Chapter 94 - Aftershock

Without a word, Ekyt stripped the vest off. But instead of handing it to Sakura, he threw it down the fifty stories. His headband followed it. There was silence, marred only by the ‘clang’ of the headband hitting the ground below.

“I assume I’ll be allowed to create temporary quarters for myself? Or has a holding cell been provided on the lower levels?” Ekyt snapped. But he turned away, already starting to pace the top floor, no doubt feeling constrained by his ‘confinement’ already. Not that it could be helped. And it wasn’t anyone’s fault- everything Sakura had said was absolutely correct, and Ekyt’s presence DID have to remain secret.

“Rations will be delivered to you. And cigarettes and alcohol, if you like. Female entertainment is also available to you…”

Ekyt gave Sakura the dirtiest look he could muster. “If that’s all, then please take your leave. I have no need to speak with someone who would…never mind, I apologize. You’re just trying to lighten the mood, right? Sorry, I still don’t get ‘emotions’. I have them, but I don’t understand them…I should seal them away”

Sakura had expected this much, and worse. But she and Asuna left Ekyt by tacit agreement. Before they had gotten far, Ekyt called them back.

“Any shinobi, healthy and recently deceased, who wouldn’t mind his body being donated to science…deliver them to me, if it’s alright. Six months on the run haven’t been spent crying my eyes out. I might as well finish my work.”

Sakura actually smiled a little and hugged Ekyt, eyes tearing out of happiness. Upon noticing his bewilderment at that, she explained:

“When I shook you out of that genjutsu, I was worried that you might come out a different man. I’m glad you’re still you.”
Holding him at arm’s length, Sakura amended her statement a little bit.
“But, please- promise me that you won’t do some Orochimaru thing with that body? Autopsy it, test it, whatever- but don’t go into the ‘forbidden arts’ thing, okay?”

“It’s nothing so dramatic,” Ekyt assured her. “I just have a theory, and it’s too dangerous to test on living people. Besides… That thing…that thing that Azami will give birth to somehow… It’s got my DNA in it. And I need to stop it. If it’s a part of me, it’s my responsibility…Besides, what I do may very well present a disaster such as the Third Hokage’s death again…”

Ekyt reached into his coat pocket, holding something small and black reverently. He put it on- his old mask. He slipped it on over his nose and mouth, taking a minute to get used to breathing through fabric again.

“To remind myself that I’m ‘Ekyt’, and not ‘Ryouko’- whoever he is to me.”

Sakura put a hand on Ekyt’s shoulder. “You DO know that I didn’t invoke act 27 of our articles. The one about ‘unfit for command’, right? You’re still Director of Special Cases of ANBU, you know. And your assistant wants to see you in the worst way. Careful- I don’t want her coming out of here pregnant!”

BAM! A shoe smacked Sakura’s head. It’s source was a rather flustered Mimizu just making her way to the top of the stairs, breathing hard either from anger or from traveling fifty flights up.

“Watch what you say, pinky! I gave up trying to get into his pants! Although, sex IS a stress reliever, right? Heals the mind and all that?”

Sakura shrugged. “Well, that IS true. But is Ekyt up to it physically is the question? I don’t think he’s had much training in the area…”

Ekyt just…deflated. He shook his head, red all over.
“That’s…beyond cruel. You girls are mean. Watching me squirm and loving it! How cruel can you be?”

Sakura put a hand under Ekyt’s chin, stroking it. “MUCH more cruel, kiddo. MUCH more. But, for now, I’ll leave you to your work. And Mimizu will stop you if you try to leave. I’ll deliver you a research subject as soon as I can. Oh, your eye! I’d better heal you!”

While Sakura did that, Ekyt asked Asuna for a few wards to experiment with. They tied into his research- something she well knew. She was the only one privy to the course of Ekyt’s study, and he had sworn her to secrecy. She was all too eager to help. As she handed the ward’s over, Sakura’s treatment was done for the day. Ekyt would need further treatment, but his eyesight would return in full sometime soon.

Standing in front of one of the stained glass windows in the library, Ekyt put a hand to it’s glass. He wanted to be outside. His life had been all about isolation. After being so close to death, and realizing all the things he hadn’t seen or done, he sorely regretted his self-exile. Who would have thought he would ever regret not spending more time with one of his greatest fears- females.

“So, any hot guys in the Leaf Village?” Asuna asked Sakura and Mimizu. It was her first try at ‘girl talk’, so she was sticking with an easy topic.

“Oh, a few,” Sakura replied. “There’s one guy on my team that might fit you nicely. Provided he’s not gay, like I suspect. He’s only slightly harder to read than Ekyt over here.”

Ekyt chuckled, but immediately felt something go wrong. He was standing near the railing, and quickly pushed himself back with his arms. His quick thinking likely saved his life as he began to fall forward. He hit the carpeted floor with a ‘thud’, arms just barely breaking his fall. Immediately, he began to sweat across the brow, as if his head was overheating.

His legs wouldn’t respond to his brain’s commands.
What’s…what’s happening?!
-

shoot! shoot! Ekyt thought, sweat dripping down his brow. He saw the girls run over to him, but he couldn’t stand up. It felt so pathetic, lying on the floor, face-down like that.

“Does it hurt?!” Sakura half-shouted, only long hours of training keeping her calm. She knelt down, checking Ekyt’s vitals.

“No! I can’t feel anything! My legs are completely numb!” Ekyt half-shouted himself, only long training keeping him calm. “I must have over-exerted myself after Itachi’s genjutsu! It’s mental effects were still lingering!”

Sakura sighed with relief. “Your incapacitation should be temporary, in that case. It’s the same effect as your chakra being gone, except it only affects your lower body. You should regain feeling within the week.”

Ekyt didn’t answer, save for crawling toward his wheelchair. When Asuna went to get it for him, he said “No! I’ll do it!”

Though the effort was clearly painful, Ekyt climbed to the wheelchair by himself. He pulled himself up onto it’s seat, his legs dangling uselessly behind him. But he made it up by himself. Without a word, he wheeled himself back over to the window.

No one said anything for a time. It was clear that Ekyt’s predicament had reduced him to tears, and no one wanted to further ruin him by asking him ‘are you crying?’. Instead, Sakura and Asuna left, hearing ‘thank you’ from over Ekyt’s shoulder directed toward them. Sakura repeated her promise to bring Ekyt a corpse, then told Mimizu that Ekyt was ‘in her care’ for now.

--

Mimizu thought of herself as more than an assistant. She wasn’t going to handle paperwork for Ekyt- she was going to fight by his side. All her life, she wanted justice and understanding, and she believed that she found a mortal example. She didn’t worship Ekyt- she admired him.

A man so dedicated to his work and to his home that he won’t complain about paralysis. Proud yet quiet about his pride. Strong, but he doesn’t preach his strength. He’s not like any shinobi or swordsman I’ve ever seen. Once he can’t compete in one field of his work, he switches to another and continues.

Mimizu stopped herself from perching on Ekyt’s shoulder- she didn’t want to break his wheelchair. She also didn’t read any books, aside from some comics and novels she had brought from home. She wouldn’t let herself be labeled as a ‘leak’. She wanted citizenship in the Leaf. Her only friends in the world were here, in the leaf. Okayu found his brother (Yuushi), and this place wasn’t war-torn and full of blood.

“Mimizu, would you throw my tools down? I hate to ask, but I don’t think I could muster the strength to get up there right now…”

Ekyt was down in the lowest basement, setting up a small lab for himself. It had taken the allotment of his chakra to create the four shadow clones he needed to get him downstairs. Not to mention the strain of maintaining them. For now, he had only half his chakra. The body was an amazing thing, Ekyt was learning.

When his paralysis hit, the lower half of his tenketsu shut down, chakra still sealed in them. The rest of the chakra diverted itself to flow around his upper body. In this way the body didn’t overheat or overexert itself. It was funny to think there was such a failsafe measure within such a fragile piece of meat.

It’s almost serendipity that this happened to me when it did. My study on chakra needed a boost. And here it is. Now I just need to solve my mobility issue. Some kind of chakra puppetry, perhaps? No, that ties up my hands…Well, maybe my paralysis will wear off by then.

Mimizu happily bounded down the stairs to deliver Ekyt’s tools. He thanked her, then studied her for a moment.

“Sakura left out an article that needed to be cited,” he commented, reaching into his pocket. “Any associate of an ANBU director must be marked properly with a Leaf Village insignia. And I threw my headband away, but it’s not my only one. I’ve destroyed so many through training…Well, I want you to take this one. It was my spare, but now it identifies you as my assistant. Or, in the field, assistant captain.”

Mimizu took the headband. She stared at it’s shiny surface for a moment. She had never gotten a headband in the Mist- at least not one she felt she earned. Even though she and her fellow swords were the elite, they were never recognized.

Acceptance…

She leapt up and hugged Ekyt.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” she declared hopping up and down beside his wheelchair. She then proceeded to kiss him on the cheek.

“Now, Mimizu, once you put that on, we can’t have that kissing stuff,” Ekyt said sternly. Then he broke into a big grin. “But it’s not on you right now, is it? So it’s cool. Here, let me put it on. It’s kind of supposed to work that way anyway. How do you want to wear it?”

Mimizu thought for a moment. My right arm…my sword arm. It might deflect an opposing blade…

“On my upper right arm,” she declared, holding out the arm. Ekyt tied the headband on. It looked good where it was, and Ekyt smiled and gave her a nod.

“Good. One more thing. You’ll need one of our short ANBU swords. This one I actually…well, made myself. It should be sturdy enough. But it’s guard is special. It’s the Leaf’s symbol. I think it’ll serve you well.”

Ekyt handed the sword over, then began to wheel himself over to an old wooden table he’d dug up. He laid his tools on a smaller table next to it. One experiment was all he needed. Just one working example…
--

Azami watched, removed from the act, as the child bearing hers, Itachi’s, and Ekyt’s DNA was ‘assembled’. She was his ‘mother’, but in name only. She could not love the ‘child’. It was created from hate. And it wasn’t a pure creation, either. It wasn’t made with either man she loved. It was crafted in a laboratory, with the purpose of killing one of those whose DNA was inside it. It was meant to destroy.

“He will reach maturity in twenty-four hours.”

Itachi looked at the creature, equally displeased. Azami wondered what was running through his head. More importantly, what precautions might Ekyt be taking?

“I’ve sent word to the Leaf Village that Ekyt is innocent of the murder of the Mizukage,” Itachi said matter-of-factly. “We can’t have him in hiding when this is unleashed.”

“Who committed the murder?” Azami wanted to know. Ekyt was talented enough to murder, but equally incapable of it due to his pure soul.

“Orochimaru,” Itachi replied. “He tried to frame Ekyt, to get him executed. Ekyt holds what Orochimaru fears most, so it’s only natural he’d want the boy eliminated.”

Azami already knew what Orochimaru feared.

“The Reaper Death Seal. Of course. He would fear that, the one sure way to kill him. It’s thankful he’s never obtained the Sharingan.”
--

Lady Tsunade actually cheered. Holding a paper that cleared her jonin, she hugged Sakura and Shizune.

“Sakura, let him out of the library! He’s GOT to come party for this! YES!”

Sakura gasped. “My Lady- you knew I had hidden him?”

“Of course! Did you think you could hide anything from your master?!” Tsunade crowed. “Never mind, go get the boy and bring him here, on my orders.”

Sakura hesitated. She was sure that Ekyt wouldn’t be in the mood to party, since he was in a wheelchair at the moment. But she couldn’t disobey Tsunade, and it would ease his mental strain for him to know that he had been declared innocent.

“Right away, My Lady!”

--

Ekyt had done it. A secret of chakra had been bypassed, and he had proven his theory correct.

“Chakra, even of the deceased, can be stored. Orochimaru’s immortality jutsu, plus chakra sealing tags, plus the gates of chakra… They fit together. If I seal chakra in a tag, then give the tag a false set of ‘tenketsu’, so the chakra continues to cycle and stay fresh, then I can store chakra indefinitely…And if that’s so, then I can use that chakra to perform normally out of reach attacks.”

Mimizu came running, panic all over her face.

“Ekyt! Sakura is coming!”

“That’s fine,” Ekyt said dismissively, recording his progress into a book.

“The Hokage is with her!”

“Oh, shoot!” Ekyt muttered. He was going to run, but decided there was little point. Instead, he would just wait.
Seeing his decision, Mimizu climbed up on his shoulder, giving him an affectionate glance, then standing ready to defend him.
--

Tsunade walked in, immediately looking down.

“Oh…”

Her heart sank. Ekyt was in a wheelchair, with one eye. On his shoulder was his fierce assistant. But seeing what stress had done to the boy made Tsunade want to sob. But seeing the resolve he had to keep living his life as a shinobi…

That made her want to sob even more.

“Ekyt…you’re…innocent. Oh, come here!” Tsunade finally broke down. She squeezed Ekyt, leaning down so he could do the same.

“My Lady…I’ve done it. My research. I can defeat that thing the Akatsuki’s coming with…”

Mimizu leapt off Ekyt’s shoulder, barring her teeth at something in the rafters. Ekyt immediately pushed Tsunade behind him, rolling his chair toward Mimizu. She had been silently trying to get his attention for a while now.

“I see them!” he shouted. But he had barely gotten the words out of his mouth before two ANBU agents landed on either side of him.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Tsunade demanded. “I gave you no orders to harass him!”

The agents turned towards Tsunade. “Master Danzou gave us our orders, My Lady. We’re to kill him before he recovers his strength. Please don’t get involved. We do not wish to spill your blood.”

Ekyt stayed still, thinking his way out of this.

“Danzou? The blind man with the cane wants to take down the one-eyed, wheelchair bound version of me? How typical of him. Striking when he thinks I’m at my weakest…”

Everyone was amazed when Ekyt started to get up. Finding no other alternative, he used a simple form of chakra puppetry. But that used up one hand…

“You mean to die standing, upright? A man’s death, Ekyt!”

But Ekyt wasn’t done. Mimizu at his side, he kicked forward, making handsigns with a single hand. Mimizu had her sword drawn in an instant.

Tsunade and Sakura just stood there.

With one hand?! Tsunade thought, absolutely amazed. How far has he come in his exile? He’s no longer an ordinary shinobi! Has Sarutobi’s prediction come true? Has he become…a legend?
Tsunade studied Ekyt, but shook her head.
No. Not yet. But there’s no longer any doubt- he will fulfill the Third’s prophecy. But it’s more likely as a stepping stone for the next legends, than as a legend himself. Sad, but maybe it was his choice all along…

-
Mimizu was already done with her opponent. She sliced him into twenty pieces before he realized she had drawn his sword. Now to see what Ekyt would do.

No genjutsus this time. Instead, Ekyt picked the least destructive jutsu he could.

“Flama Succendo!”

The fire rose up from beneath, like usual. The ANBU agent jumped. Predictably. He tried to cast a paralysis jutsu on Ekyt, but felt it being blocked.

No…not blocked. There’s no target there! Only a little chakra. But it moves like a-

Ekyt came from behind, still in his wheelchair, one hand controlling the corpse he had made to look hike himself. The other hand grabbed the agent’s leg and slammed him down into the ‘operating’ table Ekyt had used. Ekyt’s ‘corpse-self’ choose a scalpel and began to slice away, until the agent’s arms and legs were bloodied, and his mouth was gagged.

Ekyt, in his wheelchair, sagged; he was exhausted. That was a lot of chakra, and he had only half his normal amount.

Mimizu leapt up onto his shoulder, looking around viciously. Ekyt laid his head on his hand, looking really tired. But he looked up to the others and managed a small smile.

“Let’s get going. I have a few more days to keep my promise to Sasuke, and right now…well, let’s have a little fun.”

Sakura began to push Ekyt’s wheelchair. Tsunade picked up what remained of the rogue ANBU agent.

“Incidentally, My Lady…isn’t this a job for the ‘Special Investigations’ end of ANBU?” Ekyt piped up. “I’ll be happy to arrest Danzou…”

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