Shifting Sands Chapter 16
Hina opened her eyes and felt off kilter, but in a familiar way. When she looked down at her hands they were a light brown tan, her fingers a little longer, more feminine. The blisters from training were gone, left with smooth skin, the only indent of usage being that on the tips of her index where the press of long hours holding a pen had left a mark. She looked in the mirror to see the world blurred at the edges, but more importantly a face she thought she'd forgotten.
Staring back at her was her past self.
She touched her long thick black mane of hair, wavy unlike her straight bright green strands now. Her eyes were a honey brown, almost orange in the sunlight that hit it, and her face was delicate and beautiful unlike her pale childish self which was yet to grow into any femineity. This felt just as much like her as her other form did. Both felt right, which left little disconnect, despite the jarring experience of inhabiting one form and then transferring over into another.
Yet she wasn't entirely herself. This version of her was young, a 14-something girl still growing into her beauty. Hina touched this familiar face and realised the world around her was blurred at the edges, almost dreamlike. She wondered if she was dead again. Did that Shimo Shinobi kill her? She wanted to scream in frustration. Of course she died in the dumbest way possible again.
"Why are you throwing a tantrum, beta?"
Hina spun around and suddenly the endless expanse was a familiar house that smelt of incense and safety. Her mother was sitting cross legged on the porch looking out at their small backyard, a well-maintained landscape her father put a lot of effort into as a hobby. Her mother was in between her meditation, and a familiar feeling of boredom hit her. She hated meditating, in this life and apparently her previous one as well. More importantly she should have been crying and lamenting the loss of this woman in front of her, because deep down in her heart Hina knew her mother had died not too long after she turned fifteen of cancer.
She didn't know how she suddenly knew all this, just that the fog of her memories had lifted here.
"It is because you're in the realm of pure consciousness," her mother offered her an answer.
"You can read my thoughts?" Hina asked in shock.
"Don't be stupid, I am your thoughts beta. Now come sit by your mother and meditate."
"I can't even get away from meditation even when I'm dead… this is troublesome," Hina said, completely miffed.
Her mother hit her head with her slipper and Hina acquiesced. The familiar chiding followed by mild assault was surprisingly nostalgic and comforting. She didn't know how much she missed the feeling of a slipper slapping her until now. She sat by her dead mother and decided if she was dead, she might as well enjoy it.
"Once again, you're not dead. You've activated the thousand petaled lotus. Your state of pure consciousness," her mother explained.
"Thousand petaled lotus?" Hina repeated in confusion.
"Do you need to read the Vedas again?"
Hina winced. "Gods no. I think dad's made me read the bible three times, and now you're going to make me read more Hindu scripture. You know it's twice as long!"
"You're always so caught up in your science textbooks and I don't hear you complain about its length," her mother chided.
"That's because it's actually useful."
She was slapped over her head once more. Hina held the sore spot and glared at the woman who simply sighed. That's when she noticed just how tired her mother looked. Her face was gaunt, dark bruises under her eyes, and her skin both sagged and stuck to her bones in a concerning way.
"Your medicine textbooks didn't keep me alive though. It was always Vishnu who kept me, and also my impeccable form in yoga. Meditation also helps. After all without it you can't activate your chakra gates…well unless, it seems, if someone stomps on your face," her mother chided.
"Wait chakra gates?" Hina asked, finally paying attention.
"Of course you forgot it. I always had to remind you of them, didn't I? Fine then, let me give you a refresher since you are such a terrible student."
"Hey—"
"Prana, your life force spins in a wheel inside of you," she interrupted, putting a thumb onto Hina's forehead to motion its location, "There are seven points—gates—of chakra in your body. Your forehead houses Ajna the 'third eye', your throat the Vishudda, your heart the Anahatha, Manipura at the tip of your solar plexus, Savadhistana your sacral chakra, Muladhara your root chakra and finally—"
Her mother's fingers traced each point, going lower down her body until she pulled all the way back up and rested her hands on her head. Hina blinked in confusion.
"My brain chakra?" she asked dumbly.
"No you stupid child, your Sahasara, your crown chakra, or the Thousand Petaled Lotus. It is the culmination of your chakras all working in tandem. Sometimes it is triggered during a near death experience, to help aid in giving clarity before death."
"Oh god…" Hina breathed out, sinking her hands into her face as it just hit her, she might still just die. Was this just her life flashing before her eyes?
"Not to worry, I don't feel you slipping away. You are fighting to get back, aren't you? What for? This life has very little to offer."
"It… It's not the best life, is it? I must not have accumulated the best karma, or prayed enough to Jesus for forgiveness or something," Hina said tiredly, and wondered if this was her punishment for never taking religion or god seriously.
Her mother snorted. Hina supposed her mother was a hard ass in her head as much as she had been in life. Still, Hina missed her no-nonsense mother, the woman who had actually raised her, who taught her, her place in life and the woman who died loving her. She wished Yua felt the same way too, or at least respected her role as her daughter as her late mother did. But Hina knew why she clung so desperately to her life and the people in it.
"You taught me perseverance amma," she said after a moment of contemplative silence. "You were the one who taught me my place in life wasn't just about karma… it was about dharma too… about knowing my natural ordained duty."
Her mother smiled warmly at that. "That's right beta, you were my daughter, your father's daughter, a sister, then a wife. But that was never enough for you, was it? You wanted more."
"I can't say. Can't remember my life in detail, after all," Hina said, bitterly.
"I would sit you and recount all your successes and failures, but we don't have much time left with each other," her mother said sadly.
Hina blinked and then felt a sharp pain on her forehead. The warm evening sun flashed and then faded from the sky, and the dream world seemed to crack on the edges. She began panicking as she looked at the slowly dimming image of her mother. Would she ever have the woman back? Even if she was just a memory?
"Amma! Don't leave. I-I… fuck! I need to know how to come here again. How do I activate the Thousand Petaled Lotus?"
Because it wasn't just about the memories, it was about being able to figure out why she was born again, why she was put into this world. What should have been a fiction was now her reality. Hina didn't think something so monumental could be easily ignored or forgotten. Maybe once she prescribed to the chaos of the universe, but having been reborn, she wondered if there was something pre-ordained about her reincarnation. This figure of her late mother seemed to know why, and she was so close to all the answers she needed. Somehow, she knew instinctually that activating her crown chakra would be near impossible without a lot of soul searching, and Hina was never the best at that. She needed her answers now.
"Unless you intend to nearly die again, you will learn to do it properly via meditation," her mother tsked, as if more upset by Hina's insistence for a quick fix rather than the fact that she was literally fading from existence.
Hina held the woman's shoulders, hoping to ground her there. She knew her expression betrayed her fear and desperation. Not only had her mother offered her comfort, but Hina knew locked away in those precious memories, was something more valuable than knowledge.
Wisdom
Wisdom, she had forgotten and so callously thrown away in pursuit of single-minded science. And now she was paying the price for her dismissal.
Another sharp knock in her head sent the world shifting. Half of it was home, the other half was a bitter cold reality of pain, and sharp frost. She felt the sting of a hand slap across her face, jolting her already rattled brain in her skull.
"Remember beta, it is life that spins within you. The gates are simply a means to access them."
And as the woman faded, so did her voice, and now in front of her wasn't her mother but an unfamiliar, hostile man.
"Wake up!"
A splash of freezing cold water would normally wake her up rather quickly, but Hina found herself having to slowly blink the sudden dizziness and sleep from her eyes. The world came into awareness slowly, not long enough for her eyes to adjust to the mostly dark room. Though she forced herself to wake up as someone aggressively palmed her face.
"Hey, wake up already," the irritated voice called out.
Hina tried to focus on the man, seeing double for a moment as she willed her vision to work. He had a Shimo headband framing his face, with light purple markings under his eyes. Hina thought he looked similar to Soma, only in the way that they dressed. This man looked meaner. Was she back… back to reality?
"Hmmm," she replied.
"Good, now you're going to tell me what happened to Soma," the man grunted.
"Soma," Hina mumbled, recognising the name but finding it hard to stay awake.
"That's right, don't you dare go back to sleep."
A sharp pain followed by a loud crack to her leg woke her up with a start. Hina gasped as the ringing pain in her ear was quickly swallowed by the fear of more of whatever that was. She blinked her eyes open and hissed as she realised, he had hit her leg, probably hard enough to break bone if the pain was an indication of her injury. She felt sick as it sank in that she was caught right now. A prisoner of war just like Soma was. Was this how scared the kid had been when he was dragged awake, and his bones broken? Hina felt a surge of respect for the teen for keeping it together.
"Soma," she said, feeling her throat too dry to get the words out properly.
The man paused in his contemplation of beating her senseless until she woke up. Good. She needed to give him something at least, so he wouldn't harm her more. Hina tried to prioritise making logical decisions instead of succumbing to the panic itching underneath her skin, straining whatever composure she had.
"That's right. Is he still alive?"
"Y-yes."
He grabbed her broken leg and Hina let out a startled cry of pain. The man's cold grey eyes glinted unkindly in the nights shadows. His face was twisted with grief, worry, and anger. She supposed he must have cared for the kid if he was this openly pissed off.
"Don't lie to me or your life will be hell, Leaf-spawn," he said.
"M'not lying. Kept him 'live, no point killing kid," she mumbled, fighting of the sharp pain in her head that was making it hard to speak.
"Where did you take him?"
"mm sensei would 'ave him now," she said.
Orochimaru would come for her. He had to. There was a small voice in the back of her head that told her he didn't really care about her. She was just a means to an end. Would he get as angry as this man did over Soma for someone like her? Would her parents even shed a tear if she died out here in the field? At least Taichi would cry. Kakashi would have to let go of one more friend on top of Obito and Rin if she was gone. She wondered if her late mother had been right, if this life really was just not worth coming back to. But despite it all the terror of death lingered, making her wonder if oblivion would finally catch up to her, or if she'd suffer the same terrifying fate of rebirth with no end.
"Oi cool it mister, don't want to kill the little sister."
The rhyming sentence threw Hina for a loop. She was 90% sure the head trauma was making her hallucinate right now.
"I can do whatever I want to her. This is my country not yours, even if you lot like to throw your weight around here like you own the place," the Shimo man hissed.
"Don't get me wrong, I respect your land. I just think you should try a lighter hand. How about you take a rest, and it'll give you some time to compress. I'll handle the little sister. She won't mess with her abductor."
Hina saw the large dark man come through with a well-maintained white goatee and dark glasses on. The Frost Shinobi let out a small curse before standing up and leaving. The large man knelt in front of her and Hina flinched as he drew out a hand. No blows followed, instead a gentle hand pushed up her hitaite and bangs, letting a few drops of blood trickle down her face.
"You're going to kill me?" Hina asked, feeling both tired and scared at the same time.
"Don't worry your little head, you're not on your death bed! Killer B is in the house, so you don't got to worry your little blouse."
"Mmh I don't got a lot, but I hope you don't kill me and… whatnot?"
There was a long silence and then Killer B started laughing loudly.
"Good try kid, but that was kinda mid."
Hina groaned, lolling her head back and closing her eyes. Killer B might just annoy her to death with his rapping, but even more than that she was worried about Orochimaru saving her now. Against a bunch of Jounin, he was sure to win. But where B went so did A. Fighting a perfect Jinchuriki and the Raikage at the same time would be difficult, especially if he was trying to save her at the same time.
If he even came back for her.
"I'm not giving up any secrets," Hina said tiredly.
If someone got her hands on her, they'd see more than just a few secrets. They'd see the potential future of the Elemental Nations. The kind of information that in the wrong hands could be incredibly disastrous. But she wondered what it would be like in the hands of someone like Killer B. Maybe this world would be better off if he had this information instead of her. He was a Jinchuriki after all… he'd make better use of information on Akatsuki than she ever could. He had access to people who could make some real change.
"Toyah is mad, but that's because he's lost his lad. I think you misunderstood, cause we hurt you good, but we aren't here to kill you even if we could," B said, wiping away the blood on her face.
She wanted to ask why he wouldn't kill her. She was an enemy in enemy territory. She was pretty sure he'd try to kill Orochimaru. It wasn't like he could release her and expect her to get back to Fire Country, crossing a tundra and icy mountains with a broken leg. Without her sensei she was as good as dead, and no way as Frost or Lightning taking her in as one of their own. He'd have to kill her. There was no other logical solution.
"Tell me where your sensei is, and we'll make sure you get out of tis."
"Tis, isn't a word," Hina mumbled.
B cleared his throat a little awkwardly at that as he mumbled something about reworking that line. Hina wondered if now the best time was to be rapping in the first place. Surely, he couldn't be taken seriously doing something like this.
"I appreciate your honesty, this kind of criticism is usually costly. To make sure no harm comes to you, you gotta tell us what your Jounin is up to."
Hina was a Shinobi. At the end of the day it was a job, and she took pride in not fucking up a job. Of course back in her old life she wouldn't have to contend with torture as a potential obstacle to not fucking up after she signed an NDA. This wasn't her cozy research job which paid rather well, this was war. If she spilt mission secrets for something as important as an A-Rank that could turn the tides of a war, she'd come home dishonoured and probably discharged from duty. She knew it was fucked up that she knew she'd rather die than face that kind of disgrace. She wanted to excel in her work, do her family proud, make them finally see her for the effort she'd put in. Telling B about her mission to save her own ass, was going to ruin all of that.
"I'd die before I tell you anything important," she said.
"I like your guts. You're pretty tough. But cool the act or it'll get rough," B said, more concerned than anything.
A loud explosion in the distance made the Jounin turn around almost instantly, weapons drawn. Hina let out a sigh of relief. Now it wouldn't be an issue if she told them about the mission or not. It was done anyway.
"We've hit the locations," she said.
B turned to her and a raised brow but didn't ask, seemingly understanding that whatever they had come for was done now. The door shot open followed by the upset man from earlier. He grabbed her collar, hoisting her up roughly and smashing her back against the wall.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
Hina bit through the pain to revel in the fact that the job was in fact done, despite her situation. "Hit all major trading docks and shipping facilities in Frost. No more food in and out of Rice for a long time."
Hina winced as the man grabbed her tightly by the throat, choking her out. She felt the breath leave her lungs, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't claw at his hands because hers were tied firmly behind her back. Just one hand of his was big enough to wrap around the entirety of her throat, and all Hina could see was someone far beyond her ability to fight. It was beyond terrifying as he stole the breath from her lungs, making her kick her broken leg desperately to get him to stop. It wasn't until B held the other man's arms, twisting it and dropping Hina on her bad leg, that she had a moment to take in sharp wheezing breaths as she coughed and hacked in pain on the ground.
"That's not cool, she's only a little girl fool," B said harshly.
"She's an enemy Konoha Shinobi who probably tortured my student. Don't tell me you're getting soft for the enemy B? Of course a monster would sympathise with his kind."
Hina thought B was far from a monster as she sucked in breaths greedily. B was as goofy as they came for a Shinobi. How anyone could hear the man's bad raps and think he's a monster was beyond her. In fact he was probably the only saving grace of this entire ordeal. But Hina felt her composure beginning to break. Her whole body was beginning to feel like one big bruise, and the cold was sinking in deep into her bones leaving her constantly shivering. The fact that her jacket had been taken off and all her weapons confiscated was just dawning on her now. She had barely had the time to notice with all the beatings and questions, not when she'd been shunted into her mindscape just a minute ago. She thought she deserved at least 30 minutes to go over the implications of that.
A particularly violent shiver raked her body, and she bit back a muffled whimper. The men looked down at her for a moment and she regretted making a noise. It would be nice if they went back to fighting each other, instead of focusing on her she thought. Fortunately the sound of a familiar hissing caught their attention. B took out a kunai to throw it when Hina muffled out a quick no, stopping the man.
"I-It's sensei's summon," she said. "Too weak to fight you… most likely here for a message."
That was more talking than she should have done, making her cough out something a lot thicker than spit this time. She looked down to see a dark liquid on the ground that was difficult to read the colour of in the dimness of night. Though if it was blood, she didn't think that was a good sign.
"It had a scroll," Toyah said.
B knelt down, inspecting it before opening the scroll. He turned to Hina and she grimaced.
"Well looks like your sensei's not such a tool, if he's gonna come get you he must be cool."
Hina let out a mild sigh of relief. Then B picked her up, throwing her over his shoulders.
"He's got my kid. Let's go save him at least," Toyah said.
Hina just wanted to go back to sleep, even if her mindscape mother was kind of mean.
Orochimaru thought this mission was getting unnecessarily complicated with every step of the way. What should have been done through a few weeks of meticulous planning and coordination was rushed in 3 days because of Frost's tightened border patrols. Then the implementation of their plan at least seemed to be going well until Ryusei contacted Orochimaru about the inevitable capture of his student. Hina was smart, and could probably outrun most Chunin, but they were most definitely up against entire squads, potentially multiple Jounin as well. She was smart for a kid, but not as situationally aware as he hoped she would be. He was going on a secondary rescue mission after he finished the mission.
So he got his part done as soon as possible, pleased that Hina had dropped the tags where she needed to before being caught. He then began tracking his student, stopping outside by a river where a patch of snow had been caved in and dyed red with a blood. Not a good sign. It made him itch to paint his opponents the same colour as they did his student. He tracked a rather potent chakra signature into a nearby abandoned cabin in the woods. The Shinobi there were masking their chakra well, but Orochimaru had been around Kushina enough to know the stink of a Biju. He sent in a summon and waited over a cliff side past the cabin. Even a seasoned Shinobi could be taken down by a well-placed trap, and every bit of advantage was important in combat against multiple Shinobi.
He waited until a group of 4 Jounin jumped down from the tree line in front of him. He of course recognised Killer B, one of the few Jinchuriki worth any salt in the 5 great nations. To fully control a Biju's power was an impressive feat, praiseworthy even. Orochimaru licked his lips as he wondered how nice it would be to test the exact differences between Sage chakra and a Bijuus chakra. For now he focused his attention on something a little more pressing.
His student.
Hina hung limp in Killer B's arms, stripped down to her undershirt and pants. She was shivering, eyes struggling to focus. Most likely she had sustained a concussion, which could mean death in a lot of cases. Despite the obvious struggle she looked up to see Orochimaru, and whatever brave face she had put on before seemed to crack. Tears fell from her eyes as she let out a sob that was somewhere between relief and terror. His lips thinned as he smoothed his own expression.
"Orochimaru of the Sannin, what are you plannin?" Killer B asked.
Orochimaru raised a brow at the odd speech intonation. A rap? What a crude form of artistry, he thought with mild disgust. Before he could respond a Shimo Shinobi stepped forward, mouth set firm in a deep scowl.
"Where's Soma. You said you had him?"
"The boy… mmh I do," Orochimaru said, snapping his fingers.
Behind him a large snake emerged, opening it's jaw wide enough to show the teen hogtied inside.
"Drop him and face us," Toyah hissed.
A female Shimo Shinobi, held him back from stepping closer. "Toyah, think. This is Orochimaru of the Sannin. An S-Class threat. We do the trade and we part ways. Nothing more."
Killer B nodded. "You completed your mission, now it's time to be bussin."
Orochimaru didn't even know what that meant. He decided to ignore the Jinchuriki in favour of addressing the emotional man instead. He could take out the Shimo upstarts easily, but the Jinchuriki would be a proper threat. The fact that it was B who was holding Hina made him doubly dangerous. Orochimaru figured he would corporate for now, even if he did want to kill them all.
"Who hurt my student? Hmm?" he asked.
Toyah scowled. "I only hurt her as much as she hurt mine."
"S-sensei please, just let her go," Soma finally spoke up.
"Soma… you're siding with them," Toyah said in disbelief.
The boy looked down, cheeks already red from his fever. "She healed me."
Well that was news to Orochimaru. He'd have a chat with her after he saved her from imminent death about treating the enemy. Still, her plan of keeping the teen alive as a bargaining chip if the need came was useful at least. He'd let her off with a warning this time. He turned away from the teen to his mentor, the man who had clearly beaten his 8-year-old charge to near death. Orochimaru remembered very little from his childhood, but he remembered being small and vulnerable. Dependant was the word. He'd never been captured by the enemy, but he had been lost in enemy territory once when he was 13, and it was a rather frightening experience. Vaguely he knew her situation was worse, and maybe her fear was worse too. This was the first time he'd seen her cry after all.
"You made my student cry. Normally I'd kill you for less, but I think I'd rather have her alive and by my side so we can go home already. Let's just trade and call it a night," Orochimaru said, voice flat.
"Let's," Toyah finally relented.
Orochimaru caught the teen from his summons mouth and walked to meet B in the middle. He kept an eye on the other Frost Shinobi as the Jinchuriki held out Hina. Orochimaru made a Snake Seal with his fingers under his robe as he snatched Hina from B. A glint of metal stabbed into the ground, missing his student. Then Orochimaru sprung into action as B retreated with the teen.
"Sensei what are you doing?!" Soma shouted.
"You think we'll let you get away with all the countless lives you've ruined today! Hundreds of our people will starve during the winter now! You captured and tortured my student! I want you dead!" Toyah shouted.
Orochimaru grinned. Now he had an excuse for killing them, which was also a pity because he didn't want to jostle Hina's head injury more than necessary. He turned for a moment to Killer B. The man was standing to the side, holding the injured teen. Orochimaru knew when someone was unwilling to join the battle. He put Hina on his summon.
"Get her to safety Ryunosuke. I'll handle this rabble," Orochimaru said.
"Yes Lord-Orochimaru."
The summon swallowed his now half-conscious student and slithered out of the way. Orochimaru caught a Shuriken aimed at his head and turned around to face his opponents.
"It seems to me that you all won't flee, despite your student being in plea. So if you wish to fight, if you think that's what's right, I'll be out of sight," B said, disappointment lacing his voice.
Orochimaru watched pleased as their last line of defence left with a protesting teenager. The rest of the adults faced him, and Orochimaru drew out his katana. The four Shimo Shinobi charged him at once, creating a wave of frost in his direction. Orochimaru dodged the flashy attack, gently landing on the ice, skidding down and in the blink of an eye cutting off the head of the woman who had attacked him. He grabbed her dismembered head by the hair and sprayed her blood into the eyes of her comrade coming from his right. The blinded man cried out in horror as Orochimaru disembowelled him. He fell on his knees crying out as he tried to put his innards back inside to no avail. Finally he turned his attention to the man who had hurt his student. He blocked the man's kunai as he let him jump back to perform a set of hand seals.
Shards of water spikes came his way. Orochimaru constructed an earth wall to block the elemental attack. A kunai shot past him before the man kawarami'd with the weapon. While this bit of deception was well timed and would have killed an average Jounin, Orochimaru was not average. The man's grey eyes widened in horror as Orochimaru turned with a speed unimaginable to a man of his calibre. His katana was up and blocking a deadly blow quicker than the Shimo Jounin could blink. Orochimaru stabbed the man's throat with his fingers, knocking the breath out of him and watching him stumble back. Those grey eyes did not leave his gold. It held a look very familiar to the Sannin, of the pure realisation and terror that came with understanding just how big of a gap there was between them.
"Frankly, it amazes me that you even thought of challenging me as you were."
He grabbed the man by his arm and smashed it against the ground, watching him gasp and fall limp in the snow.
"You hit her head like this I assume," Orochimaru said as he put a foot down on the mans forehead and smashed down, not hard enough to kill.
Then he spun his katana before stabbing it into the man's left arm. "I recall her arm being bloodied too. I suppose it could have been on of your hounds, but they're still your responsibility."
"F-Fuck you."
"Now that's a form of torture you better pray you didn't use on my student. Did you?" Orochimaru asked.
"No," the man hissed, although the terror still lingered in his expression.
"Hmm, you saved yourself a longer death sentence at least. Well let's see what we have left. Throat, arms, head, and… legs. You broke them, didn't you?"
Orochimaru didn't wait for a response before he stabbed his sword down in the man's legs, stabbing them once, then twice, then three times. Slowly, almost rhythmically as he counted each stab.
"You hurt a little kid that begged for me to keep your own student alive, did you know that?" Orochimaru asked.
The man's eyes widened. Regret sparked through his vision and Orochimaru felt satisfied. He probably didn't know that because of course his little student was too nice to use that as a bargaining chip to get out of more pain. Either that or she was far too concussed to think straight.
"Hmm, I quite like that expression on you. I think you should die with it etched into your face."
And before the man could beg for his last words, Orochimaru bought his sword down in-between the man's forehead. His eyes lolled back as blood cracked out from his skull painting the white ground beneath him a dark red. He waited and watched as the last bit of life left the man's eyes as he mouthed the name of his student.
"Sensei!"
The sheer grief in the call made Orochimaru step back. The teen he had caught earlier came limping in a frantic rush to his mentor and possibly father-figure's mutilated corpse. Orochimaru had never seen someone with broken legs run so fast. It was an incredibly stupid thing to do to run back to where the enemy was, but he knew grief made people stupid. Tsunade was a case study in that fact. The boy cried, holding the man's body in his arms before looking at Orochimaru like he was the devil himself. The Sannin simply raised a brow at the sheer stupidity of the situation.
"You're a monster," Soma said.
"Hmm, then you're an idiot. You could have gotten to safety."
Soma didn't say anything, smart enough to know if Orochimaru wanted to kill him he wouldn't stand a chance. Instead he buried his face into his dead sensei's neck and sobbed.
"I'll let you live because my student seemed to have gone to great lengths to keep you alive, and you've been useful thus far. As for you Jinchuriki, I'm still contemplating that mercy," Orochimaru said, turning to the forest.
Killer B came out, with his arms crossed. "Seems that not all Konoha Shinobi are like Minato, but that doesn't mean we need to fight a loosing battle with our tantos. May not be a porn star but I ain't shy, here's the money shot right in your eye!"
Admittedly all the rapping was going over Orochimaru's head, and his brain did need a moment to process exactly what Bee was saying when a Kunai was flung at his face with impressive speed. Orochimaru jumped back and when he turned to look B was gone. He supposed his work here was done.
"I'll kill you some day," Soma said.
"Hmm you can try kid."
And then Orochimaru took his leave.
A/N
This was one brutal chapter. So much graphic violence and threats of violence. I hope it wasn't too much for you guys. I went through and toned down some scenes after my first write-through because I thought it was way too intense with the torture scene. But yay Soma somehow managed to stay alive.
Also I'm going a slightly different route with the way Snap Back did its flashbacks to Hina's previous life. I did a pretty blatant rip off of Demon Slayer's moves there, but here I'm sticking more to the Naruto power-set which is influenced by Shinto/Buddhist/Hindu mythology. Hence the detailed explanation of chakra gates (only slightly different from Naruto) and the Thousand Petaled Lotus which will be expanded upon more way down the line. I love how Naruto incorporates Eastern Mythology into it's world so I'm about to do that too. Since Hina was half Indian in her previous life, and her mother was Hindu, I'm going to be incorporating some concepts of Vedic practices, including how chakra can work outside of Naruto's established lore. Also while I'm not Hindu, I am Indian, so I've been raised with many of the teachings of Hindu scripture and wish to state any interpretation of it here is simply fantasy. No intention of relating it to irl religious practices any of my readers may be a part of. This goes for any mention of Christianity that Hina occasionally brings up as well (although that's not really relevant to the story).