Few more days passed, and I didn't get any reply from the snake summoning clan. And Karin confirmed Kumo's halt of all purging operations, giving me enough reason to move on with what was planned.
While the sage mode was useful in so many ways, I would not stress myself out waiting for something that might never come, but I would definitely hold a grudge against them for not even having the decency to give me an answer even if it was a rejection.
In those days, Fu took my offer and trained with Suigetsu, and much to my dismay, he resulted in a rather decent instructor, teaching her the basic and correct stances for kenjutsu. The psychotic Sharkboy who easily ripped apart throats with his own teeth was a great kenjutsu teacher.
Making me wonder if he was actually teaching me something back then, or he only wanted to have fun in his own twisted way.
Karin, on the other hand, used that time for her sick amusement in watching Kusa shinobi suffer. And the experience was strange. I didn't find any enjoyment, but neither did I find myself disgusted by my actions while Karin was happy to see them suffer. Except I was just breaking bones and knocking a couple of teeth at most, yet I imagined even worse ways to inflict pain, but I didn't act on those thoughts despite them lingering in my mind.
Like many times, I told myself; it was a strange line of thought.
Anyway, she was very thankful for her...reward.
With a cheerful attitude, she resumed her work and kept collecting information as much as she could regarding Kumo and the other villages' movements, it was only until she was sure that Kumo was gone from the fire country that we could actually leave towards the Suigetsu's prized sword.
However, Karin didn't get an update of the Kiri shinobis location in those days, which meant two things; they didn't move from that location or they were able to completely disappear from everyone's radar.
Neither was a good option as the first one implied they set up a trap for us and were patiently waiting for us while the other option implied a very skilled team that could erase any traces of the presence which could pose a problem to Karin's ability. Yet I couldn't leave that team alone and keep gathering information on us. I needed to root out the problem as soon as possible or I would regret it at a later date.
When I brought the details of the subject, Fu didn't object or showed disapproval of my decision. Instead, she was slightly excited to put her short training into practice.
With that out of the way, we set off towards Kiri shinobi's last known location and I had to abandon my fake persona outfit since that was exactly what others were looking for, not the infamous Sasuke Uchiha.
Our journey was calm, with no problems or obstacles along the way, except Fu showed us how to make better beds or shelter with whatever we could forage from the environment when it was time for us to set up camp and rest.
Yet she still preferred to use a hammock to cocoon herself. Somehow I related that as part of the bijuu passively influencing her.
A couple of days later, we arrived at the location, the same sea of trees that we have been traveling through.
We immediately checked our surroundings for any trace or anything out of the ordinary that could work as a hint to help us in our search and to help in the endeavour we had to partially split up to cover more ground.
While it wasn't recommended to split up in the enemy territory, we had Karin with us. Unless they truly possessed the stealth skills of Jiraiya or even the Akatsuki, we wouldn't be caught off guard, especially me. But I couldn't deny that it was a risky bet.
Karin, as expected, stuck with me.
Juugo stayed with Suigetsu and left our side.
Fu looked to both sides, but she ran up to me. "I can fly to cover more ground."
Soon after she spoke a pair of dragonfly orange wings sprouted out of her back, more specifically, behind her hips. She didn't give me time to reply before her wings lifted her off the ground and since she was close we felt the strength of her wings with every flap.
Karin stepped forward with a hand slightly covering her face from the dirt and dust that Fu was creating. "This is a dense forest. I don't think you will be able to see much of anything up there."
Almost immediately she went into a coughing fit since some of that dirt seemed to to enter her mouth, instinctively I went forward to pat her back but she raised her right hand to stop me, seconds later she was fully recovered and adjusted her glasses.
Fu landed on the ground, holding her chin deep in thought. "I didn't think of that…"
"Besides you can be spotted from below." Karin added another fact with a smug smile.
Fu rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I get it, I get it. I will explore in the old-fashioned way."
She turned around and jumped towards the nearest tree which she immediately used to impulse herself even deeper into the forest.
I went on my way with Karin, carefully analyzing my surroundings and trying to find any traces or clues for the whereabouts of that shinobi. And much to my dismay, it felt completely pointless to do since I really didn't know what I should look for.
I didn't know for how long I stood still like a statue racking my brains for answers, trying to dig from my absorbed memories.
Karin stopped and kneeled on the ground where she pulled out a handful of grass and dirt. With my curiosity piqued I got closer to check what she was so invested in and the very first thing I noticed from afar was the fading dried blood on the grass she was holding. When my eyes shifted focus to other places I noticed signs of struggle, the grass was either gone or completely trampled under the weight of something heavy.
Those were good clues but not enough to tell us if they belonged to the Kiri group.
Yet Karin didn't give any kind of warning, she dropped the parchment of grass and cleaned her hands on the sides of her shorts. "I don't like this, not one a bit." She muttered.
The traces that Karin found pointed in a general direction, which I followed with one hand above one of the Kiba blades, ready to draw it at any moment's notice. Step by step I kept moving forward, my eyes frantically checking my surroundings for anything out of the ordinary, yet for some reason I wasn't nervous, my heart was beating normally.
Karin was right behind me, also checking for anything.
But that concentration was broken when the redhead grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. I was annoyed, but when I turned to face her, she was pointing at a specific tree. Or better said what was hanging on that tree.
My mind played tricks with me as my rationale was trying to explain and even lie to me, but with every step, those thoughts became weaker and reality dawned upon me. I wouldn't blame anybody if they just straight up threw up or screamed bloody murder at the sight.
A very thin thread was somehow holding the entire weight of dozens of mangled corpses of people together, taking the shape of a ball. The little thing Karin found moments ago made sense. Those poor bastards struggled to the very end.
Karin came closer and adjusted her glasses so she could get a better look while I was just feeling unfazed, much to my dismay for how fucked up my indifference was.
"KYAAAAAAAAA!"
However, I couldn't say the same for everyone.
Fu's high pitched scream was easily recognizable and I didn't waste a single second to rush to her side, even if I was pretty sure the cause of that scream.
She wasn't very far from our own discovery site, after I landed I walked closer to Fu who was on the ground since her knees gave up, the shock probably drained her from strength.
"This is just too cruel." Fu looked away as one hand tried to cover the scene in front of her.
However, my eyes kept locked on the very similar giant ball of people tightly knitted together. The only good thing I could think of was that all of them were already dead, so the agonizing cries wouldn't haunt us. Also, none of them were dripping blood and there was no stench of death coming from it.
Karin landed near me, what surprised me was that she walked up to Fu and offered a helping hand to stand up which she hastily took.
"And here I was losing hope on the new generation." Suigetsu butted in.
I turned around from the source that his voice came and he was slowly walking towards us while clapping both hands in contempt with a wide grin while his eyes analyzed the macabre show of art, Juugo following close with a deep frown on his face when he saw the same giant meatball.
"Explain." I demanded.
Suigetsu grabbed the handle of his giant sword and with a fast swing he cut the thread that held the corpse ball in place, he leaned even closer poking it with the same sword and occasionally kicking the bodies. "This is both a terror and lure tactic, perfectly fit for that sword."
My face contorted into a frown. "Are you saying this is a bait?"
He shrugged. "Most likely, if these were your village shinobi, you would go into murderous rage thirsty for revenge, but since they are bandits, then it would make you investigate further."
When he mentioned the identities of the corpses I took a closer look, and the way they were dressed and the scars on their bodies corroborated Suigetsu's claim. An unlucky bandit group was repurposed for a grim fate.
Suigetsu flashed his sharp teeth. "Should we take the bait?"
He was ready to venture further and walk into the enemy trap, I had to give it to him. His enthusiasm and lust for battle knew no qualms.
"Can you feel them?" I turned to our redhead who was analysing the ball while her hands slowly approached the corpses.
"I am afraid not." She shook her head and resumed her focus and her debacle about touching it for better analysis.
I quickly turned to our big guy. "Juugo?"
A little bird sprouted from his orange hair and chirped rather loudly, earning more chirps in response from our surroundings, his calm expression contorted into a frown. "More of these...things."
That surprised me.
Those kiri shinobis were busy with their macabre work in the past days and if Suigetsu is correct in his assumption then we would be going directly into a trap yet we couldn't waste time in playing stupid games.
Decisions, decisions.
"Guys, this is recent." Karin's remark caught my attention in an instant.
"What?"
She grabbed one of the corpses' heads and opened the mouth and eyes. "There are no maggots or signs from other scavengers on these bodies." Then she successfully pushed the ball and rolled it over to show the other side. "And as I showed you, the eyes and mouth are still hydrated."
I leaned closer to check up and Karin was correct in pointing out that fact, because dead bodies would start to rot in a day and maggots would be already eating the corpses on the third day, unless they somehow were able to preserve corpses it didn't give good signals.
"Where is the next ball of bodies?" I turned to Juugo waiting for a response.
He lifted his hand and pointed in a different direction. "Northeast and it is close."
We walked together as a group towards the pointed direction, and it was a very short walk as my vision caught sight of another hanging ball of corpses making my face contort into a deep frown.
Karin went ahead to check on the corpses with the same method and focus that she gave to the last ball we saw. "Same thing..."
Something caught her eye and brought her face closer and moved around the corpses.
"Sasuke-kun, this is a civilian." She turned the parody of a piñata for us to see her discovery.
And unlike the other bodies the clothes were too humble for a bandit and the same for unharmed skin, but what stood out from everything was the look of sheer terror and agony engraved on the man's face.
"This isn't the right way." I heard Suigetsu muttering as he held his chin in thought.
"Civilians are off the hook?" I asked, I didn't expect him to have some sort of morality or limits regarding his sadistic nature.
He quickly shook his head, dismissing my assumptions. "No, they aren't. But civilians are weak, insects which you don't bother with, besides they are the ones who spread the word fast."
His reasoning was odd, and everyone around us also held the same line of thought but didn't comment any further, there was no time for arguing since he had a potentially hazardous situation at our hands.
But in Fu's case she wasn't very accustomed to the sight and avoided eye contact with the thing, constantly facing the other direction.
Silently I turned to our animal expert for directions and he only pointed to the east, direction we followed again and walked a short distance to stumble with another bundle of bodies which was starting to get old, yet I could somehow tell there was something different about it.
And I wasn't the only one with curiosity piqued.
Suigetsu was the first to step forward instead of Karin who followed close to see what made the corpses different from the last ones.
Even I inspected the bodies and the clothes were the first things that stood up.
"Guys, this...thing is made of civilians." Karin delivered the news.
I wasn't shocked but more surprised yet it made sense considering the going trend of the bundles. But that didn't make me feel any better. It only grew the tension of the surrounding environment, leading my hands to be closer to my blades for anything.
"Alright, I don't like this." Suigetsu shifted his footing and was ready to draw his blade at any moment, but he was less subtle about it.
"We can agree on something for once." Karin replied as she pulled out a kunai.
Fu kept looking at our surroundings. "Doing these kinds of crimes on Konoha soil is grounds for war."
Our redhead shook her head. "Technically, you would be correct, but it would more likely end with monetary reparations and..."
Karin stopped mid-sentence and immediately set off alarms in my head and grabbed my blade, but didn't draw it.
"There!" She turned to the left and pointed to a specific tree not far away from us.
The second she shouted, my vision went red and my hand already had the blade fully drawn channeling my chakra towards the tip, I could see my chakra transforming into lighting and leaving from my blade exactly to the spot Karin pointed.
My lighting struck the place, burning the top of the tree.
And something big fell off.
Only when the smoking body crashed on the ground were we able to identify it, or better told him.
Suigetsu rushed towards the crash site, ready to strike again, but stopped right above it for a moment before lifting it with his free hand to show us what I struck down. "Kiri hunter-nin."
I couldn't tell if he was correct since the clothes and body were burned, making me wonder if I exaggerated the strength of my attack or if my attack was always that strong. However, the headband with the Kiri symbol was mostly intact, confirming the affiliation.
He said as he released his grip on the body, letting it fall lifelessly on the ground and the porcelain mask cracked, revealing a crooked mess of a face behind it.
Suigetsu kneeled to check for anything of value in the body while I kept looking at my surroundings, trying to find any trace of chakra with my Sharingan but when the seconds passed with nothing out of the ordinary, my vision returned to normal.
"Anything interesting?" I turned to the shark boy, who kept searching the body, but sighed in disappointment.
Suigetsu kicked the corpse and came back.
Even if that shinobi had nothing to help us it was blatantly clear of the Kiri presence in the area if the bundles of bodies didn't make it clear, but I had to give it to Karin, if it wasn't for her I probably wouldn't have noticed that spy.
"Sasuke-kun, we should leave." Karin's suggestion flared up in my blood, there was no way I would even consider it after all the trouble I went through.
Yet I kept myself calm.
"The Uchiha are no cowards."
Karin bit her lower lips looking frantically at her surroundings, but the moment I placed my hand on her shoulder she took deep breaths and all her doubts vanished. "Fine…"
However, I didn't expect her to extend and wrap her hands around my neck and pull me closer to her, except it wasn't for a kiss but right above her right shoulder with my ear close to her mouth.
"We are surrounded…" She whispered.
My body instantly shot up a rush of adrenaline into my system, provoking a smile out of me with my vision going red once again. "Are we?"
She released me, allowing me to turn back to greet a large group staring down at us from multiple angles, everyone with porcelain masks with waves painted over them, but my dojutsu also noticed the large dome around us, it had to be the work of the Nuibari.
A single ninja dropped from the trees and landed in front of me and extended the weapon, aiming towards my neck. Slowly, my eyes shifted attention to the weapon, and the characteristics matched perfectly to Suigetsu's description.
We found our objective, the new user of the Nuibari.
Yet if it wasn't for Karin's previous discovery, I wouldn't think the user was a woman since her choice of gear and clothes was too different compared to the standard striped kimono and Haori that her companions were wearing, she was wearing a long coat of fur that covered almost her entire body, I could only see her arms and head covered by a suspiciously familiar mask and her brown hair tied in a long ponytail that stopped at her knees.
"So you are the bastard who killed Chojuro." She pointed her weapon at me.
I merely smiled.
"Why would you accuse me of such a thing?" My eyes caught many chakra signatures in our surroundings, hiding not so far from us or they probably weren't even trying to hide in the first place, as we were supposedly in a disadvantageous position.
"The Kiba blades were supposed to be his."
"I just found them in a smoking crater." I replied.
"Your companions fit the description given in the reports." She pointed at my team behind.
I immediately cursed under my breath, my very own team appearance truly stood out from the crowd enough to have consequences, and entering or leaving towns in groups didn't help in the matter.
"Everyone looks alike when seen from a distance, your evidence is lacking but unlike us, all these...decorations are very incriminating evidence if we were to bring it up to the Hokage." I replied with a smirk.
"That could have been done by anyone." She snarled.
"Oh truly? The method of execution is exactly like a Kiri shinobi would do, specifically a legendary sword user." I was mentally thankful for Suigetsu's brief explanation as it proved a useful bit of information.
She fell silent for a while, only glaring daggers at me behind that mask of hers, then her sword lowered and pointed to my waist.
"Those are Kirigakure's property and you must return them at once." She made her demands very clear, except it surprised me that she didn't mention the Suigetsu weapon, which, like always, was in plain sight.
All her attention was on me.
"They recognized me as their new user, so go ahead, try to take them away from me." I pulled out both swords from their scabbard and extended my arms, mocking offering them to her.
But she didn't move or her team. Nobody moved a muscle to try to take them away from my grasp.
I smirked. I was correct in my assessment. "So you don't dare, despite I'm willingly giving them to you."
The Kiba blades killed the unworthy and they knew it.
"Stop with your games!" She raised her voice.
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "I would ask you the same, what kind of sick games are you playing by making these bundles of people?"
Despite this, I already knew the answer but getting an answer directly from the person responsible would solve a very small doubt in my mind, just morbid curiosity.
She didn't say anything in response.
Leaving me waiting for an answer until her body fell apart into a puddle of water that was quickly absorbed by the ground.
I jumped away from my spot and landed next to my team who were ready for the oncoming fight.
"Fu, stay with Karin and protect her." I quickly gave my orders.
"Got it." Fu nodded.
"Sasuke-kun, three have left already." Karin's warning caught my attention. Internally I was cursing because I would get the very thing I wanted to avoid but I purposely walked into the trap.
"I feared as much." I could only sigh and accept my actions with their respective consequences. Kiri can try to kill me and fail. I was sure they would learn their lesson after taking another of their precious swords with me.
My focus shifted to Suigetsu who was scanning his surroundings.
"Do you feel confident enough to kill them all?"
His lips contorted into a wide grin, flashing sharp teeth. "The real question, are you?"
I merely nodded. "Anything I should know about that particular sword?"
"Besides sewing people together? Be really careful with the wires as they can cut you if she wants to."
"Only that?" My head tilted to the side in mild surprise. It was a very simple ability and totally useless against my eyes.
He nodded and left my side to face his group of opponents, who were eager as well to end him.
And that only left Juugo without orders, but the moment I heard a roar filled with intense hatred I knew my concern where necessary, and the screams of strangers only reassured me.
But that relief died down when the same woman from before landed in front of me with her weapon fully drawn and pointing at me once again.
"You won't escape." She declared.
I gave a quick glance to Fu, who didn't say a word and grabbed Karin's hand before jumping away, leaving me alone to face the Nuibari user. Releasing me from all restraint to use the full extent of my strength if needed.
"What makes you think I want to escape?" I shifted my stance to match hers.
However, instead of attacking she grabbed her long fur coat and dropped into the ground revealing her black and grey uniform very tightly hugging her body with metal braces around her wrists and legs, but she looked more like an ANBU from Konoha than her own village.
But that wasn't so simple. My Sharingan instantly picked up her chakra and the strings coming from the fur coat connecting with the Nuibari.
She kept her sword up pointing at me and slowly circled around me, but with my eyes, it was blatantly obvious her actual intentions.
My eyes connected with hers for a brief moment, and I could feel my chakra flaring up. It was a fatal mistake to look an Uchiha to the eye; Itachi taught me that lesson.
She kept circling around me; her gaze never leaving me but I only walked out from her circle and carefully watched her actions. She tried nothing and kept doing the same action, unaffected.
I smirked when she finally pulled all of her strings closing in the center where I was supposed to be, but her string latched into nothing but air. But whatever had been in the center would have been turned into minced meat without a doubt.
My eyes were truly cheating.
I wouldn't waste the perfect opportunity to end my fight and pulled out a kunai which I didn't waste any second to throw it at her head and kill her, however that didn't happen.
Instead of connecting with the back of her head, it connected with her hand metal bracers, creating small sparks after impact and the kunai harmlessly falling to the ground.
I shouldn't have expected things to be that easy but one had the right to hope either way.
She jumped away towards the nearest tree with her threads following her, only to jump again to another tree. The pattern was set and I wouldn't allow her to complete her plan, and she forgot an important factor. The origin of her threads was within my reach, foolishly believing that I did not know how her tactics worked.
With little effort, I channeled chakra towards my mouth and took one deep breath before blowing towards the discarded clothes, my action soon turning into a small inferno consuming everything in its path without mercy.
I watched in fascination how my flames consumed the web hastily designed to trap me.
But she didn't come back. Instead, my Sharingan was caught in an extreme amount of concentrated chakra in my surroundings. I couldn't see specific signatures anymore. Realizing the potential danger, I suppressed my Sharingan to let my vision return to normal and finally see my surroundings with a different perspective and finally understand why my sharingan caught so much chakra. I was surrounded by thick mist.
My mind immediately remembered Kakashi's fight against Zabuza, but I didn't know it could stop my Sharingan or maybe she improved the technique.
That was very troubling. She negated my cheats to an extent.
I needed to get out of the mist or dispel it.
My mind reacted the second I felt a strong KI above me and my hands reacted instinctively to strike above me and met in a clash of metal against my assailant.
A quite heavy strike since she literally put her weight in the attack which I blocked and had to push her away, I truly had to thank Suigetsu sparring sessions; his strikes were heavier than hers.
She disappeared into the mist again, but I would not let her try again.
I raised one of the Kiba blades and pointed to the sky.
And lightning struck my blade with force, creating a shock wave around me.
The mist surrounding me slightly dissipated, giving me a very weak vision of the shape of trees for a couple of seconds before it returned to the same thickness that didn't allow any vision.
Soon after, a barrage of shurikens and kunais came after my life, using both weapons to block them and knocking them off the path. Only to hastily step aside as a body of water missed its mark and crashed somewhere behind me.
It was stupidly disadvantageous for me to stay pinned and at her mercy despite not landing a single hit on me, but I was sure in a matter of time she would be able to.
I was quickly thinking of ways to overturn the situation and using Kirin came to mind. A single lightning strike could dissipate to some extent, then Kirin would obliterate the thick fog along with her, but I would also risk hurting my teammates. Besides, I couldn't be a one-trick pony forever. That would ask for death in the shinobi world.
Once again, my train of thought was interrupted when I detected KI coming from behind.
When I turned I could barely catch sight of the woman two handing the Nuibari aiming for my stomach.
My body reacted, but the gap was so close that I couldn't block it on time and I knew it, my Sharingan immediately flared up despite everything overwhelming the flow of time slowed down and I could see her between the sea of chakra and her intentions.
She wasn't aiming for my stomach but to my heart as she would thrust upwards soon after.
It was a precarious position.
But not for me.
With time relatively on my side, I channeled once again chakra to my mouth and released the blazing fire right to her face.
Although she was wearing a mask, I knew the shock and fear she was experiencing as the fire formed and was getting closer to her thanks to the palpitation of her heart and her obvious intentions to get away or at least minimize the damage my Sharingan saw it all.
And none mattered as my flames engulfed her.
From my part, I tried to dodge her body but couldn't as it hit my shoulder almost throwing me off balance but regained my footing in time to see her flail on the ground screaming in agony.
Without thinking twice, I aimed my right blade at her in order to end her suffering, but when it touched her body, she exploded like a balloon and steam.
Soon after, my surroundings started to clear and my Sharingan could see with clarity again.
I didn't waste time and searched for any traces of her chakra, even if she escaped I was one hundred percent sure she was injured. There was no way for her to escape such a direct attack unscathed.
However, I couldn't find her anywhere.
The seconds felt like an eternity to me and my mind finally realized that my definition of anywhere omitted one direction.
My gaze shifted downwards in time to catch small cracks on the earth appear on the surface and erratically grew in size.
I acted immediately and stabbed the ground below with the Kiba blades before channeling my chakra to them, turning into lightning, letting out a large discharge in the ground. I didn't feel the shock, but it was draining to release too much chakra on a single attack, it could even be called a gamble to end it quickly.
My hands released the grips on the blades and raised a fist above my head to strike down the earth as deep as I could go, and much to my delight I got a hold of something which I immediately tried to pull out yet the weight seemed too much at first but with the second pull, I was able to finally pull out the body and throw it away leaving behind a small tunnel which soon collapsed under its weight.
What I pulled out was a battered kunoichi, her clothes were partially burned revealing red skin or blackened by the level of burns, and a large chunk of her hair was gone, only a disheveled mess was left in her head and despite her mask still survived, looking as a flawless porcelain tea set.
I pulled out a shuriken from my belt and threw it at her but my aim was to her legs, expecting her to explode again in water or steam, but it reached its objective and pierced her skin, burying itself deep into her shin.
Yet she didn't scream, only groaned as her hand slowly reached the affected area and removed the shuriken before tossing it aside.
I was honestly expecting her to throw it back at me as an act of defiance.
Even then, I kept waiting for anything that could catch me off guard, but it never did.
She laid there on the ground with heavy breaths.
"To think that Kiri shinobi quality sank this low…" I let out my thoughts out loud, it was surprisingly easy and despite I had close calls against her, my mind didn't register them as close calls thinking it better, it felt natural.
"You bastard... won't get away with this." She used her arms to push herself up, slowly, but she was rising up from the ground.
I let her continue with her last show of strength. My curiosity demanded me to know what she would do next while the rational mind weakly whispered to end her as soon as possible. The curiosity won and patiently waited for her to stand up.
"Chojuro posed even more threat than you if this is all you can muster." I mocked her lack of ability while revealing the truth to her, she was essentially defeated and at my mercy.
"Shut up!" She slammed both hands on the ground, using her anger to finally stand up and with her trembling hands pointed the Nuibari at me.
My Sharingan easily predicted her attack and follow up that she was planning to do with her newfound strength and I was already prepared to receive, staying in place shifting my stance.
Just as I was about to intercept another one of her strikes a figure came into the picture landing a perfect kick on her protected face, it went in slow motion to me as I watched the foot slowly crack the mask as she was sent flying away from me and crashed against the nearest tree.
The one standing in front of me was Suigetsu as expected. There was no way common shinobi posed a threat to him and it was his main objective to retrieve his precious sword.
He slightly turned with his sadistic grin in full view. "Do you mind if I take it from here?"
I pondered the idea for a moment but I saw no problem since I could just check up on Fu's situation and assist necessary. "Fine with me."
My vision returned to normal.
He licked his lips in anticipation and slowly walked towards his objective while his arms bulged into abnormal proportions.
"Don't you dare to run away from me!" The woman yelled as she tried to stand up however Suigetsu was already on her and grabbed her by neck only to smash her against the ground with all his might not caring for any collateral damage.
"Your opponent is me." He mockingly declared as he raised her body again only to throw her towards another tree and I heard an audible crack.
But from that moment, she was no longer my business and left those two alone.
Jumping from tree to tree I was able to see what was below me with ease. The bodies scattered of shinobi were impossible to not see as they bled so much, the ground wide red roses.
And all had one thing in common, mutilation.
Suigetsu was efficient. I had to give him that.
I stopped at the top of a tree trying to get a better vision of my surroundings. I was surprised how much we got separated from each other but not worried, as I had my ways to call them to my position if necessary. But at least I needed to try to find them before I signaled my position.
Which was made easier when I saw trees fall over from a relatively close distance, which lifted huge clouds of dirt.
I went in that direction and noticed the two girls sitting on a tree branch with Karin, showing her a book and probably explaining something to her. And Fu was rather absorbed in whatever she was listening to.
It was strange, to say the least. A massacre had occurred not very far and two girls were calmly discussing like friends. The world was fucked up.
But I couldn't reflect on philosophy forever, my team needed instructions.
I landed in front of the tree they were resting catching their attention, and both dropped from the branch the moment they saw me.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
Karin nodded.
Fu scratched her head. "Well, to be honest, we did nothing. The big guy over there took care of them."
She pointed to her left.
With my attention shifted, I looked in the direction he was pointing and barely saw Juugo beastly form smashing and jumping like a wild beast.
"That's...convenient." It was technically a good thing but I couldn't leave him in that state forever and since he was too preoccupied with brutalizing, it gave me a perfect opportunity to get close to him and seize him with my wings in seconds with him being none the wiser.
I calmly unbuttoned my shirt and took it off to avoid ripping it apart, even if I had many replacements, and I had time to deal with him, unlike the first time we met. As I got closer and more things cleared out and found out his sheer brutality and cruelty with dismembered and crushed bodies scattered in his surroundings, it was still surprising that he had so much strength to crush a human against a tree and break that tree as well.
When I got close enough, my next step caught his full attention. Juugo immediately lunged at me with both abnormal hands with full intentions of ripping me apart, but I was already prepared.
My wings sprouted out and held him in mid-air for a brief moment, then I threw him to the ground where I held him in place until his cursed form slowly retracted back leaving behind the calm big animal lover who let out a long sigh of relief.
Only then did I let him out of my grip so he could clean himself from the mess, but the blood wouldn't be so easy to remove from his clothes, at least I was glad we got spares for him.
I went back with the girls.
But I stopped myself when a light breeze brushed against my skin. All of my upper body felt cold as I realized I had been sweating as well.
A small shiver down my spine, truly I needed a bath.
But first I needed to put my shirt back before meeting the girls, even though I was sure Karin would be very happy with the sight I wanted to be considerate for Fu.
And when I finally put on my shirt, instead of feeling cold, it became hot and uncomfortable for a while before I adapted.
When I returned, Karin was showing Fu the same book again, but since I closed I finally noticed she was explaining to her the Bingo books.
"Karin, is it possible to catch those three?" I interrupted her with a very important question.
She bit her lips and closed her eyes for a short while. "No, they left my range a while ago and rushing to catch them would be detrimental and put us in a dangerous position."
A disappointed sigh left my system. I was hoping to avoid further conflict but it was too idealistic and I didn't want to risk it. "We won't. They can only report to the Mizukage. If they want to fight, let them. Nobody but another Uchiha can defeat an Uchiha."
My declaration rather surprised Fu, but Karin was calm as she was already accustomed to my arrogant outburst by now.
"We should rest for an hour or two before we depart to our next destination." Karin made a reasonable suggestion but I was conflicted regarding the time, if it should be less.
"Yo , Sasuke!" A very excited swordsman came into the picture, interrupting our conversation.
And when I turned to see I was greeted by that swordsman drenched in blood from mouth to legs while showing with an arm tightly gripping the Nuibari as if it was a trophy. He wasn't like that when he arrived to finish her off, and the mess he had on him made it clear to me that he literally ripped her apart.
He just left me speechless.
"Oh my…." Fu dropped to her knees, hugging her stomach, and started a coughing fit and gagging.
"You really had to bring that here?!" Karin screamed in frustration.
"She really didn't want to let it go." The bastard only shrugged.
"Then fucking cut the hand and fingers!" Karin screamed back.
"Oh, right…" He drifted off and proceeded to cut the appendage right in front of us, ignoring the very sick jinchuuriki, who was getting paler by the second as the scene developed.
Fu didn't throw up, but she really wanted to yet only saliva came out.
"Are you alright?" I reached out a hand in concern.
But she slapped it away and shakily stood up glaring at me. "What the fuck do you think?"
She took another look at Suigetsu and hastily put her hand above her mouth."Just leave me alone for a moment."
That was the last thing she said before running away from the scene while I watched her disappear between the trees. A long, tired sigh left my system. I could only follow her to check if she was truly alright and hope it wouldn't cause a crack in the group dynamic.
Fu was next to a tree, using it to support her weight with one hand while the other was holding her stomach. However, she was still gagging trying to hold back her breakfast. However, she totally failed, and I had to turn away or I might join her since I knew throwing up was contagious.
I kept my silence for a while, patiently waiting for her to recover and process something that was normal to me. It was a slipup on my part to forget what he would do against his enemies, given the chance.
"I didn't know we were traveling with a psycho." Fu finally spoke, looking rather upset as she wiped some leftover saliva from her mouth with her arm.
I shrugged. There was no point in lying or trying to sugarcoat it. "He is just an old-school Kiri shinobi, just don't provoke him unless you have the strength to fight back."
Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Will this little detail become a problem in the future and your interactions with him?" I asked, based on her reaction with a frown.
She looked at me before shifting to the sky in thought, it was rather dramatic on her part since she just shook her head. "Honestly, I don't think so. As long as he keeps that sadistic...stuff to himself."
"I forgot about his tendencies and for that, you have my apologies for exposing you to that." I rubbed my neck in second-hand embarrassment. My teammate was problematic. There wasn't much I could do.
Fu rolled her eyes, but a smile crept into her face.
"Let's just go to Taki."
AN: So umm it might have taken a bit more than it should have but first I must say that I've been working a lot on the upcoming original story and the Skyrim one so I've been shifting focus, jumping between stories so in a way to compensate I decided to go a bit more lengthy this chapter.
Anyways I noticed that you guys reached 2k and I'm deeply grateful since it shows your love for the story. Now is the time to equally follow with favs since a balance must be achieved!
Still thanks a lot guys!