บท 86: Naruto : Domination: Chapter 86
After crossing the better part of the Land of Rivers, I turned North, moving at an unbearably slow pace just shy of the border with Suna.
I had to still myself and let Nature Chakra inside of myself more than a few times as a patrol came into my range, but remaining still completely erased my presence, and so I managed to continue North.
...
After a week or so, I moved North-West, actually entering Suna's territory, but it was a necessary choice in order to not stumble into Ame, where one of the increasingly few shinobi capable of killing me ruled as a 'god'.
Nevertheless, in order to optimize Itachi's chances to find me, I either needed to keep circling Ame, or to stay still in a single place long enough for the news to reach him and for him to reach me.
I had no idea if he could use crows as messengers, even if I suspected that much, since in canon he had implanted a pre-programmed Kotoamatsukami inside of a crow's head (I assumed through Uchiha-related bullshit).
But remaining still would invite every hunter-team from every major village to give a try to my life, especially now that I eared the front where war was being decided.
From the Land of Wind, I crossed into Iwagakure's territory, carefully avoiding the neverending skirmishes mostly thanks to brief instants of perfect stillness through which I was able to perceive the world further than any other sensor.
My little students are probably somewhere around here... or on the front against Kumo. I sighed as I crossed an empty stretch of land where a battle had happened not too long before.
There were deep gouges tearing apart the ground, still smouldering craters and many bodies that had been deemed too useless to be recovered.
I looked around, going perfectly still for a single second in order to check for possible scouts, and when I found none, I nodded to myself, it was a time good as any other: I undid the vambrace on one of my arms, rolling up the tight sleeve underneath in order to reveal a snake-like tattoo that was littered with a nightmarish sequence of fuinjutsu.
A quick nick on my thumb later, I summoned forth my chakra, pouring it into the tattoo in a precise sequence as I slapped the ground.
Black kanji poured off me in a spiralling patter, and with a white puff of smoke, a twelve meters long snake had been summoned into the Elemental Nations.
"Manda-ssssama won't be pleasssssed that you didn't call him in order to make you offering." the crimson coloured rattlesnake hissed to me, even as its piercing green eyes tried and failed to ensnare me into a genjutsu, testing me to check if I was still worthy of being the Snake Summoner.
"Is Manda a helpless worm who needs others to do his hunting for him?" I rose an eyebrow ironically as Akahebi laughed with a hiccup-like sequence of hisses.
"I'll refer your wordsss sssummoner..." the snake answered with a soft rattle of his tail, which released a subtle genjutsu that failed again to ensnare me.
"That's why I like you better than the others." I snorted, "You don't pretend to act under a misguided sense of honour." I tilted my head towards the near battlefield: "There are many corpses here, if you want a snack."
"Thank you ssssummoner..." Akahebi was already slithering towards the battlefield, its maw dislocating in order to be able to swallow the dead.
I rolled my eyes at the glutton busy swallowing dead shinobi. Very much as it had been for canon Naruto, I had come to appreciate the different personalities of the Summons I managed to have an agreement with.
While the Boss of the Elephants and his female counterpart had taught me lots, only one elephant had decided to accompany me until the completion of my task of killing black Zetsu and stopping the Rabbit Goddess from making a return.
Even so, Zoukatatsu was more interested in seeing the kind of shit I kept sending into the Summons Plane, which he kept under his care until it was needed. It was a good agreement between us.
He was curious, and while the Bosses of his clan had proved quick in learning some stuff, they also were uninterested in the better part of what I could offer, while he delighted in keeping his eye on 'such a strange human'.
I hadn't even tried to strike a deal with the Monkey Summons, Enma was clearly something that was tied to the Sarutobi clan, and until Konohamaru was around, I wasn't going to open that particular scroll.
The Snake Clan, for all of its mystique, was easy to read: they were greedy, and they wanted everything. The White Snake that was their sage was uninterested in much that happened outside of Ryuchi Cave, while Manda had grown accustomed to having it his way.
Pretty much like I had done with the elephants, after a talk with the Great Boss, I obtained the right to summon the snakes, but it was up to me to build a relationship with the one I wished to summon.
Lucky for me, I didn't need a Great Summons on my side: as a Sage, I was a perfect battering ram. But there were many dozens of snakes, and I understood immediately why canon-Sasuke was so good with visual genjutsu despite the lack of Manheyko. Sadly I couldn't have the Snake Clan eat alive Kabuto were he to try and pass their trials.
That didn't mean I couldn't bribe the members of the clan to keep me posted. Akahebi slithered back towards me after having cleaned up the battlefield, and the twelve meters long snake was now bulging at the seams, satisfied with his meal.
"Has anyone approached the Ryuchi Cave?" I asked immediately, receiving a chuckling hiss as an answer, accompanied by a shake of the head.
The big rattlesnake curled up in front of me, distractedly trying and failing to ensnare me in his genjutsu: "It'ssss been ssssome time ssssince we sssstruck our agreement, sssummoner..."
"I'm still interested, your use of sound to throw around large genjutsu is something that I can manage only on few unsuspecting genin, your skill will come useful sooner or later. You'd better be as good as you promised." I half praised half threatened, following the method that allowed me to talk somewhat normally with the snakes.
They were all undeniably prideful and didn't listen unless their ability was praised, but they would turn on you at the slightest sign of weakness, so I had to keep reminding them that I wasn't someone to fuck with.
I let Akahebi hiss out another creepy laughter before letting him dispel himself. What does it say about me that the most civil conversation I had in the past month is with a summoned snake?
I moved quietly for a couple of days inside of Iwa's territory before turning once more towards South-East, where I knew Kusa acted as a bearing state between Land of Fire and Land of Earth.
...
( 5 February, 14 AK )
It was on the second day of the last stretch of my trip that I stumbled upon a prisoner camp.
Said camps were commonly used as both stations to refuel the troops, since every army marched on its stomach, and to sort the prisoners: from those that were to be killed so that Iwa could pocket their bounty, to those with bloodlines, which were to be sent to the capital, where either experiments or forced breeding were enforced through a combination of drugs and intensive genjutsu.
I frowned in distaste and made to turn North, knowing that passing south would be unnecessarily risky. Takigakure and Tetsu no Kuni before being able to reenter the Land of Fire, hopefully before reaching the Kumo-Konoha front.
Then, another thought wormed itself inside of my head: what if they have Ino? The Yamanaka's combination of bloodline and techniques was one of the highest sought after bloodlines in the Elemental Nations. The ability to read someone's mind was incomparably precious to every self-respecting spy-organization.
I grimaced as the blond head of my student appeared in my mind.
If Iwa gains the Yamanaka, the war will intensify, as even Kumo doesn't want anyone but themselves to hold onto bloodlines. I reminded myself, forcefully turning away from the prisoner camp. War is shit for everyone, but this one is necessary.
I gritted my teeth as countless occasions in which she and her companions had managed to surprise me, from succeeding in a part of their training to grasping a more theoretical lesson that I'd been trying to impart.
If they find out that I've gone out of my way to help a former student, rumors of a deep-cover operation will suddenly gain more substance. I shook my head as I walked away, finding a reason after another why I shouldn't stick my nose into that problem.
After three minutes, as the sun started to properly set, a traitor thought wormed its way to the forefront of my mind: If nobody finds out, I won't be doubted.
Besides, I can sell my eventual saving of my old student as some sort of misplaced affection... besides, I can't even be sure that she's a prisoner, and if I storm the camp, I may make an ally that will turn out helpful later down the line...
I sighed as I turned my head in the direction of the prisoner camp. Hypocrisy, thy name is Daiki.
Piggybacking a war that had quite unexpectantly fallen on my lap? Okay, I would even make sure that the Hidden Villages' numbers and strength would dwindle in it, for it would grant me more freedom after the conflict, but if I could randomly help a kid that had once been entrusted in my care, I would. Fucking useless sentimentalism.
I insulted myself even as I left a Kage-bunshin burrowed in the ground, busy accumulating Nature Chakra.
I would prefer to complete my self-imposed task quietly, and I had the skills to fight on the lower end of S-rank even without my trump card. Given my superb chakra control, I could be stealthy enough, but from there to be actually capable of infiltration there was a long step to make.
...
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