Chapter 24

"Dad! Dad! Look at this!" A small, fair skinned boy with white hair called out to his father from outside their Japanese style mansion. His black and white comfort fitted ninja attire blew gently from the wind.

Following his voice, Shinku slid open the door and stepped out. Ruffling the boy's black hair as he kneeled at his side. "What's up Kotaru?"

"Hehe! I finally created one!" The boy held up a praying mantis to Shinku, their red eyes locking one with another for a moment.

"You're improving quite well, aren't you, Kotaru. It won't be long until you can start creating larger and more complex creatures." Smiling, Shinku spoke, and his son puffed his chest in pride from his father's praise.

"Of course! I'm your son after all!" Kotari smiled brightly as he released the praying mantis and warmly embraced his father.

Wrapping his arms around Kotaru, an oddly familiar thick liquid feeling came from Shinku's palms. Giving both hands a glance, Shinku's bones ran cold as black inky blood painted his hands.

"The hell..."

"But why didn't you save us? You should have saved us. You could have saved all of us!"

Hearing Kotaru's words, Shinku separated from the hug to see his sons skin turned a pale white: his innocent red eyes were gone, leaving two gaping holes, his nose bled, his arms ripped off and there was a gaping hole in his stomach that continuously bled.

Shinku's vision blurred, and his head suddenly began pounding. "Agh!"

Holding his head with his blood-soaked hands, Shinku released a pained roar.

"You're a monster! You killed us all!"

"Who... are... you..."

. . .

. .

.

"Uzendayo! Agh! Fucking hell it hurts!" Sweat covered his face and soaked the bandages wrapped around him. After a long slumber, Shinku awoke to excruciating pain coursing throughout his whole body, but more predominantly his jaw and his right arm.

"Now, now. If you've around too much, you'll reopen your wound." A questionably feminine voice came from Shinku's bedside. It was then that Shinku realized he was unable to open his eyes.

Immediately, Shinku tried to sense his surroundings with Chakra but found that his chakra was in a chaotic state at the moment, and he wouldn't be doing any chakra manipulation for the time being.

"Orochimaru..."

"Oh. It seems that even without your senses, you can still identify me. I'm honestly quite touched." Orochimaru giggled and caressed Shinku's cheek, admiring how blessed he was in terms of looks.

"I see..."

"Hmm. You don't seem all that concerned that I'm the one who found you, Mercenary Shin, from the notorious Sora. Wanted by all five Shinobi villages with a bounty of currently 10 million Ryo, but after that little stunt, you pulled against Kumoand their Jinchuriki, that's bound to skyrocket." Orochimaru's hand snaked down Shinku's neck and down to his large torso.

"That's because you were aware of my identity since the Onsen. And you wouldn't be treating me, pulling me back from the brink of death if you were interested in a few, Ryo." Shinku weakly said through pained breaths.

"My my. Then I take it you know what I'm interested in?" Orochimaru smirked and leaned closer to Shinku.

"Of course. Though i won't just hand you what you want even if you're healing me." Shinku said, making Orochimaru giggle.

"But I can also kill you right here and take it."

"Then do it if you think you have what it takes."

Shinku was unfazed by Orochimaru's threats. Even while bedridden, Shinku was confident... or just stupid.

"Hmm. Like you said before, 'You're interesting, and I like that.' So I won't kill you... yet..." Orochimaru said before standing from the bedside and heading out, leaving Shinku alone to recuperate.

"..."

'I wanted to ask one more thing... Well, Gin may be obsessed, but she's not insane. If there is no gain, she wouldn't risk heading back for me.'

U

nsure of the current situation after his battle or the amount of time that passed; Shinku chose to focus on recovering.

...

"Should we head back for him? What if he needs help?" Ye Xiao gulped as he glanced back at the large Hachibi rampaging in the distance, caught in a fierce battle with Shinku.

"I wanna help him as well, but now's not the time. At the moment, you would be a burden and thus killed if you got in the way. So I should at least take you someplace safe, and hopefully, Shin can last that long against it." Gin gritted her teeth and balled her fists as she ran away with Ye Xiao. Her mind was flooded with countless possibilities of what Shinku could be enduring.

"As long as the Raikage and the fully awakened Hachibi don't team up against Shinku, He should be more than fine. He's strong, but to face them both at the same time would be straining."

"But... What if by the time you return, it's too late?" Ye Xiao pressed his head into Gins neck. An unnatural worry for a man that threatened to kill him.

"You're an odd one. I thought you would be glad to see Shinobi die."

"What? Oh. While Shin is really scary, I... I don't want him to die either. If he does, then big sister will be sad, Grandpa Odin seemed to really care for Mister Shin, and I'm sure even he has people he wants to see again." Ye Xiao whispered, after a while glancing back once again.

His eyes widened in fear as he noticed the Bijuu was weakly gathering chakra into a sphere, and it was pointing in the same direction as them.

"S-Summer-nee!"

At his words, Summer glanced back, her heart racing in fear as death loomed over them. Shifting directions, Gin hoped the Bijuu wasn't aiming for them, and they'd be safe if she only moved.

Following their path, the Hachibi also adjusted itself to target the two.

"Shit..."

After clarifying that indeed they were the target, Gin gave her all to increase her speed and expand the distance between them.

Even when the Hachibi released the Bijudama, Gin didn't stop and tried to rush away. It was only for a moment, but Gin felt Shinku's presence nearby, but it quickly vanished.

BOOM

Gin stopped in her tracks, outside the blast radius of the Bijudama as it exploded midway toward her. Shifting her gaze toward the explosion, her heart sank, and her breathing hitched as she rushed back toward the dying explosion.

"NO! You bastard!"

Gin soon came to a stop and dropped down to the ground. Her gaze locked on a puddle of blood with ripped cloth scattered around, a broken shard Shinku's mask, and a lonely jaw bone with pieces of burt flesh still on it.

"Sh-Shinku... you asshole..."

Letting Ye Xiao down, Gin rushed off to find Shinku's body. Denial. With Shinku's strength, it's impossible to die without a corpse. Even if it's a Bijudama, there should have been more of his remains.

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Chapter End