The trek back to the village was slower. I had to carry Yui with assistance from my sand to not jostle her and make her injuries worse. We could have made a makeshift stretcher but travelling on the ground would take too long, putting her in more danger. So we opted for half of ninja speed. At sunset we reached the village and got some medical care for Yui and Ino’s broken wrist.

Soon we found ourselves in a well lit hospital room with two side by side beds. On the third floor with wide windows looking towards greenery and a singular tree shading a bench beneath it. Ino was to stay overnight for observation after her cast was done. Yui was going to be stuck here for at least two weeks. I gazed out of the window with nothing to do. No one talked, there was an obvious flaw around us. The crimson haired haughty loli was missing. We had not managed to track her after we got to the hospital, nor anyone willing to tell us. Even though no one mentioned it, we were all thinking about various scenarios, the mind liked to spiral out of control. Perhaps she was going through surgery or simply in the ICU. Perhaps she will be a cripple from now on. Maybe she would quit being a ninja after such trauma. It was all pointless conjecture of course, we could not know. I thought about what I even know about the girl. She was short, with long crimson hair and similarly crimson eyes, like Kurenai’s. Confrontational and haughty and had a sore spot for her undeveloped body. Nothing about her family or even what she liked outside of medicine. She was a kunoichi of considerable potential. We had been training only for a month so far. She had great chakra control considering she had no shinobi background like Ino. She could already perform some level of medical jutsu. She had not shied away from battle nor had she complained about the gruelling stealth training we had.

The door to the room opened and Anko walked in. Her jaw was clenched and teeth grit begrudgingly. She slowly closed the door behind her and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’ve got some bad news.” She said with an even tone. Everyone turned towards her and paid attention, even Yui was paying attention under half closed eyes and struggling to breathe.

“Akari… did not make it. She is dead.” She said with a finality. Her clenched face finally loosening. The already quiet room stayed silent. Yui’s rough breathing was the only sound around. With no one responding in any way except eyes being downcast at the sudden news.

“Anyway, we are R&R for the next two weeks. Please after resting get some training done. We all need to get stronger. Except you Yui.” She said looking at the red haired girl. She slowly blinked and nudged ger chin down slightly in affirmation.

“I need a drink.” Anko mumbled as she left the room.

I looked around the room, seeing the girls in silent contemplation and not knowing what to say, I gazed out to the shaded bench. It would be a lie to say I did not care. Even though I did not really know her, it still stung to hear about her death. At the end of the day not only was she a comrade, she was also just a child in cruel circumstances. It was not the first time I lost a comrade. I thought as a few faces flashed through my mind, accompanied by the chaos of a battlefield. Morality… was a difficult aspect to keep. Many men have forsaken theirs to survive the battlefield only to return home unwhole. Others clung to theirs only to find that the world no longer made sense and spiralled into madness. I witnessed this my whole life, gone to the brink of both and returned, only to gain meaningless understanding. All I can do is to take another step forward, with the knowledge that I have survived where others fell.

It was nightfall when I noticed the leaves of the tree outside rustled unnaturally and heard a familiar, annoying bird song. I swear that has to be some kind of jutsu, I have never been so irritated about bird song before. I hopped out of the window.

“I’ll be right back.” I said before leaving. I sat on the bench and waited for my deranged servant to show up. He did not show up, but he did speak.

“Urgent news master. The other one moves against the snake Sannin, by targeting his disciple.” He whispered just loudly enough for me to hear in the moonlit silent night. My eyes widened at the news, she said she needed a drink. She would be vulnerable tonight, any other time I would think she is capable of protecting herself.

“Where?” I also whispered. He gave me the address of the tavern. I chose my words carefully as I told him.

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“Follow us discreetly and intervene only if someone’s life is at stake or you can do so without risk of revealing yourself.”

“Understood, master.” He answered. I was conflicted about taking Ino, but she had to be close to me in case I was gone for too long. So I told her to follow me as I raced towards the tavern.

Before we even reached the tavern, we found Anko sensei. She had an arm over the shoulder of another shinobi. It looked like she was being helped and appeared too drunk to even walk straight. With my Byakugan I was able to keep enough distance and track them as I observed. Anko did not move much as she was dragged along with the guy. I noticed his lips moving and focused to try and read them.

“We are going to have so much fun, Anko. You can’t even imagine how happy I was to be given this order. Even though I think it’s a hard sell, it is common enough I guess. Someone to kill themselves after losing a student or something.” He whispered to Anko. To my surprise there was no response from Anko so I took a closer look at her. Her toes were touching the ground and an arm flailed loosely at her side. Her head was unsupported looking down. There was also drool leaking from her mouth. I snarled when I realised she was drugged. I recognised the giddy male shinobi as Menko. One of the two shinobi that came looking for me when I first woke up in this world. Also the partner of the one drunk guy I killed trying to rape a child. He spoke some more.

“Although it is less fun, when you can’t resist, I am told this special brew doesn’t inhibit your consciousness, so you will know everything but be completely helpless. Ahh, just thinking about it makes me hard. Don’t worry though your house is just around the corner even if you can't see very well.”

I came up with a basic plan quickly and whispered.

“Fuu quickly sneak into Anko’s house and stay hidden. Ino you will close the door behind us as I push him inside and then we kill him.” I ordered half snarling with clenched fists. Ino did not even blink as I ordered the death of a leaf shinobi. I considered Ino’s trust in me to such a degree but I had other business to take care of at the moment.

We got closer and closer to Menko as he approached the house. Lucky for us he was too lost in his filthy, sadistic fantasies to notice us trailing him. Noticing the house we rushed ahead and got in position on the rooftop of the opposite building and waited. I observed as the moment of the ambush got closer. The man dragged Anko closer to the door. One arm still holding the woman he fiddled with the keys. A click resounded in the empty street and he pulled the handle down to finally open the door. I watched with anticipation as I slowly moved into a crouch on the side of the building. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as I waited for the perfect moment. He took a step in. Leaned slightly sideways to drag Anko in and then I saw it. Unsteady footwork and caught completely off guard I launched myself from the building across. As I hit him full force he yelped in surprise and pain. We tumbled into Sensei’s hallway. I pulled my kunai out of his back as I stood up. I heard the door click behind me. I noticed very little blood on the tip of the blade. It had indeed managed to pierce the armour but barely. I relaxed a little as I noticed the smell of alcohol in his breath and the damage I had done. He was still recovering when I spoke.

“Do you feel that tingle in your legs?” I smirked. Recognition filled his eyes and he responded.

“You brat! You will pay for that!” He yelled. As he started weaving hand signs. I only shifted to my right as lightning coated shuriken flew past me. Unlike my kunai, the electric shuriken easily punched through his armour and embedded themselves deep into his shoulders and collar bone. Perhaps it was a surprise or just alcohol slowing his reactions, he did not react fast enough to dodge or do anything, he just fell backwards from the impact. I saw with my Byakugan that Ino’s shuriken had hit home. The ones in his shoulders debilitated his arms and the two breaking his collar bones caused pain and enough pressure to make breathing uncomfortable. He recognised the predicament he was in… and started shouting for help.

“Fucking idiot. Why do you think we ambushed you just now, instead of much earlier in some dark alley?” I asked as if speaking to a child. He stopped yelling as confusion filled him.

“Anko sensei’s house is filled with privacy seals, there is zero sound going out.” I said as I knocked on the wooden walls.

“No! You are lying!” He shouted, disbelieving. His thick eyebrows scrunched up in pain. His large nose was bleeding from the earlier tumble. His small dark brown eyes were half covered by his matted light brown hair.

“Why don’t you get up and fight? After all that sadistic gloating I expected more of a fight.” I asked him with a light smirk. I took a step forward. He dragged himself back and used the stairs behind him to perch himself up on trembling legs. My first attack clearly had not severed the nerves, but it had done enough damage that the more weight he put into his legs going through his spine the more damage it caused and I could see it with my Byakugan. I smiled with glee as I saw him struggle to stand. I was thinking of ways to torture him when I felt slimy tendrils reach my left eye. I understood. I stepped close to him and elbowed him in the jaw, sending him sprawling onto the stairs. I grabbed his face and turned it toward mine.

“Let me show you some Truth!” I said as I activated my Sharingan and let the eldritch creature reach out. I felt the disgusting, slimy and ominous voice in my head cackling. The feeling extended to my eye. I felt it as I cast my first Genjutsu, even if it wasn’t really me.

His eyes went glassy only for a moment as the Genjutsu landed. Then he went slack jawed and started cackling as well. Only a few moments later he started screaming with all his might. I took a step back as he started flailing. He hit the corner of a nearby shoe rack breaking his arm with a sickening crunch. Then he started laughing again. Only to reach out to his eyes and claw them out with the remaining capable hand as the broken hung loosely at the forearm even if he raised up to his face. His fingers moved even when his whole hand was hanging from his forearm bent like a rope held upright. He quickly crushed his eyes into his skull. As he couldn’t find the purchase necessary to dig into to remove them. As he screamed himself hoarse he started banging his head onto the shoe rack. He once again started laughing and continued until his headband loosened enough to fall from his head and he managed to get a clean hit cracking his skull and managing to kill himself.