Chapter 14
Kaito awoke the next morning to the feeling of being tapped. Looking around, the boy almost fell out of his bed upon being met with a twisted mask of some creature. "Get ready, we leave in fifteen." Were Shinji's only words as he walked out of the room and then soon out of the building.
Waiting with Emi who was already awake and Oni who had arrived not long ago, Kaito finally made himself known as he exited the building. The masked Shinji clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention, "Okay, here's the plan. Since you two are injured, I'm calling in a summon to take you back to the village." Shinji stated while looking at his friends. They were confused and it showed.
"But what about you two?" Kaito asked, stepping forward some with his hands outstretched. Shinji promised his friends that he and Oni would be more than fine as he drew some blood from his hand, went through a few hand seals too fast for either of his friends to make out, and slapped his hand to the ground.
"Summoning jutsu!" Shinji called out and to everyone's shock, a wonderful looking beast appeared from the smoke, bowing toward its summoner. It was a quadruped with the head and talons of an eagle and the wings to match and the body of a lion. It had vibrant green eyes and a stark white coat matched with its white feathers.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, summoner Shinji. I am Fukihana, protege of Senkura." Fukihana gave a graceful bow which Shinji returned.
"The honor is mine, Fukihana, now I have a mission for you." looking at his friends, "I want you to take these two back to Iwagakure." After informing the manticore where the village was, Emi and Kaito hopped on her back.
Kaito was the first to get on with Emi being helped by Shinji. Fukihana settled with the addition of the weight on her back, "It's a little heavy but I can do it rest assured." Fukihana stated proudly before taking off into the sky leaving Shinji and Oni to watch her fly.
Oni stepped up to Shinji, "We should move, it won't take your summon long to reach the village. Don't want to keep your girlfriend waiting do you?" He said before walking off to the entrance of Hoshigakure.
Shinji's head snapped to Oni, "She's not my girlfriend." He said as he followed his commander. "Just a friend."
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night kid." Shinji could hear the smirk on Oni's voice as he said it and wanted to give him a kick to the ass, alas he controlled himself. No time was wasted upon exiting the village of Hoshigakure as the two ANBU sped through the forest and into the beginning of a mountainous climb all under two hours' time.
Half of the way into their journey, both shinobi found themselves with the sinking feeling of pursuers.
"We're being followed." Shinji said to his commander as they passed the last patch of trees before fully entering Earth Country. In response to his charge all he gave was a simple nod as he thought of a new plan.
If he recalled, they were close to the Shinko river just to the east and there was an ANBU command post not far from there. Whoever their pursuers were, they would certainly have trouble with an entire platoon of Iwagakure's finest shinobi. "Change of plans, we're heading for the ANBU post at Shinko river." Oni informed his apprentice.
"Understood." without any more preamble, Chimera and Oni put on the jets and sped through the landscape. Shinji used his body flicker in conjunction with his natural speed which made him that much faster than his mentor. Oni was a powerful shinobi, worthy of the title of commanding officer of the ANBU, but even he would have a hard time maintaining Shinji's speed. 'That kid has to have some boosted endurance kekkei genkai or something, either that or I'm just getting old.' He coped with the fact that shinji was less experienced as it was his only respite.
Oni knew, just from not only observing, but training him over the years, that Shinji would be special, something to behold in the eyes of the world. After another hour of travel, they finally reached the river and were on the trail that led them to the command post.
Shinji had slowed down as he didnt know this portion of Earth Country allowing him and Oni to reach the post together. And together they approached the building that housed a small platoon of Iwagakure ANBU.
"What the hell happened here?" Chimera ground out at the sight of the destroyed building, still smoking with patches of fire littered about. Oni was speechless, he couldn't tell if what he was seeing was real or not. 'There's no way they would just get…wiped out like that, right?' Oni thought in vain. His thoughts on the matter meant little as he remembered that they were leading pursuers here.
Oni drew his sword as Shinji did the same and waited as whoever was following them drew closer until they finally arrived.
'Shit.' Shinji thought.
'This isn't good, at all.' Oni mirrored his student's thoughts as they watched a combined total of fourteen Takigakure shinobi arrive with five jonin, three chunin and their respective squads of genin in tow.
One of the jonin stepped forward, identity completely covered by a cloth mask but still wearing a headband, raised his strange kunai and began to shout with pride, "For the death of our allies, you will pay!" What followed can only be described as a pain filled battle cry that escaped the mouths of all shinobi from Taki.
The jonin stayed behind while the squad of chunin and genin rushed forward, still howling their battle cry. Shinji corrected his position as he watched them approach, However oni had other plans as he went through hand seals, "Firestyle: fireball jutsu!" The rest dodged while one genin was not so lucky and got burned by the attack.
Shinji moved in front of the incoming shinobi and called forth a mudslide, taking with it four out of the eight genin left while everyone else jumped away or used the substitution jutsu. However while they were on the backfoot, Oni launched forward using the body flicker jutsu for a boost of speed before sliding his blade between the ribs of one of the recently landed chunin.
The body dropped and oni had to dodge the desperate kunai and shuriken tosses from barely trained genin from close quarters, instead of dodging, he used the body he held as a shield and attached an exploding tag to it. In one swift motion, Oni ignited the tag and threw the body to the group of genin who didn't hear the tag before it was too late.
While the explosion rang out, Shinji was being pressed by the chunin. They were slashing their swords at him with practiced movements as Shinji clashed with his own. His speed was the only thing allowing him to keep up with these chunin as their strength regrettably outranked his own.
He managed a few inconsequential swipes here and there and lamented the fact he had not poisoned his blade. If he did this battle would've been over. The taki nin weren't the only ones damaged from battle though as slices to shinji's black uniform could be seen, making the bleeding scratches to his arms and legs to be visible. Shinji gave off the appearance of being tired, with exaggerated breaths to really sell it.
One chunin rushed in and plunged his blade into shinji's heart. The masked boy gasped in shock, before a chuckle was heard, "Gotcha." Before the taki nin could even process it, the earth clone he stabbed turned back to rock and he was pulled underground.
His companions heard the muffled cries and sought to look for him, however as the scream went quiet, so too did their search. They heard the earth shift and out come an ANBU agent with that twisted mask, covered in their friends blood.
"You bastard!" With their morale effectively crushed, the other chunin stupidly ran in and cast his jutsu, "Water style: water bullet jutsu!" Shinji was able to dodge this and saw through the poor flank attempt. He charged forward and had the same clone switcheroo pulled on him as his blade passed through water.
'Dammit. Where-' he was interrupted by the hairs at the back of his neck standing on end and on instinct, he brought his blade back in time to block a strike shocking the taki nin who thought he got the drop on him. So shocked by this move, shinji was able to disarm the shinobi and push his blade through the shinobis chest, ending him. The other stood by with his sword readied.
Shinji flicked the blood off his blade and also readied himself. The two shinobi launched at each other, however the taki shinobi wouldn't make it as something shrouded in a cloud of smoke dropped down above him and stabbed him through the spine. Shinji saw the shadow clone of himself with pride, all that theorizing about the shadow clone technique resulted in him learning the technique from the ground up, just as Oni thought he would.
Realizing the ones who first charged in were now dead, Shinji looked to Oni and realized he was gone. Looking to where the Jonin stayed back, the boy behind the mask could feel his eyes widen and his knees begin to go limp.
"No." he said, outraged. In the distance, he witnessed Oni get stabbed by one of the jonin. The blade was left in the man's chest as the other four jonin gathered as well. Oni was still kicking, but he was knocking on death's door. Another blade was plunged into Onis gut as Shinji began to run as fast as he could, his body was tired and so was his mind, but he had to try.
As a third blade began to approach, so too did shinji. As was standard order of all ANBU of iwa, Oni moved his bloodied hand to his vest, fingering a secret ring just at the base of the collar. Shinji approaching proved to be a sufficient distraction as Oni pulled on the cable with the rest of his waning strength.
Time began to slow for the Uzumaki. He heard Shinji shouting and he felt the blades lodged within his body restrict every breath and movement he made. He looked at the third blade, slowly approaching face and then the shortened timer of the explosive tags built within his vest.
Oni did not smile upon being met with his end. Questions like what was it all worth, wove themselves within his mind. He escaped the destruction of his home village of Uzushiogakure and joined up with Iwagakure for what?
He looked back to his apprentice who he saw approaching fast, even now, a sad smile came from under his masked visage as the fizzle of the tag finally ended.
Shinji pushed with all of his might, everything he had in that moment to reach oni on time. The explosion that rocked the area that sent him flying back disagreed with his rescue attempt.
Dazed from the blast, he could hear ringing in his ears. His vision was blurry but he was still alive and that's what mattered. He sat up from his prone position and looked at ground zero for that explosion. He saw three burnt corpses from his current position but he would need to get closer to see.
Upon getting up and beginning to walk, he could feel his broken ankle but continued to approach the blast zone anyway. He climbed up the ridge that held the crater and upon reaching the edge of said crater, he could see the body down in the center, charred and smoking. He shut his eyes and looked away.
The three bodies surrounding the crater were taki shinobi but dead from the blast. Shinji recalled there being two more, and the sounds of nearby rustling proved that. One of the jonin, buried under some rubble, crawled his way out. He was damaged and bleeding with the will to try and crawl away.
Shinji would not allow this. He grabbed a random kunai from his pouch and approached the crawling taki nin still limping on his broken ankle. The nin tried to cry for help, but the kunai to his back denied him of his last words. Shinji looked at the blade embedded in the back of one of the shinobi that killed oni and found himself grimacing.
That grimace turned to a scowl that before long turned into rage. Shinji pulled back the kunai and sank it back down, doing this over and over again that the body became indistinguishable from meat picked on by vultures.
He heard the sound of groaning that ceased his repetitive motion, coming to a second of clarity upon the sound. He looked around, and his clarity transformed back into anger at the sight of a taki shinobi that stood back up, relatively unharmed.
He patted the dirt from his uniform and rubbed his head a couple times. He looked around at the sight of chaos and spotted Shinji, just staring at him with blood covering the short, demon looking ANBU. Shjinji could see the lips flap on the man whose cloth mask was blown off yet no sounds came out. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears.
Something within his years of research came to mind at that moment, something that was studied by those far smarter than him and was treated as a minor piece of trivia, the eight gates.
A white mist surrounded Shinji for only a moment before he disappeared in a fit of speed. The taki shinobi wondered where the ANBU went, but the most pressing question was why his vision was split down the middle?
Both halves of the Taki shinobi fell to either side of where he was standing, blood falling where he stood and mixing with the dirt below to create the kind of mud only found in hell itself. The white glow faded from Shinji and he was left reeling from his use of the second gate, completely out of instinct and rage.
His body was in pain, his heart was in pain over the death of his mentor, but more than anything, Shinji was tired. His sword bearing arm shook and eventually dropped his blade, falling to his knees, shinji approached the edge of the crater and looked down at the body of Oni. He wanted to cry at the loss of his mentor, he wanted to scream at the death of his closest friend, he…he wanted to run, to be free from this nightmare. Here, staring at the charred corpse of his mentor, Shinji began to lose the battle with consciousness.
"Captain, it looks like we're too late." Shinji heard the voices just as his vision began to fade and that allowed his second wind to finally catch as he began to push himself off the ground and force his eyes open.
"We got one!" Shinji felt someone assist him up from under his arms and looked to see two familiar ANBU masks.
"Tengu? Kappa?" Shinji asked as he looked at both men carrying him from under the arms.
"We got you Chimera, just relax." Tengu reassured his comrade.
"O-Oni." Shinji stuttered out, the second wind dying already, "Oni's dead." He felt Tengu's body tense up as the words finished before he gave out a near silent 'Understood.'
Shinji was placed up against a nearby boulder to rest and even taking off his mask and placing it on the ground beside him revealed bruised flesh and tired eyes. Before long, another ANBU agent approached his side with his arms crossed. Shinji withheld a sigh upon seeing the agent's mask, that of a yokai.
"Before you say anything, believe it or not, I am happy to see you're alive." Yokai stated in a neutral tone, before switching gears and gaining a somber note within his voice. "Oni was a good commander, and I respected him and all he did. I know you two had a mentor-student relationship and I want to offer my condolences." Yokai finished a little awkwardly.
Shinji sat his head back with too many emotions going on at the moment. Not only dealing with his fatigue, but the death of Oni and now Yokai, who was probably his most vehement hater within the ANBU, was now being nice to him. That withheld sigh came back as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I appreciate it, Yokai. Under different circumstances, I'd buy you a drink. Still too young myself." Shinji's smirk came back, but it was different, empty. His smirk was a mask he couldn't take off, the recent events were eating him up inside so badly to where he wanted to storm Takigakure itself. But that was when his brain took over and informed him that no one has successfully done that in ever.
So he just sat there, no planning, no thinking, he just sat there with his smirk in place and a grieving heart. Shinji shut his eyes as Yokai walked off to converse with his squad.
Upon the recovery of Oni's body as well as the taki shinobi, Shinji was awoken and carried on Tengu's back for the remainder of their journey to the village. As they entered the gate to the village, Shinji saw emi and Kaito who were apparently waiting for him alongside Fukihana.
His two friends looked on with shock and distress at the sight of shinji upon his return. There were cuts all over him and his face was bruised in many areas. Emi could even see parts of his long hair that were singed. Having another silent conversation, they figured he would be taken to the hospital so that's where they went as well, with Fukihana going back home to the manticore clan.
Arriving at the hospital, Shinji was rushed to the intensive care section and had multiple doctors to help him. Emi and Kaito were locked out as this was happening so they sat on a nearby bench. They sat there in silence for an hour before the first doctor came out, after him, followed the rest and Emi and Kaito were permitted to visit him.
Shinji laid in the bed, covered in bandages and a cast on his ankle and right arm. Emi rushed to his side and doted over him while Kaito stood back and looked at his hospitalized friend.
"Being ANBU must be sick if you get that kind of healthcare." Kaito said, a worried note in his voice although trying to lighten the mood. Shinji looked at him and gave a small smirk. If it weren't for all of the painkillers running through his body, he may have even laughed. Instead, the youngest Iwa ANBU just settled with the smirk for the time being.
Shinji turned his head to Emi and spoke softly, "Sorry I lied." His eyes glistened with barely held back tears as he said these words.
Emi couldn't bring herself to look at him in this state, however somehow she found enough courage to look up at his bandaged form with a sad smile. "I'm just glad you're alive." They remained in a comfortable silence for a time, only broken by the sound of the monitors hooked up to shinji. Kaito and Emi kept their heads pointed to the floor, unsure of what to say or do at this moment.
"I'm tired, guys. Im so fucking tired." the words they heard, in their desperate and pained state, brought them from their sulking. They looked at Shinji, who stared at the ceiling and had his smirk in place, yet the silent tears running down the sides of his head meant more than the words could ever.
Before they could question him, the knock at the door earned some ire. Emi huffed and walked over and opened it with a scowl.
"What is-" Emi began to shout at their interrupter. The hospital door slammed open to reveal their leader, Onoki of the Twin Scales. "L-Lord Third! I'm so sorry I-" Emi apologized to the aged man.
His face was neutral, but disarming. "It's okay dear, but do not let your emotions cloud your mind. You never know who may be on the other side of that door." Onoki advised emi before moving past her and into the room. He approached the side of Shinji's bead and looked over the ANBU agent he witnessed grow up from the four year old who had the mouth of a sailor.
There was a grandfatherly hint in his smile, "I'm glad to see you're okay, young man." He noticed the tear stains down Shinji's face. "How are you feeling?" Onoki asked.
Shinji was silent for a time before he looked at Onoki. "I'm alive, that's what matters." Onokis smirk grew slightly.
"I'm glad you see it that way, I want you to get plenty of rest Shinji you've earned yourself that much." Shinji nodded in response and Onoki began to leave, and Shinji did not stop him. The door to his hospital room shut and the three were left alone.
"Is there anything we can do for you shinji?" Kaito asked his bed ridden friend who had a scowl in place. Just as he saw the expression, it vanished just as quickly as Shinji answered Kaito.
"There's a kid, over at the orphanage, calls me his big brother." Shinji gave off a little chuckle at the memory of the little blonde kid, "His name is Deidara, I don't want him thinking I just abandoned him, you know?"
Kaito stood from the chair he was inhabiting, "I'll handle it, just rest up." the large nosed genin began to make his way out of the hospital room.
"W-wait im coming too." Emi suddenly called out as she joined Kaitos' side. Shinji was shocked at this but didn't say anything as he began to feel whatever drugs they put in him really start to settle in.
Shinji watched them leave and sat there. "That was weird." he said flatly to no one in response to Emis strange behavior. Laying his head back, Shinji finally allowed himself the sleep he so needed.
