Benihime Forest, Firefly Village: Katomi's Home Nest
"I feel like shit." I thought while sitting down cross-legged and staring into the distance from my nest, the warmth of the rising sun was starting to make itself known. Ever since last night, everything felt like a blur. I came back, bloodied beyond imagination, and immediately took my clothes off, putting the letter and photo from my mother into the nest house, before jumping into the river nearby to wash off. Don't get me wrong, I've killed before, and many times. I've seen death before, in some of the most gruesome ways. I've seen torture before and was forced to participate in it myself. As a soldier and more importantly as a Captain, I was forced to do many things that were considered morally disturbing or corrupt. But never, and I mean never...did I ever enjoy any of it at any point. Never did I ever enjoy the suffering of those who may have been enemies, but were still people in their own right. If fate was even stranger, I may have been friends with some of them in a parallel universe.
Never did I once, intend, out of my own satisfaction, wanted to inflict hurt onto others, enemy or not, to the highest level possible. Even from just being recruited into the forces, all the way to when I rose through the ranks, I was known for being efficient, and being quick and painless was my motto. I never wanted to hear those screams of my enemies, so, when I had to do it for the mission, I shut them out. Unfortunately, those screams, those eyes, and the blood that I could never wash off of my hand haunted me at night whenever I was trying to get sleep. Over, and over, and over, and over again, I would be reminded of the deeds that I had done, and would constantly dred the life that I was given. So it goes to say, that what I did to those men, not a full day ago, was frankly, in hindsight, disgusting. Those scum absolutely deserved to die, and I have no problem with that, however, the issue that I am having is remembering that, for most of them, I prolonged their suffering just for some personal gratification, however justified I may have felt doing so or not.
It was only when I came back to my old house to kill my father, that I decided not to play around, and ended his existence much sooner than my other victims, although that was partially out of the fact that I was tired and low on chakra and just wanted to get away from everything. I raised my hands and looked down on them as my now clean, brown hair fell around my face, hiding my face, the face that currently displayed a mixture of emotions. Fear, anger, confusion, disgust, repulsion, and above all, betrayal. Betrayal at the fact that, despite the actions of those men and their intentions warranting their deaths, I let my emotions get the best of me and ended up betraying my own moral code, my honor, only for some petty self-gratification at hearing them suffer. Regret...regret was clear in my eyes as I closed them, dropping my hands back down to my lap, biting back tears that were threatening to fall. "I don't deserve to cry...for what I've done, I don't deserve it," I said quietly, feeling the slight wind breeze through the opening of my nest.
"To do something so disgraceful, to let my emotions control my judgment, leading me to a lack of judgment, and I have the fucking nerve to shed tears. It...probably would've been a better idea to bite my tongue or to turn that kitchen knife against myself, not lower myself to the same level as those fucking creatures." I thought, trying my best not to let out any sobs, "And I'm the one who's constantly bitching about being betrayed? What the fuck is wrong with me?" I asked myself out loud, wiping any tears that gathered in my lashes before letting my head rest in the palms of my hands as my body shook slightly. "I hate this so much, I hate this. I hate being so fucking vulnerable, I hate being in this fucking child's body." I said, silently letting my tears fall into my hands, as my body now trembled with quiet sobs.
Himawari Headquarters: The Aftermath
"Oh...my...dear...Kami." Said a masculine voice in horror as a man, dawning a Wakazashi blade in his hand came across the mutilated corpses of his comrades and of his boss. "W-wh-what happened here?" Asked one of his still-alive comrades standing on the other side of the room. They were amongst the guards on the outer perimeter and thus didn't hear or see any commotion. Turning to his partner, one of the men spoke, "Shit man, this needs to be reported to the higher-ups as soon as possible. I'll go get Kanashii in the other room, we need to get this to Iwagakure as soon as possible." He said as he started on his way out of the room, "Wait!" Said the other man, "What's this got to do with Iwagakure?" He asked as the man adopted a face of understanding, "My mistake, I forgot you were one of the new recruits." He said as he turned to the body of their boss before gesturing with his hands, "Kiyoshi-sama here, was a branch of a larger tree of the underground world. He was the leader of our new operation in this village that we set up a couple of months ago, trying to expand territory and influence into the nearby Land of Rivers. Well, until this mess happened..." He said looking around the room.
The other man remained quiet before asking, "Just what the hell caused this mess?" The man paused to think before responding to his partner, "It couldn't have been a ninja, we were here for such a short time that any village wouldn't have known about us yet, hell, even this village doesn't know about us since we are in the abandoned part of town." He said while rubbing the top of his head in frustration, "Besides, we are so small and insignificant since we are just now starting up here, that girl that we kidnapped yesterday was one of the first steps to our plan of expansion." He finished turning back to his friend, completely perplexed. A look of shock and honor crossed his friend's face before his friend spoke, "Do-do-do you think it was that girl, Tenshi? Could it be that we happened to get a child that already unlocked her chakra?"A look of horror crossed Tenshi's face, similar to his comrade, "Rei, get in contact with Kanashii and report what happened here to him, he should be down the hall, I'm going into the boss's office to go find something, I'll meet you later!" Tenshi said as he rushed off out of the bedroom of their dead boss to the boss's office, right next door.
Barging into his boss's office in a hurry, he quickly rushed to his desk, scanning through some of the paperwork before coming across what he was looking for. Moving the closed curtain aside to let in light from the now rising sun, he was able to get a full look at the dossier, he then started reading, "Katomi Misamoto, daughter of Haruka and Shojo Misamoto. It has been said that Haruka had some training in chakra but, nothing has been confirmed yet. It is also not confirmed whether or not the Misamoto's were actually a part of a clan of some kind, however, as of what has been observed, they seem like nothing but a civilian family with no real ninja training. Her husband, a weapons shop owner has already been chosen as a helpful client, along with Roshi, a clothing shop owner. Shojo provides us with weapons at a discount and Roshi provides us with a steady flow of luxury kimonos for our future slaves. The family seemed to have been here for some years, back when this was still a thriving vacation transfer point into the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind, slightly after the end of the 1st Shinobi War. As I have recently been told, Haruka left this village only yesterday, all while her husband and daughter were completely unaware. On the night that Roshi and Shojo's stores were robbed, with many of the items being what we already ordered or were interested in, I decided that payback was needed. surprisingly, Shojo gave up his daughter without a fight, helping us set our plans into motion for our future slave trade empire, and little Katomi definitely seems like she would be lucrative."
Tenshi finished reading the document as his face turned pale, "If it's true that her mother or father may have had chakra or ninja training, then that could mean..." He trailed off in thought as he then quickly rushed out of the office, going towards the meeting point where Kanashii was. After rushing through the halls of the small compound, Tenshi stepped through the doorway into their once-alive comrade's room, who now lay with his head caved in and blood everywhere along the bedding. Tenshi's face turned green slightly as he just managed to compose himself before speaking, "Guys, look at this!" He said, bidding Kanashii to take the document as Rei turned around to stand beside him, his face haunted by the scene behind him.
After a few moments of reading their faces paled even more, "N-no...fucking...way..." Kanashii spoke, remembering that little, unassuming girl that he had eaten with yesterday along with his other comrades, when they were still alive. Tenshi nodded and spoke, "If it's true that she has a ninja clan background, then she would have been able to unlock her chakra earlier than normal civilians, which would've made it possible for even someone as little as her to take us on, especially when we were sleeping." Rei looked to Tenshi and asked, "But how does a child know how to kill, let alone, was smart enough to plan this mess out?" Kanashii turned to Rei before answering, "Rei, you must never underestimate a ninja or their offspring, no matter how young, their potential is just far too great."
Rei along with Tenshi nodded in understanding before Tenshi added, "And Menchi over there, told me earlier yesterday, that when he went to go collect her at her family's house, she was already aware of them and spoke as if she was years older, insulting them the whole time and not acting as naive as you may expect of a girl her age." Kanashii cursed, "Damn, if she did this to Menchi and the boss, Ryu would not like this." Tenshi turned to Kanashii before asking, "I assume Ryu is the boss's boss, right?" Kanashii snorted despite the situation, "That's an understatement about as large as the Hokage monument, Ryu is like the boss of the entire underworld. His name is marked across most of the elemental nations, his the big man that other wanna-be chumps ask, "How high?" when he says jump." Kanashii shook his head before speaking, "Look, I got to get to Iwagakure as soon as possible to speak to Ryu, you guys are gonna have to clean this up, and try to keep it quiet so the villagers don't find out." He said as he started walking out.
Before leaving he paused and then turned around, "Oh, and Roshi's dead, his house burned down just earlier this morning. I found his burnt corpse along with the village's firefighters, Katomi's corpse wasn't seen at all, like she just vanished after what she did yesterday. She may have already fled the village by now along with one of the merchant caravans leaving town. If everything is adding up, that girl was more trouble than we knew." He stated before walking off intending on making his way to Iwagakure as soon as possible, not noticing the expressions of his comrade's faces, which were frozen in horror and fear. After a few silent moments, Tenshi turned to Rei, "Oi, I know what you are thinking, but we cannot go after her right now, not after this, we are simply not equipped with the right kind of manpower. If she has chakra training, we need someone who also is trained in chakra." He said as Rei nodded solemnly, "I know, let's just focus on cleaning this up, and give them a proper burial." Rei said as Tenshi nodded before getting to work.
Benihime Forest: Katomi's Reckoning
I sat on the lake bank, wearing my tight shorts along with my red and white kimono and my new sandals, meditating to clear my mind and finally start my work on improving my chakra capacity using natural energy. I was notified earlier by the gamer system, that with my exploits yesterday, I was able to get my chakra control to low A-rank. Just earlier I decided to try out water walking to improve my chakra control further, managing to finally walk on water after only getting my feet wet a couple of times since I stayed closer to the edge of the lake before walking out further. Now it is time to intact an idea that if it works out, will help me out dramatically in the future.
With my legs crossed and hands clasped, I focused on my surroundings, From the nearby chirping of birds to the movement of the lake water in front of me, to the light and fresh breeze of the wind moving strands of my hair into my face. I felt the feeling of my own chakra, a very familiar feeling, like a tamed fire in the eye of a typhoon. I then focused outwardly, trying to feel for the natural energy around me. I then felt it, and oh boy was it potent. It felt like how it feels when you get 8 hours of sleep, eat a diet with mostly fruits and fish, and drink plenty of water while getting who knows how many hours of sunlight. It felt rejuvenating beyond anything I have ever felt. It also had a mixture of the feeling of being disorientated after waking up from a nap in the evening when the beautiful orange sunlight hits your face, giving off that nostalgic feeling, while you are still trying to remember what year it was.
I slowly and carefully started to ease the natural energy to flow through my body, being alert to the first feeling of discomfort, ready to stop the meditation and activate my healing ability before I turn to stone. I breathed in and out carefully as I could now feel some of the natural energy traveling into my body, assaulting me with a cooling, yet comfortable feeling that was nearly orgasmic in the density of its potency that it felt like, like a deeply rich double-chocolate brownie, so dense that you only need a small piece to feel full. The energy started to flow within me, traversing my body intimately, learning each and every area, from chakra coils to muscles. "You have unlocked Senjutsu chakra, your chakra capacity has now increased." The game system alerted me. At the interruption, I lost my concentration momentarily, causing the chakra to become slightly erratic as I then ended the meditation immediately, the feeling of my right arm nearly disappearing.
I opened my eyes to gaze at my arm, only to see a small layer of stone that was now being healed with the gamer's body. healing factor. "Please forgive me for interrupting your meditation, Katomi." It said apologetically. I snorted slightly, "It's nothing to be worried about," I responded, getting up and dusting off my backside. "Let's try that again, shall we?" I said walking to the surface of the lake. I then closed my eyes and channeled nature chakra into my body again, the process becoming slightly easier after my first time. With an exhale, I placed my right foot onto the water's surface, being careful to channel as least amount of chakra as possible considering that nature's chakra was far more dense and potent than my regular chakra, perhaps the most dense and potent chakra in this world.
I took a step and then immediately blasted the water away from my foot. With another breathe and lowering the amount of chakra I was channeling down to nearly none at all, I took a step, then another one, then another one, then more steps, and then I found myself in the middle of the lake as balancing out the chakra became easier and easier. I feeling of euphoria nearly overtook me before I had an idea. After all of this time, running hiding, and being chained to the ground, I feel it's time, for the first time in my life or lives, to take flight or at least try to. "Here goes nothing," I said under my breath, trying to imagine the opening of the wings of a falcon before slowly cutting my use of senjutsu to focus on my own until I could train with it more. Channeling some of my chakra flowing throughout my body into my back, in the shoulder deltoid region. After a bit of time, and me channeling slightly more chakra, I looked to the side to see a black and red gradient wing, slowly growing larger. It was beautiful, the top half of the wing was a very dark, midnight black, so black that light disappeared into the feathers, and the bottom half part faded into a blood-red.
All in all, creating the wings has been a success, now the hard part is just about to begin. With a face of determination, I worked to flap my wings, which were now equal to my height of 109 cm which was now roughly the same as the width of the wings. I flexed and flapped my wings, causing the water below me to become rippled and the wind around me to move erratically. I flapped, then flapped some more, before finally lifting off the water's surface slightly, finally feeling my feet leave the surface. After lifting a few centimeters, I then stopped flapping my wings, gradually slowing them down before stopping entirely. A moment passed as my eyes started to light up in joy and euphoria, "I just fucking floated...it the fucking air...with my fucking wings," I said in disbelief before feeling a warm teardrop roll down my cheek. "Goddamn, these erratic emotions," I said wiping away the tear with a small smile on my face as I looked down at the water's surface, seeing my now red eyes and pretty face shining with happiness. A thought came to my head at that point, "Was that the first time I smiled since coming to this world, at least out of any real happiness?" I asked myself in puzzlement.
"I miss that feeling, it's been a while." I said quietly before getting myself ready again for another go, "But if I want to maintain that feeling, I got a lot of work to do and a lot of people to kill." I said, thinking about the likes of Zetsu and Madara. I then started flapping my wings again, it gradually became easier and easier to get off the ground. After lifting myself a good couple of meters off the ground, I started to try to move straight, gradually being able to move a few meters forward. I was completely unaware of the beaming smile on my face and most importantly, in my eyes, as I then tried to move sideways, managing, thought a bit shakingly, to move sideways a few meters. Finally, I tried to move backward, which was easier than expected, and managed to move a good several meters.
Finally, I aimed my attention to the spot where I first sat meditating before getting onto the water, intending on flying there and landing. I flapped, and I became slightly unsettled before quickly righting myself, I flapped more, and more, and more before finally landing on the ground. Immediately after landing, I collapsed onto the ground, rolling around in a fit of giggles and laughter, tears flowing out of my closed eyes, rolling around like an idiot on some kind of drugs. "I'll reprimand myself later on this, I will not let this pass unnoticed," I thought to myself before continuing to laugh and roll around on the ground like an utter moron, a broken and slightly homicidal moron.