Red Riot - Chapter 10 - The Red Gambit (Patreon)

The ship lurched underneath us as we sailed. We weren’t as good as the Chunin or the Anbu trainees that had actually been manning the vessel on the way out, but that was to be expected.

We made do with the other former Academy students manning the ship. I stood on the prow, watching the ocean fall away underneath us. The rise and fall of the ship didn’t bother me in the slightest. If anything, it almost lulled me into a daze.

I tried to enjoy the feel of the wind across my face. Behind me, kids called out orders, and arguments broke out before the kids were separated. I ignored them. I kept my eyes forward, on the distant but slowly closing land mass. The ocean lashed me as I raised my hands and imagined I was flying. The taste of salt was bitter on my lips, but I didn’t mind.

In a way, it might be some of my last memories of this life. I felt a strange acceptance settle over me that what would come next would be the true gamble.

I’d prepared as much as I could physically, strategically, and mentally for the graduation ceremony. Now my, and everyone else’s fates would be left up to one man, and gathering information on him had always been beyond difficult.

I had started ahead of anyone else attempting this task with some vague memories of a smarmy man that was prolifically difficult to deal with due to his mastery of Genjutsu. His help, such as it was in cannon, was confusing and practically non-existent with the shinobi armies that were amassed to fight against the threat of Obito Uchiha.

I hadn’t learned anything that countered that initial impression.

He ruled Kirigakure with an iron fist of haunting shadows and phantom touches. He tortured men as much as he praised them. He bolstered as much as he derided. He seemed a capricious man, given to mercurial moods.

He was probably more than a little psychotic, but then again, who doesn’t live in this world without some mental issues? Power wasn’t the sole right of the mentally healthy. If anything, it seemed easier to get by if you let go of certain… mental hangups.

Gengetsu, the Mizukage of Kirigakure, was a mercurial man.

I could only pray that he was in a good mood when we returned. If he was in a bad mood… I wasn’t sure how things would end up.

A flicker of charka that was attempting to be stealthy behind me made me sigh. “You’d do me a favour, you know? If you were to betray me now,” I said without turning around.

“Tch! I think you’ve gotten enough out of me from one favour, don’t you?” snarked Gin as he sauntered up next to me.

“Hmmm, no, actually,” I said whimsically. “I’m still thinking about how I can blame everything on you.” I smiled at the slowly increasing land mass that heralded an event I wasn’t sure I could ever be ready for. So instead, I just accepted my fate and relaxed for now.

Gin glared at me. “It’s not too late for me to push you over the side,” he growled. I kept smiling, knowing I’d trapped him in an impossible situation. He’d had to back me up, but in doing so, he’d consigned himself to following along with what came next.

Another chakra signature approached me. “What are you both talking about?” said Hanahime. I could feel a number of other chakra signatures getting agitated as they spotted Hanahime and Gin standing on either side of me. They weren’t wrong to become worried; until earlier this year, there had been a vendetta between both of them.

Hanahime had even accidentally killed a Hozuki boy once. I had heard rumours that Gin had tried to do worse, but I couldn’t be sure how real they were. I knew that I never wanted Gin to have power over me. That much was obvious. They made for odd allies in this situation, which I had manufactured.

I shot her a smile. “I’m planning how to plan everything on Gin and make off like a bandit.”

"Hmmm, and give up all the accolades that will come from it?” she said neutrally.

Gin perked up and seemed to reconsider the wisdom of not claiming to lead this rebellion of mine. I smiled. “It will depend on Lord Gengetsu.”

Gin shivered in a manner that was not at all comforting to see. I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t he the leader of your clan?”

Gin’s tongue darted out in a nervous gesture. “And you think that makes it better? That just means he has more power over me, not less.” Gin glared at me before dropping his glare to the ocean when I didn’t react. “He’s killed his own cousins before… murdered them while  he was pretending to nap on a lounge in the middle of the clan compound. They’d been mouthy and drunk. Got too loud around him so he warped their minds until they were stabbing themselves in the stomach screaming something about worms in their guts… He had their mothers clean it up without even realising what they were cleaning up.”

“Wonderful!” I said. “Think you can put in a good word for us?” I said as though I wasn’t at all bothered by the grotesque story Gin had just told us.

Gin shot me a flat stare. “Why not pin it on the Terumi? Lots of people think that you've been their lap dog for years now.”

“Go bark up a different tree, Gin. That won’t work. Lord Gengetsu is far too perceptive. I don’t doubt that these…” Hanahime turned to the railings where we’d tied up the knocked out Instructors and ANBU trainees and made a gesture, “ANBU will have reported as such. Our prior arrangement will be well known.” She turned her attention to where Shoto was. The scrappy youth leaned near the railing and made the rounds, prodding and checking that our prisoners were all still passed out. I could have told him not to worry but he added a redundancy in case they got through the comatose state I’d induced in them.

“I must say I’ve never realised they were there. These ANBU—”

“They’re not ANBU.” I said, cutting her off. "They’re just the trainees.”

She shot me an calculating look. “How do you know that?”

“ANBU are harder to detect,” was all I said. It was true as well. Once people graduated into ANBU, they obviously went through much tougher training to gain control of their chakra. They became much harder to detect. Not impossible, but extremely hard.

Whenever we had to scout out the shinobi area of Kirigakure, I made sure to keep my chakra sense as highly tuned as possible. I’d only just started to detect them with any accuracy, but they had made for good, unknowing practise partners. Not that they were a threat right now anyway.

Hanahime and Gin continued to inspect me.

“We’re closing in on Kirigakure!” shouted a Yuki child from the topmast. I nodded in thought, eyeing the closing landmass.

I could now clearly make out buildings and even lights. Somewhere in there was the home I'd made for myself. It was a run-down little building at the back of an Okiya, but it was home.

“So what’s your plan?” Hanahime asked.

“Not die?” I offered back shamlessly. She gave me a dry look.

“You’re going to need more than that.”

“It mostly depends on the sort of mood that Lord Gengetsu is in,” I replied before sighing deeply. I can’t make his mood suit our needs.”

Gin looked like he’d bitten something sour, “We’re doomed.”

“The good sort of doomed?” called the voice of Kitoma Kaguya. The wood on the deck creaked and groaned as he walked due to his greater mass. I idly considered how one might go about resolving the issue of making a ship’s decking groan with the use of a chakra technique. I suspected that Kitoma knew the trick, but he didn’t employ it. He wasn’t trying to sneak up on us.

"Oh, great, it’s the bitch dog.” I flicked Gin a suprised glance. He was certainly being mouthy, he must be stressed. I noted down that this was how he acted when stressed.

Kitoma’s smile dropped, and a lance of bone came out of his forearm. “What did you say? Puddle-o-piss boy?” he snarled.

Hanahime put her hands together and bowed her head over them, like she was praying for patience.

I sighed and returned to looking forward. “If you two are going to kill each other, please get off the ship first.”

“Glady,” said Kitoma.

Gin backpedalled. “Ah! I was just messing with you; you’re such a Beast! I saw what you did to those ANBU rookies! Impressive stuff.” I snorted. He must have been expecting me to rein in Kitoma. The bot didn’t owe me any more fealty than the rest of them right now. Of all of us, he was the least worried about what was to come.

His was a simple mindset: the strong made the rules, and the weak submitted. If he died, he died.

He leaned against the railing and eyed the closing coastline. “Think they’ll try to destroy the ship when they see we only have Academy student identification methods?”

I shrugged as Hanahime and Gin stiffened. They obviously hadn’t thought of that just yet. “I doubt it will matter. We already look pretty bad with the strung-up shinobi.”

Gin blanched. “Why are we not getting them down then? Hide them in the cargo hold?”

I turned that thought over in my mind. I had a reason for that; I just didn’t know it yet.

“Audacity.” I ended up settling for, as everyone stared at me. “We aren’t ashamed of what we did.” I drummed the railing underneath my hands, my mind leaping forward as connections became clear to me now. “In fact, thats the ticket we’re going to use to get up to the Mizukage’s office.”

I turned away from the city coming up behind me. “We’re going to march those shinobi along with us. Make it a grand parade.” My mind liked the symmetry of the situation. They’d called and sung as we marched out to our fates, and now we’d do the same on the way back in.

Gin eyed me again, still unsure what to make of me. “You’re mad, aren’t you?”

I let my head loll and roll around to give Gin a smile that was far too wide. I was beyond caring at this point in time. “That’s that the trick? You need to be mad in this place?”

He snorted. “Compared to you, I’m perfectly sane.”

“Do you have any idea how Lord Gengetsu will react to that?” Hanahime prompted.

I considered that seriously. I found that scenarios both bloody and tragic, or wondrous and blissful, might be the result. Somewhere in between those two points was what would happen today and then be consigned to history.

I felt my mind tug on that thought. No, that didn’t fit with what I knew of Gengetsu. He would add a twist. Some gut-lurching twist that would catch everyone by surprise.

What would he do?

I found myself dreading that more than anything else. I decided to put it to the side for now. I had made my bed, as they said. Now it was time to lay in it. I whistled. Around the ship, ears perked up. My civilian-born shinobi all turned their attention to me.

“Get the prisoners in a state that they’re ready to march! We’re going to lead them right into the heart of Kiri!” I punched the air. “Be proud! We chose our fates this day!”

“Some choice,” muttered Gin behind me. Kitoma stabbed him in the side with a bone spear, and I heard a splash followed by a sigh of frustration from Hanahime.

I kept my eyes forward, watching my kids scurry about the ship.

It was time to put on a show that would amuse the Mizukage enough to let us live.

We approached the docks, blaring out codes with signal lanterns, chakra signatures, and our voices. “Academy Graduates returning!” hollered Kizan and Rei from either side of the ship. “Make way for the procession!” they cried as our ship came into the dock.

When we slammed into the dock, I had to brace myself with chakra to not be thrown to the deck. More than a few kids didn’t avoid the floor. I was just glad I’d had the foresight to get them out of the rigging and masts. If they’d been knocked from there, they would have surely perished from landing awkwardly or being thrown into the ocean.

Some of the instructors were jolted, and they awoke groggily before lurching to their feet, only to have kunai, bone spears, swords, or jutsu ready to end their lives. They relaxed, but I noted the way their chakra furiously circulated their networks as they readied themselves for escape.

“Put a kid on each of our prisoners. Have them inject their chakra into them so their flow is disrupted,” I ordered.

Kids rushed to follow my orders, and I was surprised when I noted it wasn’t just the civilians but some of the clan kids as well. Gin and Hanahime both noticed this, with Gin scowling while Hanahime only gained a thoughtful look.

I turned to the wharf and shot out my hand. “Tie down the ship! We’re disembarking!” I called loudly. I already had a few people's attention on the wharf. I soon had more and more eyes following us as we disembarked while frogmarching men and women between two kids.

“Make way!” shouted Kizan. “The Graduates return! Make way!” he shouted gleefully. He now grasped how morbid the initial parade had been. I marched at the front with Kitano, Hanahime, and Gin slightly behind me so that we formed a diamond formation.

Eyes bore into us as people stared. I could see confusion ripple through faces as people took in our procession. I spared a glance towards the wharf and the rather full complement. It hadn’t been full in months…

I pushed that thought to the side and instead waved a hand forward, leading the group of grinning kids further into Kirigakure as more and more of them took up the chant of our successful return. I felt more and more eyes bore into me as we snaked our way towards the Mizukage’s office.

Shinobi watched from hiding places, or openly lounged like predators, eying us all as we marched towards the biggest predator of them all. Amusement glittered in their eyes, but I wasn’t sure if it was for the overall situation, the beaten instructors, or the fact that they knew that a show was about to happen.

Free entertainment was a vice of many a shinobi, and we were offering ourselves up on a golden platter.

When we made it into the square before the Mizukage’s office, I noted that the mist had grown denser. The kids had grouped up into tighter formations, their eyes watching outwards. My own chakra senses became dampened and restricted to barely half the range. Still, we could see the shapes moving about around us.

There must have been a throng of shinobi present to watch what was coming.

I raised a hand and signalled a halt to our group. Then, with a blank expression, I walked toward the Mizukage’s reception.

The building itself stood out as the only building with any colour, reds and blues cascaded around the ground level and then rose up towards the gold and blues that wrapped around the tower. The Mizukage’s tower tiself was on the fourth level and was known as the tallest building in Kirigakue. No other buildings were allowed beyond three levels lest they obscure his view, or so it was rumoured.

As I walked away, I heard more than a few kids murmuring about the bloody friday massacre that took place in this very square when a bunch of shinobi tried to demand something from the Mizukage, only for him to kill them all and leave them dead in the square as a message to other shinobi. I wasn’t sure if that was a rumour or something that had truly happened.

Others whispered about this being the square where the Mizukage awarded loyal shinobi.

Hope warred with fear, as was ever the case.

I held a neutral expression and stepped into the building proper. The weight of a thousand eyes tracked me.

When I entered the building, the mist vanished, and I found myself in a plush waiting room with a few clerks. I approached and stood politely. When a clerk raised her eyes to inspect me, she sniffed.

“What is going on outside boy?” she said with a haughty sniff.

I smiled politely and offered her a half bow. “Ah, that would be us, we’d like to book an appointment with the Mizukage.”

She blinked at this. “You’re causing a stir and you… want to book an appointment?” the chances he wasn’t already aware were nil, so this woman was either a kunoichi feigning cluelessness, or clueless.

“Yes, we realise the Mizukage is a very busy man, and his time shouldn’t be wasted. We just returned from our graduation ceremony and we wanted to announce that we…” I wet my lips, hoping this would offer the paper thin amusement we needed to skate past certain doom. “Have apprehended the traitors and succeeded with the test. The instructors and their assistants have been detained.”

“Detained?” she said, sitting up and looking out. “You?! You’ve got them strung up like prisoners!?” She was good, but I saw the way her lips twitched as she tried to hide her amusement. Hmmm, so this was a production then, and she was playing a part?

I tilted my head considering my role, I decided to stay on script. “Yes? They are our prisoners, you see? They attempted to give us orders that would hinder Kirigakure, so we acted.”

“Hinder Kirigakure!?” Her eyes lurched from me to the group that was visible outside. “Boy you…” She failed to form words. She shook her head. “The Mizukage does not deal with the graduates!” she ended up settling on. Her eyes watched me a little too sharply now for her to be mistaken for a fool. She was watching me, hoping I’d misstep.

“The headmaster has proven to be incompetent. Also, he’s still rather out of it.” I tapped the side of my head. “Beatings will do that to a man.” She stared at me in horrified fascination.

I leaned in, still holding my polite smile. “I’d really rather have this wrapped up today if I could. Can you help… or do I need to find someone else?”

She gaped at me like a fish before shaking her head, a flicker of disappointment almost had me sighing in relief. “I will pass it up to Lord Mizukage!”

“Thank you,” I said, turning and forgetting her. I could only assume someone from ANBU or otherwise had directly informed the Mizukage,m and he’d wanted to set the stage.

Was he up there even now, seeing how we would act? I swallowed tightly and felt sweat trickle down the nape of my neck as I stepped back out into the misty square.

“All sorted,” I said to Hanahime when she looked at me. I then adopted a serious expression. “Graduates! We await the Mizukage’s pleasure! Kneel!” I barked like a drill sergeant. I then twisted and dropped to one knee. Hanahime stared at me before copying me. Her faction dropped. Kitano snorted loudly and followed suit. Gin stared around as half of the Hozuki copied. Now wasn’t a time to be a tall poppy as the saying went.

Gin clicked his tongue and dropped down on one knee. “You wash your neck, Matsu?” he whispered loudly to me.

“Of course,” I said without missing a beat. “Did you?” I asked back. He swallowed and shut up, which got a faint smile out of me.

We only had to wait a few minutes for the front doors to open. A slow clap heralded the man who would decide our fates.

I wanted to look up and see his expression, but I could feel the weight of each clap like a hammer blow, demanding that I stay down.

And yet, at the same time, I felt the air sharpen with each slow, steady clap. Like the rasp of a whetstone on a blade.

When the clapping stopped, there was silence.

No one moved.

No one wanted to draw the attention of the executioner.

“My, oh my, this is truly a sight to behold,” said an oily voice.

A padding of feet softly teased at our ears as he walked back and forth. “Oh! Look at this! We have all the little actors gathered now, don’t we?”

The sound of walking feet tapped its way along the line. “We have the Terumi, so proud and noble, kneeling?” he said, disbelief colouring his words. He tutted like he thought that just wouldn’t do. He didn’t ask them to rise, though. Instead, he kept walking.

“The Karatachi I can understand, of course. Born followers. Loyal sons and daughters, one and all.”

The footsteps continued. “The Kaguya! My! This is a surprise! The fierce dogs that snarl and snap with their heads so meekly bowed? Who tamed you? Interesting! This is very interesting!” He continued on without further comment.

“The Yuki clansmen, born fragile and cold but so rigid! Far too rigid for this little plan.”

Tap, tap, tap went the feet. “My own clan? My Hozuki? Falling in for once? Maybe you’re waiting for the right moment to strike? Hmmmmmm? Hoping for a weakness to exploit?” He paused a moment longer in front of Gin.

“Disappointing,” he said, and the word was loaded with such intent that I wondered why the cobblestones of the square were not running red.

He kept padding along and paused in front of me. “And here we have the anomaly. The clanless? United? Shocking!” he said. “Inconceivable even! Ha! But yet here you are! I must admit that at first, I didn’t believe the reports that were passed along to me.”

“Interesting! You’re all so interesting!” He stepped forward, and I felt a touch under my chin. I looked up, only to find nothing there.

“So very interesting,” said the Mizkuage from in front of his office.

I felt fear run riot through me. When had he cast his genjutsu?

The sounds, the feelings? The touch? All without my sensing them in the slightest. I clamped down on my chakra, locking myself into the training that I had been undergoing in the Okiya to master my expression.

The Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, watched us all with a glitter in his eyes.

“Well now, who wants to explain what is going on here?” he said in a friendly manner, like he was a friendly older man sitting down for an amusing tale with his friends. He suddenly was sitting in a tall back chair, and a team of shinobi flanked him while another man knelt next to him.

The man was bloody and chained.

He reminded me of pictures of chieftains who kneeled to Caesar after their defeat. His hair was dirty and hung down in strings. His eyes were locked on mine, but he was far from the only set. Still, his appearance tickled something at the back of my mind.

Something I couldn’t let distract me.

I could only focus on the mastery of genjutsu on display. Was this another illusion?

I shook off my shock and decided to take the offer. “Lord Mizukage!” I said from my kneeling position.

“Our year of graduates departed late yesterday to undertake the Graduation ceremony at the Skull cliffs. At the arrival, we were broken into separate groups! They attempted to feed us misinformation and offered us false orders!”

“False orders!?” said Gengetsu with a shocked expression. “My goodness, you say they were false orders? Interesting! Very interesting!” His gaze swept over us all and lingered on the bound instructors and ANBU trainees.

“And you saw through it,” he said, a sly smile forming on his face. “That was clever thinking on your part,” he tilted his head, and his eyes lolled towards me indolently. “Very clever… but what made you think they weren’t directly from me? That they weren’t speaking with my voice? Did you consider that?”

“They would not dare, Lord Mizukage, they attempted to blind us with a situation with no solutions but bad ones.”

“Ho?” his eyes glittered with some unknowable intent. “Do go on,” he said.

“They ordered us to kill each other. I estimate we would have lost at least a third of our number if those orders had been followed blindly.”

“That is the way it usually goes, yes,” he said amiably.

“Indeed, but we determined the true purpose of the test that had been set for us Lord Mizukage.”

“HO?” he said, and this time I felt a brush of something metallic and sharp caress my jawline.

I wanted to wipe my face. I wanted to check if there was blood dripping along my neck, even as I furiously tried to control my chakra in such a way that the illusion would be broken. All the while, my mind wondered if it was not an illusion at all.

I swallowed and continued, the perfect picture of someone who was nervous and in waters so very beyond his depth.

“The truth of the test is that it would be easy to kill. It is much harder to survive, especially in war. We need as many shinobi as can be taught. The Headmaster was wasting resources for Kirigakure with his orders.”

“Ahhhhh, so that’s how you knew he wasn’t speaking for me, hmmm?” Gengetsu said with a chuckle. “Ah yes! Because I, as your Mizukage, would never order such would I?” he laughed deep from the back of his throat.

His laughter echoed in the square. A lonely, haunting sound that mocked us.

He feigned wiping at his eyes as though the joke had brought tears to his eyes. “Oh, that was a good joke, but you do overvalue yourselves, amusing as you all are. I could have you all killed and no loss would occur, as I said it would be so.”

He leaned forward and a whispered voice hissed into my ear. “Do you understand?” Around me, others shuddered, even though the words had been far too quiet to carry.

I had to wonder if what we were hearing and the people looking in from the rooftops and walls weren’t hearing, and seeing, different events unfold.

A master of illusion could act that way, couldn’t he?

“The purpose of the test was to harden you and show that you had what it takes to kill. Even if you have to kill your comrades.”

I shut my eyes and expunged the fear that threatened to consume me.

Fear was the mindkiller. I could not merely give up.

This must be how Gengetsu ruled. Through fear. I couldn’t allow it to take hold, however. That wasn’t what the years of work were for. I wanted the best result, and I had cards yet to play.

“We proved we could kill by killing three Instructors. They were people that were supposed to be stronger than us, and close to us in a way.”

“Hmmm true, true that!” he said in a musing manner. His eyes then flicked towards a tied-up form.

“What say you, Headmaster?” he asked and all of a sudden the ropes around the Headmaster unravelled. I noted the gag was still in place, leaving the Headmaster to drag it out himself and hack.

“They’re all vicious, disobedient little shits that should be put down! Mongrel dogs that will only bite the hand that has fed them! A bunch of rapid beasts that could only swarm us! Mangy flea—” The man made to keep speaking only for Gengetsu to sigh loudly and flick his fingers.

The Headmaster’s body hit the ground a second after his head.

Gengetsu tutted sadly. “You should have apologised for failing first, not mouthed off.”

Gengetsu tapped at the chair he was lounging on. “Hmmmm, you are an interesting lot of students. Yes, Interesting… I like that, you’ve all got… gumption to drag down your instructors like that. Hmmmm, you’ll certainly make any that work with you careful with themselves, won’t you?” He seemed to like the idea of that as he toyed with the thought, his hand innocently playing with the chain leading to the kneeling man at his side.

He barked another laugh. “Oh yes! You’ll all have your squad leaders step extra carefully, won’t you? Hmmmm, but should I allow it?” He eyed us all, and I tried to ignore the twitching of the cooling body of our headmaster.

“I think I shall… let it be!” He clapped his hands once and smiled magnanimously. Around me, the other children exhaled in relief before drawing in a breath.

It must have been sweet on their lips.

I didn’t react that way.

I was starting to get an idea of what Gengetsu was like.

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He was a man who liked to drive a kunai in deep, let you bleed, and then twist. And then, if he could, he’d twist again.

A true sociopath.

“Hmmm yes, the Black graduation I think this shall be called,” he said, watching us with a faint smile playing out across his lips. He clapped his hands. "Stand, graduates of the Black and announce yourselves! Where do you come from?”

We rose as one like we’d practised it and shouted as one. “Kiri!”

“Who do you serve?” he said, and there could only be one answer.

“Lord Gengetsu!” he shouted.

“Excellent! Excellent!” he reached down and jostled the chains of the kneeling man. “You see this Hotaru? This? This is Kirigakure’s future! How does it feel to know my Village has a future!?” he said jerking the chains so that he wrenched at the man.

The man defiantly kept silent.

I held in a sigh. He could at least have done us a favour and pretended at despair. It was obvious who he was. I had no idea how Gengetsu had done it, perhaps through Jonin with a specific mission, but he’d dragged the leader of the Uzumaki into Kirgakure in chains and now he was getting to play with him.

Truly, Gengetsu was unknowingly copying whole chapters from the Roman playbook on how to treat your enemies. Especially your defeated ones.

Somehow I doubted Gengetsu was going to simply cut his head off when he was done displaying him to the public, though.

I looked at the man, and he looked back with sad eyes. I hoped he died quickly.

Gengetsu huffed at his toy for not playing along with the script he obviously wanted. He lifted his eyes, and they landed on us. He smiled wider, and I felt a shudder run through me.

He nodded before snapping his fingers as though coming to a realisaiton: “Ah you’re all so progressive, aren't you young ones?” he said before snapping his fingers again.

He held up his hand and shook it back and forth “But! We can’t progress without keeping some traditions, after all! We need to remember ourselves, or we’ll be lost!”

He smiled as kunai landed in front of me, Gin, Hanahime, and Kitano. “I know all about your little groups. I know which of you are cut out to be shinobi, which of you are not, which of you are strong, and which of you are weak.”

His eyes roamed about us all as his smile remained small, but expectant. “I know which of you have something special to add, and which of you will only weaken Kirgakure were they to join us.”

His eyes flicked down. “Well? Go on then.” His eyes bored into ours, and a touch of metal caressed my throat. “Do it,” he said while another voice whispered into my ears. “Or die.”

I shut my eyes and allowed myself to slump.

And so the other shoe drops.

I stared down at the kunai like it was a snake. Behind me, kids shuffled as they took in Gengetsu’s words.

Kitano didn’t even hesitate. He grabbed the kunai and walked back to spike the kunai into a thin-looking Kaguya girl.

Hanahime opened and shut her mouth. Gin gasped all of a sudden and grabbed the kunai in a rush before sprinting at his choice.

“Gin no we’re—” the boy gurgled as his throat was slashed. Gin shivered and murmured something that might have been ‘it was you or me’ to the boy.

Gengetsu tapped a finger up and down slowly. A sign of impatience. “And then there were two,” he said simply.

Behind me, kids shifted and wavered, but no one ran. We couldn’t. A weight held us down.

I shut my eyes and reached down, grabbing the kunai and hating the cold feel of metal as my fingers closed around it.

Then I turned, ignoring the way Hanahime gasped in surprise at my picking up the blade.

I walked past Kizan and ignored the way his shoulders relaxed as I did so. He knew I wasn’t one to stab someone in the back if I could avoid it. I walked past Ando, and Sharkbait. I walked past Shoto and heard his breath hitch as realisation set in on who I was approaching.

I stood in front of Rei, and she smiled.

It was a beautiful smile, and in that moment I committed it to memory. The way her lips curled up. The way her eyes watered even as understanding and acceptance filled them. Her dimples showed.

“I’m sorry,” I said before putting my hand on her shoulder a moment before I rammed the kunai into her chest.

She looked down at the knife in her chest before looking up and me. “I understand and forgi—” she slumped down into me like I was hugging her. I lowered her gently and allowed tears to stream down my face. I drew in a ragged breath and turned and walked away from Rei.

Shoto stared from me to Rei and back again. Something in him hardened, and I sighed but continued on past him, back to the front. I could feel the eyes on me as I walked. I ignored the feel of my friend’s blood on my fingertips.

I’d have to wash that off later.

I heard a keening of pain coming from Hanahime as she chose her cousin. A clinical part of me agreed with her choice.

I swallowed and returned to the front, where I knelt.

Gengetsu smiled and clapped slowly. Once, twice, thrice.

“Good, and with that, we will consider this matter almost closed.”

I tensed my jaw and tried not to clench my hands into fists. Of course, there had to be something else.

“Who led this little event?” he said amicably. He eyed Kitano and Gin. He didn’t bother looking at the still-crying Hanahime. Her wails were like nails on a chalkboard. Gengetsu could have silenced her, but I suspected he wanted her to cry, to set the scene if nothing else.

I stood back up, and Gengetsu clapped his hands. “Ah of course! Matsu! The clanless boy.” He reached down and jerked the Hotaru Uzumaki’s chain. “Look at him? Isn’t he a good-looking, clever little Genin of Kirigakure?”

Hotaru grunted, and Gengetsu grinned. “Ah, but I don’t think that would be right, not for how he’s demonstrated himself.” He smiled at me like I was a prized pet of his who had done a neat trick. “Matsu Uzumaki,” he said, leaning forward and relishing the way Hotaru twitched.

He did look look at me as he spoke, his eyes were on his captive. “You will make a wonderful shinobi of Kirigakure You have demonstrated strength, cunning, and the ability to lead. I hereby recognise you as a chunin of Kirigakure.” His grin grew wider as Hotaru shuddered, as though the words hurt him on some level.

He pulled a storage scroll out of the air and tossed it to me. “Your chunin flak jacket and Hitae-ate, wear them with pride.”

I bowed in thanks, unsealing them and donning them. Gengetsu let his eyes dart up to inspect me before he clicked his tongue. “I think you’d look better with red hair going forward young Matsu,” he said before jerking Hotaru’s chain. “Don’t you think so Hotaru?”

Hotaru looked into my eyes. “He’d look like his father…” he said with such pain in his words that I knew he must know who. Part of me wanted to know. But the saner part knew I’d never get the chance.

So instead, I made the most of the moment. “I have no father, only Kiri.” In my mind I thanked Hotaru for making it easier on us, even if that hadn’t been his intention.

Gengetsu grinned as Hotaru flinched. I felt dirty.

Gengetsu stood and clapped his hands. “Congratulations to all of our graduates! Now disperse, see the stores for your headbands tomorrow! Tonight, you celebrate alongside all of Kirigakure, for you have lived, and we? We have conquered Uzushio!” he said punching his fist into the air.

The watching Shinobi cheered, and I joined them. Then Gengetsu turned away; he was done with us.

Hotaru vanished like the mist, leaving only blood stains from where he’d knelt to show that he had been there. I marched back through to were Rei lay. The other kids stepped away from me. Some bowed, knowing I’d made a tough choice and probably feeling relieved that they hadn’t been deemed the weakest. Kizan nodded and leapt away to find his family and tell them the good news, no doubt.

Shoto reached out and grabbed me.

“I can’t belie—”

“Leave it!” I snapped at him. He recoiled, and a defiant look came over his face. I nodded to Rei softly. “Help me get her seen to before you try and bite my head off.”

That made him pause. He looked down at Rei and his expression softened. “Alright. I can do that. For Rei.”

I nodded and picked her up to leap up onto the buildings and away. I noticed a lot of eyes watching me. I must have earned a record for how young I was to be promoted.

I doubted I’d have won many supporters with this manner of promotion. Once again, Gengetsu gifted, while also cutting at you. You could never rest easily in Kirigakure.

Most didn’t follow, but a handful decided to hop along. Some offered nods of their own, their gazes knowing and respectful. Others made the gesture of slitting their throats with a thumb before departing.

I felt a stirring of chakra from the square behind me. Ah, we’d left the instructors and ANBU trainees tied up, hadn’t we?

I kept running for a few more blocks before sighing as a chakra signature that was far too familiar to me came sprinting up on us.

I handed Rei over to Shoto and stepped into the middle of a flat building.

A moment later, instructor Geta appeared in a crouch; his face was locked in a snarl. “You little shit I’m going to fucking gut you for—” I accelerated into him, not willing to let him monologue at me.

He batted away two strikes, only for my foot to snap out. He blocked that with his own raised knee. His greater size made it difficult. I didn’t have time for this.

He raised a kunai only to scream as I stabbed a glowing hand into his thigh and cut him through the muscles and femoral artery with my scalpel jutsu.

He flopped back onto the ground, and I grabbed his hand before it could lash out at me. I stared into his eyes and saw nothing but hate there. I punched my scalpel into his chest, and he rasped out a final breath before going still.

I stood and turned my attention to the other signatures that had followed after him. Instructor Mizuna gaped at her dead comrade before looking up at me.

I locked eyes with her. “My mercy in not killing you to prove is not a weakness, or an unwillingness to kill. Don’t, fuck with me.” Mizuna swallowed and took a step back, suddenly unsure of herself.

I turned and took Rei back from Shoto before continuing to run. Shoto eyed me, a hint of respect there, before he shook his head and dropped his gaze to Rei in my arms.

It took him another moment to frown. “This isn’t where Rei’s family lives…”

“Her family never cared for her; she was signed up for tax benefits. They’ll probably lose the benefits when they’re told she failed to graduate.”

“Tch, bastards,” said Shoto. He grimaced. “Where are we burying her?” he asked a moment later.

I stayed silent and continued to run; my chakra senses stretched as far as they would go. The rest of my attention was taken up with running and holding Rei in my arms.

She looked like she could just be sleeping. I reached the Okiya, and Shoto blinked in surprise. I almost sighed in relief, as I couldn’t feel anyone trailing us. We didn’t seem to be of interest to anyone anymore.

I sprinted into my room in the Okiya and laid Rei out on my bed. Then I put my hand on the kunai that I’d positioned right above anything too dangerous. Rei had collapsed, yes, but not due to blood loss.

I put a glowing green hand on her, and Shoto gaped. “Matsu?!” he said in shock as he recognised what I was doing.

I looked up and gave him a true smile. “I’m sorry I tricked you, and I know this is a risk… but I had to try,” I said as I healed the wound I’d stabbed into Rei. Then all I had to do was break the coma I’d placed Rei in. Then I sparked a jolt of lightning chakra into her chest.

She gasped in shock. She surged upward and stared up at us, her eyes wide with shock. “Holy balls! What just happened?” Her hand went to her chest. “Didn’t I just die?!” She looked around. “Is this supposed to be heaven? … or the other place?”

“You’re not dead,” I said feeling relief swim through me and sap me of my strength.

“I felt myself die!” she hissed, putting a hand to her chest and feeling where the wound should have been. There wasn’t even a scar now.

“You only died a little; I'm sorry about that,” I said.

She laughed in a slightly manic way before hiccuping. She got a bit teary then and I had a moment to realise what was coming before she threw herself at me. She wrapped her arms around me and Shoto. I hugged her back and felt myself shudder.

For now, I’d done what I spent years working towards.

I’d survived the graduation with all of my friends. Not without costs, however. I broke the hug a few moments later and looked into Rei’s eyes. “Rei, I’m sorry to say this, but… you can’t go home anymore.”

She reared back and her mouth flapped open and closed before she collapsed on herself in a slump. She’d always been smart enough to be a shinobi, her brain wasn’t the issue, however. Merely her willingness to fight.

Shoto’s mouth worked itself open and shut, but no words came forth.

Rei glanced up at me. “What should I do?”

I sighed. And leaned back against the wall. “Honestly? I have no idea.”

Shoto and Rei stared in shock at me, only for Rei to break out into a fit of giggles. “You don’t have a plan? You’ve had a plan since I knew you!”

I snorted. “Sorry to disappoint.” She smiled at me.  “What?” I asked.

“You have some idea what I can do.” She nodded. “You’ll come up with it, I’m sure.” The way she looked at me made me feel like I should be able to scale mountains with a single step and carve valleys with a single punch.

I rubbed my temples and groaned at her. “You! Urgh! I’ll think of—” The door opened, and the Madam stood in the doorway.

“Brat! Why did you not announce your return when you graduated? Has the care I’ve given you for years fled your mind now that you’re officially a shinobi?” she snapped.

I blinked up at her and took her in. She was standing there like she always would, but there was a quiver in her hands. I knew enough to never look for her telltale signs in her facial expressions. She held a facade of anger, but she was bluffing.

Her eyes alighted on my vest, and she hissed in surprise. “They made you a chunin?!” she said in surprise. A few of the ladies leaned around the door and inspected me. They waved at me and my friends, and I pinched the bridge of my nose when Rei waved back. Rei who wasn’t suppsoed to let people see her. Rei who should be dead.

She wasn’t supposed to… I had a lightbulb moment.

I pivoted and knelt, saying, “I beg your forgiveness! I have a favour to ask!” I said, imploring the madam with my head to the floor. I could hear the shift of the floorboards as she reared back in surprise at my suddenly kneeling form.

“What! What is this? Get up you fool! I was merely playing with you!” she said.

I shook my head. “I have a favour to ask for, nevertheless!”

She stepped forward and put her hand on my shoulders. “What favour do you need, boy?”

I smiled up at her and indicated Rei. “My friend need to disappear. No one is looking for her but she is in danger—”

The Madam put a hand on my shoulder. “Done,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.

I sighed and relaxed, only for the Madam to put her hand under my chin and raise me up. “I’m glad you survived boy, I don’t know what happens with that ceremony… And i don’t want to know, but I know of people that never return, in body or in spirit. You returned with both.” She nodded once and then sniffed. “A shame you barely fit that vest! And you've got dirt on it already!”

I chuckled. “Sorry, that was someone else’s blood, actually.” Geta hadn’t gone down too cleanly after all.

She paused, considering the flicks of red about my form, only to nod after a moment. “Good, make others bleed, you keep your blood where it is supposed to be.”

She turned to Rei. “So, another girl comes to me needing safety. A more common story you won’t find. I won’t ask if it's family, or debt collectors.” She raised a hand as Rei made to speak. “No, no questions, and certainly no answers.”

She waved her hand to Rei. “Come with me so I can see what I am working with. We will work something out.”

Rei departed with a curious tilt of her head, and I slumped back onto the wall as the ladies closed the door afer offering their own congratulations.

“She’s going to become a whore?!” Shoto said in surprise.

“Not if she doesn’t want to. We might be able to have her work as an attendant or something. It’s up to her.” I considered what he’d said and decided I needed to stand up for the Ladies. “Also the ladies here aren’t whores, they’re Geisha. Completely different.” I nodded at that and I laid myself down. Damn I wanted to sleep. Maybe the world would make sense if I slept?

Shoto denied me that by coughing. “You realise this is nuts, yeah?” I merely grunted. “No seriously, this is an insane risk!” he said.

I chuckled. “Most things that I do are,” I said. I opened my eyes and reached up towards the roof and through it to the sky that I knew was out there. A sky so full of stars and potential. “I dare to dream for more, it's a terrible thing, but someone needs to do it.”

Shoto nodded slowly. Then he knelt, his head touching the tatami mat on the floor. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“I doubted myself,” I said earnestly. He barked a laugh at that, and I sat up. “I wasn’t expecting to be made chunin from this.” I plucked at the vest, still unsure what to make of it. It felt more like a target had been put on my back than armour.

“I’m still small and weak,” I said before letting my arm fall back. “And there is still a war going on.” I put my arm over my eyes and exhaled loudly. “Go to sleep, Shoto. I’m not sure what tomorrow is going to bring.”

“Well, I’m not worried. You’ll do your best, and I’ll be at your side!” he said loyally.

I chuckled. “Yeah… shame the war is still being fought,” I murmured before I let sleep claim me.