Sins of the Family Ch. VIII: The Sensei's Predicament
Title: Sins of the Family
Series: Naruto
Chapter Rating: M
WARNING: graphic violence
Category: Adventure/Romance
Synopsis: An attempt on Iruka's life forces him to flee Konoha with Kakashi as a reluctant bodygaurd. They must uncover the secrets of his family history before the assassin strikes again...that is, unless Iruka is tempted to kill Kakashi first.
Via Link Posted on kakairu
Author's Notes: A huge big fat THANK YOU goes out to my two most awesome Betas juniperbreezie and almost_british *gives them both virtual cupcakes* ♥
Even when I am not writing this fic it still lurks in the back of my mind. As a result I started doodling some comic panels and portraits to go along with the next few chapters (I need to take up knitting or something lol) Anyways, thank you everyone for reading so far, and please enjoy the ninja violence!
Paper texture for the illustration is from psdgraphics.com, brushes from brusheezy.com, all free non-profit use downloads.
Chapter 8: The Sensei's Predicament
"Where's Kakashi?" Iruka cried over the shriek of the wind whistling in his ears.
"Far away," Pakkun replied as he darted from one tree branch to another with the Chuunin following close behind. The little nin-dog traveled at a breakneck zig-zag pattern that was similar to a rabbit attempting to outrun a predator in open ground.
"They can track us?” Iruka asked, recognizing the pug's intent to confuse the enemy.
“Yes, and very well” Pakkun responded after a few sniffs. “I don’t know what method they are using, but they are following my every move and gaining!” The pug's ears suddenly perked up and he jumped out of the trees to land on the ground. "Uuhei-kun," he stated as the greyhound sprinted into view.
"Where are the other nin-dogs?" Iruka asked as he landed besides Pakkun.
Uuhei shook his head and growled. "Bull and Akino are engaging the enemy; all the others have fallen and returned to our plane" Pakkun translated solemnly.
Iruka cursed inwardly at the news, and then turned to Uuhei. "There's only two, so we'll proceed with the plan on separating their forces. Uuhei?"
Uuhei grunted and stepped forward. Iruka made the proper hand signals over the greyhound. "Transform!" The form of the large nin-dog disappeared into the smoke and was replaced by the guise of the Chuunin. Without missing a beat, Iruka made another set of hand symbols. "Shadow Clones!" Two more duplicates of Iruka appeared next to Uuhei's genjutsu.
The original plan was to use the illusionary technique on several nin-dogs so that they could scatter throughout the woods in hopes that their human forms and multiple chakra energies would confuse the enemy. Though creating shadow clones took a lot out of Iruka’s chakra reserves, he was left with few alternate options now that the bulk of the nin-pack was defeated.
Pakkun's nose twitched as he sniffed the air. "Bull is gone. One of the enemies is moving again."
Iruka nodded at his work, and Uuhei and his clones nodded back. At the silent command both nin-dog and the shadow clones separated and sped off in opposite directions. Pakkun bounded into Iruka's arms, who nearly dropped the pug in his surprise. "This way my tracks won't single yours out," he explained.
"Good idea," Iruka muttered as he resumed his run with Pakkun securely tucked in the crook of one arm. "You're heavier than you look," he commented dryly.
"Less talk, more running" Pakkun chided as he again scented the wind. "Akino is gone now, it looks like the female enemy has taken the bait and gone off after Uuhei-kun. He will give her a merry chase through the forest." The little nin-dog stiffened suddenly in Iruka's arms. "This is bad, the other enemy is bearing directly right on our trail--I think both of your clones are attempting to route him."
Iruka's eyes twitched as he felt his spent chakra disperse, and with its disappearance came the knowledge obtained by his clones. His shadow clones were not able to get a good look at the enemy before they were destroyed--other than it was a slender male dressed in black, and a sense that this man was not easily fooled by the tricks. Iruka gritted his teeth upon the realization of the futility of his flight and halted in his tracks.
“What are you doing!?” Pakkun demanded and wriggled in the shinobi's arm in agitation. “You can't possibly mean to fight them alone!”
"I don't have the time to argue!" Iruka snapped as he tossed the pug onto the mossy earth. “We'll both be caught anyways at this rate. Find Kakashi, they might leave me alive long enough to interrogate me on his whereabouts. Now go!”
For a moment Pakkun remained rooted to the spot, and then he snorted and reluctantly backed away. "Just don't die" the pug-nin growled before he leapt up into the safety of the trees.
Iruka turned away and made a dash through the forest floor, he no longer bothered to hide his tracks. 'Come find me, you bastard.' The Chuunin thought as he slipped one hand into his kunai pouch for a blade and the other into his vest to grab the paper bombs.
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Iruka did not have to wait long before the enemy caught up to his location. From the darkness of a hallow tree the Chuunin sensed the malicious presence moving above in the dense canopy where the chatter of birds abruptly stilled. He peered through a narrow crack in the wood, and a heartbeat later saw the enemy appear crouching on a broad branch.
The rogue shinobi appeared to be a little older than Iruka, though unkempt and gaunt making him seem aged beyond his years. Shoulder length hair the color of freshly boiled bones hung limply around a thin face; dark circles underlined pale eyes that were alight with the feverish intensity of madness. He wore no Hitai-ate, his only symbol being the kanji character for 'Malice' scrawled messily in red paint over the front of his black tunic.
Iruka held his breath as he watched his foe hesitate as he considered the false tracks the Chuunin had made earlier on the branch. Then the man sniffed the air in an animalistic fashion and giggled. Iruka felt his blood run cold; it was an uneasy sound that reminded him of sharp metal grating against stone.
"Your childish tricks won't work on me!" The rogue-nin cried in a high pitched voice from his perch. "I am called Tohru the Tracker, and I know the stink of Hashibara blood in your veins!" He flung himself from the trees to land on his hands and feet as gracefully as a cat before the Chuunin's hiding spot. Knowing that his location was compromised, Iruka emerged from the hollowed tree to properly face his enemy who stood roughly ten meters away.
The sickly shinobi cocked his head, his pale eyes flickering. "Kanzaka-sama wants me to bring you back alive, I don't know why...he's never asked us to do that before." Tohru spoke as if thinking out loud to himself rather than addressing his opponent. "Always dead, always killed on the spot," the man muttered as he slowly advanced towards Iruka while still remaining on all four limbs, his body contorted in a manner that was completely unnatural.
Unnerved at the sight, Iruka took an involuntary step back. Tohru looked up as if truly seeing Iruka for the first time, his gaze focused on the kunai in the Chuunin's hand. "What Kanzaka-sama doesn’t know won't hurt him!" he declared in a sing-song voice, obviously gleeful at the decision. "I really do hope that you know how to play, it has been such a long, long time since I've had one who can put up a fight!"
Iruka did not wait to hear more; he let fly his kunai. Tohru easily dodged the weapon, but failed to spot the shuriken Iruka had palmed underneath; his head jerked back from the impact of the razor sharp weapon imbedding in his face. Iruka's elation of scoring a hit was short lived, Tohru's head snapped back to reveal the shuriken firmly clenched between crooked teeth, blood dripping from where the edges had cut into his lips. "Very nice, very nice." Tohru hissed and slowly rose to his knees before rising to his feet. Iruka’s eyes wearily followed the motion, he was a little stunned to see that his enemy stood nearly two heads taller than himself.
Tohru spat the weapon onto the ground. "We can't have too much fun, Hashibara boy. Akiyuki might show up and spoil our game--she's a stickler who loves to follow the rules." The rouge-nin reached into his tunic to pull out a small worn drinking gourd and began to uncork it. Iruka tensed nervously, unsure of what to expect. He suspected that his foe was a Water-type shinobi, an assumption made correct when Tohru quickly gathered chakra into his right arm and then liberally poured the gourd's contents onto his limb.
A small strangled cry caught in Iruka's throat when he saw what poured out from the gourd was definitely not water, but blood. Thick, black, old human blood that oozed as it escaped the spout of the container. Iruka nearly gagged when he caught a whiff of the horrid substance. It was a thousand times more pungent than the neglected corners and cracks in the floors of the Konoha morgue. Iruka had never smelled anything worse in his life.
"My treasure!" Tohru hummed as the mess of congealed blood spread to cover his right arm and hand to form a long flat shape of a blade. "It started out as pure spring water long ago. This is the blood I have collected over the years from my enemies, most is from you Hashibara rats who deserted their clan to hide amongst the civilians" he chuckled. "You have no idea how eager I am for your shinobi blood. I've grown tired of killing farmers and their shrieking whelps!"
Black rage suddenly gripped the Chuunin at hearing that last statement. No one should ever take so much glee in murdering defenseless children. With his resolve hardened and attention fixed on the foul weapon, Iruka carefully drew forth another kunai.
He had barely freed the weapon from his pouch when Tohru made a sudden dash with arms spread wide in a deadly parody of an embrace. Iruka pushed chakra into his legs and jumped high above before the liquid sword could slice into his gut. The hollow tree bore the brunt of Tohru's attack; it shuddered and a spray of dust and splintered wood exploded from the chakra-enforced blade. Tohru yanked his arm free and cast his pale eyes about to spot the Chuunin. The old tree slowly toppled over with a groan, leaving in its wake a shower of branches and leaves scattering to the earth.
High up in the canopy of the forest, Iruka watched the tree fall and waited for his enemy to make the next move. Tohru remained where he was, impassive to the destruction around him. With eyes closed he tilted his head back to sniff the air, and then his eyes snapped open to stare directly in the Chuunin's direction. ‘Dammit!' Iruka swore as his foe charged him with a mighty leap, the arm sword poised for a strike. Iruka leaped away not a moment too late as he heard the blade cleave the branch in two behind him.
Iruka landed lightly on the ground, and knowing that his enemy would follow he made a dash into a dense cluster of prickly bushes close to where the hollowed tree had fallen. His hands moved in a blur of motion as he summoned three shadow clones, and then silently commanded his doppelgangers to run out into the clearing. 'I only have one shot at this,’ Iruka thought as his looked about, and was satisfied to see that he was in the right area. He felt two of the shadow clones disperse, then heard a cry and was able to move away as the body of the last shadow clone flew into the bushes. The clone disappeared into smoke upon hitting the ground; it had been sliced in two through the middle.
Tohru exploded into the brush following the clone, his massive blade swiping for the Chuunin's head. Iruka was barely able to dodge the lightning-quick attack, his left temple stinging from a shallow cut. He was not fast enough to avoid the follow up, taking a powerful kick in the stomach that sent him flying backwards; bouncing twice over the ground, kunai and shuriken spilling out from his unbuttoned pouch, before crashing into a tree. Iruka cried out as his shoulders collided with the trunk, his vision going white as the back of his head slammed against the hard wood. For a few precious moments he remained dazed and slumped against the tree.
"Khe he he he," Tohru's raspy laughter invaded the ringing in Iruka’s ears. "And here I thought you would put up a good fight!" The crazed shinobi slowly advanced through the dense undergrowth, confident that his prey would not be able to escape.
"Get up, get up!" Iruka hissed to himself as he forced his sluggish body to move, and winced at the sharp pain in his left shoulder blade. His vision swam from the mild concussion, the blood dripping into his left eye from his cut temple, making it worse. He could see two versions of Tohru walking towards him as his foe emerged from the dense cluster of bushes, the tip of the long black blade dragging ominously through the earth. Iruka could barely believe his luck as he recognized the clearing where he had landed and fighting down nausea, he narrowed eyes to focus on his enemy's feet, praying that he was targeting the right pair. He inhaled deeply to summon his chakra and then held up his hands. "Barrier Jutsu!"
Black symbols and lines encircled Tohru immediately. The rogue shinobi looked casually about at the ninjutsu surrounding him. "What’s this?" he drawled, and then growled in anger upon discovering that he could not move outside the circle. "You arrogant little prick!" Tohru sneered. "I doubt you have the chakra needed to keep me in here for long!"
"I don't intend to keep you prisoner.” The corner of Iruka's mouth curled into a self-satisfied smirk as he slowly rose. "I wonder what's hiding under the moss beneath your feet?"
"No fair!" Tohru cried in a voice that was almost petulant as he looked about the ground. "You're just a stupid teacher, you're not supposed to be this good!"
“It’s because I am a teacher, you sick fuck!" Iruka snarled. "I teach children how to set traps every day, so of course I know what I’m doing!" He brushed aside a strand of his loose hair from his face, and held up two fingers of his right hand. "Release!"
In the hopes of trapping his enemy within range of at least one, Iruka had buried several bombs in the clearing. Luck was on his side, as one exploded directly under Tohru's left foot. Iruka shielded his eyes against the flying dirt and debris. Through the acrid smoke he could see the form of Tohru's body splayed against the earth. Iruka cursed, seeing that the position of the paper bomb's explosion had been too weak to be fatal.
"GYAAAAH! MY LEG! YOU TOOK MY LEG, YOU FUCKER!” Tohru shrieked, his body writhing while the stump of his left leg spurted blood. The black mass that once held the form of his deadly weapon now dripped off the rogue shinobi's arm in its natural state; the dark, old blood of countless victims seeped into the ground in a large pool intermingled with the bright red from the severed leg. Tohru twisted his body to stare directly into Iruka’s eyes. "I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS YOU SHIT!" he screamed, his face contorted with rage.
Iruka could only gape stupidly at Tohru and the gore that covered the smoking terrain before his muddled brain kicked back into motion. He reached into his pouch for a weapon and then realized that it was empty. Knowing that he had no other option, he ran up behind Tohru to break his enemy's neck. He had done the motion a thousand times before in the classroom, but it was the first time he had to put the practice to use. His arms tightened around his enemy’s shoulders and neck in the proper hold. Tohru garbled curses and tried to claw and bite at Iruka’s arms. With a burst of chakra, Iruka twisted until he heard the sickening scrape, then snap of vertebrae ring into his ears.
Tohru's body went limp and his screams ceased instantly, the sudden silence was almost deafening in the still clearing. Iruka released his hold then pushed the corpse away to drop heavily onto the earth. His arms tingled where he had felt the vibration of the killing break. Iruka breathed heavily as he stood up. He had taken the lives of enemies before but never at such a close range, and never with an enemy who had looked at him with such murderous contempt before death.
With a shudder that had little to do with strain, Iruka forced his mind back to the task at hand and searched Tohru’s body for weapons, finding two shuriken and one kunai. He pocketed the weapons into his pouch, and then dispelled the barrier ninjutsu. Eager to get moving, he spun around to get his bearings and nearly vomited at the motion; he had yet to recover from the blow in the back of his head. ‘Not good,’ Iruka gritted his teeth against the nausea as he bent over with hands on his knees and waited for the ground to stop spinning.
If Pakkun's information was correct, then he still had one other enemy to face. The kunoichi would have been sure to have seen through Uuhei's genjutsu by now, and be alerted by the noise of the explosions. Iruka knew that he would not survive another battle with his current injuries. ‘If I can just make it across the river…’ Iruka thought as he straightened and forced his legs into a steady walk. ‘I doubt that I can manage walking across water right now, but I have to try!’ His pace quickly turned into a headlong run in the direction that he had marked as west. As long as he could keep moving, then he still had a chance to find Kakashi...
Iruka stumbled when his left foot sank through something sticky and wet. He grunted in surprise and managed to twist his torso in order to land on his uninjured shoulder. He tried to pull his foot out of the mud and found it stuck. 'Shit! A stupid ninjutsu trap!' If Iruka had been more focused he would have been able to avoid it. Being as it was he had little spare chakra to free himself--but now he had little choice in the matter. Summoning up the chakra he needed made his pounding head swim, he concentrated the energy to form in his foot and then kicked out until he was free. The trap was a basic one designed to slow the ensnared shinobi down and force them to waste their chakra, and it had done its job well.
Scrambling to his feet, Iruka was about to resume his escape when he spotted a woman coolly watching him from a wide tree, her arms folded in apparent boredom. Iruka skidded backwards and pulled his remaining kunai from his pouch, taking a defensive stance, and noting that his hands shook a little from the effort.
The kunoichi flipped her long coppery dreadlocks over one shoulder in a display of being unconcerned. Iruka had a vague impression that Kakashi had mentioned meeting this woman before. "You put up a good fight for a two-bit Chuunin that teaches brats" she declared in a gravelly voice as she regarded Iruka with disdain. "Tohru was a fool to underestimate his opponent; you are one of the Hashibara clan after all."
'Now's my chance!' Iruka saw an opening in the kunoichi's defense and rushed to attack--or at least tried to. He fell flat on his face the moment he moved, his feet were cemented firmly into the ground.
“Oh, please.” Akiyuki chuckled as she leaped forward to snatch the kunai from Iruka before he could recover from his fall; his body sluggish to react due to his head injury that reverberated with renewed pain from the shock of hitting the hard ground. "Earth ninjutstu is my specialty," the kunoichi purred, the sound made the hair on Iruka's scalp stand up. He remained very still as she lightly dragged the tip of the kunai across the back of his neck, as if she were a lover idly tracing her fingers across his skin. Out of the corner of his blurred vision, Iruka could see that same feverish madness alight in her green eyes that had possessed Tohru. The insanity was far more restrained, but present nonetheless.
Akiyuki sighed. "What a bother. It would be so much more convenient to kill you now, but orders are orders!" She deftly flipped the kunai over and used the blunt ring-end to strike the nerve bundle at the base of Iruka's skull.
Iruka felt the shock of the blow. The last conscious thought that flew through his mind was of Kakashi standing by the river bank, his mask pulled slightly in a smile as he tugged the elastic hairband around his wrist-and then everything went empty and black.
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Dread gripped Kakashi's heart as they neared a section of the forest where an intense battle had taken place. The Jounin did not need to see the evidence of the fight to know its outcome--the scent of death tainted the air. ‘No, please not him...' His sharp nose could clearly smell the metallic tang of fresh blood and the charred remains of burnt flesh. Kakashi had to rely on all his years as a battle-hardened shinobi to push aside his emotions and concentrate on the here-and-now of his surroundings. "Anyone here?" he whispered to Pakkun as they cautiously entered the clearing.
"There’s one dead body." Pakkun sniffed and trotted towards the location of the corpse. "It's not Iruka."
Relief washed over Kakashi upon hearing the news. 'I haven't failed him yet' he thought as he followed the nin-dog. The Jounin silently regarded Tohru's broken body, and then quickly dismissed it to focus on the area surrounding the corpse. He pulled away his Hitai-ate to observe the visible tracks with his Sharingan. The ghostly images of the battle played before his eye, and he could see in vivid detail the botched explosion of Iruka’s trap and the inevitable deathblow the Chuunin had dealt to break his enemy’s neck. He could tell that Iruka had been injured and disoriented after the fight, based on the unsteady and dragging pattern of his footprints--a head wound possibly--but all trace of his progress had been cut short after he had fallen to the ground a few meters away from the location of the dead shinobi. All the tracks afterwards had been carefully erased.
"Boss!" Pakkun cried and nosed at Tohru’s mangled remains. Iruka's Leaf Hitai-ate had been neatly folded and placed into the corpse's left hand.
The Copy-nin covered his Sharingan and stooped to slip the headband out from the dead man's grasp, knowing that Iruka's Hitai-ate had been intentionally left for him to find. The message was clear: We have Iruka, come find him if you can. A small flicker of hope kindled in Kakashi’s chest. Iruka could still be alive. His grip on the Hitai-ate tightened before he pocketed it. He turned to face the waiting nin-dog.
"Right on it," Pakkun responded to the unspoken order and began to sniff the ground.
Kakashi waited silently for the pug-nin to pick up the trail. He had absolute faith that Pakkun would eventually find it. He no longer allowed himself to think about Iruka, and with an effort he buried the Chuunin’s scarred, smiling face along with the memory of the last lingering kiss they had shared earlier that morning. Doing so helped squash the last of his fears, until only Kakashi’s carefully leashed rage remained as an incentive for him to vanquish his enemies. A slow feral smile tugged the corners of the Jounin’s mouth. No matter what he found at the Kanzaka hideout, the floors would soon be soaked in his enemy’s blood…and Iruka would either be rescued or avenged.
This, Hatake ‘Sharingan’ Kakashi vowed.
END OF CHAPTER 8
Next Chapter
Chapter 9: A Tragedy of Two Clans
Previous Chapters
Chapter 1: A Very Bad Monday Morning
Chapter 2: The Eyes of a Child
Chapter 3: Exiled
Chapter 4: Ghost Stories
Chapter 5: Cabin Fever
Chapter 6: The Path of Lonliness
Chapter 7: A Love Found, Then Lost Again
Series: Naruto
Chapter Rating: M
WARNING: graphic violence
Category: Adventure/Romance
Synopsis: An attempt on Iruka's life forces him to flee Konoha with Kakashi as a reluctant bodygaurd. They must uncover the secrets of his family history before the assassin strikes again...that is, unless Iruka is tempted to kill Kakashi first.
Via Link Posted on kakairu
Author's Notes: A huge big fat THANK YOU goes out to my two most awesome Betas juniperbreezie and almost_british *gives them both virtual cupcakes* ♥
Even when I am not writing this fic it still lurks in the back of my mind. As a result I started doodling some comic panels and portraits to go along with the next few chapters (I need to take up knitting or something lol) Anyways, thank you everyone for reading so far, and please enjoy the ninja violence!
Paper texture for the illustration is from psdgraphics.com, brushes from brusheezy.com, all free non-profit use downloads.
Chapter 8: The Sensei's Predicament
"Where's Kakashi?" Iruka cried over the shriek of the wind whistling in his ears.
"Far away," Pakkun replied as he darted from one tree branch to another with the Chuunin following close behind. The little nin-dog traveled at a breakneck zig-zag pattern that was similar to a rabbit attempting to outrun a predator in open ground.
"They can track us?” Iruka asked, recognizing the pug's intent to confuse the enemy.
“Yes, and very well” Pakkun responded after a few sniffs. “I don’t know what method they are using, but they are following my every move and gaining!” The pug's ears suddenly perked up and he jumped out of the trees to land on the ground. "Uuhei-kun," he stated as the greyhound sprinted into view.
"Where are the other nin-dogs?" Iruka asked as he landed besides Pakkun.
Uuhei shook his head and growled. "Bull and Akino are engaging the enemy; all the others have fallen and returned to our plane" Pakkun translated solemnly.
Iruka cursed inwardly at the news, and then turned to Uuhei. "There's only two, so we'll proceed with the plan on separating their forces. Uuhei?"
Uuhei grunted and stepped forward. Iruka made the proper hand signals over the greyhound. "Transform!" The form of the large nin-dog disappeared into the smoke and was replaced by the guise of the Chuunin. Without missing a beat, Iruka made another set of hand symbols. "Shadow Clones!" Two more duplicates of Iruka appeared next to Uuhei's genjutsu.
The original plan was to use the illusionary technique on several nin-dogs so that they could scatter throughout the woods in hopes that their human forms and multiple chakra energies would confuse the enemy. Though creating shadow clones took a lot out of Iruka’s chakra reserves, he was left with few alternate options now that the bulk of the nin-pack was defeated.
Pakkun's nose twitched as he sniffed the air. "Bull is gone. One of the enemies is moving again."
Iruka nodded at his work, and Uuhei and his clones nodded back. At the silent command both nin-dog and the shadow clones separated and sped off in opposite directions. Pakkun bounded into Iruka's arms, who nearly dropped the pug in his surprise. "This way my tracks won't single yours out," he explained.
"Good idea," Iruka muttered as he resumed his run with Pakkun securely tucked in the crook of one arm. "You're heavier than you look," he commented dryly.
"Less talk, more running" Pakkun chided as he again scented the wind. "Akino is gone now, it looks like the female enemy has taken the bait and gone off after Uuhei-kun. He will give her a merry chase through the forest." The little nin-dog stiffened suddenly in Iruka's arms. "This is bad, the other enemy is bearing directly right on our trail--I think both of your clones are attempting to route him."
Iruka's eyes twitched as he felt his spent chakra disperse, and with its disappearance came the knowledge obtained by his clones. His shadow clones were not able to get a good look at the enemy before they were destroyed--other than it was a slender male dressed in black, and a sense that this man was not easily fooled by the tricks. Iruka gritted his teeth upon the realization of the futility of his flight and halted in his tracks.
“What are you doing!?” Pakkun demanded and wriggled in the shinobi's arm in agitation. “You can't possibly mean to fight them alone!”
"I don't have the time to argue!" Iruka snapped as he tossed the pug onto the mossy earth. “We'll both be caught anyways at this rate. Find Kakashi, they might leave me alive long enough to interrogate me on his whereabouts. Now go!”
For a moment Pakkun remained rooted to the spot, and then he snorted and reluctantly backed away. "Just don't die" the pug-nin growled before he leapt up into the safety of the trees.
Iruka turned away and made a dash through the forest floor, he no longer bothered to hide his tracks. 'Come find me, you bastard.' The Chuunin thought as he slipped one hand into his kunai pouch for a blade and the other into his vest to grab the paper bombs.
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Iruka did not have to wait long before the enemy caught up to his location. From the darkness of a hallow tree the Chuunin sensed the malicious presence moving above in the dense canopy where the chatter of birds abruptly stilled. He peered through a narrow crack in the wood, and a heartbeat later saw the enemy appear crouching on a broad branch.
The rogue shinobi appeared to be a little older than Iruka, though unkempt and gaunt making him seem aged beyond his years. Shoulder length hair the color of freshly boiled bones hung limply around a thin face; dark circles underlined pale eyes that were alight with the feverish intensity of madness. He wore no Hitai-ate, his only symbol being the kanji character for 'Malice' scrawled messily in red paint over the front of his black tunic.
Iruka held his breath as he watched his foe hesitate as he considered the false tracks the Chuunin had made earlier on the branch. Then the man sniffed the air in an animalistic fashion and giggled. Iruka felt his blood run cold; it was an uneasy sound that reminded him of sharp metal grating against stone.
"Your childish tricks won't work on me!" The rogue-nin cried in a high pitched voice from his perch. "I am called Tohru the Tracker, and I know the stink of Hashibara blood in your veins!" He flung himself from the trees to land on his hands and feet as gracefully as a cat before the Chuunin's hiding spot. Knowing that his location was compromised, Iruka emerged from the hollowed tree to properly face his enemy who stood roughly ten meters away.
The sickly shinobi cocked his head, his pale eyes flickering. "Kanzaka-sama wants me to bring you back alive, I don't know why...he's never asked us to do that before." Tohru spoke as if thinking out loud to himself rather than addressing his opponent. "Always dead, always killed on the spot," the man muttered as he slowly advanced towards Iruka while still remaining on all four limbs, his body contorted in a manner that was completely unnatural.
Unnerved at the sight, Iruka took an involuntary step back. Tohru looked up as if truly seeing Iruka for the first time, his gaze focused on the kunai in the Chuunin's hand. "What Kanzaka-sama doesn’t know won't hurt him!" he declared in a sing-song voice, obviously gleeful at the decision. "I really do hope that you know how to play, it has been such a long, long time since I've had one who can put up a fight!"
Iruka did not wait to hear more; he let fly his kunai. Tohru easily dodged the weapon, but failed to spot the shuriken Iruka had palmed underneath; his head jerked back from the impact of the razor sharp weapon imbedding in his face. Iruka's elation of scoring a hit was short lived, Tohru's head snapped back to reveal the shuriken firmly clenched between crooked teeth, blood dripping from where the edges had cut into his lips. "Very nice, very nice." Tohru hissed and slowly rose to his knees before rising to his feet. Iruka’s eyes wearily followed the motion, he was a little stunned to see that his enemy stood nearly two heads taller than himself.
Tohru spat the weapon onto the ground. "We can't have too much fun, Hashibara boy. Akiyuki might show up and spoil our game--she's a stickler who loves to follow the rules." The rouge-nin reached into his tunic to pull out a small worn drinking gourd and began to uncork it. Iruka tensed nervously, unsure of what to expect. He suspected that his foe was a Water-type shinobi, an assumption made correct when Tohru quickly gathered chakra into his right arm and then liberally poured the gourd's contents onto his limb.
A small strangled cry caught in Iruka's throat when he saw what poured out from the gourd was definitely not water, but blood. Thick, black, old human blood that oozed as it escaped the spout of the container. Iruka nearly gagged when he caught a whiff of the horrid substance. It was a thousand times more pungent than the neglected corners and cracks in the floors of the Konoha morgue. Iruka had never smelled anything worse in his life.
"My treasure!" Tohru hummed as the mess of congealed blood spread to cover his right arm and hand to form a long flat shape of a blade. "It started out as pure spring water long ago. This is the blood I have collected over the years from my enemies, most is from you Hashibara rats who deserted their clan to hide amongst the civilians" he chuckled. "You have no idea how eager I am for your shinobi blood. I've grown tired of killing farmers and their shrieking whelps!"
Black rage suddenly gripped the Chuunin at hearing that last statement. No one should ever take so much glee in murdering defenseless children. With his resolve hardened and attention fixed on the foul weapon, Iruka carefully drew forth another kunai.
He had barely freed the weapon from his pouch when Tohru made a sudden dash with arms spread wide in a deadly parody of an embrace. Iruka pushed chakra into his legs and jumped high above before the liquid sword could slice into his gut. The hollow tree bore the brunt of Tohru's attack; it shuddered and a spray of dust and splintered wood exploded from the chakra-enforced blade. Tohru yanked his arm free and cast his pale eyes about to spot the Chuunin. The old tree slowly toppled over with a groan, leaving in its wake a shower of branches and leaves scattering to the earth.
High up in the canopy of the forest, Iruka watched the tree fall and waited for his enemy to make the next move. Tohru remained where he was, impassive to the destruction around him. With eyes closed he tilted his head back to sniff the air, and then his eyes snapped open to stare directly in the Chuunin's direction. ‘Dammit!' Iruka swore as his foe charged him with a mighty leap, the arm sword poised for a strike. Iruka leaped away not a moment too late as he heard the blade cleave the branch in two behind him.
Iruka landed lightly on the ground, and knowing that his enemy would follow he made a dash into a dense cluster of prickly bushes close to where the hollowed tree had fallen. His hands moved in a blur of motion as he summoned three shadow clones, and then silently commanded his doppelgangers to run out into the clearing. 'I only have one shot at this,’ Iruka thought as his looked about, and was satisfied to see that he was in the right area. He felt two of the shadow clones disperse, then heard a cry and was able to move away as the body of the last shadow clone flew into the bushes. The clone disappeared into smoke upon hitting the ground; it had been sliced in two through the middle.
Tohru exploded into the brush following the clone, his massive blade swiping for the Chuunin's head. Iruka was barely able to dodge the lightning-quick attack, his left temple stinging from a shallow cut. He was not fast enough to avoid the follow up, taking a powerful kick in the stomach that sent him flying backwards; bouncing twice over the ground, kunai and shuriken spilling out from his unbuttoned pouch, before crashing into a tree. Iruka cried out as his shoulders collided with the trunk, his vision going white as the back of his head slammed against the hard wood. For a few precious moments he remained dazed and slumped against the tree.
"Khe he he he," Tohru's raspy laughter invaded the ringing in Iruka’s ears. "And here I thought you would put up a good fight!" The crazed shinobi slowly advanced through the dense undergrowth, confident that his prey would not be able to escape.
"Get up, get up!" Iruka hissed to himself as he forced his sluggish body to move, and winced at the sharp pain in his left shoulder blade. His vision swam from the mild concussion, the blood dripping into his left eye from his cut temple, making it worse. He could see two versions of Tohru walking towards him as his foe emerged from the dense cluster of bushes, the tip of the long black blade dragging ominously through the earth. Iruka could barely believe his luck as he recognized the clearing where he had landed and fighting down nausea, he narrowed eyes to focus on his enemy's feet, praying that he was targeting the right pair. He inhaled deeply to summon his chakra and then held up his hands. "Barrier Jutsu!"
Black symbols and lines encircled Tohru immediately. The rogue shinobi looked casually about at the ninjutsu surrounding him. "What’s this?" he drawled, and then growled in anger upon discovering that he could not move outside the circle. "You arrogant little prick!" Tohru sneered. "I doubt you have the chakra needed to keep me in here for long!"
"I don't intend to keep you prisoner.” The corner of Iruka's mouth curled into a self-satisfied smirk as he slowly rose. "I wonder what's hiding under the moss beneath your feet?"
"No fair!" Tohru cried in a voice that was almost petulant as he looked about the ground. "You're just a stupid teacher, you're not supposed to be this good!"
“It’s because I am a teacher, you sick fuck!" Iruka snarled. "I teach children how to set traps every day, so of course I know what I’m doing!" He brushed aside a strand of his loose hair from his face, and held up two fingers of his right hand. "Release!"
In the hopes of trapping his enemy within range of at least one, Iruka had buried several bombs in the clearing. Luck was on his side, as one exploded directly under Tohru's left foot. Iruka shielded his eyes against the flying dirt and debris. Through the acrid smoke he could see the form of Tohru's body splayed against the earth. Iruka cursed, seeing that the position of the paper bomb's explosion had been too weak to be fatal.
"GYAAAAH! MY LEG! YOU TOOK MY LEG, YOU FUCKER!” Tohru shrieked, his body writhing while the stump of his left leg spurted blood. The black mass that once held the form of his deadly weapon now dripped off the rogue shinobi's arm in its natural state; the dark, old blood of countless victims seeped into the ground in a large pool intermingled with the bright red from the severed leg. Tohru twisted his body to stare directly into Iruka’s eyes. "I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS YOU SHIT!" he screamed, his face contorted with rage.
Iruka could only gape stupidly at Tohru and the gore that covered the smoking terrain before his muddled brain kicked back into motion. He reached into his pouch for a weapon and then realized that it was empty. Knowing that he had no other option, he ran up behind Tohru to break his enemy's neck. He had done the motion a thousand times before in the classroom, but it was the first time he had to put the practice to use. His arms tightened around his enemy’s shoulders and neck in the proper hold. Tohru garbled curses and tried to claw and bite at Iruka’s arms. With a burst of chakra, Iruka twisted until he heard the sickening scrape, then snap of vertebrae ring into his ears.
Tohru's body went limp and his screams ceased instantly, the sudden silence was almost deafening in the still clearing. Iruka released his hold then pushed the corpse away to drop heavily onto the earth. His arms tingled where he had felt the vibration of the killing break. Iruka breathed heavily as he stood up. He had taken the lives of enemies before but never at such a close range, and never with an enemy who had looked at him with such murderous contempt before death.
With a shudder that had little to do with strain, Iruka forced his mind back to the task at hand and searched Tohru’s body for weapons, finding two shuriken and one kunai. He pocketed the weapons into his pouch, and then dispelled the barrier ninjutsu. Eager to get moving, he spun around to get his bearings and nearly vomited at the motion; he had yet to recover from the blow in the back of his head. ‘Not good,’ Iruka gritted his teeth against the nausea as he bent over with hands on his knees and waited for the ground to stop spinning.
If Pakkun's information was correct, then he still had one other enemy to face. The kunoichi would have been sure to have seen through Uuhei's genjutsu by now, and be alerted by the noise of the explosions. Iruka knew that he would not survive another battle with his current injuries. ‘If I can just make it across the river…’ Iruka thought as he straightened and forced his legs into a steady walk. ‘I doubt that I can manage walking across water right now, but I have to try!’ His pace quickly turned into a headlong run in the direction that he had marked as west. As long as he could keep moving, then he still had a chance to find Kakashi...
Iruka stumbled when his left foot sank through something sticky and wet. He grunted in surprise and managed to twist his torso in order to land on his uninjured shoulder. He tried to pull his foot out of the mud and found it stuck. 'Shit! A stupid ninjutsu trap!' If Iruka had been more focused he would have been able to avoid it. Being as it was he had little spare chakra to free himself--but now he had little choice in the matter. Summoning up the chakra he needed made his pounding head swim, he concentrated the energy to form in his foot and then kicked out until he was free. The trap was a basic one designed to slow the ensnared shinobi down and force them to waste their chakra, and it had done its job well.
Scrambling to his feet, Iruka was about to resume his escape when he spotted a woman coolly watching him from a wide tree, her arms folded in apparent boredom. Iruka skidded backwards and pulled his remaining kunai from his pouch, taking a defensive stance, and noting that his hands shook a little from the effort.
The kunoichi flipped her long coppery dreadlocks over one shoulder in a display of being unconcerned. Iruka had a vague impression that Kakashi had mentioned meeting this woman before. "You put up a good fight for a two-bit Chuunin that teaches brats" she declared in a gravelly voice as she regarded Iruka with disdain. "Tohru was a fool to underestimate his opponent; you are one of the Hashibara clan after all."
'Now's my chance!' Iruka saw an opening in the kunoichi's defense and rushed to attack--or at least tried to. He fell flat on his face the moment he moved, his feet were cemented firmly into the ground.
“Oh, please.” Akiyuki chuckled as she leaped forward to snatch the kunai from Iruka before he could recover from his fall; his body sluggish to react due to his head injury that reverberated with renewed pain from the shock of hitting the hard ground. "Earth ninjutstu is my specialty," the kunoichi purred, the sound made the hair on Iruka's scalp stand up. He remained very still as she lightly dragged the tip of the kunai across the back of his neck, as if she were a lover idly tracing her fingers across his skin. Out of the corner of his blurred vision, Iruka could see that same feverish madness alight in her green eyes that had possessed Tohru. The insanity was far more restrained, but present nonetheless.
Akiyuki sighed. "What a bother. It would be so much more convenient to kill you now, but orders are orders!" She deftly flipped the kunai over and used the blunt ring-end to strike the nerve bundle at the base of Iruka's skull.
Iruka felt the shock of the blow. The last conscious thought that flew through his mind was of Kakashi standing by the river bank, his mask pulled slightly in a smile as he tugged the elastic hairband around his wrist-and then everything went empty and black.
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Dread gripped Kakashi's heart as they neared a section of the forest where an intense battle had taken place. The Jounin did not need to see the evidence of the fight to know its outcome--the scent of death tainted the air. ‘No, please not him...' His sharp nose could clearly smell the metallic tang of fresh blood and the charred remains of burnt flesh. Kakashi had to rely on all his years as a battle-hardened shinobi to push aside his emotions and concentrate on the here-and-now of his surroundings. "Anyone here?" he whispered to Pakkun as they cautiously entered the clearing.
"There’s one dead body." Pakkun sniffed and trotted towards the location of the corpse. "It's not Iruka."
Relief washed over Kakashi upon hearing the news. 'I haven't failed him yet' he thought as he followed the nin-dog. The Jounin silently regarded Tohru's broken body, and then quickly dismissed it to focus on the area surrounding the corpse. He pulled away his Hitai-ate to observe the visible tracks with his Sharingan. The ghostly images of the battle played before his eye, and he could see in vivid detail the botched explosion of Iruka’s trap and the inevitable deathblow the Chuunin had dealt to break his enemy’s neck. He could tell that Iruka had been injured and disoriented after the fight, based on the unsteady and dragging pattern of his footprints--a head wound possibly--but all trace of his progress had been cut short after he had fallen to the ground a few meters away from the location of the dead shinobi. All the tracks afterwards had been carefully erased.
"Boss!" Pakkun cried and nosed at Tohru’s mangled remains. Iruka's Leaf Hitai-ate had been neatly folded and placed into the corpse's left hand.
The Copy-nin covered his Sharingan and stooped to slip the headband out from the dead man's grasp, knowing that Iruka's Hitai-ate had been intentionally left for him to find. The message was clear: We have Iruka, come find him if you can. A small flicker of hope kindled in Kakashi’s chest. Iruka could still be alive. His grip on the Hitai-ate tightened before he pocketed it. He turned to face the waiting nin-dog.
"Right on it," Pakkun responded to the unspoken order and began to sniff the ground.
Kakashi waited silently for the pug-nin to pick up the trail. He had absolute faith that Pakkun would eventually find it. He no longer allowed himself to think about Iruka, and with an effort he buried the Chuunin’s scarred, smiling face along with the memory of the last lingering kiss they had shared earlier that morning. Doing so helped squash the last of his fears, until only Kakashi’s carefully leashed rage remained as an incentive for him to vanquish his enemies. A slow feral smile tugged the corners of the Jounin’s mouth. No matter what he found at the Kanzaka hideout, the floors would soon be soaked in his enemy’s blood…and Iruka would either be rescued or avenged.
This, Hatake ‘Sharingan’ Kakashi vowed.
END OF CHAPTER 8
Next Chapter
Chapter 9: A Tragedy of Two Clans
Previous Chapters
Chapter 1: A Very Bad Monday Morning
Chapter 2: The Eyes of a Child
Chapter 3: Exiled
Chapter 4: Ghost Stories
Chapter 5: Cabin Fever
Chapter 6: The Path of Lonliness
Chapter 7: A Love Found, Then Lost Again