Chapter 63 - Truly Immortal

The Land of Tea was a pretty peaceful place, now that the leader had been picked. The two warring families had finally finished their fighting, with the more just of the two now running the village. Jirocho, the ‘boss’, was an old aqaintance of Tsunade’s, which explained why this mission was accepted and given such priority.

Unfortunately, Jirocho wasn’t there to see Team Asuma and Ekyt off. Instead, only the client, Idate Morino, was waiting.

“About time! You guys are slow!” was Idate’s manner of greeting. Despite being the little brother of Ibiki Morino (the somewhat sadistic genjutsu master of the Leaf Village), Idate was more or less useless, except for one thing- he could run!

“Yeah, yeah. Are you ready to go? If you’re so worried about a timetable, then you shouldn’t spend your time complaining- especially not to the people protecting you.,” Shikamaru informed Idate. Shikamaru had thought about ignoring this, but he didn’t for two reasons. The first was that Shikamaru’s reasoning was solid; the second was that Ino would dog the whole trip is Idate didn’t shut up.

Unfortunately, Idate wasn’t listening.

“Hey there cutie! Such a pretty girl, in with these bozos? Feh, what a waste! How about cutting out and running off with me?”

Ino already had a boyfriend, so she wouldn’t have said yes- even if the guy asking wasn’t an obnoxious prick. Instead, she took the lit cigarette out of her mouth and put it out on Idate’s forehead.

“I’m gonna forget you said anything. It would suck for you if you had to answer to my boyfriend. He doesn’t take kindly to people like you at all, not to mention the fact that you’re hitting on me.”

Ekyt shook his head, wondering if this arrangement was going to work. At least they kept moving, and Tanzaku town wasn’t far anyway.

“YOU! ENEMY OF THE MIST!”

“Oh, come ON!” Ekyt groaned. Already with these guys?!
He wheeled around and walked toward his attackers. “Listen, you were going to put two innocent boys to death. They were my friends, so I stopped you. That’s how it happened. I let you guys keep your pride. I’m honored you put a big bounty on my head, but give it up. This is ridiculous.”

The three Mist ninja exchanged glances, trying to figure out if what Ekyt had just said made sense. At any rate, Ekyt didn’t attack them. He just stopped and stared, ready to defend himself if necessary.

Whizz!

“Look out!” Ekyt grabbed one Mist Shinobi and yanked him to the side. One of the other Mist ninja grabbed his other cellmate and pushed him away- just in time to be riddled with kunai and shuriken himself.

“Shimuru!” the Mist-nin in Ekyt’s hands tried to pull away from him, buy Ekyt jerked him back.

“Go over there and you’re gonna die yourself! That last one had an explosive attached! Now JUMP!”

Everyone did, just in time. Out of the smoke came familiar strings. They were aimed at Ekyt, who was forced to do a quick replacement jutsu. But something had happened.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump. (Heartbeat)

What’s this? Before, I was always chasing after Sakura, or a rank- something impossible. Now I’m up for jonin, and I have a…girlfriend. Am I one of those people that always needs to shoot for a goal?

Ekyt rushed through the smoke, throwing shuriken and kunai. He heard the sounds of them being blocked. That meant the enemy hadn’t used a replacement jutsu- at least not yet.

What’s wrong with me? I’m not content…am I? I guess I always wondered about success- would it ruin me? I’m one of those people that always needs to be doing something…so has success screwed me up?

Ekyt burst through the end of the smoke, his long sword drawn and at the ready. Kakuzu and an Akatsuki member Ekyt didn’t know yet were shocked to see him burst through the smoke. Shikamaru and the two surviving Mist-nin broke off toward the unknown member, leaving Kakuzu to fight with Ekyt.

No. Success hasn’t screwed me up. I haven’t succeeded totally yet, so I guess I can’t say. But I feel it now more than ever- a need to protect. Now it’s not just a vague ‘for the Leaf’ thing- it’s ‘for the Leaf, for Ojo-sama and Naruto, for Azami’…more goals, more reason to protect. So I’ve really got to be even stronger now. I can’t afford to be content. That’s just the world I live in. And you know something? That’s just fine with me!

“Hold it! Move and they’re all dead!”

Ekyt stared in disbelief- the green, plant-looking guy (Yes, I know his name, but Ekyt doesn’t, so bare with me, lol) had burrowed up from the ground, and his giant venus flytrap-ish jaws were poised to swallow even the plump Choji whole.

“You! The boy- release Hidan’s hand and head from the scroll. Right now!”

Ekyt didn’t know how the plant-guy was talking, but there was no choice. Ekyt removed his seal from the scroll and pulled out Hidan’s head. Wanting a measure of revenge (and being angry for being caught off-guard), Ekyt punted Hidan’s head. A kunai followed it, forcing plant-man to move and freeing Ino, Choji, and Idate.

As Ekyt charged in again, he noticed a thread aiming for Shikamaru. Ekyt started to move in the way, but that’s when Kakuzu froze.

“Shadow Possession Jutsu. I don’t know what kind of cheap trick you’re using, but making your attack so obvious only made it easier for me to spring my trap.” Shikamaru smirked- just like Shogi. All the pieces had moved the right way.

“Konoha’s Shadow Paralysis…I fell right into it…” Kakuzu murmured, furious over how things had worked out.

”If you want to call the ‘Shadow Possession’ by it’s OLD name. I guess that’s okay, but to make sure you’re up with the times, no one calls it ‘Shadow Paralysis’ anymore, except my dad. But if you’ve heard of it by either name, then maybe you’ve heard of another one of the Nara clan’s techniques…” Shikamaru raised two fingers to the side of his face. “Shadow Strangle Jutsu!”

Shikamaru had to stop there, as Hidan had pulled himself together again. The parts Ekyt had been forced to release from his scroll had been stitched together by Kakuzu during the brief brawl that had just ensued.

Damn.

Ekyt nodded to Shikamaru, and they began their counter-attack.

Shikamaru’s Shadow Sewing attack kept Kakazu’s attacks at bay, giving Ekyt time to clash with Hidan again. Ekyt had talked about this possibility with Shikamaru, and had told him all about Hidan. It was best to keep everyone away from Hidan.

Too late.

Shikamaru couldn’t move while using the Shadow Possession like this. He couldn’t dodge Hidan’s scythe as it struck him in the arm. Shikamaru yanked the scythe out, but couldn’t wipe the blood off.
“We’re done here now, man! Just a little taste, and then your shadow’s gonna shrivel up, along with your body!”

Ekyt was already in motion. Just as Hidan swallowed, Ekyt’s longsword was slashing down at a precise angle, making a cut on the esophagus. The blood Hidan swallowed poured out onto the ground.

“I know how your jutsu works. Too bad for you. And you know, you COULD watch your mouth when there’s a lady present, y’know?”
That was typical Ekyt. He had picked out one of Hidan’s weaknesses and played it for all it was worth. And without that blood, Hidan couldn’t do any damage to Shikamaru- perfect.

Shikamaru captured Hidan with his Shadow Possession. Using that, he walked Hidan out of his circle of power. Ekyt tore toward him, the two Mist ninja attacking with him. Shikamaru let go of the Shadow Possession, too tired and hurt to keep it going. Hidan swung his scythe toward Ekyt and the Mist-nin. The two Mist-nin were hit in the stomach, then in the back as the scythe came flying back. Ekyt dodged it both times. He kept his long word out, waiting for the scythe to whiz by him again.

“F***! Are you serious, man?! Again you’re doing this? First you free him, and now you’re doing the brave routine and fighting me? I don’t have anyone’s blood in me since you slit my f***** throat.”

Ekyt looked at his hurt teammates. Shikamaru needed medical attention, and fast. Even more than that, Idate needed to be escorted. With Shikamaru out, that left one option.

“Ino, Choji- take Shikamaru and Idate and run. You two, the Mist Ninja- how far is your back-up? I’m assuming that it isn’t only you two who came after me. Not with a 20 million ryo bounty on my head…”

The two Mist-nin backed up. “No, we were, uh…well…”

“Greedy,” Ekyt finished for them. “Alright, for now, we need to help each other. Do either one of you know the Water Wall Jutsu?” (One of them nodded). “Good. Use that and cover my friends while you and them escape. And understand this- if I find you’ve even TOUCHED them, I’ll forget I’m a nice guy and kill you. Right now, I just want everyone else to make it out alive. In fact…if my team isn’t hurt when I come back, I’ll make a deal with you two- I’ll let you take me to your village, if you leave me unharmed. Deal?”

That sounded like a deal to the Mist-nin. They were really too injured to continue.

“Hey! Don’t forget about me, you stupid a******!” Hidan snarled. He raised his scythe ready to hit the injured Mist shinobi. Ekyt cursed- he had to stop this.

“GO!” he shouted, creating three Shadow Clones. “Dance of the Sickle Moon!”

Ekyt’s clones began to attack Hidan rapid-fire. One of them cut the scythe free from Hidan’s hands and threw it to Ekyt. Ekyt buried it in the dirt to get rid of the blood. He also took a second to plant explosives on the scythe so he could destroy it for the time being.

Right about then, the Mist-nin used their Water Wall. That gave everyone but Ekyt a chance to escape. He wasn’t done here yet. Using his ANBU Paralysis Jutsu on Kakuzu, Ekyt called forth his Water Dragon, Umisu.

“Umisu, I need all the water you can give me! Flood this place, make sure there’s no blood!”

Umisu did, creating a huge lake. Kakuzu sank to the bottom, paralyzed and unable to swim. Ekyt’s clones were still slicing at Hidan, who was taking damage. With this destruction as cover, Ekyt escaped.

But it wasn’t over yet. Itachi had landed in front of Ekyt, just staring at him. Then he spoke:

“You’ll need to be much stronger than that. At the mercy of two enemies like this, even with all the help you had. It’s pathetic. And even worse, you sent away your only hope to walk away alive.”

Ekyt stood up, back straight, eyes forward, jaw set. “Then kill me. I won’t die a coward, running in terror from you.”

Itachi thought back to the Uchiha massacre. How little Sasuke was back then, and how he had run away.

“You’re the opposite of my brother. You’re older, so I suppose it’s hardly a fair comparison. Not to mention the fact that your clan has been untouched. If you survive this day, you won’t see me as often as before. If you die, you aren’t worth the trouble to me.”

Ekyt saw Hidan and Kakuzu getting up. The other one, the green guy Ekyt didn’t know, was long gone. Itachi put up one hand, stopping Hidan and Kakuzu from making any further movement.

“Why me? And why should I believe you? I’ve got no reason to believe that you’d really choose me as the ‘stepping stone’ for your brother. I’ve got even less reason to believe that you’d give your brother a real chance at you with any help. Then there’s one glaring fact that’s become obvious to me…” Ekyt looked Itachi right in the eyes. He felt a genjutsu, but it wasn’t anywhere near Itachi’s normal level. It was a B-ranked genjutsu, something Ekyt could break. He did so now.

“…you guys aren’t the genuine article, except for that foul-mouthed guy. You haven’t been the real deal for quite some time. If I was really that big a target, you guys would have come in person, not sent some imitations that you lent your chakra to.”

Kakuzu laughed outright. “Gotta give him credit there, Itachi. He figured us out. Tell me, Ryouko- what gave us away?”

Ekyt/Ryouko gave a small smile. “Because I’m still alive. My skills aren’t on par with yours. No one gets lucky so often. Your real selves typically have huge amounts of chakra, meaning that you should be able to outlast me. But so far, every time we’ve clashed, I’ve just barely managed to hang on. I still don’t know why you’re toying with me at all, because you aren’t targeting Naruto at the moment.”

“That’s true,” ‘Itachi’ told Ekyt, “There are other Jinchuuriki out there besides Naruto. We need them all to achieve our goals. What order we get them in doesn’t matter at this point. W can simply outwait you and take Naruto when his guardians are dead. We’ll take you all out, one by one- however long it takes. Then the Jinchuuriki will be in the open.” Itachi’s explanation was chilling. He never once raised his voice or opened his eyes, even when he spoke again:

“Now if I might ask you a question…Why do you protect the Jinchuuriki?”

Ekyt hadn’t expected this. But he decided to tell the truth. “Because Naruto is a friend, for starters. But more than that…he’s living my dream, or something close to it. If I can’t have that life myself, I’d like to see someone deserving have it. But the reason you’ll be most interested in is the third reason…”

“And that is?”

“…Everyone thinks their motives are pure. No one admits they’re evil; everyone’s actions are justified to themselves. Your actions are killing and making money, and you think that’s right. MY actions are protecting my village and the people in it, and making sure that my opinion of evil never becomes a reality. And I think I’m justified, just as you think you are.”

--

“Idate, you’re so fast! Can you get back-up for us, from our village? We can’t leave him like that!”

Idate didn’t like Ekyt, but facts were facts- Ekyt had protected him. Leaving a protector at the mercy of the worst enemies possible is something the old, cowardly Idate would have done. Right and wrong mattered now.

“Right! I’ll get going!” Idate said, already taking off at top speed.

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