Close to twenty hours had passed since we were assigned the last objective of our mission. Most of that time was spent travelling. First from the mines to Hot Springs, and then outwards towards the land of Frost.
That was really the hardest part. Unlike the chase from a few days ago, (for what was likely a Root agent), we didn't have the option of just following a scent. They were much too far away for that to work out. We had to narrow the distance between us and our objective before that became feasible, meaning we had to find out their approximate location and narrow out a search radius.
Hayama and Tetsuo together determined that, most likely, they wouldn't veer off the main routes considering the size of their entourage. An entire family of civilians. Men, women, elderly, and children, didn't move very fast, and would surely leave marks of their passing. They would stick to the main paths.
If they're on a main path, there would be all sorts of people leaving similar marks on the road. Traders, journeymen, bandits, commuters and everything in between. Not to mention that, according to the map, there are about three different roads that lead to the Land of Frost and, well. We had our work cut out for us.
We didn't come in entirely blind. We'd taken some scent samples with us to cross reference and see if we got a hit or not. Things like unwashed clothes, a piece of furniture they always sat on, or a blanket from the bed. The first route we took was the northeast path, going straight to Hidden Frost. It was also the most populous and the easiest to stay anonymous in. It had several towns acting as waystations in between, filled with inns large enough to accommodate a whole family. They were found in none of them.
We didn't have time to stop and talk to the locals considering our timeframe, so we moved onto the next road.
To the northwest, there'd been no sign. The path headed to an intersection going to the Land of Rice Fields, but if we considered the possibility of them moving that way, we'd be here for the next three weeks, so we had to give up on it.
Finally we singled out the last route, going straight north, to the open ocean. Maybe they were going to skip the Land of Frost entirely, and take a boat ride to Lightning? I couldn't tell you.
This field had a lot less traders on them, and the further we got away from the center of the small country, the less people we saw traverse the road in general.
It was starting to get creepy, although in this scenario, we were the stalkers in the night.
As if on cue, the sun started to come up on the distant horizon, reminding us of the time we had spent chasing.
I looked over at our group. The jovial attitude we started our chase with was gone. The stress of twelve straight hours of running was catching up to them.
No one here was older than nine.
I signalled for a halt. Everyone started drawing weapons immediately, thinking there to be danger in the area. I waved them off.
"The sun is coming up, and there's no advantage to being tired." We'd gotten lucky in all of our fights so far, a bunch of genin surviving by the skin of our teeth. Our luck wouldn't be nearly as good when we were dead on our feet.
Oh look, a rhyme…. Wow, I'm tired.
"We'll rest for an hour or so, and then get back to it. If by noon we don't catch a scent, we're heading back. I don't wanna take any risks."
Everyone pretty much collapsed onto their knees, and some just sat their butt on the ground. I couldn't deny the shaking in my own legs, and moved to sit too. Shiromaru was already asleep. Guess he's not taking any watch. Ah, who am I kidding.
"Try to get some sleep. I'll be on watch." I said.
We took up shop basically on the side of the road, meaning some traffic still passed by us. One traveller, tugging a cow along with him, hid his gaze under a straw hat. Although he was clearly looking at us.
Two teams worth of Leaf genin alone in this part of the country is a rare sight, after all. We stuck out like a sore thumb. When a lightly manned trading caravan passed us a few minutes later, doing their best not to gawk at us, I made a point of showing off my hitai-ate to anyone coming through. Didn't need any unnecessary trouble.
Maybe just bumming it on the side of the road was a bad idea. Then again, I couldn't move now. Aimi and Shiro were already asleep, and Ayame was fast catching up.
I closed my eyes, focusing chakra to my ears and casting out a proverbial chakra sensing net. Compared to my enhanced Inuzuka senses, my skill at sensing chakra wasn't nearly as good, but if they knew I had the ability to hear heartbeats and then muffled themselves, maybe they would slip up on chakra concealing, or vice versa. I had to bring all the tools to the table if I wanted to be an effective sensor.
"HEY ARATA!" Tetsuo shouted.
"Ah Shit! That hurt!" I clutched at my ears. "Give me a warning next time!" He hadn't actually shouted, but if I boosted my hearing to that level he may as well have.
"Oh sorry.." I wonder, would the Mystical Palm be a waste of chakra for pain relief? On an A-ranked mission? Probably.
"Nevermind. What's up?" I slowly massaged my ears as I made eye contact with Tetsuo. His lip was pursed, and his gaze cast downwards.
"I… What do you think of our mission? What are we doing?"
What? "What do you mean what are we doing?"
"I— we're hunting civilians right now. We're hunting them and then we're gonna k-k-kill them right? Is that okay?" Since when had he developed a stutter?
"I mean, yes? They betrayed the Leaf, and if they hadn't, we wouldn't be going to war with Cloud on top of Rock. I'd say it's plenty justified to hunt after em'."
He started fidgeting with his fingers. "Yeah, but. Not all of them, right? They have, like. Children and stuff. They didn't get to make any choices, you know?"
I.. had been purposefully avoiding thinking about that. I tried to keep the sigh out of my next words. "Yes, most likely the children too. Even if they didn't do anything, killing like this is more about sending a message than actual culpability." The only thing this shinobi society hated more than traitors was the image of weakness, and by not killing all of them, we'd be neglecting to address both. We wouldn't be welcomed back very warmly if we only killed a few and left the rest to go on their merry way.
As for the ethics of making children kill children… no comment.
Now how to make it so a child would understand that… Wait a second. "Weren't you the one that was going on about getting the jitters out about killing? Why are you having second thoughts now?" I distinctly remember him slitting the throat of a yakuza with zero thought behind it just a few days ago.
Though that was clearly the wrong thing to say. Tetsuo just about collapsed in on himself, and moved away as quickly and quietly as possible.
"Wait, Tetsuo." He ignored me, curling up into a ball and trying his best to go to sleep, turning his face away from me. Was that the end of the conversation? "Uh, what?"
I will never understand ninja children. Screw it.
I went back into my trance, keeping my ears out for any danger. Luckily, for the next hour, nothing came.
"I got a hit." Shiromaru declared, and every head turned to him.
We had been coming close to our third hour of running, fatigue starting to slow us down again when he said that.
According to the map, we couldn't have been fifty kilometers from the ocean, meaning the haste we put into this was well worth it. "Lead us." I said.
He took us off the beaten path, and into the wilderness. The closer we got to Frost, the more grass started to make way for craggy plains and elevated surfaces. In other words, hills and rocks. It started getting colder too. We jumped and zipped through all of it. Clearly having an actual destination put some pep in everyone's step, since their faces looked a lot more focused and energized.
We were getting closer, and now I could smell them too. A few kilometers later, I prodded Aimi. "Be our eyes. I wanna see what we're dealing with."
"Byakugan!" She pulsed her chakra, and the veins in her eyes threatened to burst out. "Nothing yet."
"Keep me updated. Ayame? Plan?"
"We're gonna have to fight right away." Ayame said, in a serious tone I'd never heard her use before. Maybe our talk really did get to her? "As soon as we know what we're fighting, we're taking them out. Don't leave them any time to set anything up. Go straight for killing."
"And if they have jounin?"
"We should have already started running then!" Fair point.
"Then we'll wait on Aimi to get in range. If any of you know suppressing techniques of any kind, start using them now."
A hush fell over the group under a blanket of tension. This was it. Our last battle on this mission. Hopefully, we'd get through it with everyone coming out the other end.
No. No hoping. I would make sure we all make it out.
"Target spotted. Counting… twenty—thirty..two civilians. No ninja in the area." No ninja?
"Keep looking." She was silent for a bit. I signalled for us to stop. "Found anything?"
"Nothing. Oh, never mind." We all tensed. "Looks like two of them. They're not wearing headbands." I wouldn't either, in enemy territory.
"Any Cloud vests? Clan insignias?"
"One is definitely Maoka." Storm Release. Meaning Cloud. Great. "The other is indecipherable, but if one is from Cloud, the other one probably is, too."
"Are they jounin? Can you tell?"
"By my estimation, probably not. You or Shiromaru would have to get closer to really tell, though."
..Shit.
Now I have to make the call. Stay and complete the mission? Or leave and keep everyone alive? After chasing these people for almost 24 hours straight, I really want to get this over with. It would do great things for our reputation too, but.
I looked each of them in the eye. They all looked back at me. Every one of them was willing to take the risk, except Tetsuo. His grip on his weapons scroll was tight. He didn't want to fight.
"Give me a reason to start a fight."
It was quiet for a beat. They clearly expected me to have already made the decision.
"They're Cloud ninja. In our sovereign territory. By all rights, they should be dead already." Shiromaru was the first to respond, giving the logical argument. "Not to mention the completion of our mission." Killing and more killing. It's in our literal job description.
Ayame was next. "I… don't wanna walk away from this mission like this. After what happened with Souma, I need something to say 'I did it!' you know?" Her goal wasn't really this mission. It was to be respected enough to take the clan Head position. Finishing it here would soften the blow of Souma's missing leg, definitely. Killing traitors who instigated war? Can't get better than that.
"Hayama?" I asked.
"I think Sensei would be really disappointed if we came all this way and didn't do anything, but he also doesn't want us to die, so I don't really know." Our superiors would indeed like us better, making promotion (and thus my job) easier. That was the goal of going on this mission in the first place for me. I need to be higher up in the food chain as fast as possible to start making changes that matter. Everything else was functionally window dressing. At the same time, Orochimaru's orders were to avoid shinobi combat in general. Going back on that now…
I sighed and Aimi spoke up. "They're traitors. We can't afford to spare them. They deserve what's coming to them. Every bit of it." She almost sneered. Huh. I guess there's an emotional side here. The Third War is going to rage for years after this, and they're a big reason why. To me, it felt inevitable. To Konoha at large, it definitely wasn't. You could argue there was a moral reason to do it.
Now for who actually mattered.. "Tetsuo?"
He didn't speak. In our current crowd, saying 'no killing please' would not go over well. No one was considering that angle, that some people only live by the whims of others, and now they would have to die because other people messed up. Played the wrong hand. Backed the wrong horse.
He still didn't say anything.
We... we were going to fight, and kill. "Ayame, formation?"
She nodded. "Tri-Roost."
Cloud-nin were a different breed from anyone we've ever fought so far. Yakuza had little to no formal training in ninjutsu, meaning they folded at the first sign of practiced competence. Frost nin had no clan techniques or kekkei genkai whatsoever. The only reason they still existed was to keep bodies between Cloud and the Leaf. Hot Springs had a few clans, like the Oni Transformation Users, but no one who was a real threat compared to any of the major clans of Konoha.
But Cloud….
Cloud is one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries and after Konoha, probably the strongest one of them all. During our little extended camping trip before graduation, Chizuru-sensei taught us this:
"A Konoha-nin waits for the right moment to attack, and then kills. A Cloud-nin attacks, and then waits for the right moment to kill."
It sounds nonsensical, but it rings true. In the scenarios she showed us with her magic cinema eyes, she gave examples of when she encountered Cloud-nin before on missions. They would usually head straight into a fight, guns blazing to get you on the back foot, waiting for a slip and not giving you a moment to counter or strategize. The best way to take them out, in her experience, was to not give them the opportunity to take the momentum of the fight away.
Easier said than done.
Our two targets were very stereotypically Cloud, despite not dressing like them. One of them carried a katana on his hip, his muscles displayed through a sleeveless shirt. Messy blond hair covered shrewd eyes, ready for any challenge.
The other was tall and dark skinned. Almost two meters high, and walked with a certain confidence. As a Maoka, he knew he was stronger than the other, and stronger than any of us.
They already knew they were being tailed. Watched. If the proverb holds true, it would mean they were already ready to fight.
They hadn't told the civilians, but that worked out better for us either way.
For this to work, we needed to not only separate them, but take one of them out as fast as possible.
Realistically, we'd take out the blond first.
Tri-Roost is a rather simple strategy when you break it down. Tetsuo would throw smoke bombs down at the same time as Hayama and Aimi would move in for the kill. Then me, Shiromaru, and Ayame would all cast Bestial Illusion: Doddering Haze at the same time, but on different targets. With better timing and teamwork, me and Shiro would cast on the same person, so when he breaks through the first genjutsu, the other can cast the next right after. Leaving Ayame to confound the actual target, to then be taken out by Aimi and Hayama.
Simple! One problem.
Genjutsu resistance is notoriously spotty among ninja. Some have absolutely no resistance, while others pass through it like it was never there. If one of them was a genjutsu specialist, we would be done before we ever got the opportunity to cast.
Unfortunately, this is the best shot we have at all of us making it through. We wouldn't survive a battle of attrition, nor a free for all. An ambush to divide and conquer is our only true weapon.
It was time for action.
The smoke bombs went down. Our opponents immediately went for hand signs, but we had already started.
""Bestial Illusion: Doddering Haze!""
The genjutsu settled! Just like planned, the two ninja fell into a gray-eyed stupor, none the wiser to Aimi and Hayama moving further in.
"Dance of the Dryad: First Stance." Chakra shot out of Hayama's hands, enveloping his sword. A samurai technique. Then, his feet burst into energy, leaving green marks out onto the dirt. His sword closed in on the Maoka.
"Dance of the Willow." Aimi's radius bones shot out of her arms, and she moved in just as quickly, her arms reaching for the opponent's lungs.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
"Lightning Release: Spider Web!"
A defensive surge of lightning burst its way onto the ground from the Maoka, spreading out all around. Before Hayama could get to his target, he froze, caught into the jutsu.
"AAAAAAAHHH!" His body spasmed, and I knew his nerves frayed. Fuck!
I wasted no time getting close. Shiro didn't either.
"Fang Over Fang!"
Both of us came straight at the dark haired man, disrupting his jutsu and sending him to the side of the path to dodge. Shiro didn't stop there, coming straight for him. I dispersed my technique in midair, twisting so my feet landed on the ground solidly. Distantly, I noted an explosion go off a few paces from me.
More smoke bombs came down. Tetsuo knew what I was trying to do, and I wasted no time in doing so. Grabbing Hayama and his sword, I Shunshined away from the battlefield and away from the civilians.
I ended up in some sort of high grass, and put Hayama down. ABC's! Quick!
"Diagnostic Jutsu."
My hands wasted no time in catching green fire as I surveyed Hayama's body.
Airways, good. He's still breathing. His chakra pathways are inflamed, and his skin and nerves suffered considerable damage. As it is though,
'He'll live! I'm getting back into the fight!'
'10-4.'
Plans changed. Really, we should have had a backup plan this whole time. Damn it! I knew this would have failed. All of this reeks of inexperience!
"Hisoka! Inuzuka!" Someone screamed, and I knew it was my cue to get back in.
"Got his arm!" Aimi shouted. I looked, but nothing could be seen between the smoke. I'm going to assume she meant the blond.
"Hyuuga! Sarutobi! Plan Zeta!" Another voice screamed. They were changing their plans as well, and calling out our clan names? They're tracking us!
I jumped back into the fray, as close to the chakra signatures as I dared. Under my foot, black soot caught between my sandals. A remnant of one of Ayame's Ash jutsu.
"Ninja Art of Beast Imitation: Four Legs Technique." I dialed it up more than usual. Chakra expenditure meant nothing in this fight. We had to win now, or we wouldn't win at all.
"Storm Release: Storm Laser Chains!" I narrowly dodged a beam of viscous blue lightning this close to piercing my head. Another came for me, and I rolled sideways. Then another came. Shit.
"Caged Mice! No—Ah!" I couldn't see Ayame through the smoke, but I knew she was dealing with the same problem I was. And so was Aimi. Where's Tetsuo? I had to trust they were alright.
'Need some help over here!' Shiro echoed, just as I dodged another beam.
'Coming!'
I jumped and unleashed from my pack as many kunai and shuriken as I could hold in my hand. The Maoka backed off from Shiromaru, who I could always see clearly.
'Get ready. He's faster than us.' "Bestial Illusion: Emblematic Pride!" Shiro casted.
'I figured!' The man dashed at us, barely processing the genjutsu placed on him. At best, it gave me half a second. Under the Four Legs, that was all I needed.
I didn't bother trying to block his charge. Instead, I clawed at the outstretched frontal kick he sent my way while I tried to dodge. Even from it barely connecting, the sheer force alone knocked me back and away.
'He's coming again!'
Blood sprayed freely from his calf, but he acted as if he didn't notice. A punch I wasn't fast enough to dodge came for my head.
My right arm barely came in to block and if it wasn't for the Four Legs strengthening my bones, it would have broken. The impact of the blow knocked me to the ground. I was a sitting duck, directly under him.
"Passing Fang!" Shiro came to my rescue, as the Maoka had to dodge, coming out from above me and further into the smoke.
"Uchiha! Shit!" The other enemy called out. There's Tetsuo. "Phase two!"
"Storm Style: Storm Dragon Jutsu!" Great.
A large concentration of chakra coalesced into and out of the space in front of the Maoka, forming into the biggest elemental dragon I had seen yet.
Fuck. Fuck! "We have nothing to counter that!" Shiro yelled.
It launched. Remnants of lightning shot off from it as it passed. But it wasn't heading for us. Shit.
Aimi and Ayame might be fast enough to dodge. But Tetsuo?
I dialed Four Legs up to 11, headed straight for Tetsuo's chakra signature. I as good as bumrushed him, but kept him out of the way of the attack.
Not a second too early, as the dragon collided with the ground where he was, the whole forest shaking. Unlike a regular jutsu, it didn't disperse, instead bouncing off unharmed and searching for its next target.
"Ayame!" Aimi yelled. She didn't know how to beat that thing either. She was putting all of her bets on our strategist.
"Let me try something! Tetsuo! Follow my lead!"
I looked down at Tetsuo. He was out cold from the impact. Great.
"Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Beheading." I heard from right. Next. To. Me.
A sword flashing silver came for my neck in slow motion. I couldn't dodge that. The blond's focused eyes met mine. He knew someone would come to rescue Tetsuo. That shout was a set up.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Shiromaru's wind came at all three of us equally, pushing us away and out. The sword strike missed my neck by millimeters.
But that was just the shadow. Another came from above, slashing downwards. I held up my claws to block, and they shattered on impact. It did enough to keep the blade from my head, but the ninja himself was close enough to just strike again.
He slammed his foot down onto my belly, making me lose my breath. There was no escaping this next attack. The blond's arm came down.
A snake shot into sight and latched onto the incoming arm, biting down ferociously. The blond got off me in a frenzy, shouting out in pain.
My head swiveled to the side, to the direction where the snake came from. It was Hayama, one of his arms outstretched. He'd summoned a Shingeki snake.
Shiro came in to deal a finishing blow, claw coming in for his neck, but the storm dragon came in again, and dispersed all of us.
I regrouped with everyone. The smoke, thanks to the dragon and the wind jutsu, was mostly gone now. It allowed us to better coordinate, but it meant that they could too. And now they could see us.
Aimi looked worse for wear. The initial lightning jutsu hit her too, but she was somehow still standing. The scarring of the jutsu was actively healing, although it didn't look like a fast process.
Ayame, in comparison, was perfectly okay. She had a bruised shoulder, and a friction burn on her left arm, but no debilitating damage.
"Arata! You'll have to do it!" She shouted at me. "I'm going for a big bomb! I need you to hit the dragon hard with ninjutsu right after okay? Maybe it'll be enough!" Very reassuring.
I heard an awful noise, and registered a chakra signature vanish. Was that the snake dying?
And then the dragon came again. We all jumped away, Shiromaru bursting into hand signs.
"Demonic Illusion: Mirage of the Oasis!"
Twelve, exactly twelve replicas of our group began jumping around the battlefield. The dragon came down harsh on each group it could see, vanishing the ground under them each time it came into contact.
'Where are the ninja?' Shiro asked.
'Over there! They're coming now! Guard Ayame!' I responded.
All the Ayame's went into hand signs, but Shiro didn't know which ones, so all of them did different signs. As soon as a league of ash came out from every one of Ayame's pores, it was clear which one was the real one.
The Maoka took the opening. "Water Release: Water Bullet Technique!" Dozens of water bullets formed from thin air and shot over to her. Shiro countered with his own,
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!" The bullets shot into each other, tearing the other apart. But thanks to the enemy's proficiency and larger chakra pool, there were still a lot more bullets coming for her.
Aimi stood in between them and Ayame. Gentle Fist stance ready, she knocked each and every one that touched her chakra-ridden hands away. Except for one. It struck her shoulder harshly, and burned straight through as if made of lava.
She went down. "Aimi!" I couldn't stop myself from shouting.
'Don't worry about her! I'll get her out of the way! Focus on the dragon!'
Shiro dodged in for a rescue, even as the Maoka started weaving hand signs again. The ash around Ayame coalesced together into a conical shape facing outwards, just as the storm dragon closed in on her.
"Fire Style: Ash Bombing Jutsu!"
The ash ignited, explosions coming through white fire, straight into the dragon's face, obliterating the visage. It tried to dodge out of the way of the continued carpet bombing.
But not on my watch. "Wind Release: Vacuum Lance!" My concentrated beam of wind slammed into its side, forcing it deeper into the ever developing bombs, going off like fireworks.
Finally, with a great roar, it came undone, lightning flashing on the battlefield, burning the sight into my eyes.
The bombing stopped. The scene as a whole came to a hush.
"There's no way." The blond propped himself up on their side. I didn't notice before, but on his left arm he had a large cut on the inner elbow, rendering it effectively useless. The other arm, the one bitten, had two giant puncture holes, which were actively leaking blood. His sword was nowhere to be seen.
"They're fucking genin. How are they still standing?" The Maoka next to him stared at us, bewildered.
We all came to stand together, facing off in a wide circle. Four against two. But no one made another move. I could see why.
On our side, Ayame and I were practically out of chakra. Aimi was still healing her wound, and Shiro sported a nasty burn on his side, likely left over from dodging Ayame's jutsu.
On their side, the blond couldn't use either of his arms now, his sword long forgotten. The dark-skinned man next to him still had blood leaking from his leg, where I clawed him earlier. He was most likely nearing chakra exhaustion too. That storm dragon didn't come cheap.
"Give up. Your companion was bitten by one of Orochimaru-sensei's snakes. The poison alone can kill a man in under thirty minutes." Aimi declared.
"Wha—" Ayame started, but Aimi waved her down.
The Maoka sneered. "Yeah fucking right. HQ will laugh me out of the fucking room, telling them we got our asses kicked by two teams of genin!"
Aimi flashed her eyes at me. Keep him talking!
Alright then. I, carefully, wedged myself out of my combat stance. I kept up the Four Legs though. I wasn't an idiot. "I'm a medical ninja. Even without the poison factor, that man is losing too much blood to be able to make it back to Kumogakure in one piece. He needs immediate medical attention."
"I can still—Agh!" The man tried to speak on his own behalf, and failed. He fell down to the ground, writhing in pain. It was a miracle he was still standing before that.
"Hisoka!" The Maoka exclaimed in worry. Good, so he does care.
"If you decide to continue fighting, he will incur more blood loss, and likely won't even make it to the next town."
"And I'm supposed to believe you? An Inuzuka as a medic?! Next you're gonna tell me the Hyuuga's a demolition expert."
"I'm a combat medic. And she's Orochimaru's student. She wasn't lying about the poison either. He'd need an antidote."
"And you're supposed to provide it? What, you're Tsunade's genin then? I heard she was in town too. Probably trying to find the rat, isn't she?" Rat? Is he talking about who I think he is?
Aimi's eyes narrowed. "He doesn't have the antidote. But I do. I can give it to you, if you decide to abandon your mission and leave immediately."
Something shivered in the grass. Wait, is that—
"And miss out on the party here? What if I just decide to kill all of you? You're clearly on your last legs here."
"You don't care what happens to your teammate!?" Ayame asked.
His expression grew hard. "The mission comes first." His hands came together in the hand sign for Bird. Another lightning technique!
Just then, a snake shot out of the grass, and buried its teeth directly into the man's leg. "Argh!"
"Now!" Ayame shouted.
Aimi shot forward, Gentle Fist at the ready. "Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms!"
I focused on the other, the blond. Ayame had thrown shuriken in his path, forcing him to dodge sideways. Right where I wanted him.
I jumped up, and my kick connected straight into his face. His head conked onto the ground harshly. He wouldn't be getting back up.
On the other side, the Maoka was already immobilized. His chakra pathways were blocked, and the snake moved up from his leg to choke out his neck.
I looked over to Aimi, who was breathing harshly. She saw the snake beforehand then.
"Hayama. He sent another Shingeki snake over." She said. "It sure took its goddamned time though. Hah."
"Did.. did we just win?" Shiromaru asked, limping over to us as me, still.
"Not yet. The mission isn't over!" Ayame said. "The civilians all ran away because of the battle, but they should be close! I saw a lot of them running southwest. I'mma go after those. Arata and Aimi, go after the smaller groups since you can sense them and we'll all bring them back here." She pointed over to the center of the road, where the dragon exploded. "Shiromaru, get Tetsuo and Hayama over here. Maybe you can wake Tetsuo and he can start healing us."
"Good plan." I nodded at her, and started running. My Four Legs was still on, but on a low simmer now. I wouldn't need much against civilians.
Now, just like Ayame said, the main group had stuck together and ran as one unit, but there were stragglers that chose to run in different directions. They weren't hard to find, and I grabbed them two by two by their clothes.
"Aggh! No!" "Please someone! Save me!" Help! Please!" They all screamed in desperation.
It should have affected me, but my mind was still in combat mode. I really don't want to know what that says about me.
Soon enough, we had all gathered them in one place. Tetsuo was awake now, tending to Hayama, who sent us a thumbs up. Seems he would be alright then.
I looked over to my team. They all had the same startled expressions I did.
We won. We really won.
"Hayama can't stand yet. Let alone walk. We're not going to get very far carrying him either. We should set up camp here." Tetsuo said.
The civilians were keeping deathly quiet. We had gathered them in a pile next to us, Orochimaru's snake slowly circling the group, discouraging anyone from thinking about running away.
'I'm not the only one who feels like the villain here right?' Shiro commented in my mind. While sitting on my head. He's really getting too big for that.
"We have to get out of Hot Springs before it's overrun by Cloud-nin. You saw what just two of them did to us, and we got very lucky this time." Aimi argued. "We won't have the same luck twice."
'No, this gives off villain vibes for sure. I think it's the snake.'
"What do you think Arata?" Tetsuo asked.
"I want to agree with Aimi. I know we're exhausted, but any distance put between us and Cloud is better than staying here. We don't know the exact timeline for when they're coming. They could be on their way right now for all we know."
'No definitely. Speaking of,' "We should take care of the Outomo now. Regardless of whether we stay or not, getting rid of them first should be the top priority." Shiromaru said.
A collective hush fell along the group. No one wanted to be the first to start hacking. We were trained killers, yes but. This was a little different than removing a clear threat.
I looked over at the corpses of the Cloud nin. We had slashed their throats after they refused to give us any more information pertaining to the mission. When pressed about the rat, they went completely silent and we didn't really have time to make them talk. I walked over and took out a black body scroll. Might as well seal them.
Aimi sighed. "On charge of high treason to Konoha, Acting Troop Commander and Sannin Orochimaru-sama has ordered the arrest of the entire Outomo clan. Because you have resisted arrest, you are now further charged with refusing to comply, meaning you will be summarily executed."
Now the civilians reacted. Some screamed, some started crying, some yelled out in defiance.
"We deserve a fair trial!" "Please! Spare us!" "We didn't do anything to Konoha!" "Gods help us!"
"We just ran when Cloud came! How can you be so heartless?!" "Please not my children!"
"SHUT UP!" Ayame shouted. She was shaking. They all quieted down. Some of the children were still sniffling. I counted eleven children. "I'm really tired and you're making my head hurt." She walked up to the guy at the front, the one who shouted defiance the loudest. "Even if we wanted to take you back to Konoha, we clearly can't. We're all just genin and we don't have a lot of time. Cloud's about to come get us, and we really don't wanna die."
She put her hands on her hips. "So. It's you or us. And we're gonna choose us. Thanks." Ayame took some kunai out from her pack with exploding tags at the end of them.
The crowd screamed in terror. "Wait!" Tetsuo grabbed her wrist, stopping the throw. "Stop! Please."
"Tetsuo, what are you doing?" Aimi walked up to him, speeding up as she went. Oh I don't like that.
"Wait wait wait wait." I Shunshined in between everyone. "Let's not start fighting please. We really can't afford that right now."
"Arata! She was about to blow them up! That's not a humane way to—Well—"
"I know. But they have to die somehow."
"We can still talk about—" Tetsuo started.
"They need to die." Aimi inserted. "There's no question of if, just how. And I really prefer that it's quick."
"But—" Tetsuo's lip quivered. Great.
"We don't have time for this. You're right, Tetsuo. Just blasting away isn't the best way to kill them." I looked over, they were crying and yelling and screaming and begging. It was a mess. "It's horribly painful, and not at all efficient. We wouldn't get all of them in the blast."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Aimi asked.
"The most painless way is beheading. Take Tetsuo's sword. Hack them off one by one." Shiro helpfully added.
'That takes too long. And gives them too much time to run away." Ayame said. As if on cue, one of them tried to slip from the group and run out into the open field.
The snake caught him by the throat, and the scream he let out was his last. To further discourage any runaway attempts, we all instinctively boxed them in.
"Well, that was the first one down!" Aimi yelled over the panicking.
"Now what?!" Shiro said.
This is exactly the kind of pressure I don't want.
We don't have any chakra. Ninjutsu solutions are out. Not that that's a humane way to go. We could aim kunai at their throats and watch them asphyxiate. Or just slash each of them out instead. It's not pleasant to die that way though. What about poison? Surely we had that. Potent enough to kill? And enough dosage for this many? Unlikely. What about taijutsu? I could claw through their hearts? That's not painless. Definitely not.
"I got nothing." I finally admitted.
"I can close the pathways to their Eight Gate. Stop their heart." Aimi suggested it from next to me. "You'd have to hold them still for me but I can do it." And watch you have to do all the killing?
"It would take longer than the sword option."
"Well, yes. But the only one who really knows how to use a sword like that is Hayama."
"And Tetsuo." She gave me a look. Tetsuo hadn't joined our formation, instead choosing to stare at the body the snake left behind.
"Okay fine. It's an option."
"It's the best one we've got."
I disagree. I can't believe I let it get this far. I'm the adult here. I chose to put us in this situation.
"No."
"No?" Aimi asked.
"I should be the one to finish this. You guys go on ahead. This won't be pretty."
"...Just like that?"
"Just like that. Take Tetsuo with you. I'd prefer he didn't see all this." It would hurt. And it would be messy. But it's better than nothing. Better than making children do this job for me.
'That means you too Shiro.'
'You know I'll see it in your memories anyways.'
'Doesn't mean you have to do the killing, does it?'
"If you're sure. Ayame! Take Hayama with you! Arata's going to take care of the Outomo!." She slowly walked over to Tetsuo and without warning, disabled several of his chakra points. He fell to the ground in a heap.
"Got it!" Ayame yelled, leaving the formation too to grab Hayama. The snake quickly took over her part of the guarding.
"Could have been a little gentler than that." I commented. One of the civilians, seeing the gap Aimi left, tried to pull a fast one, but a quick glare from me stopped that.
"It was this or a knockout tag. And I don't have any knockout tags."
I rolled my eyes. "I'll meet up with you guys back in Konoha. Go straight back. No stopping. Do you understand?"
Aimi looked at me for a long time. "When did you get elected leader again?" She smirked.
I deadpanned at her. "Just go."
And off they were. The snake, seeing Hayama leave, went after them as well, with not even a look back. It was quick too. Look at them go.
Seeing all the ninja leave except for one got all their eyes to focus on me. They started backing away, splitting up and preparing to make a run for it. That wouldn't do.
I didn't have enough chakra for more than one genjutsu, but it would be enough.
I closed my eyes. Recalled the feeling of bloodlust and anger I felt when I confronted Yaketsuku at the camp. Everyone was afraid of me then. And it wasn't because I was physically imposing.
They reacted to the fear I put into the air. It wasn't killing intent, not really. It was the release of Intent yes, but it was desire that catalyzed it more than anything. I gave over to my bestial side, and I activated it unconsciously like I would an AOE genjutsu. To do that consciously, my hands would have to move.
Bird. For reach.
Dragon. For power.
Monkey. For control.
Tiger. For all Inuzuka techniques end with Tiger.
I let the technique flow.
The air became heavy with chakra, some of it convalescing into dark mist. The mist started spreading, becoming its own weight.
"Bestial Illusion: Karura's Gaze."
It held. The technique held. I felt it holding, ready, waiting. If I wanted to, I could feed it more and more chakra. Didn't even need to hold a hand sign to do that. What a convenient technique.
Every single civilian had dropped to the ground in fear. Some had passed out completely. Isn't that interesting?
Two kunai from my pack, one for each hand, found its way into my grip. "Let's get this over with."
So. Much. Blood.
I had to have expected it. I killed seventy-eight people. Men, women, children, elderly. All of them had to spray something on me. I had to replace my kunai twice. It wasn't fun work. Thankfully, all of them stayed still.
That jutsu was incredibly effective on civilians. If it does even a quarter of that on a shinobi, especially when I up the chakra dosage, I'd have a very effective weapon on my hands.
I chose to wash off in a nearby hot spring. This place was full of them, and the one I was in was just big enough for me to fit in comfortably.
The entire pool of water was red now. It would take ages to get this much blood out of me. I had a few minutes at most before I'd have to make the trek back to Konohagakure, but I'd still be redder than a stop sign after scrubbing for so long.
Damn.
An hour later, I was on the road, thoroughly scrubbed, and feeling not an ounce cleaner. It was weird, being truly alone after so long. I'm so used to having Shiro, or Aimi, or my team, next to me.
It gave me time to think, if anything. This mission was effectively over. After successfully (more or less) completing an A-rank mission as rookies, Tsunade really couldn't ignore us for much longer. She'd have to start actually teaching us, right?
If not, I feel I have enough ground to stand on to make a case to Shikaku. He'd be busy with the war coming up, but I'm sure he would listen. He loves collecting favors.
Just then,
A familiar smell.
Sake. Cheap perfume. The faint, clinging scent of disinfectant.
Tsunade? In the area? This far north of Yugakure? Why?
A/N. Life bruv. So much life. But! now that I'm on vacation, the next chapter should come out relatively quickly. Definitely. Hopefully. Yeah. Thanks for reading! As always.