A/N. Heyyy. Wassuuuuup. Got a new chapter! Just a content warning! this first of the chapter might be M-rated. So. Spoiler?
? P.O.V.
The house was finally quiet. The usual hustle and bustle that occupied it during the day had finally settled down, leaving only Fuji's little family as the lingering buzz that made the beehive.
The sun was going down, meaning Fuji would tuck his kids in soon. The day had been exhausting for him, however, so he lay in his chair, watching them play. On top of his general workload, his father also had him attend meeting after meeting today.
Even though he knew why he had to be there, he would much rather be right where he is now, watching his kids grow up healthy and safe.
Although to accomplish that, he would have to attend said meetings. He couldn't win!
Sometimes, he wishes he could get his own place, away from his father's estate, as if that would solve his problems. His wife Yoshie would say he was lazy. There was truth to that, even if he didn't want to admit it. It would, however, give him more time to see his kids. That Fuji wouldn't be afraid to admit at all.
A voice interrupted his gentle musings.
"You sure we gotta do it now? I mean, Glasses said to wait until at least the sun's gone down!"
Strange, Fuji thought. The voices came from outside the window, but he was on the fourth floor, and they clearly didn't come from down below.
"Yes, now! We run the risk of some of them leaving the estate otherwise. We wouldn't want that to happen, now do we?"
Fuji frowned. The voices were coming from the window. How is that possible? Fuji had a bad feeling about this, and stood up, ready to take his kids away from the window.
Just as he opened his mouth to say something, there was a man in the house. He had blinked. One moment there was no one, the next, there was. The man was shirtless, and his hands were covered by some kind of metal contraption.
The kids in the room also noticed him, momentarily taking their hands off the toy train they were playing with. "Who's that, papa?" Suzu asked him. Fuji didn't know what to say.
The man shrugged. "Well. Orders are orders. Guess you're first in line. Goodbye now."
Faster than Fuji could follow, there was a hand in his chest.
He fell over when the hand retreated. His ribs were broken and pushed into his heart. His lungs collapsed. Fuji did too, smacking face first into the ground. He coughed up some blood.
"Of course there are children here." The man said. He sighed and walked over to them, lackadaisical. "Just had to make this job harder on the conscious."
"Papa?! Papa!" His other child, Benjiro, cried. In the distance, Fuji could hear similar screams coming from the floors downstairs.
"No… Please.. Not my children." Fuji coughed out. He found he couldn't move.
Another fist came down and then Suzu had her skull caved in. She made a blurb of a sound.
Benjiro started running as he cried, shrilly. The man caught him by the head, and twisted.
"No!" Fuji shouted. He coughed. Blood came out again.
"No…" Fuji bumbled. The man kept walking, not waiting for Fuji to die.
No… Fuji thought, as everything went dark. He had stopped breathing a little while ago, so he would die now.
He could hear another scream from the room over. It sounded like his wife.
He didn't hear anything else.
Arata P.O.V.
I stared at the bodies. Six of them. Four of them were burned to the point where they were unrecognizable from just two minutes ago. Sarutobi clan techniques work fast. The last two didn't die from the fire, an arrow in the neck and heart finished them before the body had time to decide to shut down from the trauma. They were dead, because of us. I didn't directly kill them, but my direct action caused their death.
It was disappointing. I didn't feel anything. Not happy, not sad or regretful. Just a mild disgust.
I always expected my first kill to be on a high-stakes battlefield where I didn't have the luxury of holding back. A one-on-one, where I'd have to look them in the eye as I sliced through their carotid artery.
I'd have to hold them in my arms to keep them still. I'd feel their life fade away as I held them, their chakra leaving them.
Here, I used a genjutsu and barely noticed they no longer exuded chakra until after the fight. And they were still technically dead by my hand.
Does it make me a bad person? To not feel anything? To find the situation odd?
"What are you looking at, Arata?" Tetsuo asked, coming to sit down next to me. Next to the bodies. He was tired, I could tell. Both from the trip and the fight. His legs were vaguely twitching. We would probably have to call it a night for today.
"Our first kills." His head swiveled from my direction to the corpses.
"Oh right. You haven't killed before, have you?" I frowned at him. "Yeah, I heard the Inuzuka stopped doing it. I wonder why."
'What is he talking about?' Shiromaru echoed in my head. He was just as lost as me.
I gestured at him to elaborate. "You know how we have a bunch of random extra prisoners in Konoha?" I nodded.
Losers from missions or wars long past that we couldn't ransom for whatever reason. People we need to interrogate. Missing nin we want to extract something from. Political prisoners from vassal states. Etc. "I'm aware."
"Well, sometimes clans buy the useless ones from T&I and have the younger ones off them. Just to get the jitters out."
I blanked.
What.
'What.'
"What."
Tetsuo's confusion was obvious. "What what?"
"That's legal?! As in, happening right now!?" Honestly I really shouldn't be this surprised that something like this would be happening.
"Yeah?" He looked at me like I was confused that apples were fruits. You'd think, raising up generations of assassins, when you'd teach them to kill you'd give them some practical application. Frankly, looking back on it I don't see why they don't do it in the Academy. Food for thought.
"Get away from me you four-eyed raccoon!" I heard Ayame's voice behind me, followed up with the clashing of metal. Raccoon?
I exchanged looks with Tetsuo. He made it clear he was staying where he was. Alright then.
I ambled over to where the inevitable confrontation between Yaketsuku and Ayame was happening. Turns out he wasn't the only unwelcome sight on this mission.
Sarutobi Souma, the #4, was also standing in front of Ayame with a nasty grin. "You shouldn't talk to your superiors like that, Ayame-chan." He said. He was holding a long, serrated knife. Not a kunai, but more of a sai. A long knife with prong-like hooks on the sides for trapping swords and such.
It was clearly customized to fit him, and I filed his ease of use with it down as useful information to have. I didn't expect him to be another Asuma, but... Well. The way Ayame's been solving her problems lately I wouldn't be surprised.
"Souma, what did I last impart to you in regards to starting fights?" Yaketsuku pushed up his glasses as he looked down at him, clearly not pleased.
"Cheh. Whatever." He sheathed his knife into a holster on his hip, eyes scanning the horizon for more threats, completely ignoring Ayame.
"The same will apply to you, Ayame." She was holding kunai in both hands, one of them had a bit of metal scraped off the edge that didn't come from our previous fight. "As you have no doubt guessed by now, we are here to assist you on this mission, not to cause more strife."
I walked over to Ayame and put an arm over her outstretched ones.
Stand down. This is not the time. I tried to convey with my eyes. She fiercely held my gaze, but eventually her arms lowered.
Yaketsuku spoke up. "Chuugo, see what you can obtain from our captive."
Another member, who I barely noticed was there until now, walked over to the delirious and heavily injured mob boss and put a hand on his head. About in his mid-teens, he had a mop of barely cared for orange hair, though aside from that, he didn't have any real remarkable features. Considering the jutsu he was performing right now, he was likely a Yamanaka.
"He was not acting alone. He and his subordinates were ordered to patrol the country looking for Leaf ninja and then to report back. They were not told why. Supposedly, they became bored of just reporting on cases and chose this moment to attack instead. As to the identity of their leader, it is unclear." He frowned. "His mind has been tampered with. His recent missives have all come by scroll at a specific location. The drop is made every other week in Hot Springs itself."
That… is not good. It means someone, connected to Yugakure, or even Yugakure itself is actively watching out for Leaf ninja, their supposed allies. Since his mind has been messed with as well it's likely also someone who knows to watch out for Yamanaka.
"The situation is more dire than I anticipated." Yaketsuku slowly made his way over to the mob boss. "Is there any more information of use you can glean from him?" Chuugo shook his head for no. Yaketsuku placed a hand on the injured man's head and then twisted.
Here, outside of the thrill of battle, I had to hold back a flinch.
"The likelihood that Yugakure is involved has increased exponentially. The parameters of our mission have changed. Tsunade," She snapped her gaze to him. The call had almost looked like it startled her. Was she even paying attention this whole time? "You and your team will need to assist me on our mission. I understand you had a message to deliver?"
"...Yes." She said, carefully. "Long story short, the situation in Grass has changed. Rock is more actively pushing for the border now, so we'll need to set up our position here in Hot Springs as soon as possible. Cloud is not going to wait for us."
He nodded. "Can I count on you and your… team's assistance in doing so?"
She looked down at us. At me. "It was A-rank for a reason. We had instructions to follow up on any pertinent changes." Translation, do what needs to get done, explain it when you get back.
"Good. Then I will introduce you to my team and their specialties." He pointed to Souma. "This is Sarutobi Souma, chuunin. He specializes in taijutsu. Recently, however, he has picked up a weapon." Souma grinned viciously at Ayame, who returned the same energy.
Yaketsuku gestured to the Yamanaka with his other hand. "This is Yamanaka Chuugo, chuunin. He specializes in information gathering, and is my personal assistant. Since he does not have a focus in combat, Souma is here to cover for him while I am away on important business."
He stared expectantly at Tsunade. "Right. This is my team. They are learning iryo-ninjutsu. As you can see from the bodies over there, they're training to be field medics." She pointed at each of us. "Inuzuka. Sarutobi. And Uchiha in the back. Introduce yourselves."
You still don't know our names? Seriously? "Inuzuka Arata. I'm specializing in genjutsu, though I'm versed in nin and taijutsu as well."
Yaketsuku raised a brow at that. Don't think he's ever heard of an Inuzuka whose focus is genjutsu before. Cause there aren't any.
I nudged Ayame, who was still glaring at Souma. "Sarutobi Ayame. I specialize in kicking butt and I'm super fast, besides! You couldn't ever catch me!" That wasn't pointed at all.
Welp. Good enough. Now for Tetsuo.
….
"Tetsuo?" No answer.
I looked over to where we left him. He wasn't even facing us. "Is he..?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes.
I tentatively trotted over to him. Sure enough. "He's asleep."
I tried not to facepalm. I failed.
Turns out Tetsuo was just exhausted, and with a sigh, I put him up on my back and carried him with me for the last stretch to Yugakure, my pack switching to my belly. Thankfully, we went a lot slower this time, so I didn't have to try to keep pace.
Tetsuo was conscious now, but barely. I had told him to stay awake for the actual message that Tsunade was supposed to give, which she deigned to brief to us as well.
Turns out, Rock had launched a real offensive push into Grass, wiping out three platoons in the process. It's caused us to up our concentration of ninja in the area, but that means that whatever fight may (read, will) come from Cloud will catch us unguarded. Truthfully, if we dedicated our entire ninja force to Rock they would be forced to retreat pretty much immediately, but that would leave the home base vulnerable, Konoha vulnerable, and that's game over right there. Something to avoid at all costs.
That leaves us to now. Yaketsuku here apparently has resources and connections in Hot Springs, so despite Tsunade's sannin status he'll take point on the mission.
The goal will be, essentially, to make the area hospitable enough for large concentrations of ninja to reside and build a military base. Now, there are three problems with that.
One, the infrastructure. Technically, aside from some plots of land around Hot Water and a fort near the border, we don't actually have anything to support a mass influx of military personnel residing inside the country. So, we'd need to make the space and security to allow that to be built. Leading to our second problem.
Two, the locals. Technically, Hot Water is a vassal state to the Land of Fire, which in practice generally just means they pay taxes and don't bar us from their border. In reality, they have a military force of their own. Not large enough to be threatening, but definitely large enough to be a nuisance if we do end up fighting Cloud. It's doubtful that they'd raise their fangs against us, but I wouldn't count them out of taking advantage of us if they see a weakness. So far, our welcome alone wasn't very friendly. We'll need to go about changing that.
"I already have another team working on it, so that part you likely won't have to concern yourselves with." Yaketsuku said. Okayy then.
Three, the powers that be. Sorry, I couldn't resist the rhyme. Anyways, there are three noble families here in Hot Water, all three of them residing in Yugakure. The Hashiji, the Outomo, and the Kusakabe clan. They're not the only nobles in Hot Water, but any smaller families generally align with one of the three.
Yaketsuku is already well acquainted with the Hashiji clan, having had dealings with them in the past. We're all currently going to be staying at their estate, the Hashiji having chosen to ally with the Leaf and obey whatever command we may give them.
Our goal, essentially, is getting the other two families to agree to the same thing.
"Except there is one complication." Yaketsuku started. "Last night, the Kusakabe estate was ambushed, everyone inside, including the head and the heirs, have all been killed in the attack." All eyes shifted from our destination to him, even Tetsuo's dreary ones.
"Your first objective will be to find out by whom, how, and why. Then, to take care of the problem."
That's… not great. If Konoha starts making inroads into Yugakure and all of a sudden, one of the influential clans in the area dies off overnight, it isn't hard to make the leap of logic there. The blame would be on us, whether we actually had a hand in it or not, and with the court of public opinion against us, it would make our jobs much, much harder.
"Who would be the first suspects? Would you know?" I asked him. He didn't turn his head to look at me, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.
"Likely suspects include but aren't limited to the other remaining clan, the Outomo, on top of the Yugakure-nin themselves. It's not entirely impossible it could have been Cloud, or Frost, possibly. Whether directly involved or by proxy." Frost was the country in between Lightning and Hot Water. It had a similar deal with Lightning as Hot Water does with Fire.
"It could be the yakuza too right?" Tetsuo spoke from behind my head.
"Yakuza?" Ayame, who had been uncharacteristically quiet until now, asked.
"Yeah. I read about it in the library. There's a really big Yakuza presence in Hot Water, since there's not much oversight but a lot of traffic goes through there. Tourism, trade routes, gambling houses, everything."
"Mmmmm. With this many parties as the likely culprit, it's gonna start to get messy pretty quickly." I said. Wonderful.
"Don't sound too eager now, Inuzuka." Tsunade remarked. She smirked.
The name's Arata. I wanted so desperately to say, but it wouldn't be wise to bring up our beef in front of Yaketsuku and his team.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Good." She said, completely ignoring the lame attempt at a retort. "You'll start your investigation in the morning. Get some rest at the Hashiji estate first." She glanced over to Tetsuo.
Yaketsuku pointed at the horizon. "We should be close to Yugakure by now." Surely enough, I could see buildings, smoke, and steam coming from that direction. "Remember, they are not our enemies, but despite what the treaty says, they are not allies. Be on your guard at all times while in Hot Springs, we don't know what kind of plot the enemy has in store for us."
""Understood."" We all said.
Except for Ayame. "Hah! No way we're gonna let a bunch of lukewarm water grumps bother us! We'll clear this mission so fast we'll have Hot Springs in the palm of our hand before you can say: 'Sarutobi!'" Ayame grinned, her teeth too crunched together to be wholly natural. Well, she was trying. That's what counts.
"That's the spirit." Shiromaru said under his breath.
'A spirit, alright.'
Hot Springs itself was lively. Well, not lively. Not anymore. Besides the overflow of people and traders and vendors and everything and everyone else you could imagine down in its narrow and crowded streets, there was a sort of hushed air around the people.
The Kusakabe massacre was still fresh on people's minds. You know, since it happened yesterday.
I would take the time to stop and soak in the culture more, if the atmosphere wasn't so charged.
'And you weren't on an A-rank mission.' Shiromaru added, as we waded through the streets.
'That too. Say, don't you think that's a bit odd?'
Some of the people gave us a wide berth once they saw our headbands, others just took advantage of the space and walked right through us. Not everyone was aware of what the Leaf insignias meant. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
'What? Being on an actual mission?'
We turned left on a major intersection, in the middle a giant plaza with a fountain towering over the surrounding buildings, sprouting water up, then downwards. I touched some of it pooling at the bottom. It was hot.
'No. Us, on an A-rank. As our first mission.'
We were clearly reaching a much nicer neighborhood now. There were less people for one, but also no beggars either. The buildings were larger, their designs more intricate.
'It's likely they really just needed Tsunade to come, and we ended up being the tagalongs.'
We finally stopped in front of a large gate, the only entrance to a walled-off section containing the biggest collection of buildings we had seen thus far. The Hashiji estate.
'But why would they request a singular medic-nin, powerful as she may be, to help clear the way to prepare for potential invasion? It doesn't make much sense.'
If I was Hiruzen, I'd send out a team of Jounin. If I was stretched thin, maybe a squad of chuunin lead by a jounin with a logistics specialization, just to have my bases covered. Not a medic-nin and her genin team.
'Something else is going on here and I don't think it has anything to do with our mission.'
The door was opened for us by a servant dressed in what looked to me like fancy clothing. Blue and white dominated the colors of his yukata as he flared its sleeves as our invitation in.
'You think it have anything to do with Root?' Shiromaru asked.
I grimaced. 'It wouldn't surprise me anymore.' It really wouldn't.
A small, portly man came to greet us as soon as we entered through the main doors and took off our sandals at the genkan. His clothing reflected the same blue and white design, except a hell of a lot more elaborate. There was an intricate knitted pattern on his sleeves, the symbol of a peacock etched in the middle.
The stomping sound his feet made was almost startling. It was weird to forget that that's the sound they were supposed to make on hardwood flooring like this.
'Either way, we'll have to keep on the lookout for any suspicious happenings.'
"Ah. Hashiji-dono. I have brought our newest reinforcements from Konoha." Yaketsuku gestured over to us.
Hashiji Senzou hesitated upon seeing us and I wondered how often he actually did end up working with ninja. He saw a woman and three children and instantly assumed.
"I.. Are you sure, Yaketsuku? They don't look—" Time to nip that in the bud.
"Your heartbeat, it's quickening. I can hear it." I looked him straight in the eyes. "Oh. It's speeding up. There was sweat going down your forehead, and coalescing between your armpits, although since I've started speaking it's collecting on your lower back as well. I can smell that."
I took a step forward, and he took a step back. Just to be annoying, I took another step, but Tsunade stopped me with an arm. "I think you made your point, Inuzuka." I stepped back, fighting the smile threatening to come on my face.
Outwardly I was calm, inwardly I was laughing my ass off.
'You should do that more often, that was hilarious.' Shiromaru said next to me. He wasn't making any efforts towards hiding his amusement.
"You should find that our competency will be more than enough for this mission, as any ninja of the Leaf would be." She added. "Although I understand with current events you'd be nervous." Her chakra descended upon the entrance of the estate like a wraith, far more threatening and vicious than I imagined coming from Tsunade.
Far more potent than anything I've felt before too, from someone not using a particular hiden. It wasn't Killing Intent, but it was close.
"Just know I am much, much stronger than Yaketsuku."
Hashiji nodded vigorously, scared out of his mind, even if he didn't exactly know why or how. From the sweat percolating on a few other members of the group I could tell he wasn't the only one intimidated.
'That was kind of unnecessary.' I thought, a little scared Tsunade could still hear me somehow.
'It was a show. A reminder of her Sannin status, despite everything. Even if Yaketsuku is in charge, she's showing that's because she allows him to be, and not anything else.' Shiromaru reasoned as we were shown the way to our rooms. Curiously, we weren't greeted in the audience room I know a place of this scale would have. I wonder why.
'It was a show. But it wasn't for Hashiji's sake.' I made eye contact with Shiromaru and held it. Then, did the same with Ayame and Tetsuo. I'm pretty sure they got the message.
Don't trust Yaketsuku.
Finally getting some proper sleep (even if we did it in rotations, this was not friendly territory) was much nicer than I thought it would be. On a mission it's not entirely rare to miss a day or two of sleep, so it's best to catch it when you are able to. That, and a bath. Since this was Hot Springs, they certainly didn't skimp on those, and I loved every single part of it.
The accommodations were really nice, a little too nice for my liking. There were potted plants and paintings inside our rooms. I don't think I've even seen wall art since before I reincarnated. At least the beds were soft.
Once we settled our packs and took what we needed from them the next morning we came together with everyone else.
"You have your orders, and I do not feel I need to reiterate them. But, I will leave you a few pointers, just in case." Yaketsuku was in the middle of sorting out his own pack, filled with scrolls and stamps and other important looking stuff. No weapons. "Your mission is information gathering, not fighting. Whatever and whoever you end up finding on your search, your first instinct is not to reach for your weapons. We're meant to be a stabilizing force here, not the other way around. If an altercation does happen, focus on protecting the civilians."
He hefted it all up onto his back and turned to leave. His team followed him with nary a word. "Avoid Hot Springs ninja if at all possible to make sure you don't interfere with the other team's mission. We wouldn't want to add unnecessary factors to make their job harder. There's technically no time limit on your mission, but any leads will turn out cold if left for too long. Use this place as your base, but don't get too comfortable. You should spend as little time here as possible."
He nodded at Tsunade as they left, and I knew he got the message too. The expression on Tsunade's face was unreadable.
As soon as Yaketsuku's chakra was gone, Tsunade vanished in the Body-Flicker.
Wha—
"Hey!" I shouted. She didn't come back. Of course she didn't. I ruefully watched the residual smoke dissipating, little leaves falling down onto the ground. Indoors.
"Does this mean we're on our own for this mission?" Tetsuo asked.
"Probably." Shiromaru piped up.
"Well that's dumb! What the heck is she our sensei for then?!" Ayame shouted. She watched me for my reaction, but I just smiled at her. She had been doing her best keeping quiet until now, taking orders from Yaketsuku. I was kind of proud.
"It doesn't matter now. We have our orders. Where should we start looking first?" I asked.
Shiro shrugged. Ayame started looking around, as if she'd find some answer on the estate's lawn.
Tetsuo, however, pointed westwards. "I think we should start with the Kusakabe estate. See what we can find from there. Maybe you could smell something?"
I shrugged. Any smells that weren't blood would be hard to trace back. I was good, but... "This shouldn't really come as a surprise, but I'm a pretty lousy Inuzuka. I'm good at ranges. Give me a scent and I'll track it, but anything more complicated than that is not gonna happen."
I couldn't, for example, differentiate between different people's blood or anything.
"What are we waiting for then!? Let's go!" Ayame jumped up and away, over the walls and straight west.
"She doesn't… know where the estate is, does she?" Tetsuo asked.
I shook my head in exasperation. "No, no she does not."
By some unspoken word, we let Tetsuo take point on the investigation.
We reached the mansion with no troubles, if you don't count the red tape marking the area as a crime scene and the giant KEEP OUT signs on the walls we jumped over.
Yaketsuku didn't exactly make our jurisdiction in the area very clear, but so far it sounded a lot like: "Do what you want, just don't let it be stupid."
Which is my favorite set of rules, so I'm really not gonna worry about it.
Reaching the doorstep there were several qualities to the mansion that immediately stood out. Whereas the Hashiji estate was a giant plot of land with houses interspersed and connected by gardens and stone paths, this one had the exact opposite approach.
If the Hashiji estate was spread horizontally, the Kusakabe estate was spread vertically. Meaning, it was tall. Ten stories high, at least, from this vantage point. That doesn't sound like much considering my warped idea of what a tall building looks like, but in this wacked up world there aren't many buildings with that many stories.
No building in Konoha was like that. The Hokage Tower is called The Tower and that thing's only three floors, for reference.
"Taaaalllll~" Ayame's back stretched so far her neck was parallel to the ground as she tried to see the ceiling.
"We have a lot of ground to cover." Tetsuo said as he stepped inside. "First assessment: not good." He grimaced.
I stepped inside with him. "Oh yeah. That's not promising."
The bodies were still there. Whatever processing they do for crime scenes here in Hot Springs clearly wasn't even thought of. No cleaning, nothing. Everything was exactly as the culprit left it.
A woman was lying on the border of the genkan into the house, a giant wound on her back no longer bleeding, marking the entrance red.
A man in simple clothing had his back to one of the doorways, his throat slit and his eyes glassy.
Another man on the stairs with similar robes had bled out from a diagonal slash to his torso.
Not a single detail seemed to have changed from the original crime scene. It's like whoever confirmed it (and we really should have thought to ask who was in charge of all this) just took a look at it and then just left. That could mean two things, if we don't include gross negligence.
One, the Yugakure-nin, who I'm assuming are in charge of this, are busy elsewhere and didn't have the time to clear the scene, or were otherwise prevented from doing anything.
Two, they purposefully didn't. Either to send a message, or because they were somehow in on it. Obviously not the desired option.
"Wow. Three bodies already." Ayame said from behind us.
Tetsuo twitched and turned around, as if he'd forgotten Ayame was here. "Uuh. Okay, so here's what we're gonna do." He took out a notepad and a pen from his pack and handed them to Ayame. "Here. You go out to the surrounding houses. Get some witness statements. Where were they on the night of the massacre, what they were doing, and who they saw entering and leaving the estate."
She took the notepad and saluted, not entirely seriously. "Hai!" She said, before jumping back over the walls and speeding off.
"Shiromaru. See if you can't find a scent trail that leads away from the estate. Anything at all." Shiro nodded lazily before sniffing around on the ground. He made a show of stepping around the woman's corpse and making disgusted faces at the blood before he got anywhere though.
"Hurry it up, will ya." I said, making shooing motions with my hands. I faced Tetsuo. "So what's my job?"
He handed me a notebook and a pen too. "I need you to go through all the bodies and describe their cause of death. If they resisted, and if so, in what way. If it is at all possible, maybe find a route the assailant went through?" I blinked.
"Sure." Looking down at Ms. Dead On Arrival I jotted her down as Woman #1 and started describing her location and physical details.
Floor 1.
Woman #1. By the genkan. Stabbed in the back by a large blade. (Likely a sword) Perforated heart. Took a few steps before collapsing just inside the house, considering the blood splatter a little behind her, suggesting she was stabbed there.
Cheery. I stepped over to the guy with the slit throat. This was gonna be fun.
About thirty minutes later, I had gone through the entire house and catalogued every body I could find. Forty-three bodies in total. They had been lying there for over a day now, so they were starting to stink too. It was not a fun experience.
"Tetsuo, you're not gonna be happy about my findings."
I found him staring intensely at a cabinet.
"Tetsuo?" He jerked.
"Ah I didn't see you!" He turned around to face me. "What—Where—Right. What were your uhh... findings?" He started clutching his head with one hand and winced. Not a good sign.
"There's forty-three bodies. 17 female, 26 male. Seven of those are children. From their attire, the victims range from servants and workers to nobles and foreign dignitaries." I wasn't overly sure about the foreign dignitaries part, but I did find a cluster of people in expensive robes that had a completely different style from everyone else so I assumed. "Everyone they could find in the house was killed, meaning no one was personally targeted. All the wounds on these bodies were either from a blow meant to kill directly, or the aftermath of it. Say, falling against something sharp or hard. Now for the not so good part."
I tried to keep the grimace off my face. "There was more than one assailant. There's a trail of bodies coming in from the third floor down to the first. All of them have slash or puncture wounds, by the size, probably a sword. From floor four to six, they're all dead from bludgeoning damage. Either a blow directly to their head to snap their neck or to the chest, to collapse their lungs." Now that wasn't pretty.
"For floor seven to ten, it's a little bit confusing. They died from some sort of projectile, but there's no residue or weapon or anything. Whatever it was, they only shot through chests and heads, heart and brain only."
"Ninjutsu?" He asked.
"Probably."
He winced, as if a flash of pain echoed through his head. "You came to the same conclusion I did then. I checked everything. Not much of value seems to have even been stolen, and considering this is a noble's estate, that's quite a bit left out."
He flashed me his own list. Everything that he deemed of value that is still in the estate and another lists of conjectures for what was actually stolen. From what he was looking at before I walked in, an empty stand for something, I assume he figured that was one of the items.
"So it wasn't a raid."
He shook his head, his hand dropping from his temple. "No. This was a hit job. Shinobi most likely. From your report, they were here only to kill, and not specifically to harm. All wounds were meant to be directly fatal. Clearly done professionally, no misses or sloppiness. No evidence towards their identity. No indication this was done for revenge, nor for their gold. Likely ninjutsu use. This was a squad of ninja, plain and simple."
Shiromaru chose that moment to walk in. "Ninja, right?" We nodded our assent. "Good ones too. They all employed some pretty stellar scent masking. Didn't catch anything of theirs. Most were dead ends."
"Most?" Tetsuo asked.
Shiro titled his head. "There was a scent from a half-eaten candy bar just outside of the estate, in the back where they likely entered through the windows. It's faint, but they didn't bother to hide. Tracing it back it leads into the city somewhere. "
"So an accomplice?" Tetsuo' eyes lit up. A weak link. An opportunity to catch them.
"Probably. The scent wasn't strong enough to not lose it in the crowd, sadly."
"But you could recognize it?"
Shiro did the equivalent of a shrug. "Yeah, sure."
Tetsuo grinned. "Let's see what Ayame's got for us."
We traced Ayame back to a house about a block down from the estate, banging loudly on someone's door.
"Hey! Come back! I only asked if you saw anyone trying to flee for their lives! Anyone that managed to make it out! Anything!"
"So! What'd you find?" Tetsuo asked in good spirits.
Ayame turned around in a whirlwind. "Wellll, aside from THIS GUY! NOT OPENING HIS DANG DOOR AND ANSWERING BASIC QUESTIONS! I think I have a pretty good grasp on the situation." She smiled innocently.
"Right." He gestured for her to continue.
"Well, no one really noticed anyone coming in or anything like that. Nothing like the sound of windows breaking or an explosion." She twirled some of her hair in a finger. It's getting long, about to the end of her diaphragm, and she doesn't do all that much to contain it. I should talk to her about getting it cut soon. "Right around 7 PM after sunset, almost everyone reported that that was when the screaming started. No one dared to come close to the house, but there was one guy I interviewed that said he sent a message to the Yugakure ninja. They got there really late though. Way after the screaming stopped."
Tetsuo's eyes glinted. "Time frame?"
"I didn't get that many answers. They just said there were ninja about 20 minutes after everything." That's a horrid response time for a village this size.
"The question then, is where would the security detail of this place be? I didn't see any indication in the building itself that anyone put up a fight. Did you?" He asked me.
"No. Everyone died either without warning, or trying to run away. I wouldn't be surprised if some were frozen from terror, but that's hardly fighting back."
"Right! So that's why I tried asking people if they saw anyone armed leaving the building before the killing, but everyone gave me super dumb responses!"
"Like?" I asked.
"Like," She put on a voice. "Oh are you stupid girlie? This is a ninja village! Of course people carry weapons here! Or," She raised her pitch really high for this one. "All kinds of people come through here. Don't you know?! This is the esteemed Kusakabe estate with a history going back—" Then back to her normal voice. "And then she just kept going. It was really annoying. I laughed when she got all sad that they're dead now."
"Okay." I said. "So there's been no protection detail. Everyone from the Kusakabe family was inside the house when the massacre happened. The Yugakure-nin took a nap before coming over. There's clear evidence of the assailants being ninja. I mean It's kinda obvious who the culprit is."
"Not.. necessarily." Tetsuo looked deep in thought. "It sounds too convenient. Two days ago, when the massacre happened, Yaketsuku's team was already here making arrangements. It would stand to reason then, that the supposed Yugakure assassins would know that Konoha would try to investigate and come to the conclusion that the Yugakure-nin did it." Yeah, like we just did. "They'd at least be trying to stop us from entering the house right? Or clearing any evidence of them being here? Why leave it open? Did they want us to accuse them? Or does someone else? Someone trying to stoke tension between us and Yugakure, maybe."
"Wow. That's an excellent deduction, actually." I praised him.
He smiled. "Elementary."
"So who's left then? Who would try to pit us against each other like this? Besides Cloud obviously." Shiromaru said.
"Someone with enough reach here in Hot Springs to be involved enough to get rid of any guards, and take Yugakure's attention away from the massacre and onto something else. That means it's probably not Cloud, or not Cloud directly."
If it was, Konoha would have noticed and taken steps to boot them out. Current policy is that any Cloud-nin unauthorized to be on our or our vassals' land is to be neutralized. With prejudice. We were not on speaking terms.
"I think it's time to start bringing our findings over to Yaketsuku. See what he thinks and go from there." I said, even if it felt weird to leave it at that.
Ayame piped up. "Orrrr we could just ask the Yugakure-nin themselves and see what we could get from them."
I considered it. "Not the greatest idea. They weren't too receptive to us last time we met, right? I doubt if we start asking pointed questions about their involvement in the Kusakabe massacre they'll act any friendlier."
Ayame looked set to argue, but Tetsuo interrupted her. "We could always look for the other Konoha Team in charge of dealing with them. Oh. Oh! They might even have more information to help us with the investigation!"
Huh. "You're right. But where would we go about finding them? If it's just any random Konoha-nin we couldn't track them by scent."
"Well, going back to the Hashiji estate and sniffing their belongings would probably help." Shiromaru offered.
"A little invasive, but not a bad idea. All agreed?" They nodded.
And so, we made our way back to the Hashiji estate. Since we weren't on any immediate time crunch that we knew about we decided to take the scenic route back to get more familiarized with the village itself.
Hot Springs is very different from Konoha in many ways. The first is that it's overwhelmingly civilian. The ninja presence, for a Hidden Village, is minimal at best. There's not nearly as much roof traffic as there would be in Konoha. I've seen maybe two ninja so far.
Aside from that is the architecture. Where Konoha is some weird offhand design with brightly colored roofs and buildings that are almost western in flair, Hot Springs is almost entirely traditional Japanese, with most of the more modern touch ups being inside the houses.
It felt like I was walking through early Meiji Era Kyouto. It was almost fun.
We reached the giant plaza with the fountain when I felt a chakra signature coming straight at us.
"Guys, hosti—" We jumped out of the way before I even finished my sentence.
A crater appeared when the figure landed, releasing a cloud of dust through the plaza. The civilians in the area started screaming and running to get away from the disturbance.
"Fuck! More?! Leave me alone already!" I heard from the center (adult male, country dialect, my brain catalogued), before he turned and Shunshined away.
A beat passed. He was running away from… us? That doesn't sound right. "Guys! Chase!" Ayame shouted and Shunshined herself in the direction he went.
I didn't question the order and started tracking his signature immediately. Our Body Flicker took us roughly a hundred meters in his direction, and I picked up chakra sensing immediately.
"Follow me!" I rushed ahead, hoping and praying Tetsuo would keep up. The guy was already faster than us.
We broke through streets and buildings, dodging poles and caravans, trying to keep up with his winding path. This guy wasn't only agile, but also clearly used to the city. At this rate we were going to lose him.
'We have to do something to slow him down! You got any plans?!' I shouted to Shiromaru, working around an alley because of a turn the guy made.
'Once enough space clears for a straight shot, use Four Legs at full power! I'll track you by scent!' He shouted back, jumping off of a closed window to change angles into the alley with me.
'Alright!
We made it through a few more turns and an overturned chicken pen before he finally started to run in one direction. That being out. He was reaching the exit of the village steadily, as if we would stop chasing past the boundaries of the village. Ppfft.
I stirred up the chakra deep inside me, molding and sharpening, reaching the proper avenues. I didn't even need to weave the hand sign for this part anymore. Now for the hard part. To go full power, I needed a little bit more.
The thrill of the hunt. The thrill of the chase. The prey was getting away, but it would tire, it would slow, it would falter. But You will never falter. You'll gain ground. You'll come closer, ever closer. Close enough to bite into its neck!
Power rushed through my limbs, threatening to break out. My nails elongated. I could feel my teeth becoming sharper. My field of awareness dimmed down to just one target.
I was well and truly running on four legs now, catching up to him. Reaching for him. Clawing his face in—
He turned around, mid jump, and a fist coated with metal came straight for me. I couldn't dodge. But there was something else I could do.
"Passing Fang!" I gained just enough traction in the spin to deflect the blow, knocking us both away, opposite our own trajectories.
I crashed through someone's window and into a bedroom. I immediately reverted the Four Legs back to acceptable combat levels. Whoa. That's a trip. Not going to be doing that again anytime soon.
I didn't waste any time throwing myself back out onto the street. The guy had stopped running and came at me this time. He jumped and raised another metal coated fist. Looking closer, I could see it was some type of gauntlet with spiked protrusions that came out on command. Luckily I didn't collide with the sharp parts, or that would've gotten messy.
I dodged his blow by rolling to the side, jumping for another building, attaching my legs to the wall of the second story and preparing hand signs.
He did the same thing.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Lance!"
A great burst of fire came from his mouth, hurled straight at me. In retaliation, I sent him the strongest Nature transformation jutsu I knew.
Wind Release: Vacuum Lance is a B-rank technique that launches a beam of compressed air straight at the target. It not only cuts, it pushes as well. Meaning the fireball didn't stand a chance against my attack, tearing through and dispersing it.
He clearly didn't see the attack coming, barely doding to the side. The force from the jutsu upended shrapnel from the tiled ground, catching and cutting his torso.
Now that was impressive, but also very chakra intensive. I'm still a few months shy of 8 years old, so I'm below half already. But that didn't matter now. I had to press my advantage.
"Fuck! I'll get you back for that brat!" I dodged whatever projectile he sent my way by jumping onto the wall of another building and prepared more hand signs.
His features, now that I could actually have a good look at him, were remarkably similar to the jounin-level opponent we faced yesterday. No shirt, animal hide covering his pants. An impractical looking weapon. The only difference being his shaggy and unkempt hair. I couldn't tell so far if this guy was at that same level, but I really hoped not.
He stood back up and flexed his braces. The spikes on his arm elongated into full-on blades. Like Wolverine. Now or never.
"Bestial Illusion: Emblematic Pride."
He raced towards me in reckless abandon. Abandon I could use. He was faster than me, however, so that blow definitely would have caught me, but instead all it did was pass through a basic clone I had left that he didn't notice thanks to the genjutsu. His blades tore through the house, but it was too much to hope he'd get stuck.
I went through more hand signs. I'd have to rely on genjutsu only now. My reserves were running low, but even then my spiritual energy could shoulder much more than my physical could.
Hurry up guys! I can't take this idiot down on my own!
"Demonic Illusion: Mirage Of The Oasis!"
My image split into twenty identical ones all over the street. Instead of the poof of smoke you got with the Shadow Clones, however, there was only a slight shimmering into existence. Like you weren't sure if you when you looked at it, it had always been there or not. Just like a real mirage.
Still trying to break free of the recklessness of my previous genjutsu, he tore through each and every single one of them, then stopped suddenly.
"I know that's genjutsu, bitch! I'm breaking out and then you're gonna get it!" He amassed a great volume of chakra. Oh here we go. I went through hand signs again, hoping to stop him.
"Oni Transformation: Demon's March!" His legs tripled in size, bulging and knocking the ground he was standing under away, bursting out of his shoes.
He broke through my Bestial Illusion: Anxiety's Jaw just as easily as last time this happened.
He grinned. "Now get fucked."
Yeah no. I learned from last time, bitch.
I made a run for it before he even finished his transformation. Straight for where I could sense another chakra signature approaching.
He didn't relent on the chase, but this time I was the more agile one. Even if the new legs afforded him more top speed, just the size of the legs alone inhibited him from moving too fast in this fairly restricted environment.
I ducked into an alley just before he took one of my limbs off. He followed me in. Just as I got out into the wider street I jumped out of the way of another attack, but not his.
"Dance of the Willow."
A pure white streak of vengeance descended from the building above onto the Demon, long and sharp bones stabbing straight through his spine and rendering him unable to move upon impact. He let out a harsh and loud cry of despair.
On top of the immobilized man, a figure brushed long white hair out of her face, her bones retreating back into her arms. Pupil-less eyes the same color of white stared through and at me.
"Am I late to the party?" Hyuuga Aimi smirked down at me.
A/N. Sorry this thing was getting way long I had to cut it somewhere. Just a note! For people who care, I said I was going to pretty much ignore the war arc and I'm holding to that. Along with that comes the whole No DBZ fights thing either. This won't devolve into unlimited chakra bombing nonsense by the end, trust me. Despite what Tsunade said in this fic, if Yaketsuku had prep time, knew her weaknesses, and caught her off guard, you can bet your ass he would win. That goes for everyone. We're going back to basic ninja roots here. Anyone and everyone, with the right strategy, could beat someone else. At the end of the day, everyone is mortal and everyone's chakra can and will run out eventually.
Thanks for reading the rant. Played the story mode from Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and got really mad all of a sudden, so there's that.