Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Shinden Saga – Arc 1: Kimera

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Chapter 118 – Enter White Claw

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In the main chamber of the feudal residence of the land of Lightning, Minaa Nii is standing in front of the beheaded corpses of the Daimyo and his guards. Tetanized, she stares aside to see a bounty hunter, as immobile as her.

Despite the blood having spilled all over the room and clothes of the victims, this person's ninja outfit has not a single stain on it. From his silhouette, he looks still pretty young for the exploits he's rumored to have accomplished.

Alerted by the little sound of Minaa's arrival in this chamber, the guards and Kumo-nin who were in the hall next to them barge in. Judging from the scenery, what happened must have been a loud massacre. How did they not hear anything from it, but are able to react to just the sound of Minaa's naked feet landing on the ground?

White Claw, who was still staring at Minaa and waiting for her to do something, moves his head toward the ninjas who just came in. Doing their job, they immediately throw shuriken toward the one whom they don't recognize and looks more menacing.

To this offensive, none of them perceives a reaction. Yet, none of the projectile lands. They just seemingly disappear. Minaa, who still managed to notice a slight perturbation, looks down to the silent mercenary's hand, and sees all 10 shuriken stacked around his finger. White Claw drops them to fall on the ground, letting the guards notice.

Disturbed by the unsafe feeling that he leaves by just standing there, one of the ninjas breaks the silence.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" he yells in his communication tool to warn all the ninjas present in the city, before leaping forward to blindly attack the intruder.

Minaa, knowing that the fight is on, immediately activates her Raigeki Modo and gets on all fours, which is the position in which her movements are the fastest in this form. She jumps in the way of the balcony to block the mercenary in case he attempts to escape.

But as soon as she gets there and turns around, she doesn't see him anymore, despite him not initiating any move. All the hair on her body stands up straight as she feels, for just a fraction of an instant, the hunter passing by her, using the same running technique, and getting away as easily as he came in.

She knows that all the rest of Kumo's army is in his way and alerted, but she still hurries to follow his track, worried for her colleagues. All that she saw him do for now is run away, but she knows that it's by choice.

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Down in the city, close to the exit, Yukai, Aoki, Kaminari and everyone else bounce up and confusingly try to coordinate themselves after hearing the alert message. Kaminari steps forward, ready to go wherever he's asked to. Aoki, having the best sensory skills of the squad, detects something.

"Something's coming here!" she shockingly says. "No way! It's too fast!"

Before she can finish this sentence, Kaminari, who was standing in the way listening to her, is suddenly kicked out of sight in a glimpse by the bounty hunter who just ran past countless other ninjas unseen, including Tarui and Toroi on their way to the palace as demanded by their sensei.

In the distance, Yukai looks at the hunter who stays immobile for an instant, and then searches for Kaminari that he finds knocked out, buried in a wall. He looks back at the enemy still not moving, looking back. Understanding the situation, he turns into a light beam to engage nearly instantly… but is dodged.

Just as he reaches the mercenary, he goes back to his human shape and tries to punch him, still in the momentum of the light beam. Before landing his fist, Yukai notices the mercenary holding a single hand seal. Despite this untraceable speed, White Claw's body moves quick enough to avoid this strike.

Jinton – Mueisho

He bends his shoulders aside and lets Yukai get behind him. The Kumo-nin gets back on the offensive, turns around and tries a second punch, but is struck first. With a swift kick to the abdomen, Claw sends him fluttering as far as Kaminari did.

Since he's been standing still for a while, every other ninja present had time to notice him. And it's Aoki who's second to attack, after Yukai.

Lariat

Coming in the hunter's back, she tries to hit his neck and chop his head off with her arm, using Kumo's signature Taijutsu move. With his jutsu from earlier still active, White Claw dodges this attack as well, without even seeing it, and lets Aoki pass over him before grabbing her by the arm and throwing her toward the sky.

Jinton – Kasokudo (Acceleration)

Before he lets her go, he infuses a little amount of chakra in her. Thrown towards the sky, she doesn't seem to be brought down by gravity. Instead, she keeps falling in reverse at constant speed with no way to break free.

It is now all the other present ninjas who jump in to assault White Claw together, and he evades all their attacks with the most minimalist movements possible. All the swordsmen come first, and in a single leap, he bypasses all the blades trying to reach him. On all fours in the back of W and Yurui, White Claw dodges and catches the giant shuriken of Toroi, then throws it back at unavoidable speed toward Narui who's hit and disappears, being only a clone.

Following this, the bounty hunter runs through the crowd of ninjas and bashes everyone down in a blitz, knocking them all unconscious except the clones of Narui that he eliminates by slitting their throat with his fingers. After this very short but efficient rampage, Yurui and W whose blades were avoided a second earlier jump back in action.

Joining them are Omoi and Ru, who just arrived at the scene. After a failed combined offensive, they manage to circle White Claw and jump down from above. Minaa Nii, having made all the way from the palace to the gate, reaches the action field and throws her lightning coated foot down on White Claw, together with the red blade of W, the dual swords of Yurui, the electricity of Ru and the Kiba of Omoi.

The feline hunter doesn't escape or jump away this time. He stands still and pulls out a sword from a scabbard in his back, ready to block all that falls down on him with its blade. Holding it above his head, he perfectly counters them all.

The sword he just pulled out, it takes just a glimpse for W to recognize it. The black blade, the handle wrapped in bandages to avoid its material affecting the holder… He's seen it before and has the same respect and admiration for it as back then. He leaps back and away, not willing to have his red blade be broken by it once again.

For Omoi and everyone else, it takes a little more to recognize it. In contact with the black blade, the lightning of Yurui, Omoi, Ru and Minaa is completely absorbed, leaving Minaa without her Raigeki armor, Ru with no weapons, and the two others with chakra empty swords. Among them, the only one who's seen this before is Omoi and he recognizes it. It is the Futsu no Mitama of Oshio Uchiha.

Before he can question the presence of this mystical weapon here, he is alerted by the war cry of Yukai who gets back in action, arriving from above. All those who were still confronting him jump away at the last possible moment and let their young hero take on the fight. Inadvertently, they still left enough time for White Claw to move away as well.

Yukai crashes his knee into the ground, breaking all the surrounding and making all his teammates fall down. As soon as he touches the ground, he raises his hands and prepares a jutsu that he throws toward the hunter.

Koton – Kobaku

He throws a light orb that White Claw easily dodges, and then detonates it once it is in the hunter's blind spot. It explodes into tons of light rays that go in all directions. Yet, even this tight and swift rain attack doesn't reach Claw. He individually avoids each drop of light by walking in between them.

Thinking that his enemy is distracted, Yukai leaps in to engage physically as soon as the light rain ends. But this just goes in the continuity of strikes that Claw easily avoids. Yukai keeps up, confident that he'll find a way out of this. His body may dodge any strike on its own but he can still be cornered.

Knowing this, he keeps pointlessly trying to touch his opponent until attempting a punch in the hunter's shoulder with his right fist that Claw avoids by leaning aside. To keep him busy, Yukai lets a black lightning bolt emerge from the sacred tattoo on his right shoulder. This attack circles around him and aims for the mercenary on the right, which he avoids with a leap to the left.

But Yukai was still holding his fist out, and White Claw just threw himself into his hand, allowing the ninja to grasp on his uniform. Now that he has a hold on him, Yukai makes sure to hurt.

Kuroi Kaminari

Black Lightning runs down his arm and shocks the mercenary, paralyzing him for a moment and blowing him away. All the spectating ninjas open their eyes wide, hyped that one of them finally managed to land a hit on the target.

White Claw stands up and shakes to wipe the dust off his clothes. There is now a hole in the back of his uniform, but a layer of chain mail underneath still prevents them from seeing any part of skin. Flattered by Yukai's move, he tilts his head a bit and gets in action again.

Katon – Fire Tiger

He creates a large feline of flames that Yukai counters with his old signature move.

Raiton – Black Dragon

The two massive chakra beasts collide and provoke a small cataclysm that breaks the area, not inferior to what the confrontation between the Mizukage and Crow caused on the shore of the land of Water earlier this week. Minaa and W take cover behind walls of flames and lightning that they make to protect their colleagues. To ensure that this protection will hold, Yurui adds a layer of rubber that he makes using his version of Yoton.

White Claw is unaffected by the storm and stays ready for the next strike. Out from the chaos, Yukai jumps through and tries to kick down the ground at the hunter's feet. Claw leaps up to dodge it, but falls in once another scheme of the ninja. With his adversary off the ground, Yukai uses a newly elaborated signature move that he won't be able to avoid.

Black & White

Holding gathered light in one fist and black thunder in the other, he throws both punches on his opponent who can't get away as he's still falling back to the ground. White Claw stares at the two fists about to hit him, and at the confident look on his opponent's face.

Yukai partly surpassed his anticipation problem. Judging from the moves he pulled here, he learned how to limit and anticipate his opponent's possible actions. Yet he still lacks the ability to account for the unexpected. White Claw joins his hands together to make the tiger hand seal and reverse a jutsu that he applied on another target earlier.

Jinton – Kasokudo

Just as his fists were about to hit the target and squash his opponent between light and thunder, Yukai is suddenly crushed by Aoki who only now falls down from the sky unconventionally quickly, interrupting her rival's offensive involuntarily.

White Claw leans on her back to leap away just before she powerfully crashes into the ground. Omoi, Ru, and everyone else make flabbergasted faces, seeing Aoki, whom they were all wondering where she went, fall from the sky and be used to crush their hopes.

Aoki, having fallen down from an unusual height, loses consciousness. Yukai, having just been interrupted, stands up, confused. Bothered by his teammate lying in front of him, he takes his attention off his opponent and lets him surprise him with a final strike.

Mikazukigiri

With a technique very similar to the sword style of Kumo, White Claw dashes through Yukai and leaves a severe wound in his back with the Futsu no Mitama. As he does so, he recalls the fight he just had. Yukai seemingly never stops becoming stronger, and this makes him glad. Maybe one day he will be the one taking him down, but not for now. So far, he stands no chance against him. After this quick reflection, he runs away, vanishing from the place.

Ru and Omoi stand up first and hurry to check on their defeated teammates. Ru stares at Aoki, the one who gave him the scar that he's wearing a mask to hide. Despite this eternal print on his face, he can't turn back the respect she earned from him. To think that she's been toyed with like this, makes Ru wonder how things would have gone if the Blood Master had White Claw on his side 2 years ago.

Omoi is more preoccupied by Yukai's state. His wound isn't too deep, and it seems like his opponent still held back on this last hit. Next to him, W wonders how this bounty hunter ended up having the divine sword of Kakumei's ruler.

In reality, White Claw received this sword from Killin' Kiss, to whom Oshio offered it as a farewell gift. To make sure that this unstoppable young mercenary hunter would never be a threat to her, she gave away the last gift of Oshio as a non-aggression pact.

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On the south border of the land, Naomi is taking a shower to get rid of the dirty feeling she got from their run to the hideout. Meanwhile Takeshi Minamoto waits for time to pass, expecting to get into action as soon as she's done. He's outside of the cottage, walking around the beach and killing time.

His boredom is interrupted by his tengu, Makura, who senses something of interest and warns him.

"Something is approaching." Fear itself says.

Takeshi stops what he is doing, waiting to know how this something is supposed to be of interest to him. Tentoki focuses and senses a strong chakra as well.

"It's true! It's coming from the capital!" he exclaims.

Takeshi focuses as well and notices it. A chakra coming toward the south at a disturbingly high velocity. It's so rapid that he even starts to wonder if it could be on par with his own speed. To make sure of it, he hurries toward where it is headed to on the shore, to intercept it.

There, he arrives at the same time as it. It is a person disguised as a ninja with a tiger mask. Takeshi speeds up a bit to make sure he catches this person before they reach the sea. Judging from their outfit and look, they're definitely not a Kumo-nin. It's most certainly a bounty hunter who went after the Daimyo. So, Takeshi elects to eliminate him.

Shiden

With his hand coated in purple lightning, he catches up to the mysterious runner who stops running and stands still to let him come. Takeshi gets an odd feeling from this, but keeps going. He rushes forward to pierce his target, and succeeds. However, a second after being impaled, White Claw vanishes in a cloud of mist. The Minamoto steps back, confused.

"That was a shadow clone." he says to his tengu, expecting one of them to clue him on what to do.

"Yes, but it was at the Daimyo's location." Tentoki says.

"How could he be so fast?" Makura puts in words one of the questions that busies Takeshi's mind.

"He's let you take him down right here. But if he didn't, do you think you would have defeated him?" Tentoki interrogates his host.

"Well, that was just a clone, but I guess you mean the real deal." Takeshi replies. "He was almost as fast as me. Who the hell is he?"

"If he really was in the capital, it may be bad news for Kumo…" the white tengu says. "We better warn Naomi about this and change our plan. We should go see the capital by ourselves."

"But what if Kotobuki arrives?" Takeshi says.

"I get that you're focused on him, but we should still make sure nothing bad happened to Aoki, Yukai and the others." Tentoki advises.

The Kiri-nin agrees and hurries back to Naomi's hideout. He still hears the sound of the water flowing in the shower, so she's certainly not finished yet. Too eager to wait for her, he takes a piece of paper and a pen to leave her a note before going.

To write his message down, he lays the paper on the same table where she left her stuff. Right after he finishes writing, the communication device attached to her tool belt starts to ring once again. Takeshi looks at it and remembers the two previous times where Naomi left it ringing. From her perspective, the ringing is certainly covered up by the noise of the shower, so she shouldn't even notice if he picked up this time.

"She probably has a good reason to let it ring." Tentoki says, not sure about his host's intention.

But Takeshi doesn't listen. It's probably just someone she doesn't want to talk to, but if it's related to the Chimera or Crow, it could be of crucial interest to him. After all, he doesn't think there could be any bad consequences if he picks up… Having convinced himself, he goes ahead and picks the phone.

"… So you picked up." a voice that he knows speaks. "Is it out of confidence, or ignorance?"

Takeshi, in his mind, looks astonished at Tentoki and Makura who look back the same way. They all recognize this voice. It is the voice of the Chimera, Hideo Kotobuki. He's the one who's been calling Naomi all this time. Tentoki is perplexed by this.

"This isn't right." he comments. "Why is he calling her? Do you think he knows she's after him? Is he after her as well?"

"Whatever he's looking for, I picked up." Takeshi declares. "We'll have to go with it now."

"Are you gonna stay in silence, Frostbite?" Kotobuki asks, not hearing anyone.

"It isn't Naomi." The Minamoto cuts it short.

"… Who am I talking to, then?" Hideo asks, having already recognized that voice but playing dumb.

"I'm Takeshi Minamoto." he frankly replies.

"… Takeshi Minamoto… I see." Hideo answers. "I had planned to have a conversation with you sooner or later, actually. I am the one known as the Chimera."

"Stop playing dumb, Kotobuki. I know who you are." The Minamoto coldly says.

Following this statement comes a long and doubtful silence. The Chimera knew that Naomi could try to reach out for the nations, which is why he needed to locate her. But to think she'd actually manage to get in touch with Takeshi, of all people, is problematic. What Hideo doesn't know, however, is that this was made possible only by the intervention of an exterior being who's more aware of what his ambitions mean than himself.

"Are you with Naomi at the moment, young Minamoto?" he asks, not giving up his plans for such a small inconvenience.

"What does it bother you?" Takeshi says. "I'm the only person you gotta talk with right now."

"I see. Since you're well aware, it is time for you to pick a side, isn't it?" Hideo proposes.

"Pick a side?" Takeshi angrily repeats.

"Of course." he insists. "I am soon to acquire divine might. Not a single power will be out of my reach, except yours. When I am complete, and will have collected all the Kekkei Genkai of this world, you alone possess be the only abilities I don't have. If you serve me, together we will become a unity of all powers in the world. We will be Absolution in person. The one unquestionably in control."

"You know very well I only serve Kiri." Takeshi denies this invitation.

"You and I both know you are far more than that." Kotobuki argues. "No one in this universe is as unique and special as you. You are the main attraction of this world. Serving a mere Kage is an awfully reducing task. If you think serving Kiri is your way of protecting the world, you should reconsider your ambitions. I am certain that Crow told it to you in my name. An order of lands and ethics such as the Shinobi Union cannot be entitled to protect the world. We, from the underworld, are more decisive and powerful on our territory than the Kage will ever be."

"You won't change my mind." Takeshi makes it clear. "If you left this up to Karasu, he maybe would have convinced me, but you didn't. Disposing of him was your last mistake. You can be sure I'll avenge him. I'll leave you to fantasize about catching up to the Hokage. Just know that the next time we meet, I'll make it clear to you just how much I feel betrayed. No matter how strong you actually believe you are, I'll make you see hell, and this without any illusion."

As soon as he finishes this sentence, he immediately hangs up. Whatever Kotobuki could have had left to say is irrelevant. Takeshi's intentions are clear. In his mind, Makura is silently agreeing with his host, except for the last part since he'd enjoy using his malevolent Genjutsu on this adversary. Tentoki has other remarks about this discussion.

"It seems like Kotobuki's image of you is the literal opposite of Kaori and Teru's." he comments. "He really thinks of you as the hero of all heroes, and wants you to embrace this uniqueness."

"But it's your lesson that I shouldn't consider myself this special." Takeshi says, stating what he learned from his encounter with Fuyuko.

"Actually, I might agree with your mother." Tentoki says. "Everyone is special. You definitely are. To consider yourself special is okay, but it's something that others should make you feel. Not yourself… Of course, by others I don't mean someone like Kotobuki. It's more of a loved one that I'm thinking about."

Takeshi makes a pause to think of these words. It sure made him think of his parents who have a consideration for him that's different from what anyone else has, but it also reminded him of Saki. She told him that she's been not only seeing but also watching him since his birth. That someone with her eyes is paying attention to you sure makes you feel special.

Noticing his yamabushi's daydreams, Makura brings back the main focus they should consider now by repeating something he already said many times.

"Takeshi. We need to kill Kotobuki."

"What? Yeah, of course." Takeshi clears his mind and thinks of his enemy again. "You know, Tentoki, Makura? The last thing that Fuyuko told me really stuck in my mind. He said that I needed a serious beating from a person that would make me feel powerless, and that it would help me never think high of myself again. Not that I think this will ever happen, but I'd like to be that guy for Kotobuki."

In reaction to this arrogant and pitiless statement, Tentoki widens one eye, and Makura raises his chin, visibly proud of his host.

"What I told him on the phone right now. I meant it." Takeshi explains. "When I beat him, I wanna make sure he knows what he's missing."

"Sure…" Tentoki comments, a bit troubled. "Damn you and Fear itself really make me uncomfortable sometimes… Anyway, I don't know what's taking so long for Naomi but we should go forward to Kumo. There should be an emergency over there. The Daimyo might already be dead."

Takeshi nods in agreement and leaves the note on the table before running away, toward the capital of the land of Lightning, where he intends to find out who the bounty hunter he met earlier was and what he was doing there. When he exits the place, he carefully closes the door, and makes a little pause before hitting the road.

Not far from the border as he leaves is a boat that will soon sail, and that he unfortunately doesn't notice. Standing on the bridge is the Daimyo of the land of Water, Hideo Kotobuki. Having taken off his green eye lenses, he uses his Byakugan to see the Minamoto leave the cottage.

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On the other side of this ocean, on the east border of Yu no Kuni, the land of Hot Water, another boat weighs anchor, ready to go for the same destination as Hideo. On board is an army corps made integrally of hired mercenaries, and a little girl sequestered in the hatch.

Standing in the sky above is Sakitsuki Otsutsuki, waiting for the boat to float away. Unable to see the little girl hidden in the dark, she uses her Byakugan powers to find her. She then takes a look at all the people aboard. She identifies each of them and thinks of the best way to defeat them.

Down on the boat, these mercenaries are unaware of what is about to fall upon them, as a punishment for the lives they've lived. Considering what she knows of these humans, they're part of the trillions of lives that Sakitsuki wasn't taught to consider sparing.

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End of Chapter 118 – Next Chapter: Frostbite