Swordsmen of The Mist (V)

As it turned out, the smell of blood and rotten flesh came from the remains of a nearby town.

At first glance, one might be forgiven for thinking there was nothing wrong with the place; no buildings were destroyed, nothing was burned down, and even some carts were still standing on the street as if their owner had just left them there for a minute to go get something and would be back any moment now. However, once one took a closer look, things started to appear much more sinister.

Caskets at the side of the road were knocked over with their content lying on the ground beside them, doors were not just open but literally kicked out of their hinges, and the dusty ground showed signs of many people hurriedly running into the same direction at the same time.

Much more importantly, it was silent. Even in a small town like this, there should be at least some background noises. Although it probably shouldn't be that surprising considering there were yet to be any people or even animals to be seen.

When even rats and birds kept away from a place where they could find easy food, you knew something was very, very wrong.

Itachi was just as aware as his two companions what sight would almost be guaranteed to await them once they walked deeper into the town, but it was still disheartening when they found the first pool of dried, black blood. From then on, such things became more common, and soon the corpses of various animals, from horses to cats and dogs, joined next to splattered blood at the walls. While that was no definite proof, these things and the fact that a quick check showed that nothing appeared to have been stolen meant the likelihood of their targets being responsible was very high.

After all, bandits raided towns like this to steal their valuables or to take prisoners. Even if they were cruel enough to commit such atrocities, they wouldn't do it and then leave behind anything valuable.

Things got even worse when they finally reached what probably had once been the marketplace.

"So I guess this explains why there hadn't been any corpses so far, huh?" Zabuza sounded casual, almost bored, as he pointed at the mountain of corpses that piled up in the centre of the round plaza. "Seems like Kushimaru and Jinin had way too much free time. They might enjoy killing, but I can't remember them ever bothering to put their prizes to show in such a manner."

It was necessary to analyse the scene of crimes rationally and calmly, he knew that, but Itachi couldn't help but think that the swordsman was a bit too unbothered by the scene. It was one thing to not be deterred by such things, but to not even care at all…

The Demon of the Hidden Mist indeed.

However, he didn't voice any of these thoughts. Now wasn't the time to sow dissent between them.

"Maybe it's just me," Kakashi said as he observed the scene with much more gravity than Zabuza. "But I don't think the number of corpses is enough to include every inhabitant of this town."

He's right, Itachi thought with furrowed brows as he took a closer look at the pile himself. "No, they don't. However, none of the reports we have indicates that they have taken prisoners."

"So either some inhabitant could escape, the remaining corpses are elsewhere, our reports are lacking, or someone else is responsible for this."

Kakashi looked at each other for a moment, both silently realizing that the first possibility was almost impossible.

"Zabuza," Itachi then said, turning towards the man who had decided to walk towards the pile to take a closer look at it. "What do you-"

Unfortunately, before he could finish his sentence, he was distracted by something sparkling from next to Zabuza's left foot.

His brain had barely time to realize that it was the reflection of the sun on some wire strings that he saw before his legs pushed off the ground to get as much distance between himself and the plaza.

Half a second later, a powerful explosion tore the pile of corpses apart and shook the ground with such strength that some of the nearby houses collapsed.

Itachi appeared on the roof of a building just outside the radius of the distraction and was almost immediately joined by Kakashi and Zabuza to his right and left respectively. As an injury this early into their mission would have been problematic, he was glad to note that neither was hurt.

"Well," Zabuza said after a few seconds of silence during which he brushed the dust off his clothes. "I guess I can see at least Kushimaru putting the effort in to arrange all these corpses if it's to set a trap like this. Might even find it amusing to use the bodies of those he has killed to kill some more, that bastard."

That doesn't explain the lack of bodies, though.

As if reading his mind, Kakashi turned towards the Kiri-nin. "And can you also think of a reason for either of them to take prisoners?"

The man shrugged. "One or two, yes, but I doubt it matters. In all likelihood, they just allowed them to run away to then later hunt them down for sports."

Deciding that they wouldn't find a better explanation for now, Itachi changed the topic. "No matter their reasoning, it's apparent that they're getting bolder. If this was truly them, and we have currently no solid evidence either way, then it shows that they feel safe enough to be more open with their attacks."

Kakashi nodded. "And as nothing we know indicates that they're foolish to the point of overconfidence…"

"Then we must assume that they have a way to escape any possible pursuer if push comes to shove."

Zabuza looked at them both for a moment before he suddenly snorted. "Good deduction," he said sarcastically. "But you seem to overlook a direct consequence of your conclusion."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "And what consequence would that be?"

He couldn't see it, but he was sure that Zabuza was grinning like a madman beneath his bandages. "Tell me, if they're so confident in their abilities to avoid confrontations if necessary, what's stopping them from escalating their little attacks more and more?"

He and Kakashi needed a second to realize what the other man was implying, but when they did, their eyes simultaneously widened. "Don't tell me…"

Zabuza looked almost smug at Kakashi's shock. "What a funny coincidence that the seat of this nation's daimyo is just a day's walk from here, isn't it?"

It appeared their mission just got a lot more complicated.

_______

Although she was no longer chained, she knew that there was no hope of escaping her captivity. Even if her legs weren't mostly useless, and even if the pain in her back that brought her to tears when she made as much as a single false move wouldn't exist, there was just no way of actually running from her captors. No, they would just catch her once again and then punish her for her stupidity.

Besides, where should she run to? There was after all no home she could return to left. And even if she had, would her family even want her back now that she was like this?

Another wave of pain surging through her body made her groan as she put her head deeper into her hands- no, not hands, but claws.

That thought made her sob.

Not only had they killed everyone she ever cared about and tortured her for Kami knew how long, but they had also taken her own body away from her!

Her hands, once small and smooth except for the one scar she got when she was six, were now brown, scaly claws twice as big as her hands had ever been with ten centimetre long nails that were hard as steel; there were two big bumps on her back just out of her reach that made it impossible to lean against the wall or even sit straight due to the way they pushed against her spine; two small, curved horns spun from her forehead like those of the demons she had seen drawings of in fantasy books, and her once straight teeth had become bigger and more pointed to the point where she couldn't close her mouth anymore without them sinking into her own flesh.

At this point, she was confident that she was more monster than human.

However, these things she could at least ignore somewhat. The pain, on the other hand, was an ever-present companion she just couldn't turn out.

The various deformations of her body was merely a dull throbbing that occasionally shot a hot wave of agony through her veins, but the other thing was much, much worse. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like a colony of fire ants that travelled beneath her skin. The itchy sensation seared her flesh without actually burning it and never stayed long at one spot, travelling all over her body instead. It slowly drove her crazy, and her legs proved that no amount of scratching brought her any relief; she had literally ripped them apart with her claws, first in hopes of smoothing the itching and then later in an attempt to get whatever caused the sensation out of her body, but with no avail.

If this wasn't hell, then she didn't know what was.

Please, she prayed to all the gods she knew. I beg you, any of you, please save me!

_______

They had no real proof that Kushimaru and Jinin would truly target the daimyo, but the fact that the possibility existed was more than enough for them to rush towards the capital of the Land of Waterfalls. While the distance between that and the town they had found themselves in would usually take a day to cross, they would be able to reach the city in a quarter of that time if they hurried.

However, Zabuza's reasoning for wanting to reach the capital was quite different from his and Kakashi's. He just wanted to be there before the other two swordsmen launched their attack because that was the easiest way of getting to fight them while they wanted to do so because the well-being of the daimyo was of actual importance to Konoha.

The Land of Waterfalls had traditionally been more closely affiliated to Konohagakure than to Iwagakure ever since the founding of the villages, though the fact that it had been Iwa who violated their borders first during the last war meant they had grown closer to Konoha than ever before since the end of the war. In fact, they even allowed Konoha-nin to travel through their lands mostly unhindered. That and the small garrison kept in the nation were essential in keeping a close eye on the Land of Earth. It was unclear what consequences the death of the daimyo would have on this alliance, but it was no secret that Takigakure wasn't happy with Konoha's presence within their nation; should the next daimyo be swayed by them, Konoha might lose this important foothold. Considering its hidden village had never been conquered before, demonstrating its worth as a buffer between Konoha and Iwa, that would indeed be a hard blow.

As it turned out, however, they wouldn't even need to travel all the way to the capital to find their targets.

All three of them noticed the chakra signatures simultaneously and stopped as one.

A second later, hundreds of water needles flew at them from every direction.

"Katon: Hibashiri!" (Fire Release: Running Fire)

Itachi was the first one to react, running through hands seals in the blink of an eye and creating a protective flame barrier around himself and his allies, vaporizing the little needles with its heat before they could hit them.

The short reprieve he had given them allowed Kakashi to go through hand seals of his own, and the moment Itachi's fire extinguished, he jumped into the air and spun around his own axis to throw his attack in every direction as well.

"Raiton: Kanden Haribari!" (Lightning Release: Electric Shock Needles)

Unfortunately, there were no cries of pain or any other indication that the attack had actually hit someone. What it did, however, was giving the three of them the chance to reorganize and prepare themselves, resulting in them jumping to the ground from the tree branch they had been standing on and positioning themselves in a triangle with their backs to each other.

Itachi had just enough time to think that at least they were lucky enough to be fighting in a forest where the trees were far apart and the canopy let in a lot of light before he noticed the thick fog rolling towards them in waves from everywhere.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu," Kakashi murmured from his left. "That was to be expected, I guess."

Zabuza snorted, sounding simultaneously amused and annoyed. "It has been a while since I was the one on the other end of this technique. Not sure whether I should look forward to this or be pissed that they think the Silent Killing technique could possibly work against me."

That was actually their greatest advantage; while their enemies were doubtlessly masters of this fighting style, so was Zabuza. With him and their side, Kushimaru and Jinin would need to be much more careful in their approach. That was obviously a problem as well as this made them even more dangerous as a result, but as it also gave Itachi and his team more opportunities to counter them, he thought it was a good deal.

It was a shame that their opponent knew the danger Zabuza posed as well.

Itachi's own familiarity with the fighting style might help as well. While Kisame preferred a more straightforward way of fighting, he did use it on occasion to amuse himself. Itachi was far from an expert, but thanks to that, he could predict at least some of their moves.

Their only warning of the incoming attack was a roaring 'whoosh' that became deafening loud within seconds, making all three of them jump away a mere moment before a gigantic water dragon crashed into the ground where they had stood a heartbeat earlier.

The next thing Itachi knew was that he found himself standing all alone in the middle of the mist with no trace of his teammates to be found.

________

The very moment his feet touched the ground, Zabuza was already on the move again to dodge the incoming slash of an axe. The weapon swung a centimetre past his face, close enough for him to feel a breeze, but he ignored that and instead swung Kubikiribōchō in the direction he suspected his opponent to be, cursing under his breath when all he hit was empty air.

Then he was forced to jump away again when he felt an incoming attack from above, resulting in the hammer blowing away the ground to his feet rather than smashing his head.

His own counter once again slashed only air.

"It was smart of you to separate us, Jinin," he said into the void of the mist. "Really clever. Didn't think you two had it in you. But you don't really think you can kill me like this, do you?"

As every shinobi, he was prepared to die at any moment. Zabuza had long since realized that his life would take a violent end one day and was at peace with that. However, there was no way he would allow himself to be killed by his own trademark technique.

The next time he felt an incoming attack, he fell into a crouch and waved hand seals instead of swinging his sword again.

"Suiton: Suiben!" (Water Release: Water Whip)

Spinning around his own axis just like the Copy Ninja had done earlier, his water whip twirled around him and expanded into every direction.

Jinin might be just as proficient in sneaking through the mist soundlessly as he was, going even so far as to allow him to stay undetected even by Zabuza, but there were ways to force someone to make a sound whether they liked it or not.

The splashing sound of water when something cut through his whip was all he needed to swing around and jump to his right.

When he brought his sword down the next time, it was the sound of metal clashing on metal that rang through the mist.

"There you are," he said as his excitement rose. "And now I'm not letting you get away again!"

Jinin possessed immense offensive powers, there was no doubt about that. Zabuza wouldn't even be surprised if that man could break Kubikiribōchō with one of his attacks. Thus, the best way to proceed was to force him into a defensive position where that strength didn't matter, and that was exactly what he did.

He swung his sword in a wide arc, forcing Jinin to duck beneath it where he was promptly greeted by a foot to his face. Using his opponent's momentarily stunned state, he then quickly rushed forward and swung Kubikiribōchō over his head, directing it down towards Jinin with enough power to tear him apart in one attack.

That attack unfortunately missed when his opponent jumped to the side and ended up destroying the ground instead.

Not being deterred in the slightest, he jumped after him, depriving Jinin of the chance to gather himself.

The other man hurriedly threw his axe at him in a fruitless effort to keep him away that Zabuza thwarted with a mere tilt of his head, letting the weapon fly past him without even making him slow down. He then flicked Kubikiribōchō upwards in a straight line before using Jinin's unstable stance that was a result of his clumsy dodge to drove his elbow into his stomach.

Zabuza intended to decapitate him then and there but was unfortunately forced to back down when Jinin pulled at the leather strap that connected his weapons to bring the axe he had previously thrown back towards him, almost decapitating him instead.

That short break in his offensive was enough to make Jinin regain his stance and swing his hammer at him with a low growl.

Twisting Kubikiribōchō just in time to use it as a shield, Zabuza groaned when the strength of the attack pushed him several feet backwards. However, other than that, the attack did him no harm. No, the true problem that came from this short exchange was that Jinin was now the one on the offence while Zabuza was on the defence.

He dodged the following axe strike with a one-handed flick flack backwards during which he also swung his sword in hopes of regaining his momentum, but Kubikiribōchō was simply pushed aside by the hammer while the axe continued to fly at him from every direction.

This was the one downside of his weapon; while his attacks with it were powerful, it was too unhandy to allow his moving around unhindered. Zabuza had learned to compensate for that, of course, but the problem was that Jinin was there when he had learned many of his tricks. Thus, none of them were effective in once again turning the tides.

All Zabuza could do right now was to wait and dodge until an opportunity presented itself.

The thing was, he didn't like waiting. Not one bit. He could do it if the situation demanded it but preferred to find a way that made it unnecessary.

Right now, he didn't see why he should wait and see when there were other possibilities. Sure, his plan was risky, but in his experience, it were those kinds of plans that brought the greatest rewards.

With that in mind, the next time Jinin brought his axe down on him, he held the flat side of his word upwards with one hand at each end to block it. The clash made shockwaves run down his arms and pushed his feet into the ground, but Zabuza knew the true attack was still to come.

Jinin brought his hammer down a second later, striking the back of his axe that was still pushed against Kubikiribōchō and with a loud 'crack' breaking it in two.

Just as Zabuza had planned.

Instead of jumping back in panic like his opponent had surely anticipated, he took one step to the left. Ignoring the shallow cut he received on his right shoulder as a result of that, he grabbed with his left hand for the circular cut out of Kubikiribōchō's top half that was still flying through the air, caught it, and then proceeded to slam it into Jinin's throat with a satisfying splatting noise.

That satisfaction faded into thin air when the body dissolved into a puddle of water a moment later.