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Blood waters (Chapter 30)
🕑 Added 2023-11-28 15:39:49 +0000 UTCChapter 30
Utakata’s blood was boiling, and not in the manner of him being excited. The heat of his body made his blood boil, burning from the insides. The chains holding his arms and legs made it impossible to move, and he had a difficult time writhing in pain. But he still held it, even when his boned broke and his skin peeled off as five red chakra tails appeared from behind him.
Utakata has put a lot of work in the past few years in training himself. He ignored the pain as he pushed through his limits. He didn’t have the luxury to go slowly and steadily. Each he had to train himself, he used it to its fullest. He could now use five tails, and if he continues his training, he will be able to use all six tails soon enough.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed!?” Harusame stopped Utakata’s transformation and used his power to seal the power back into Utakata’s body. “Are you mad? What were you thinking?”
“I am training,” Utakata replied, taking off the chains holding him.
“How is it training?” Harusame was mad as he watched his student’s body heal before his eyes. “You are torturing yourself.”
“Pain helps me focus,” Utakata replied, not wanting to indulge in the argument with his master. “Don’t fuss about me. I am not a kid anymore.”
“Oh, you think you can do as you wish because you are fifteen this year?” Harusame didn't like Utakata’s attitude.
“What do you care?” Utakata didn’t take well that Harusame was questioning him. “Just give me the details of my next mission.”
Utakata didn’t like to waste his time; it was one thing that Harusame interrupted his training for a mission, but he would tolerate it being for a lesson. As Utakata had expected, Harusame provided him with a mission’s details. It was another assassination. He was getting them more often than before. But he couldn’t complain, so he picked the details and left to prepare.
…
Harusame could only sigh in frustration as he looked at the bloodied basement floor as Utakata left. The village wanted a monster, and they got it. The question was, can the village handle what they have created? Utakata's methods to make himself more powerful were brutal even by the Mist standards, but he couldn’t deny that they weren’t effective.
Yet, Harusame didn’t feel proud of what Utakata have become in the past few years. If he didn’t spill the blood of the village’s enemies, he spilled his blood. Whenever Harusame came down here, he was forced to witness the most disturbing things he had ever seen. So much blood he had to clean up, and so many times Harusame wanted to stop Utakata as he was forced to hear his screams.
Harusame knew it would be dangerous to stop Utakata when he was trying to harness the tailed beast's power. So, he was forced to stand by and watch over him, just like today. But each time, it would get worse. At first, Utakata would stop after his body started to get injured, but lately, he didn’t stop until he lost consciousness.
Harusame’s hair started to turn grey from the worry. There was a limit to how many times he could pick up the broken and bloodied body of the boy he wanted to raise. Every time, Harusame felt like he had failed Utakata in one way or another. No one should torture themselves so much for anything, especially for power.
He could do nothing but watch. He felt so damn powerless. It's just Utakata who has changed. Yagura started acting differently, too. At first, it was a small change that could have been attributed to his work as Mizukage, but with time, his actions started getting increasingly erratic. It was harder to predict what Yagura was thinking.
It felt like everything was falling through his hands. He shouldn’t worry about these things, as technically he is retired, but he couldn’t let his village go on like this. He needed to do something. And he wasn’t alone in thinking like this. Mei Terumi has voiced her dissatisfaction with Yagura loudly and clearly, garnering support from many other shinobi.
“And what would you have me to do?” It was expected to see Mei Terumi in an argument with another shinobi, but this time, Harusame was surprised to see Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmen.
“His actions have reached their limits,” Zabuza replied, his voice as cold as ever. “If it isn’t you, someone else will take the action into their hands. It is only a matter of time.”
Harusame watched as Zabuza left Mei alone after saying his piece. Mei was considered as strong as Yagura, but she didn’t have the support Yagura had. So, asking her to control Yagura’s actions was too much. Even if many were dissatisfied with Yagura of the late, nobody wanted it to be a civil war. The village has experienced too much loss already.
“I hope you are not here to complain to me,” Mei said, looking at approaching Harusame.
“Utakata has left the village for his mission,” Harusame informed Mei, who looked tired and frustrated.
“I'm starting to feel like you don’t want to get Utakata on our side, rather than you can’t.” Mei accused Harusame.
“I might be his master, but I don’t think it is how he looks at me,” Harusame replied, not offended by Mei’s words. “If I didn’t force my help, he would never come to me. He never trusted me, but now he has let himself go. I don’t think that Yagura can control him anymore, nor do I think letting him join our side is a good idea, not now.”
“Excuses,” Mei said, but didn’t bring it up anymore. “Ever since the Kaguya clan rebellion, it was getting worse and worse. Shinobi are defecting in throws, and the Hunter-nin can barely keep up with hunting them. And it isn’t just the Mist. The Land of the Water is deep into the trouble. Every day, I hear a new force rising to oppose the Daimyo.”
“That's why I have come,” Harusame said, giving Mei the details of the mission he had given to Utakata. “It seems the Daimyo’s brother-in-law is amassing support and hiring shinobi outside the Land of the Water.”
“Fools, they can’t keep it outside the closed doors,” Mei wanted to curse at the fools running their country. “If they start fighting each other, it will only complicate things in the Mist.”
“That's why Utakata was sent,” Harusame explained. “He will take care of it without any complications.”
“And you think it will be the end?” Mei asked. “Next it will, the Daimyo’s uncle or son won’t have patience and start desiring the power before his time. It is only the indication of what is to come.”
Harusame knew it, too. With the unrest in the Land of the Water, the shinobi of the Mist was busy running errands for the nobles. The Mist barely had any missions outside the country. The Mist were losing clients while other villages were gaining them. Soon enough, the Mist might not even be considered one of the five great shinobi villages.
…
Blood flowed freely as Utakata walked over the corpses of his targets. Another political figure was trying to do something behind Daimyo’s back. This time, he had six shinobi from an unknown village working for him. But in the end, all they could do was to be Utakata’s practice targets. There was no challenge in killing them.
After checking that he got his target, Utakata was prepared to leave. Utakata felt nothing as he walked through countless corpses in the palace halls. He had a more challenging time navigating through the labyrinth that was this palace than killing the hundreds of soldiers inside it. It was only a mindless murder Utakata got used to.
He barely even had a chance to practice his swordsmanship. He could only lament how weak they were compared to the opponents he would face in the future as he walked away from the palace to the nearby pond. Utakata washed off the blood from his hands and face, watching as the clear water soon turned red from the blood until he couldn’t see his reflection anymore.
“You already done?” Utakata didn’t need to turn around to know who was standing behind him.
“What is the Yuki clan doing here?” Utakata asked, but he already knew the answer from how they looked at him. “You should have brought more if you wanted to kill me.”
There were twenty-two of them, all grown with powerful chakra. It was a small clan that kept to themselves most of the time. They lived far from the village, so it would be hard to say they belonged to the Mist, but they were still considered one of the clans in service of the Land of the Water. It was probably not because they didn’t want it, but that they didn’t have any more clan members to bring out.
“That arrogance,” One of them spat in disgust at Utakata’s feet. “Because of you, the Seven Swordsmen, we suffered so much. You can kill anyone you want, and nobody cares. But when one clan of the clans acts up, we are all punished. We had nothing to do with the Kaguya clan, so why must we pay for their crimes?”
“We are done being looked down on,” Another said as the ice formed in his hands. “We won’t let you dictate our lives anymore. One by one, the Seven Swordsmen will fall, starting with you. Then, we will see if the Mist can throw their accusations on us as they wish. This is retribution.”
“Good,” Utakata replied with a blank face. “I hope you will be a good practice for me.”
Utakata didn’t have to wait long before ice blocks surrounded him. He could sense them inside the blocks. Unseen to any eye, they moved fast, throwing kunai and shuriken at Utakata, testing him. But they were too weak. Their weapons couldn’t reach him as he easily predicted and dodged their attacks. They were too slow for Utakata to be concerned with them.
“You should have attacked me altogether,” Utakata said as he moved his sword and stabbed every ice block surrounding him.
Five dead bodies fell to the ground, bleeding to death. The rest quickly backed away but weren’t running from the fight. Instead, they used their ice abilities to freeze the ground and started attacking Utakata from afar. Ice spears flew at him. Ice crystals fell upon him from above. Ice started freezing his feet to the ground.
“Is that all?” Utakata still didn’t look even a bit concerned as he was pierced by the ice spears and hit by the ice crystals.
To answer him a pilar of ice hit him, making him fly through the air and crashing through the palace’s walls. Cleaning himself from the dust, Utakata stood up and watched as they ran to him with weapons. Utakata backed away deeper into the palace while deflecting and dodging the attacks. They came asking for blood and blood they would receive, but it wouldn’t be Utakata’s.
“It is the end of you, boy!”
“No, it is the end of you.”
Utakata raised his sword for them to see before he stabbed it to the ground. They didn’t need to understand why Utakata did so, as they were stopped. They now looked afraid as they were suspended in the air. The thin, almost invisible wire cutting into their flesh. Utakata had lost all his interest in them, and with a flick of his wrist, they were cut into pieces.
In the end, the Yuki clan was nothing but a mob. They didn’t attend the Mist’s academy, they weren’t trained to be shinobi, nor did they participate in missions or war. They had extraordinary abilities they couldn’t use because they weren’t trained to use them. It was the same for most of the clans living outside the village. That is why they were easy targets for the country to blame for most of their problems.
