Chapter Thirteen: Non-Consensual Organ Arbitrage
A light rain that tapered off as the sun rose, clouds breaking shortly before they arrived at the old castle. Dealing with the sentries, the group convened in the depilated courtyard.
"Doesn't seem all that well concealed," said Obito.
"It's a castle," Kurenai retorted. "One that predates the Warring Clans period. It's built to be big and imposing. What are you expecting?"
"I don't know. More guards?"
Kakashi waved to get their attention. "It's supposed to be abandoned, and looks close enough to such that I doubt they would draw much attention with things as they are. As long as the only thing they have to worry about is the curious passerby. Everyone, stay sharp. While there's no sign of a significant presence on the surface, the tunnels are likely to be another matter."
The group ventured further into the ruins, finding a staircase to the lower levels. All the while, Obito couldn't help but feel as if they were being watched, but refrained from saying anything; if there was anything to it, Kakashi probably sensed it, too.
On the next floor, they found a central chamber, better maintained than the rest. At the center was a shaft with a system of pulleys and lifts installed that had seen recent use. Not that they needed to use it. Six shinobi dropped down the opening, clearing the next floor. Moving in tandem, they cleared each room, cautiously eyeing the next corner for potential threats.
"This must go nearly all the way down to sea level," Kurenai observed, looking up the shaft. "It explains how they're moving their products out to sea."
Hayate eyed the empty hallways, suspicious. "For a hub of trafficking drugs, you'd think there'd be, you know, more drugs."
Presently, they came to a set of double doors, likely to have once been one of the kitchens. Obito and Ibiki opened the doors, letting Rin and Kakashi in, both coming up short. The medic swept her gaze across the room with vague unease and palpable disgust.
"Looks like a medical suite," said Rin. "But it looks like it hasn't seen use for a couple of days, and was used poorly while it was. Too much blood and not enough cleaning. Almost as if someone were using live subjects as surgical training."
"Why haven't we seen anyone?" asked Obito. "Think they've already left?"
"Then why leave sentries?" Kakashi asked back. "Until we've searched the ground, figure they're lying in wait. Now keep your voices down."
A few stacks of wooden crates were lined up against the wall. They were soon pried open, revealing the contents.
"What the hell is this?" asked Obito.
Inside was a desiccated body, a deceased male laid on his back, arms crossed over his chest, wrappings covering virtually every other bit of skin.
"Hang on," said Ibiki. "I think I've seen this guy in the Bingo Books. He's supposed to be some hotshot from Iwa."
"Why would someone mummify a bunch of corpses and ship them halfway across the Elemental countries?" asked Obito.
"A good question. I'm sure the rest of these crates are holding similar contents."
"You'd think they'd put them under preservation seals as soon as possible, if they were after village secrets or whatever."
"They're not after any kekkei genkai or village secrets," said Kakashi. "They're after the bodies."
"What for?"
Kurenai waved at them and put a finger to her lips, then ran through some hand seals, concealing them.
Three men, dressed in mismatched armor pieces wandered into view, making their way down the hall, straight towards the Konoha-nin's position.
"Why does the boss want all of this crap taken care of?" one asked.
"You know why. Leave no evidence for Hunter-nin to find. We already have enough problems with the locals."
The face Kurenai made indicated that she wasn't going to be able to cover their presence for much longer.
The trio breached the illusion and stopped dead in their tracks, momentarily eyeing the shinobi and each other, then broke into a sprint.
Hayate pinned one down, a hand over his mouth as he secured, Ibiki nailing the second through the neck with a kunai as he fled the shinobi, sending the man gurgling, tumbling to the ground.
The last had a massive set of shears and made the decision to run towards the shinboi. Obito meeting his headlong charge. Reaching out with his right arm, he caught them when they closed down, then gave them a twist, snapping them in two. Guard wide open, Obito delivered a kick into the man's crotch, lifting him off of his feet and throwing him down the hall.
Hostiles neutralized, Rin surveyed the damage dealt.
"I think you cracked his pelvis, Obito. I'll have to stop the internal bleeding. His genitals are probably a lost cause."
"Isn't that where the blood is supposed to be?" Obito asked.
The medic's eyes flicked to him, then back to her patient. "There's enough open spaces in the body to disrupt bodily functions if you decide to fill them with your own blood."
"We can't spare any guards while the place is still unsecured," said Kakashi. "Do what you can for now, and then knock them out. It looks like they're about done cleaning house and we need to secure whatever information we can before they leave with it or destroy it. Expect puppeteers."
Eyes turned to the team leader.
"What?"
"The mummification process is similar to what Sunagakure's puppet masters use for their more advanced models. If my theories are correct, expect them to be using poisons as well."
The team delved deeper into the castle, leaving the established structure and venturing into pathways that were created after the original construction. Dripping water echoed from further down the tunnels, with distant roars of the sea beyond that. The closer they got, they could hear voices, shouted orders bouncing off of the stone.
Reaching the exit, the tunnel opened into a large, open cave, smooth stone worn from untold years of tidal impacts. Docks were patched together and sloppily repaired, but sturdy for moving large amounts of cargo. A sea wall sitting at the mouth facing out into open waters, keeping the shifting tides from wrecking the port. Few ships were docked, and about two dozen deck hands and guards were scattered across the wharf.
Their first indicator of an attack was Kurenai blinding and deafening them with genjutsu, followed by the Konoha shinobi cutting through the personnel
"Then why go through all of the trouble of drug running in the first place?"
"Because when narcotics are smuggled, it makes it easier for more esoteric substances and components to escape notice."
Eyes turned up to the figure walking completely upside-down across the ceiling, red hair dangling from his head.
"You're too late, Konoha. All key assets have been relocated to a new base. Losing this facility and any personnel is an annoyance. Losing this limb won't change anything."
"And you are?"
"Akasuna."
"Sasori," Kakashi greeted, sounding vaguely amused. "Sunagakure's prodigious puppeteer."
"Just so." The nuke-nin dropped from the ceiling, righting himself and landing in a crouch, a puppet unfolding from his back and floating to stand in front of him. A four-armed
"Sunagakure has been wondering where you got off to. I don't suppose you have legitimate reason for being in Land of Seas, do you?"
"None that should concern them. Or you, for that matter."
"Figured as much."
Hayate and Obito sprang from behind Sasori, having substituted with the corpses of his guards, Kurenai providing an additional layer of protection. Only, the genjutsu didn't take hold, and Sasori wheeled around on the two of them, jumping to the side, putting Obtio between him and Hayate, a puppet swinging around to his side, launchers firing darts at the two of them in a wide arc.
Obito phased through them before he could stop himself, the flechettes flying through, nearly hitting Hayate. To his credit, Hayate had executed a seal-less substitution, avoiding most and deflecting the rest that came his way.
Turning back to Sasori, Obito flared off his Sharingan.
"Amaterasu."
Black flames erupted, engulfing the puppet, igniting the wood and turning the metal to a molten puddle. Sasori repositioned, stepping out of Obito's line of sight. When the nuke-nin wheeled back out, another puppet leading, Hayate dropped down, cutting through the puppet master's outstretched arm, and then kicking off of the enemy's chest, flipping back to a safe distance, still holding his sword at the ready.
"Try replacing that limb," he snapped.
Sasori appeared apathetic to the loss of his arm, merely giving a quick glance, then back to Hayate.
"A smart move, cutting off my arm," he said. "Unfortunately for you, I only need one hand."
Obito looked at the stump.
No bleeding, he realized.
Chakra lines sprang from Sasori's limbs, Puppets burst from a number of crates, a few more leaping out of hiding. "As I said: losing this limb changes nothing."
"Shit!"
Another brace of senbon came their way, and this time Hayate wasn't able to slip around them, taking two to the chest and another to the leg. Stumbling back, he looked up to see Sasori about to stab him through the chest before a crate slammed into him from the side, Obito following the recovering puppet master.
Rin prepared a Rasengan and plowed through the fray, powdering puppets in parts or entirely while Kakashi provided covering fire, then carried him back. Kurenai landed next to Hayate, picking him up and following the medic back towards the exit while she tore through any of Sasori's legion.
"Get Hayate out of here!" Kakashi ordered.
"Right," Kurenai replied, hauling him out of the line of fire while Kakashi and Ibiki covered their retreat.
"Rin, he's going to need your help. Go with them."
The medic grimaced, but wordlessly complied. Not a moment later, one final puppet burst from the water, made in the shape of an overly large lizard, made of metal and wood. The mouth split four ways, a hose sticking out from where a throat would be.
A pressurized jet of water carved a furrow in the cavern wall behind them, then the ceiling. Parts of the cavern buckled and began to collapse.
Sasori ran towards the giant lizard puppet, snagging an arm off of one of the smaller puppets, then launched himself into the air, landing on his creation's head.
"Obito! Get out of there!"
Dodging chunks of falling rock, Obito fought off another puppet, racing to catch up when the tail slammed into his path and swept back. Slipping through the tail, Obito hefted another craft and tossed it at the massive puppet, shattering against the nose. Sasori derisively turned up his nose, then made a familiar hand sign.
Exploding tags, Obito realized, just as chakra spikes came off of the downed puppets, further detonations occurring up the structure of the cave, sending the rest of it into full collapse.
Sasori gave a single backward glance, then had his puppet turn around and dive. Darting around the falling debris, he snagged the manifest and warped out.
[NRE]
Kakashi let out a breath he had been holding when Obito materialized next to him.
They had fallen back to the castle ruins, dodging explosions as portions of the tunnels collapsed. The structural integrity of the cliffs was suspect, but Rin had insisted on treating Hayate as soon as possible, and the castle provided some protection from elements. The swordsman was breathing quite raggedly, but Rin appeared to have a handle on the matter. Still, Ibiki and Kurenai were still tense, hazarding the occasional glance while keeping watch on the perimeter.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked.
"He escaped and collapsed the rest of the cave behind him," Obito answered, plopping onto the ground near Hayate and Rin. "By the way, I managed to snag this."
Taking the manifest off of Obito's hand, Kakashi looked it over. He didn't recognize the names out of hand, but some of them he heard through ANBU. And with a Sunagakure nuke-nin making an appearance, this had the makings of a colossal mess. They were going to need reinforcements.
On the subject of his available personnel, Rin let her jutsu end, wiping sweat from her brow.
"How is he?" asked Obito.
"He'll live," the medic answered. "I'm not sure if I stopped everything, but his life is no longer in immediate danger." She stood up and took a sip from her canteen. "I wasn't expecting to make use of my antidotes so soon, but I'm glad I had the basics together before we left."
"Will he need to be transported back home?" asked Kakashi
"Not necessarily. I don't want to risk moving him too much until I can get an accurate read on his condition. We can relocate back to Miryoku, though."
Kakashi signaled Kurenai and Ibiki over. "You two are going with Rin back to town."
"What about meeting up with the others?" asked Kurenai.
"Obito and I can wait for them. Make sure your teammate stays alive. Rin is in charge in the meantime."
"Understood," said Ibiki, then picked up Hayate.
"Don't do anything rash, you two," said Rin, before leaping after Team Mikoto.
[NRE]
They didn't have to wait long to regroup.
As anticipated, the gangster were in the process of relocating, and were effectively caught with their pants down. Apart from some ramshackle defenses, the foot soldiers had collapsed quickly when Teams Kushina and Roku fell on them. Their supplies were salvaged or destroyed, and the local military garrison had taken over the cleanup processing. The group had gathered enough information to satisfy the rest of their mission and returned to the capitol.
In time to catch Hayate stirring awake with his teammates hovering around him.
"How are you feeling, Hayate," Kurenai asked.
"Like crap," he answered, coughing into a rag Rin offered him. Pulling it away, he saw flecks of blood. "Shit. That's not good."
The medic hovered her hand over his chest again, soothing the irritation in the swordsman's lungs. "I was able to neutralize the poison, but it left its mark before I could finish the job. You'll be checking in with the medical staff when we get back."
Hayate fell back into his bed. "I'm going to miss the Jōnin trials."
"Tough luck, buddy," said Asuma, patting the swordsman on the shoulder. "So, what's going on the report?"
"We'll figure that out later," Kakashi replied. "For now, the cartel's ability to continue their operations has been hampered, but there could still be more bases out in the islands."
"Not to mention unhappy business partners," Hitomi added.
Kakashi nodded, and continued. "We'll keep patrols going a while longer in case they decide to come back. Obito, Yugao, we need to run a message back to inform them of what's happening."
"But-" Yugao began to protest, before Obito accidentally cut her off.
"Why not run one of the dogs back and forth?"
"I'm not confident in my ability to keep them summoned long enough to pass the message along," Kakashi answered. "Not while also keeping my reserves up in case we have to deal with unforeseen scenarios. And everyone else who I could accurately send them to is either out of the village or dead."
Yugao bowed and stepped outside. When Obito moved to follow, Kakashi caught his shoulder.
"Keep an eye on her," he whispered.
"You sure about sending her? She looked kind of distracted."
"She's going to be distracted anyway. The worst of the danger has passed, but we're still in unfamiliar territory. Better to let her run some of the tension out than sit here until the stress gets to her until she snaps or slips up."
Obito swallowed and nodded. "Okay. We'll get it done."
A/N: This is the first of several major encounters that members of Team Minato are going to experience, mostly to cover events that would precede the original start of the series; movies, filler, and some other bits that will be relevant later. That sort of thing. Expect more of the Akatsuki to make appearances before they join the Akatsuki.
Originally, I had Team Kushina with Team Minato for this mission, but I found it would be easier to attribute any persistent, hacking cough of Hayate's to aftereffects of a poison.
Speaking of poison, inspiration for Sasori's entrance came from the DLC for Metal Gear: Rising (which has the track "Rules of Nature" playing for the subsequent boss battle). For people who can stick to virtually any surface, it comes into play far less than you'd expect, so I wanted to take the opportunity to have someone make an entrance.
Changes:
- Apart from giving a cause for Hayate's cough, none for this chapter.
Coming up:
- Betrayal
- New insights
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Even if it's to remark on inconsistencies in my writing pace, style, or tone, let me know in a PM or review.
Until next time!
Winterman, out.