15 A Hectic Birthday Party (2)

Konohagakure had changed a lot in just a year.

As the village prospered, new residential apartments were built to accommodate the growing population. The abundant forests surrounding it, however, remained the same, unaffected by the passage of time.

Hikari dragged Kiba along until they reached a river on the outskirt of the village. Akamaru quickly leaped into the cold water, enjoying the icy freshness that cools off the scorching summer. Even after Daji's personality resurfaced, this habit remained the same.

"Alright, we're here… now what?"

Kiba mumbled while laying under the shades. He would usually play along in the water with his partner, but right now he was just too lazy to do so. He practically got kidnapped here, after all.

"...I have no idea either."

The 'kidnapper' irresponsibly replied.

Her mission was to keep the boy out of the house until evening. It was already midday, so she just had to hang in there for a few more hours.

Maybe she should knock him out? A good chop on the back of the neck should do the trick...

"Hey," Kiba called out to her.

"Huh?"

"Those things that you randomly taught me, like that king-koong thing..."

"...Qinggong?"

"Yeah, that. Whatever it's called," he snorted. "They're not like any ninjutsu or taijutsu that's been taught in class. How did you know about them?"

How? Those are techniques that she had copied from various sects during her previous life's eventful youth... but there was no way that she could answer like that.

So, she took the next best option.

"Lord Kokuo taught me."

Just push the blame to our venerable spirit beast!

"Oi!" Kokuo loudly protested.

"...Huh."

Kiba narrowed his eyes. He got this burning suspicion that this girl was lying to him. Then again, it wasn't as if he really wanted to know.

"...Whatever."

Just let it slide. For now.

"By the way, what does it mean when you said it's called a 'twisting ladder'?"

"Not twisting, ascending! It's called 'Cloud-Ascending Ladder'! It's the Qinggong of Wudang sect that allows you to move in high speed and leap so high you're literally walking in the air."

"Walking in the air..."

His lips twitched.

The heck? Was she high on something?

Aside from the unintelligible words, her description was so absurd that he couldn't bring himself to believe her.

His speed did increase after trying out the method that she had taught him... but still, walking in the air? Not even the infamous Body Flicker Technique could do that! They're ninja, not ghosts, damn it!

While they were talking, Akamaru suddenly cut his playing time short. He quickly jumped out of the water before frantically scrambling over.

Kiba was the first to notice that something was wrong. Very wrong.

As if in sync, Kokuo yelled within the girl's mind, a tinge of panic coating its words.

"Kid, we've got company! Four of them! Get out as fast as you can!"

Kokuo had always maintained a calm demeanor throughout the year even when they passed by active ninja from Konoha. To incite such reaction from the Tailed Beast, that meant the guests weren't coming for a mild discussion over tea and snacks.

She immediately moved her meridian, rapidly circulating chakra to strengthen her body.

"Kiba, your Four Legs Technique-!"

"On it!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Kiba had crouched down and activated his clan's prized jutsu. Akamaru hopped on his back as well, the human and the dog's chakra melding together as if they were a single entity.

As fast as lightning, Kiba and Hikari bolted away toward the direction of the village gate.

They had quite a head start. With their speed, they should be able to reach the village before those strangers could reach them.

Regrettably, it didn't go as they initially planned.

"Watch out!"

The two slammed on their brakes as dirt shot out from the ground, forming a thick wall that blocked their path forward.

"Get around it!"

Hikari was about to pull Kiba to the side when similar-looking walls sprouted in every direction, boxing them in.

"Damn it, I'll just scale it over!" Kiba exclaimed, readying himself to make a big leap.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

The point of the wall in the first place wasn't to hold them indefinitely. It was simply to buy time.

As a result, their pursuers were able to catch up.

Four shadows flickered into the scene, wearing an identical set of gray shirts, pants, and flak jackets. Each of them had a porcelain mask to cover their face, like Konoha's Anbu, but the design was flat, with only two round holes for the eyes.

"...They're not from our village," Kiba growled.

Although the design of the pursuers' clothes deliberately obscured their origin village, the boy could still tell that they didn't belong to Konoha by scent alone.

For foreign ninja to wander around near their village and used jutsu so openly, that could only mean that they were enemies!

The guy at the furthest back raised his hand, and then pointed at Hikari. With a monotonous voice which was filtered by the mask to not give off his identity, he said with a threatening tone,

"Hand over the girl. If you don't get in our way, we will let you live."

As expected.

'Lord Kokuo, they are...'

'Iwagakure bastards. Who else could it be?'

The Tailed Beast harrumphed.

They had tracked them down to this place at last. It actually took longer than it had initially expected!

"You'll let me live if I give her to you? Heh..."

While she was talking with Kokuo, Kiba had taken a step forward, shielding her behind his back.

"What a frigging joke! Let's go, Akamaru!"

Woof!

Their chakra flared up in an instant.

<Beast-Human Clone>

With a poof, Akamaru transformed into an identical version of Kiba. Before the enemies could react, they were already up in the sky, their claws sharply cutting through the air.

"Guah!"

Their vicious slashes struck at the spot unprotected by their prey's flak jacket, mercilessly drawing out blood.

Armed with heightened speed from the combination of Four-Legs Technique and Qinggong that he had adapted for his own use, Kiba catapulted from one target to another, unwilling to give them a chance to retaliate.

"What speed! Is he really just a kid?"

"It doesn't matter! Just stop him!"

The person furthest from Kiba and Akamaru used the chance to mold his chakra. His hands formed consecutive seals in blinding speed.

Ram. Tiger. Snake. Dog. Rat. Ox. Horse. Snake.

And then, he slammed his hands on the ground.

Dirt walls soared up from the ground one after another right in front of Kiba and Akamaru's trajectory.

"As if that would help you!"

<Beast-Human Taijutsu Secret Art: Fang Passing Fang>

Perfectly synced with each other, both human and his partner spun their body in mid-air, forming a pair of drills that broke the dirt walls into pieces.

"Not good-!"

The enemies desperately tried to form another jutsu, but they couldn't make it on time.

One drill struck from the left. Another struck from the right.

The twin whirlwinds crashed at the three ninja, smashing their bones and slicing their flesh. Their flak jackets were torn to bits, unable to protect them against the stinging wind.

Seeing that the enemies had been neutralized, Kiba and Akamaru finally stopped their spin as the boy struggled to catch his breath.

That was the first time that he had utilized the technique in a real battle. Although the effect was better than he had expected, his stamina couldn't keep up. In his heart, he lamented about the time he had wasted by being lazy. If only he had trained his endurance more...

Meh. At the very least, all three ninja had been taken care of, so there's no problem, right?

...Hold on. Three? Wasn't there supposed to be four-

The last the Iwa ninja burst out of the ground, surfacing right behind Hikari.

A strong arm choked her and lifted her up, while the cold edge of a sword touched the skin of her neck.

"You little dog, if you don't want your friend to die, then stay where you are!"

Of course, it was just a bluff. The Tsuchikage had strictly ordered them to bring the Jinchuuriki back alive at all costs. He would sooner behead himself rather than defying that order.

But the kid didn't need to know that.

"You... cheap bastard...!"

"Kiba-!"

He was angered beyond belief, but what could he do? That was a blunder on his part not to keep track of the opponents. Now that they had gotten a hostage, he couldn't go wild like before.

"Son of a bitch, I'll make you pay!"

One of the Iwa ninja yanked Kiba down by the hair, and then kicked him on the stomach. Another one smacked Akamaru in the head, which resulted in his transformation getting undone.

They proceeded to rain down punches and kicks on the boy, venting their frustration over getting wrecked by a little kid's half-assed jutsu.

"Stop it! Kuh-!"

The Iwa ninja tightened his hold over Hikari's neck before whispering a threat.

"Worry about yourself, kid. After we're done with that boy, you're next. The Tsuchikage only told us to bring you alive. He didn't say that we couldn't make you half-dead in the meantime."

The Iwa ninja curved his lips as he watched fear slowly filling the girl's widened eyes.

The group that was pouncing on Kiba finally got bored with the act. One of them drew out a kunai, intending to finish the job.

"W-wait...!"

She let out a faint sob. Her trembling hands clumsily grabbed on her captor's wrist.

"I-I'll go with you... so, please... let him go... I beg you..."

Her voice was so weak, barely qualifying as a whisper.

"..."

The Iwa ninja flinched for a moment. After pondering for a while, he let out a sigh.

"Oi, you guys. No need to go that far against a child. We already got the package, so let's bail before Konoha noticed."

They frowned, thinking that their squad leader had gone soft.

Nevertheless, his words did make sense. As adults, it was a bit too petty to mess with mere kids. They reluctantly stepped away from the boy, but not without giving him one last kick to the face for good measure.

"There. You happy, girl? Now, we'll deal with you-"

He abruptly felt a strong grip clutching on his wrist.

The misty gaze that was begging for pity had disappeared. They were replaced by a pair of sharp eyes glaring with killing intent.

With her left hand acting as the anchor, she swung her right hand, infusing the tip of her fingers with chakra.

<<Emei Sect Unarmed-Style: Thirty-Six Dianxue: Elbow Point>>

With a single blow, she accurately struck the pressure point on his elbow, cutting off the meridian path.

The Iwa ninja felt his arm going numb. At the same time, a piercing pain struck his heart, as if a needle had been stabbed right at it.

She was freed from his grasp, but she wasn't done just yet.

<<Emei Sect Unarmed-Style: Thirty-Six Dianxue: Neck, Chest, Belly Point>>

She struck at the three pressure points in rapid succession, sundering each respective meridian paths.

"Guh... gohoh...!"

The Iwa ninja fell on his face, assaulted by intense pain. Even the slightest movement was enough to make him wish that he was dead instead.

Hikari grabbed the sword that the man had dropped, calmly studying its length. When she was done, she turned her gaze toward the three Iwa ninja left standing in the distance.

They were frozen on their spot, unable to comprehend such an absurd sequence of events.

This girl, against their squad leader, did she just-?

"Lord Kokuo, that thing that you did before when we escaped from Iwagakure... can you do it again?"

"This One can do it," the Tailed Beast affirmed. "Buy This One just a second."

"Understood."

She poured out her chakra, covering her in bluish light.

And then, she dashed toward the enemies.

"A-attack! Don't worry about keeping her alive!"

The Iwa ninja simultaneous formed the Bird seal.

"Careful, they're coming!" Kokuo warned.

"Understood."

Dirt spikes shot out of the ground, threatening to impale her right on the chest.

However, they failed to reach their intended target.

<<Emei Sect Soft-Sword Style: Fleeting Fragrance>>

Her steps turned light as if she was dancing.

With a turn of the heel, her body spun to the side, dodging the first spike by a hair's breadth. The second one appeared soon after, but she managed to slip away as well.

Like a leaf blown by the wind, she gracefully swayed through the battlefield, nimbly avoiding the earthen spears one after another.

"Bastard...! Die!"

One of the Iwa ninja changed his hand seal at the last moment, switching to the Rat seal.

Layers of dirt and mud burst out from the ground before closing in to crush her with their sheer weight.

At that critical moment, Kokuo finished its preparation.

Red mist intermingled with blue, rapidly heating up her body. A hot puff of steam flared off, blurring her image for a split second.

Her body flickered out of sight when the dirt walls crashed onto each other.

"Got her-!"

Before he could finish his words, a trail of steam appeared on his back, followed by the flash of a sharpened blade under the sun.

The morbid dance continued with a swift slash to the neck, tainting the sky with a burst of crimson red.

Landing on her feet, she spun on her heels, sending a downward curve that cleanly carved her next victim by their shoulder, cutting through their bones and internal organs.

Two down.

She charged toward the last ninja, striking him with a horizontal slash.

"Kuh... don't look down on me! I won't go down that easily, you monster!"

Before her blade could reach, a layer of rock suddenly gathered in front of his chest, forming a makeshift armor.

The tempered steel clashed with hardened rock, producing a screeching noise.

"...Tch."

She called off her strike before the blade could snap.

"...Annoying..."

These so-called jutsu, they were really troublesome to fight against.

Even so...

It was just too bad.

Emei-style swordplay was known for its flexibility in a fight. It represented the duality of Dao. Their practitioner could be soft, dancing gracefully in the battlefield as fluid as a flowing stream. They could also be hard, as unyielding as the sacred Mount Emei itself.

And the change of stance could happen in an instant.

The Iwa ninja sighed in relief. It seemed that his last-ditch effort had worked to stave off the girl's attack.

He was about to form another hand seal when he noticed that the girl's stance had changed.

She was no longer flighty like a feather. Instead, she was exhuming a suppressing aura, as if he was standing before a fearsome monster.

Turning her body sideways, Hikari assumed the low stance that defined Emei's destructive style.

She tightened her grip on the sword, and then she leaped forward, swinging her sword at blinding speed.

<<Emei Sect Hard-Sword Style: Butterfly Wing Clip>>

To slice through the wings of a butterfly that could easily avoid the slash, a practitioner had to strike with a speed that surpassed common sense.

That speed, when combined with the infusion of qi, could cut through the Heaven itself!

"I-Impossible..."

Blood sprayed out as the blade cut through everything in its way, breaking through the rock armor and splitting the ninja in two. His body twitched briefly before turning cold.

The fight had lasted just for a few seconds. Even then, it had blown Kiba out of his mind.

He was stuck watching by the sides as the world was covered in crimson. He wasn't an exception. His hair, his shirt, every part of him was covered with the stench of iron to the point that he was about to puke.

And yet, he didn't dare to.

He stared blankly at the brown-haired girl, an unexplainable sense of dread keeping him rooted on the ground.

But then, the girl who had been fighting just now suddenly fell on her knees. The borrowed sword slipped out of her hand, its blade cracked and splintered.

That sight snapped Kiba out of his stupor, allowing his legs to move once again.

"Oi! You alright?!"

He quickly rushed over, catching her from behind so that she wouldn't fall.

"Huh...?"

Her body was really heavy at the moment. She tried moving her limbs, but they refused to comply, as if uncountable weights were pulling her down.

"Chakra depletion," Kokuo remarked. "This One could share some, but it would be better if you rest for now. You have overused your body."

Ah... that made sense.

Those advanced techniques were too exhausting for a nine-year-old after all. It would actually be weird if she was fine after using them.

Woof!

"I get it, you don't need to tell me, Akamaru."

"W-whoa?!"

He suddenly lifted her on his back. Akamaru also changed position, perching on top of her head instead.

Without their creators, the dirt walls were nothing more than decorations. Kiba easily cleared them off with a single leap.

"We're already this close to the village, let's go back at once!"

Before he could do that,

Pfiuuu~

A whistle rang out throughout the forest.

Its source was the first Iwa ninja that Hikari had knocked out earlier. Enduring the excruciating pain, he forced himself to the limit, sending the signal to his comrades who were still hiding in the forest.

"For... Lord Tsuchikage..."

He murmured before passing out.

"Goddamnit!"

Kiba might be a lazy bum, but he wasn't a complete fool. He knew by instinct that the whistle was bad news, so he hurried back toward the village.

Woof!

"I know! You smelled them too, huh?"

The entire forest seemed to come to life at that point with shadows flickering in and out of the darkness. It wasn't just a small group like before. Most likely, the entire force was coming at them like hungry hounds.

The earth itself shook as dirt walls upon dirt walls rose around the fleeing boy. From the front, from the back, they piled up to the point that they were almost blocking the sun.

There was nowhere left to run.

Ninja dressed in the same ambiguous attire as before entered the encirclement one by one. Their demand was still the same.

"Hand over the girl."

And the boy's response was also the same.

"What a frigging joke!"

The burning spirit in his eyes refused to yield, even when he had become a cornered rat.

"Let me tell ya, we Inuzuka never betray our people! And this girl right here is one of us! In short, screw you guys! I will never hand her over!"

"...It's too late to regret that, kid."

He had no patience to humor the boy. The Tsuchikage's order was absolute, and they would fulfill it no matter the cost. The squad leader raised his hand, giving his men permission to go ahead and do whatever was necessary to extract their Jinchuuriki.

Just as Kiba was determined to fight until the very end...

<Beast-Human Taijutsu Secret Art: Fang Rotating Fang>

A huge explosion destroyed the dirt walls, throwing a thick cloud of dust into the air.

Amidst the resulting chaos, the boy felt his strung-up nerves gradually relaxing when he noticed the back of that familiar figure.

In front of him stood a woman with spiky wild-hair and red fang-shaped mark on her cheeks. By her side was a black-furred, wolf-like ninja dog with an eyepatch covering one of his eyes.

Following her entrance, numerous Konoha Anbu with their distinctive animal masks breached through the dirt walls, turning the Iwa pursuers from hunters to prey.

"Inuzuka never betray our people, huh? Screw you guys, huh? Stupid boy. Are you trying to make your enemies angrier than they already are?"

Tsume turned around to look at his son. Her lips curved up as she gave him an approving grin.

"That's my boy!"

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