sakura was surprised to see her Daemons rip through the Doton no Jutsu of the enemies and her ally alike, then she saw one disappear as one of the hidden Iwa scouts revealed himself by dropping kunai first into the back of the neck of the Bloodletter bringing up the rear.
When Sakura had asked Genkei if there was a name for the Daemons she summoned that was easier to pronounce, the armored Imp considered it and eventually decided on 'Ryuketsutaro'. The name was so bad, in more than one way, that Sakura felt better of using a name that those not marked by any Konton no Kami could not pronounce.
Despite their odd appearance and that she'd only seen them fight except for that one who had collected skulls, Sakura didn't like seeing one of her summons dispelled, and the cowardly method of doing so only fanned the flames of her anger.
So Sakura charged, she leaped and spun to swing her axe through the man who had dispelled one of her Bloodletters, momentum carrying the large axe head through bone and throwing the mangled corpse of the Iwa shinobi across the destroyed remains of the Doryuheki in pieces.
The pink haired kunoichi continued to spin, directing the momentum of her axe into a vertical spin as she hopped forward. She knew being aerial invited danger, but she preferred it to having her feet caught by a sneaky Doton no Jutsu. She maintained that thought process stubbornly as shuriken and kunai struck her brass skin where armor didn't touch, more than she'd like.
Unfortunately the Bloodletters were dangerous in close quarters, but not fast enough to deal with counter charges from shinobi. One of the Iwa scouts ended up with a vicious cut along his torso, it bled even through his flak vest, but he was not down and he pulled back as his teammates dispelled the Daemons with well placed kunai, ninjato cuts, and in one case an axe kick.
The last one startled Sakura as she brought her axe down between herself and an Iwa shinobi, the axe head slamming into the ground halted the charge of the man and Sakura used the opening to pull herself towards him, using the axe as leverage, and slammed her right foot into his diaphragm with a front kick.
Then the Iwa taijutsu specialist she remembered having trouble with struck Sakura's diaphragm with the end of a bo, knocking the kunoichi back the way she came with the breath knocked out of her. Sakura pulled her axe to come with her as she tucked her chin to her chest.
Genkei leaped and swung her first axe at the Iwa shinobi, enough to give Sakura a chance to roll back up into a crouched position, but the Imp was knocked aside by the taijutsu specialist as the Konoha chunin Sakura had lost sight of managed to knock another of the scouts unconscious with a strike to the base of the skull before he evaded the retaliatory attacks from the other Iwa shinobi with a Kawarimi no Jutsu.
Another Doryuheki rose between Sakura and the rest of the standing Iwa scouts she could see before the other Konoha chunin grabbed her shoulders to pull her up to her feet, her axe caught on the ground and stopped the man from dragging her further, "Leave it, we gotta go!" he insisted.
Sakura's eyes widened as she realized the two chunin were afraid, it took her another moment to register they were right to be scared since they were outnumbered but she wondered just how much her temper blinded her to. Unfortunately this momentary lag was more than enough for the taijutsu specialist and two more Iwa shinobi to leap over the wall.
The hidden Konoha chunin revealed himself by throwing a hail of shuriken in the path of the falling shinobi to halt their advance from tree cover in the direction Sakura belatedly realized the two chunin wanted to retreat to.
Sakura finally felt a shred of panic as the three Iwa ninja affixed to the earth wall with chakra, two going around either side of the hail of weaponry while the taijutsu specialist used the pommels of the kunai as footholds on his way down to the two Konoha ninja.
The chunin still with Sakura cursed and she realized he was probably low on chakra after two Doryuheki, she could barely handle a couple of Suiryudan herself, especially after using Kuchiyose no Jutsu like she had. She lifted her axe as quickly as she could, lifting the haft into the path of the bo strike from the man she thought was a taijutsu specialist.
She supposed she shouldn't be surprised his arm was already healed, Iwagakure had to have iroyninja too. The weight behind his staff still surprised her, she realized she'd lost track of far too many enemy ninja in the earthen cover and felt some anger rise at the chunin who had practically given the enemy more tools.
She felt anger towards her current opponent more as he struck against her guard again with his weapon before right snap kicking under her guard, thankfully for Sakura it was below the diaphragm and her stomach was tensed for it so she just slid back as two separate taijutsu bouts began on either side of her.
Sakura tried to remember the prayer, failing that she panicked and made up a new one, "I am hatred, I am endless fury, I am undying hellfire," she felt her left arm twitch at that one, "I am Ryuketsu no Ninso!" she announced and embraced the darker aspect of her patron Kami.
She had spoken up in a moment of panic, recalling when she had apparently been granted some abilities beyond her usual by praying. But she had been delirious, she couldn't remember it, but as she began her 'prayer' she realized what she should say.
Her stance shifted as she bunted a kick from her opponent and brought her large axe back, she tilted her head to catch the bo off her horn, the haft of wood still struck bone and skull, she felt slightly rattled and a little off balance.
Sakura swung her axe forward with a roar, the taijutsu specialist felt his hackles raise instinctively as he leaped back and attempted to knock the axe off course with his bo, his efforts saving his left leg from the head of the kunoichi's oversized axe.
The kunoichi continued the momentum of the swing and spun her axe as she twirled at the older shinobi, he dodged back and moved in to counter but was surprised that his staff striking down into Sakura's left shoulder did nothing to stop the girl as she spun her axe around her body to bring the axe head towards his torso.
The Iwa jonin's eyes widened as he leaped over the axe swing and delivered a double kick to the kunoichi's face to launch himself into a spin and land across from the stumbling pinkette. Sakura did not pant, or make any sound of pain or grogginess he would expect from the blows he'd delivered.
Sakura growled as she spun into a crouch with a swing of her axe and the Iwa shinobi realized the girl wasn't just charging or leaping at a low angle, she was throwing the axe and letting the momentum carry her with a simple hop.
The man hopped back and thrust with his bo, sending the axe head to crash into the dirt as he swiftly pulled the staff back and thrust it again at Sakura's face. The kunoichi punched the haft of wood with her left hand and flames exploded from where the leathery red knuckled made contact with wood, demolishing the end of the bo in the process but not enough to stop the splintered haft from digging into the kunoichi's cheek below her left eye.
Sakura dropped her axe and leaped as molten blood sprayed from her face, she bared her teeth in rage as she clenched them in pain. Her blood damaged the staff further and some got on the pants and left arm of the retreating Iwa shinobi.
The kunoichi didn't spare a glance to her allies or worry about her unseen enemies as she brought her left fist back and grabbed the injured left arm of her opponent with her right hand, she ignored the kick to her chest and the cracking sound from her ribs as she delivered a left hook to the right cheek of the older enemy ninja.
Sakura realized a moment later that she had unleashed an explosion of fire, black fire that tore through the head of the man that nearly killed her the last time they fought and continued through the Doryuheki behind him. Her tail swung up behind her and smacked aside a kunai she hadn't seen coming, she hazily wondered if that had been subconscious, instinct, or blind luck.
There was a sudden lull in the fight as the corpse of the Iwa jonin dropped lifelessly, black fire burned at the stump of his neck and through a hole in the less damaged Doryuheki. Sakura vaguely recalled having done something similar once before and checked the dragon tattoo that had developed on her left arm.
The eyes were open, "Genkei you said my arm wasn't possessed!" she snapped.
"I don't even know what that is, but it's not a Daemon so it is not possession." Genkei insisted as he caught up to stand beside the brass skinned kunoichi.
Sakura looked again and realized the red eyes was just the leathery red skin of her Daemonic left arm, but it wasn't the first time she'd noticed the tattoo shift, she was pretty sure it wasn't a tattoo, "My life is so weird." she grumbled, "I blame Naruto." she decided as she glanced around to see the remaining Iwa shinobi moved to surround her as the two Konoha chunin had regrouped so the could at least back her up when she was attacked.
Genkei stood to the back of her legs and raised her broken shield and old axe, "I doubt that blonde fool knows enough to be behind this, his Muse on the other hand." the Malice grumbled his opinion on the matter.
Sakura felt hot blood dripping down her face, the pain of her brass skin being torn open by jagged wood was mostly just making her angrier. She grit her teeth, "Whatever works." she decided and crouched down to deliver a chakra enhanced punch to the ground, focusing all her chakra to the first two knuckled and unleashing it in a burst like Tsunade had taught her.
The effect was not quite as devastating as she had hoped, but tearing up the landscape with taijutsu both disturbed footing and morale, she lifted her axe as she stood and leaped to swing it into a spin that delivered the head of the oversized weapon of war into the ribs of an Iwa ninja who tried to leap back from the attack.
The attack was not quite as direct as the one that had rendered a shinobi into pieces, but it was still deep enough and struck with enough force to put the man out of the fight as he went into shock to slowly bleed out. Sakura left him there as she continued the momentum to spin and twirl to her right and bring the flat of her axe to crush the side of the skull of another shinobi.
Genkei charged in, his axe swing was dodged but the blade in his left pauldron was delivered into the leg of an Iwanin. His follow up swing to bring the man down did not miss, nor did the third that finished the man off but left the Imp open to be lifted up on the stone spikes of a Doton no Jutsu from a hidden enemy.
Surprisingly Genkei was not dispelled by this despite his armor being rent, there did not seem to be anything but blood and those glowing red eyes within the armor however as the Imp struggled to remove himself from the spikes.
The two Konoha chunin attacked their chosen targets the moment they moved to attack Sakura, taking one out with a kunai to the neck as the other managed to defend himself and swing a ninjato at the attacking chunin who soon found himself outnumbered as two more came at him from behind.
As Sakura hopped back to avoid being lifted up in a much more fatal manner than Genkei and she swung her tail in an arc behind her she heard the brass spikes emerging from the end of her tail clash with kunai and shuriken, she realized she was predicting the enemy.
It wasn't enough to save the surrounded chunin from having a katar plunged into his kidneys, it was nothing like Sharingan, and she didn't hear a song, but she recognized a pattern in the way the Iwa shinobi fought and realized she had gotten used to it.
So she followed that newfound instinct to spin and swing her axe into the ground where she would have landed, an Iwa kunoichi leaped from the cracking earth to evade being crushed by her own destroyed hiding spot.
Sakura couldn't help a feral grin as she hadn't even intended to attack the enemy, she'd just meant to intercept whatever ninjutsu the enemy was going to do. She used her axe to vault after the other kunoichi and thrust a left straight with a burst of chakra.
No black flames this time, just an explosion of normal red and orange fire, still enough to knock the Iwa kunoichi back further than she intended to leap, off balance even if the blast had not been a direct hit. Sakura glared at the tattoo on her left arm, "Oh come on I used the exact same amount of chakra!" she snapped angrily, trying to figure out how to control the black fire she'd apparently stolen from Itachi somehow.
She knew it wasn't just a one off thing now, but did it have some sort of down time between shots she had yet to figure out? The idea it might have only been two shots occurred to her but the tattoo was still there, so she decided not to think that until someone with more expertise told her the power was gone.
The midst of battle was unfortunately not a good time or place to have an internal dilemma about whether or not abilities the user didn't fully understand worked or not, and Sakura understood this better after a stone kanabo smacked into the left side of her head.
Her ears were ringing but the pink haired kunoichi managed to keep her footing as she swung to backhand the assailant with her left fist and a burst of chakra, she was angry at the person for attacking, angry at herself for leaving the opening, and angry at whatever caused her new power to not work, however it worked in the first place she didn't know.
The Iwa shinobi leaped back with a hiss of pain as he gripped his left arm underneath where he'd guarded against Sakura's attack, the flesh of his left forearm blistered and burnt, and he'd felt the force of the blow as deep as his bones so he leaped back to his left when he thought Sakura was giving chase.
Instead the Haruno feinted towards him before using the momentum of her axe to spin at another Iwa ninja entirely, by now however the shinobi knew that the weapon could not be blocked and they all took evasive moves. Sakura realized that she had lost track of her surviving teammate, next that she was surrounded, a moment later that the number of enemies had increased, and finally it clicked that even with all that the Iwa shinobi were cautious.
Genkei pulled himself free and to Sakura's surprise weaved the signs for a ninjutsu, she knew Imps were capable of it and felt the drain on her chakra, but she was so surprised by Genkei doing ninjutsu that she almost held back the amount of chakra he was pulled, it felt too demanding to be safe.
But Sakura recognized the jutsu and trusted her Familiar, "Kuchiyose!" Genkei announced, startling the Iwa ninja into realizing the Malice had not been dispelled. A pair of them lunged for the puff of smoke as stone spikes burst at Sakura, the kunoichi leaped to swing her axe at the closest enemy.
A pair of sword slashes, flame trailing the air behind the attacks, cut down the two Iwa shinobi before they could react, cutting the two out of the air. They were burned but the flaming blade of the Daemon did not cauterize their wounds, the two shinobi weren't sure what to make of the unnatural wounds.
Sakura was concerned as she twisted and brought her axe down into the earth and vaulted at an evading chunin that something had gone wrong with the Kuchiyose, there was only one Daemon that looked like a Bloodletter but she had felt as if enough chakra for at least ten of the lesser Daemons of Khorne.
Then the Daemon moved and cut down another two shinobi in one swing, taking off the leg of a third with the back swing and yanked that third into the path of a quartet of shuriken. Sakura was pretty sure that was not a normal Bloodletter, Exalted at minimum, not that the Haruno fully understood what that meant.
The Daemon swung his blade into the earth as he lifted the corpse of an Iwa ninja, then he threw that corpse with a heave at the kunoichi who retreated from his arcing blade before he leaped and swung his Hellblade through the living and dead Iwa shinobi, cutting both in half.
Sakura opened her mouth as if to say something but she stalled on what to actually say as she realized just how heavy her breathing had gotten, not quite panting but near enough to make her suddenly self conscious.
The Daemon drawn forth by a majority of the chakra Sakura had was struck by a tanto to the back of his left shoulder, but instead of dispelling the Daemon spun and thrust his blade into the stomach of his attacker. The remaining Iwanin were too surprised by that to react in time to the corpse of the most recent victim of the Daemon to be thrown into another Iwa shinobi as his blade swung into another, leaving a deep gash in the chest of the man that steamed as it bled, on the back swing before he spun, following the momentum of his back swing to deliver an arcing slice that cut corpse and living ninja alike in half.
Sakura realized she was staring, she couldn't help it, she realized what Khorne actually expected of her and wondered how she could live up to that, then she realized that even if Genkei had been the one to do the jutsu she was the one with enough chakra to summon the Daemon. That said Daemon had fought her enemies without question or hesitation only furthered Sakura's bolstered self confidence and the kunoichi leaped back into action.
Sakura caught the back leg of a ninja trying to reposition out of range of her Daemonic ally with a swing of her axe and followed the momentum into a spin to catch the man by the neck as he fell before she threw herself axe first at the next nearest Iwa shinobi.
Heads, limbs, and gore flew through the air, mangled corpses and pieces of those corpses hit the ground with thudding sounds, but Sakura felt as if she'd unchained herself somehow. By the time the fighting stopped Sakura was covered in blood, breathless, and she felt better than she had in a long time.
The kunoichi sighed with relief as she dropped her axe, stretching her arms over her head as she arched her back. At first she frowned as she felt an obstruction, then she rolled her right shoulder as she cocked her head to the left. There was oddly nothing there, but she felt a strange tightness in her muscles that she couldn't identify the cause or effect of.
The Daemon that Genkei had called for her was picking up skulls from his own kills, Sakura presumed to take back to Khorne directly, and the armored Imp had somehow managed to avoid being dispelled.
Sakura glanced at the sky and wondered at how much the sun had sunk, she couldn't see the corpse of the other Konoha chunin so she assumed he'd gotten away. The pink haired girl sighed, "That could have gone worse I guess, but it could have gone a lot better." she grumbled, she had no doubt that the spot she'd chosen for a good spot to camp was completely ruined.
She took some solace that the entire Iwa scouting force checking the area and ruining her strategy were dead, by mostly her hand no less. It didn't take her long to get to the nearby waterfall, but even in that short amount of time the blood coating her had thickened, drying and congealing.
Sakura put her axe down near the water and squished some of the congealed blood between her fingers, "I used to be more squeamish about this." she muttered, she'd passed survival tests and had skinned animals easily enough in the past of course, but skinning an animal was very different to being covered in arterial spray, generally one avoided the arteries when skinning an animal.
The kunoichi had not been skinning animals though and she knew it, "What is there to be squeamish about?" Genkei asked, his armor had already mostly reformed, a few cuts and dents, much less blood.
Sakura wondered if she was in shock or suffering from some kind of stress related mental fatigue, "Most humans don't like being covered in gore," she began, hesitating after she realized she actually did enjoy it or else she would have leaped into the water by now, "some people even become squeamish or fear the sight of it." she added more quietly.
Genkei turned his head slowly to the kunoichi, "That is stupid," he said and the girl remembered that the Imp was not human, "if you are covered in it, and it is not yours, then you were victorious. I could understand if you actually liked whoever you killed but they were enemies weren't they?" he lectured.
Sakura sighed, "I don't care about them." she answered quicker than she could rethink her words, as soon as she said them she realized it was callous to disregard lives just for convenience, "I mean, there are supposed to be instincts, and the blood can carry things, what if some of their gore had got in my blood and I got an infection?" the kunoichi wondered in a detached way if she was panicking.
"Ah, understandable concern." Genkei acquiesced, "Khorne-sama will not let a rival Kami lay you low in such a dishonorable fashion." he assured.
Sakura took a moment to process a few things, first that her Imp was certain, or at least confident, that Khorne would protect her from Nurgle somehow, second that the Malice was implying Nurgle had dominion over all diseases even before they knew about him, which just seemed wrong to Sakura, and finally she realized that in a way he was probably right about the first part.
Sakura looked down at her brass skin of her right arm, she wiped some blood aside to get a look at what she was sure had been a minor cut. Her molten blood had cooled until it was as if the injury had been soldered over, and the 'scab' fell away when she wiped the blood to reveal a thin line of what she supposed was the brass skin equivalent of scar tissue that was slightly paler than the brass around it.
The kunoichi sighed again and waded fully clothed and armored into the pool of water near the waterfall to clean herself up. The injury on her left arm was similar, but the scar tissue was a little more obvious on the leathery skin than the smooth brass.
Finally she took off her hitai-ate, washed her face, cleaned the metal of her hitai-ate and checked her reflection. The pale 'scar tissue' was much wider where her left check had been ripped open than any other injury she had, she was pretty sure she should be more upset about a facial scar.
"Can I even get sick with this body?" Sakura wondered out loud.
"A rash that rusts metal skin probably already exists, but you have Khorne-sama's protection." Genkei said, he sounded unconcerned.
Sakura felt pretty concerned, she reached up for the choker. Her brass skin was unnaturally warm to the touch, despite the cold aura she apparently had, but the choker was hot even to her touch, although it never burned her neck, she barely felt it unless she touched it with her fingers and felt the heat.
She wondered how she never noticed how strange that was, "Not that, it's more innate than that." Genkei insisted, "Even your teammates are likely safe from the diseases that plague those infested ninja." he explained and Sakura knew he meant the Aburame.
The Haruno slumped into the water, leaned back into it, rest her hitai-ate on her chest, and brought her fingers up to her hair as she let the water soak some of the blood out of her hair and clothes, "I'm not human anymore, am I?" she asked.
Genkei laughed, Sakura was slightly offended by that and her temper flared up, "You are still human for now, however altered to suit Khorne-sama's taste and your own chosen purpose." he assured.
Sakura's rage subsided, replaced by confusion, "My chosen purpose?" she wondered, she did not remember agreeing to chose a purpose. She wanted to marry Sasuke, be with Sasuke in general really, she was pretty sure it was deeper than an infatuation.
Genkei noticed her confusion and seemed confused by it, there was a silence that stretched for a little longer than Sakura was comfortable with, "You train to be a kunoichi, shinobi, a living weapon. You train to kill, Khorne-sama prefers you do it openly rather than in the shadows, so you may slaughter." he explained at length, "You said yourself," he continued, "with that prayer," Sakura's eyes widened at the confirmation it was a prayer, "you are Ryuketsu no Ninso."
Sakura considered it, the changes she went through, how it had all happened. She wondered if she had ever made the conscious decision to do so, for a brief moment she wondered if Khorne was just trying to subtly convince her it was her subconscious decision but even a source that hated the Kami confirmed the deity she was marked by was considered honorable in some sense of the word.
Then the Haruno leaned further back into the water and grappled with the idea that an outside force had acted on her subconscious wishes, turning her into a bakemono. Even if Genkei said she was still human, no one could deny they were altered, and no human could survive the internal temperature she had. Her internals were different too, they had to be.
Even if she accepted the argument she was an altered human, so was Orochimaru, and she considered him a bakemono. Sakura sighed as she sat up, "I hate everything." she realized, "Let's go check the corpses I left behind, I should have done a clean up, then we can get back to the Taki encampment and report on the failure." she grumbled.
Genkei watched the kunoichi sluggishly pull herself out of the water, completely drenched. She still had some blood on her, stained into her clothes and some hadn't gotten out of her hair, but she wasn't covered in gore anymore at least.
The girl hesitated as she knelt next to her axe, "Am I a good champion?" she wondered, "I know I got horns but..." she hesitated.
Genkei scoffed, "The horns are proof enough you're doing well." he insisted.
Sakura sighed, "Yeah, but Sasuke-kun and Naruto are like forces of nature." she complained.
"Are you not?" Genkei asked, to her surprise he sounded incredulous, "Is a tiger or a boar not a force of nature? A shark? A crocodile?" he listed off animals that could be dangerous even if they weren't one of the rare animals that figured out how to manipulate their chakra.
"Sasuke-kun can create fire storms and Naruto-" Sakura hesitated, she hated to praise the blonde but, "Naruto is scary." she confessed, "He's fast, and I noticed recently that he's smarter than I thought, and he's educating himself." she listed the minor things she noticed first, "I noticed how strong he is too, and I can tell he's more favored by his Kami than Sasuke-kun, Shino-san, or I." she explained, "The horns a proof enough of that." she added.
Genkei shrugged, "Magic is nothing to be envious of." he scolded, "As for that blonde, he had the leg up on both you and Sasuke. I have no idea how he's so powerful, but he is and he's learning to wield that power." he said, "If you ever get the chance, I say kill him before he can turn on us."
Sakura jolted, her body tensing in alarm, "No!" she snapped, "I hate him but-" she blinked, realizing she actually did genuinely hate the blonde, "he's my teammate, even if I hate him I don't want him to die." she insisted.
"We don't need him." Genkei grumbled petulantly.
Sakura huffed as she hefted her axe, "It's not a need," she agreed, "it's a want. I like to hate him." she blinked and wondered if she had a concussion.
Genkei nodded, "Ah, understandable, what of Sasuke?" he asked.
Sakura frowned, "I..." she pouted, "I guess it's a love-hate thing?" she wondered, realizing that she really did hate everything, she was angry at everything, but it wasn't overwhelming her anymore, "What happened? Why am I so calm?" she asked.
Genkei cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms, all signs of the damage he'd taken earlier were gone, "You hate everything?" he asked and she nodded, "Are you angry at everything?" he asked and again she nodded, "Even me and the things and people you usually like and still like or love?" he asked again.
"Get to the point." Sakura snapped, realizing he knew exactly what had happened and her anger for the Imp in particular spiked.
"You've come to terms with yourself, even your darker aspects, even the parts of yourself you hate." Genkei explained, "You are an odd choice of champion, but I guess it makes you the most mentally stable berzerker we've ever had now that you're in control of it." he finished with a shrug.
Sakura had assumed learning she had gained control of her rage would not include so much anger and bitterness, she felt that was a fair assumption to have made, "Anything else weird happen to me?" she asked sarcastically.
"How should I know? I don't have magic eyes or enhanced senses." Genkei shot back, annoyed at the very implication he would have such mystical ability.
"Okay why do I feel tightness in my muscles?" Sakura asked, even if he had no special sensory abilities he was supposed to have certain knowledge as a Familiar.
"That could be any number of things," Genkei reasoned, "like lactic acid build up causing muscle fatigue." he pointed out.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense." Sakura agreed as she lifted her axe and stood up, "I think I have a concussion, or whatever my equivalent is." she muttered the last part as she started towards the site of the battle.
"I think you're just adapting to your new, uh, what do you ningen usually call this? Inner peace?" Genkei mused as the kunoichi counted the corpses, "Kind of like that." he decided with a nod.
"I'll figure it out when I'm not exhausted, I can't believe how much chakra you used to summon that guy." Sakura grumbled, she frowned as she recounted the corpses.
Genkei scoffed, "That guy," he began derisively, "was a Herald of Khorne, Exalted among Bloodletters! Most Herald's are akin to your chunin, that guy," he mocked her casual terminology again by using it with such a tone and Sakura's eye twitched, "was jonin level." he finished.
"You know those are military ranks and not threat ranks right?" Sakura asked bluntly.
"Most Herald's are you, that was Kakashi." Genkei explained more plainly and Sakura's eyes widened in alarm, "Skulltaker-dono, I am surprised he answered my call." the Malice muttered.
Sakura groaned, "I'm not even going to ask you to translate any of that, even if the name sounds impossible to pronounce right now, can you count the corpses?" she asked.
"Six." Genkei answered instantly.
"There were eight enemies, I was surrounded by twelve at some point." Sakura pointed out dryly, "Two got away by confusing me with bunshin." she growled, tightening her grip on her axe in her growing anger at being fooled.
Genkei was silent for a moment, staring at Sakura, "You remembered and kept track of that?" he asked, "Wow, that's why you have horns." he realized, "Yes, we should go report this." he said, "Any information we get back is useful." he added.
Sakura was caught on the back foot with her Familiar's sudden focus on tactical thinking and the more subtle aspects of war, it was like something she had said flipped a switch in the Malice.