Kōsetsu watched with a complicated expression the sea of trees that separated him from the village where the mercenaries were unleashing their massacre. A massacre he could neither see nor understand why it was taking so long.
Those rogue shinobi were capable, Kōsetsu knew it from the way they treated his group. They didn't fear them, nor respect them.
So why were they taking so long with their mission? An Anbu squad shouldn't delay them that much. Those Konoha shinobi were probably spies gathering information in the area, not fighters.
The only explanation Kōsetsu could think of was that they were having a sick and bloody feast with the villagers.
He had seen enough rogue Ninja to know how low they could stoop, abusing their superior strength to take any defenseless young women they wanted and gain the absolute obedience of the civilians.
As long as they weren't civilians from Iwa or the Land of Earth, Kōsetsu didn't care much, but he didn't approve of such activities anyway.
—Do you think we should take a look, Captain?— asked the Chūnin who accompanied him.
—No. If they kill them, we must report this to the Village immediately. Konoha might have sent more than one Anbu squad, or one with particularly strong individuals— the man replied with a growl.
—But Captain, it would be better if—
The Chūnin's words were interrupted by a silent Senbon that came out from among the trees, lodging itself in his throat with deadly precision.
Kōsetsu reacted instantly, jumping away from his position and avoiding another needle aimed at him, fleetingly catching the purple liquid that soaked its tip. Poison.
—Tomiko!— he called out to the Kunoichi, who barely managed to deflect the Senbon with the kunai she was toying with before also jumping away.
Kōsetsu assessed the situation, noticing the shadowy figures sliding among the branches, surrounding them. At first, he thought they were the mercenaries, blatantly betraying them, but now he wasn't so sure.
—Captain, those are...— the Kunoichi murmured, clutching her kunai tightly with a severe expression.
—Konoha Anbu— Kōsetsu finished the sentence for her, his tone icy and his mind hastily searching for an escape.
Chakra ignited in his body, traveling quickly along his pathways and stimulating his muscles, giving him the superhuman speed and strength characteristic of shinobi.
His senses sharpened, his heart beat a little faster, and the muscles in his hands shot into quick sequences, familiar and easy to weave in a matter of a couple of seconds.
Doton: Tochi no Kakuhan.
The Iwa-Nin's palm made contact with the ground, releasing a chakra wave that traveled through the surrounding terrain at great speed and manifested the caster's will in the form of a violent tremor.
The trees shook in response, branches creaked, and destabilized the footholds where the Konoha Anbu silently lurked. But it didn't stop there.
Doton: Doryū Taiga.
Kōsetsu turned a wide area in front of him into mud, while his hands continued to chain seals without stopping.
Doton: Doryūdan.
The chakra expenditure continued, Kōsetsu's reserves dangerously dropped in a matter of seconds, leaving him breathing heavily.
After his last technique, he gestured to the Kunoichi and both darted away with a Shunshin, while a mud dragon emerged behind them and fired its attacks against the Anbu.
But neither of them had any idea that they were not facing Konoha's Anbu, but Shimura Danzō's Root.
Similarly, the supposed Anbu elimination operation was flawed. Takeshi and Kakuzu did not eliminate a couple of Anbu squads, but a scheme by Danzō himself intended to plant the seeds of discord between Iwagakure and the minor villages.
But the Root leader who was pursuing and spying on the Akatsuki pair didn't care to go and support his own comrades. That's not how they operated in Root.
Right now, his priority was to obtain information on this rogue member of the Yuki Clan, whose Kekkei Genkai could prove useful to Danzō.
Takeshi did not evade Root as he had believed. Despite knowing the Anime and many secrets that the people of this world couldn't even imagine, the reincarnated underestimated the tracking capabilities of the shinobi.
He thought that, without modern technology, searching for some random guy who ran into some random Root shinobi in the middle of goddamn nowhere would be a bit too difficult. He was clearly wrong.
And unknowingly, the Yuki once again tossed a small stone into the metaphorical river that represented the plot, causing ripples that would alter the history he intended to exploit in the future.
*******************************
Kakuzu unleashed a crackling spear of lightning, piercing a shinobi's chest and audibly bursting his heart.
The corpse fell to the ground with a thud, smoking and spasming. The Akatsuki stepped over it with a bored expression, casually throwing a few kunai at the dying masked figures whose bodies had been turned into pincushions, courtesy of his young teammate.
The old and experienced shinobi had to grudgingly admit he was impressed with the Yuki's capabilities.
The ice fragments resulting from his clones' detonations continued to freeze, joining together and with any surface they encountered, efficiently trapping the victims who could still move.
It was novel, something he had never seen. But he also noticed the chakra expenditure it entailed.
In fact, many of the unknown techniques Yuki Takeshi used were terribly inefficient, often requiring a massive energy drain.
The brat, despite having impressive reserves, was not a Jinchūriki. He couldn't reuse some of those techniques more than twice in short periods of time, or he would be completely exhausted.
—But there's Dark Release— Kakuzu thought. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly at the brat's absurd luck. Having two Kekkei Genkai was already a blessing, but having one of them allow him to compensate for the disadvantages of the other was simply ridiculous.
With decent training and a better development of those mysterious Ice Release techniques, Kakuzu had no doubt that Yuki Takeshi would become a world-famous name.
But well, such matters didn't concern the Jiongu user. Just fleeting thoughts to kill the boredom, nothing more. What the brat did was none of his business, as long as it didn't affect his finances.
—Kakuzu-Senpaaai!— the annoying voice of the aforementioned arrived, disrupting the elder Akatsuki's contemplations and slightly lowering his mood.
—Let's move— Kakuzu urged dryly, not bothering to check the murder of all the Anbu and civilians present. He trusted that Yuki Takeshi wasn't foolish enough to disobey Pain's orders for something as trivial as mercy.
—Sure, sure. By the way, Senpai... Didn't the Iwa-Nin say there would be two Anbu squads at most? We faced a damn dozen here!— Takeshi complained with crossed arms, kicking a severed arm with disgust.
—That's right. They gave us bad information or they are so incompetent they didn't investigate properly— Kakuzu replied laconically.
—Then we should charge more— Takeshi said with a frown. Much to his chagrin, Kakuzu smiled slightly.
—Now we're speaking the same language.
The Akatsuki pair left the village without verifying the true affiliation of the masked shinobi, leaving behind a village full of corpses, both innocent and guilty.