Author's notes: Hey, shorter chapter than usual, but hopefully that's a one off. Anyway, I Don't really have anything to say before the chapter, so I just hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: Out Of The Cradle
"Uuuughh, D-Ranks are so boring...!" Whined Naruko, as team 7 made their way to the dispatch center to pick up their missions for the day.
This had been their daily life over the past month. Wake up, train, take 3 to 5 D-Rank missions, then go home to sleep and repeat the cycle the next day. Frankly, all of the Genin were sick of it. At least they were learning new jutsu during training in the morning.
"Well lucky you." Kurenai said with a chuckle. "We're not getting a D-Rank today. today, we're going to be accepting our first C-rank mission."
"Oh, so what, we get to clean a rich guy's house?" Ino asked sarcastically. Seriously, all their missions had basically just been chores. Evidently hiring a Shinobi team for a D-Rank was cheaper than hiring a house-keeper of Gardener. Somehow.
"I assure you, it's nothing like that." Kurenai told her team. "C-rank missions are actual missions. It's usually things like gathering information on a possible threat to a small village, Fighting off some bandits, stuff like that."
"Oh." Hikari said, her interest piqued. "that actually sounds like it's worth our time."
They got to the dispatch center and entered the mission assignment room. Kurenai went to talk with the Chunin working the desk, when Naruko spotted team 10 accepting a mission as well.
"Hey Kiba! Shino! Choji!" Naruko called, walking over "It's been a bit, how are you guys?"
"We're kickin' ass!" Kiba said, as he and Naruko high fived. "Nice threads by the way."
"Thanks!" Naruko replied with a grin. "Oh! we should spar some time, I've gotten loads stronger!"
"Hell yeah!" Kiba grinned back, and Akamaru barked in affirmation. The little Ninja pup was currently sniffing around team 7's feet, taking in their new scents.
Akamaru looked up at Hikari, sitting down and staring. A few seconds passed before Hikari crouched down and began to pet the pup. Akamaru clearly enjoyed every second of it, even rolling over to let Hikari rub his belly.
"Wow, Akamaru usually only lets me rub his belly." Kiba grumbled.
"Oh yeah, Hikari's great with dogs." Naruko said with a chuckle. "Terrible With cats though. Guess they can sense her allegiance to the dog empire." They both laughed at that. "oh! speaking of Hikari, where's your team's shinigami transfer?"
"Ah, she's in the head." Kiba replied "I'm sure she'll be back in a minute."
"Unfortunately, we won't be here." Kurenai said, coming back from the desk. "Team 7, we're heading upstairs to the Hokage's office, he wants to brief us himself."
"F-For a C-rank?" Hinata asked. "Isn't that a bit excessive?"
Kurenai simply shrugged, and started to head for the staircase. Team 7 followed, with Hikari reluctantly detaching herself from Akamaru, and the rest of the team waving at team 10. Akamaru trotted back over to Kiba and sat next to him.
"Little traitor..." Kiba pouted, but even Akamaru could tell he wasn't really upset.
As team 7 arrived at the Hokage's office, they found the Fourth Hokage talking with a tall blonde woman in green haori, who most of the team recognized. She was one of the three legendary Sanin after all. No resident of The hidden Leaf village Didn't know who she was.
"Seems we'll have to finish this conversation later." Tsunade said, turning to see the team enter. "Naruko, when you get back from your mission, Jiraiya wants to talk to you."
"Really!?" Naruko gasped excitedly. "So you're both in town at once!?"
"Will be for the next couple months." Tsunade said with a smile. "Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to catch up when ya get back." she walked past team 7, ruffling Naruko's hair on her way out of the room. Ino and Hinata were staring in awe of what just happened, whereas Kurenai was keeping an air of professionalism.
"... Who was that?" Hikari asked, breaking the sudden silence in the room. "She sure didn't stick around long."
"Oh, that was Tsunade." Naruko replied. "She's not really one to stick around and socialize most of the time. It's nothing personal."
"Guess that explains her passing a message from Jiraiya of the Sanin." Hikari said. "The books I read about them didn't have pictures."
"Ahem." The Hokage cleared his throat, the genin all snapped to attention and focused on the Hokage. "At ease. As I'm sure you know, your Jonin sensei, Kurenai, has decided you're ready to accept a C-rank mission. Normally I wouldn't handle the briefing personally, but this is somewhat a special case."
"One of our smaller neighboring villages," The Fourth Hokage began the briefing, his tone suddenly becoming much more serious. "Haruki village, may have it's communications with the hidden leaf being intercepted. Communication between our two villages has seemingly remained intact, but one of our communications officers noticed oddities about recent letters. Upon further analysis, the letters were clearly written in the hand writing of the Villages Chief Steward, but the content did not quite fit in the usual tone or style of the Village Leader.
"Your mission is to scout the area." The Fourth Hokage concluded. "And nothing more. You will ascertain the nature of the situation, then report back to The Leaf Village immediately. If you encounter hostile forces, you are to flee immediately. If a hostile force could take over the village and knows to keep the Chief Steward in communication with us, then they're clearly a well-organized group. Possibly Shinobi. make no mistake, the only reason this mission is ranked so low is because there's a high likelihood we're getting worked up over nothing. If we're not, however... again, you are not to engage any enemy, instead return to the Leaf Village immediately. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir!" Team 7 replied in unison.
"Good." The Fourth Hokage nodded. "Genin, go home and prepare all you will need for a potential combat mission. Jonin Kurenai, please remain here, I have a few materials you will need for the mission."
The genin quickly exited the room. Kurenai shut the door behind them, then walked back over to stand in front of the Hokage's desk. Minato was rustling around in a drawer, before pulling out a scroll, and a rolled up map.
"We have 3 things we need to discuss." Minato announced, sliding the items across the desk for Kurenai to receive. "First, the scroll contains Information on Haruki Village and it's leadership. The map shows the local area around the village more precisely than more generalized maps."
"Understood." Kurenai said, taking both items and depositing them in her pouch.
"Second." the Hokage continued. "You may have already guessed, but the mission isn't an ordinary C-rank. I lied during the briefing. We've already sent teams into the area. None reported back. This time, I'm sending another team of ANBU to shadow your team. As much as it makes my skin crawl to use genin as bait, especially my own daughter, I have no choice. If we send a more experienced team, the enemy will know to use a more serious trap, and there's no guarantee the ANBU will be able to rescue them."
"So we make them believe we're easy prey." Kurenai summarized. She was struggling to maintain professionalism. This was the exact kinda of mission she hated. deceiving one's enemies was part of a Kinoichi's job description. It was a whole other matter to decieve one's comrades and subordinates.
"Yes." The Fourth Hokage said grimly. "I've been watching the genin teams closely. yours is the only team I believe is advanced enough to handle this. Once you've triggered the enemy's trap, you will take your team to secure and evacuate any survivors."
"Understood." Kurenai said again. That made her feel marginally better. Lord Fourth was a cautious and brilliant tacticion, if he believed team 7 could handle this... Still, she hated the idea of using her team as bait.
"Good." The Fourth Hokage seemed to relax slightly. Minto took a deep breath. "Third and finally... I need your opinion on something."
The enormous open red gates of the Hidden Leaf Village loomed menacingly over team 7. For Ino, Hinata, and Naruko, this would be the first time they had ever left the village for a mission. For Hikari, this represented an end to the quiet period she had actually been finding herself enjoying. Now it was back to work.
Kurenai Blurred into existence before her team, as she came out of her body flicker. She Inspected her team. They were nervous, that much was obvious, but she also saw a determination in their eyes that reassured her. She knew that no matter what, they would be okay. The Fourth was an excellent judge of ability, if he believed they could do this, and her team believed they could do this, then so did Kurenai.
"Are you all ready?" Kurenai asked, her tone deadly serious. Her team all gave Determined nods. "Good. Follow my lead, Remember the formation I taught you, and most importantly, remember to communicate with your team. Now, Let's go!"
She took off out the gate, her team following her. They didn't use the road, instead jumping into the treeline. Kurenai was in the front, with Hinata just behind her, Ino and Naruko took up the flanks, and Hikari was stationed at the rear of their formation. About ten seconds passed, then 4 figures in black cloaks, wearing white masks began following them.
The trip would take them half a day. Hinata periodically activated her Byakugan, scanning the area around them for hostiles. Kurenai Used a hand signal to tell Hinata to do so. She was relatively certain that their ANBU shadows were using that hand signal as a signal to hide from Hinata's Byakugan.
Kurenai stopped, motioning for her team to do so as well. They were gathered on tree branches. The trunk of the tree Kurenai had stopped on had a symbol carved into it. The Symbol appeared to be a cloud, with the Symbol for the hidden leaf village within the cloud, though a single line was carved through the leaf village symbol.
"The Leaf Village symbol is old." Kurenai noted, putting her hand to the symbol. "you can tell because the indentations in the wood are much darker and more shallow than the surrounding carvings. The tree continued growing, causing the carving to fill in slightly."
"So whoever did this," Ino began. "Wanted to stake their claim over the Leaf Village's claim. If not, they probably would have scratched out the leaf village emblem completely. This just has a single line though it."
"Whoever did this wanted people to know, that the leaf village had failed to protect Haruki village." Kurenai agreed grimly. This was bad. Such an overt challenge to the authority of the Leaf village was obviously the work of someone either extremely confident, or extremely stupid. As a Kinoichi, she had to assume the former. underestimating one's enemy was a mistake a Kinoichi didn't recover from.
"The only question left," Hikari continued, staring at the symbol, contemplating. "Is who or what the cloud represents. It obviously represents our enemy, but I don't recognize the symbol as representing any group."
"I don't either." Kurenai admitted. "We're not gonna get the answers staring at a tree. Hinata, keep your Byakugan active. We don't want to be ambushed."
The dark haired Genin nodded. The veins around her eyes bulged as they were flooded with chakra, enhancing Hinata's vision to an extreme degree. She could see the area around them was completely free of any other life, so she looked to Kurenai and nodded.
Kurenai understood the signal, and resumed heading towards Haruki village proper. Her team followed just behind. It wasn't long Before they spotted The walls of the village, and the main gate, swung wide open. That was odd. As was the lone person just standing in the middle of the threshold.
Snake was not one to get nervous. She didn't get to be ANBU by breaking down On missions, but something about this mission was wrong. She could feel an odd sensation, in a part of her that she did all she could to ignore. There was something wrong, she could feel it.
Her suspicions were confirmed when Team 7 resumed their journey to Haruki after stopping to inspect a symbol carved on a tree. Snake and her team, Hawk, gorilla, and Cat, had tried to follow team 7. They quickly found they couldn't. They immediately hit a wall, and fell to the ground in a rather undignified manner.
"The hell was that?" Gorilla asked, irritation seeping into his tone, but his volume was low and controlled.
"A barrier." Snake observed. She walked forward, placing her hand on it, a red transparent wall being revealed through the touch. "It's powerful, and actively controlled remotely. The enemy knows Team 7 is here, and it's safe to assume they know we're here as well." Snake reasoned grimly. she turned to her team. "Hawk, get to work making an entrance for us. Gorilla, Cat, you two scout the perimeter of the barrier, I want to know it's dimensions. I'll stay and make sure the enemy doesn't catch Hawk unaware."
The other 3 members of her squad nodded, both gorilla and Cat vanished in an instant. Hawk crouched down and put his hands against the barrier. Hawk's hands glowed with chakra as he began to work on disrupting the barrier.
"let's hope they can survive for a bit without us." Snake prayed.
"He's just standing there." Naruko whispered to her team. "Should we sneak past him?"
The man in the gateway seemed to be rather unassuming. Or he would be, if he wasn't Completely stiff and motionless. The Shinobi could see past him into the village. It looked to be completely deserted, with the man in the gateway seeming to be the only living thing remaining.
"No." Kurenai decided, after taking a minute to weigh their options. "Or, at least, not entirely. This is the most obvious trap to ever trap. As such, I think it's a Feint, drawing our attention from something else. Naruko, you go down there and once the trap is triggered, we'll decide our next move."
"W-why Naruko...!?" Hinata said, worry lacing her words. She didn't want anyone walking head long into that obvious trap, much less Naruko. If something happened to her... she didn't know that she had the strength to handle that. Naruko was more than a crush to her. She had always believed that, but the last month had made it just that much more apparent how much she needed Naruko in her life.
"She didn't mean the real me." Naruko replied, putting a soothing hand on Hinata's shoulder. she then took it back and made the hand sign of the shadow clone jutsu. Another 5 Narukos appeared in puffs of smoke, and 4 of them immediately used the transformation jutsu to appear as the rest of the team.
"Clever." Hikari noted, as the 5 clones jumped down to go talk to the man. "But I had thought you'd call the mission off."
"Hm? Why is that?" Kurenai asked.
"Because the team shadowing us has stopped." Hikari said nonchalantly. She then saw the confused faces of her team. "Oh! Right, you guys probably wouldn't have guessed this. I'm a KidÅ specialist, and with that, my ability to sense spiritual energy is much better than most people's. I could sense another team of Jonin level Shinobi following us since we left the Leaf Village."
"What!?" Hinata said incredulously. "How come I never saw them once!? The Byakugan has 360 degree vision! I would have seen them even if they were behind us!"
"I was signaling them." Kurenai admitted. "They were using the signal I was giving you to use your Byakugan, as a signal to hide from it. Don't beat yourself up, they're elite Jonin from the leaf, if they didn't have a way to hide from the Byakugan, they wouldn't be ANBU special forces." She put a reassuring hand on Hinata's shoulder, and gave her an encouraging look. Hinata still pouted a big, but stood up straight and put on a brave face for the mission. Kurenai looked to Hikari. "You're absolutely sure our shadow has stopped following us?"
"Yes." Hikari nodded. "About 100 meters back."
"Damn! We're they ambushed?" Kurenai asked urgently. She took a deep breath as Hikari shook her head. "Here's what's going on. We can't abort the mission. Whatever stopped our ANBU shadow from following us, would almost certainly stop us from retreating. We have no choice but to find the source and eliminate it."
"That'll be easier said than done." Ino muttered bitterly. "We don't even know what stopped them, much less where it came from."
"I have a theory." Kurenai Reassured, then looked to Hikari. "you're certain they weren't ambushed?"
"Yes." Hikari confirmed. "I didn't sense any other people, and they all stopped moving at once. Then they dropped to the ground."
"Sounds like a barrier then." Kurenai surmised. "We'll need to find the Shinobi maintaining the barrier, and Eliminate them to dispel it."
Kurenai noted that her team didn't seem scared. It made sense, as none of them knew what they were getting into. It was time she told them the truth.
"Alright, time for another briefing." Kurenai said, her tone was deadly serious. "This mission just went from a C-rank to an A-rank."
That got their attention. she could see fear in the eyes of Ino and Hikari. Though to her surprise the eternally anxious Hinata seemed to be ok for the most part. Naruko seemed almost excited. Though she knew that wouldn't last long. Shs hadn't even gotten to the worst parts yet.
"From this point forward, Haruki village is enemy territory." Kurenai continued her briefing. "We should treat everyone we find as a potential enemy, and should act with appropriate caution. That being said, these are the rules of engagement. We are not to attack until we can confirm hostility. No matter what the circumstances, never engage the enemy alone. If you do not have the support of at least one of your allies, flee immediately."
"We don't know anything about the enemy or their objective." Kurenai continued. "we just know that 2 teams of Chunin have already gone missing here." That reveal shook Hinata, fear creeping into her expression.
"Our Primary objective is Survival." Kurenai Declared, nearing the end of her briefing. "We have Three additional objectives that should be prioritized below our primary, and prioritized in the following order. First, to find and eliminate the enemy maintaining the barrier. Second, determine the status of Haruki village's citizens, and excavate any survivors. Third, Determine the status of the Chunin teams who went missing here, and if possible, recover them. Any questions?"
As Kurenai finished her briefing, she could see that her team was clearly hesitant. Fear pervaded their expressions and body language. Though even as afraid as the were, none of them seemed paralyzed by it. she noted determination in their eyes, and watched as they drew weapons, ready to fight.
"Just one, what's the plan sensei?" Naruko asked, drawing a kunai from a pouch on her thigh. She still wasn't afraid.
"First, we get into the village proper." Kurenai Declared. She then looked down at the gate. The man in the gateway was gone, as were their clones. "Damnit, we got distracted.. Naruko, what happened to the clones?"
"I... don't know!" Naruko said with a gasp. "Whatever happened to them, it didn't pop them. Gimme a sec to Rele- AH!"
Naruko was cut by Hikari appearing behind her and pushing Naruko off her branch. Naruko landed on the ground on her feet with no issue, and when she looked up, her eyes widened in shock.
Right where the back of Naruko's head would been, was a kunei, being held by a very pale hand. Hikari was holding the person the hand was attached to by the wrist, evidently she had stopped Naruko from being stabbed in the back of the head.
the team immediately went into action. Ino kicked the guy in the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. As Ino's kick knocked the enemy back, they all heard a sickening crack, coming from the man's body. His body crashed to the ground like a sack of potatoes, with even more cracking sounds. He didn't move anymore.
"His hand just came right off." Hikari noted, dumbfounded. The team looked at Hikari, and sure enough, she was still holding the man's wrist, his fingers still tightly wrapped around the grip of the kunai. No blood dropped from the stump, and all the exposed flesh looked like dried leather.
"what the hell!?" Ino gasped out, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"It's like his body was completely Dried out." Kurenai said, clearly horrified.
Hinata clasped a hand over her mouth to try to keep from throwing up.
Down on the ground, Naruko cautiously approached the man's limp body. "uhhh, guys, you're gonna wanna see this."
The rest of the team jumped down. Then swiftly wished they hadn't. As they suspected, the cracks from the impact with the ground were bones shattering. They could tell just by looking at the way it deformed his body.
The broken bones weren't the only thing that made this corpse stand out. The man had a full head of dark Brown hair, meaning he was probably still young. However his skin was dry, wrinkled and, leathery. He was also clearly emaciated, like he hadn't eaten a full meal in years. He was just leather and bones.
Hikari leaned down and squeezed one of his arms, and a distinct snapping sound could be heard. "His bones are like twigs." Hikari realized in horror. "What the hell happened to him!?"
"I don't know." Kurenai admitted. "But I have a feeling he isn't the only one this has happened to." A quiet moment passed between the Shinobi as they processed that thought. "Unfortunately, we don't have time to dwell. We need to continue the mission."
The genin nodded. Kurenai took the lead, running to the village walls, her genin close behind. They scale the walls easily. Kurenai had made sure that her genin had mastered both the tree climbing and water walking exercises before she would allow them onto C-rank missions. If she had known their first would be like this, she would have prepared them even better.
As they reached the walls summit, they were able to observe most of the village.The main bulk of the village was residential, with many buildings being simple houses, with some having built in store fronts. To the east was a modest river, with a waterwheel and a lumber mill. At the northern most point was what appeared to be a moderately large fortress, likely the residence of the leaders of this village. At the south was a large cliff, a natural wall that would have made the village very defensible, as an attacking force coming from the south would have to navigate down the cliff while under attack from the village's defenses. The rookie team was perched atop the wall protecting the west side of the village.
"That fortress is almost certainly where the enemy is holed up." Kurenai noted. "That cliff would give them a good view of the entire city, but there's no structures up there, so the most they would do is place a scout."
"If they have radio contact that could still be a huge problem for us." Ino said, looking up for any sign of a scope glint.
"Good point. Hinata, Hikari, you two head up there." Kurenai ordered. "And take these." she reached into her back, pulling out two short range radios attached to chokers, with ear-buds for receiving. Once Hinata and Hikari has taken their coms, Kurenai Gave one more to Ino, and put one on herself.
"Aw, I don't get a fancy neck radio?" Naruko whined, her tone oddly light given the situation. The rest of The team would be lying if they said they didn't find that oddly reassuring.
"Not right now." Kurenai said, a small chuckle escaping her lips, surprising even herself. She then coughed and resumed her serious tone. "You're not as high priority to have a radio, you tend to be the front-line fighter, taking all the heat and making the most noise. If I were the enemy, If I couldn't kill us outright, I would try to disrupt our communication."
"So if I had one, the enemy would break it." Naruko summarized. "And we're trying to conserve all the resources we can."
"Exactly." Kurenai agreed. "If we need to split up further, I'll give you one." She assured the enthusiastic genin. She then turned to Hinata and Hikari "you two head up to the top of that cliff. Hinata, I want you to use your Byakugan to get us Intel. Hikari, I want you to protect Hinata."
"Yes sir!" They both said, then vanished in blur of movement, moving directly up the cliff.
"Ino, Naruko, with me." Kurenai ordered, jumping down from the wall into Haruki Village, her genin subordinates following suit.
"The flies have entered the web." Declared a Raven haired man in a Kimono with intricate webbing patterns. He was standing over a table, or, the outline of one at least. The table was just a frame, with a spider web actually taking up the center. a closer inspection would reveal the web to be an exact replica of the lay of Haruki village.
"Good." said a man, sitting on a throne in the shadows. "How long until they can be processed?"
"That depends on Kira." The Spider replied. "but if I had to guess, she will toy with them a while."
"I didn't hire her to play games." The man on the throne growled out. "Nor did I indulge her requests, just so she could make this take longer. Inform her she has until sundown to subdue the vermin and bring them to the sanctuary."
"My lord, if I may ask," The spider began cautiously. He took his Lord's lack of a sharp rebuttal as approval to continue. "Why bother? Why not just have kira kill them? You already have all you need to begin the ceremony."
"True." The spider's lord replied. "However, our guest will be hungry, and who better to feed it than Shinobi? That will certainly be more appetizing than those fools who ran and hid. speaking of..."
"I am close, my lord." The spider replied "but the sealing Jutsu obscuring their location are quite powerful."
"More work of the First Hokage, no doubt." The man in the shadows grumbled. "Continue your work."
"Of course my lord." the spider replied.
His attention returned to the western side of the barrier, where he refocused on keeping the more experienced Shinobi out. They would be Useful, but he couldn't allow them in too soon. Shinobi did their best work at night after all.
Hinata and Hikari stood at the top of the cliff, observing Haruki village below. Hinata activated her Byakugan, straining her eyes to attempt to see the entire village. Hikari was standing behind Hinata sensing for threats.
"by the six paths...!" Hinata breathed out, panic creeping into her voice. She touched the transmit button on her radio "Sensei, they're all over the place! There's at least a hundred!"
"What!?" Hikari exclaimed, panic coming into her voice as well, something that only caused Hinata to panic more. "I didn't sense anything!!"
"That would be the work of the Spider." A Male voice said lazily from behind them. "I may not trust him for a second, but I have to admit, that barrier Jutsu of his is top notch."
The genin whipped around to face the strange voice, beholding a man carrying a katana, with a blue cloth wrapped grip, and a tsuba shaped like a water droplet. He had Light brown hair, and dull blue eyes, and his face was morphed into an expression of boredom. He was wearing a modified Shinigami Shuhakusho, with a blue haori with white wave patterns. His shuhakusho and haori lacked sleeves, and underneath he was wearing a simple blue T-shirt rather than the appropriate under-layers of the Shuhakusho. His trousers were also decorated with wave patterns, and instead of the traditional Shinigami tabi socks and sandals, he wore blue boots.
"Oh, and I wouldn't count on that radio." The man continued. "funny enough, it's actually cause of the Civies that used to live here. they're hiding hear somewhere, and got a radio jammer set up. Your "Sensei" ain't hearin' shit."
"Bastard." Hikari growled suddenly, causing Hinata to jump slightly. She had never heard Hikari this genuinely angry. "Why the hell are you helping these rouge ninja!?"
"Cause the money's good." The Shinigami said with a shrug. "Don't give me that look, I ain't a bad guy, just a guy who wants to make a living."
Hikari didn't respond, instead a feint red glow started to outline her body, and Hinata suddenly found it harder to breath. It was like someone was sitting on her chest. Then Hikari put her hands together in front of her, then slowly pulled them apart. As she did so, she revealed a glowing Hexagonal Prism of red energy, and inside, was a long thin metal rectangle.
It had a single wide, White grove on each side, running down the entire length. As the full Item came into view, Hinata could see that it a sheathed sword. At one end, there was a seem where the scabbard connected to the grip, though it wasn't very obvious, clearly having been design to purposely obscure that it wasn't one continuous piece. at the end of the grip, three links of black chain hung like tassels.
Hikari drew the blade, revealing that it had the general design of a katana, but with a few details that made it clear it wasn't an ordinary katana. It was completely straight, unlike a traditional katana. It also had no Tsuba, meaning that it was likely meant to be a purely offensive weapon. It's grip was also shorter than a typical katana's. A normal katana would have a grip that was roughly three hand lengths, to allow one to grip it with both hands, and have some space between. Hikari's zanpakto (Hinata assumed it was anyway) had a grip that was only two hand lengths, and was made to look exactly like the scabbard, left completely undecorated.
Hikari held the shower in one hand, as she flicked her other hand, and the energy prism containing the now empty scabbard vanished completely. Hikari then raised her blade to point at the rouge shinigami.
"By the power vested in me by the Gotei 13, I hearby place you under arrest." After Hikari said those words, her Spiritual pressure finally calmed down, and Hinata tried to get her breathing back to normal.
"Oh kid..." the man muttered sadly. "I really didn't want to, but if you're gonna be like that." His voice suddenly turned chillingly serious "I'm going to have to kill you."
Chapter 3 end
Author's Notes: Well! this marks the start of my first original arc. It's gonna be rather short, probably only 4-5 chapters, but it's cause this, and the land of waves arc are gonna be meant to be the same Arc, that I am calling "The Genin First Deployment" Arc. Also, Points to anyone who can guess the identities of all the ANBU who were dispatched to shadow team 7. Except Cat, she's not any known character from the source material. (though it'll probably be easier to guess next chapter)