Chapter 29: Rescue, Revelations, Regret

Hinata tugged at the sleeves of Raito and said, "ANBU-san is coming, in less than 5 minutes with his speed." 

Naruto and Chōji had already retreated, joining Ino, Sakura, and Shikamaru. At the front stood Hinata, with Raito positioned in front of her, his hands touching the earth.

Tokiji was on high alert. These kids had given him some action, and if there were more surprises, his job would become even more difficult. He stood on the water's surface, observing the kids with narrowed pupils. Every move they made was clear to his eyes; it was just that his body and mind weren't in sync. That's what he felt.

Raito grabbed a stone from the ground and stood up with a big frown on his face, which alerted Tokiji.

Throwing the rock away, Raito rubbed his eyes and straight at Tokiji. "Why? Why are you doing this?" 

Tokiji was just about to take actions when he heard that. He was confused. Even treating one another as enemy, this kid wanted to take an empathetic route. "What?" 

Raito sat down, a vulnerable position, which even shocked the Hinata behind and the gang behind her. He sat with his legs crossed and asked loudly, "You are from Inuzuka clan, right? Why are you with Mizuki, that stupid bastard? I thought that Inuzuka clan people are all good guys, all fiercely loyal to the village, but you, why?" 

Tokiji frowned as he heard Raito. "What?"

"I know you. You're a great person in the village. You are loyal to the village. So, why?"

"You know me?" Tokiji chuckled, releasing his chakra as his muscles abnormally bulged. Something in Raito's words made his heart feel like it might burst open. His nails sharpened, and with a swipe, Tokiji shouted, "I want to tap into real power, but I can't do that here. I'm just a small fry you don't even know. So why do you care?"

"Do you want to stall for time?" Tokiji swiped his head and added, "Don't give me that 'I know you' crap."

"I don't know you? Me?" Raito shot up straight, loudly pointing fingers, "I know you, or I used to know." 

Raito lowered his fingers, looking a bit sad. "You are Tokiji from the Inuzuka clan. You served the most hours at the gates as the Emergency recovery unit with your partner, Takahiro and saved many ninjas from their deathbeds. Ninjas caught in traps or encountered mercenaries or whatever the bad situation, you saved them all."

"You…"

"I used to go to the eastern gates to see all of you. One day, you came back with a ninja on your shoulder, and your partner had two. Despite dozens of cuts, you smiled and handed them to the medic-nin. I admired you, even considered joining the Emergency Recovery Unit to help ninjas in trouble, just like you did."

Exhaling, Raito looked at Mizuki, then at Tokiji. "I don't know why you're teaming up with a traitorous bastard like Mizuki or where you're going, and what that vial was that changed you."

Raito read the description in the '[Observe]' and immediately made a connection with Tokiji. Of course, he knew what happened that made Tokiji like this but it wouldn't help now.

"You should come back to the village. You still have a chance. Everything would turn as nothing happened," Raito was relying on his mouth to save all but before Raito was finished, Raito heard Mizuki shouting. 

"Water Release – Wild Water Wave – Great Destruction" 

The water from the waterfall circled around Mizuki, acting on his wishes. The water rose in height and threatened to crash Raito and the gang. 

In a hurry, Raito poured the remaining 500 points of chakra into 'Earth Wall' creating a dome shape, covering all of his friends.

Under the onslaught of water, the dome soon collapsed, sweeping them away and crashing them against the cliff.

"Tokiji kill them, kill them all." Mizuki shouted in rage. 

Raito activated his chakra and transformed the earth into a line to hold everyone.

"Jutsu is dying. Kill them before it is too late. Once we kill them, we can leave this village and join Orochimaru-sama. Orochimaru-sama can give us power, women, money and everything we ever desired, will be ours." Mizuki shouted in his crazed state. 

Squatting down, one hand to the knee while other hanging, slowly moving in a pendulum, Tokiji growled.

"I will kill you, get out of this shitty village and then… the rest, I don't care." Gust of air, surrounding him, his hair dancing wildly. Tokiji pushed the ground and rotated accompanied by the winds. 

"Tornado Fang – Overkill" 

Tokiji destroyed everything in his path, aiming to tear Raito in shreds. 

Raito looked at his chakra pool and found that not a single point was left. Gritting his teeth, Raito stood up with a stone in his hand and threw it but the stone turned into countless small pieces as soon as it touched the rotating Tokiji.

With despair, Raito faced Tokiji head on. 'If someone doesn't come, I will die. I should have just used ID…'

Just as Tokiji reached Raito, a dozen of meters left in between. 

"Wood Release – Great Pillar" 

Before Tokiji could reach Raito, he was blocked by the thick tree stump. Unable to drill through, Tokiji backed down. Clicking his tongue, he shouted, "Mizuki, run, it's the ANBU." 

Mizuki hastily fled, exerting all his strength.

Raito fainted as he relaxed and felt the presence of the ANBU. On the other hand, Naruto woke up to see all his friends unconscious. Shaking the boys, Naruto called them out but to no use. 

The brown haired ANBU called out Naruto, and ordered him to follow Mizuki, who had fled with a high-level village secret. 

Naruto did not think any further and started chasing Mizuki.

[30% of HP and CP has been recovered. All negative status or alignments has been recovered.] 

Waking up, on his right, Raito could see, thick walls made up of wood. Peeking from it, he could see the brown haired ANBU and Tokiji fighting. 

[Urgent Mission triggered] 

Objective – Capture Mizuki and Obtain the Scroll of Seals (Fake). 

"Where's Naruto?" Raito looked around to see everyone but Naruto. 

Ino – [360/800] Unconscious, Mildly Injured 

Chōji - [1000/1820] Unconscious, Mildly Injured 

Sakura - [250/500] Unconscious, Injured 

Hinata - [900/1300] Unconscious, Mildly Injured 

Shikamaru - [700/1100] Conscious, Slightly Injured 

Giving everyone a quick 'Heal', Raito woke Shikamaru.

"Now that everything's under control, what's the plan?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the wooden pillars and the ANBU fighting with Tokiji. 

Pakkun, who was hidden, appeared and perched on Raito's shoulder. "Capture Mizuki, I will lead." 

"Why didn't you tell him to come sooner?" Raito knocked on Pakkun's head before heading out.

Raito and Shikamaru dragged everyone to a corner, for their safety then followed Pakkun to where Naruto and Mizuki was. 

Not so far inside the forest, Naruto and Mizuki faced each other. Naruto had a scroll with him, and Mizuki had a bruise on his face.

'Damn, I am out of chakra and there is that ANBU, a pretty high-level one. Damn it. My body feels so weak right now.' Mizuki cursed in his mind, then facing Naruto, he started hatching a plan. 

Breathing heavily, Mizuki wiped his face, changing his expression into more amiable and said, "Naruto, come with me and leave this crappy village." 

"Pfft." Naruto laughed and looked strangely at Mizuki. "I am not that stupid, ya know. Why would I leave the village?" 

Letting out a low chuckle, Mizuki answered with a question, "Do you know about your parents? Where they are now or are they even alive or dead?"

Naruto did not speak, but it was clear he was affected. Everyone has parents, so he should have one too, right? 

'Jiji will tell me later.' Naruto's clenched fist relaxed, finally letting go of his thoughts. 

"It's not like anything will change even if you knew about them. They have long rejected you, leaving you all alone, in this cursed village." 

Naruto frowned and took a step back.

Seeing that Naruto was reacting the way he wanted, Mizuki added, "Do you know, Naruto, what they call you in the village." 

Taking out a cringe worthy kunai, Naruto shouted, "It doesn't matter what they call me." 

"No, Naruto. It does matter because it not because of just a handful of people but all of the village call you that. They call you, a twelve year old kid, a demon." 

Naruto bit his lips in anger and some grief. He knew, he had always known about these whispers from the villagers.

"They call you a demon because, simply, that's who you are." Letting out a chuckle, Mizuki jumped down the tree and took a few steps forward.

Grabbing the shuriken on his back, Mizuki added, "Twelve years ago, from the moment you were born, people have been lying to you, keeping secrets from you. Even Hokage-sama…." 

"Jii-chan?" Naruto looked surprise, as his fallen gaze looked at Mizuki. 

"Yeah, he even created a law, especially for you. If anyone reveals the truth that you are the demon reincarnate of the nine-tailed demon fox then he or she will be severely punished, did you know that?" 

"Even Jii-chan, I-I fox? Me?" It became heavier for Naruto to breathe; the scroll he was holding fell on the ground. 

"Mizuki." An angry, loud roar alerted the two and Mizuki took a few steps back dodging the shuriken and kunai aimed at him. He jumped back to the tree, clicking his tongue. 

'Iruka? I was so close.' Cursing, Mizuki slowly gathered his chakra, readying himself for the next step. 

"Naruto, do not listen to Mizuki. He has betrayed the village and stolen the Scroll of Seals, which you have right now. It contains forbidden jutsus of the village. If it gets out, it would create big trouble for the village." 

"Naruto, take the scroll back to the ANBU, now" Iruka shouted, taking out more kunai from the pouch ready to attack, hoping to get some time for Naruto. 

"I-Iruka-sensei. I, I am… the fox." Tears gathered in Naruto's eyes as he kneeled on the ground and tried to grab the scroll. 

"No, Naruto you are not the fox. You never were-." Iruka tried but Mizuki interrupted. 

"Whatever you tell him, Iruka, it will not change the fact that he is 'The Demon Fox Reincarnate'. The people of the village are the evidence itself." Focusing on Naruto, he added, "Naruto, don't you feel odd that the villagers hate you, treating you like dirt, hate your very existence?"

"No Naruto that's not true. It's not the villagers–Argh." Iruka cried out in pain as shuriken and kunai cut into his flesh and embedded into his body. 

"Iruka, you will do everything to mislead Naruto, even now, and why won't you? You want to keep him inside this village, torturing him his entire life, making poor Naruto suffer. That's your revenge to the fox, for killing your parents." 

"I-I killed Iruka-sensei's." Naruto trembled, remembering all the bad things that had happened in the village, for the past years. He also remembering that time when Iruka was cold to him, ignoring him. Feeling overwhelmed, his chakra activated, releasing in waves, "Noo!" 

'Chance.' Mizuki shot out the giant shuriken throwing straight at Naruto. 

Shocked out of anger, Naruto saw the shuriken, heading for him. He turned around and tried running but the berserk chakra messed up his body, making him fall on the ground. Seeing the shuriken coming to his face, Naruto gave up.

Naruto closed his eyes in despair but the pain never came. Slowly, he opened his eyes; Naruto saw that Iruka was covering for him. His shoulder impaled with the giant shuriken and blood leaking out of his mouth. 

The blood from Iruka dropped on Naruto's clothes. The warm, gooey red blood felt hot and heavy. Looking at Iruka, Naruto cried out with tears escaping his eyes, "Iruka-sensei". 

Iruka smiled then weakly said, "Naruto, run, go."

Still sobbing, Naruto grabbed the scroll and ran. He pushed the trees and jumped the bushes.

However, before he could run any further, he was caught. 

Seeing Raito and Shikamaru sitting with legs crossed, he was dumbfounded. They were not even looking at him. They were looking at Iruka and Mizuki, like watching as a play. Even after hearing everything on what happened, they were acting the same as always. 

Seeing that Naruto was still teary, Raito brought down a swift chop on his head. "Shh! The drama is going on. Stop sobbing." 

"You still want him to run, Iruka? Don't you understand? He's a demon. He'll use that scroll to gain power and bring destruction upon this village. The calamity will befall on this village once more, and it will be all your fault." Mizuki grinned and watched Iruka, in his weakened state, an unknown pleasure filling him. "Next time, when hundreds and thousands die, it will be on you, Iruka."

"You will be responsible for their death." Mizuki kicked the stone at Iruka, which loosened his forehead protector.

Pulling the shuriken from his shoulder, Iruka sealed the blood coming out and laughed. He looked at Mizuki and said. "Demon? Naruto?" 

Throwing the shuriken, which Mizuki easily dodged, Iruka continued. "A demon would indeed do that… but not Naruto. He will never do that. He will do just the opposite. He will protect this village. Someday, he will be the Hokage, and I'll be watching him grow up to that stage. He is not a demon, never was, and never will be. He is the shinobi belonging to the Village Hidden in the Leaf." At the end, he ended up shouting, making Naruto smile in happiness.

Shikamaru and Raito had small smile, hanging on their lips and wanted to clap similarly, to when a program ends.

Pakkun pawed for the twentieth time, urging him to take action, to which Raito pushed his head down. "I will." 

Clicking his tongue, Mizuki felt displeased. He wanted to see Iruka crumbling in pain and despair but this stubborn little fish was a pain.

"What a stupid, placing hope in that dead last." Grabbing the last giant shuriken from his back, Mizuki started spinning it in great speed, "Have a good time in afterlife, Iruka." 

Mizuki aimed the shuriken then threw with all his might.

"Do it." Raito threw a stone at the shuriken, making it go in an opposite direction without aim. 

Shikamaru's shadow connected to Mizuki's shadow, restraining him.

Naruto quickly jump kneed Mizuki's face, breaking his nose bones.

Naruto dropped the scroll in the ground and cracked his knuckles. "You hurt Iruka-sensei, I will…."

Another second, hundreds of Naruto clones surrounded Mizuki. "Beat your ass, all the way to village."

Walking towards Iruka, Raito waved his hand to ascertain that Iruka was still conscious. "You have seen better days, Iruka-sensei."

[Umino Iruka] Poisoned, Heavily Injured. 

Clicking on the 'Poisoned' more information was obtained. 

[Umino Iruka – Poisoned] 

(MOA - Mild paralytic poison causing muscle paralysis acting on the neuromuscular junction, causing blockade in the transmission of… )

(Treatment)

Raito used 'Heal' a couple of times before Iruka's HP was back to half. 

As for poison, Raito did not have any answer so; he called someone whose family had the most knowledge on it. "Shika, sensei needs you."

** 

At the waterfall area, Kakashi stood at a stone platform, his legs dangling. "Didn't I tell you, those kids would be fine?" 

"What troublesome bunch. Good luck, senpai." Tenzō recovered the surrounding back to its previous state before sitting and eating a meat bun.

Closing his book, Kakashi looked at the deflating Tokiji and said in a slightly shocked voice, "Isn't that Tokiji?" 

As the deflation continued, the skin turned darker and the muscles and fats gone from his body, making him look like a mummified corpse. 

"We have to take him to the hospital." Tenzō said in worry. 

Raising his forehead protector, Kakashi observed with his Sharingan and said. "We shouldn't touch him for now; his chakra system is going haywire. Even touching him, will probably give an intense reaction." 

"I will ask for medics then." Tenzō took out a scroll from the storage seal and started. 

"Pakkun." Kakashi caught Pakkun who landed directly in front of him. 

** 

"I really can't believe this," Iruka sighed once more, making Raito glare at him.

"I can't believe that a lazy bum, a skipper and a prankster, being academy students were able to beat a Chūnin. It still feels wrong, just wrong." 

Healing the last of the damaged shoulder, Raito asked him to move his shoulder. Iruka tried moving and was really, really surprised then he looked at Raito's nonchalant face. 

Waving his hand, Iruka called out, "Come here you three." 

"Eh?" Coming forward, wishing for reward, Naruto stepped forward. 

Laughing, Iruka grabbed the three and hugged them tightly. "I am glad you all are safe. I was so worried." 

Free from the hug, Raito stretched, "We are also glad, sensei, that you're not totally dead." 

"Dumbass." Shikamaru hit Raito at the back of the head and Naruto elbowed him in the gut.

Iruka laughed and looked at Mizuki with pity. Mizuki was lying on the ground with bruises all over the place and bleeding.

"Sensei, do you have a brush and ink?" Raito asked hurriedly as he looked at Mizuki lying down.

"Of course I do." Iruka extracted a storage scroll, producing a brush and ink before promptly handing them to Raito.

"Naruto, can you make a paralysis tag?" Raito questioned Naruto and seeing that Naruto was nodding vigorously, Raito handed the brush and ink to Naruto. 

Iruka watched in fascination as Naruto started drawing seals. 

"Naruto knows Fūinjutsu." Shikamaru said softly from Iruka's side. 

Iruka let out a chuckle and said. "Did you three know, Basics of Fūinjutsu is an advanced Chūnin subject you could take? It's more like a self-study class as we don't have proper experts in Fūinjutsu." 

"All the experts on Fūinjutsu are either secluded in the clans or are like Jiraiya-sama, who is away from the village most of the time." 

"It's that bad?" Shikamaru question but as he remembered a team of Fūinjutsu experts in his clan, he understood. 

Fūinjutsu was a potent, perilous, and intricate subject that could easily kill the enemy and the practitioner. The people who died trying to learn this complex art numbered more than it killed their enemies.

"Fūinjutsu is a very complex subject. The result of failure is sometimes death or even disability, so not many would take Fūinjutsu." 

"They must be pretty stupid then." Shikamaru inwardly thought that he was getting more and more affected by Raito and cursed himself. 

"You can say that- hey, watch your language." Iruka let out his true thought, but covered himself after.

"Even Naruto can do Fūinjutsu, so I don't know…." 

Iruka could not say anything, so he kept quiet and watched Naruto drawing seals like flowing water.

** 

"Where the hell were you all?" Ino roared, glaring at the three.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata waved her hand with all her energy.

"Fangirls." Raito murmured with dark thoughts. 

Iruka and Shikamaru laughed a bit seeing Raito's dark mood.

Kakashi and Tenzō joined Iruka and discussed for a bit. Raito and Naruto joined them and explained everything in detail. 

Hearing them, Iruka sighed, taking a side-glance at Sakura. 

"Okay then, everyone, gather around." Iruka announced, waving his hand to signal everyone to come closer.

"I officially declare that the survival test is over and you all can choose to leave." Iruka announced.

At the same time, Raito also was awarded and his inventory unlocked. 

[You have leveled up.]

[Yoshizawa Raito Lvl 14 Exp 0%]

In his happiness, Raito missed most of the congratulation and speech from Iruka. 

Facing the students, Iruka asked them, "Anyone not willing to stay, can come with me."

Iruka looked at Sakura then modified his question. 

"Who wants to stay?" Iruka asked once more and saw that everyone had raised their hands except Sakura. 

Sakura was still in a daze, her feeling in turmoil. Even though Ino had tried to calm her down and stabilize her, it was unfortunately not successful. 

Tenzō walked forward, grabbing her shoulder, for which she had some odd reaction but became normal instantly. Then they disappeared in another moment. 

Iruka called other teachers and told them to do the same to other students then left the area. 

Kakashi walked forward in front of them and smiled, "You six passed." 

"Then Sakura?" Ino's first thought was about Sakura. 

"She neither passed nor failed." Kakashi replied and added, "You'll know more later." 

"And?" Raito asked. 

"Your vacation time has extended." Kakashi said it simply. 

"You can do anything in this training ground, just don't leave the fence." Kakashi added. 

"Our shelter is destroyed, nowhere to sleep and after a tiring fight for survival, we are hungry and it's already morning." Ino quickly listed out a hundred things to say but Kakashi replied with, "Sorry, but we can't help." 

With lazy 'sorries', Kakashi vanished.

Everyone gathered around but Raito stood in place, smiling. 

Seeing that Raito was smiling, Chōji and Naruto had a good feeling but Ino roared, "What are you smiling for?" 

"I can use my inventory." Raito's simple words made everyone cry in delight. 

"I have everyone's favorite too." Raito took out an Ichiraku's shop sealed special delivery ramen and showed it to everyone. Before Naruto could attack Raito kept it in the inventory again. 

Hinata pushed everyone to the side, even Chōji and Naruto, and went in front of Raito and asked, "Even Cinnamon rolls?" Her twinkling eyes and bold stance had Raito hatch a plan.

"O-Of course." seeing her reaction, Raito was slightly afraid. Mom's word of wisdom – 'Never get between women and her food.' 

Hurriedly, Raito took out a batch and gave it Hinata. Taking a few bites, Hinata slumped on the ground, tears leaking out of her eyes. 

** 

"I smell cinnamon rolls." Pakkun sniffed.

"What?" Kakashi was on his way out, when he was forced to stop.

"Cinnamon rolls, Kakashi. Even chips and ramen." 

"Pakkun, this is middle of a training ground. Your nose, tut, tut." Kakashi shook his head. 

** 

After recovering his chakra, Raito decided to use the previous area for the creating his creation and within a few hours, he finished making the shelter, double the size and more luxurious. 

The sun was nearly up. The gang outside, had finished their food and now, they were leaning on each other and started dozing off.

"Hey everyone, it's ready." Raito's walked outside and called everyone.

Everyone hurried inside to sleep but were stunned at the luxury of the room. 

The room was much bigger and there were even the names imprinted on the walls. The ground had carpet and on the raised area, futon available for every single one of them. While there were no lights or heater and even if there were there was no source of electricity, so there were couple of illumination seal and thermal seal all around the room.

Chips, snacks, manga books and shoji board were littered all over the place.

Looking at the room, everyone was dumbfounded, the variety and luxury were just too much for a survival exam. Not caring for anything else, everyone jumped into the futon. The good room temperature, nice bed, fluffy pillow and blankets, what could a ninja want more?

A long day of practice then an half or so hour of agitation and fear, then attacks from an overpowering enemy, and lastly, cleaning of the destruction, really took a toll on everyone. 

Blinking once, twice, then sleep came to them. Instantly, everyone was asleep. Although Raito was feeling fatigued, he did not feel that much of exhaustion as everyone else. 

Lying down, he manipulated the earth around him to make various shape and size. He even managed to make small chibi version of everyone, which he felt was rather cute. 

Looking at his creation, Raito smiled happily then closed his eyes. 'Eight would be fine, right?'

** 

Hiruzen examined Tokiji's body with a frown. After checking the pulse and pinching various areas, he shook his head and said solemnly, "Its Orochimaru." 

Taking out two vials form the shelf, he gave it to an animalistic looking women. She had long, spiky, untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupil, elongated canine teeth and nails with clan fang markings on her cheek and over her eyes. She looked even more dangerous in this dimly lit room. 

"The research manual of my student is still here, and because his area of damage was so high, we had made antidotes. Let him take one now and one before going to sleep." Pausing for a while, he let out a sigh and said, "This is your clan's matter and this is your choice, Tsume. Once you go through it, I hope you won't feel regret." 

Tsume looked at the floor hiding great anger inside her. She looked at Hiruzen and said with some ferocity, "Tokiji was never like this. He was one of the best in the clan–talented with a gentle personality, unlike other members in the clan. I had even decided to hand over the hand of my daughter to him but now…." 

Her nails grew and veins popped on her hands. With a swift swipe, Tokiji's head was removed from the body, the blood escaping and marking a small area.

Hiruzen shook his head and left the room, but before leaving, he gave a glance at the one hand missing Mizuki. The canine with wolfish appearance held the missing hand. 

Tsume covered Tokiji's body and head with a white cloth and moved towards Mizuki with her demonized hands. Her every step was accompanied by hellish fire. Removing the shackles binding Mizuki, she said in a cool way, "If you want to run then run now." Saying that, she exited the old room and walked outside the house.

The house was at the outskirt of the village made up of entirely of wood. The fire quickly burned and swept everywhere. Mizuki gritted his teeth and with his left hand held the part where his right hand should be. He circulated the chakra on his body and sealed the wound. 

The fire had already engulfed the whole house. He looked at the headless body and felt somewhat terrified. 

Clutching his hand, Mizuki somehow reached outside the house. Not finding anyone around, he heaved a sigh of relief and walked opposite to the village. 

From the darkness, a pair of cold eyes observed Mizuki limping away. Tsume waited for her partner, who she had given a task. Thinking about what she was about to do made her laugh slightly. 

'Ambushing my people and making me kill my own, do you think you can die so easily?' She remembered, half a year ago, her clan members were ambushed and at the end, all the ninken were killed due to some poison. 

The people, who were captured, were interrogated and she, herself verified it with Inoichi's help. It was Orochimaru and his experiments that had created poison that would only affect the ninken. 

The dark and vengeful thoughts consumed Tsume. Mizuki, who had covered some distance, felt it and quickened his pace.

Kuromaru, the wolfish canine, appeared in front of Tsume, handing her a red vial. She dipped her nails into the vial one by one, drying them with chakra. 

"The clan was unwilling." Kuromaru said. 

"This is my husband's creation, it doesn't matter, what they think." Tsume growled. Her long spiky hair reached her lower back, giving off a shiny luster. Her body turned slimmer, nails prolonged, and eyes turned red, emitting a demonic air as she walked.

"I will be enough." She declared, glancing downward before vanishing. 

In his frantic escape, Mizuki cast anxious glances over his shoulder, fearing for his life. He was near the door, which was strangely empty. Trying not to think about anything else, he decided to just leave the village.

Mizuki crossed the gates, then turned to the woods. Just as he started running, a white shadow passed by him and the next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground with a cut on his cheek. Though the cut was shallow, it gave Mizuki a burning sensation, making him scream in pain. He fell down and lost control of his chakra.

Looking down, Tsume smiled and sprinkled a grayish powder on Mizuki right shoulder and forced a blood-red pill, which gave a pungent smell, down Mizuki's throat. 

The bleeding stopped and minutes later, the convulsing Mizuki regained consciousness.

He was breathing hard and his vision was hazy. He grabbed his hair, pulling it, then banged it on a tree. 'I have to leave.' Gathering whatever energy he could, Mizuki limped forward.

Not waiting for another moment, Tsume gave him two cuts on his face.

Mizuki fell on the ground and landed right on a rock but the pain didn't come from the rock hitting him. The pain came from the two cuts, which made him experience the sensation of burning alive.

Every time Mizuki started moving, Tsume gave him another cut then healed him and gave him a blood rejuvenation pill, and food pill. Whenever Mizuki was going to lose consciousness, she would sprinkle some salt and dump a globe of water to wake him up and continued to cut him. 

The screams never stopped until the noon of the day. 

Hiruzen stood on the wall of the village and sighed at the scene. He made it so that area around, a couple of hundreds of meters was as empty as it could be. He could not let the population or any ninja see the vicious style of the matriarch of the Inuzuka clan, not even her own clan members. 

Tsume looked at the disfigured Mizuki and waited silently. 

"Kill….ki-kill me…..ja just kii-kill me….plase." Mizuki begged, he begged for not his life but for his death. His voice so small, and queasy, and quivering, making it impossible to hear what he was saying.

Tsume looked at Mizuki with her lazy smile and said, "You like harming young pups, huh?"

Mizuki shivered hearing her, but he did not reply. 

"You made my clan look bad in the village." Another label on poor Mizuki. 

"You made me kill my own clansmen." As she said this, the chakra inside her exploded and her right hand demonized. "But you have suffered enough. Even though you were to blame, that shit was equally to be blamed." 

After a long pause, she asked, "Was it Orochimaru or… Danzō?" 

Without hesitation, Mizuki nodded. Even though he did not know what she was talking about, he nodded. 

"Very well." This time she didn't just use one finger but used her whole hand. 

Her hands bulged, nails sharpened, and starting from the legs, she slashed—once, twice, thrice... thirty times, reaching the upper thigh. Looking at the minced leg, she started with another leg and the howls of pain continued to reverberate from the forest. 

There are hundreds of way to save a life but there are thousands of ways to make it disappear. 

With chakra and her clan's secret techniques, Tsume made him conscious and supplied the blood flow to the brain in proper way and until the very last moment, she kept him alive. Once her anger subsided, boredom set in, and with a swift stab to the heart, she ended Mizuki's life. She could have killed him instantly but orchestrated the gruesome display to thwart plans and deter potential plotters.

Looking at the corpse, she felt no joy, only a deep-seated anger.

She burned the body with a simple fire jutsu and then threw her clothes and burned it too. With a globe of water, she cleaned herself and wore new clothes that Kuromaru had brought.

Hiruzen brought his ANBU away and Tsume went back to her clan. Nobody else knew what had happened at an area near the village. 

Life in the village continued unaffected. Villagers pursued happiness amid the ordinary chaos—some cursed, some cheered. Women engaged in lively bickering, men in occasional brawls, while others drowned in the intoxication of alcohol and love. Everyone carried on with their lives.

Name: Yoshizawa Raito Lvl 14 Exp 0% 

Title: Ninja Academy Student (+25% Exp until level 10) 

Age: 12 

HP: 2500/2500 

CP: 2860 /2860 

STR: 46

VIT: 59

DEX: 49 

INT: 58

WIS: 47 

LUK: 36(16+20) #20 is the equipment bonus from the lucky star# 

Stat points: 37 

Yoshizawa household member: Additional +50 HP per level +2 INT & +3 VIT per level. 

Holder of the lucky star (Bound Equipment): additional +1 LUK per level, +20 on equip.

Holder of Shai's mark (Bound Equipment): additional +1 LUK per level. Additional +1 Stat points. |Started after Lvl 12|