A Chilling Conclusion
*Plot post, aftermath of the Chilling Hunt post, in ArashigakurePressure began to drop as Arashigakure’s perpetual thunderstorm grew worse. Lightning skipped across the sky with flashes that seemed more like a rave than actual nature, and up the office, Aito Ukita walked, one arm in cast, and a crutch in the other. She still wore a hood and green cloak, though her stomach was exposed. A jonin of Arashigakure, and a ‘ranger’, one never supposed to be in the village, who instead wandered the borders of the country and reported anomalies.
A voice could be heard. “You’re a ranger! You’re not allowed in the village!”
A heavy thud as a sword levitated and ‘slapped’ the man, sending him through a wall. Aito heaved, a bruised rib not appreciating her movement, and her broken one’s down right hating it!
She opened the door despite the hole in the wall.
“Lord Arashikage!” She bowed respectful infront of two figures. Standing by the desk, a bald man drew a kunai, tensing up immediately. Older as a ninja, but with lean muscles he was imposing, but the clipboard in his hand gave him away as an advisor. To his right, though, sat a child, in a large dragon hat, which covered most of his head, and extended another two feet above his body, wriggling back and forth. Ontop of his hat stood another, one with white borders, and the symbol for lightning on the cap. The robes of a kage, the Arashikage.
He held up a sign to stop his advisor. “But Lord Jin! They are by law banned from the village. Wanders have no place inside the village! I handled Aito’s last request anyways, the one we asked-”
The helmet turned around, the goofy dragon now facing the advisor, and in fear he gulped, and put away the kunai. He then motioned to Aito, who breathed a sigh of relief. The advisor cleared his throat.
“Very well. Aito, why are you here?”
Aito gave out a sigh of relief. “So glad Jin the Raiju’s the Arasikage… Anyways… what brings me here is that last Akuma request. It’s… urgent. Those three genin we hired did manage to beat it, but I don’t think it was a minor Akuma.”
“I swear Aito, if this is just to explain why you’re injured and get some time off.”
“Oh, take the stick out your ass, Rokuro.” A glance from the child made Aito gulp, before she just shook her head. “Easier just to show, Lord Jin, if I may.” A sword levitated out from behind her, before falling on the desk with a thud. Paper’s scattered, causing a vein in Rokuro’s forehead to twitch, but Jin sat silent, with his hands folded together, his fingers pressed at their tips. All across the sword were runes, glowing blue, and full of chakra, and a chill filled the office
“Had to trade a cute boy for this, hehehe.” Aito said with a chuckle, before undoing a seal. In a poof, an unconscious woman appeared on the desk, and the temperature in the room plummeted, ice crackling up the walls.
Rokuro spoke up. “What is this!? That’s no akuma!?”
“It is. Just not a minor one. That’s why I’m here… the chakra is just as corrosive, and… she regenerates like one.”
“And it did that to you?” Rokuro said, pointing at her broken arm.
“No. The genin took care of this one. If barely. You heard the reports about Bishamonten… One of them attacked me. I’d like to make a comment about him being hunky, but he was annoying as hell, kept cracking jokes, and I couldn’t hit him at all. He let loose his name was Inaba though. But the thing that worries me about this Akum-”
“Rangiko Shimuzu.” A new voice said.
“Huh.”Both heads snapped towards the Arashikage, who’d spoken for the first time. His voice was quiet, and timid, but both Aito and Rokuro shut up for him.
“Rangiko Shimizu. The flooded Jinch. The corpse.” He pulled out a bingo book from a drawer, and opened to a section titled ‘Tsumi’, before pointing at a woman who matched the one of the table… but with black hair instead of white, peachy skin instead of pale frost covered, and her eyes were brown, not frozen over with white.
“Oh my goodness, is that Rangiko!? I didn’t recognize her…” Aito pulled her eyes closed with a pass of her hand, frostbite instantly turning it red.
Rokuro began rummaging through a file. “Tsumi reported her missing a month ago… from her home someone abducted her. There were signs of a fight. They jailed her husband over the event.”
“But Rangiko was a water release user. A pretty… well renowned one at that. This… monster used nothing but ice.”
“Fujin.” The quiet voice said again, the conversation stopping as both looked confused, but then Rokuro’s eyes widened in understanding. He pulled up a map from a file, pictures of a major akuma plastered upon it. A ‘sighted’ chart was listed. Lord Jin pointed on it to a sighting nearby the cave where Aito had led Waka, Kurio, and Okimi. “Ice is… unnatural. Water and Wind make the kekkei genkai…” he continued.
“But Lord Jin… there’s no way that would happen naturally.” Rokuro.
“No.” Jin responded, going silent once again.
Aito started to tremble. “Someone kidnapped her for an experiment… They planned this.”
Rokuro raised an eyebrow. “So… Inoichigakure kidnaps people all the time.”
“They kidnapped her from TSUMI, Rokuro!”
The advisor shut up. Everyone in the room knew that Tsumi was a small village, but perhaps the only one no one could enter without permission and preparation. Rokuro spoke up.
“So they have a traitor then. We should inform Lord Ema, the Tsumikage immediately.”
Jin took a long breath, then held up a hand. “Don’t.”
“But Lord, they’re our closest allies. They keep Inoichigakure in check. I’m sure my lord is wise, but I cannot follow your reasoning.”
“If they have a traitor… we should hold information close. We’ll keep a close eye on them during the Chunin exams. If they know we’re suspicious, the traitor will know...” He went quiet again, and the conversation seemed to die down.
Aito then cleared her throat. Jin looked up, and she spoke. “And there’s… one more thing. Inaba at the end… I saw him disappear in an explosion.”
“Aaaaand?” Rokuro said, making a ‘go on with it’ sign with his hand.
“He didn’t have a ninja pouch. Or tags.”
A voice could be heard. “You’re a ranger! You’re not allowed in the village!”
A heavy thud as a sword levitated and ‘slapped’ the man, sending him through a wall. Aito heaved, a bruised rib not appreciating her movement, and her broken one’s down right hating it!
She opened the door despite the hole in the wall.
“Lord Arashikage!” She bowed respectful infront of two figures. Standing by the desk, a bald man drew a kunai, tensing up immediately. Older as a ninja, but with lean muscles he was imposing, but the clipboard in his hand gave him away as an advisor. To his right, though, sat a child, in a large dragon hat, which covered most of his head, and extended another two feet above his body, wriggling back and forth. Ontop of his hat stood another, one with white borders, and the symbol for lightning on the cap. The robes of a kage, the Arashikage.
He held up a sign to stop his advisor. “But Lord Jin! They are by law banned from the village. Wanders have no place inside the village! I handled Aito’s last request anyways, the one we asked-”
The helmet turned around, the goofy dragon now facing the advisor, and in fear he gulped, and put away the kunai. He then motioned to Aito, who breathed a sigh of relief. The advisor cleared his throat.
“Very well. Aito, why are you here?”
Aito gave out a sigh of relief. “So glad Jin the Raiju’s the Arasikage… Anyways… what brings me here is that last Akuma request. It’s… urgent. Those three genin we hired did manage to beat it, but I don’t think it was a minor Akuma.”
“I swear Aito, if this is just to explain why you’re injured and get some time off.”
“Oh, take the stick out your ass, Rokuro.” A glance from the child made Aito gulp, before she just shook her head. “Easier just to show, Lord Jin, if I may.” A sword levitated out from behind her, before falling on the desk with a thud. Paper’s scattered, causing a vein in Rokuro’s forehead to twitch, but Jin sat silent, with his hands folded together, his fingers pressed at their tips. All across the sword were runes, glowing blue, and full of chakra, and a chill filled the office
“Had to trade a cute boy for this, hehehe.” Aito said with a chuckle, before undoing a seal. In a poof, an unconscious woman appeared on the desk, and the temperature in the room plummeted, ice crackling up the walls.
Rokuro spoke up. “What is this!? That’s no akuma!?”
“It is. Just not a minor one. That’s why I’m here… the chakra is just as corrosive, and… she regenerates like one.”
“And it did that to you?” Rokuro said, pointing at her broken arm.
“No. The genin took care of this one. If barely. You heard the reports about Bishamonten… One of them attacked me. I’d like to make a comment about him being hunky, but he was annoying as hell, kept cracking jokes, and I couldn’t hit him at all. He let loose his name was Inaba though. But the thing that worries me about this Akum-”
“Rangiko Shimuzu.” A new voice said.
“Huh.”Both heads snapped towards the Arashikage, who’d spoken for the first time. His voice was quiet, and timid, but both Aito and Rokuro shut up for him.
“Rangiko Shimizu. The flooded Jinch. The corpse.” He pulled out a bingo book from a drawer, and opened to a section titled ‘Tsumi’, before pointing at a woman who matched the one of the table… but with black hair instead of white, peachy skin instead of pale frost covered, and her eyes were brown, not frozen over with white.
“Oh my goodness, is that Rangiko!? I didn’t recognize her…” Aito pulled her eyes closed with a pass of her hand, frostbite instantly turning it red.
Rokuro began rummaging through a file. “Tsumi reported her missing a month ago… from her home someone abducted her. There were signs of a fight. They jailed her husband over the event.”
“But Rangiko was a water release user. A pretty… well renowned one at that. This… monster used nothing but ice.”
“Fujin.” The quiet voice said again, the conversation stopping as both looked confused, but then Rokuro’s eyes widened in understanding. He pulled up a map from a file, pictures of a major akuma plastered upon it. A ‘sighted’ chart was listed. Lord Jin pointed on it to a sighting nearby the cave where Aito had led Waka, Kurio, and Okimi. “Ice is… unnatural. Water and Wind make the kekkei genkai…” he continued.
“But Lord Jin… there’s no way that would happen naturally.” Rokuro.
“No.” Jin responded, going silent once again.
Aito started to tremble. “Someone kidnapped her for an experiment… They planned this.”
Rokuro raised an eyebrow. “So… Inoichigakure kidnaps people all the time.”
“They kidnapped her from TSUMI, Rokuro!”
The advisor shut up. Everyone in the room knew that Tsumi was a small village, but perhaps the only one no one could enter without permission and preparation. Rokuro spoke up.
“So they have a traitor then. We should inform Lord Ema, the Tsumikage immediately.”
Jin took a long breath, then held up a hand. “Don’t.”
“But Lord, they’re our closest allies. They keep Inoichigakure in check. I’m sure my lord is wise, but I cannot follow your reasoning.”
“If they have a traitor… we should hold information close. We’ll keep a close eye on them during the Chunin exams. If they know we’re suspicious, the traitor will know...” He went quiet again, and the conversation seemed to die down.
Aito then cleared her throat. Jin looked up, and she spoke. “And there’s… one more thing. Inaba at the end… I saw him disappear in an explosion.”
“Aaaaand?” Rokuro said, making a ‘go on with it’ sign with his hand.
“He didn’t have a ninja pouch. Or tags.”