The Enlightened One Ch.64 (Patreon)

— Satsuki (Moments earlier) —

The appearance of the enemy shinobi was concerning, but Lei's calm assured her that things would be fine.

Lei wasn’t typically overly confident, especially when the lives of people he cared about were on the line. The fact that he treated these enemy shinobi like a walk in the park did wonders for her confidence in him. 

As he finished dealing with the red-haired psychopath, the other sand shinobi fled in the direction Lei kicked him. 

Satsuki couldn’t help but smirk at how easily Lei dispatched, whom he considered to be the strongest person in this year’s chunin exams. 

In all honesty, she didn’t feel Gaara was nearly as big of a threat as Lei had made him seem. The way the sand child acted and the ease at which her boyfriend took care of him cued her in on that fact. 

As the other villages began to arrive, Satsuki’s blood began to boil in anticipation. After training with Kakashi, she wanted nothing more than to test what she had learned on willing, or unwilling shinobi. It was the best way to test her current abilities and see how much she needs to grow in order to beat him.

Although, judging by Lei’s words and ready stance, he likely plans to hog all the fun to himself. A quiet snort escaped Satsuki as Lei readied himself to attack. She’d let him have this one, there was still the next exam for her to test out a few things. 

“Let’s do this, just like old times!” Lei grinned at his childhood friend. 

“Yes, just like old times.” Kuzan closed his eyes, and just as Lei was gonna launch toward the enemy shinobi-

SHING 

Satsuki’s whole world froze, her blood ran cold and her heart stopped beating.

There was a blade in Lei’s back, sparkling with lightning chakra. 

…And the one holding it was Kuzan!

“”“LEI!”””

“YOU TRAITOR!” Satsuki screamed in fear, anger, and worry. Unlike the others who remained still, she began weaving through hand seals, creating her own spark of lightning that formed brightly at her hand. “I’LL KILL YOU!” 

Kuzan didn’t even look at her, his eyes still focused on Lei’s body which slowly began to drop. As Satsuki neared the two, she pulled her hand back, ready to bring a swift and jagged end to Kuzan’s life-

“Gah!” She shouted, launched back by something solid slamming into her side. Whatever the hell had hit her sent her back tens of meters, and only once she regained her balance did she see who or what had hit her. 

It was Taro, and he was holding up a hand seal. Beside him…

“Wood?!” Satsuki narrowed her eyes in anger and confusion. She didn’t care to ask questions beyond that, especially as she saw both Naruko and Hinata begin their attack on Taro, both attempting to close in on him with Taijutsu.

Taro held both of his arms out, and from his body erupted wood spikes, speeding toward everyone around. 

Everyone managed to jump away, either landing on a tree branch or using chakra to stick their feet to one of the massive trunks. 

Both Taro and Kuzan remained on the ground, along with Lei’s…unconcious and dying body. Satsuki’s heart squeezed in pain as she saw blood leaking out of his wound. The lightning of the tanto should have cauterized his wound, so why?! 

Both Kuzan and Taro shared a look before the former picked up Lei’s body and gave them all a long look. 

“You’re not going anywhere you bastard!” Satsuki shouted, ready to jump in again, but her body froze up, unable to be moved. 

In the time she was frozen, Kuzan began his escape with Lei thrown over his shoulders. 

“I’m going!” Naruko alerted them before quickly hopping off the tree branch she had landed on. As she reached the forest floor and began running after them, she was forced to dodge kunai and shuriken, pushing her back. Taro speed blitzed her, with speed no one knew possible of him and hit her hard in the stomach with a fist reinforced with wood. 

“Naruko!” Hinata shouted, rushing down to help her. Finally, Satsuki regained control of her body, and her head immediately snapped toward the nervous Nara standing on a branch. He had stopped her body; she knew he did, and she’d be having a long talk with him later, but for now, she needed to help Naruko and Hinata and then kill the fuck who threatened what was hers.

Satsuki jumped down, landing beside the recovering Naruko and Hinata who was helping her up. 

“Taro…he’s strong,” Naruko informed them with a groan. “Be careful.” 

They both nodded at that information and looked at their opponent with various emotions, one no more so then rage. This guy was the one line of defense stopping them from pursuing Lei, they needed to beat him and get Lei back, now!

Satsuki heard the drop of several footsteps behind her, but didn’t even think to glance back, not willing to take her eyes off of her opponent for even a second. The Last Uchiha Woman didn’t wait for any sound or cue to start their battle, even while feeling no small amount of drain in her chakra from using the chidori, she still charged the traitor with a battle cry. 

The pats of footsteps behind her let her know she wasn’t in this alone. 

They’d get through this asshole, and get Lei back–or die trying. 

— Omoi —

He watched from the branches above as the Konoha shinobi began engaging with one of their own. He didn’t for the life of him fully understand exactly what had happened, but judging by what he’s seen and what the Uchiha shouted, the lone boy and the one that fled must be traitors.

Yes, sometimes his own genius shocks him. 

“This looks like it’s gonna get nasty.” Omoi frowned, looking at both of his female teammates. His brow began to sweat when Karui glared at him and Samui looked at him with no emotion. Why did he have to be on the team with scary women?! 

“Don’t go bitching out now!” Karui crossed her arms under her bust, still glaring at the poor fool. 

“Actually.” Samui spoke up, earning both Karui and Omoi’s attention. “The battle beneath has nothing to do with us. Our mission is to eliminate Lei Senju here, there is no point in wasting time engaging in a pointless battle.” 

“So let’s just pursue those two then.” Karui placed her hands on her hips and looked in the direction the Kuzan guy had carried off their target. 

“But what if-”

Thwack

Karui dealt a swift blow to the back of Omoi’s head, stopping him from another rambling session. 

“We have a mission, and we will see it through.” Karui glared harder than before, thoroughly shutting up her male teammate.

“Not if we have something to say about it.” 

Their eyes snapped to the stone shinobi landing on the opposite branch. 

“Iwa nin, always bothering people at the worst times. We’re a little busy, so get lost.” Karui redirected her glare onto the Stone Shinobi. 

“Iwa has been tasked with capturing or eliminating Lei Senju.” The Tsuchikage’s granddaughter pulled out her kunai and pointed it toward the group of Cloud Shinobi. “Stand down.” 

Samui raised an eyebrow at that. “Your mission mirrors ours, with a small, inconsequencable secondary objective that may interfere with ours. Why not work with us?” 

“No.” Kurotsuchi’s answer was immediate and cold. “We will do it alone, and if you get in our way, we will kill you.” 

Samui frowned at her words, before reaching into her pouch and drawing a kunai. “We were entrusted with this mission by Lord A and Lord Bee, we will see it through.”

Omoi swallowed spit and drew his blade, while nervously looking at the Iwa nin.  This could be over so easy! Why don’t the Iwa nin just work with them?! 

“Then you’ve chosen death.” The Granddaughter of the Tsuchikage glared, reaching into her pouch and pulling out two shuriken. She threw both of them at Samui, which the blonde easy deflected away. As Samui deflected a kunai that the girl had tossed late, she focused back on her opponent to see her weaving through hand seals. 

Black clumps of…something were launched at their branch, and they avoided it with ease by jumping to another branch. As they landed, they watched as the black clumps began to burn into the tree, slowly destroying the branch they landed on. 

“Must be lava release.” Samui informed the two, making Omoi’s brow sweat even more. 

This could have been an easy day where they killed two birds with one kunai, being promoted to Chunin and completing an S rank mission for the sake of their village, but no things just had to be complicated! 

— Kuzan —

He jumped from branch to branch, never slowing down as he held his best friend over his shoulder. A million thoughts ran through his mind, but he pushed them all down for the sake of the mission. Years of preparation had been building up for the moment that he would face Lei, and he had spent years of internal struggle on whether or not to continue following Danzo’s orders—not that he truly had a choice anyways. However, a shinobi always had one act of freedom that could only be taken away if someone managed to pin you down an prop open your mouth. 

Years he’d been wanting nothing more than for Lei to look at him—no, not him, at their family. Years he’d been searching for a reason to spare his friend, yet never once did Lei ever give him such. 

While he’d been beaten, tortured, and reshaped into a tool, Lei had been living the life anybody would wish for. The Golden Child of the Leaf, with even the Third Hokage himself as a tutor.

It made Kuzan sick. The fact that he’d thought killing himself, for the mere sake of not allowing Lei to be hunted down by him enraged the traitorous boy. 

No, Lei would pay for the sins he’s committed, the sins of letting so many of their brothers and sisters be ripped from the bright leaves of Konoha, and submerged deep into the roots, the Foundation of the Village. The only person he hated more than Lei…was their mother if he could even call that bitch that-

“Argh!” Kuzan shouted, throwing Lei off his shoulders and looking to where the Senju had just been resting, seeing a dagger made of wood lodged in the right side of his chest. 

Lei went flying, unable to catch himself due to his injuries, and fell to the forest ground. He quickly tried to squirm to his feet, but it only took a moment for Kuzan to regain his bearings and begin walking Lei down. 

“You know, I’m happy you’re awake.” Kuzan sneered at the Senju Head. “Because I’ve got a lot of shit to work through right now.” 

Lei coughed, spitting out some blood as he looked at Kuzan with a very small smile. 

“W-Well then…let’s chat.” 

— Chapter End —

Author’s Note: Took me a minute to finish this one, but I think I’m back into my rhythm with this fic. 

Also, I’ve been working on a few other projects recently, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that in the past, but I plan on releasing them soon! 

Last note, I’ll drop a Spider chapter either tonight or tomorrow.