ϟ—Chapter Ten — Transit to the Burn—ϟ
No matter how far they traveled, the ash still fell—the sky was as black as the darkest depths of the sea. Even in Kumo, the transparent haze was deluged with ash. Ka'rai needed the Nibi's chakra to see clearly. Yowui gave up hope and drawled behind the two ahead. On top of that, Bee had yet to wake up.
Luckily, the Nibi's presence kept the Soul Eaters away for the most part. Only two attacked, and that was early on. Kay managed to fend them off. All of Team Bee was happy to be back home… no matter how ash-ridden it was.
Bee was immediately admitted to the hospital. The mission report was handled by Mabui, as Lord Raikage was on a political endeavor outside of the village. Ka'rai wasted no time telling her that he'd need to exit the village as soon as possible in order to take care of the growing hell.
Naturally, she had to accept. Now, Ka'rai lay in his hospital bed, on one of his many breaks between the accelerated medical attention he received. He and Kay shared a room, as she needed to be on the mission with him.
"Wait… why?" asked Ka'rai with a raised brow. "Yeah, you're real strong! But you're still just a Genin, y'know. I don't think you should be required to go on a mission to… uh—Hell."
Kay simply sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I am an ANBU, Ka'rai," she said straight up, letting out a sigh as if a thousand pounds were lifted off of her.
He paused. "Wuh—?"
"Because of what happened to the last Nibi Jinchuriki, Lord Raikage was paranoid about what would happen to you. At first, he didn't want you to leave the village at all. Obviously, that wasn't the best idea. The next best thing would be to have someone protect you at all times to prevent a second capture.
"The person protecting you is me," explained Kay. "Since I'm about your age, it would be easy for me to go undercover and draw less suspicion."
Ka'rai pointed at her with a grin. "AHA! I knew there was something off about you from the beginning!"
She chuckled. "Yeah…"
Soon, the door flung open and Arasei rushed into the room. "Ka'rai?!"
His grin grew. "Mama!"
She nearly flew over to his bed and wrapped him in a hug. "Are you okay?"
"Better than ever!"
Arasei pulled back and held his shoulders—peering deep into his eyes. Ka'rai's black eyes glinted with the light of night. She shook her head. "Of course you are…"
"Mama, I need to go on a mission right after this and I need you to come help me!"
Her head tilted and her grip on Ka'rai tightened. "What?"
"Nibi says that if I don't stop Hell from invading Earth, then everything is gonna burn. Plus, there are a whole bunch of these Oni-type things called Soul Eaters that are there, and I need someone strong to fight them! Kay's coming too, and you're strong and I trust you, so it's perfect!"
Arasei nodded quickly and rubbed Ka'rai's shoulders. "Okay… I'm going along with you. Where's Bee?"
"He's not doing so well," mumbled Ka'rai. "He had to use a lot of Hachibi's power and it hurt him real bad."
"Ah…" With a frown, she looked over to Kay. "Are you alright?"
"I will be soon enough," she replied with a smile. "I'll be ready to move in about a day or so."
"Yeah same!"
Arasei slowly nodded. "Okay, I'll be ready by then." She planted a kiss on Ka'rai's forehead and stood. "I love you, Ka'rai."
"Love you too, mama!"
With that, Arasei left the room. Ka'rai let out a breath and closed his eyes. "Gonna try and get some shut-eye… goodnight, Kay."
"It's noon, Ka'rai," she corrected.
All Kay received was a snore in response.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
For once, Bee's mind lacked the sun. Clouds blocked it all. The grassy field around him rippled in the wind, and the Hachibi loomed behind him with a frown. "Bee…" he began. "It's not your fault."
The gray clouds above churned as Bee's fists tightened. "Don't lie to me, Gyuki."
Gyuki went silent.
"The Strongest Man Alive… ain't that what they call me?" Bee chuckled. "I failed anyway."
"Yakedo may not have been stopped, but its eruption was supercharged by Hell and yet we still managed to curb the damage below what it would've been originally. All of your students are alive and well. I can sense their strength; they're doing fine."
Bee's eyes narrowed.
"We just need to clean up. I can sense Nibi moving out of the village, I assume that she's going to fix the newly created connection to Hell. Once you recover—"
"Where's Ka'rai going?!" interrupted Bee, looking back at Gyuki with an intense stare.
"He's going back to Yakedo to sever the connection to Hell… Kay and his mother are accompanying him. Nibi is always going to be there with him as well."
Bee's fists clenched harder, and the clouds darkened. "And here I am, in a fucking hospital bed… because I wasn't strong enough to wrap everything up smoothly. I train my body harder and harder to use your power every day and it still means nothing! My body's at its prime right now, I'll never be stronger than I am now."
Gyuki hung his head. The land seemed to rise and fall with his sigh.
"Even now, even at my strongest! Ka'rai is still in danger without me there to help. It's gonna end up just like Yugito—" He slammed his fist into the dirt. "What's the point of being so damned strong if I can't do shit with it?!"
"You're not exactly acting strong right now, Bee." The land shook, and a shiver went down Bee's spine. "I've tried to be accommodating, but that's going nowhere. You have one partial failure and here you are sulking. What good is this doing for you? How is this making you stronger? Weakness is necessary for strength to exist, but you're acting pitiful right now, Bee.
"This is not the man worthy of speaking the name Gyuki. This is not the Strongest Man Alive."
Bee's fists clenched and the storm clouds only thickened. "You're right…" he admitted as he stood. "The moment I'm out this damned room, we're going to fix this. We'll need to track down the Nanabi, ain't that right?"
"Yes… that would be wise," agreed Gyuki.
Bee nodded in agreement. "Alright."
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Even at home… Yowui had to guard himself against the ash. It wasn't as bad as in Yakedo, but the terrible memories churned ice into his blood. He could barely see into the mountains above—but what he could see was the black, the dense clouds…
Hane was up there… she must've been buried.
He was the third out of the hospital. Kay and Ka'rai got special treatment since they were needed on another urgent mission. No pun intended, but there was no way in hell he was going with them.
Bee-sensei was still out of commission. The assumption that a human using a Bijuu's power would have great consequences always crossed his mind… but he didn't even think it would've been that bad.
His sensei showed no signs of waking up during the multi-day trip and had to be rushed to his own specialized treatment room. Being on a team with Ka'rai and Bee-sensei honestly made him grateful he wasn't a Jinchuriki.
The power wasn't worth it.
But the power that Kay had… that was definitely worth it. He would rather train with her than Bee-sensei, if he was being honest. If the mission to Yakedo showed him anything, it was that he needed to get stronger.
No—there would be no repeats of what happened there.
He needed to be strong like how Kay was. But… How am I going to do that? Yowui let out a sigh. He could've trained independently, but that would barely amount to anything. Bee-sensei was out of commission. There was no way that he'd climb up Yakedo again—especially with all the ash up there.
What else, what else, what else?! Yowui gripped his head—racking his brain for something. He stopped. Team Bee wasn't the only team that passed… there were two others. Maybe he could train with them?
I mean, it's an idea… he admitted. There was no guarantee that he'd be accepted, but god dammit, it was worth a shot. He trudged through the lightly falling ash and searched. Where it would bring him… he shrugged.
He'd find something, eventually.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Finally… her biweekly rest day. Hane relaxed in the bed of her dorm… well cell. If it were up to her, she'd go out and see Ka'rai. But, for one, it was storming outside. Going out there was a death wish. Ka'rai was on a mission, anyway. It wasn't like she'd see him out there anyway…
But that didn't take away from how fun going out there by herself would be. She didn't need Ka'rai to have fun—but he for sure made everything better. Hane groaned. If the storm kept up, she might not have been able to train the next day.
Everyone was locked inside. Snow and—"Is that ash?!"
White and black particles flew into the small barred window of her cell. She grabbed a piece of the black and smelt it. Sulfur filled her nostrils. "Uh… What the hell is happening out there?!"
Hane gulped. Did a volcano erupt or something? Her heart dropped. Could Ka'rai have been caught in it?! Could his mission be the Bijuu stuff he talked about…?
She fell back into her bed and shut her eyes. "He'll be fine… he's strong. Yeah, Ka'rai's gonna be just fine," she soothed to herself. She kept saying that, hoping the gaslighting would work.
It didn't.
She drawled over to her shelf, taking a manga from her shelf. It was one she picked up last time she went out of the camp. Bonesaw Man. Just volume one, but she'd judge whether she liked it or not from that.
Hane read… she was hooked by the second page. She finished the volume within the hour. Once again, she was bored and worried.
Hane wanted to cry.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
This is the best and worst scenario possible, muttered Yowui. By the village's border, the ashes lightened up just a bit—and the familiar gray haze was barely visible in the black. What was in that haze, however…
Cirru.
Clowui.
At least Sami was there; she was nice… one of Ka'rai's friends. But, at the same time Cirru was his friend, Ka'rai's taste in people couldn't exactly be trusted.
Their sensei was a blond guy. He looked young… reserved for sure. He's nothing like Bee-sensei. I like him. With a deep breath, Yowui stepped forward. "Hey!"
Clowui wasn't surprised at all; she probably knew he was there already. Cirru and Sami were not expecting it, however. Both of them smiled. Cirru's haughty smirk turned into condescending laughter while Sami's was genuine.
"Hey Yowui, what brings you here?" she greeted warmly.
Cirru snorted. "Yeah, what's your business here, farm boy?"
Clowui didn't say a thing. Their sensei tilted his head. "You're one of Lord Bee's students, correct?"
Yowui nodded, smiling back at Sami and ignoring Cirru. "Yeah… Bee-sensei's out of it right now, so I came to you for training—If that's okay with you, of course." He bowed immediately.
The sensei walked forward. "You can call me Cee," he greeted. "I'm sure we can have you until your sensei recovers, right?" he asked, looking back at his students.
Cirru cracked his knuckles. "I've been needing a punching bag…"
Sami stepped in front of Cirru, earning a glare. "Of course! It's fine!"
Clowui shrugged wordlessly.
Cee nodded with a smile, outstretching his hand. "Then it's confirmed!"
"Thanks…" Yowui murmured, shaking Cee's hand.
"What would you like to work on?"
"Durability and endurance," he answered immediately.
Cee's smile brightened. "Well, that's perfect! Cirru over there's been needing to work on his Ninjutsu. Both of you can spar and you'll both improve!"
Yowui paled.
Cirru's smirk grew.
What did I just get myself into…?
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
In the coyote's den, the Cessitsu family waited for an armadillo never to come. Torchlight and stained glass colored with moonlight illuminated their irritation. Kay's father had his eyes narrowed. "She was supposed to report to us after her mission… we had a job for her."
"Why did you allow her to take this on in the first place?" asked his father—Kay's grandfather. A silver-haired man with a face wrinkled from a life long lived.
Her father's fists clenched. "She took it without our permission."
The elder sighed, rubbing his bony hand against his seat. "Damn it all…" He looked toward his son. "If her mission is guarding the Nibi Jinchuriki, wouldn't the easiest solution be taking him out of the picture?"
"It may be simple, but far from easy," he scoffed.
Another man spoke up, his blond hair braided behind him, with yellow-tinted shades obscuring his eyes. "It would be advantageous to use this connection to our benefit, in my opinion."
Kay's father looked toward him—his brother—and tilted his head. "What do you propose?"
"Kay has been on multiple S-Rank missions since she joined the Nibi," he started, a sly smirk crossing his face. "So, we must keep her with the Jinchuriki. If she is consistently on S-Rank missions, then she will consistently bring in S-Rank levels of pay. "
The father's eyes narrowed. "That… is not a terrible idea, not at all."
"I support it fully," stated the elder, leaning forward.
Her father nodded. "Then it is settled. The moment Kay returns, we shall tell her of her new objective."
The elder knocked his fist against the wood of his seat. "Dismissed."
With that, the three men went their separate ways.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Everything burned and all he had was the Katana in his hand.
Hell's flame burned and all he had was the Katana in his hand.
The boy sobbed, holding onto what he felt—parental love radiated from the blade.
The man cried, holding onto what he felt—empty and hollow nothing from the blade.
Everything was gone…
Everything was gone.
The hand of a snake reached out.
The claw of a demon reached out.
The boy took it.
The man sliced it off. Kinbo's tears blurred his vision as he struck at the Soul Eater. He tore a wing off—then drove his Katana into its skull. It died soon after. With a quick half seal, the black of his blade glowed silver. The only visual was the temporary red glow of Kinbo's Katana before it went back to black.
Kinbo held on tightly to the hilt as he pulled it out of the Soul Eater's skull. He nearly jumped at what he felt—demonic purpose. Crimson essence bled from the black blade.
This is way more powerful than any human soul… he noted, ignoring his tears, the hollow cold in his heart. He ignored it all. Kinbo spied droves of Soul Eaters screeching toward him.
His expression remained neutral—yet still wet with tears. He never knew hell could feel so cold. The fire of what was in it… was more than powerful enough to fuel his willful ignorance.
Another Soul Eater came and he cut it in half. The blade glowed white again, then burned into red. A second crimson spewing of essence roared out as he cut a third—the process repeated on the fourth. Each spew erupted with double the power of the last.
The ease of which he cut down the demons became smoother and smoother. Their rage only increased, and so did their power. That only fueled the power in his blade. Kinbo was swarmed by them—their blood was as corrosive as acid. His skin boiled in every place the Soul Eater's blood dropped. His clothes had holes burned into them, but dammit, that meant nothing.
The strength in his blade doubled, tripled, even quadrupled with each Oni he cut down. But the tears on his face only came down harder and harder.
This is hopeless.
Kinbo screamed and a bloody-crimson strike of a crescent moon cut dozens in half. Wasted… he needed contact to steal their souls and any they may have eaten.
It didn't matter.
They were gone a second time.
All thanks to that Nibi brat.
"Ka'rai Uzumaki…" Kinbo began—his voice even and composed as ever despite the tears. "I will reap the soul of everyone you love."
He looked up into the blackened sky of falling ash. "Just as you did to me."
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
"Are you okay, Ka'rai?" asked Arasei, wiping the ash away from her eyes.
He grinned at her. "Of course, mama!"
"The ash is getting thick," she murmured, the amber of her eyes glowing even with no sun to strike them.
"It was thicker when Yakedo was in the middle of erupting," added Kay, who lagged just a bit behind them.
Arasei's lips pursed and her eyes shimmered—her whole body tensed. "Ah…"
"So this'll be nothing, right mama?"
She nodded stiffly and slowly. "Yeah…"
The three looked forward to the glowing mass that colored the ash orange. It was miles away, replacing where Yakedo once was on the horizon. Flashing silhouettes dashed across the orange… approaching them.
They approached as well.
Approached into the growing hell.
ϟ—Chapter End—ϟ