Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter. Here on time! Next five chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
XXXXX- SUIREN HOZUKI
Suiren considered his options as they ran across the waterway that separated the small fishing village of Koji from Nagisawa. They'd journeyed to Koji by hitching a ride on a supply boat and laying low throughout to avoid warning the pirates of their approach. Now that they were within an island of Nagisawa, it was only a matter of crossing the distance. His control was good enough that the run would not task him much. A combination of peerless chakra control and a high water affinity made it a breeze. The boy had enough chakra that he could afford the waste he naturally committed with each motion.
Suiren would much rather have swam to take advantage of his natural hydrofication ability but the boy had no resources for breathing underwater-- a failure in his packing that would have to be addressed at a later date, and he would not leave Kiri's asset to wander about on his lonesome. The boy was still a flight risk after all. If only Kiri knew that Suiren himself was also a flight risk. Because he loved Kiri, but there was nothing in this world he would die for. If it came down to his life and leaving Kiri behind, he knew what he would be picking.
He also had the good sense to know not to advertise that fact like some fools did. When they reached the island, they kept running. Sprinting along the beachhead at full speed to make sure they were not spotted before melding seamlessly into the island's sparse forests. It was barely populated. The people here had been hit bad by the war. What little food they had was seized in the form of taxes and sent to Kiri to support the war effort. It was no surprise that they would support the pirates or even give them a place to lay their head.
A foolish decision, but not entirely unforeseeable. His student made to say something-- the set of his jaw twitching as his mouth opened before clacking shut as Suiren pinned him with a glare. The pirates were not here yet. The lack of ships floating off the coastline made that certain. So there was time for them to gather information and await their arrivals.
It took half a day and the sun had begun to crest past directly overhead so the day was more than half gone already.
"Today is to be your first lesson in silent killing, boy. Silent killing is the art of Kirigakure. It is our village's legacy. The first Mizukage laid the framework as a true master of the silent killing. The second improved on it. Some say the third Mizukage could kill you so silently that you would not even know you were dead until it had already long passed," he began, giving some of the history his own Sensei had given him when he gave this lesson.
"The first part of silent killing is the Hiding in Mist Technique," he continued.
"The handseals are ox, snake and ram. The water nature manipulation behind the technique itself is quite basic. You are simply creating a lot of water vapour out of your chakra and spreading it into the environment. What makes the jutsu even more complicated is the other element. Your chakra, beyond the requisite nature manipulation, must also spread into the mist so it dampens sounds for those within the mist other than yourself, prevents a sensor from finding you by spreading your chakra signature all about the place and also creating a strong ocean scent that would rob all trackers of their ability to use that means. The Hiding in the Mist jutsu works on a principle of complete sensory deprivation, and that is part one of silent killing," he explained to his spellbound student. The boy sat before him, paying rapt attention to every word that left Suiren's mouth with the intensity a man in a desert paid attention to the nearest water source while waiting his turn.
"The second part of silent killing is you. Your own senses of what happens within the mist will be amplified and you must take advantage of this to kill your enemies as quickly as possible without revealing yourself. Of course, the silent in the name tends to imply that you try not to be all that loud about it," he said somewhat wryly.
"Yes Sensei," he said.
"Good. Let me see the seals now. The other two pirate ships ought to arrive sometime in the next few hours. I want you to restrain yourself to our immediate surroundings to avoid tipping off those who have arrived," he ordered, nodding for the boy to get to work on the jutsu.
Suiren himself kept his attention focused on his student as he practiced the technique over and over again, trying to make the mist as thick and effective as possible. If there was one thing that could be taken as a positive from the present situation, it was the fact that he had been given one of the most talented children-- the kind that people with more political capital than he would fight tooth and nail to possess and bring into their clans in whatever capacity they could manage. It was a tale as old as time in Kiri.
The clans held most of the power and fought to integrate powerful civilian born shinobi into their operations. As a Hozuki, he was no stranger to such things but a combination of his own naturally introverted personality and changes to the clan structure once his cousin had become Mizukage meant that the clan itself enjoyed far less power when it came to the political machinery of Kirigakure than it appeared from the outside. A prospect like this boy now would have been far out of their reach. The Yukis, Terumis, even the damn Hoshigakis probably would have had better chances than them of securing the boy. And if the boy had even come their way, the chances of him being placed under Suiren's wing were close to zero. Someone with a better personality would have been chosen to nurture the great talent. Someone that actually liked teaching, perhaps.
The mist came out too light once again and he sighed before backhanding the boy.
"You keep making the same mistake over and over again. Watching you flail about is boring. Do better," he said.
The next attempt was much better. He took more time to concentrate the mist and when it flowed from his mouth, it was so thick that Suiren could not easily see through it. It was filled with the boy's chakra as well so there would be no taking it and weaponising it against him like Suiren had seen with less than competent users of the technique. He would never lose the memory from the war where Orochimaru, Konoha's snake, had taken hold of some jounin's mist technique and turned it into a poison that killed the lot of them within it. It gave him a distaste for incompetent ninjutsu. Sloppiness did not just endanger you. It risked everyone else, and that was unacceptable.
"Almost acceptable. Keep on that path. When the sun begins to fall, we will attack," he said.
"Not at night time?" the boy asked.
"No. If they expect anything to happen, it will be when the daylight is gone. Besides, I have no intention to sleep on this miserable island. If we want a ship out from Koji, we must be there before nightfall," he said.
And so the hours passed until all three ships that housed the various pirate groups had arrived at the coast. The men had come ashore one ship at a time and they had begun to prepare a camp there by the beach. Interesting that they were not going to impose on the villagers for better accommodations. Not like Suiren thought the villagers would succeed in hosting this lot, but pirates were not known for their consideration or empathy.
When the sun began to fall, he signalled for the boy to go in. His mission was simple. Spread the mist. Kill the pirates. Extract. Suiren, with a quick application of hydrification, ascended to the top of the tree he had been leaning against. From here he could see everything.
The boy's chakra capacity was something as the mist began to form within the forest. He had spread it out so it looked more natural. Of course, while this was Land of Water and mists were neither rare nor scarce, they did not tend to form on perfectly clear afternoons, and not from forests when the sea was in the complete other direction. The pirates were not stupid either and it took no time before one began to raise the alarm. Or at least try to. The sounds were muffled, not travelling more than a few inches from their source. Brilliant. Suiren had not given any guidance on achieving that particular facet of the technique. He had not gotten his own Mist technique to this level until he had become a chunin. And he had been considered a prodigy at the time.
With his water affinity, it was child's play for Suiren to latch onto the mist and feel what was happening within. The boy's chakra yielded easily to his. No doubt a result of some false sense of camaraderie from the child itself. How stupid.
Said stupidity served Suiren in this case as he was able to feel out the entire landscape covered by the mist. The mist had spread far and wide, covering not just the beach, but parts of the sea as well. Far enough that it was able to cover the ships even at their positions. Whoever they had left behind on their ships would have no idea what was happening. The individual pirates were quick enough to realise what was happening and were on their guards already even without the alarm being raised.
The first to die was one who stayed on the edges. The boy moved in, kicked the man in the back of his knee and pulled his kunai across the man's neck. Clean. Efficient.
The body fell and began to twitch as the man choked on his own blood. Not efficient like he thought then. The boy had failed to take the knife as deep as he ought. Strange. The reports said he had passed the rabbit and then the prisoner tests with perfect scores. He should have no problem killing.
The next man died even less quickly. Five shuriken in his back while he kept turning every which way. He slumped down to his knees, and then the boy was there shoving a kunai in his chest. Also inefficient. He had missed the heart by the barest of margins. The man would still die, but it would be a slow one.
The first two seemed to be outliers as he worked better from there. The pirates began to organise, grouping up, forming small circles with one man looking in each direction. They had fought shinobi before, Suiren suspected. Either that or those of them with shinobi training had more of it than anticipated. He picked up the last of the laggards with ease.
A blade slid along the achilles to drop him to one knee. A second in the neck, and this time he cut the carotid cleanly, leaving the man to die quickly. Now he would have a harder time from here. At least that is what one would have expected. Instead Suiren felt him beginning to weave seals.
The water bullet jutsu tore through the largest collection of shinobi like they were thin strips of wood. Their screams were amplified in the mist. Now, Suiren could not fight the smile that spread on his face. The screams of the dead and dying echoed in the mist, playing over and over again and the other groups began to fidget and shake almost instantly. One of them did the human thing. He made a run for it. He escaped into the mist. His screams played next. There, Suiren stopped smiling. The boy should have allowed him to escape or rather created the impression that he had. Make the men see a way out for themselves and they will break. Instead, you have them begin to feel like trapped animals and they'd fight for their lives.
With stronger opposition it would be a problem. With this lot, it probably did not matter. But sloppiness was inexcusable no matter the enemy.
The others tightened their grips on their weapons, digging in as the sound echoed over and over. They were trapped now and like animals backed into a corner, they knew their only option was to fight. To fight their way out or to die on their feet. Even pirates had pride, after all.
The boy weaved the seals once more, but this time, the group he aimed at was able to react in time. The water bullets must have appeared in their sight only a bare second before it would have torn through them, but that was still enough time for "Suiton: Suijinheki". The pirate who spoke spread out his fingers and the mist that surrounded him gave way as he spat out a wall of water.
The water wall took the brunt of the water bullet jutsu, falling apart in the end, but still managing to keep those who cowered behind it alive. Interesting. That had been a good use of water release. With reflexes like that as well. A chunin at the very least. That meant he was a deserter of the mist. Interesting that the hunter nin hadn't managed to find and remove him as a factor. They must have been getting sloppy.
The boy was shocked at having his technique blocked. He took too long to adapt. The pirate that had used that technique had never stopped weaving seals, and it was a simple enough thing to aim straight ahead even though he could not see where the jutsu had come from, he could tell the direction.
The lance of spiralling water shot from the pirate's mouth. It tore through the mist at a rapid pace. The boy managed to sense it in time to avoid the worst of the damage. Instead of a hole in his chest wide enough for a hand to pass through, it was a chunk taken out of his shoulder.
The wound weeped precious lifeblood.
"I've been laying low for years, enjoying a good thing but now you've come and ruined my fun. For that, you must die," the pirate said, weaving another set of seals.
"Wind release: Great breakthrough." There were only two ways for a wind release technique to override the hiding in the mist technique. Either the user of the wind just had so much more chakra than the mist technique user, or the mist technique user lost grasp of their technique and could not fight against the intrusion.
The wind tore through the mist, dispersing it to the farthest edges of the impromptu battlefield. Karatachi Yagura had been revealed now, and he rested on one knee, a hand placed on his weeping shoulder.
His head twisted, turning to look in Suiren's direction. In those eyes lay fear. Suiren scoffed. Did he think Suiren would come save him now? Now when he had yet to show why he should be kept alive? Talent was important for a shinobi. This was perhaps the most talented shinobi the Mist had ever birthed, but what did it matter if he did not have the most important thing for a Mist shinobi? Sheer will to live.
A fight was a contest between two people. The one who wanted to live more won. It was up to this boy now to show that he wanted it. Wanted it badly enough that it would be worth Suiren's time to let him keep breathing.
"It's even just a kid. What did you think you were going to do, kid? Just kill us like rats?" the missing-nin turned pirate cackled out loud. The pirates around him, and in all the smaller groups seemed to be buoyed by a combination of the confidence of the one revealed to be a shinobi among them, and Yagura's age. They stood just a bit taller. The stubborn set to their jaws was just that small bit more pronounced.
"I see Silverhand has died along with most of his crew. Whoever brings me the boy's head gets to be the Captain of my new ship," the man said. Smart. He would not attack himself just in case Yagura had another ace up his sleeve. Instead, he would force the men with him to be the one to make the first move. And in doing so, he cemented his claim over the now Captain-less ship. After all, by competing for it they were all recognising his authority to give it out.
The pirates did not think so far. Did not consider his authority or lack thereof. They saw a chance for self advancement and they took it. With a warcry, one man, with a bountiful beard, and even more bountiful belly began to run at Yagura. That broke the dam, and the rest flowed like water through a shattered dam, chasing their chance of glory.
And in doing so, they raced to their deaths. Yagura pulled out a kunai, removing his blood stained hand from his shoulder. Without the pressure, the wound bled even freer, but that was a problem for later. He reached into his shuriken pouch and came out with five held in one hand. With a flick of his wrist, five pirates left the battle, stopping to either scream in pain or to fall dead, but now the horde was too close for another such attempt. He pulled out a kunai instead and stood, waiting for their approach.
A/N: Really enjoying this bit. Half of next chapter should wrap this up and then we go somewhere else. Guess where? Next five chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.