Starring:
Fulgur (emitter), Eremi
Date: October 15, 2013
Summary:
Eremi was selected to be part of a team of five ANBU members that had orders to eradicate an entire village for the protection of the Hokage. Once arriving there however, things weren't as they were told they were be and Eremi has a change of heart.
"A reason for leaving"
Land of Fire
Kanra Fukutsu, former Head Jounin turned Council Liaison, has been a high ranking member of Konohagakure with a hand in every operation since the village formation. During that time Fukutsu has stayed out of the public eye, but has always worked behind the scenes, doing what he can to make sure Konoha thrives and flourishes no matter the cost. This only being accomplished due to the generous leash higher-ups have allowed him since day one and as time passed, the slack has only increased. Mostly because of his success without incident.
For a while now Fukutsu had been rather inactive, but once again the time has come for him to step forward and take action before a situation that could be bad for Konoha, escalates. Which is why, standing in one of the back rooms of the ANBU Headquarters, he had gathered the people that are here now. Each of them hand picked not solely on their skill, but their ability to have proven themselves capable of doing what's asked of them without question. Something Fukutsu takes in high regard above all else.
"Listen up, I'm only going to say this once." Fukutsu spoke, hands clasped behind his back as he addressed those in front of him. "Within the Land of Fire to the north, lies a small village that has been left to its own devices since before Konoha formed. The people of that village have been content with their simple lives together and Konoha has been happy with allowing them to be so. However, during a recent, routine reconnaissance mission, it's come to our attention that these villagers are far from simple."
At this point Fukutsu would pause as his eyes looked over each ANBU member making sure they were paying attention before he continued on. "It would seem that these 'villagers' are actually all part of the same clan and each individual possesses a rare Kekkai Genkai developed from birth where physical contact of any kind makes them incredibly lethal to those outside of their own clan. If one were to come into physical contact with a member of this clan, the individual's chakra network would begin to rapidly deteriorate within seconds, killing the person from the inside. Any attempts to figure out why this doesn't affect their own clan members or how to combat it have come up short."
Fukutsu would walk over toward the desk, while still talking, "Now, while we could just let them stay secluded like they've chosen to be. An admirable quality for the clan members cursed with such a powerful Kekkai Genkai," The mans hand slamming down on the desk only to pick up a folder, "If it weren't for these plans we managed to find about them wanting to assassinate the Hokage, a feat that would be less than difficult through a simple handshake! This is why," His tone going back to normal, "The entire clan must be eradicated."
There was no hesitation in his words, no quiver of his lip, no twitch in his eye. Kanra Fukutsu was serious and he wanted those around him to know that he was. "They are too dangerous of a clan to keep alive, to allow to live. It's simply too risky. Every last member must be killed, this is your mission. It must be done swiftly, without incident and no one must be allowed to escape. I shouldn't have to warn you that physical contact means the end of your life. Dispose of them carefully, but dispose of them nonetheless. Do not return to me unless this job is completed."
A hand would gesture in the direction of Treyno, "You'll be running this operation. Don't let me down. You're dismissed." Followed by him waving the rest of the ANBU off. Treyno would nod his understanding and then signal for the rest of the ANBU to follow, before heading out the door.
In total there were five ANBU selected for this operation. Treyno in the wolf mask, Shina in the fox mask, Cee in the raccoon mask, Loko in the dragon mask and Eremi in the rabbit mask. Though while a member of the ANBU, Eremi was called Hayai and compared to the other four, he was the 'least experienced'. That was something he never let stand in his way. It just meant he had to try harder than the rest so he could still come out on top. Always struggling, always fighting harder, but in the end, it paid off. So long as he always did what he was told without question, Eremi knew above all else, that would be his defining feature for now.
Something that would come in handy at least when it came to impressing this, Kanra Fukutsu. A man whom he had only heard about before in bits and pieces, but to actually be able to see the guy for the first time was special indeed and unless Eremi were to make a lasting impressing with this mission, it would likely be his last time seeing Fukutsu as well. So as the man spoke, Eremi did little more that listen, making sure to take in all the information that was being given.
It all seemed pretty standard and though the discovery of a new Kekkai Genkai was interesting news, it was the fact that the five of them would be in charge of exterminating the whole clan without hesitation. It made Eremi feel a little uneasy, but if it meant protecting the hokage and the rest of the village than what choice did he have and it wasn't as if he could voice his opinion on the matter to someone that's been in their position for longer than Eremi's been alive. So he wouldn't say anything, keeping it to himself and as Fukutsu finished speaking and Trenyo was selected as the lead, Eremi gathered his thoughts and left with the rest.
As the group left the ANBU headquarters, they would instantly make their way toward the small village in the northern part of the Land of Fire. There would be no stopping beforehand and only one or two stops as necessary while heading out. The group would take a normal five man formation, none of them would be assigned with a task of keeping their eyes and ears open for traps, scouts or ambushes. Despite what was being required of the five, the mission was rather simple; Go in to a possibly unsuspecting village and kill every last man, woman and child. They weren't trained shinobi and at most, the only deadly thing about the clan was their kekkai genkai. Avoid that and come out of this alive with a job well done.
About three miles or so from their destination, Trenyo would signal for the group to stop and point to a location where they could rest for a bit until the sun completely disappeared over the horizon and the night granted them the coverage that they would need. "Once we see what we're up against and get a layout of the area, we'll devise a strategy. Until then I don't see anything worth talking about." The other three would nod in agreement as they simply waited for the time to pass by.
Following with the rest, Eremi kept his thoughts on the mission ahead and what would be expected of him. This mission was unlike anything he's ever participated in before. It didn't require him to be skillful or powerful, just that he did what he was told. Which when he first heard about the mission he was fine with the details, but as time continued on he kept second guessing himself and what he should do. This far into it though, it was too late to turn around and refuse the mission. He was a shinobi after all and an ANBU member at that. What he was doing, would do, it was all for the village.
Behind his mask, Eremi was glad none of the others could see the expressions he was making, but he wished he could see the look of the others gathered. Glancing between each of them, he wondered what they were all thinking about. If they all had the same resignations he was feeling, but it was doubtful. Treyno, Cee, Silia and Loko, each of them have been ANBU for years now and know what the job entails. To them, this was most likely nothing more than routine work.
Slowly time passed by, seconds turned to minutes and minutes into hours until finally the last of the sun light had completely vanished, leaving behind a dimly lit sky filled with shining stars and a quarter moon that was unable to penetrate the tree line. It was now that Trenyo would signal the group that it was time to go, moving out in the direction that would lead directly toward the village. At a normal pace it took the group about an hour or less until they arrived on the outskirts of several houses ranging in various sizes that made up this sleeping village.
"Seems rather cut and dry." Trenyo would comment, "Cee and Silia, you start on the western side. Go in to each of the homes, kill the inhabitants and move on. Leave no one alive." A wave of his hand and the two would be off, "Loko, you'll cover north to south being the eyes of the operation, making sure no one gets ambushed from behind and no one escapes." Another wave and Loko took off. "Hayai, you and I will cover the east. Now let's get going." Without waiting, Trenyo moved toward the first house and signaled for Eremi to go ahead.
Reaching the village and looking around, it seemed odd to Eremi that there were no guards posted, no torches lit, no security measures whatsoever taken to prevent attacks against a village that was planning on killing the Hokage. Either the clan of this rare Kekkai Genkai feared no one or honestly believed what they did would never be discovered. Regardless of why, the ANBU could count their blessings that it was all down hill from here. Eremi sure would at least.
Turning to face Trenyo, he'd listen and then watch the others take off before doing the same as he moved toward the first house. He figured getting inside quietly would be the most difficult task of the night, but as he checked the first window it was unlocked and he was willing to be the rest of the houses would be the same. For now, he'd enter the house, walking through as quietly as possible until coming up to the first bedroom.
Pushing open the door he'd see a couple sound asleep upon their bed. A kunai would be drawn as he slowly approached the bed and as he stood next to the couple he'd clench the kunai, hesitating for a moment as he wished they'd awake, but when they didn't he quickly thrust the kunai into each of them, ending their lives. It felt wrong as he did so, but he was already walking out of the room and onto the next.
As Eremi stepped out of the first bedroom and before he was able to get to the next, he'd feel a tug against his hand. "Excuse me…Bunny-san." A small girl of about 3 years old would call out, clunching her stuffed teddy bear tightly. "I can't…" Sniffling slightly. "And I'm thirsty. Can you get me som…" Thwap, thwap. The sound of two kunai piercing into the girl before she could finish asking Bunny-san for something to drink. Trenyo would appear next to Eremi at that moment as the girl fell to the ground in a heap, "Hayai, it's a shame you found out this way, but what's done is done. Now let's get out of here and move on to the next house."
Feeling the tug against his hand, Eremi's eyes went wide with fear and panic as he knew that this was the end for him. His hands weren't covered with gloves and only partially bandaged. Where he was being touched was bare skin. How could he have been so careless. His head would drop as he took in a breath, waiting for the clan's kekkai genkai to take hold and turn his own chakra against him, killing him from the inside.
Though as nothing was happening, he wasn't sure what to think. How long did the process take. Kanra Fukutsu made it sound like an almost instantaneous process. Yet here Eremi still stood, alive and well. Was the Kekkai Genkai a lie? Quickly he'd turn around to see a small girl at the other end of his hand without a clue in the world what was going on, but before he could even speak he had to witness the girls life taken before his eyes and Trenyo to appear next to him acting as if he knew all along.
Knew all along and he was fine with it! Eremi was infuriated, he was being duped. Were the others as well, but why..Without thinking he clenched his fist tightly, spun about and clocked the other ANBU with every thing he had. It would be enough force to send Trenyo through the wall of the house, but Eremi wouldn't let it end there. He'd follow after to land on top and continue his barrage of punches.
The punch would indeed land, sending Trenyo flying through the wall of the house and unable to defend himself from the onslaught of punches Eremi was connecting with or at least Eremi would think he was as a puff of smoke took over the form of Trenyo and replaced it with that of the teddy bear the girl was holding moments ago. Trenyo would shake his head while walking up toward Eremi, "What do you think you're doing? This is no time to have morals. We have a job to accomplish no matter what. You don't like the way it's being handled? Get over it. There's already blood on your hands. Your a shinobi and an ANBU, it's part of the job." At this point Loko would be there as well, curious as to what has sparked this. Cee and Silia would arrive to see what the commotion was about.
Instantly seeing that he was punching a teddy bear instead of Trenyo only enraged Eremi further. As if nothing even mattered to the man. It made him sick, even as the other spoke, he just wanted to deck the guy. "Part of the job?" Repeating the question as he stood up, holding the teddy bear in his hand. "Do you not care that we're simply being used to kill innocent people and for what?" Looking between the others, Loko, Cee and Silia to see how they felt about this as well. "I can't go on killing people that don't deserve it. I was lied to, you were all lied to and you're fine with this? I won't let you kill anyone else."
Trenyo would laugh, "It doesn't matter what reason they give us for doing what we do. All that matters is that we do what we're told and that's why we were selected to do this. Because each and everyone of us have no problem with doing what we're told to do. It's the way of the Shinobi. Follow the rules or be considered scum. I'm not going to be scum, but you can." Trenyo would bring his hands up, ready to attack were Eremi to become hostile. "You can either help us Hayai or be put down. You can't possibly take on all of us." Silia would take a step toward Eremi, "Just calm down. We're all on the same team fighting for the same side." Cee would simply watch in silence while Loko crossed his arms over his chest.
Eremi kept his focus on Trenyo, never looking away even as Silia stepped toward him. "This is no team I want to be a part of." Suddenly vanishing from where he was standing, leaving the teddy bear to fall toward the ground. When he reappeared he'd be underneath Trenyo delivering a swift kick to the mans chin that would send him flying into the air. Eremi would hunch forward, grasping the ground and then jumping up to ride in the shadow of Trenyo. Bandages that wrapped around Eremi's arm would fly loose and then wrap tightly around the man, holding him in place. Grasping onto Trenyo with both hands, Eremi would jerk to turn them both upside down and start his downard, spiralling descent to pile drive the man into the ground, making sure to jump away before impact.
The sudden kick to his chin left Trenyo surprised and stunned. He was left completely to the mercy of Eremi who was obviously going to show him none. All Trenyo could do was accept his demise. Silia on the other hand was already crafting hand signs, one after the other until a gust of wind suddenly blew in from out of nowhere and formed a small tornado that caught Trenyo, preventing the Front Lotus from doing any damage, though the kick to the chin still hurt. When Eremi sprung away from the assault, Loko was on the boy with a jumping knee strike to the chin and a massive fist to send Eremi crashing back to the ground. Cee would follow up from behind, waiting until Loko had finished before withdraw the sword strapped to his back and slashing at Eremi.
Leaping away, Eremi had no time to defend against the knee from Loko that hit with enough force to send him soaring away and a fist that would pummel him into the ground and skidding against the dirt before coming to a stop. Trying to correct himself, Eremi would find he had little time to do so and just barely managing to withdraw his own sword to catch against Cee's strikes. "Why do you do this? These people are innocent." Holding the sword up in front of him, ready to defend himself against Cee, though Eremi knew he didn't stand a chance in a sword fight against the kenjutsuist.
"All your talk is pointless, Hayai. We know what's required of us and we will see it through. You can't possibly hope to defeat all four of us, so give up." Trenyo would comment as he began making several hand signs that caused the ground near Eremi to rumble and crack until earthen chains shot up to catch and hold the boy in place. Cee would recognize what was happening around Eremi and continue his sword strikes, slashing in all directions to keep him on his toes. Loko would charge forth with another fist to finish the job.
Trenyo was right, Eremi couldn't possibly take on all of them at once and it was starting to show with each attack he was defending against. The ground would rumble and he'd jump back without hesitation, the sword strikes would come his way and he'd deflect one only to have his own sword knocked from his hands while the remaining strikes would cut vertically into his mask, cutting across his left eye and almost making him blind and the other would cut horizontally, scratching deep into his forehead protector. Instinctively his hand would grasp against the wound near his eye and the other hand would turn into a fist to meet that of Loko's, crashing together in the air. "I don't hope to defeat you. I'm only doing this to stall while the villagers wake up and flee to safety."
Looking around, Trenyo could see that the battle was drawing attention from the villagers who were coming out of their houses to see what's going on or run into the forests until it was safe to come back. "Silia, go after them. We'll handle Hayai." He'd turn his attention back to Eremi, "Fitting that your forehead protector is damaged, because after this, you'll never be able to return back to the village, at least not if you continue to fight. Give up now and we'll go easy on you, but you'll never be an ANBU again."
Eremi shook his head, no longer caring what happened to his future. He knew it looked bleak, but he was doing what he felt was right. "If this is what the village is truly like, then I don't want to be a part of it." Bringing his arms up in front of his face, they'd cross to make an X. "But I will do whatever I can to protect these people." His chakra would suddenly erupt from his body and his skin would change to red as he opened up the gates. The ground around him began to tremble and crack until chunks flew up around him and broke into several pieces.
With every gate open that Eremi could, he jumped into the air tucking one leg behind him and spreading his arms out to either side. "I'll stop you with everything I have!" When he reached the height of his jump, Eremi started punching at the air in front of him. His fists would move faster and faster until catching against the air in front of him, moving with such force that the friction alone caused the air to ignite and catch on fire that sent several flaming attacks hurdling toward the four ANBU.
Each of them knew about the chakra gates and what Eremi was capable of doing, so they were prepared for what ever he might throw at him, but when he jumped into the air and started punching wildly until his fists caught on fire and rained down upon them, it was something they had never witnessed before and did their bests to defend against the attack. Trenyo flashed through hand signs and brought an earthen dome to protect himself, while Silia tried to use a wind barrier that only intensified the flames and burned her harsher than the original attack. Cee was left defenseless and took the brunt of the damage that dropped him to one knee. Loko was crazy and simply took the attack, but acted as if it barely did any damage while jumping toward Eremi to catch him in a powerful bear hug.
Seeing whom he was able to at least injure and whom he wasn't came to know suprise to Eremi, what was surprising was seeing Loko coming at him and wrapping him up in a bear hug so powerful that Eremi screamed in pain from the feeling of his bones breaking. Not giving up though, he'd crash his head against the giant man to knock himself free and then start an assault that most others wouldn't be able to survive. Hitting at the beast of a man from all sides and then finishing it off with a fist and foot combo that would send Loko crashing into the ground. After which, Eremi himself would drop to the ground, some what fatigued and unsure if he could go on.
Loko would be punched from one place to another while in mid-air until crashing into the ground and leaving a crater underneath the unconscious giant of a man. Trenyo would push through his earthen dome and stare at Eremi, "Give up, Hayai. You've done well, but you can't possibly continue on. You're obviously exhausted and will only lose your own life pointlessly." He'd glance to the others, seeing that Cee could still fight, but Silia and Loko would need medical treatment.
Breathing hard, Eremi pushed himself off the ground and stood up on shaking legs. He'd look around the village and see that there weren't any spectators left, they'd gone and hid in the forests, hopefully for a good time now. Something, he'd have to do as well when this was all over, but he wouldn't run far. He'd stick around, protecting them from the shadows for as long as he could. "Killing these people is what's pointless and you continuing on is pointless. Most have already escaped, but those that I've killed I'll have to live with. How will you live with it?" Eremi walked over toward the teddy bear, picked it up and brushed it off in his hands. He'd turn to face Trenyo, squint his eyes and then charge at the man with fist poised to strike. The moment Trenyo would try to defend himself, Eremi would take off in a different direction and use the forest to cover his escape.
Trenyo shook his head, "It doesn't matter who escapes, we'll find them and hunt them down. We'll go back to the village and be rewarded by Kanra Fukutsu, while you'll be hunted down and most likely killed for becoming a traitor. The only people who knows what happened here will be the five of us and Fukutsu, but how long you get to know what happened depends on the generousity of the village, because they'll think you became a missing-nin and come after you." Eremi would charge toward him and Trenyo did familiar hand signs, replacing himself with an earth clone only to do so in vain as the boy took off, disappearing into the forests with speeds none of them could hope to catch up with. "Cee, take care of Silia, I'll get Loko and then we'll finish our job."
