Takeshi Minamoto

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 5: Fear of the Dark

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Chapter 107 – Takeshi Minamoto

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It has been more than a year since Kakumei was stopped and Oshio Uchiha has been imprisoned in Iwa. This year, Naruto Uzumaki spent it bringing things back to normal for his village and the Union. He did all he could to allow everybody else to rest.

This year, Izuna and Inoue spent it peacefully together, freed from the conflicts they were previously in. Both 17 years old now, they enjoy the couple life that they've waited their whole youth to get. The 3rd member of the team, Boruto Hyuga, took a different path.

He is still following Sasuke on his investigations across worlds and dimensions, all while training to gain control over his powers and more. As he found absolutely nothing that could lead him to find Kawaki again, he lowered his focus on this task. In fact, the majority of the world is still made to believe that the general of Kakumei was killed in battle.

Since their final battles in the capital of Fire, Boruto and Izuna have unlocked god-like abilities that make them the potential direct inheritors of their fathers. One has the Eiein no Mangekyo Sharingan and the Sengo seal's divine chakra. The other has the Tenseigan and what he is taught by Sasuke. These abilities made them the mightiest of their generation, widely surpassing Takeshi Minamoto who used to be the unrivaled number one.

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Takeshi is still living in Kirigakure. He is aware that he's been surpassed, but still likes to consider himself the 2nd strongest to Izuna in the Shinobi Union, considering that Boruto isn't attached to a village anymore. This sudden balancing of powers made him lose a bit of self-esteem, and he stopped being so focused on the glory. Recently, he left the Hunter-nin corps and went back to his old squad with Kokoro-sensei, Kaori and Yukiko, with which he goes on classic B, A and S rank missions.

At home, his parents had a second child last year, a girl named Yoshinari. Considering that their 18 year old son is independent enough, Tsubai and Tokiwa often leave the house to Takeshi and go visit Ryuka with their daughter, in order to let Takeshi enjoy more space than he'd have in his personal apartment.

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Right at this moment, Takeshi is lying on a bridge, lost in his thoughts, focused on old memories. He thinks once again of Izuna, Boruto, and all the children he used to be friends with. He eventually comes to think of Teru Uchiha, son of Kobo Uchiha. He never returned after the last time they saw each other. And this was right after he called Takeshi out as responsible for his teammate's death, and left to never return. By the village, he's been considered a deserter. Sana Uchiha, left alone without her son, ran away from Kiri as well. She went to start a new life in Kumo where medical workforce support was requested from the Union.

For her to go through the "loss" of Teru after already losing her husband Kobo must be rough. She certainly doesn't deserve this, Takeshi thinks. As he lies here alone, he reminds himself of what Teru told him at last before leaving. "Everything you do has to be about yourself and your bullshit heroic life". Is it really what Mariko and Teru think? Do they really consider him responsible for Mio and Mizuno-sensei's death?

Tentoki, the celestial light, the white tengu, notices his yamabushi's troubled thoughts and guesses what it is about.

"There is no point in blaming yourself, Takeshi." the tengu says. "Teru surely overstated when he said it was your fault. It wasn't. You made a choice, which was to join the strongest and fight your own targets. It had people upset for sure, but unfortunately for them, time proved you right. If you hadn't been there to save Boruto, he wouldn't have been there a month later in the capital of Fire."

Takeshi nods, glad to have this unexpected support. But Tentoki, feeling like his host's doubts have a part of the right to exist, makes sure to stay ambiguous.

"Of course, I can't say what would have happened the other way around." he says. "Maybe if you had fought the jinchuriki, you would have freed the Kyubi earlier, and the Hokage would have returned a month sooner, which would also have settled the conflict."

"I don't think so…" Takeshi says. "Even if we had defeated him, Oshio would simply not have let that jinchuriki guy be taken away. So it wouldn't have changed anything."

Tentoki stays silent, as he is reminded of his host's odd ability to convince his own self. He knows that Takeshi likely had the means to take down Mikitaka. If he started with this, Oshio wouldn't have been able to intervene since he was occupied by the Raikage's squad and didn't have his new Sharingan yet. This Mikitaka wasn't very good at using the might that was given to him anyway.

"It was either letting Mio and Mizuno die, or Boruto…" Takeshi tells himself, to which Tentoki doesn't reply. "I should have fought Oshio first."

"Don't fool yourself." Tentoki exclaims. "You may have had a chance against Kawaki at that time, but I doubt you were a match for Oshio even without his eyes. And even so, if you had gone this way, all the people you saved on the field before going to Boruto would have died."

Takeshi stops speaking. He stays quiet and goes along with the idea that there is nothing he could have done better. After a while, as he thinks of Kakumei's members, he asks about them to the tengu.

"Tentoki, can you remind me what happened to them? Everyone from Kakumei, I mean." he questions.

"Well, let's see…" the tengu begins. "Oshio Uchiha is imprisoned near Iwa. Mikitaka was killed when his Bijus were released from his body. Kawaki is supposedly dead, even though Boruto denies having killed him… You killed Fuyuko Yamanaka, the yamabushi of Akashita, at the end of Hikari's battle. The scientist, Minoka, must have been killed by Izuna… And that's all I know."

"What about that S-rank mercenary woman?" Takeshi asks. "She's the only one still in the bingo book."

"Oh, Killin' Kiss?" Tentoki replies. "She's still on the run apparently. You don't intend to go after her, do you?"

"... Nah! I'm not a Hunter-nin anymore." Takeshi says as he rises to sit on the bridge. "I was just wondering about them. I felt like there was still one of them out there, that's all. Besides, we should focus on the mission."

"Speak for yourself. It's your job, not mine."

The Minamoto heir looks down to discreetly see the road that crosses below the bridge and sees a convoy coming closer. He hides again and, while he waits for it to reach the bridge, he pulls on his collar to let himself breathe and wipes away the sweat on his face.

"It's getting so hot, I'm suffocating." Takeshi complains about the dry heat.

"It's Yukiko's Shakuton." Tentoki explains. "You shouldn't have dressed all in such a heat absorbing color."

"I'm always full black." the Kiri-nin replies, looking down to his classic ninja attire.

Indeed, Takeshi isn't here on this bridge just to chill. He is on a mission to intercept and destroy an illegal weapons convoy with his squad and is just waiting up at his post. Yukiko, hidden somewhere closeby, is using her Kekkei Genkai to increase the area's heat and dryness in order to trouble the targets, and it works. Once they reach the bridge, the mercenaries in control of this convoy stop underneath to hide from the heat.

Suddenly, the bridge's foundation collapses due to localized explosions. They were set to explode by Kaori using her Bakuton. The bridge now falls down on the convoy with Takeshi still lying on it, which means it's his turn to take action.

Koton – Shunshin

As his body's speed is boosted up to an unperceived level, he calmly walks to the edge of the collapsing bridge, and goes on upside down on the other side. There he sees two mercenaries. One is looking up in panic, probably startled by the explosion's noise. The other is already holding a hand sign. Takeshi, too quick for them to see, catches both by the collar and calmly walks away to avoid being crushed by the still falling bridge.

Unfortunately, right before he escapes, he feels one of the two enemies slip out from his hold. This one just turned into a puddle of water using Suika, as it is what his hand seal was for. More focused on his momentum, Takeshi first gets back to the top of the bridge.

In real time, he gets back to where he went from right before the structure hit the ground below, making it seem like he didn't even move. The weapons in the convoy were crushed in the incident, as expected. Takeshi is holding one of the 2 targets by the collar and rapidly knocks him out with a swift punch to the nose.

After the bridge collapsed, he sees Kaori come closer from above and look down at him.

"Be careful. Another dude used the Suika jutsu to get away." he warns her.

The temperature suddenly gets even higher as Takeshi looks up and sees Yukiko arrive from the other side.

"I'm dressed all in black, Yukiko." he says to her, smiling. "It's hard to breathe with you being this hot."

"Are you flirting?" Kaori remarks, to mock Takeshi.

"Should I turn it off?" Yukiko asks, willing to ignore Kaori's remark.

"Certainly not." Takeshi explains, following Tentoki's advice. "This heat is probably vaporizing our water friend already. You should spread a heat wave through the soil. This will frighten his ass."

Yukiko does as suggested and lets her chakra fill the ground and spread through the area. Takeshi, at the same time, uses the only ability he gets from his mysterious original tengu. He focuses to sense fear in the air, and detects the enemy who's in panic due to the heat filling his body.

Without a warning, Takeshi vanishes from his position and goes to find this enemy. Kaori looks at the other mercenary that Takeshi was holding who falls to the ground, and sighs.

Further on the road, the Minamoto finds the Suika user get back to his original form in fear of being vaporized. In just an instant, he reaches him as he's still getting back in shape and strikes with a Raiton jutsu, stunning and fainting the target. In Takeshi's mind, Tentoki is deranged by the power his host just used.

"You just localized him by sensing his fear… Was that the other tengu's power again?" he asks, to no reply.

When the enemy falls unconscious, Takeshi notices Kokoro standing surprised before him, who was ready to fulfill her role in this mission. She doesn't mind this slight change in plan and accepts it, since the mission is accomplished anyway.

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A while later, back in Kiri, the two criminals have been left to the Mizukage by Kokoro who went to report on the successful going of this mission. Takeshi, followed by his two teammates, went to the ninja lab of Hideo Kotobuki for a consultation, as requested by his tengu.

"Tentoki, can you tell me why you ask to go to the doctor every time I use Makura's powers again?" he says out loud to the tengu in his mind.

"I'm smart, Takeshi. And I know a lot of things." the celestial light replies. "But that invisible tengu of yours is one thing I don't understand. To put it honestly, it frightens me."

"I guess that's what he wants." Takeshi says in his mind. "And he's invisible only to you. I can see him. It's just that he never moves or speaks."

"No. He's visible only to you. Your parents tried to come here and they couldn't see it either." Tentoki explains.

To this, Takeshi doesn't answer. Instead, his attention is drawn toward Kaori who speaks out a few complaints about their last mission.

"You gotta understand that you're not solo or a leader anymore, Takeshi." she says. "Even though you knew Kokoro-sensei was there to intercept enemies who got away, you left your spot and ran off."

"Running off is my specialty, Kaori." he replies.

"Sure, but it wasn't your order. By the way, you're not the one giving them." she argues before looking at Yukiko. "And you, you shouldn't follow what he says."

This short argument is interrupted when Hideo Kotobuki, the lead scientist who is auscultating Takeshi, speaks his mind aloud.

"Young Minamoto, every time you visit, I'm more and more amazed by your body." he exclaims.

Takeshi makes an uncomfortable face and looks to his teammates to know if they find this remark as weird as he does.

"Your tengu's powers entirely lie within your mind. There is nothing biological." Hideo explains. "I mean there is nothing I can diagnose or notice here. Even a jinchuriki is modified at micro-cellular level by his Biju, making him inherit any possible Kekkei Genkai ability. But you… There is no trace of Koton or anything else in your genes."

"Tentoki says this is how tengu work." Takeshi answers, reciting his tengu.

"It seems so indeed." Hideo adds. "Anyone who'd want to steal your power wouldn't get anything from absorbing your genes. However, by stealing your tengu entirely, he would get your power and cause you to lose it."

Takeshi stays quiet for a moment. Hideo's passionate speech is weird but he's used to hearing them. It is more Kaori and Yukiko who should be bothered. They were both created by using such processes of cellular transplantation.

"But you did say my body wasn't exactly like any other, didn't you?" Takeshi asks, remembering previous visits, and wanting to diversify the topic a bit.

"This is true as well. Your cells seem to reject any foreign biological environment." he explains. "So your genes could actually be poisonous for any other human. It is a very strange behavior… I wonder if beings such as celestials have the same thing…"

"What do you mean by this?" Kaori says mistrustfully.

"I mean these Otsutsuki seem to have a lot of Kekkei Genkai don't they?" Kotobuki explains. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could operate a transplant with their cells?"

"But reports say that their dead body parts disintegrate." Yukiko comments, which upsets Hideo Kotobuki and makes him lose his enthusiasm.

"This is if they die, yes…" Hideo whispers, before standing up and letting Takeshi go. "You seem to be the exact same as previous times, Young Minamoto. If you ever figure out a way to let me analyze those tengu rather than you, I'd be glad to hear about it."

Takeshi makes an awkward face again and stands up to leave. Kaori and Yukiko, already uncomfortable from just the aura of this place, hurry to get away too. But before anyone can exit the room, Kokoro walks in. She greets everyone before looking at Takeshi worriedly.

"What's up?" asks the Minamoto.

"It's your aunt." Kokoro says. "She asked for you to come urgently. Your parents are with her, in Konoha."

Takeshi and Tentoki stare at each other and squint. His parents, Tsubai and Tokiwa, should be in Ryuka right now with his little sister Yoshinari. What happened for them to suddenly be in Konoha and request his presence?

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Sooner that day, Tsubai and Tokiwa were indeed in Ryuka. In the morning, they were simply walking along the beach with Geiri Esa, employee of the hotel and childhood friend of Tsubai, and Tensi Kosaka, the new hotel receptionist who took Natsuri Yokawa's place. Yoshinari, the little baby girl last born of Tsubai and Tokiwa, was in her mother's arms.

While they walked around, they passed by the old Minamoto mansion that seems to have been abandoned since Saori left. Tsubai stopped to look at it as it reminded him of his youth. It reminded him of a time when he had no idea what a tengu was. A time when life was just Himari, Saori and him messing around the village. Tokiwa and the others noticed his nostalgia and stayed with him.

"Sir Minamoto, this is where you used to live, isn't it?" asked Tensi.

"Looks pretty nice actually." Tokiwa commented. "If we clean it up, it would make a great retirement home. Don't you think, Tsubai?"

"Retirement?" Tsubai exclaimed. "Sure… I'm almost damn 40 after all."

"Is 40 a retiring age?" Tokiwa asked, with her eyebrows frowned. She is a year older than Tsubai and therefore is already at that age. Not that she cared, but she likes to mess with him by asking such a question.

"Depends. For someone who has the body of a 50 year old like me, yes. For someone who still looks 20 like you, No." Tsubai answered, glad to see his wife pleased by this reply.

"I wouldn't recommend it." Geiri said. "People say this place is haunted now."

"What the hell? Haunted?" Tsubai asked. "I'm gonna haunt that damn haunting away, you'll see!"

The Minamoto elder stepped forward to the mansion to walk in. The front door was indeed not closed, so it wouldn't have been surprising for someone to be squatting inside. Behind Tsubai, Geiri hid behind Tokiwa, just acting childish and afraid.

Tsubai took a look in the main hall of the mansion and noticed how empty and dusty it was. Still, there seemed to be some traces of people living there. Before he could exit the entry corridor, Daikoku abruptly warned him of danger.

"On your left!" the tengu exclaimed in his yamabushi's mind.

Tsubai got the message and reacted in time to dodge a dagger hit to his shoulder. On his left, he saw the silhouette of a man with mid-long hair, around 1.70 meters tall. He couldn't see the face of this man in the dark of the castle so he jumped back to escape and get outside. The man followed and stepped out of the mansion, revealing himself.

It's a young looking man, around 20, with colored green eyes, black eye liner, dark black hair with a bang covering the left half of his face. He was wearing a purple tank top, black oversized jeans attached diagonally with a belt, red and gray sport shoes, and a ninja weapon pocket strapped around his right leg. He also had his right arm covered in tattoos that represent a mermaid from his shoulder to his elbow, and a huge dragon rolled around his forearm.

Tsubai kept his distance and stood focused on the man that he felt like he must have seen somewhere before. There was also an odd feeling he got from this guy's chakra. It felt like that of a tengu.

"Nah bruh I mistook you for someone else." the intruder said. "But should be fine, I still need you."

"Who the damn hell are you?" Tsubai exclaimed. "And why does it feel like there's a tengu in your body?"

The man didn't reply. He just pointed his finger to the right, telling Tsubai to look that way. There, the Minamoto saw Tensi and Geiri knocked out on the ground and his wife, Tokiwa, still carrying their baby while being held at knife point by a woman hidden behind her. At this stressing sight, Tsubai didn't waste a second to take action.

Jikanteido

He used his tengu's ability to stop time and instinctively got on all fours to leap toward them. He quickly got back on his legs as soon as he realized he wasn't as dexterous as he used to.

"Damn you still forget that you handed Kasha over to your little girl, don't you?" Daikoku mocked.

Just as mentioned, and just as he did with Tentoki at Takeshi's birth, Tsubai has left Kasha in Yoshinari's body in order for the feline tengu to look after his daughter. Inside his own body, only the presence and power of his original companion, Daikoku, remains.

Still in the time pause, Tsubai got by his wife's side and looked at the young woman in her back. A blonde-yellowish haired young woman with green eyes and thick eyelashes, wearing a brown jean skirt, a black one-sleeved top, and knee high ninja boots. She was holding a dagger, that looked exactly like the one her partner had, at Tokiwa's neck.

To get his wife rid of this situation, he grabbed the dagger and pulled it away. Surprisingly, he got an odd feeling, like this dagger was filled with chakra, right as time was forcibly resumed and he found himself unable to move. Tokiwa and the blonde girl were as surprised as each other. Busy with the baby in her arms, Tokiwa had only time to take one step back before the girl pressed another kunai to her neck.

Tsubai was unable to move and had to watch the scene, powerless. Tokiwa, having also been forced to make contact with the blade of the dagger, was also paralyzed. The man standing at the mansion's door then came closer while holding a hand seal. Tsubai was brought to unwillingly mimic that person's movement and went closer as well. This was enough for him to identify this jutsu. He looked down and noticed a connection between their two shadows. This had to be the Nara clan's Kagemane.

Once they were close enough to one another, the man controlled Tsubai to make him bend his knees in order to bring his head closer to his.

"Listen, I know you just used Za Warudo's power and have to wait before doing it again. So you better cooperate." the young man said before getting to his demand. "I need the jutsu to unseal a tengu."

"Damn what? Go to hell!" Tsubai exclaimed, startled by this request.

Since he learned this jutsu himself, he taught it to a few people to whom it could be useful, such as his wife, Kokoro, his son Takeshi, and Sasuke Uchiha, but he still considers it too mystical and secret to be taught to anyone. This jutsu would make this guy able to steal a tengu.

"I already have a tengu in my body." the man said, as he was listening to Tsubai's thoughts. "And this is actually the reason why I need this jutsu."

"You're using the Yamanaka's jutsu to enter my mind, aren't you?" Tsubai guessed, to which the man didn't reply and instead changed the topic.

"Your name's Tsubai Minamoto, isn't it?" he said. "Miss Universe over here must be Tokiwa Hotoke, and the baby is your daughter. But it seems like your son isn't here."

Tsubai widely opened his eyes, surprised to learn that this seemed to be about Takeshi. In his mind, Daikoku didn't intend to let anyone perturb their mind.

"Tsubai, leave me to control the body." he suggested. "It will break us out of this and allow me to counter attack."

"Well, go ahead. Not like I can resist it anyway." Tsubai simply answered.

"I can hear both of you, you know that?" the man said in their mind.

"Really? And? You still can't do anything about it!" Daikoku replied before taking over his host's body.

The man, feeling it happen, hurried to take a step back and change the hand seal he was doing to perform another jutsu. Daikoku, in control of Tsubai's body, spreaded his Meiton dark chakra through his body and created a cloak out of it, around his body. This cloak blocked any chakra that tried to reach his body and blocked all the Yin based Ninjutsu that was being used. Seeing that his opponent had stepped back, he leaped forward while gathering Meiton in his hand and tried to catch the stranger's face.

Jinton – Hakuri Kekkai

When his fist got close to the opponent's face, he suddenly heard a crackling sound as if he just punched through an invisible chakra barrier. At this sound he already slowed down, and so when he noticed his hand's interphalangeals being erased, he quickly backed up before his fingers fell off. Unsettled by what he just had noticed, he unwillingly left the control of the body to Tsubai who was just as confused as him.

"What the hell happened?" Tsubai asked for no answer.

Daikoku looked at Tsubai's hand that was missing parts of its fingers like they were just erased or dismantled at atomic level. This, Daikoku recognized it as one of the tengu abilities that he saw Sojobo use. The Jinton defense barrier. The crackling sound he heard was his Meiton chakra passing through because, like for light, his darkness can't be dismantled at atomic level. But then, Tsubai's hand, being solid, couldn't get through.

Tengudama

While both the tengu and the host were lost in confusion due to what they just felt happening and what it could mean, they were completely off guard and didn't react to the enemy's next attack. The stranger quickly shot a highly condensed projectile, that seemed to be made of tengu chakra, to Tsubai and hit him right in the abdomen, sending him flying a few meters back.

The stranger, having knocked his opponent out, calmly went to his unconscious body to read his mind and find the answer he was looking for. Just as he brought his hand down to the tall man's face, it suddenly disappeared by sinking through the ground.

Mutai

Tokiwa had used the exact same trick as her husband to free herself from the blonde woman's hold. She had left control of her body to Amabie, her mermaid tengu. Amabie then surprised the blonde lady with a kick to the chest and plunged to swim into the ground using her unique ability. Still holding Tokiwa's baby, she went to grab her host's husband. She then was swimming underground toward the land, away from the enemies.

The stranger stood up and prepared to follow but noticed soon enough the direction she was headed to. It's to Konoha's that she was going. It was gonna take her a while, but she was faster than him, and he couldn't risk getting to this place. So he gave up for now and went to check on his partner.

"Julia, let's head back home. Or Little Mermaid's gonna get Konoha after us." he said.

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This is the story as told by Tsubai and Tokiwa right now to Takeshi after he arrived in Konoha as requested. The married couple is sitting on a double bed in a guest room of Konohamaru and Saori's family home. Next to them is Saori, and in front of them are Takeshi who came as demanded, and Inoue and Izuna who followed their friend who came unannounced. Next to the bed is Satomi, Saori's 2 year old daughter, playing with the little Yoshinari.

During the last year, Saori grew bored of her work as director of her clothing brand. She sold the company to an investor of Kiri and now uses her wealth to participate in charity funds and help the homeless of the land, as suggested by Naruto. Konohamaru isn't as busy as before with his job, since his former squad with Mirai, Ao and Denki was dissolved. He's currently in the kitchen doing the dishes.

In Takeshi' mind, after listening to the whole story, Tentoki takes just a second to think. A man with black hair covering half of his face and green eyes, who can apparently use a tengu's power and is interested in finding Takeshi…

"Ok, I figured it out. It's honestly pretty obvious." the tengu says.

"So what is it?" Takeshi asks, too lazy to think by himself.

"You know what? I'm not telling." Tentoki answers. "You'll have to figure it out. Whether you do or not will serve as a test to see if Kaori and Teru are right about you?"

"Right about me? On what?" the Yamabushi asks, playing dumb.

"Come on, Takeshi, we were talking about this just this morning."

In the room, Tokiwa and Tsubai give their advice to Takeshi.

"The Mizukage already tasked you with following this guy's traces." Tsubai says. "Can you beat his ass for me?"

"Be careful, Takeshi. This man is after you." Tokiwa adds. "It means he knows you. Don't act carelessly."

"Sure I'll handle this." Takeshi confidently says before leaving the room.

Tsubai doesn't care about it too much. His image of his son is still very dependent on what he saw him do to that dwarf girl when he was still 1 year old. He still partly fears what his son is capable of, so he certainly isn't worried about him losing against someone like that, especially now that he's an adult. Tokiwa, however, saw her son all along raising him and knows his weaknesses. She knows that his carelessness and self-esteem are dangerous to his own self.

Takeshi simply leaves the room and then the house, ready to head to Ryuka and analyze the fight scene to find out what Tentoki wants him to find out. Behind him, Izuna is following while holding his girlfriend's hand.

"Well, it was nice seeing you, Friend." Takeshi says to Izuna. "I'll pass by again when I'm finished with this shit."

"Are you sure you don't want our help with this?" Inoue proposes. "This guy showing up now confuses me. He must be sure of himself to come to you now."

Takeshi makes a slightly confused face after her words. Could it be that Inoue already figured it out like Tentoki, or is he just misinterpreting her phrasing? Anyway, he refuses to get help.

"Girl, it's not him coming at me. It's me coming at him." Takeshi corrects. "If he confuses you, I'll get you all the answers you need when I beat his ass good."

"I would have gladly helped." Izuna remarks.

"Don't kid around, Friend!" Takeshi laughs. "The two of us for just one guy would be criminal."

Izuna lightly smiles and nods, accepting his friend's choice. Takeshi pulls up his face mask, nods back and hurries to leave, ready to speed run this story the best he can and not waste any time.

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Meanwhile, far away from the land of Fire, far away from the ninja world, in the dark crystal palace of the Shinden on Ashihara, a pale and tall young girl stands in a corridor, with her head and golden eyes emptily raised toward the sky. This woman has long pointy black hair that reaches down her feet, two small owl horns pointing up, a thin face and silhouette dressed in a white dress with blue and golden ornament that let her shoulders visible. But most significantly, she has a pair of bright golden Byakugan, unique to her.

While she seems distracted, Hyakki Otsutsuki, youngest member of the Shinden, comes into the hallway and, even though it is way more than large enough for him to pass by unbothered, stops and pretends his path is being blocked.

"There's like 20 of us in the whole multiverse, and never more than 10 on this planet, but one still manages to get in my personal space." he exclaims to wake her up and mess with her.

"There's 26 of us." she replies, still unfocused, before noticing who stands by her side and slightly panicking. "Uh? Hyakki-sama! Forgive me! I had no intention to bother you."

"You can constantly see everywhere in the universe, but didn't notice a thing right next to you?"

"Please, accept my apologies. I wasn't paying attention." the woman exclaims.

"You looking at Earth again, Saki?" Hyakki teases her. "What was it? The Rinnegan guy who escaped Naobi's Genjutsu? The crazy fox hero that they see like a god? Or those tengu people Yamitsuki told you to keep an eye on?"

At the last remark, she makes a slightly embarrassed face and looks away, which is actually just a gesture as it doesn't contribute to alter her sight in any way. To not be messed with longer, she changes the topic.

"It's not just that. I have to speak with Naobi-sama, about Rihetsuki and his descendants."

"I really don't give a shit." Hyakki replies with a smile before leaving. "Next time you're that absorbed by what you see, make sure to not be in my way."

Sakitsuki looks at him going, and eases herself. She looks at what had her attention again. The excuse she just told to Hyakki wasn't made up, but her focus was more on the Minamoto's last son, who won't be given a rest for a while, apparently.

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End of Chapter 107 – Next Chapter: After Kakumei