III

━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━

Arc III Chapter 5

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

Asami and Norinaga arrived at the smouldering ruins. A macabre dance of fire and flickering shadows illuminated the night. The icy snow crunched under the weight of their feet.

Asami knelt, inspecting the remnants of her deceased comrades. The detonation eliminated them.

Time passed. Burning ash covered the ground. Her flames raged on in the background.

Her explosion proved effective, incinerating everything. Only an unintelligible mass of charred corpses remained. Their deaths were quick, painless.

Silence dominated the cold air. Other ANBU arrived. They said nothing, but their silence said more than human language could ever hope to.

The culprit was among them. One of them was behind the explosion. The question was who? The majority suspected a certain girl.

Asami left the scene. She passed Konosuke, Ino, Koichi, Akahito. ”We all should get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day. We will mobilise at dawn and attempt a breakthrough, understood?”

Asami wouldn't take no as answer. Determination and icy coldness filled her voice. Her words left no room for debate. Her order was absolute.

Asami continued her walk, but Akahito grabbed her shoulder. His vengeful glare bored into her. ”You murdered them, didn’t you?

Akahito's accusations didn't bother her. Asami smiled. ”Murder is such a strong word, Akahito. Why should I kill them? A tragic death claimed them. “

“Don't play dumb, you crazy bitch. You killed them.” Akahito clenched his fists.

Asami objected, “Akahito, Their deaths appal me as they do you. I have nothing to do with this. And even if I did, what proof do you have, Akahito?“

“You have nothing besides baseless accusations and wild speculation. So stop bothering me with your nonsense, Akahito. You are a man unable to control your emotions.”

Akahito gritted his teeth. Asami was right, he had nothing, nothing to prove her involvement.

“Don't you agree with me? What do you think?” Asami looked around. No answer came.

Konosuke, Ino, and Koichi averted their eyes, visibly uncomfortable. They avoided her gaze.

Questions were never asked. The exact nature of the incident remained shrouded in mystery. What happened that night was never solved as the explosion that cost five ANBU their lives was never investigated.

They knew it was her, but they lacked solid evidence and Konoha didn't care.

Konoha knew about Asami and her capabilities. The girl was a new legendary kunoichi in the making, a powerful weapon that massacred a small Kiri army entirely on her own. Konoha couldn't do without her.

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

“Did you see the explosion last night?” Tsuyoshi looked around. He had guard duty yesterday together with Miyoko. They were ordered to observe the village, guarding the southern sector of the pocket.

Ano tilted her head. ”An explosion? Can't remember any, but it would explain the loud bang I heard.”

“You missed something. The fireball enlightened the entire horizon. The explosion was incredible”, Miyoko described the incident. He sounded impressed.

Kenji looked concerned. ”Incredible well and good, but I wouldn’t prefer to end up on the receiving end of this lovely explosion.”

“Always the pessimist, Kenji, aren't you? You are no fun at all.” Miyoko chuckled.

“Possibly, but being pessimistic is part of my job. I am the squad leader and I prefer to stay cautious.”

Naruhiko, his childhood friend, disagreed. He found the idea ridiculous. ”You, our squad leader? Not in a million years. You are my friend, Kenji, but I hope you are joking.”

Kenji protested, disappointed by Naruhiko's lack of faith. ”Why not? I have the qualities a squad leader requires.”

Yoriko debunked his delusions of grandeur. “Not really. I chose you not because you are a good squad leader, but because you were the best candidate we had. ” The truth hurt.

“You hurt me, Yoriko. Your words are as sharp as always.” Kenji touched his heart.

Kenji laughed. “Dramatising as usual, aren't we?“

Kenji, Naruhiko, Ano, Tsuyoshi, Yoriko, Miyoko, Kinnosuke, Yorikane were friends from the academy. They were chunin and had worked together on several missions.

Kenji didn't laugh. “Naruhiko, did you get any information from your friend? I would like to know why we are here the middle of nowhere.”

Naruhiko had a friend among ANBU involved in this operation. Maybe he had access to more information than them.

Naruhiko shook his head. “Shino didn't tell me much, but he hinted that something unexpected happened.“

“Apparently, they lost two entire squads. Afterwards, his superiors decided to call for reinforcements.“

“They called for every available ninja in the vicinity. They even requested Kiri to dispatch an entire platoon of Hunter-nin.”

Kenji had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling. You didn’t assemble a small army just for fun. There was a reason they gathered such a force.

“I think you should come with me. Yorikane and I have spotted something interesting.” Kinnosuke appeared out of the woods.

Kenji and the rest of the group followed Kinnosuke. They reached the observation post. Yorikane observed the village through a pair of binoculars.

“Tell me, what did you find?” Kenji asked.

“Look for yourself. Over there.” Yorikane handed him another pair of binoculars.

Kenji took them. He spotted a group of masked ninja at the village entrance. Probably the Konoha ANBU they were told about.

They were led by a short girl clothed in a white fur coat. The girl commanded them. She barked some kind of orders.

Kenji wasn't certain, but the girl was young judging by her stature.

The group began to move. They crossed the snowy plains, running in their direction . The ANBU were fast. They would reach their position soon.

ANBU weren’t considered the elite of the elite for nothing, but the girl was different.

The girl wasn’t just fast. Her speed frightened Kenji. The distance between them and her shrank rapidly with each second.

Kenji gulped. They were fucked, totally fucked if the girl was as good of a fighter as she was fast. They had to get out of here, quickly.

“What the fuck? Do you see her, Kenji?” Yorikane held on to his binoculars. His hands trembled. He maintained his facade, but his nervousness was visible.

Kenji nodded. “I do. I think we should leave and alert ...“

Kenji eyes widened. Panic griped him.

The girl turned her head towards them and beneath her white mask, she smiled. The girl spotted them. She knew their position, but how? How did she detect them at this distance?

“Fuck!“ Kenji shouted.

The girl accelerated. Her speed increased and she drew her sword. The girl came for them.

“We have to …” Kenji didn't end his sentence. It was already too late to run. Clad in pure innocent white, the girl stood right before him. The massacre began. Her blade was swift.

The girl stabbed Ano from behind. She beheaded Tsuyoshi. Yoriko fell next. Miyoko followed, sliced apart by the white demon. Naruhiko and Kinnosuke met the same fate.

A straight thrust finished Naruhiko. Her sword stabbed Kinnosuke with uncanny precision.

The demon bashed Yorikane’s skull against a tree. His cranium splintered.

His comrades, his friends all died in a matter of mere seconds. Kenji couldn’t do anything. They were slaughtered like ignorant sheep.

Her blade struck Kenji, piercing his chest. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nose. His body toppled over into the soft snow, but it wasn't over yet.

Kenji gritted his teeth. He ignored the pain. He didn’t scream. He was supposed to be dead and dead men didn't scream.

Kenji desired revenge. Every fibre of his being thirsted for vengeance, for retribution.

The demon sheathed her blade, deceived by her false sense of security.

This was his opportunity, the opportunity he had waited for. Using all of his remaining force, Kenji threw his pouch. The pouch was filled with paper bombs, hundreds of them. He might die, but he would take her with him.

The tags exploded. The detonation was a sight to behold. The flash blinded Kenji. An enormous blast echoed through the entire forest.

Kenji coughed. The floating dust cleared, revealing a girl unharmed. The demon didn’t die. The explosion didn't even scratch her.

In the middle of a crater, stood she, shielded by a purple humanoid skeleton. Her calculating eyes evaluated him. Her armour dematerialised, dissolving into fine purple mist.

Asami giggled, visibly amused. ”You are still alive ... interesting. I thought you died, but luck doesn’t seem to be on my side. Sloppy execution on my part, I guess.”

”I planned to avoid any direct confrontation with the main Kiri force, but your actions have disrupted my plans. Your explosion alerted them, and now I have to kill them all, how unfortunate.” Asami drew her blade. This time she didn’t miss.

Her attack skewered his heart.

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━