Chapter 66

I had completed the three-month-mission and it was finally time to start mine. Destination, Land of Fire's Fire Temple. On the run to the Fire Temple, I got to thinking; What happened with Kotoamatsumaki and the inner me made me realize I really had no idea about all the secrets of the inner me; Ever since she gained color and began to absorb chakra on her own.

What the hell was that? The way she shook me out of Kotoamatsumaki was beyond my imagination. I already knew how to take down Danzo without giving him a chance to use Izanagi, but I was stuck on how to proceed if he used Kotoamatsumaki on me as a first move. I felt the rage and displeasure from the Inner Me's 'demonic' scream; It did not seem to be directed at me, but more at the fact that I, or more precisely, 'we' had been trapped. I not only felt it shake my soul and mind, but shook my insides as well, causing a bit of damage to my organs; The healing kicked in so it was not really a problem.

Once thing was certain, the connection or link between us was there, and even stronger than before. In fact, ever since I was forced out of Kotoamatsukami, I had felt I slight and subtle pulsing to chakra of sorts, radiating out from 'her', or 'me', or should I say 'us'? I could only put it at the back of my mind and delve into the secrets later.

Anyway, that scream was interesting. If I could utilize it, I should be able deal some nice internal damage. With the way it shook my mind and 'soul', I could easily utilize genjutsu with it. It was so powerful, even if you blocked your ears with chakra, you would still be affected. I would work on it when I returned home. I felt though, that I still had so much to uncover about the Inner Me, but at the same time, I had a feeling it would all unravel slowly. I was already grinning from ear to ear.

I had already arrived at the region of the Fire Temple. There it was. I was so happy it was here. I was afraid since the Sora arc was more an Anime only thing. I quickly begun to make plans on how to proceed; I could try and lure Sora away or I could always burst through, slaughter everyone and take away Sora. The fire temple looked like a large monastery. It was currently led by Chiriku, a survivor of the former Twelve Guardian Ninja.

The Twelve Guardian Ninja were a group gathered from around the Land of Fire whose sole goal and mission was to protect the Daimyo. Their membership was represented by a sash around their waist with the Kanji for Fire depicted on it. During their active time, six of the Guardians, who became overly absorbed in their roles, felt the sole ruler of the Land of Fire needed to be the Daimyo. A bunch of overly invested brainwashed fools with too much time on their hands, if you asked me. As such, the six staged a coup but were stopped by the other guardians. The whole thing smelled of 'Liberation' if you asked me; Guess even ninjas could be roped in without temptation of money or power.

The whole place was surrounded by forests and was almost as tranquil and the forests of the Land of Tea; If I ever decided to practice sage mode, I would probably move here or to the Land of Tea.

I stood on a tree a distance away from the monastery, covered in my Yin Cloak. As I stared at the place, I continued to think about exactly how I should go about it. I changed my Chakra Carpet into the Chakra Radar and began to have a feel for the monastery. The place was filled with almost one hundred strong chakra signatures, with two that particularly stood out.

The first one, although not a lot, felt tranquil and peaceful, yet fierce; That might have been Chiriku. The other chakra was massive; Maybe not as massive as Naruto, but still huge. It felt slightly sinister as well. It was safe to assume that was my target, Sora.

Interestingly, my Radar picked up another strong chakra a slight distance away. Looking at that direction, I donned a different mask and long black coat and disappeared from my position. I appeared beside a tree, watching someone who was standing in front of a grave. He wore a cloak with the hood slightly pulled back enough for his face to be seen.

The melancholy and occasional affirmation everchanging in his eyes as he clenched his fist. Soon, another walked in his direction. He was a bald monk with the sash of the Kanji for 'Fire' around his waist. He had a slight smile on his face as he watched the cloaked man before the graves. He was another former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, Chiriku.

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Chiriku stood beside the cloaked man as they both stared at the grave for a while without speaking. After a long while, the cloaked figure turned to look at the Chiriku who continued to stare at the grave. "Where are their bodies?" The cloaked figure asked the bald monk who merely smiled.

"No 'How are you?' or even a 'Hello?'. You grow colder, old friend. I assumed you came to see your child, Kazuma. Or is it Furido now?" Chiriku smiled, finally breaking sight from the grave and looked at the cloaked figure. Kazuma frowned slightly as he stared at the monk before him.

Kazuma, another former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. He was apparently the leader who developed the radical idea of uniting all under the one King, the Fire Daimyo, eventually convincing the other five guardians to join him. Quite the silver tongue.

"Keeping tabs on me now, are we?" Kazuma narrowed his eyes, grabbing hold of a weapon under his cloak, as he contemplated on his next actions. His former comrade merely smiled and looked at him. He had gone into hiding yet this man in front of him, for some reason, seemed to know about him.

After a little while, he shook his head and let go of the weapon in his cloak. Furido was an alias he was using; Not like he was keeping it a secret or anything. Regardless, it would be better if he did not show himself for a while. "Well, you suddenly dropped a brat on me, and a troublesome one at that if I might add. Of course, I have to keep tabs on you so you don't go do something stupid; You need to pay me back after all." Kazuma rolled his eyes at his former comrade.

"I thought you were a monk, what happened to working for charity?" Kazuma slightly relaxed his guard as he kept chatting with his friend. He had missed this a little. Just a little. They might have had differing opinions but that did not change the fact that they used to be close comrades at one point.

"What charity? It takes money to run this place, you know?" Chiriku retorted as his smile began to widen a little. His friend was the most diligent and easy going at some point and they got along quite well. It was nice talking like they used to, but no matter how much one indulged in fantasies, they had to wake up at some point.