Chapter XLI - Dead Tree Leaves

"Akazo."

No response.

"Akazo. Wake up."

The motionless ANBU member in question twitched a little bit before slowly opening his eyes.

When he saw that Sasuke was the one at his side, he felt relieved. He also felt a sharp pain coursing throughout his body when he tried to sit up, which forced a grunt or two out of him. Sasuke smiled a little at his partner, relieved himself that he didn't sustain any serious injuries.

Akazo immediately noticed that his stomach, along with other regions of his body such as his arm and head, was bandaged. When he asked Sasuke who did that for him, the Uchiha clan member pointed to himself with a thumb.

"Thanks, Sasuke," his partner said.

Akazo also quickly noticed that they were in a confined, cold room behind several locks. Other Konoha ninja like Ebisu and Kurenai were also in the room. They appeared to be unconscious.

"Where in the hell are we?" Akazo asked his partner as he picked at the numerous bandages on his body.

"We've been imprisoned by Orochimaru's shinobi for the time being. Tonnes of our ninja are in this state, too. The ones who kept fighting were just slaughtered in broad daylight," Sasuke replied, recalling what he experienced when he awoke.

Akazo gritted his teeth as he inspected the room, now realising they were inside of Konoha's correctional facility. A sudden fear then entered his mind.

"Where's Ketsueki?"

Sasuke pointed to a figure in the dark corner of the room. It was Ketsueki, who gave Akazo a little smile and waved at him with two fingers. Akazo smiled back at him, relieved again.

"I'm glad that you two are okay," Akazo told him.

Ketsueki stood up, holding onto his injured ribs. Now that he was out of the dark corner, Akazo could clearly see the numerous cuts and bruises on his body. Even his hair was a mess.

The redheaded Kuraiya clan member winced in pain as he walked over to Sasuke and Akazo and dropped a piece of paper in front of them. Sasuke picked it up, studying the small, almost illegible characters.

"What's this?" he asked.

"A message from one of my sources. That woman from the Osore, Seiko, is the one in charge of the village so long as the Hidden Sound and Dark are here. And from the looks of it, they're staying here permanently," Ketsueki replied, using a finger to wipe away blood underneath his eye.

"Wait, she's in charge?! What happened to Lady Nori?" Akazo inquired. The last time he saw her was when he and Sasuke were debriefing Orochimaru's initial attack on the village. He had no idea that those events would transpire into chaos that put the existence of the Five Great Nations at risk.

"Orochimaru killed the Hokage. Another one of my sources also just notified me that the acting Tsuchikage in the Stone was killed by the Osore. We're assuming Gyatsō is going to execute all five of the Kage, then replace them with a member of the Osore. Just as he did here."

Akazo hung his head down, which of course was significantly difficult due to the pain. To have the Hokage defeated was demoralising to all ninja from the Leaf, especially someone like Akazo. Sasuke put a hand on his partner's shoulder, trying to reassure him. Ketsueki looked over to the locked door as he heard someone approaching them from outside.

"The day will come when we take the village back, Akazo. Don't forget that we're shinobi of the Leaf," Sasuke said to his partner. Akazo nodded slowly before also looking over to the door, which was now being unlocked.

A male donning a headband from the Hidden Sound scoffed at the imprisoned ninjas as he opened the door. He inspected all of them carefully before asking them a question.

"Is there a Ketsueki Kuraiya in there?" he had asked.

Akazo and Sasuke looked at the man cautiously. Neither one of them responded. Ketsueki glared at the man, also uneasy with his sudden appearance.

"I'm Ketsueki. What do you want?" the swordsman replied, walking towards the shinobi.

"Oh, so you're the pompous little shit that got in Gyatsō's way?"

The Hidden Sound ninja grabbed Ketsueki by the torn collar of his cloak and tossed him outside of the cell, where he was surrounded by a few other guards.

They all began to viciously beat him on the ground, prompting his allies to try and help him. But since they were injured to such a degree, the shinobi had already re-locked the door by the time the two ANBU members stood up. His cackling echoed throughout the long corridor.

"Bastards!" Akazo yelled, tears of immense pain from moving flooding his eyes. Sasuke gritted his teeth with anger before he directed a fist to the metallic door. The guards then picked the battered Ketsueki up, who never tried once to retaliate. He hung his head down as he panted hard.

"Once I break out of here, I'll kill all of you!" Akazo yelled, punching at the door just as Sasuke did. Ketsueki forced himself to raise his head and looked at Akazo, his purple eyes looking into Akazo's darker hues.

"C-calm yourselves. This is a time where we must be p-patient and careful. Even if you were to break out of here... what then? Could just the two of you retake a village with thousands of enemy shinobi roaming around? Think about this, Akazo," Ketsueki managed to say through pained breaths.

Akazo didn't respond, he was too troubled and confused to these sudden events. Sasuke, more composed than his partner, thanked the red-haired shinobi before the guards dragged Ketsueki away.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked them.

"To Lady Seiko. She wants to talk with you."

After a few minutes of walking, they pushed him through a wooden door located at the end of the hall. Ketsueki landed on his stomach, which forced another grunt out of his mouth.

He held onto his ribs as he hesitantly sat up again to eye an orange-haired woman looking down at him. He recognised her as Seiko, one of the Osore members that he fought alongside Itachi earlier.

"We meet again, you son of a bitch," she said, cracking her knuckles. Ketsueki looked away to the side, annoyed already with the woman.

"What do you want with me?" he demanded.

"I'm going to tell you a few things before I get my revenge for what you did to Lord Sebbech."

Ketsueki looked back at her, squinting his eyes in suspicion. What could she possibly want to tell him?

"A few things...?"

Seiko walked over to the desk in front of the open window in the room. She looked outside of the window, eyeing a small group of Hidden Sound shinobi still fighting against resisting Leaf ninja. She then turned back around to look him in the eye.

"You remember your little girl, right?" she asked with a smirk, sweeping a hand through the hair that was covering her eye.

Ketsueki's eyes widened as he felt his heartbeat pace faster in a matter of seconds, his breathing becoming more rapid and erratic. Just the thought of any harm towards his daughter or ex-wife could make him like this. He left his family to protect them, or so he convinced himself.

"Kaori... my daughter, did you kill my daughter?!" he demanded, tears already starting to form in his eyes. Seiko laughed a little to herself, adoring the despair the man was riddled with.

"Almost. When Lord Gyatsō and the others were going to the Hidden Stone, that bitch had the nerve to ambush them! She wouldn't have made it out alive if she didn't pull that stupid little disappearing bullshit out of her ass," she replied.

My little Kaori learned that technique? She really has grown...

"Speaking of disappearing, why are you so worried about that useless girl when you abandoned her and her mother?" Seiko asked coldly. Her little smile formed into a smirk. She wanted to anger Ketsueki to the point of where he hurt himself trying to hurt her.

Ketsueki placed a hand on his chest, his breaths becoming slower and slower. When he finally composed himself, he stood up. His eyes were still on Seiko. It seems that her attempt failed, as he didn't look as agitated as she thought he'd be, if at all.

"I knew it'd take more than you people to take Kaori down. Good. She still has that fighting spirit," Ketsueki said to himself with a wide smile. He felt great pride as both a member of the Kuraiya clan and as a father.

Seiko scoffed, visibly agitated herself.

"I wanted to have Lord Gyatsō ship your daughter's corpse to you, but it looks like I'll have to make it the other fucking way around," she said, performing a few hand seals. Ketsueki rose his arms as an act of defence, brushing her comment aside.

"My daughter hates me, there'd be no point in doing that... not that you can kill me by yourself to begin with."

"You cocky little fucker. I'll paint these walls with your blood in Lord Sebbech's name!" Seiko screamed, running towards the red-haired shinobi.

When she was close enough, Ketsueki dodged the kick that was aimed for his head and turned around to direct an elbow to the woman's stomach. Upon impact, Seiko began to giggle as her body dispersed into orange petals.

Ketsueki took a few steps back, gritting his teeth with frustration.

She trapped me in a genjutsu already? I have no prior knowledge of her abilities. Perhaps I underestimated her.

A palpable figure sent a series of punches to Ketsueki's ribs, which forced him to bound backwards. When his feet landed on the ground, something tripped him. He quickly moved his leg upwards to strike the object in particular. When it connected, the object also dispersed into orange petals.

Seiko continued to giggle as she grabbed the injured male by the hair and lifted his entire body over her shoulders. Ketsueki gritted his teeth a little as he looked down at her.

She's manipulating my senses with different illusions at once, all without a dojutsu, as well. I can't believe how proficient she is with her genjutsu.

"You're right, I am skilled in genjutsu. Lord Gyatsō appointed me the leader of this shitty village for a reason," said the woman. Ketsueki gasped lightly, shocked that she knew what he was thinking.

"Damn you, woman... making me say my own thoughts, too?" he asked her. Seiko giggled a little more before throwing Ketsueki back onto the floor. In a matter of moments, he felt a blade prick his stomach. Ketsueki blinked a few times to notice that Seiko was sitting on top of him with a kunai held against him.

She had deactivated the genjutsu. To be bested with just a kunai now angered Ketsueki, who tried to headbutt the Osore member on top of him, but the pain he felt from just slightly raising his head was too severe for him to continue.

"You know, if it wasn't for your interference earlier, I probably would've liked you. Oh well."

Ketsueki's eyes widened when he felt her lips press against his after she finished talking. After staring at her face, completely rapt, he abruptly redirected his attention to the kunai that was now quickly digging into his stomach.

In the Hidden Stone, the conditions were the same as the Leaf's. Their shinobi were being thrown left and right into their prisons, with the ones still opposing the Hidden Sound's advancements killed immediately.

Sebbech, Hikari, Zuko, Hide, and Gyatsō were resting inside of the Tsuchikage's residence. It had been a few days after the Tsuchikage's death and the collaborated invasion of the village from the Sound and Dark. Just the previous night, Zuko gave Gyatsō his right eye so that he could once again have a pair of Shaolin. Unfortunately for him though, this did not grant him the Mūgetsu.

When Gyatsō awoke, he looked over to the side of the room to see Hikari, who looked at him back. Bags were under the young man's eyes. Gyatsō threw the blanket off himself before standing up and walking towards him.

"Did you not get any rest, Hikari?" the white-haired Osore leader asked him. Hikari shook his head.

"No, Lord Gyatsō. I spent the night thinking about something," Hikari replied. Gyatsō was interested about what his subordinate was pondering, although he had an idea of what that was.

"Could it be, perhaps, that you're not sure if you want to stay in the village or continue aiding me?"

Hikari looked into his superior's eyes. Gyatsō looked at the male questioningly, not knowing the blonde man's motives after all. Or so he thought.

"I'm leaving the village with you. I've exacted my revenge against the Hidden Stone, but my real goal to make a new world with you has yet to be completed. Besides, this village is below me, it's been below me ever since the day I met you. I'd much rather be an instrument for you to play as you see fit in your quest for world domination," Hikari replied as he closed his tired, weary eyes.

Gyatsō nodded and put the kunai that he was holding back into his ninja tools pouch. If Hikari wouldn't come with him just because he fulfilled his promise, he would've killed him.

"The one who's staying in the village as its new leader is Hide. Go and inform him of his new position," Gyatsō ordered Hikari. The blonde male nodded and walked towards the door that was now being opened.

It was Sebbech, with an envelope in his hand.

"Lord Gyatsō, this document is from the Hidden Mist. It is of great importance," he said as he walked towards Gyatsō. After opening the envelope, the green-haired male handed Gyatsō a sheet of paper labeled as urgent.

Gyatsō began to read the characters on the letter after skipping its greeting. He then widened his eyes before looking up to his subordinates with a smirk.

"It appears that the Hidden Mist is on our side in this war."