Chapter 26

"I'm gonna kill him. Let me kill him!"

"Idiot..."

"Honestly, I'm kinda speechless."

"This is 'kinda' your fault, though."

"Will you three shut up."

Shinku watched as the four figures, two similar but alternate Shinku's, Akame, and Loli gave him mixed looks.

Disappointment. Annoyance. Anger. Impassiveness...

Shinku swirled through a world of darkness with countless voices for what felt like decades.

"Shut... up..." Through gritted teeth, Shinku snapped his eyes open, silencing the voices.

"Hmm. It's warm... so... comfortable..." Shinku blinked a few times. Looking around, he noticed he was lying down on a bed once again with a thick and warm blanket tossed over him.

Though a frown soon marred his face as he noticed, his hands and feet were bound with ropes to the bed with several chakra suppressing seals drawn over them.

"This is excessive..."

"Oh. And you trying to kill me wasn't? Honestly, you attacked unprovoked, and you call this excessive." Orochimaru slithered out from underneath the blanket onto Shinku's chest.

"You drugged me before I attacked."

"It wasn't a drug. It was an experimental sedative Tsunade cooked up. Considering your attempt to leave in a hurry without properly recovering, I'd say it was justified." Orochimaru whispered into Shinku's ear, unmoving from onto of him.

"Still a drug, it doesn't matter how you spin it." Shinku yanked one of the ropes, cracking part of the backboard.

"Sigh. Men..." Orochimaru slid her hands up to Shinku's wrists to stop him from any more attempt to break free.

"I'm fine now, so give me my stuff, and I'll head out." Shinku raised a brow at how close Orochimaru face was to his own and contemplated a headbutt, but brushed the thought aside for now.

"You won't even stay for me?"

With her long, snake like tongue, Orochimaru licked along Shinku's cheek. Grinning as she did so.

Despite her protests and efforts, the headboard creaked, beginning to burst from the Shinku's strength, pulling against it and pushing Orochimaru back.

"Damn..."

The ropes eventually snapped, accompanied by the backboard splintering.

Rolling over, Shinku forced Orochimaru under him on the bed as he ripped the chakra-suppressing seals off and untied the ropes around his ankles. His gaze filled with annoyance.

"I gave you a chance to cooperate, now you're just getting on my nerves." Shinku pressed several chakra points, accessible with his current position, and stood up, leaving Orochimaru partially paralyzed.

"While I'm thankful to you, I have business that needs to be settled." Shinku said as he immediately began scrounging around the room for his stuff, grabbing his sword along the way.

Not finding his equipment, Shinku glanced at the silent Orochimaru and headed out the room to find them himself, knowing Orochimaru would only waste his time even more.

"We should be in the clear now, so do you mind helping me out." Shinku glanced down at the sword in his left hand as he ran through the dimly lit passageways.

"Not really."

"..."

Shinku frowned as the voice from his Katana refused to help him.

"You identify as female, right?"

Shinku narrowed his gaze and waited several moments for a response that never came.

"Sigh. I'm sorry..."

When in doubt of why a woman is mad, apologizing works 50% of the time.

"For?"

The other 50% is when you are too stupid to figure out the correct response to this question.

"..."

"Sigh. Alright, I'm not actually sorry. Hell, I did nothing wrong to deserve you acting like a Tsundere out of nowhere, and if you aren't gonna help me, then you can just remain silent, and I'll figure it out myself."

Shinku gave the voice a few minutes to provide him with some sort of assistance, and when it never came, he sealed it away on his wrist.

Dipping into several rooms, Shinku eventually stumbled into a laboratory that was still in the process of being built.

Stepping in, a weird wave of mixed emotions and familiarity washed over him. Fragmented images of Akame, Ruri, and Eto flashed through his mind, causing a headache as their frightened faces continued to surface.

Glancing around, Shinku noticed his pouches were tossed casually on a table with his clothes. Digging through them, Shinku pulled out an all black scroll and released a sigh.

Hurriedly, Shinku grabbed them all and teleported out of Konoha entirely.

. . .

. .

.

"Come on, Summer! We need to head out now!" Odin called out to Summer from one of the many ships at a port city miles away from Yugakure.

Summer nodded and gave one last glance to the land she and the other members of Sora were able to call home.

"Yeah. I guess so..." Summer and Ye Xiao headed onto the ship. Her thoughts soon drifted to the only member of Sora who caught her attention.

'Where are you at now, Shinku?'

. . .

. .

.

"Ugh. I feel like absolute shit now." Shinku teleported to the furthest mark he could sense from Konoha, a random forest 200lm away in the direction of Yugakure.

Pressing his back to a tree, Shinku dressed himself using the bandage wraps as socks and patched up the holes in his pants.

Tossing his cloak on, Shinku tossed his old bloody vest and set it on fire before teleporting off once again, leaving no trace of presence outside of the slowly burning vest.

Arriving at his next mark, Shinku arrived at the edge of the land of hot water. As quick as he arrived, he was quick to leave. Teleporting off once again and appearing on the roof of his old house.

A sigh escaped his lips as he overlooked the repaired village that was now missing the large tower Sora used as its base of operations for years.

"Sigh. The old man should have moved bases thanks to Kamish causing a scene in the village."

"Probably best, since it seemed Kumo somewhat had an idea where I was heading along with Konoha having sent Shinobi to investigate."

Seeing that he no longer had any reason to remain in the village, Shinku shifted his gaze to the cloudy sky.

"Then I should pay a visit to my dear fiancé."

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CHAPTER END