Swordsmen Of the Mist (II)

Being Hokage came with a lot of work. From the moment the first rays of light brightened the sky until the sun vanished on the horizon, Hiruzen sat in his office doing paperwork. Sometimes even longer. Aside from that, there was also the endless stream of meetings with worried citizens, possible clients, his advisors, diplomats, clan heads, and politicians in general. Add the general weight of being responsible for every single person in the village and you got what he had to endure for way too many decades now.

A thing Hiruzen had learned very early into his reign was that he needed to find enjoyment wherever he could find it. Otherwise, he could just as well kill himself on the spot.

Watching Kakashi's and Itachi's faces when they realized that they weren't actually too late at all because he had intentionally told Kakashi the wrong time, with the former's falling in dismay while the latter kept his intentionally blank to hide his irritation, was one of these moments.

"I'm glad you managed to get here just in time," he greeted his two shinobi. "Especially you, Kakashi. It's great to see you taking my summons seriously for once."

The man gave him a one-eyed smile. "Of course, Hokage-sama. It sounded urgent, so I deliberately avoided my poor, sick neighbour so she couldn't ask me for help. I would have hated to be late for that."

Hiruzen nodded seriously. "That's very considerate of you."

"If I may, Hokage-sama," Itachi spoke up, the annoyance he must surely feel perfectly hidden behind his usual polite mask. "What is this meeting about?"

Knowing that the time to fool around was over, he got straight to the topic at hand. "I'm sending you two on a mission." A pause. "An S-rank one."

Even a Genin would have been able to spot the moment the two Jōnin became serious; Itachi, already standing attention from the very beginning, subtly straightened up even more while Kakashi's eyes, previously neutral at best and bored at worst, suddenly had a hard glint to them.

When Hiruzen was confident that he had their full attention, he continued.

"As you're doubtlessly aware, we had representatives from Kirigakure as our guest for over a month now. The negotiations have gone well and the Water Daimyo has already given his consent to the terms, so all that's left now is for our very own Fire Daimyo to do the same. The diplomat currently present here will soon be escorted to the capital to deal with that. In the meanwhile, you two will set out to fulfil one of the most essential parts of the agreement." He pulled a stack of papers from one of his drawers. "This is a list of recent raids on villages and towns in the Land of Waterfalls as well as foreign caravans that were travelling through it for trade." He paused for a second. "According to what little information we have, the culprits behind this are Kushimaru Kuriarare and Jinin Akebino, two former members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist now turned nuke-nins. Your mission will be to travel to their last known location close to the border between the Lands of Waterfalls and Grass, track them down, and then eliminate them."

Neither Itachi nor Kakashi overly reacted to that, but he could see that they knew what that meant.

The Swordsmen of the Mist were second only to the Mizukage in strength, and it was said that every one of them was strong enough to conquer a small nation by themselves. Whether that was true or not was questionable, but the point was that people could claim it to be true without other people laughing into their faces. Their strength was simply that impressive.

Itachi probably knew that better than everyone else in this room.

"Will it only be the two of us, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked. "While I'm confident in our abilities, it seems rather risky to not bring some more assistance with us."

Itachi nodded his agreement.

"Kiri's diplomat brought a guard with him," Hiruzen said. "Zabuza, another member of the Seven Swordsmen and currently the only one of that group left to Kirigakure. He and some additional aid from Kiri that's already on its way as we speak will support you on this mission. I wanted to send some more of our people as well, but unfortunately, while both parties agreed that making this a joint mission would be beneficial, the Mizukage wants it to look like it was mainly them who took out two of the most famous nuke-nins from their village. Because of that, you two will be the only shinobi from Konoha that participate in it."

Not only were the two swordsmen famous, but they also caused a lot of trouble for their former home by openly attacking caravans from their newly acquired trade partners. That obviously made these parties feel uneasy and might even lead to them terminate their contracts with the Land of Water. Eliminating these troublesome elements would not only end the threat that the nuke-nins posed in general but also show their partners that they could protect them while simultaneously demonstrating strength. Especially this soon after the end of its civil war, that was something Kiri desperately wanted to do. However, that would only work if it were they who could be credited with the deed, not Konoha.

Hiruzen himself had good reason to want these criminals brought to justice as well. After all, many of these 'foreign caravans' that had been attacked either hailed from the Land of Fire or travelled through it and thus were under his protection.

"Do we have information on their abilities?"

He nodded at Itachi's question. "We do. In addition to what we already possessed ourselves, the Mizukage saw it fit to share their intel with us." He pulled two scrolls with both the information about their targets and the general mission details from his drawer before handing them over. "Kushimaru Kuriarare and Jinin Akebino wield the unique longsword Nuibari and the weapon Kabutowari, which is basically a giant axe and hammer that are linked end-to-end by a rope, respectively. Kushimaru is known for his exceptional speed and dexterity, as well as his tendency to use traps that cripple his enemies before he finishes them off himself. Jinin, on the other hand, prefers a more direct and brute-force way of fighting. He quite literally hammers and slices his way through his enemies in the most gruesome way possible. Furthermore, they were both noted in the past to be especially cruel even compared to their colleagues. As you two have surely already realized, their abilities complement each other, and they make up for their weaknesses even more by utilizing their famous silent killing technique under the cover of thick mist. I recommend separating them from each other when engaging them before overwhelming them with your numbers."

While a dangerous mission, Hiruzen was confident that they could do this. Both Kakashi and Itachi were some of the strongest shinobi in Konoha, and while these two fugitive swordsmen were no doubt powerful, he didn't think they stood a chance against his own shinobi. Especially not when they had additional aid from Kirigakure.

"You will meet Zabuza tomorrow at 0600 in the morning at the gate and then depart from there. There is no time limit set for this mission; you will search for your targets either as long as it takes to find them or until you decided further search is unlikely to yield results. In that case, you will return to the village immediately. In consideration of this mission's nature, you will be granted additional funds to fulfil the mission to the best of your abilities for as long as possible. Also, as usual for S-Rank missions, every secret drop point throughout the continent will be made available for you. An updated list with all their locations is included in the scrolls I already gave you. I don't think I need to remind you of this, but as this information is on a need-to-know basis, you will destroy the list once you have memorized its content." He looked them both in their eyes. "Do you have any questions?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Very well, then," he said. "In that case, please use the rest of the day to rest and prepare. You are dismissed."

As he watched both men leave the room, already turned towards each other to discuss their thoughts on the upcoming mission, Hiruzen couldn't ignore the ominous feeling that was spreading through his chest. S-rank missions were always dangerous and unpredictable, and they had a tendency to get out of hand real quick. He was confident in his men and truly believed that they could overcome whatever stood in their way, but he was also allowed to worry.

Not that this changed anything; Itachi must be on this mission as his presence was specifically requested by the Mizukage and Kakashi was the only suitable powerful shinobi currently in the village that could accompany him. Even if Hiruzen felt uneasy about it, as long as he had no very good reason to call them back, this was the only way of action.

Still…

I have a bad feeling about this.

She had no idea how long she had been here. There was no window in the cell and no candle to dispel the darkness; the only times she saw light was when the squeaky door opened during one of the irregular visits from one of her captors. Unfortunately, rather than being a welcome sight, she dreaded these moments as after all this time in the darkness, even that little light caused her unimaginable pain. Even keeping her eyelids shut wouldn't stop the burning sensation in her eyes that felt as if someone was gauging them out with iron pincers whenever the door opened.

And that was still the least painful part of these visits…

She had been a farmer's daughter. All her life, the most exciting thing that ever happened was listening to the gossip in her town's cavern she wasn't supposed to visit but did anyway. Other than that, there was no excitement; she rose early with the sun, helped her mother and younger sister in the household, and sometimes even accompanied her father to the fields. She joked with her friends, flirted with the cute boy from the farm next to hers, and occasionally took one of the horses for a right into the nearby woods.

She had complained all her life that nothing interesting ever happened to her boring hometown and told everyone that cared to listen that she would one day leave for one of the big capitals or maybe even one of the hidden villages to find wealth and fame there. Then she would one day return, amazing everyone with her expensive clothes and exquisite food. Her stupid little hometown, now not even worth being drawn onto maps, would be known all over the continent solely because she originated from it.

Now there wasn't even anything left of it, for her stupid little hometown, the place where nothing ever happened, had been annihilated by them.

She didn't know why, but on the day they arrived, they had mercilessly slaughtered and destroyed everything as they pleased. She had seen the mutilated corpses before she had been captured, had seen the bodies piled up in the dozens in a sickening display of cruelty, and had seen the people pulled from their houses and other hiding places to join the dead. No one had been spared; from the youngest babe to the sickest eldest, everyone was killed without hesitation.

Only a small group that included her had been taken prisoners.

She wished they had just killed her instead.

The skin where the handcuffs bit into her flesh had long since been rubbed raw, and she almost found herself thankful for the chains that kept her upright hanging from her arms as this at least meant she had no feeling left in them, allowing her to escape the pain from that wound at least. Unfortunately, she had no similar reprise from whatever they had done to her back that made her feel like her spine had been relocated all the wrong way or the pulsating pain in her legs that were more dead tissue, brown bumps, and scales than actual flesh at this point.

She didn't react when a drop of liquid fell into the little puddle beneath her feet; the only sounds in the cell were her ragged breathing and the 'plops' when dops of her blood joined the rest of her lifeforce on the ground, so she had grown used to it ages ago.

That didn't make the sensation of warm blood running down her body any more comfortable, though.

She was pulled from the thoughts of her own misery by the familiar and very much dreaded squeaking tone of an opening door.

"N-no," she whispered hoarsely, her fear even overpowering the pain as her eyes burned from the sudden light. "P-please, I beg of you! No more-"

"Hush, my dear," the young man interrupted her gently with a smile that was as fake as any she had ever seen. "It will be much easier if you don't fight me. I promise I will hurry, so please just concentrate on not dying this time as well. I grow tired of needing to revive you all the time."

She tried to move backwards when he pulled out a syringe from one of the two suitcases he had brought with him, but the chains that held her didn't allow her to do more than slightly wiggle on the spot. "Please!"

His false smile didn't even waver. "Don't worry. One way or another, it will all be over soon."

That, she knew was a lie.

This nightmare would never end.