Chapter 11
Sasuke had literally never been in a position he was so fearful. Fear was not even the way to properly describe it. It was the lack of preparedness he had for this situation.
Darn it! He yelled at himself. I was so cocky after having become a jonin that I took no time to research or prepare for this mission!
He was exerting the limits of his mental control to not be influenced by Hinata and Sakura’s chakra. Sasuke shook in panic, his flame chakra beginning to become blue and fluid. However, this only applied to the outermost layer as the majority of his emotions were still anger. Whenever Sasuke didn’t know what he was thinking or feeling he could always remember he was angry.
Itachi…He thought, his brother’s face plastered in his mind. The only reason I continue to breathe…is now to defeat you…If I cannot defeat these cowards hiding in the mist then it will be impossible for me to overcome someone of your caliber.
The mist had completely eclipsed all sources of light around them. Not only was the sea of fog floating mere inches in front of them but it was overhead as well. The morning sun had been swallowed by the ocean of white. The rolling stream of fog was so thick and endless Sasuke could guarantee he’d be lost in it if he took so much as a step forward. He wanted to call it featureless but it was obvious that multiple rivers of the mist were forming the barrier to their vision.
“Sasuke, stay close to me!” Sakura cried as her back was to his.
“Darn it,” Gato said in the middle of them. “Protect me you brats! I’m the one paying you after all!”
“I-I think I may be able to use my Byakugan to see through it!” Hinata shouted. “J-Just stay calm!”
And then came the laughter from the fog in front of them. It set Sasuke on edge to hear them chuckling at their distress. Sasuke looked everywhere for a weak point like Kakashi discussed only for the laughter to grow louder.
“Villains…” a soft voice from within the mist came. “Do you think you could come to our home and think its last defenders would just roll over for you?”
“Yes,” a slightly more masculine voice arose. “How is it you can have the gall to defend that killer of our land and not receive resistance?”
“Th-This is just a job!” Sakura said weakly, her voice shaking. “W-We just…we-we’re ninja! It’s what we do! I didn’t even want to be a shinobi!”
“I-I hate hurting others,” Hinata said, more ashamed than afraid. “I…I truly don’t want to kill or even harm anyone!”
“Yet you came here anyway,” one of the Hidden Mist ninja said. “Typical Konoha ninja…daring to have the moral high ground and yet commit the most vile of deeds.”
“Enough of this!” Sasuke shouted.
Sasuke closed his eyes, consumed nearly three inches of his fire chakra and focused before opening them up. With his Sharingan active his vision was far clearer and sharper than before. Even the faintest of movements became well-defined. Hyper clarity was the default vision when using the ocular power.
And that was not the only advantage it gave him. As soon as the Sharingan was activated his flame chakra expanded by about two feet. Sakura, Hinata and Gato both stared wide-eyed as the flame around Sasuke rapidly consumed more of the area around them. It was one of the reasons that Uchiha were seen as such legendary warriors, enhancing their ocular vision as well as a dramatic increase in chakra quantity. But when Sasuke looked into the fog in front of him he was surprised at what he saw.
“My Sharingan can’t see past this mist?!” Sasuke shouted.
Indeed the Sharingan did little to pierce the fog in front. The slowly drifting wall of white in front of him was as featureless and enigmatic now as when his Sharingan wasn’t active. He began shaking again as he looked around in panic, no portion of the surrounding mist anymore visible than the quantity directly in front.
“But my eye has three tomoe!” he shouted into the void. “What gives?!”
“He-he,” a voice said from behind.
He turned to find what looked like a mask floating through the sea of white mist before disappearing.
“Foolish Uchiha,” he said. “You think we’d be the shinobi we are if a simple gimmick like yours could obfuscate our invisibility?”
“Yes,” another, more feminine, voice called out. “Our mist is so thick even the Sharingan can do nothing against it.”
“What?!” Sakura cried.
“Pitiful waste of money,” Gato said. “Should have spent my cash on someone better.”
Sasuke curled his hands into fists, his surrounding chakra intensifying into a more bright red flame once again. Anger welled up inside him as he glared in frustration. This was more than humiliating.
How can I even hope to match Itachi if these brats can avoid the Sharingan? Sasuke thought. If it requires a power beyond the Sharingan to counter the most common jutsu used by the Hidden Mist shinobi…was it even worth gaining this power?
He then straightened his back and faced the mist without having an ounce of fear.
Itachi would have found a way to deal with these small fries, Sharingan or not. Sasuke realized. And so will I!
Sasuke began weaving hand seals, mostly a combination of the tora and ushi hand signs, before releasing about the two feet of newly gained fire chakra. He used eleven hand seals in total for the technique. After it separated from around his body, the flame chakra solidified into more than eight dozen red coins.
As soon as he began weaving hand seals, at least four faces appeared on the surface of the mist. After being conjured they floated in the air above the four of them in a dome-like shape. They were about as big around as a thumbnail and were marked with Sasuke’s face.
The Tracking Coin no Jutsu will be to help me find these guys, even if they are hiding in the mist. Sasuke thought. Made of fire chakra, when the coins hit the mist it’ll burn. When the coins hit a designated target it latches onto them and the side of the coin is changed to be carved with that person’s image. They are unable to take it off. In case the coins miss they will return back to whoever’s original face is carved into it. So those that don’t strike the ninja hiding in the mist return to me if they don’t land. That’s why so many of them are required to be made…not all of them are expected to land. This will help us find them.
Sasuke willed each coin to fly forward into the mist. He watched with anticipation as the small, red objects jettison toward the white dome around them. However, this only caused Sasuke to become shocked again.
Wherever the coins neared the white obstruction of fog, holes opened up in the sea mist. The coins passed right through the mist without touching even a speck of the mist. Sasuke’s mouth was held agape by the display as he whirled around to look at every coin he had sent into the sea of white.
Sure enough, not a single one hit their intended target. With his advanced Sharingan he could make out every fine projectile pass right through the cavities made for them. Sasuke watched with painfully clear eyesight that every coin had a tunnel in the mist perfectly dug for it in the nick of time. After the red coins reentered through tunnels to dissipate back into Sasuke’s chakra field as normal flame energy again, the mist closed up again. He gasped in shock at the sight.
“N-No!” Sasuke cried. “Impossible…”
“How could everyone miss?!” Hinata cried.
“Because we are not mere Hidden Mist ninja,” the feminine voice said.
“We are the guardians of the Land of Water,” the male ninja said. “The elite of the Yuki Clan.”
“The Yuki Clan?” Sakura asked. “The kekkai genkai users of the Land of Water?”
“Correct,” the feminine voice said. “Born and raised for the battlefield alone. We’ve been trained to use the Mist Evaporation Jutsu to its fullest extent. Our reaction time as mist is flawless.”
Sasuke looked down at the pavement of the bridge, his spirit broken. His fire chakra began to wear down in intensity as he lost drive. The Uchiha no longer felt afraid or angry, only lost. Sasuke was only thinking of how this would appear to Itachi when he finally faced him.
Itachi would never be defeated by these people. He thought. At my age he could have handled them on his own and they’d be terrified of his power already. And I can’t even land a blow on them. How can I say I’ve grown if I’m this far from Itachi’s level? Should I…use the next level of my Sharingan…?
He winced in embarrassment at the thought.
No! Sasuke thought. Not for these guys! I won’t allow myself to be degraded any further by having to use my strongest ability on them. That will be reserved for Itachi.
“We have mastered the technique that only Zabuza has surpassed us,” another male ninja said. “We have used the technique signature of the Hidden Mist shinobi for so long it feels more natural to use it than our human bodies.”
“How can you hope to compete with us this way?” the feminine voice said. “You see, Gato, this is what you get for incurring the wrath of the Hidden Mist.”
Sasuke looked back to see Gato was quivering in his boots. He was trying to suppress it but his whole body looked like it was buzzing as though being shocked. He waved his cane around defensively, the crime lord almost looking like he was going to cry.
“You hear that, Gato?” the male voice said. “You will pay for poisoning our land.”
The crime lord looked at a mask that appeared on the surface of the wall of mist before disappearing back into the sea of white.
“We plan to do unspeakable things to you once we kill your help,” the woman said.
“Yes,” a male ninja said. “I want his tongue. Rip it out and nail it to his bare foot. I think that’d be fun.”
“Too easy,” a feminine voice said. “How about setting him on fire while we tear out his teeth? That’s tortuous.”
“Or we could do to him what he’s done to our fellow citizens,” another female voice said. “Force green powder down his throat and watch him seizure from the effects. We’ll observe as he overdoses from the effects and his eyes rot out like so many others he’s driven to madness. A flawless revenge.”
They’re enjoying his fear. Sasuke thought. This anticipation they’re building within Gato is happiness enough for them. This isn’t about us. The ninja don’t care about us as they have no real fight with Konoha. They only want to get to Gato. And not just kill him. They want to psychologically torture him for getting their home hooked. With that in mind…maybe I’ll be able to stall for just enough time to figure out a way to…
Sasuke realized he got too comfortable. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a senbon needle coated with light blue chakra fly towards him. Seeing it before the others did, Sasuke swiped at it long before it hit him. However, just as the chakra surrounding it melted and the senbon needle burnt to ash another appeared to his side. He burnt it with another punch before several were thrown at them from all directions from within the mist.
Sasuke began weaving hand seals to perform the Scarlet Arrow Jutsu to clash in midair with the senbon needles. A few inches of his chakra separated from him to solidify into dozens of arrows and meet the projectiles. As effective as they were at melting them, he didn’t get all of them. That was where Hinata came in.
Hinata had been using her Byakugan since they were surrounded by mist. With her eyes strained and blood flowing to them she could see all around her. Just facing forward was enough to gain visual on most of that which was behind her. But it was most helpful at seeing through the mist blocking their sight.
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They’re in there. Hinata realized. But not all of their body.
Her vision was so sharp, the wall of mist in front of her may not as well be there. And within it Hinata could see the body parts of the users floating within it. A woman’s head hung in the very back while a man’s head was midway between the female ninja and Hinata. There were five ninja in total that were held inside. But what disturbed Hinata was that they could dissipate into nothing before reappearing.
When the ninja spoke they would have to get close enough for the Hidden Leaf shinobi and Gato to listen. When speaking, the face that Hinata saw talking would generally disappear from its position further back and teleport nearer to the eye of the mist dome they were held within. This meant that they could be anywhere within it and if a part of their human body was made vulnerable, they’d be able to turn back into mist. But that wasn’t their greatest weakness.
Their chakra pathway system is distributed all throughout the mist. Hinata recognized.
She watched as the nerves flowing with varying colored energy ran in complex mazes all around them. Hinata could also see the source of the pathways: their hearts. There were five in total, all distributed somewhere in the mist, and pumping chakra into the tenketsu the system was composed of. And this gave Hinata an advantage.
If I use the Gentle Fist on the mist it’ll do actual damage rather than a regular punch. She realized. I just need to get close!
Hinata took a step forward before remembering what the enemy ninja said.
Yet you came here anyway. Played in her mind. Typical Konoha ninja…daring to have the moral high ground and yet commit the most vile of deeds.
This caused Hinata to hesitate.
When I said that I didn’t want to hurt anybody I meant it. She thought. I only became a shinobi because I was forced into it by my father. Even on the battlefield I hate to kill. But…the others…
She looked at Sasuke from her near perfect 360 degrees vision.
But he will kill anybody he doesn’t care about. Hinata thought. He’s too ruthless. Same as Kakashi, except our sensei is too patriotic. And Naruto is willing to fight anybody for attention while Sakura is willing to do nearly anything to survive. But as for me…
She then turned back to the wall of white mist in front of her, her eyes facing it barely affecting how well clearly Hinata could see it as the Byakugan gave her near 360 degrees vision.
I can’t hurt anybody. She thought. Shinobi or not. Maybe, just maybe if we can stall out long enough I won’t have to-
And then Hinata could see arms materialize on the surface of the wall of mist. Five pairs of them, all wrapped in light blue chakra of varying volume, appeared surrounding them along with corresponding faces. In their hands were needles coated in the same colored chakra as what was wrapped around the metal projectiles. But what frightened Hinata moreso is that the chakra wrapped around their bodies was not the same color flowing through their chakra pathway system.
The chakra distributed throughout their mist is not at all the same as that icy blue they unanimously have. She thought. Why is that? The chakra color inside them should be the same as what’s on the outside. I see chakra colors in their system that’s a dark blue, bright red and even grayish white. So why is it that light blue that I’ve never seen before? It looks solid like earth chakra but is not at all the correct color. Is that their kekkai genkai? To produce a chakra nature that has nothing to do with their emotions?
But the weirdest part was how the chakra pathway system of each interacted with the next.
With the mist still carrying the system that allows chakra to flow through them, their individual pathways have merged. Hinata recognized. The intertwining of each tenketsu means that the Mist Evaporation technique must cause their chakra systems to overlap when there is more than one user merging to create a dense enough fog. With this in mine, one strike with the Gentle Fist technique will cause all to feel the same effects.
While thinking about this, senbon needles were thrown with what Hinata recognized as intense force, meaning the chakra enhancing these limbs were faster than earth chakra it most resembled. Hinata had a somewhat hard time keeping up with all the senbon needles thrown their way. However, she swatted out of the air any that she could.
With her 360 degree vision granted by the Byakugan she was as effective as Sasuke at protecting themselves with the barrage of needles. She could effortlessly swipe them out of the air with the Byakugan’s ability to see in all directions. Anything that got past Sasuke’s Scarlet Arrows she snapped with a blow from her fingers. It became clear to the Hidden Mist ninja that their senbon needles were not very effective as they stopped throwing them after the dozens launched lay in pieces. In doing so, Hinata could see Sakura with her eyes closed shut in fear and on the verge of crying.
“Is it over yet?” Sakura pleaded. “Did Sasuke protect me? Did you protect me, Sasuke?!”
“I sure did,” he answered. “With Hinata’s help.”
“That’s showing ‘em!” Gato said. “I knew I could count on you youngsters!”
His words disgusted Hinata as it reminded her who she was fighting for.
How could I fight for a crime lord that addicts an entire nation to poison? Hinata wondered. Is this shinobi life? Is this the honorable path of the ninja we’re born to serve? Acting as errand boys to petty criminals?
“Darn it!” a feminine voice said from the mist. “What do we do now?!”
“I don’t know!” a male voice cried. “A Sharingan user and a Byakugan brat are the two strongest dojutsu in the world! They’re tailor bred for picking off projectiles!”
“I have one way,” another ninja said.
Hinata gritted her teeth, trying to use their threats as a way to spur herself on.
They’re going to kill me and my teammates if I don’t fight. She thought. My Gentle Fist is perfect at taking them out. Just…just don’t be afraid.
Hinata narrowed her eyes before glaring at the wall of mist in front of her. The outermost surface of her chakra reddened and intensified as a flame, the thought of someone killing Naruto or her other comrades as rage-inducing. Hinata focused on the chakra surrounding her ankles before jettisoning that very energy from the area near her feet. She practically blasted toward the mist in front as she remembered the Hyuga’s natural ability to exert chakra from more than just the hands and feet.
Most ninja can only release chakra from the tenketsu located in the hands or feet. She remembered. But us Huyga can release chakra from any tenketsu, so blasting chakra from the tenketsu around the feet is a way to surprise the opponent.
“What the-?!” an enemy ninja replied.
But it was too late as Hinata had already struck the white in front of her with her right middle and index finger. However, rather than simply punching it, she injected a small amount of chakra into that very tenketsu. And sure enough, screams of pain followed.
“Agghh!” the faces of the shinobi above cried.
Some of them dropped their senbon needles as Hinata continued to strike the tenketsu viewed with the Byakugan. Each strike elicited another reaction of pain from the faces hovering around them. Each attack felt cathartic to Hinata as she injected more of her chakra into the pathway system. With each jab of her fingers she separated less than an inch of her chakra from her body. She could already see the flow of varying colored chakra was beginning to slow in flow and would cease altogether if she continued.
I’m almost done. Hinata thought. They’re almost paralyzed! Then after they’ve been properly immobilized we can-!
Hinata stopped herself right there. She couldn’t dare finish that thought. Because she knew the answer.
Then…Hinata thought. Then…then Gato will have full control over the Land of Water.
Her strikes slowed until they ceased.
The people of this land will have no bridge that could help them escape their awful plight. She thought. Their economy will all run off green powder, there will be more addicts and…and that will be what we accomplished. Helping a drug kingpin poison a country.
Hinata’s chakra lost the red tint and flame-like quality as all passion faded from her. It turned back to flowing, blue water, the chakra dark and very liquid. She felt worse and more worthless than she normally did. Hinata felt worse than worthless, feeling like she was now a detriment to the world around her.
Why does it have to be this way? She thought. Why do we have to kill in order to live? Why do we have to aid in the poisoning of other countries just to exist? Does our existence demand the destruction of others?
Hinata stepped back, unable to continue attacking.
This… She thought. This can’t be how it’s supposed to be. These people…they’re not evil. They’re just defending their home.
“Hinata!” Sasuke screamed. “What are you doing?!”
“Darn brat!” Gato said. “Whatever you were doing, finish the job! I don’t pay you all to just stand around!”
But she couldn’t. It was impossible for Hinata to continue at this point. It seemed perfectly hypocritical of her. She knew that if Konoha had been attacked by the same ninja she was fighting, she would defend her friends and village with all her might. Even if Hinata despised violence, she understood the difference between needless killing and defense of the innocent. And this was the former.
“Hinata…!” Sakura shouted. “They’re going to kill us!”
Then let them. She wanted to say. We’re nobody better than Gato if we work for him.
Sakura watched in horror as the mist around them began to collect into solid shapes. The white masks began to connect to the arms from which they threw senbon needles. Their torso and lower bodies appeared after the mist was gathered together until five surrounded them. Sakura began trembling in fear, a gasp of silence held in her face as she was too afraid to scream. To her relief two of the ninja looked crippled, approaching the three of them with an awkward and slow gait, almost dragging their feet.
Hinata must have crippled some of them as they probably shared the same body with their mist forms gathered together. Sakura reasoned. One’s chakra pathway system doesn’t disappear when using the Mist Evaporation no Jutsu, it’s just distributed through the mist they form. As a result when used in tandem with others’ technique their tenketsu overlap. They probably reverted back to their original bodies so as to not share the damaged tenketsu. While they all felt pain, not all of their bodies were damaged. The portion of the chakra pathway system Hinata used Gentle Fist on was not all of them and it appears to be just those two.
The three unharmed shinobi were those that had at least four feet in ice chakra covering their body. The other two didn’t have that much but they stayed in the back while the masked ninja with no or far less damaged tenketsu rushed them. Sasuke immediately began weaving hand signs to launch a few Scarlet Arrows at the shinobi attacking him while Hinata engaged the other in taijutsu.
As a long haired shinobi punched at her, Sakura drew a kunai from the pouch at her waist. She transferred some of her right arm’s chakra into it to slash at the female shinobi’s fist. However, rather than slicing into her enemy’s fingers, Sakura found her kunai cracked and shipped upon impact. As Sakura was surprised by this fact to stare down at her damaged weapon, the Leaf ninja was struck by a blow to the jaw. Sakura fell to the ground, rubbing her lower face in pain to find the chakra guarding that area had frozen over.
What the-? She thought, feeling her water chakra solidified into a cool solid. How-? Wait…can’t ice chakra freeze over other chakra upon contact?
“Help me!” Gato shouted. “Guard me!”
Sakura turned to see the short man shaking in fear. Trying to think of how to best guard Gato, Sakura saw a senbon needle aimed for him. She wasn’t able to stop it in time but saw a red arrow burn it to ash. Sakura looked to see not only was he now standing close to Gato but also keeping the ninja attacking him at bay. It was something she couldn’t help but admire.
That Sharingan…She thought. It sure does help out at fighting two opponents at once…
She then turned back to her opponent to see her opponent was examining her, looking to find an opening. Sakura took her enemy’s momentary pause to begin weaving hand seals. However, the ninja in front of her did the same. And unfortunately for Sakura, the other ninja was faster.
I can’t keep up with her…She thought, growing more terrified. She…she’s too familiar with the right signs for this technique.
Feeling it wasn’t worth performing a jutsu if her opponent would do so faster, Sakura stopped weaving hand signs before jumping out of the way preemptively. She found this to be a bad idea.
A foot of their ice chakra separated from the enemy shinobi’s body to further solidify into a light blue jar in front of them. Sakura observed the jar was decorated with square patterns and triangles with little men in the center of each polygon. As she tried to think about what it was, something began pouring from the opening of the jar.
A light blue mouth full of white, human-looking teeth and a purplish tongue sprang out of the opening. It was connected to the inside of the jar by what looked like a black plastic substance, almost like a jelly connected with a human-like face. Sakura leapt into the air to avoid it biting her but the face followed her into the air. The black, gelatinous substance that formed the body of the being made a U-shape as it turned upward and bit into Sakura’s leg.
“Gah-ahh!” she shrieked in pain.
The ninja was dragged down to concrete below by the mouth as she continued to scream in pain. She looked down to see the white teeth were continuing to bare down on her left leg. Sakura continued to scream as it drew blood and ripped through her skin.
B-But? She thought. With my water chakra more than three feet wide it should be thick enough to-!
Then she remembered the name of the technique.
The Terror Jar Surprise. She thought. A technique where the user conjures a jar with a creature inside with a terrible mouth that’s attracted to fear. The stronger the fear of the target, the more powerful it is. If the target is afraid enough, no amount of chakra layering will protect you from its effects. That’s probably what she gained from observing me, finding I was terrified beyond belief.
Sakura stood up, trying to resist the pain as the vile creature began chewing through her muscle. She then tried to weave hand seals despite the pain. She was thinking of which jutsu would best counter this attack. However, this only made Sakura more afraid. The decisions that she could make here were near infinite as she studied many ninjutsu techniques for the sheer sake of keeping up with Sasuke.
I never intended to be in a real fight. She thought. Only to be on the same team with Sasuke…I…I just wanted to be a mother…to see the smiling faces of children and live with them in peace…I…I don’t want to die here before I see that!
Her thought was cut off by a second mouth emerging from the jar. The other gelatinous black substance stretching toward Sakura before biting down on her throat. Her scream was cut short by it tearing into her throat and ripping her vocal cords out, blood splattering the lowering half of her red shirt. As Sakura fell to the ground she began to remember the other effect of Terror Jar Surprise. Her last sight was Sasuke looking at her with Sharingan active, his eyes wide in horror.
If the target's fear becomes strong enough then a second mouth will form, this one even stronger than the first. Were her last thoughts. Stronger…stronger…I was never strong to begin with.
“Sa-Sasuke…” she breathed before she died.