13 Chapter 13 - The plan..
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{Houzu pov}
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~ Land of fire, Forest ~
"This is ridiculous..." houzu groaned as he and his team walked along a barely visible road with the many soldiers surrounding the daimyo's carriage. The speed they were going was practically at a snails pace.
At best they would reach the village in a week, possibly longer at this pace. Raising his hand a flower manifested on his palm as tiny demonic pollin spores floated into the air.
An eye sprouted from their heads as they surveyed the entire perimeter. If one didn't have the sharingan or Rinnegan they would overlook such tiny creatures and be oblivious to their true nature.
The pollin spread far and wide as houzu continued on. As hours passed only a group of mercenaries ever crossed their path. But as the sun began to set the air became heavier and silent. No melody of chirping birds, no sound of crickets or critters. Just silence.
Closing his eyes houzu increased the range of his senses. Opening eyes once more he put a hand on itachi and shinko's shoulder.
"What is it houzu? Enemies?" Itachi asked as shinko gulped in nervously.
Nodding his head he slams his fist onto the carriage to signal the driver to stop. But they continue on while giving an annoyed look his way.
"Tch. Hey that was the signal to stop moron! There is a enemy ahead!" Houzu yelled only for one of the gaurds to ignore his words. Quickly he jumped on top of the carriage and grabbed the reigns from the coachman and halting the horses.
The door to the carriage opened to reveal a man with much more fancier armor than those of the gaurds outside.
"You! Get your hands off those reigns! You have no authority here! As the head of this battalion i shall decide our course! Now move!" The mans eyes turned to the coachman and glared at the poor man.
"If this carriage stops again you will be punished! Move!" The head gaurd shouted. With that said they continued on.
"Just so you know the person ahead is powerful. Kage level at best. Whatever happens next is your responsibility." The head gaurds eyes widened as he heard this but then returned to their dismissive nature.
"Hm! You don't know what yo-" the head was cut off by the sound of a foot stomping the floor of the structure. The leader turned their attention to the daimyo who was looking at him with a displeasure.
"Uzumaki houzu, are you certain of the threat?" The lord asked as his eyes met his own.
Before the boy could respond the sound of combat could be heard ahead. No, it wasn't combat. It was a massacre...
"Daimyo! Turn this carriage around and ride like hell!" Houzu yelled as he jumped off and joined with his team. The moment he saw the two he saw them shaking in fear at the slaughter in the distance.
Looking towards the attacker he wasn't surprised to see it was the 'masked man' cutting down anyone who came close.
...
[Name: Obito Uchiha]
Age: 17
Race: Human
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[Tier: 6-C]
Strength: Class M
Speed: Massively Hypersonic+
Chakra: A
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...
'Hmm~ in terms of power and speed we're evenly matched. But he still has years of experience compared to me.' Subtly he unleashed a horde of insects towards the Uchiha while grabbing both of his teammates and ran as fast as he could muster.
Looking back he could barely make out the kamui spammer running after them all.
*Fwip* 'wood clone jutsu!'
Three clones made of wood manifested from his body and grabbed each teammate from his hold and lifted of towards the sky away from the area as the third went to the carriage to gaurd the fleeing daimyo.
Turning back to his opponent he ceased his attempt to escape as 'tobi' stood only a few meters away.
"Sacrificing yourself for your allies? How noble of you." Tobi spoke mockingly as houzu just shook his head.
"Nothing in the slightest. If they were here I wouldn't be able to cut loose." He said while cracking his knuckles.
"Hm hm hm.. my you are quite the cocky one. But i must say i didnt expect there to be a wood style user in leaf's ranks." The masked shinobi chuckled as he got into a battle stance. "This should prove entertaining.."
'It'll be far from entertaining you bastard..'
Touching the ground a large field of beutiful flowers rose from the ground and brought a forth feelings of peace and tranquility. For a time the technique seemed to take effect on the masked man but he quickly covered the area of his mask where his mouth would be.
The man quickly burst towards houzu and attempted to grab hold of the boy but he was soon forced to back away once more when Venus flytrap like plants emerged out of the ground at blinding speed and tried to bite down on the man's arm and torso.
Only for them to phase through the shinobi. Houzu knew the specifics of obito's kamui technique. But he wasn't confident in being able to actually hitting the teen. His reaction time was just too great, it literally took minato's flying raijin and the element of surprise to actually land a single blow.
Extending his fingers he shot forth wooden spikes towards the Uchiha dodged with ease and both exchanged blow after blow as houzu did his best to prevent obito from pulling him into his kamui dimension.
The only advantage he had so far was the terrain as whenever the Uchiha's feet would touch the ground a flurry of spikes or plant like creatures would attack his blind spots but would only phase through the man. But he could tell obito was getting annoyed by the constant interference.
'This might be risky but it's worth a shot!' Subtly he left himself open for attack and recieved a flurry of slashes and blows to his torso.
*BAM!*
"Guh!" Houzu choked out as a knee slammed into his jaw. Skidding across the field he felt the man's blade pierce through his back and out his chest.
'Gaagh! Through the back!? Dick move simp!' Houzu thought as blood spewed from his mouth from the over abundance of blood in his lungs.
Going limp he attempted to appear deceased as he could hear the teen panting from exhaustion.
"You were.. haah... more trouble than... haa... I thought. But in the end... your still a brat.." putting a hand on houzu's shoulder he yanked his blade out of the boys back.
In a act of defiance houzu unleashed a jet of flame towards the masked man while keeping up his act of being mortally injured. In response the Uchiha merely phased through his attack like the many others.
*Slash!*
*Thud!*
With a loud thud his arm fell to the ground, severed from his body from a swift strike from his foes blade. Sealing the deal he collapsed to the ground and lowered his chakra output. Subtly he used the reverse curse technique to heal his insides while being sure to leave his outside wounds alone.
"It seems you've tuckered out. Good... this makes things easier." Reaching down, obito placed his hand onto his body and pulled him inside his dimension.
"As a reward for your selfless act, I won't harm your teammates." With those last words the Uchiha teleported away towards an unknown destination.
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{Itachi pov}
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*Crack!* *Crumble*
Itachi's eyes widened as the clones who had been carrying them all away from the battlefield were slowly crumbling away.
"H-houzu...?" Itachi asked horrified as the clones landed onto the ground and put down their charges.
The clone that carried him all this way raised their arm and summoned three of the many demonic insects by his side. "Lead them to my originals position... retrieve what's left. Then get them... to the village." Looking to itachi and the rest he smiled and gave a sad smile.
"My... *crack* original is planning something. In the... *crack!* event the plan to survive fails. He wanted you to know he was thankful of you being his friend..." the clone struggle to say as it was now a deteriorating wooden figure.
Itachi's eyes widen in horror "what are you saying! Tell us where you are we can help!" He yelled in terror as he touched the clone who crumbled away.
"Its.. too late for that...I'm already in the enemies hands..." the other clone said as the crumbled away. "I'm.... sorry..."
Shinko was covering her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks as the daimyo had his eyes closed with a mournful expression. All he could do was stare at the pile of splinters that was his comrades clone with a feeling of powerlessness in his heart.
"Houzu... please don't die. You can't die..." he whispered as the insects carried them away towards houzu's last known location.
While they soared across the sky all the three could do was remain silent as itachi looked back at all his memories of his only true friend his age. The first day of school, their first spar, the times they trained, the times he saw him at his most vulnerable moments and his worst moments.
How houzu would sob and curse the village for their unfair treatment. The day houzu acknowledged him as his truest friend.
Behind him he could hear shinko sniffling and saying she was sorry over and over again.
His eyes hurt...
After fifteen minutes of travel the insects slowly decended towards the ground of a charred battlefield with incinerated plant life in all directions.
Setting them all down the three made their way across the decimated field until they came to a pool of blood.
Houzu's blood....
Off to the side they looked on in fright to see the ever familiar dark severed left arm of his comrade. Itachi could feel tears well up in his eyes as he picked up the arm and held it close.
"Houzu..." itachi whispered as shinko came up from behind and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Itachi... we need to go..." he heard her choke out as one of the demonic bugs came towards and gently grabbed their masters appendage.
"I am sorry for your comrade young man. Whether he escapes his captors or passes on he will be honored. I will see to it." The daimyo spoke with conviction as itachi remained silent.
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{Obito pov}
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~ Land of rain ~
Appearing withing the head quarters of nagato's hideout he made his way further inside. The goal to capture the 9 tails was a success. Although the host was far more capable than he expected.
Those nobles within the daimyo's court were useful in notifying him of konoha's intention of sending their jinchuriki to the fire capital to escort the daimyo to the village. Those nobles were laughably corrupt. Minato sensei was no different.
'Faking your own deaths to try and deceive me? You should have chosen your allies more wisely..' indeed, the nobles had notified him a year ago of his former teachers attempt to fake his so called 'sacrifice to seal the beast'.
'Then you subjected your own son to the life and burden of a jinchuriki. If you didn't have such massively corrupt allies your deception to combat me would have succeeded. Now your tailed beast and child is mine.' He thought as he made his way down the hall towards a type of laboratory with various bodies laying in pods.
At the end of the room was an emaciated man with long red hair and a beutiful woman with violet hair.
"Nagato.. Konan..." 'Madara' greeted as both individuals nodded in turn. He looked into the eyes of the Uzumaki and only saw raw determination in the man's gaze. If only he knew his true purpose.
"Did you succeed in your endeavor?" Konan asked as he nodded at her question. 'Kamui!' With a thought he used his technique to retrieve their prize from his dimension.
From the swirling phenomenon that was the effect of his dojutsu, the young 'jinchuriki' was ejected unceremoniously onto the ground. Bound and tied.
Obito could see konan's gaze on the boy, almost one of pity. "What should we do with him for now?" Konan asked as nagato looked at the boy as well. However his gaze was cold and neutral.
"We will detain him for now...
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