The Enlightened One Ch.68 (Patreon)

— Anko —

She shot through the forest with a dango stick in her hand. Her small hope of this not being a disturbance had utterly vanished when she heard such loud attacks go off, and now she just prayed she could make it in time. 

Lei was in trouble, and it was her duty, ordered by Lord Third, that she succeed in protecting him. So she wouldn’t fail; she’d save the brat and deal with whatever the other little gremlins were planning!

A flash of Orochimaru’s face came to her mind, and subconsciously, she let go of the dango stick and brought her hand up to her neck, where her curse mark ached with pulsating pain. 

She just hoped…she wasn’t too late. 

Swiftly maneuvering through the underbrush, Anko unexpectedly found herself hurtling down a steep incline. Yet, her reflexes were as sharp as ever, and she landed with cat-like grace on her feet. 

Her eyes shot around, quickly spotting a waterfall, then locking onto the back of Lei.

Anko drew closer, and her eyes widened at the sight of the boy, Kuzan, lying on the ground. His body was unmoving, and his chakra was on the verge of teetering out. 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened here, but she wanted to make sure the assumption she came to was the correct one.

“Lei…” She said, walking up close behind him before stopping. 

“...Anko.” He said back, his voice quiet and raspy. 

The Tokubetsu Jonin woman crouched at the Senju Head’s side and touched his shoulder. 

“Lei, you need to tell me what happened here.”

Now that Anko could see Kuzan more clearly, she noticed several injuries on him that would make ordinary genin lose their lunch. His left and right armsHis left and right arms had been blown off at the elbow and a little above his shoulder, respectively. His right leg shared a similar fate, being blown off just a little below the knee, but his left leg only seemed to be singed. 

His upper body and neck seemed to suffer severe damage as third-degree burns littered those areas, and there was a lump on his neck that looked more like a piece of coal. 

The boy was dead, and judging by the wounds, he suffered a fate similar to those who died by cleverly hidden paper bombs. Although, the wounds were reversed. 

Anko glanced at Lei, wondering just how the boy died, but when she saw the genuine sorrowful expression on his face, she decided against pushing him for answers.

The Hokage could always figure that out, and it wasn’t her place to pry. 

Lei reached down to the boy’s eyes, and to Anko’s surprise, he pulled them out of their sockets, completely removing them from the deceased traitor. Then, Lei created a wood clone and handed the eyes to the clone. 

A quick nod from the clone expressed a mental link between the two, and with a flash, the clone was gone. 

Anko stared at the disappearance of the clone in disbelief.

…Was that-

“There’s another…” Lei frowned deeply, standing up. “I’ll help the others.”

“Hold your horses kid-” Anko tried to stop him, but in a flash, Lei disappeared from her sight, leaving her stunned and confused.

She didn’t stay like that for long and shot up onto the tree branches in pursuit of the second massive chakra signature. 

Damn that old Hokage! Going and teaching the kid crazy powerful jutsu like that!

— Satsuki Uchiha (Several Minutes Earlier) —

The fight wasn't going well for them. They were getting thrown around, even with their numbers. 

The power of that chakra construct…of those eyes was too strong!

Just like that night…

Satsuki snapped herself out of her mind for the nth time since Taro activated those eyes, her sharingan gaze locked onto the moving form of Taro, who was taking out Naruko clones left and right. 

Shikamaru had wisely instructed Naruko against fighting with her clones, and she had to thank him later in some way because of the way Taro was taking out some of her clones…

It infuriated her—and scared her all the same. 

She wouldn’t lose another family to those eyes! 

Satsuki brought her hands up and began weaving through hand seals. 

‘Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Jutsu!’

Two shadow clones constructed with lightning chakra appeared next to her. The clones, along with the original, watched Taro fight, searching for an opportunity to strike. When that opportunity presented itself, Satsuki and her clones shot forward!

They ran with the intent of driving straight through Taro’s impenetrable technique! Lightning formed in all three hands, and their vision shrank to what was merely in front of them—their target!

“Chidori!” Satsuki shouted out as she and her clones rammed their lightning-covered hands against the Susanoo, immediately seeing it crack under the pressure. Taro’s gaze shot over to them, but it had long since been too late. The clones erupted in lightning, causing more damage to the Susanoo! As the cracks grew into breaches, Satsuki ran forward, drove her hand back, and clashed it against Taro’s katana. The boy tried his best to fight her force, but Satsuki made a decision in a mere moment that secured her victory-

She moved her hand to the side, earning her a diagonal slash across her upper body, causing her to wince in pain, but her lightning-covered hand managed to pierce through Taro’s abdomen!

The boy looked at her, his expressionless face quickly morphed into shock as blood began to pour out of his mouth. All the while Satsuki glared at him. Unapologetic of his situation or reasoning for fighting. All she knew is it caused her and the people she cared about nothing but pain.

The Susanoo completely dissipated and Taro’s body dropped to the ground, still twitching from the lightning chakra that coursed through his veins. 

Satsuki took a couple of steps back before falling onto her butt. 

“I-It’s over…” The Uchiha Head breathed out, bringing a hand to the slash on her upper body and quickly touching it, wincing at the amount of blood she saw. 

““Satsuki!”” Hinata and Naruko called out, running over to help her. Hinata spared a glance at the downed boy before locking her eyes back on Satsuki and spreading her hands across the Uchiha’s wound. 

“Tch.” Satsuki winced in pain as Hinata touched the cut.

“Sorry.” Hinata apologized, a cool green glow appearing on her hands as she began analyzing just how deep the cut ran. “You’ll be fine, Satsuki…You did well.” 

“Well?!” Naruko shouted, looking at Hinata with pure shock and disbelief. “That wasn’t a job well done…That was a job amazingly done! Spectacularly done even!” 

“Yes, yes, you’re right, Naruko.” Hinata closed her eyes and smiled as she continued healing Satsuki.

“Agreed, it was amazing work,” Shikamaru spoke up.

The three girls looked over to see Choji’s arm slung over Shikamaru’s shoulder, with Ino standing beside them. 

“There weren’t many strategies I could consider when it came to dealing with that guy, and most of them involved us hoping that Lei manages to win his fight and make his way over here.” 

“Oh god…Lei!” Naruko shot up. “We still have to help him!” 

BOOOOOOOM

BOOOOOOOM

Two distant explosions rounded off in the distance, surprising the group and putting them on edge. 

“What the hell was that?!” Ino shouted, her body shaking. 

Hinata looked toward the direction where the explosions came from with her byakugan eyes.

“It seems-”

SHING

The group froze, completely shocked by the sight before them. 

Naruko looked down in confusion and pain and saw a mass of lightning chakra had pierced her stomach!

Satsuki’s eyes locked onto the form of Taro who had his arm held up, a spear of lightning coming from it.

The lightning dissipated, and Naruko’s body dropped to the ground. 

“You just won’t quit!” Hinata screamed, rushing the downed boy, while Shikamaru dropped down to his knees and began trying to catch Taro in a shadow possession.

Satsuki, Ino, and Choji were frozen. 

Satsuki’s gaze was locked on Naruko’s downed form; she wanted to speak, but no words came to her mouth. She was utterly shell-shocked. 

Flashes of the time they spent together appeared in her mind. From the days they spent as bitter rivals in the academy to the times they began opening up to each other at the Senju compound. 

The initial burning anger she had for the girl had gradually changed to soft, caring affection, even if she wouldn’t admit it openly to the girl…Naruko had become someone close to her. Someone she cared for. Someone she’d call family-

Someone she loved.

Yet now, the blonde was unmoving, her eyes still wide open from the shock and abrupt nature of the attack. 

Satsuki’s world turned upside down at a single thought. 

Was Naruko…dead?

Had she lost someone she cared about…again?

The Uchiha turned her gaze to Taro, who had begun re-activating his Susanoo.

Again…to those eyes?!

To him, an eye stealer?! 

He had already robbed her family of their most prized possession, but now, he robbed another member of her family of their life?!

Suddenly, everything changed. 

The world slowed, even the battle that was ensuing before her. 

Tears fell free from Satsuki’s eyes as she spared one last look at Naruko before her eyes shot right back to Taro, burning with a fire brighter than ever! Changing into what the man she HATED more than anyone else in the world had claimed she would need before she could claim his life. But now she would use them to KILL this traitor!

“You BASTARD! I’ll KILL you!” 

— Chapter End? —

Beta-reader: @Dragonboy1

Author’s Note: The increased chapters begin at chapter 70 for this fic, and will appear in the next chapter of Spider.