Torn Consequences (4)

"What did a Suna shinobi think while trying to train wind nature transformation?"

Hiding in a small cave they have excavated, two other shinobi— Aburame Clansmen from the looks of their outfits, sigh softly.

"Sakumo-san, the situation is dire. How can you have the heart of making jokes at this point... in your current condition..." One of them points out while the other one finishes the bandage around the Sakumo's right stump of the shoulder. His mesh shirt is torn and set aside. His white light chakra saber is sliced neatly forming a slanted edge.

"Well, I just lost an arm, right?" Sakumo smiles and takes a deep breath, "Well, the Suna shinobi who trained his wind nature transformation thought... of blowing sand in his enemy's eyes!"

Although the Aburame Clansmen wear dark shades over their eyes despite the cave having almost no source of light, the two look at each other, and then the one that was bandaging Sakumo speaks up, "Sakumo-san... that was not good."

THIS bummed out Sakumo more than losing his arm or his sword. After all, Sakumo is ready to lose his life, that's part of the job description but his puns... he has been working on them for too long to get such meager results.

'But... Aburame clan doesn't have a sense of humor. Minato would have loved it,' Sakumo muses while leaning back. Although his body is lean and muscular, he IS older than most. It shows on his body. His scars never looked more prominent.

"We did not expect... Raikage's son to be THIS strong," Aburame shinobi whispers, "But more dangerous of the group that laid an ambush on us is their Fuin Squad. They will most likely try and catch upto us."

"Him, huh," Sakumo chuckles, "Lad doesn't have a name. That means he's being groomed for the name— A. He still has some way to go but he's better than most Jonins."

"Sakumo-san, why did you not prioritize the mission?" One of them finally looks at Sakumo, "You should have left us. We would have stalled the enemy and you could have entered Takigakure. We were meant to be distractions."

Not the least bit annoyed that the shinobi he saved would have such a reaction when they are from Aburame Clan no less, Sakumo replies with ease, "I have two reasons I like completing missions alone. One, I work better alone. And two... well, you just witnessed it."

"You're too compassionate for your own good. That strange 'mercenary' they hired did NOT die by your attack and..." The Aburame shinobi looks at Sakumo's right shoulder while the white-haired shinobi hums softly, "This mission... unless we receive backup is most likely a failure. Just as well, I lost an arm so my career ends with this failure."

The two shinobi simply could not deduce rationally why Sakumo... would save them. But they took matters as dealt and just sit silently.

After a while, Sakumo begins to dress up once again, not the least bit inhibited but the constant pain did make him flinch every now and then. The wound, even if burnt well, is too fresh.

'Maybe having a medic wouldn't have been THAT bad,' Sakumo chuckles bitterly internally as he recalls the strongest medic he has the pleasure of knowing and it's not Tsunade Senju.

The lone candle in the cave soon flickers out of existence as it reaches the end of the wick and they do not bother lighting another one. The purpose of the candle was to have enough light and patch Sakumo up.

"It's extremely rare for someone to survive a stab in the heart," An Aburame shinobi questions, "How is that possible?"

"Not only that, he has proficiency in elemental chakra flow as great as Raikage to enhance his body," Sakumo adds, "His punches would dent thick cubes of pure metal. His taijutsu is not the least bit weak... and his reaction time is as great as mine."

"My bugs could not feed on all of his chakra reserves before they were burnt. So, that shinobi has fire nature jutsus in his arsenal, too... and lightning jutsu, too. Three nature transformations. Where did Kumogakure find him?"

The trio falls silent.

"Maybe Nanabi will fall to Kumo's hands..."

This is what they were expected to prevent but the special path described to Konoha by Takigakure is the unexpected location they were ambushed by Kumo. According to Taki, this path is known only to the higher-ups of the village but...

Apparently, that's not entirely true.

It's at this moment of silence that Sakumo's instincts scream bloody murder and he quickly grasps the hilt of his broken saber and swings it ahead as his chakra dramatically intensifies and breaks the flimsy film of control that had unconsciously gripped him.

His vision shifts and he sees one of the two Aburame clansmen in front of him. The kunai in the man's hand falls on the ground as Sakumo's broken blade is chopped incompletely into the top half of his head.

The very next second, Sakumo scowls as he looks at the other Shinobi already dead and lying in his pool of blood. But he doesn't stop and forms a seal before touching the entrance of the cave—

*Boom*

The corpse of the Aburame clansman with half the sword lodged in his skull explodes with flames engulfing the interior of the cave as all the insects within the bodies of the two members can't even hiss shrilly before being torn asunder.

*Bang*

Barely having enough time to defend himself and surviving solely due to his instincts, Sakumo's half-burnt body flies out and splinters many trees in unequal half before coming to a stop as a few thick wooden spikes find their way into his flesh through his back.

"Ugh..." A soft groan escapes Sakumo's lips. The right side of his face burnt to a mangled mess alongside the outer portion of his right leg and torso. His right eye is already gone in this event as he can barely move.

'Things can definitely be worse...' Sakumo uses chakra to numb his nervous system, nothing too crazy and almost too basic for an Iryo-nin veteran.

'I could have returned to the village as a failure... failing and surviving an S-ranked mission is not a good look. But... I could have retired...'

His vision grows hazy. Unable to feel anything and his vision greatly compromised, Sakumo fails to sense a stream of white material entering his body.

'I do regret leaving Kakashi alone... but he has great goals and a matching talent... better than his lazy old man, huh...'

Sakumo felt like chuckling but all he ended up doing was groan.

He only felt like blinking but the next second, Sakumo finds himself far from Takigakure and...

Looking at his right arm with BOTH his eyes, Sakumo narrows his gaze suspiciously and then tries to dispel whatever genjutsu he had on himself and that still... doesn't change anything.

Clenching and unclenching his right fist, Sakumo finds himself in an even better condition than before.

The only indication that he experienced the betrayal of the highest order is his torn clothes.

'What's going on?' Frowning, Sakumo stands up and inspects his chakra once more and finds no hints of genjutsu. In fact, he now realizes that the last time, he was placed in genjutsu was when that shinobi patched him up.

'This is not normal in any manner... was he a Kumo spy? But whatever may be going on, I can't just return to the village. All I would have gotten back then was a slap on the wrist but now two clansmen are dead and I don't know why I survived. I... No, I need to go to the village. T&I can do their due diligence by scouring my brain. I don't have any special clan techniques to hide either. I... no, I cannot go there.'

Sakumo has a deep frown and feels a strange sense of anxiousness that wasn't present before.

Taking a deep breath, Sakumo turns in the direction of Ame and leaves quietly.

---

*Tsssss*

The crisp sound of flames and charred ground alongside the burnt scent fails to rouse any reaction from a chalk-skinned man with straight, jet-black hair.

'Two corpses here,' Orochimaru narrows her eyes and looks at the butchered mess of burnt flesh and shredded skeletal structure. Unperturbed, she crouches down and begins to scope out the area more carefully and instantly realizes a few more things.

'Explosion from a group of blast bugs. A stupidly rare breed. How did a shinobi from Konoha develop a breed found in Kumo?' She muses and then suddenly stabs her hand into the charred ground, 'That's not all... I'm missing something. What an annoyingly terrible sensation.'

The Aburame clansman COULD be a spy... but Orochimaru feels that's too simple. For Aburame Clansmen, at least. There is no way this clan of all would have the guts to betray their village and then die a traitor because it's simply irrational.

But the evidence does support this basic theory.

At this moment, Orochimaru turns her attention to the left and finds a coiling verdant-scaled serpent with its beady eyes locked onto her.

'Huh, nothing I did not expect,' Orochimaru smiles and then turns her attention to the site of destruction, 'At least, I know the old sage did not forget me. I feel honored... but if the old sage's attention is only on me then... my skills with senjutsu have certainly grown to a startling degree.'

*Swish*

*Swish*

*Swish*

Five shinobi instantly surround her as Orochimaru stands up and looks at the dark-skinned, muscular blonde youth. The other three shinobi have red masks with a simple fuin seal that prevents ordinary chakra sensing. And finally, the most dangerous of them all, a cloaked individual with the cloth of the cloak around his chest torn open as if this man was run through a blade.

"You're... Orochimaru. One of the three Sannins," The blonde youth stares at Orochimaru with aggression clear as he questions, "Where is Sakumo Hatake?!"

"Interesting," Orochimaru snickers and then looks at the cloaked youth. Yet, the next second, covered in a cloak of blue chakra and arcs of lightning, the youth's fist smashes past an afterimage of Orochimaru.

Instantly alert at this 'strange' situation as if dodging this youth was an accomplishment of utmost importance, the group collects together.

"There!" The cloaked individual scoffs as his fists turn dark and he plunges his punch into the ground, causing a massive impact to crack apart the ground as chunks of rocks flew apart with a shadow promptly standing on one such rock and using its momentum to put some distance between the group and herself.

'That... wasn't speed. She 'dodged' me using Genjutsu... but to put me Genjutsu when I'm using Lightning Cloak...' The realization incited murderous intent in the youth as he purposely makes his chakra burst more unstably and then chase after Orochimaru— appearing in front of her in a blink of an eye!

"Adequate," Orochimaru's smile broadens as the youth silently punches with extreme force and—

*Poof*

The clone disperses.

---

"So... even that Old Snake can't easily find me when I'm in Sage Mode?" With the purple marks around her eyes prominently elongated as they stretch and follow the sides of her nose, Orochimaru emerges from the ground and muses, "To convert into the ground and other surfaces... a nifty skill. Similar to earth escape jutsu or the kind similar to it. I wonder if such stealth gives me an edge over other sages like Kai... Unfortunately, Jiraiya only has an incomplete mastery and Tsunade is just wasting her talents..."

The 'kunoichi' turns around. She was sent here as a backup and facing the next Raikage candidate alongside Kumo's Fuin Squad and that strange mercenary is not part of the mission. After all, there is no one left to provide backup.

'How did Sakumo 'disappear' without a single track? This trap seems well-set. If he is injured... where could he have gone? If he's dead, then which beast ate him?'

This is especially puzzling.

After all, even she can't detect anything aside from the obvious destruction of nearby trees in a straight line as if a canon struck them. The barest shreds of blood she could find were collected but... her clone was destroyed, unfortunately.

'Sensei will decide for himself what to think of Sakumo... or his corpse in this situation.'

***

Alternate Title: Dats Sum Suspense!

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