| abstract
| - The wind blew gently across the plateau overlooking a small village. The grass swayed in the wind and the leaves of the trees shook gently above. The village was quaint an unassuming, a small community in the land of rivers. People frolicked in the streets and cherry blossoms floated through the air, carried by the wind. A quiet river passed through the center of the village, flowing by all the quaint wood houses. Today though the streets were devoid of people, save for those surrounding the town hall. Those people were terrified, weeping gently as they held each other. It was a classic hostage situation, some bandits had kidnapped a couple of the town leaders as well as some random civilians. They were holding them for ransom from the country. While the people down below hoped that their country would save them the two up above knew that country would never risk so much on such a small town, that's why they sent mercenaries to do it. A minimal job for minimal pay, but cleansing the world of those bandits would be enough for the two. It had been seven years since the fall of Takigakure and the two had accomplished much in their time. The underground organization had mostly called as for a few roots still stuck in the soil. They had enlisted the help in some very high places, Densetsu of Konohagakure and Makaze of Ryūseigakure. The two had aided them in their quest, lending them troops and giving them safe passage in places they could otherwise not enter. The two were supposed to be dead and they intended to stay that way. They disguised themselves and erased their presence, never to be remembered as anything but shadows. The taller of the two peered down at the village from his perch on a tree, where he lay lazily. "So what's the plan Kenta? I did the last one so it's only fair you get to deal with these this one." The man stated as he looked the town over. "Seems like theres multiple entry points we could use, not to mention the glaring gaps in their formation inside." The old man sighed as he pulled his hood of his head, his face now shrouded in darkness. Seven years was a long time. Takigakure felt like so long ago. The villains of yesterday had been mere specks in almost a decade of war from the shadows. Another man stood up on an opposite branch of the same, huge tree. The years had not been kind to him, the scars on his face that even his healing factor could not overcome, results of hundreds of fights. His semi immortality had allowed him to become unbelievably powerful with every battle, but this type of situation still gave him a massive headache. His powerful blue eyes peered at the village as he snarled. "Fuckers knew we're on to them, that's why they invested in taking an entire village hostage. Intel Makaze's folk gave us suggests that there are multiple booby traps round the village as well. They know we're gonna come in after them, and when we do, our targets will try to escape. Of course I think they'll kill as many villagers as possible, just to make us look bad," Kenta stated irritatedly. They had spent seven years hunting down the Organisation known as the Sons of Freedom. Takigakure had been the first, where two high ranked members had been exposed along with three affiliates. That had been the famous night of the Takigakure Siege. Next up Kenta and Hougou had recruited criminals to their cause, often with blackmail, but more frequently by displaying their power openly. A large underground movement coupled with actual Intel from the Great Nations, as several parties realised what scale the Sons of Freedom actually were on. With powerful allies, Hougou and Kenta had built up an underworld army of sorts, dealing with underhanded tactics to force prominent members of this group to surface. When these members surfaced, they died. Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Sunagakure, the revived Uzushiogakure and even Ryūseigakure; agents of chaos planted in these and many other states and villages, that Hougou and Kenta had either exposed or killed in the seven years. They had fought soldiers of the Organisation, they had lost allies. But Kenta had disposed off his enemies brutally. The Ripper and The Wrath as they had become known, in the circles of the underworld and the halls of governance across the lands. Feared by both parties. Savage brutality which only seemed to increase in horror and cold bloodedness with every passing year. Various non compliant criminals found murdered in their own houses, discovered by their own families. A horrifying tactic Kenta used to strike primal fear into those he approached. His enemies the Sons of Freedom suffered worse fates, often hung in public areas missing heads, limbs and genitals. Impaled by spikes from mouth to anus. Hung naked upside down on bridges. Judge, jury and executioner; and each year Kenta saw the justice in his violent ever more clearly. In this violent world he had brought forward, he was feared and respected. Loathed but admired. Kenta was a whole new breed of vigilante, and the list of men he trusted could be counted on one hand. Betrayal and distrust had popped up in his rise to the top, and he had efficiently quelled these disturbances with frightening calm. Now, in his long fight, an opportunity had presented itself to eliminate three of the organisation's biggest men. All three had fled from Kumogakure, but the Wrath and the Ripper had faithfully hunted them down all the way, cornering them in the village. They hadn't brought their military muscle though, to keep their movements hidden better, and keep their assault more inconspicuous. Kenta scratched his stubble as a wry smile popped up his face. They wouldn't need an army. "We need to find a way to draw them away from the city square, where they've got the hostages. We let a majority of the civilians escape, and we can shatter their leverage." Kenta didn't really care about a few deaths. Sacrifices for the greater good, as he had come to see it, they had to be made. What he couldn't risk were overwhelming deaths. He had sources he still needed to please. In turn, they'd keep the Five Nations off his ass. Were it completely up to him, he'd tell Hougou to just raze the village and watch it burn. But it wasn't. Kenta sighed, and hopped onto the ground below. He formed the Summoning Technique. A plume of smoke appeared, followed by the arrival of a Siberian Husky, with the scratched symbol of Takigakure on its forehead protector. "Get inside, use your nose to transmit any hidden traps, and if you can...get me their troop movements and positioning. Priority to the town hall. I want everything I can know about the hostages." He stated. The ninken nodded, and a form of camouflage enveloped it, making it invisible. Kenta turned back to Hougou, "He'll be back soon, in the meantime, I could use your help. You could draw out any of their troops hiding on the front, and take em out. They'll get tight with the hostages, maybe kill one or two, but as long as they don't see BOTH of us, they won't kill them all. They know if they do, we'll slaughter ALL of them. Once I get the info from my Ninken, I'll drink their blood." Kenta stated to the older man. "Slow down you vampire." Hougou joked as he jumped down from the tree, landing next to his student. The man hadn't changed much over those seven years. He'd replaced his lost hearts with copies of them and moved on. His hair an eyes seemed a bit paler too, only to him though. His body itself hadn't changed much save for a few more scars and stitches. He did tend to wear his hood much more though, stealth was very necessary now. His student however had changed drastically, he had embraced the Jiongu completely. He'd begged Hougou for more operations and more power but Hougou had initially refused him, telling him it was too dangerous. Eventually though his protege got to him and Hougou agreed to do one final operation. He removed enough of Kenta's liver to keep him alive along with his appendix and one of his kidneys. With this and some minor rearranging of organs Hougou was able to add two more hearts to Kenta's body, both heavily modified for his specific Jiongu. It was no wonder he wanted more and more, he was filled with pure greed after all. Hougou often wondered why he went through with the surgery, why he would only increase the downward spiral of his student. Maybe it was because he was scared, maybe he thought Kenta would eventually try it himself and die. For someone like him loss was the only thing that could harm him anymore. His mind shuddered for a moment, Reikou. The first of his many losses. If anything was happening inside his head no one outside could tell, his expression was entirely blank. "Make sure your puppy is extra careful, these guys have a pretty good sensor, we're quite lucky that we're skilled enough to avoid his powers." The man spoke flatly as he exploded from his perch. In seconds a cloaked figure had appeared before the people with a glove hand outstretched. The guards outsides held their knives closer to the throats of the civilians they held captive. "You should release them" The cloaked man spoke. "Release them?" One of the men laughed. "This edgy asshole wants me to release my hostage." He mocked. "Oh sure let me just let my hostage go an wander into the loving embrace of this wannabe vigilante. "News flash weirdo. Black isn't stealthy or fashionable in the daytime." Another chimed in, his white striped and green plaid clothing obviously showing his superior fashion sense. "I'm sure you blend in extremely well." Hougou replied, with no sarcasm in his voice it was unclear if he meant it or not. Though it really didn't matter much as he raised his hand up. The door guards and their hostages would soon find it impossible to breathe as they collapsed in front of the door, knocked out. With another movement Hougou returned the oxygen to their lungs, ensuring they did not die. He walked over and hosted the hostages up before handing them back to the townspeople. "You should probably get pretty far away from here." He added, prompting cold sweating and an increased pace in any direction away from the two hall. He turned back to the building and awaited Kenta's next move. Only thoughts of if the village had nice tea crossed his mind. Hougou had handled the initial situation perfectly. As he freed some of the hostages, Kenta's invisible ninken padded its way around the back of the hall, where the Sons of Freedom were holed up with a few men and some...children. Once upon a time, Kenta would have been terrified by this development, but he'd seen a lot against this worldwide organisation of master crooks. Beyond the hostage crises and the few dozen goons, there were three older men, mean faced and intimidating. These were Kenta's targets. Three high ranked members of the Sons of Freedom that had been nestled in the Land of Wind's advisorial team to the Daimyo. Upon being exposed, they managed to flee while two of their comrades bit the bullets...but escape from the ANBU forces of the Wind was completely different from escaping Wrath and the Ripper. Back under the trees far from the village, Kenta surveyed the scene through his ninken, the perfect spy tool. It possessed camouflage and a visual link to the summoner when he closed his eyes. But like Hougou said, it was a tight schedule with all the sensor types. The dog was quickly detected, as in an instant, three of the Sons of Freedom leaped down from the roof, seeking to attack the dog—an invisible but nevertheless, sensed infiltrator behind their lines. But they were met with a puff of smoke which suddenly erupted from the ground. Kenta now stood among them. "Surprise," he muttered, his blue eyes striking shock and fear in the hearts. His hand shot like a snake towards the one nearest to him, grabbing the man by his neck. Half heartedly, Kenta lifted him and slammed him against the wall. The man's head was crushed, and as he slumped to the ground, his comrades gasped in horror as they saw bits of his brains mashed with the red that tainted the white, concrete wall. They drew their Kunai out, diverting their attention to Kenta; but he seemed to have disappeared. Before they could react, a voice came from behind them. "Nope," muttered Kenta, as he drove two kunai into their backs. The two men fell forward like planks, dead. That was all three of the guards who had been stationed on the roof. There were twelve more inside, excluding the three big guns. The front parts of the town hall and the buildings around seemed silent. The hostages in the frontal parts of the hall would have already been handled by Hougou, Kenta would now send him a signal that he had infiltrated the back as well. Extending his hand backwards, he punched the wall in front of him. It blasted into several directions and Kenta stepped in. Immediately, the guards reacted, each grabbing a child. Seven children were brought forward, between Kenta and the three men he had tracked down. The targets got behind as the remaining guards got in front of them. There were puffs of smoke and around ten more men arrived in the room. One of them exclaimed. "We knew you'd come, bastard. We knew you'd kill your way in—but now, you're outmanned, cornered in this village and we have leverage. Make one move, one child dies. Say something funny," he reached for one of the older hostages, a local man, drawing a kukri to his throat, "and the village chief hits the deck." Kenta turned around, there was a large, bolted door. He was damn sure Hougou was somewhere there, waiting to burst inside at any moment. Fair enough. A few more puffs of smoke as now, four more men appeared in front of Kenta's three targets. Kenta sniggered. "You think, this is really enough? What are you, naive?" He laughed loudly, as the room echoed with his laughter. He then turned serious, tilting his head to one direction as he eyed the man. "You know I've come for you right? I've crossed borders chasing your ass...and with the amount of people I've killed, you honestly think I'd be bummed if you off a few hostages?" Another loud, overdone laugh. "Give it a break you inferior scum. In fact I'll tell you what's happening. Hook or by crook, the three of you here are going to die. If you release the hostages, I might spare two! Because I need witnesses. But..." Kenta began walking forward, as the trembling guards held their weapons closer to the children, who began to weep. "...if even one hostage dies, I'll kill you slow. The people who slide the knives, here's what I'll do." He looked at the guards in the eye, and his arm stretched a few metres with Jiongu. He dragged one of the bodies of the men he had killed outside into the room. He sat down next to the body and pulled out his tantō. With a sadistic grin, he cut off the head of the corpse and held it upwards. "I'll cut the head off, and send it to your mothers. Then," he tossed the head at one of the children, before driving his tantō into the corpse again. The little girl writhed and bawled in terror as the severed head rested at her feet, as the man holding the knife to her throat grit his teeth in horror. "I'll cut the arms and send it to your wives," he tossed the arms carelessly aside. The children were screaming uncontrollably at this display of savage violence but Kenta cackled with glee. "I'll leave the legs—I'll use them to tie your naked corpses under the Great Naruto Bridge, but what do you think I'll give your wives?!" He let out a feral grin as he unhooked the dead, desecrated corpse's trousers, sliding it off. Everyone knew what was coming next, but the horror of the situation did not diminish one bit. The guards holding the children at knifepoint screamed in horror, louder than the children as they witnessed the brutality of the Wrath. He did not care that there were children, and he was as wild as evil possibly came. The tantō slashed through the private flesh of the dead man, as blood spewed upwards like a fountain. "I'll send your wives your favourite toys! That's right, all three dwarfed inches! And if you aren't married, don't worry, your mothers can keep it in a jar!!" Kenta exclaimed as he yanked it out from the man with a sickening squelch, shaking it gleefully in his hand. Savagely he continued shaking dismembered genital like a baby shaking a rattle and stood up, threads exploding from his body, gathering around him. "I only want those three, and I am getting them. Get in my way, your families can bury parts of you. Run, and live!" Kenta exclaimed, his voice now serious and gruff as he walked forward, still disrespectfully shaking the dead man's private part like a demented, sickening rattle. Kenta's plan of brutal intimidation worked, and several of the men dropped the children, screaming in fear as they ran for the exit. Kenta tossed the body part aside, and pressed his palms to the ground. Spikes erupted from the ground and impaled the men who refused to let the children go, propping from underneath them and going through their skulls. The children ran for their lives as Kenta burst forward, rushing to break past the remaining guards as he hunted down his targets. He'd leave the guards for Hougou, who'd enter using the huge vibrations of Kenta's technique as a signal for his entry. Hougou's shrouded face gave a small smile as he heard the chaos from within, Kenta had indeed changed. He lifted his left arm and with slammed his palm into the two large doors of the building. The oaken doors shattered like paper mache against the force of his hand. The wooden shards of the door fell softly to the floor, so numerous that they weighed as much as feathers. As the pieces fell like a rain of petals the guards who had moved to chase Kenta stopped and turned, face to face with this figure. "Oi you better deal with me before you go after him." His grin hidden in the shadows. The wide eyed men who had pause for only a moment moved with no hesitation, four of them grabbed more chid hostages while two more charged the man. "I see so you're gonna make me stop attacking by treating these little tykes huh. That's just precious." Though his words were filled with confidence he ceased movement as the two enemy ninja approached him. One swung his blade towards Hougou's neck while the other aimed for his head. In one swift movement the two had successfully decapitated the man. The one on the right now held the man's head in his hand, a symbol of victory he held high for the villagers to see. "This is your pathetic savior you worthless rats. If only they'd have ever come, now we have to kill three more of you." The leader of the guards laughed as he held the head aloft. It was then that he noticed something very odd, the body hadn't fallen. The man they had just decapitated's body still stood like a statue. He then noticed something else, his body was completely free of blood of any type. How could that be? What was going on? The questions raced through his head but were never answered as he heard a horrible, melodic voice. "Oh you hoo, don't count me out just yet." Hougou's grin was visible now but the rest of his face was still cloaked in shadow. The man turned to him and jumped back, dropping his head as he pulled out his blade. Hougou cut him off before he could even speak. "Your next line is, how the hell is he still alive right. Don't bother it's a waste of your very limited breath." Before he even finished his little speech Hougou's head had already used threads to launch itself at the man. He intercepted a sword swing with his teeth as his tendrils dug into the man, piercing his organs. "I don't think you'll be needing any of these much longer." Hougou laughed as he ripped the organs from the man, tossing them into a pile of threads he had created behind him. With a final pull he ripped the man's heart from his body and tossed it into the pile before launching himself towards his own body. The other man jumped to stab it but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, a very cold hand. The man turned to see a beast of organs and threads looming over him by a good three feet. He tired to scream but his body was reduced to red paste on the walls before his words even left his mouth. It was quite the fight so far, Hougou mused as he stretched his neck out. His head felt much better back in place. He now turned to the men holding hostages, his wild grin showing as he moved his right hand across his body to his left shoulder. "You have till the count of three to let those children go." The men stood firm. "One." The men's eyes stared him down. "Two." Their brows started to perspire. "Three." They had made their death wish clear. Quicker than lightning Hougou's hand slashed across his body, a trail of purple light blinked by in less than a second. The room stood silent as the men behind the children stopped breathing, their upper torsos falling to the floor with sickly thuds. The mortified children falling to the floor in tears. Their parents ran to them as Hougou proceeded out the building behind them. "Maybe that'll steel them for the future." He spoke grimly, his monster disappearing in a poof. The door shattered and attention shifted to Hougou, as Kenta bolted towards the trio he wished to unleash his fury on. Sounds of violence erupted behind Kenta as Hougou ripped through flesh with ease. Three guards attempted to intercept Kenta as the three men rushed to the exit. Not so fast, you motherfuckers, Kenta thought, seeking to cut them down before they could rush directly outside. He clapped his hands together when the three guards cornered him for a combined strike, as an orb of chakra formed around him, shimmering with a bright blue glow. It expanded outwards in a flash, unleashing the power of Lightning Release with unrivalled fury. Two of the guards were caught immediately, and the air was filled with a sickening stench of burning flesh and cloth as two of them erupted into flame briefly and fell to the ground, charred badly and writhing on the floor. The other one wasn't caught by the intensity of the attack, having parried the technique by flowing Lightning chakra into his own arms. The force of the attack however caterpaulted him into a wall thirty metres away. The chaos had however allowed two of the three men to use the Body Flicker to escape from Kenta. The other was a man of fatter stature, and he lumbered along, grabbing another man who had been propped against the wall as a hostage. He held a shaking knife to the hostage's throat. "I'll kill him, I swear I will you freakish bastard!" He yelled as Kenta paced towards him, stepping over bodies. Kenta pointed a finger at him. "After everything that just happened, you still wanna take hostages, and threaten me you'll kill them? After I shook that guy's cock in front of your faces?" Kenta gnashed his teeth. "You really are thick aren't you? Maybe you don't have a cock for me to cut and gift your wife. Or maybe you don't have a wife," Kenta insulted, always coming closer. The man pressed the knife to his hostage's throat, and blood trickled down from it. "I'll cut his throat!" Came the loud reply from the hostage taker. Kenta saw him backing away further and further to the exit, the muscles of his calves tensing. He was preparing to Flicker away with a hostage. Kenta was no longer in the mood for chivalrous deeds. He heeded the woman who always stood next to him, but was invisible to everyone else. His Jiongu. Kill, it said, and kill he did. Before the man could Flicker, Kenta extended his arm, and the threads propelled it forward. They smashed through the hostage barbarically and through the fat man as well. Both hostage and hostage taker jerked in unison as Kenta withdrew his hand. They dropped to the floor dead. In the room filled with sobbing and the stench of death and spilt innards, Kenta gazed the opening the two men had escaped from. They wouldn't get far, not from him. When they were this close to him, there was no true escape—Kenta had studied all of their move sets carefully. Speed was not an asset any of them possessed, which was why Kenta was as calm as he was. He walked over the dismembered corpses as he strode through the pools of blood and bits of flesh. A woman's wailing nearby attracted his attention as he approached the exit to the building. He turned briefly to face her. She was holding a child, one of the previous hostages in her grasp tightly, crying thankfully. And her eyes met Kenta's. "You killed...one of ours." She choked up before continuing. "They're just...children. You didn't have to do it this brutally in front of them," She sobbed, her eyes not daring to look around her, to gaze upon the contorted twisted faces of dead men who had met gruesome ends at the hand of the Wrath and the Ripper. Kenta felt his face twist into a scowl as he paced towards the woman, stepping directly on a dead body which had been cut in half by Hougou. The woman closed her eyes in disgust as the body made a squelching sound when his foot sank into it. "Oh I'm sorry you know," Kenta retorted angrily as he rounded up on her, "I just saved your goddamn kid. And correct me if I'm wrong, but do you see a single dead fucking child around you? Nah, not one. You know why? 'Cause I ripped up a few of the sons of bitches who would have sliced up your kids. Could I have done it any less brutally? You're right, you gem of a fucking detective—I could have ended it better, but people don't learn unless they learn their lesson the hard way." Kenta bent down and squatted, looking her in the eye, but she kept looking away, afraid to meet his glance or even reply. He snapped his fingertips in front of her face. "Hey, look at me." She glanced, shaking at the coldness and anger that reflected off his clear blue eyes. "Your kid knows what will happen if he gets into the shitty world. You fuck up in your life and do shit like this, you let the Ripper and the Wrath eat you up. And when we eat, it ain't pretty. Past seven years we've cleaned the streets of scum, and just because you're too pussy to deal with shit like we do, doesn't give you the right to talk up to me and question my methods. And about that guy who just died? That happens in shitholes like this, don't lose your shit." Kenta spoke calmly, with a threatening tone to his voice. His presence was intimidating, terrifying even. The woman dared not open her eyes, but she heard a loud whoosh sound. When she opened her eyes, the Wrath was no longer there. The two remaining men ran in the jungle, for their lives. Their third partner was missing. They had to assume he was dead. By now, they halted. The Wrath had definitely fallen behind. They panted, allowing themselves to catch breath. "He's already taken out 18 chosen leaders, and they've jailed 8 more. Our entire organisation, all our preparation...compromised by these bastards without identities..." One of them stated, gasping for breath. "We prepared specifically to conquer from the shadows. There's no way we could have been equipped to deal with something on this scale; he's relentless." The other responded, admitting that their plan had been flawed. A reorganisation of priorities would be needed to triump against this vicious threat. But suddenly, there was a sound. Branches cracking. Both men jumped, startled, pulling out their weapons. There was movement behind. One of them turned instinctively slashing the assailant with his katana. The blade sliced through the attacker, revealed to be a Water Clone of Kenta, as it exploded into water, drenching the man. His partner was wise enough to see the plan, as he dashed backwards in a hurry. A bolt of lightning sprang out and didn't even hit the drenched man. It hit the wet concrete beneath him, where the lightning traveled up the water and electrocuted him. He made a wheezing sound and dropped dead, smoke emanating from his mouth and ears. His remaining companion backed away, holding his sword upright. "Fool! You challenge us without knowing our might! Without knowing who we serve! You can never defeat us, even if you kill all of us. The Sons of Freedom are—" he was interrupted as he felt something hit him in the back, like a punch, and immediately he couldn't feel his limbs. He dropped to the ground, his eyes wide open, in shock that his body did not respond to his thoughts. Kenta walked up to him, standing over him from behind. He placed a foot on the man's head. "Jiro Takatsuke...I don't give a fuck about your Sons of Freedom propaganda. You're all dead men to me, every last one of you. I'll just keep killing you all for the sake of it." Without effort, he pressed his foot down and Takatsuke's head exploded. His skull collapsed and his eyeballs shot out of their sockets, followed by bits of brain matter from the eyeholes. As his disfigured head lay in a pool of spreading blood, his murderer disappeared into the wind.
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