Bellicism Arc: That Day
It was more than difficult finding a teach to teach her to play the koto. Yuina would have had better luck rockhounding some rare gem. She knew her schedule could be problematic, but it wasn't like she wasn't flexible with her schedule or unwilling to pay someone if she missed a few scheduled lessons.
Yuina took one last look at the small group of children taking lessons together. They were giving it their all. She specifically needed private lessons. If she joined a group, she would only spoil the other's efforts, not to mention placing beginners with intermediates was poor form. Though she had gotten to the point here, she couldn't afford to be picky. She was losing hope she would ever find anyone.
There had to be someone. Anyone.
Yuina looked up at the sun. Another day, another failed search.
She left the district to another set of familiar paths. She could walk to Orochimaru's laboratory blind if needed. Her fingers combed through her hair to tie her hair back with a black ribbon. It had been a calm few months. Yuina had been happy to fall into an old routine. Training. Missions. Lab. It didn't matter what. She was especially happy she stopped being passed around like a hot potato for a few moments to regain herself. She was especially giddy that it was lab day because her muscles continued to ache from yesterday's training.
"Morning, Orochimaru-sensei."
Her stomach dropped the moment he waved the mission scroll. It wasn't bad, and she could always use more money, but she had been looking forward to being seated most of the day. "Where to?"
"Sanbutsu." The north west corridor. She had only passed through, but it was a popular enough market town. Yuina would even say it was an underwhelming town, but it was grand in comparison, as the surrounding towns were primarily farmers and miners.
"And the mission?" She leaned back against the wall.
"A few thieves have become an issue as they prepare for the upcoming harvest festival."
Right, it was getting to that time of year. Seasons mattered, but it wasn't an end all, be all in Konoha. The temperature would drop. They would get frost a few times would sweeten up the root vegetables and cabbage. Snow may show up occasionally, but it never stuck around for long. It was good against seasonality, but she couldn't imagine it was good for the soil to be used so much. Great for feeding people year-round, but the warmer climate made the bug and disease problem worse. As much as she didn't miss long winters, having bugs fly into her face while running on missions was horrid.
"Understood." Yuina is reminded of Sakumo's story of the Hatake family's history. She wondered how much a problem a couple of thieves had caused to be willing to pay for their services. Or maybe it was preventative to ensure festivities wouldn't be hindered by them. There were only so many celebrations throughout the year, that it became something people desperately looked forward to.
"Hm."
Yuina was pushing open the door when she heard him. "What?"
"You're more relaxed lately." He approached.
She clicked her tongue. He always saw through her somehow, so who cared, but why did that have to be a point of interest? It wasn't like she was running amok. "The horror." Sarcasm laced her words. Maybe he could afford it more because of his strength or because of his connection with the Hokage, but Orochimaru usually had an air of ease about him. Even with his ambitions and focus everything always seemed at his own pace by his own will.
"You really are backwards." Before she had a chance to process what that meant, he continued. "Most people learn to build up defenses as they age." The 'not tear them down' went unsaid, but they both understood. Nor was it the first sign of her backwardness. He didn't typically voice it out loud though, which still left the question of why this time.
If she was a puzzle to him, so be it. It wasn't like there weren't parts of him she was still trying to piece together. Pestering the other for a few more answers faster wasn't worth potentially destroying the partnership they've made.
They made their way to Sanbutsu. Orochimaru quizzed her along the way in biology. She thought it would wear her down sooner or later when he introduced her to more and more concepts, but it was funny how things could suddenly become more interesting when there were more imminent applications.
A mixture of people shopping, setting up stations, or preparing for the festival was what greeted them when they eventually arrived. "The usual?" she asked, more than used to the way they divided labour.
Investigate. Reconvene. Action as needed.
"Keep an eye out. There's likely more than one," he said as he eyed the people going about their day.
She figured as much. It would be hard for one person to pull off all they did. The questions were how many and how hostile? She nodded her head before they went in opposite directions down the long main street.
It took a while, but there were subtle movements. The ease of the man casually taking things from those distracted as he flowed between people, adding it to a wagon someone guarded further away. A twin came and took the wagon while the one who had been standing guard walked her way and passed by.
Yuina needed to reconvene with Orochimaru, but first she needed to know where their gathering place was. It'd be great if she could also find out what they were doing with all that food. A few pieces she could understand, but it amounted to a lot.
She raised her hand and kept them close to her core as she signed the seals needed for the Shadow Clone Jutsu and transformation jutsu. Her civilian looking clone followed the person walking inbound under the impression that if something were to happen, their ingrained headquarters would be more problematic.
She could feel the drain on her reserves.
A tingle zapped down her spine. She looked around. Looked between any spaces. Between buildings. Peaked at rooftops. Checked above, behind, and below as she cautiously continued onward.
She discreetly followed to the edge of town and put more distance between them as he pushed the wagon into a small woodland area.
This was enough for Yuina. They met up with another two people. This was a coordinated heist, as Orochimaru and she suspected. She was about to leave to reconvene with Orochimaru when one man changed. Literally changed. He was an adolescent boy now.
Transformation Jutsu.
This was above her pay grade or skills. They weren't Konoha-nin. They were from Iwa. She may not have fully grasped the why at that moment, but it was easily identifiable as a B-ranked mission.
A girl stabbed towards Yuina's chest. "You idiots almost got us caught—" The girl gurgled before dying as her mission partners watched as Yuina sliced their partner's neck off in one smooth movement with her tanto.
Yuina was ever grateful to have predicted the movement, quickly having used the Body Replacement Technique. She couldn't relax, though. She threw three shuriken at the other three with her left hand, which they deflected.
She had been spotted, and she was outnumbered. It would have been best if she could get back to town and maneuver around civilians, but she couldn't afford to show her back to them and it would go against the mission she had been given.
She was trapped.
Yuina heard the adrenaline pumping through her ears. She was acutely aware of everything around her, more than normal. She was reactive like when she trained with Sakumo. She moved with urgency like when she trained with Orochimaru. She analyzed the situation like when she trained with Kakashi.
This wasn't like dealing with bandits or some lowly criminal organization. They were highly trained. Timing and surprise were the only reasons she succeeded in killing the girl. To make it worse, frontal assaults and endurance battles weren't her forte. She was still too small. Still too light.
Yuina had been separating ninja and shinobi in her mind. Trying to rewire that the concept she grew up the first time with the details given to her the second time around. She was disillusioned. She convinced herself that she didn't have to join that side of the business, or at least not fully. That she could have recurring missions that sided on aggressive pseudo law enforcement than the espionage, infiltration, deception, irregular warfare, and such. Ninja and shinobi. Two terms she separated in her mind to adjust and adapt, but those were only lies she told herself. In the end, it was all the same.
The only boon she had was that they were unused to fighting someone nearly half a meter shorter than them, but even that didn't cause them much difficulty.
Yuina clenched her jaw as a kunai dug deep into her arm. Her arm warmly pulsated and her muscles twitched. Her nerves weakened.
She probably could have defended herself if there were only two, but three was too much.
Yuina threw more shuriken and pressed forward anticipating her throws would miss. Rather than wait around for them to take control of the flow of battle, she took action to do as much as she could. If she was going down, someone else was going down with her. Her movements were clinical, but she was seething inside. Years of pent-up anger. Years of fear. Years of frustration. Years of feeling lost and confused. Years of putting up with this ridiculous world all for it to come down to this.
She hated it.
She hated it!
SHE HATED IT!"
Earth spikes pillared from the ground. Yuina evaded by twisting her body and moving on the balls of her feet. She deflected the incoming weapons simultaneously. She blocked the ones coming from the right and continued turning counter clockwise to do something about the person on the right, but he was faster. He used a kunai to block her own strike before they both were forced to drop their weapons from the momentum, but he adjusted his hips to kick her, sending her flying into a try.
He lunged forward and a new kunai pierced into her stomach.
What a familiar feeling. Her last death flashed before her once more.
Her right arm tremored as she reached out to the grab the arm he was stabbing her with. Her chakra swirled in its natural affinity. A higher voltage than a stun gun. His body convulsed above her as he dug his weapon deeper in her before letting to reach for another weapon to hit her with.
She canceled her shadow clone. A rush of memories invaded as it dissipated. She redirected the use of chakra to a higher electrical output.
The man fainted. Irregular black lines were visible on his body.
Yuina's esophagus burned. Was that vomit? Was it blood? Something flowed upward.
Blood and bile mixed.
She tried to steady her shallow breathing and pushed herself through the searing pain that ripped her body and mind alike. She lifted the dead man's body as a shield. He had been their main frontal assault man, while one mainly stuck to ranged attacks. Poor taijutsu? The other kept a cool head and supported to augment the moves and abilities of the others.
The long-range fighter shouted something, but the sounds warped and drowned as if she was wearing earplugs. Her ears pulsated and the arteries in her head thrummed.
Yuina knew this life wouldn't be a long one, but she wished she could have had more time. She still wanted to learn the koto. She hadn't finished her experiments. She wanted more time with her family. She wanted to freely experience life.
She attached an explosion tag to a kunai and threw it. An iwa-nin used a jutsu to create a mud wall which sent chunks of mud flying.
Yuina reached her tanto. It felt good to have it in her hand again even as her knees buckled. Not yet. She wanted to kill at least one more.
Yet she could no longer stand and small black dots appeared in her vision.
Sorry Kakashi.
Sorry Sakumo.
Would they grieve her?
Her hands shook as she repeated the hand seals she had repeated over and over. It wasn't perfect yet. Her body wasn't used to the output. Sparks of electricity appeared around her, causing an Iwa-nin to jump back before they could land the final blow on her.
It was the end anyway. She used as much chakra as she had left to send electric sparks off in all directions. She only had a moment to do something, but she didn't have the strength to stand or throw.
One of the Iwa-nin regained themselves and went in for the final blow when they died instead.
The Iwa's body fell and a man quickly killed the last one.
Orochimaru-sensei?
He handled it with such ease. The only way to stay untouched was to be stronger than everyone else.
Orochimaru looked down at Yuina's battered body. His eyes were sharp yet void. There were weapons still pierced into her. They were far away from any doctor that could be of help, even if she could be saved. Something questionable to begin with, but decreased in likeliness with every passing second.
There were several things Yuina could have said with her last moments. A last message for her family. Her mission report. Cries of pain.
"I don't want to die," she wheezed. Even if the world was horrid, she wanted to live. "It's not your fault." She had asked Orochimaru to train her, and he did, but she could only learn so fast. To that day, it was her one and only true of him. She could still remember the day she made the request, heading home after meeting Jiraiya for the first time.
Yuina coughed and choked. He did his job. It was her that wasn't enough.
She couldn't see. She couldn't feel the ground. It was like her subconscious was floating and even that fell into an inconceivable void.