41: Heart Hunter

As it turns out, going on the run from a Hidden Village was a tricky ordeal when you had a massive bounty on your head. Yosuke figured he'd done everything right.

He'd stolen from the weapons supply, weakening his pursuers' offensive threat. He'd utilised stealth to great effect, sneaking past every patrol without alerting anyone. Even when his Jonin-sensei caught on to his plan and ambushed him in the woods just outside the Village, he'd managed to catch the man off-guard with the power of his System and kill him, leaving nobody who could've possibly known where he was or how to find him.

And yet, reality was proving to Yosuke now that life just isn't that simple.

*Fwoom Fwoom Fwoom*

A stream of fireballs larger than his own body shot past him as he ducked into cover behind a boulder. Beside him - roughly five meters to the left - another person took cover behind an upturned tree. His companion turned to him, almost panting from exhaustion.

"Oi, Yosuke? This situation is becoming pretty bad, ain't it?! We handled your teacher pretty easily but isn't this dude's strength a little ridiculous by comparison? He's kind of kicking our asses here and we haven't even seen his face yet." The boy said with a nervous smirk, "Still think getting a meal at that village was a smart move?"

Yosuke grimaced and scratched his head in frustration.

"I get it! I screwed up by going to that random village for a meal and revealing myself to whatever info-brokers that this guy paid to locate me. In my defense, those food pills taste awful, ok? I wanted something better, and besides-!" He pointed a finger at the other boy, "You spent all of your money on chocolate balls while we were there too, so you can't say much!"

"Hey, chocolate balls are a perfectly valid snack to spend my hard-stolen money on-!"

They were interrupted by another blast of fire hitting their cover.

"Do you really have the time to bicker while I am hunting you?" A third, much deeper voice called out to the duo from the darkness on the other side of their cover, "If you are so devoid of options to defeat me that you resort to mere chatter instead of fighting, then you may as well die now and make it easy for me. Your bounties will serve me well."

Both boys felt chills run down their spines before a blast of lightning came next after the fireballs, shattering their cover. They both nodded to each other and shot off in different directions. Yosuke ran left, while his ally ran right.

They circled around towards the enemy, who they still couldn't see but even Yosuke's meagre chakra sense could detect his presence, and he mentally relayed that info to his ally while they approached.

The fact that Yosuke could sense the man was both good and bad. Good, because it meant that even with Yosuke's fairly sub-par passive sensing ability they could still track their enemy. Bad, because that meant their enemy had to be really, really fucking strong to be projecting traces of their chakra from so far away.

The man who was hunting them had been slowly walking towards their position behind the boulder and tree but when they split up he turned and began walking towards Yosuke instead. 

Yosuke grinned. This was part of their plan. His ally was... shall we say, 'unique' in this world. The boy couldn't be detected by ordinary Sensory Jutsu. And his footsteps were perfectly, utterly silent. So their plan was for their foe to sense and attack Yosuke while the other boy attacked from behind.

He was a professional assassin in his original world, after all. And his skills more than showed it.

Yosuke rushed towards their target and almost froze when he came into view. He recognised the man from the original Naruto series. A masked man with green irises and red sclera, with dark-grey stitches running across his whole body. A simmering black creature hung over his shoulder, a blue-patterned bird-like mask protruding from its face, pointed straight at Yosuke.

His System was able to analyse the man's data, and it painted a pretty bleak picture of his chances of fighting back.

[-Named Character: Kakuzu-]

[Original World: Naruto]

[Occupation: S-Rank Missing-Nin. Bounty Hunter.]

[Affiliation: None]

[Primary Skill: Ninjutsu]

[Signature Technique: Earth Grudge Fear]

[Approximate Threat Level: Low Kage]

Kakuzu, the heart stealer. A man who, in the future, would go on to join the infamous Akatsuki as one of their strongest members. Yosuke was in way deeper shit than he had initially realised, but at least he knew the man's signature weakness. 

'Aim for the masks. They're his weak points.' He mentally communicated to his ally. The masks that Kakuzu had stitched into his body were the source of his Ninjutsu, one for each element besides Earth, which was Kakuzu's own element. They contained the hearts he stole from other powerful shinobi to create and fuel the masks' powers. That was the ability of his Forbidden 'Earth Grudge Fear' Jutsu.

'Got it.' Yosuke's ally responded.

Yosuke darted out of the foliage, weaving hand signs and planting his feet after ducking under a water blast from the blue-masked creature that he knew would be coming, now that he'd recognised the man's identity and fighting style.

'I can't use Taijutsu on him. It probably wouldn't even tickle him, and the threads inside his body will either grab me or impale me if I try. So I'll use this!' Yosuke thought to himself as he inhaled and channeled chakra into his mouth.

[Boil Release: Solid Fog Jutsu]

He used his Kekkei Genkai, launching a cloud of deadly acid ahead of himself. But it seemed that Kakuzu had done his research before hunting Yosuke down, because he could tell the white fog was far more dangerous than it looked and moved to evade.

"There it is. You should not be skilled enough to use such an intensive technique at your age. The odds that you really are a Reincarnator have become near-certain. I see now why they set your kind's bounties so high. Seventeen million Ryo for just one child seemed too good to be true, but my sense for money has never steered me wrong before." Kakuzu mused out loud as he jumped back from the fog.

"Yeah? You really think I'm just gonna let you kill me, scarecrow?" Yosuke jeered back at him, "You're clearly not going all-out. And as long as you keep holding back, I'll find some way to win. You said it yourself, I'm strong for my age! So come on! Come get me!"

He turned and ran while the acidic fog still blocked Kakuzu's path. Kakuzu prepared to give chase, pulling the Water Mask's monstrous body back inside his own.

"You know you cannot run, boy. Now that I have found you, your bounty - and your heart - will be mine!"

He shot forwards with the Body Flicker Jutsu faster than Yosuke could react, kicking him in the back and sending him tumbling into a tree. He felt something, somewhere inside his body crack, and he gasped for air as it was forced out of his lungs from the impact. He tried - and failed - to muster the strength to climb back to his feet, but still, even on the ground he managed to continue mocking Kakuzu.

"H-Hah! So it's not just about the money eh? You could've killed me with that attack but you kept me alive... You really do want my heart, don't you?" He pointed his finger at Kakuzu and laughed, half cocky, half terrified.

Kakuzu growled at being constantly taunted by a child. "You are correct. I had to wound you first so that you wouldn't squirm and cast one of your Boil Release Jutsu while I remove your heart. Now that that's done, hold still."

Kakuzu pinned Yosuke to the floor and gray threads of an unknown material emerged from the stitches on Kakuzu's arms, preparing to stab into Yosuke's body and extract his still-beating heart. If Kakuzu succeeded, the man might even gain a Kekkei Genkai on top of a seventeen million Ryo bounty.

'All part of the plan... It's all part of the plan... Fuck, this is way too close, though!' Yosuke thought, struggling against Kakuzu's grasp.

Kakuzu was distracted. His greed had drawn him into tunnel vision on his target. He'd forgotten all about the other boy he could not sense. From Yosuke's perspective as he lay there on the ground, he could see the white-haired, blue eyed figure of his ally leaping straight down towards Kakuzu's back.

[-Summoned Character: Killua Zoldyck-]

[Original World: Hunter X Hunter]

[Occupation: Reincarnator Number #51's Summon]

[Affiliation: Reincarnator Number #51]

[Primary Skill: Assassination]

[Signature Technique: Lightning Nen Transmutation]

[Approximate Threat Level: Jonin]

The muscles in Killua's hand tensed, sharpening his nails and turning his arm into a natural spear. Kakuzu didn't even know he was there before suddenly screaming in agony as the assassin boy's hands lanced downwards into the masks on his back multiple times in rapid succession. 

*Crack!*

Kakuzu whipped around and reflexively burst hundreds of wire strands out from his arm that spread out all around himself, searching for his silent attacker, while casting a defensive Jutsu on himself with his other hand.

[Earth Style: Iron Skin]

The flesh of Kakuzu's body hardened like diamonds, turning dark-brown all over like soaked mud. But all this did was give Killua the chance to slip between his legs and grab Yosuke before a blue light wrapped around him. Killua's hair turned jagged, like a cloud of white lightning bolts, and he pivoted on the spot to continue running, tensing his legs as he charged up his most intensive technique.

Killua couldn't use chakra. It simply didn't exist in the world he'd come from. But for him that didn't matter. He still had his Nen, and it was as strong as it could be, thanks to his Summoner, Yosuke, having leveled his System to Level 2. Enough to support Killua's full power.

"[Godspeed: Speed of Lightning!]"

They vanished in a flash of crackling blue light before Kakuzu could change his plan and stop them.

- - -

The blue light faded into the distance to the west, then it left the range of his vision entirely. He growled to himself, then groaned in pain and discomfort as not one or two, but three of the masks on his back detached themselves from his body, morphing into their monster forms for a moment, before collapsing into puddles of inky black goo, with the ruined shards floating in the liquid remains.

Kakuzu sighed.

'Three. Those brats ruined three of my hearts. Now only the lightning heart remains... Damn it. This is an abysmal setback. I can't risk fighting them again with only the lightning heart left. The white-haired boy was the more dangerous of the two, I'm sure of that now. He was completely undetectable until his hand was already in my back. This is an unacceptable loss...'

He sighed again and began walking away in the opposite direction from them.

'Another time. When I've replaced the broken masks. Congratulations, brats. You've escaped me, just this once...'

As he walked he pulled out a book from his pocket. The Reincarnator Bingo Book that contained all of their information, and their bounties.

'But you are the oldest and strongest of them. There are still several others that haven't been caught yet. Many more chances for me to make back this loss from their bounties instead.'

Kakuzu chuckled darkly as he read through the book and reminded himself of one of the Reincarnators' many ridiculous abilities.

'I wonder how you will feel, watching them plead for help in this... 'Group Chat'... of yours, while I hunt them. Slowly. Painfully. I'll eagerly await the day I can claim your bounty, boy.'

He trudged off into the night, murder and money on his mind...

Mostly money.

- - -

"Hold still, damn it! The bruise on your back is way worse than you think it is. I'm pretty sure your spine is cracked, too, so unless you want to end up paralysed for life, sit still and let me tie the damn magic bandages around you!" Killua admonished his idiotic summoner while tightening a softly-glowing bandage around Yosuke's torso. One of the few Items that Yosuke had pulled from his System's quest rewards.

"Ow, OW! Fuck, man, you don't have to poke it just to prove a point!" Yosuke lamented.

The duo were far from danger now. Killua's 'Speed of Lightning' had carried them dozens of miles away - now firmly into the Land of Fangs - west of the Land of Hot Water that they had come from. Yosuke glanced back in the direction where they had left Kakuzu behind and shivered.

He considered himself extremely lucky that of all the S-Rank shinobi he could've run into, it was the one man who was extremely weak against sneak attacks once the mechanics of his Earth Grudge Fear are revealed. Killua's existence hard-countered the man in more ways than one, and if the boy hadn't been there to pull him out, that would've been the end for Yosuke's new life in this world.

Killua prodded him again and continued tying the bandages. "You were way smarter and cooler back when you summoned me to help fight your sensei, you know. A real 'cold and calculating badass' type, kind of like my dad now that I think about it. What the hell changed? You're acting like a brat, Yosuke."

"I... I don't work well under pressure, alright? And there's a lot of pressure in fighting for your life..."

Yosuke glanced at his System and his eyes widened slightly.

"Speaking of pressure, stop poking me. I need to let my nerves calm down so that I can talk to Kei. She's been trying to contact me since Kakuzu showed up and she's really worried. I think she wanted me to talk to Number #6 from Sub-Group A1, who apparently is interested in helping me found a faction! That'd take a real load off of my poor, bruised shoulders if I can get a hand from her in setting everything up. Apparently Number #6 is the responsible type. She sounds like exactly who I need to become an anchor to keep me grounded if I ever panic again."

Killua smirked in a distinctly cat-like way, "Wow, sounds like someone's already got a crush~"

"Shut up! I haven't even met her yet! How can I have a crush on someone I've never met? Dumbass!"

The two bickered into the night, and Yosuke was able to get in touch with Reincarnator #6 through messages passed from Reincarnator #2 to Kei and then back to himself. It turned out she was really close by! Just a few kilometers north-west from him, if the map he had Killua hold for him was accurate. They hashed out a basic plan to meet up and then run south into Land of Fire territory. The Land of Fire was massive, and it was Hidden Leaf turf, so it was full of heroic do-gooders who they figured they could probably reason with if they ever accidentally blew their cover. Not that they planned on revealing themselves, of course.

Now if only he could arrive at the meeting point in a more dignified manner than getting a princess-carry from this snickering, white-haired jerk...