Chapter 18
One year later
"Again." Shinji commanded with crossed arms as he looked at the tired forms of Deidara, Izaku, Fuko and Raiko. Both Izaku and Raiko were gassed at the moment and breathing heavily as Deidara was hunched over, ready to vomit.
"Shinji…we need a break." Fuko, ever the voice of reason among his siblings, nearly begged his summoner. Uncrossing his arms, Shinji looked over each of his trainees and decided they earned themselves that much.
"Fine, thirty minutes." as if on cue, the trio of siblings and Deidara collapsed on the ground swallowing breath after breath. Inhaling the water provided to them from Shinji, the boy in question looked into the sky and noted how the sun was a little past noon just behind the clouds.
"You've all done well today. Raiko, your flame cloak thing still needs work but nice teamwork with Izaku on that last play." he looked over to the snake headed sibling who straightened his posture in response. "Izaku, you get a little too excited and get carried away. Not a bad thing, but something we need to work on to get under wraps." Initially dejected, Izaku heeded the words of his summoner and from the teachings of his father, understood why he was saying these things.
"What you lack in raw power Fuko, you make up for with your cunning." Both Shinji and Fuko nodded toward each other as the boy looked to his younger brother. Before he spoke, there was something on his mind, something Fuko mentioned on the day they all met Deidara. Reaching into his cloak, he withdrew a small bag. Fuko's nose perked up at the smell as Shinji reached into the bag and pulled out a lump of white clay.
"Heads up." he called out to Deidara as he tossed the clay. Catching the ball of clay in his hand before the blonde boy could even process what was happening, the tongue from hand-mouth wrapped itself around the clay. Everyone present looked on in gross fascination as it continued to chew, chew, and chew the ball of clay before seeming to swallow it.
"What just happened?" deidara asked, grossed out by the ordeal. Before anyone could answer, the mouth burped. Shinji looked on, still perplexed by the mystery that was Deidara's extra mouths and internally noted what had happened. 'There's still one more experiment to try.' Reaching back into his 'cloak of wonders' as Raiko put it, he returned his hand which held a small piece of paper.
"Deidara, do you know what this paper is?" He asked, waving it around. Looking closer, Deidara surmised that he indeed had no clue what it was other than a small piece of paper. Giving the paper to his blonde brother, "This is chakra paper, used for chunin to determine what their natural chakra affinity is. Now, channel a small amount of chakra within the paper."
Raising a blonde eyebrow, Deidara shrugged before doing as instructed. The paper first began to crinkle and shrivel up and stayed like this for a moment before the white paper turned brown and began to crumble like dirt. "What does that mean?"
"Interesting." Shinji muttered to himself before elaborating further, "Each of the main five elements reacts differently when introduced into the paper. Water will soak the paper, fire will burn, lightning will crinkle where wind will tear the sheet. Earth, like the others, also has its own effect of turning to dirt and crumbling to dust." Shinji smirked at the results of the chakra paper.
"But his paper crinkled and crumbled to dust." Raiko pointed out as she sniffed the remains of the paper, feeling a little static electricity latch onto her snout.
"It means he has a Kekkei Genkai." Fuko stated that it earned him a treat from Shinji.
"Exactly right. You deidara, have a natural affinity for two elements, lightning and earth which is essentially what a Kekkei Genkai is." Deidara could feel something stir within his hand, the same hand that chewed and swallowed the clay ball. It was a strange, wiggling sensation from the inside of his arm that was most unpleasant and he stood from his seated position. The three cubs stood around him with Shinji watching with a close eye. "Yours I believe to be unique because I think your hands are linked to it."
Continuing to look at his hand, the mouth continued to wriggle and move about before spitting something out on Deidara's palm. "Well that's new." the boy said with a wide eye as he looked at the small white insect that was spat out into his palm. It crawled around for a bit before it started to glow.
'Glowing things are a bad sign!' Shinji shouted within his mind as he rushed over in a body flicker, grabbed the small white creation and chucked it into the distance. Everyone waited, silently, confused as to why shinji just did that.
"What was that for?" As the blonde boy asked the question in an irate manner, a bright light from where Shinji threw the creation caught his eye. Just as the light met his eyes, a deafening boom followed soon after, generating a gust of wind that almost blew the group back. All Deidara could do was look at the explosion that followed. 'Wow, it's so…pretty.' he found himself thinking as a small smile came to his face when a small mushroom cloud began to rise into the air.
Shinji dropped his hand onto Deidara's shoulder, "Well well little brother, seems you're a natural demolitionist." Adding a chuckle for good measure, the witcher noted how Deidara had a genuine smile on his face. 'Told you so, blessing in disguise brother.' patting his shoulder again, Shinji caught the whiff of familiar cheap cologne. Sighing in dismay, the young witcher turned to address the newcomer.
"Well if it isn't the son of our glorious lord third." He introduced with faux excitement. "What do you want, Kitsuchi?" he asked the man who appeared in a body flicker with a less than happy expression on his face. He was garbed in the chunin attire of Iwagakure but with the addition of a bandana instead of a headband. His face was blocky like his fathers and had the same nose. A triangular patch of hair resided beneath his lip.
"There was an explosion, and I came by to make sure no one died." Kitsuchi grumbled. Shinji's summons gathered around him as Deidara moved to his right.
"As you can see, no one's dead. You can leave now." Shinji's patience was wearing thin already as Kitsuchi had overstayed his welcome.
Kitsuchis eyes narrowed at Shinji, "Watch yourself Sato or you'll find yourself in the same position as your father." The witcher was willing to let the intrusion of his privacy slide, but not that comment. As the boy inhaled, his summons and deidara took an immediate step back.
'Yeah…I got time today.' he thought to himself as he cracked his neck. Faster than Kitsuchi could even blink, Shinji had already appeared in the man's guard and planted his fist in the large target that was his face. Feeling the cartilage under the skin shatter, Kitsuchi's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he crumbled like a sack of bricks.
"Pfft, some chunin you are." Shinji spat on the ground as Kitsuchi began to wake up not long after. Watching the man get to his feet, he also watched as Kitsuchis face turned to that of sheer rage matched with a broken nose and leaking blood from his nostrils.
"My father will hear of this transgression, Shinji Sato." As he said this, Shinji's expression did not shift from that of indifference.
"I sincerely could not care any less." Spitting excess blood from his mouth, Kitsuchi growled before he disappeared in a body flicker. As he left, the indifference on Shinji's face turned into that of cold calculation. 'Onoki is getting ready for something big and even Kitsuchi is a bigger ass than usual. We need to make our move soon.'
"Should we be worried about that? I mean he is the son of the Tsuchikage." Deidara noted that Shinji kept his calculative gaze in place.
"No. We won't be here long enough for it to matter." Shinji responded as he turned to his little brother, crossing his arms in the process.
"Does that mean it's almost time?" Deidara asked with hope in his voice and a large smile.
"Time for what?" Izaku interjected with Raiko and Fuko nodding in agreement.
"You three will learn from Fukihana when the time comes. For now, I can't risk saying anything." He looked around into the landscape, seeing the imperceptible traces of someone who was watching him. "Never know who might be listening." he said low enough for only Fuko to hear. Squinting his eyes as he looked at shinji, his summoner gave him a glance that told him that there was someone watching them, right now.
"Raiko, Izaku. We're going on patrol." Fuko suddenly announced, garnering the attention of his siblings who were stretching and scratching a nearby tree respectively.
"But brotherrr we still have time left on our breaaak." Whining like a child, Izaku was silenced from a single glance from his elder brother. "Yes sir." he responded, tail between his legs and head pointed down.
Before the siblings went off, Shinji approached Fuko. "If anything happens out there, you send yourselves home, understood?" Fuko nodded along and soon went off with his siblings. Deidara watched as the manticore siblings walked off before they disappeared in body flickers of their own, courtesy of Shinji teaching them.
"Cmon, we're heading into the village." Shinji began to walk off with Deidara in tow.
"Hey, do you think we can find a plateau or something so I can practice using my clay things?" he asked as the two continued down the path.
"Afternoon you two." Mr. Watanabe greeted the boys in a forlorn manner as they put their selection of fruit on the stand. Deidara continued to converse with the elder stand owner as Shinji kept a watchful eye on the happenings around them.
Once a bustling market square that was filled with smiles when he was younger, had turned to frowns. Everyone was walking on eggshells and it seemed as if the sky had matched the village's mood as it had been cloudy for the past few days now. Groups of shinobi, all different ranks and part of different specializations congregated on the rooftops, in the streets and meandering about where there were previously no shinobi.
Explosion corps members were all muttering with each other as groups of ANBU watched from up on high, monitoring and observing like crows on lamp posts. Returning his gaze to Deidara, the blonde boy had his hand outstretched for cash to pay for the fruit which Shinji readily gave him.
"You two watch yourselves out there okay?" Shinji turned to Mr. Watanabe who had a profoundly worried expression on his face that he tried to hide away. Alas, the elderly man did not have the training of a shinobi and his efforts were for naught. Shooing deidara away for a moment, Shinji came close to the elder man and began to whisper in his ear, disguising the move as a hug.
"Keep yourself and your family safe Mr. Watanabe. Something strange is happening and right now, you should be with them. Profits can wait." The hug ended and with a slick move, Shinji placed something within the pockets of the elderly man. With a nod, the young witcher left the elderly man who soon closed up shop and went home for the time being.
Deidara knew better than to ask, so he kept walking with the bag of groceries in his arms. Shinji pulled on his hood and kept himself shrouded within his cloak, but never leaving the side of his younger brother. This was before a squad of ANBU agents appeared before the duo, ones that Shinji did not recognize.
"Lord Tsuchikage demands your presence, Shinji Sato." the one in front said in a creepily monotone manner.
"Damn I'll have to reschedule, got groceries that need to be put in the fridge you know?" he offered as he began to walk past the trio of ANBU. The leading agent grabbed his arm with an iron grip and stopped him.
"If you like your hand, you will remove it from me at once." Shinji shot back in a tone that was much the same as theirs. They remained in a deadlock stare for a few moments,
"It wasn't a request. Come with us now and your 'brother' won't have to see us arrest you." the agent whispered back. His eyes went wide with rage yet he remained silent.
"Head home Deidara," Shinji commanded.
"But-" he tried in vain.
"Now!" Shinji raised his voice at Deidara for the first time which startled the boy, but it got the job done and sent him home.
"Smart. Now come along." The grip was released from his arm as the four of them vanished in a body flicker.
Onoki sat at his desk, for once cleared of paperwork. The room was darkened from the minimal sunlight outside and he had his hands interlocked in front of his face, resting on his desk. Soon, the squad he sent to gather Shinji returned with the titular boy in their custody. Leaving the witcher in the middle of the room, the trio of agents vanished.
They both remained silent. Having vowed not to speak the first word on the way over, Shinji stared at his village leader from beneath his hood. Onoki, even as aged and experienced as he was, was left unnerved by the non blinking gaze of the golden cat-like eyes peeking from just beneath the brim of the hood.
"I'm giving you thirty seconds to explain your altercation with my son." Onoki threatened in a cold manner.
"He violated my privacy, interrupted my daily training, insulted me on my own property and then had the balls to threaten me with prison for being rightfully angry at all of the preceding events. Then, and only then did I punch him in the face." Shinji's gaze did not change and he did not blink through his entire statement, speaking the words as if they were simply facts.
Anger flashed over the elder kage's face as he slammed his fist on the table. "And that gives you the right to break my son's nose?!" the golden eyes narrowed.
"If he was weak enough to go down after a single punch, he has no right to be chunin." Shinji spoke. "Why am I really here Onoki? It can't be because I punched your poor baby boy in the face and he went crying to daddy, right?" Face once again twisting in anger yet he did not deny Shinji's question. He did call the boy here with a purpose after all.
Sitting back in his chair, the elder kage looked into the golden eyes. "Remove your hood boy, I will not speak to a floating pair of eyes." After a moment, Shinji did not remove his hood. "Remove your hood, now!" Onoki raised his voice and slammed his fist to his desk. Smirking in the darkness of his hood, he lifted the dark red cloth from his face. Onokis eyes widened for only a second at the sight of one of his most promising former shinobi but returned to form within that same second.
"We're launching an attack soon and I need you there." Onoki revealed what he called shinji for. Actually offended at this slight on his decision to leave the force, Shinji's brow furrowed.
"And you need me that badly right? One ten year old?" the witcher asked.
"We both know you're anything but a simple ten year old." the kage retorted as if it were obvious. To his credit, he was right.
"Let me rephrase. Why do you need me so dearly?" Shinji asked, attitude melting into his voice that only served to cause the vein on the side of Onokis head to begin to bulge and throb. To answer his question, the kage pulled a scroll from under his desk and unfurled it revealing a map with marks of all of Iwagakure battle encampments. Or it would've been if almost all of them were not torn to shreds by enemy forces.
Onoki pointed to a single red x on the map. "Kannabi Bridge is the single most important location for our village. We lose that, we lose contact with over half of our suppliers, importers you name it. Kannabi Bridge needs to be secured by Iwagakure and I want you there to help."
Not even having to consider the request, Shinji crossed his arms. "No." was all the boy said. Onoki grew angry then as his eyes hardened and narrowed.
"No? You're denying a direct order?" Onoki questioned through grit teeth. Stepping forward, Shinji looked down on his village leader.
"I don't work for you anymore, remember?" he reminded the elder man.
"After everything I've done for you-" Shinji interrupted.
"And what have you done for me, Onoki? Other than doing your job as village leader and letting piles of bodies grow as you sit here and do fucking paperwork all for the precious image of Iwa." Rolling his eyes, the witcher began staring down at the ever angered kage, "News flash, the world already views Iwa as the progenitors of this moronic war."
"Which is why I need your help ending this war boy!" Onoki screamed, the pain of lives lost on his watch finally catching up with him. Shinji was not buying it though.
"You should have thought about that a year ago when all of this could've ended with diplomacy. Now here you are, begging a ten year old to rejoin your shinobi for, and lets not get it twisted, a suicide mission." Scoffing, Shinji shuffled in place before staring daggers into the eyes of his "leader."
"A leader leads by example, and you've led this village to utter ruin." Turning on his heel, the young witcher began to leave the office as his cloak flowed behind him like an angry current. Onoki got down out of his chair and began to yell as he approached Shinji, yet the boy was beyond caring anymore. The second he shut the door to the office, he disappeared in a body flicker, leaving Onoki to stare at an empty hallway as he swung the door open.
"The fucking nerve of that ancient goblin!" Shinji yelled as he dashed from rooftop to rooftop landing in front of his home. "Who in the bloody hell does he think he is anyway?!" Shinji yelled as he slammed the door to his home shut, cracks forming in the trim. "Im fucking done with it." he said as he moved to his workshop, seeing deidara come up from the lower laboratory in response to the bang from the door.
"Pack your things." As Shinji went through his notes and organized them, he saw how deidara had already been packed.
"Well I can see the meeting went well." Deidara commented as he helped Shinji pack what he deemed to be important notes.
"Oh it went something alright. That fucking whoreson asked me to come back to the shinobi to essentially die! Go to hell you dusty prick." Shinji continued to vent as he stored various notes and books into sealing scrolls, Deidara could swear he had never seen Shinji this angry before, so he approached his brother.
Putting his hand on Shinji's forearm, "Breathe Shinji." He could feel Shinji tense at his touch and before long, the angry heaving breaths relaxed to controlled and calm inhales.
"You're right. Sorry little brother. Seems it's another of the side effects I didn't account for." The two kept packing but this time more organized.
"Side effects like what?" Deidara asked as he looked over a filled packet titled Jinchuriki: Kill the host or steal the beast? Before shrugging and putting it in a pile with others.
"Normally, when someone becomes a witcher, it dulls your emotions among other things." He sounded slightly uncomfortable as he finished. Blowing dust off of a biology book, "However since I changed the recipe by magnitudes, I'm finding that the side effects I once knew and could account for have changed." he explained as the dusty biology book was planted in another stack.
Silently continuing to pack as he listened to Shinji, "For one, my emotions are heightened instead of dulled, and if that's the case, just what other side effects changed?" Shinji continued to theorize as he packed, going so far as to summon a shadow clone and have him conjure up constant questions, tests and hypotheses that the original could perform on himself.
A few short hours later, both Shinji's laboratory and workshop had been stored away into designated scrolls, the only remnants of both being the trial pod and the space he built himself for the lab. Deidara buckled his midnight blue cloak and pulled over his hood his waist holding two pouches of clay Shinji had stored.
"Looks like we're ready." Deidara knew the look on Shinji's face as his smile flattened and looked on with a deadpan gaze.
"Oh I don't like that look." he sighed aloud. Shinji hummed to himself in thought for a moment, before a wicked smirk spread on his face.
"Can you make another one of those clay bugs? One with a longer timer and…bigger." As Shinji looked down into the visible azure eye, he saw nothing but stars.
"I'm gonna sure as hell try hmm!" Came the excited shout from Deidara as his hand shot into one of the pouches on his waist with wet chewing noises being heard. "That's still such a weird feeling." he commented to himself with an uncomfortable smile.
The same shaped insect, sort of like a spider the size of a small cat crawled out from the mouth on Deidara's hand . "It's gonna be a good one, I can tell!" The blonde boy practically jumped in place with a jubilant smile.
"Alright, ease up there. Place it in the workshop and meet me outside." placing a hand on his brother's shoulder, Shinji walked outside and went through a familiar set of seals.
"Summoning jutsu!" Slamming his hand on the ground and channeling a large amount of chakra into the technique, a plume of smoke erupted from the earth and covered the entirety of Shinji's torn up back yard.
Smoke parting to reveal a massive tent made of two large bat wings. Those wings spread and the hungry smile of Honotora showed itself. Stretching to full height, the king of the manticores approached his summoner and sat before him.
"You smell different Sato. What did you do?." Honotora had a predatory smile as he cracked his neck while exuding his full wingspan.
"Later your majesty, right now I have a task I view as infinitely more important." with a single hand seal and another poof of smoke on the ground, a large scroll appeared before the witcher. "I need you and your kingdom to protect this, it contains every note, book and piece of information I have gathered over the last six years." Using his foot, he rolled the scroll to Honotras paws.
He had a growl on his face, "And how will this benefit my kingdom other than providing us with a target?" He said just as Deidara walked outside and went pale when he met the eyes of Honotora. Disregarding the person that wasn't his summoner, he looked down on Shinji.
Shinji gave an exasperated sigh, "There's a ludicrous amount of notes in that scroll, I'm sure I could find something to help you with…well what do you need help with?"
Cocking his eye at the sweatdrop on the king's face despite his unchanging expression, "Well if something were to ever come up, I need assurances Sato." Prideful as ever, he recovered quickly.
"Honotora, you and your kingdom are quite possibly the only ones I trust other than Deidara." The little demolitionist's chest puffed up a bit as he stepped up to Shinji's side. "Speaking of which, this is Deidara."
"Hrm. You smell like clay." was the only statement Honotora gave to even acknowledge Deidara's existence. Balking at the comment, Deidara's face went red and he pointed a finger at the large Manticore.
"And you smell like crap! I mean seriously, have you ever bathed once, hmm?" the boy finished by crossing his arms with a huff. Shinji and Honotora had the same slack jawed expression but for vastly different reasons.
The corners of Shinji's mouth began to tug upward, barely managing to control himself. Honotora, well, his face began to scowl and snarl as he lowered his posture and brought his face right next to Deidara. 'He didn't look this big from over there!' The blonde boy shouted in his head as his knees began to wobble, but remained in the same cross armed position.
"You dare insult me boy?" The king exhaled through his nose a wave of heated air before the same smile from earlier returned. "You'll do fine." before giving a guttural growl and returning to the scroll shinji provided earlier.
"I'll do this task Sato. I will expect compensation upon a later date." As he finished, he grabbed the scroll in his mouth and sent himself back to his realm. Not without one last, terrifying look to Deidara as he left.
Exhaling the breath he was holding the whole time, Deidara rested his hand on his knees and took a few deep breaths. Shaking himself from his silence, Shinji regarded his little brother in a new light and flashed him a smirk. "He likes you now."
Deidara's head snapped to shinji with a horrified expression as the witcher only bobbed his eyebrows up and down. "Oh god what have I done?" Lifting his head, Deidara reveled in his misfortune before returning to form in time to see Shinji going through another set of hand seals after biting his thumb.
A wordless call and a decent poof of smoke later revealed Fukihana, but she was a little bigger than shinji remembered. "Look at you, bigger and badder than ever." Shinji whistled and complemented his summon with a genuine smile.
She bowed in thanks, "You flatter me Shinji, now is it time?" she asked with a prepared gaze from her green eyes. Nodding in approval, Fukihana lowered her wing to allow Shinji and Deidara to climb on her back. Sitting down, Deidara didn't know where to put his hands so he settled on copying Shinji, who was gripping the fur on her back.
"Ready brother?" Shinji smirked at deidara to his right.
"I've been ready." Deidara retorted with a challenging smirk.
Onoki sat in his darkened office overlooking the village. A storm was coming, and he could feel it in his knees. As he sipped on a small saucer of sake he poured for himself, a knock was heard at his office door. "Enter," he replied, spinning the chair and concealing the saucer in a smooth motion.
Kitsuchi entered then with his grumpy as usual demeanor with a bandage over his nose. "What can I do for you son?" Onoki asked.
"Im rea-" he was cut off by the casting of a bright light from behind Onoki, off into the distance before all of the windows blew out from the office and the power behind the blast was felt, shaking the entire tsuchikage manor.
Ringing in their ears, both father and son recoiled from the explosion as Onoki's hidden guard appeared from the shadows, also dazed. Onoki could hear the screams of confusion as he flew from his chair to outside in the middle of the air.
Widening his eyes at the ploom of smoke that rose from, 'Wait a minute, that's where Shinji lives!' Onoki rocketed over to the destination trying to be mindful of the pain residing in his back, completely ignoring the shouts from his son to return.
Landing a few feet away from the site of the explosion, the crater in the center of what was left of the burning and smoking remains had Onoki devastated. "Shinji…wh-what have you done child?" he asked the flames. It was mere moments before members of the explosion corps as well as the ANBU, led by Yokai arrived on the scene.
As the explosion corps began tamping out what remained of the fires with their earth style jutsu, the ANBU agents began to inspect the site of the explosion trying to gather as much evidence as possible to determine what happened here.
"We'll get to the bottom of this sir. I knew Shinji, he wouldn't be this…well this isn't his style." Yokai added from his experience working with the former shinobi.
"See to it it's done in a timely manner…" Onoki hummed as he stared into the now smolders thanks to his explosive specialists. There was something on his mind, Yokai could tell. His question was whether he should address the tsuchikage's issues.
"Sir…I may be overstepping, but are you alright?" The kage in response remained silent.
"Come with me Yokai. We have to pay a certain prisoner a visit." Was his command before turning on his heel and beginning to walk away.
"Tengu you're in charge." yokai said as he heard the salute from his subordinate and quickly followed after his commander in chief. The walk was silent on the way to the prison. They did not rush or panic and instead took their time with the matter.
Just as they approached the prison for lower class criminals, Onoki stopped and looked to his newly minted commander. "I might need your expertise in the coercion department." Nodding in return to Onoki, the two walked in.
Once again, Akuma was chalking down another line on his wall, freshly shaven and hair tied back in a bun. Nezu had become friendly to the point of relaxing with the man on his shoulder as he went about his life behind bars. The noise of footsteps brought the attention of the two as Nezu hopped down and ran away.
Akuma Satos eyes widened as his posture straightened upon seeing the Tsuchikage standing just outside his cell door. "Lord third sir! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I know your son was here roughly a year ago. I need to know if he said anything to you about his intentions." The face Onoki presented was that of anger and exhaustion toward Akuma.
Akuma was confused and his face reflected this, "Why? What happened?" Akuma asked, slight panic creeping into his voice as he stepped forward. Realization crossed the scared man's face, "Wait, is it about that explosion from earlier?" voice going quiet. Onoki nodded in confirmation.
"What happened sir?" Akuma asked as he approached the bars and white knuckle gripped them.
"It seems, in your son's endeavors to what I can only assume an experiment gone terribly wrong, resulted in an explosion in his home." Akuma felt weak, his skin was pale and heart dropped into his stomach.
He tried to keep it together, however Akuma couldn't stop the tears from coming. First, his wife and now his son.
"Akuma. I need to know if he said anything to you." Onoki asked, understanding and urgency in his voice. "Please." He finished.
"All we talked about was his mother, Yukira." Akuma informed as he slid from the wall to the floor and placed a hand over his eyes. Onoki thought about what he had learned, 'In all my years of working with the boy, he had never mentioned his mother. Not once. What changed in him? Could it have to do with his physical appearance? Those eyes of his…that can't be anything natural. Knowing him, he had most likely been experimenting on himself for a while now and it all culminated into what he is now.'
Taking a long breath, Onoki looked down at Akuma, who was in a desolate state and asked again. "I see. What was the nature of the conversation?" Shifting his head and moving his hand, Akuma looked at Onoki.
"Shinji just wanted to know about his mom. He said how he was remembering her and wanted to know more." Akuma cleared his face and brought up a small smirk, "all things considered, it was a nice conversation."
"And what did you tell him?" Onoki asked, more bass in his voice now. Akuma, having heard this same tone from his son, simply didn't care about the tsuchikage's desires at the moment.
"How we met, what she was like, looked like." Akuma shrugged. "Everything you'd want to hear about your mom if you never knew her." he took a deep breath as he looked at Onoki who wore a questioning look.
"If Shinji were to leave the village, would you know his next steps?" with a stroke to his beard, he asked the real question he wanted to ask, surprising both Yokai and Akuma.
"Sir, do you really think he would abandon the village?" Yokai whispered.
Looking to his commander, "You saw the size of that explosion Yokai. I must consider all possibilities."
Akuma was angered but forced himself to keep the greatest poker face of his life through widened eyes. "I've been in this cell for six years now. And in those six years, Shinji has come to speak with me a total of two times. The only knowledge I have of my son is what he has told me himself." Akuma began to choke up but cleared his throat.
"I know he got strong on his own, I know he's in the ANBU, I know he's been through..too much for his age." something akin to happiness shone in his eyes, "And i know above all else that im proud of him. Other than that, Shinji never said a word."
Yokai began to step forward, believing now would be an opportune moment for his skillset. However, the hand raised upward halted his movement. "Thank you Akuma. You've served your village well, I will be in touch." Onoki stated as he turned and began to leave. Yokai stayed for a moment and continued to look at Akuma.
'I know you're not telling the whole truth.' was the telegraphed expression on the mask. Akuma spared only a single glance.
'I will always protect my son.' Akuma replied wordlessly.