Chapter 393: Annoying Curse Mark
Zabuza swung his sword toward Tayuya's back. He was going for a serious injury and Tayuya knew that she wouldn't be able to defend herself. Just when Zabuza thought that the outcome was decided, a white substance came flying towards him. He looked to the side while swinging his sword. On one side he could see blood splatter in the air which meant that his sword had made contact with Tayuya's body. He wasn't very cautious about the white substance because it didn't seem too dangerous. As the substance came near it started to spread.
Confused by what was happening, Zabuza stopped his sword slash midway and swung his sword to block the white substance. He expected some kind of impact but instead of that, he felt restrained. He looked up and saw the white substance had stuck to his sword, and his arms and had enveloped his body.
"What the hell is this? Is it some kind of spider web?" Zabuza muttered as he saw a curse mark activated Kidomaru run toward him. Kidomaru swung his leg putting all his strength and kicked Zabuza's sword horizontally pushing Zabuza back towards a tree. Before Zabuza could even react, Kidomaru spit another ball of web attaching Zabuza to the tree.
"This curse mark is really becoming a bane of my existance." Zabuza said angrily. First the illusions of Tayuya and now this. Kidomaru who now that six arms protruding from his sides, aimed at Zabuza's head with bow and arrow."
He was about to stretch the bow to attack Zabuza but he looked to the side and saw Tayuya who was hanging between life and death. Kidomaru clicked his tongue in annoyance and using two of his spare arms, picked up Tayuya and threw her over his shoulder.
"Tayuya stay awake…we are going to get out of this." Kidomaru said as he took and few steps back and then turned around to run away.
"Dammit, Yami is going to grill me for not being able to deal with even one of them." Zabuza said in frustration as he used a water style jutsu to cut the webs.
"Don't worry you aren't alone who failed." Sasuke said as he walked toward Zabuza. He had multiple injuries on his body and his clothes were also somewhat torn.
"What happened to you?? Were your opponents also tough?" Zabuza asked with a light smile on his face. He wasn't feeling too bad anymore after hearing that Sasuke had also failed.
"The one who was using his own bones as weapons kept me at bay while the meathead became too hard to handle after using his curse mark. But still I managed to sever the meathead's left arm and heavily injured the bone guy. I am sure that Orochimaru won't be able to transfer his soul into that guy's body anytime soon. I would've won if it wasn't for the third guy?"
"Third guy? Who…? I thought you were fighting with only two of them."Zabuza asked.
"I don't know some savage with orange hair jumped in. He was also using curse seal but and his fighting style was also wild. The bone guy called him Jugo. I am going to kill him first the next time we meet." Sasuke said.
"Let's go see what Yami is doing." Zabuza said as they both started running toward the direction Yami had went in.
As they went further, they saw multiple sound shinobi corpses fallen on the ground. "They all seemed to be killed in a single attack. It must be Yami's doing."
They continued their walk and saw Yami standing under a tree and Haku sitting beside him covered in sweat.
"What happened? Where did that Akatsuki guy go?" Zabuza asked as he looked around.
"H..He left empty handed today. He was chasing me while I-I kept dodging him with my mirrors and Yami was chasing him. I-It was like a game of cat and mouse." Haku said while breathing heavily.
Zabuza looked at Yami who was staring at the sky. He approached Yami slowly and said "I am sorry, we failed to even kill one of the main guys." Zabuza said as he looked a little down.
"Yami…its not our fault. The curse mark that they have is really something. It not just increased their overall strength but also gave new powers." Sasuke justified as he stepped forward. Even after being the elder brother and sharing the same blood, Sasuke couldn't guess a single thought that was going through Yami's mind.
Yami looked at his brother and then at Zabuza as he asked "Are the injuries you both have serious?"
Both of them instantly shook their head saying no. Yami held Haku's arm and made him stand up…He turned in the direction of the village and said "Big brother, draft a letter about everything except these two and send it to Lady Tsunade."
"What? Why? Didn't we perform this misson while sidelining Lady Tsunade's mission? She will be furious at us." Sasuke said. He wasn't wrong…Tsunade had entrusted them with an S ranked mission and here they were picking a fight they were never supposed to have.
"Don't worry about that. Tell her that we came across a few missing kids and decide to investigate. We managed to face Orochimaru and he ran away along with his subordinates. Also mention that we have kept him busy till the Kage meeting get finished so that's one variable the hidden leaf needs to worry about short term." Yami iterated as he started walking.
"That makes this mission sound like a win." Sasuke said happy with his brother's shrewdness.
"Where are we going now?" Haku asked to which Yami turned back and said "Right now we are going back to the bath house to tend to your wounds. After that you two go back to the village and take care of the villagers until I give you further orders. Sasuke you will go on your way to carry out the S ranked mission given to you and so will I."
Seeing that Yami wasn't too pissed about not gaining any major victory in this fight, Zabuza and Sasuke sighed in relief and followed Yami. The 4 of them went back to the bathhouse where a chinoike clan member tended to the injuries. All the while Yami didn't say anything. After a few hours, Yami left and headed towards the Hidden Stone Village.
Sasuke who needed a few more stiches than others due to the bone, rested for 3 more hours. His mission was way simple as the Hidden mist was already an ally. He wrote the letter like Yami had asked him to and sent it to the hidden leaf.
For the next half a day Yami travelled in disguise as he crossed different lands to reach the hidden stone village. This was a village he had never visited before nor had he seen it in the anime. He crossed the hidden waterfall village and even picked up a few clothes and trinklets to make him look like a tourist. He removed his headband and hid his sword as well. He just kept a small dagger in his clothes as protection which everyone normally keep.
As he reached the hidden stone, he saw that the entire village was encased by a wall made of stone and the village was safe inside. As he reached near the gate, he saw many carriages and people lining up. They were being checked one by one by the guards standing at the gate.
Yami looked around and saw a small carriage only managed by two people. It wasn't a luxary carriage but one to transport goods. Since they looked a little new at this, Yami approached them and asked "Are you two looking to make a little more money?"
The man at the front of the carriage looked to the side toward Yami and asked "What do you mean sir?
The other person immediately ran in front of Yami and said "Big brother…why ask unnecessary things. Sir, please tell us what we need to do."
Yami smiled as he noticed the greedy attitude of the 2nd person. He pulled out his money bag and dangled it in front of the 2nd person. "All you need to do is get me in. If asked, tell them that we three are business partners and are going to the village for business. There is no need to know more."
The 2nd person immediately took the money pouch and opened it to look at the money. The spark in his eyes got brighter as he looked at it. He immediately closed the pouch and shoved it inside his pocket. "Please sit on the carriage sir…We will take care of the rest." The 1st brother tried to stop him but the greedy one wasn't gonna let go of so much money.
After waiting for 10-15mins it was their chance to go inside. 2 guards approached the carriage and started asking questions. The 2nd brother continued to sweet talk the guards.
"Alright let them in." The guard signaled the other guards as the carriage moved forward.
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