CH 15 The Prayer Of Violence

When in the jungle, do as the animals do. That is the philosophy that kept Aki Tsuchisaru alive on his many excursions to the forest of death. There was no reason for him to drop that now, especially when there was so much depending on his performance.

Least of which was his soul. To Aki, it seemed like everyone was after his soul, the sins, the guilt, the priests and now even Gin. If he did not make a name for himself soon, chances were his end would not be good.

He could feel the weight of the debts on his soul and guts.

"You guys smell that?" Masaru asked.

Maybe not, maybe it was his stomach again.

"Yeah, there is something odd in the air…" Yasuo Onida said.

"Really, I… don't smell… anything."

"I wonder why, kid." Gin said, drinking from his gourd.

"It's coming from six o'clock," Masaru said, standing up and facing that direction. "Something is burning… fur… skin… grass… and oil?"

"Sharp like bitch this one."

"Grandpa Onida, it's sharp like a hound… use the correct phrase."

"Well, what is the female of a hound? A bitch-"

"Leave the bag of bones. Let's check it out." Masaru said, jumping on a tree in the smell's direction.

"All right, let's do this." Aki said, following behind Masaru, jumping from tree to tree.

Soon the three genins were near the action scene, and to their surprise, it was everything they wanted. For Masaru, there was a scroll, ready to be taken. For the somewhat senile Onida, there were the Hidden Rain genins to pick apart.

For Aki, there was some action, finally a place where he could just let things go and test his skills.

"Do we wait and ambush them later?"

"I'm itching for some action, Masaru."

"I'm with Aki boy. Let's strike now when they are distracted. If we wait, others might jump in the fray, too."

"Just like the practice, guys. Masaru in close combat, I'll be mid-range to close combat, grandpa Onida in long distance and support."

"No problem with me." Masaru said, loosening his muscles and unsheathing his two tanto blades from his back. The sixteen-year-old teen was too good at striking things at odd angles with his lanky limbs.

Yasuo Onida gave a simple nod, taking a repeating crossbow out of his storage scroll. The old shrivelled goat took his position like a seasoned hunter, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Aki undid his hood and lowered the collar of his shirt from his mouth. Dan returned to his normal form, taking a seat on Aki's left shoulder while Gin adopted his heraldry form, turning into a white rectangular earring.

"Remember Aki-Dono, fire is the mother of life."

"Fire is the creator of all things."

"Let your soul rest in its warm embrace."

"Let her warmth claim my wrath." Aki said the teaching like prayer in a calm voice, as if he was a supplicant in a monastery. "KATON: TERU TERU BOZU [Fire style: Rain Puppets.]"

Six melon size fireballs came out of Aki's mouth, their red hue tinted with the blue of a clear sky. These balls were made of Gin's Yang-natured chakra, and Dan channelled in them his yin-natured energy, giving form to the clumps of vitality-filled fire.

Masaru took it as his cue to attack. He jumped from the tree, landing near a buff Hidden Rain ninja with many umbrellas. He sliced the man on his shoulder with one blade, while the umbrella blocked his other blade.

The giant green chimp with a club in his hand and boulder-like tail used that moment to attack Masaru. The teen dodged that attack, narrowly avoiding a kunai from a plump and short Hidden Rain nin.

The buff Rain Nin recovered first, pushing Masaru down on the ground, holding his umbrella over the teen. Before he could do anything, a ball of fire blasted him off his feet.

Thankfully, his three backup umbrellas opened on time to shield the blow, leaving him with impact damage and some minor burns.

"You Konoha shinobi attack from behind, even in your own land. Pathetic."

"A ninja is someone who accepts shadows," Masaru said, taking his stance, one blade for defence, one ready to plunge into someone. Behind him, two Hidden Rain genins, one short and one tall, were busy fighting the giant chimp.

"Spoken like a true coward."

The buffed shinobi ran towards Masaru, heedless of the fire still burning near the ground and on his backup umbrellas. Masaru smiled, turning and running towards the beast, surprising his opponent.

Before the buffed man could do anything to stop Masaru, Aki jumped from above with two axes in his hand. The handle of these axes was a golden cylindrical metal, while the blade was made of cold silvery steel.

"Fire is the passion of my soul. Unrelenting. Undying."

As Aki and Dan spoke in unison, the burning red-blue flames on the ground and umbrella came to life. They flew in the air, coagulating to form six fireballs, which soon turned into six rain dolls, floating behind Aki.

"Freaks and cowards, you're more a great circus than a great power," Nobu said.

Dan pointed his clapped hands towards the buff Nobu in reply, sending the fiery rain dolls at him. This time, anticipating the attack, the buffed guy avoided the fiery melons-sized dolls.

Aki chose the exact moment to strike the Nobu, swinging his axe over the just recovered shinobi. Nobu blocked the attack with his umbrella, while awkwardly kicking to gain some distance.

Dan again clapped his hands, raising rain dolls from the surrounding fire. This time the fire dolls were smaller than before, still not to the point of being unuseful.

Aki and the buffed shinobi engaged in a close combat duel, and surprisingly, Aki held his own. For the first time in his life. After weeks of training with heavy clubs, Gin and excessive eating, he had some strength in his body.

Just not enough to overwhelm his opponent. Nobu maned a square kick on Aki pushing him away, then he raised his umbrella towards him, the action that was copied by his backup umbrellas floating behind him.

"Hidden Art: Needle Hell!"

The umbrellas started rotating, launching a hail of senbon towards Aki. Blessedly, Yasuo Onida was old and senile, but not obsolete. He raised an earth wall in front of Aki, saving him from a prickly hell.

The fiery rain puppets blasted off towards the rain shinobi, this time going one by one instead of rushing together. This kept Aki's opponent on edge long enough for him to attack.

He ran to Nobu, striking him in the gut with a swift kick, launching the heavy genin back.

The rain puppets emerged again from the fire on the ground, this time even smaller than before. They blasted off towards the Hidden Rain genin again. The genin opened his umbrella, tanking the strikes while backing away.

Aki smiled, arching both his axes back before swinging them forward. The first two-third of the axes flew towards the buffed genin, while one-third of it remained in his hands. Both parts were still connected via a red chain made of chakra.

The axes flew in a wide arc behind the Hidden Rain genin and Aki pulled on the chain, bringing the axe back at an inward angle so that they dug in his opponents' back.

"Argh!" Nobu cried, dropping his umbrella only to eat a rain doll made of fire to his face, quickly followed by two others.

The impact tore his head away from his torso before three other rain dolls stuck his body, tearing a hole through it.

Aki reached the genin, bending down to touch his scorched remains.

"May the fire guide you to the light you seek."

"May your ashes rest and find some peace." Dan said, completing Aki's prayers.

"Never took you for a praying type." Masaru said, coming behind Aki and with a white scroll in hands.

"Old Benimaru forced me into this."

"Old Benimaru?"

"His grandfather, honestly son, did you have to burn him?"

''Thanks for the earth wall, grandpa Onida."

"Yeah, old man, you're quick with your arrows." Masaru said, pointing at the body of a tall rain shinobi that was nailed to a tree with an arrow through his neck.

"I prefer to be quick with my attacks. Unlike you."

Aki could tell what Onida was talking about, as the giant beast was lying panting in a puddle of his own blood, lacerated with wounds.

"Heal it Gin."

Gin returned to normal form and drank a good gulp of his sake before running for the dying beast.

"What? Why? The beast can attack us."

"Too much life lost," Aki replied, keeping the 'just because I wanted fun' bit in his mouth. " Besides that beast might be useful someday, if not to us then maybe to someone else."

"Alloweth the fireth embrace thee, not englut thee," Dan said, taking a drag from his pipe.

Aki sighed, taking out a small scroll from his hostler and unfurling it on the ground. There were two empty circles on the scroll, and Aki placed his axe on top of those weaving hand-signs.

The axe blades vanished into the scroll, leaving behind the handles, which disassembled themselves into palm size cylindrical rods and jumped into Aki's different hostler.

"I can never get used to your weapon, Tsuchisaru-san. Where did you even get it?"

"Did I not tell you already? I made this."

"Alas, the short-fat one left. I wanted to see his ninja tools and glasses. That lad was way too accurate." Yasuo said, collecting weapons from the two dead Hidden Rain shinobis.

"You look like a seasoned grave robber, old man."

"Young lady, how do you think we kept logistics going in war?" Yasuo asked. "Corpses don't need the gear, especially the corpses of our enemies. Wonder if I can backtrack the construction of these umbrellas."

"Let's leave, grandpa Onida. We've made enough commotion as is."

"Fine, let's camp somewhere. The night is upon us." Yasuo Onida said, watching the moon hanging in the sky.

Elsewhere in the jungle, the moon was illuminating its light on another battle, one between master and disciple. One that was a long time coming. One that was already decided.

However skilled Anko was, she was no match for one of the legendary Sanin, someone who was feared across lands.

"My, my, dearest Anko, what is that face? Are you not glad to see me? "

Anko was not glad to see her former master. In fact, she was quite in pain, both physically and mentally. The curse mark on her neck was making it hard for her to move, while the subconscious fear of Orochimaru buried deep in her was making it hard for her to think.

"What is it? An assassination attempt? Are you after lord Hokage?"

"Oh, no. I lack the hubris and the manpower to take that geezer down… now." Orochimaru said, sitting on a tree branch. "I'm after the young and extraordinary ninjas of the village."

"I don't think you plan on telling them bedtime stories. But I wonder, do snakes even know bedtime stories, lord Orochimaru?" Egoro said, appearing out of thin air above Anko and Orochimaru riding his summon.