บท 78: Sacrifice to the Dark God
(Iwa)
Walking into a well-lit room at the center of the stone village, a small girl made her way to greet her guest. She was to be Hagane's representative for this event. He needed someone he trusted to confirm the deed is done and no evidence could make it back to them, especially himself. She was uniquely qualified for the task. Afterall, being one of Iwa's S-Rank shinobi, her skills gave her a wide range of options to complete it.
She had light-grayish skin, straight shoulder-length dark brown hair with messy bangs, sickly yellow irises with black sclera, and a short stature of a little shorter than five feet tall (60 inches). Her attire consisted almost entirely of grayish-dark-red bandages. Everything from the neck down was covered in them. Above that, she wore a dark brown, sleeveless Iwa jonin vest. She wore nothing else, not even pants or shoes. The only saving grace for her modesty was that the topmost layer of bandages was loosely wrapped to minimize the visibility of her body's contours.
"Holy shit. To think they'd send Iwa's Tainted Death to welcome me, not that your title means a whole lot to me Mira." A crass masculine voice stated.
Turning to look at the speaker, she noticed a 5 foot, 10 inch (70 inches) tall man with fair skin, slicked-back, medium-length gray hair, and grayish-purple eyes. He was shirtless with only a bandage wrapped around his midsection, wore maroon-colored pants and shinobi-sandals with mid-knee-length guards. Attached to his back was a red triple-bladed scythe, his primary weapon of choice.
"Yes… the immortal leader of… the Cult of Jashin… Hidan… it's… a pleasure to… meet you." She monotonally replied, her frequent pauses being a documented quirk of speech.
"Oh, and how great is it to meet you. Hey! I heard you were immortal too babe, is that true?" Hidan animatedly asked.
"That's… none of… your concern… All… you need to… know… is that… I will kill you… if you become… a problem."
As if hearing the dumbest thing in the world, Hidan burst out into manic laughter, his hands being used to brace his gut.
"Really!? You think you can kill me? Please! If I could be killed, it would've happened already!" He exclaimed.
Silently, Mira's mouth opened, though anything inside was obscured by a sickly yellow haze. A faint buzzing crescendoed from inside, heralding a swarm of insects that seemed to be approaching from a distance.
Hidan's laughter immediately ceased. Realizing just who he was dealing with, he took a guarded position. Although he joked about her not being able to kill him, that didn't mean he wasn't terrified of what she could do short of that. After all, like him, she too innovated on a forbidden jutsu to become the way she was. The difference though was that, unlike him, her state didn't come about by accident. It was the result of her expertise derived from years of research. How did he know that? Well, he's read his history books; that's all. He made it a point to study all who claim to be immortal and what he found on her was… disturbing. How she ended up employed by Iwa of all nations he would never know.
Raising his hands in surrender, Hidan placatedly said, "OK. OK. I get it" He animatedly slouched. "Geeze. Can't you take a joke? I was kidding. Kidding!"
Silently, she nodded, closing her mouth and thereby silencing the approaching swarm.
Deciding it was best to get to business before he pissed her off again, he asked, "So, did you bring what I asked for? I don't want to stay in this shit hole for longer than I have to."
Without bothering to respond, she tosses a small vial holding a sample of blood to him.
What disturbed him was that he hadn't seen how that vial ended up in her hand. She wasn't holding it a minute ago and although he was only S-Rank due to how unknown the mechanics of Lord Jashin's ritual was, that didn't mean he wasn't observant. So, seeing this only reinforced the point that he was right to placate her.
Catching it, he moves to stand above a circle drawn in blood with a tringle inside; it was the symbol of Jashin, a necessary component for the jutsu he was about to cast.
"How the hell'd you get this without the old goblin knowing about it?" He asked curiously.
"Medical exam… happens twice… a year… Blood is… drawn… to check for… developing conditions… Onoki is… no exception." She explained, her tone unchanged.
"Hah! I wish I could see the look on his face if he learned about this shit! He just signed his own death certificate! Oh~, how I wish I could see his face as his life is sacrificed to Lord Jashin! A kage! Lord Jashin's grace will shower his followers for years to come!" Hidan's joy was palpable with religious fervor.
Emotionlessly, Mira just stared at the creepy immortal. She really didn't have anything else to do today, so she didn't personally care if he wasted time. Still… she had been asked to be quick about it. The longer this took, the more that could go wrong.
"Enough talk… Start… NOW." She ordered, adding a bit of inflection to get her point across.
Indignantly, he snorted at the order.
Mira's eyes narrowed at the disobedience. Slowly, an ominous miasma started radiating from her body, sending a chill down Hidan's spine. Without words, he knew.
This was his final warning.
"OK. OK. Geeze bitch, you really need to loosen up." He animatedly stated, feigning a lack of care.
Opening the vial, in one quick motion, he downed the blood inside. Instantly, his skin became pitch black with what looked like white skeletal paintings manifesting on his changed flesh. Smiling in manic glee, he reached for his scythe, excited for what was likely to be his greatest sacrifice yet.
Jashin will be pleased.
(With Team Guy)
Taking a break by a small river, Team Guy sat together, huddled by a small fire. It was night and the two jonin had decided to camp for the night. While they could make it back before the sun sets, Guy felt his team needed some bonding time, especially Neji. It wouldn't help his student's mental state for him to jump right out of an emotional argument right into the noxious atmosphere that is the current Hyuga Clan.
Neji's current state worried the team. Rather than his stiff, cocky self, the man with a stick up his rear, Neji's posture could only be described as defeated. From his hands, Guy could make out a subtle shiver, his back was hunched, and his normal piercing eyes were unfocused.
You'd think it'd be impossible to tell with the Hyuga clan's lack of pupils, but it wasn't. While they lacked the visual cue that would normally give away their object of focus, anyone watching them could somehow always tell where that focus was. Maybe it was the intensity of their gaze, but it was actually hard to miss. It was almost as if their stuck-up personality was fostered specifically to cover for that social deficiency. Of course, this did cost them in battle, but the gentle fist's overpowering might more than made up for that. While the style looked basic, only the inexperienced would think it as such. No matter how talented one is, only an S-Rank shinobi and above can fight a master of the art at close range.
That's why it was so disconcerting to see the normally distinct member of the Hyuga Clan so unfocused, so defeated.
"Come on Neji. Don't let that witch's words get to you." Tenten comfortingly consoled with her hand resting on Neji's shoulder.
"Tenten, that is a most unyouthful insult to our fellow shinobi." Lee passionately chided from the other side of the campfire.
"Really Lee? After everything she said to him, you're taking her side?" She asked disbelievingly, her eyebrows raised in astonishment.
"Not at all. I am just saying. Regardless of her harsh criticism, she is still a Konoha shinobi and should therefore be respected as one." Lee adamantly chastised.
"rrrrRight you are Lee!" Guy enthusiastically declared, having jumped up from his seated position near Lee, giving him a thumbs up.
Turning to Tenten, he adopted a more serious demeanor.
"Tenten, no matter what happens between comrades, we always respect each other. I understand that it's normal for people your age to talk to each other in such a way, but you need to remember something. Once you graduated from the academy, you became a shinobi, an adult responsible for managing the darkness that constantly threatens the village. As shinobi, we must always respect our fellows, no matter what. Even if you don't agree with them, you must respect them. No exceptions." He seriously explained.
"*Sigh…* Tenten slumped in defeat. "I know… it's just frustrating, you know. Seeing Neji torn down like that was…"
Before she could finish, Neji spoke up.
"Thank you Tenten…" Getting everyone's attention. "I know you're just looking out for me, but please… I just need some time."
Pausing from Neji's placation, Tenten decided to keep her own council, figuring that arguing would be pointless.
Despite Tenten being such a bright distraction, Guy's focus hadn't strayed from Neji. It would be hard to tell from looking at him, but a part of him was always keeping watch on the boy; he needed to make sure he got back to Konoha without incident. His student had a bad habit of acting rash when presented with overwhelming information at once, the situation he currently found himself in. His emotionally driven attempt on young Kamui's life was just another example of this. Luckily for the bowl-cut-haired jonin, that didn't seem to be the case this time.
One thing he did catch the boy mutter did concern him though.
"Dammit… did I really try my best…" He muttered silently enough to where only Guy's elite-jonin-trained hearing could pick it up, despite Tenten being right next to him.
Water pooled in the boy's eyes, his body fighting against the tears threatening to fall. Unluckily for the boy's pride though, he had his teammates' full focus.
He wanted to say something; he really did, but this fell so far outside of his area of expertise. It wasn't about hard work, nor was it about perseverance. It wasn't about teamwork nor about coping with loss. He couldn't just say that it would be better tomorrow; the boy's sister had already left the village.
It was times like this when he pondered how his father would've approached it.
At that thought, a smile found its way onto his face.
'I'm overthinking this.' Guy thought to himself.
"Alright Team! I've changed my mind! We're going for a little night run straight back to Konoha! On our hands!" He enthusiastically shouted, completely disregarding field protocol.
"What!?" Tenten shrieked, shooting up to her feet.
"Ready Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted, jumping to his feet as well.
Neji's eyes widened, his disbelieving eyes fixed on Guy.
"That's not all. On this team, I'm very lax about dress code, but today we will return to the village in solidarity." Guy stated with enthusiastic seriousness.
At his words, Neji and Tenten's eyes widened in horror as the horrific reality of what he meant dawned on them.
"What an excellent idea Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted.
"You know it Lee!" He loudly replied.
In a burst of speed none of them could keep up with, Guy body-flickered to the backpack he had brought with him. From it, he pulled out two sheets of paper with a basic sealing formula inscribed. Body-flickering back, he stood in front of his students with a stupidly wide smile.
Before Neji and Tenten's disbelieving eyes, two uniform disturbingly like Lee's appeared in their sensei's hands. What made it even worse was that Tenten could even tell that her suit was made with women in mind; she could see the difference in shape between it and the one next to it. She even had a sinking suspicion that it was made with her measurements in mind.
"How long has he planned to put us in those?" They thought, terrified at the workings of the man's mind.
"No. NO. NO! NO!!" Tenten burst into a cresendoing denial.
"Sensei… you can't be serious…" Neji muttered while his body crawled back from the revolting green jumpsuits.
"I am! In fact, this is an order. We will all rush back to Konoha in these. The village will bear witness as our glowing youth EXPLODES!!" He roared in excitement.
The two were speechless. Any rebuttals died in their mouths at the words signing their dignitys' death sentences.
Internally, Guy's worries were alleviated somewhat. He could see the focus return to Neji's eyes. The boy wasn't worried about what could have been. No, he was focused on these green youthsuits in his hands.
He may not be the best therapist, but he certainly knew how to be one hell of a distraction.
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