Chapter 14

I don't own solo leveling or Naruto

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"Ugh! Disgusting." Sasuke muttered, stumbling away from the Hellbeast corpse and wiping off the brain matter that clung to his once grey trousers, his only article of clothing at the moment. They were definitely going to burn when he got out of here. He'd need to have at least 10 showers back to back to make sure the putrid smell stinging his nose got off.

He almost fell to knees, not expecting to be so weary from that last jutsu, but was caught just in time by the silver brute.

"Woah there, scary brat. You should take it easy." Kimura said, providing a shoulder for him to lean on, enough to regain his balance. It looked like he didn't mind his bloody covered hands all over him. Not that he was any better.

"Hehe, it seems you overdid, Sasuke." The comment caused Sasuke to frown and glare daggers at the shifty agent. He watched him flick the blood of his daggers and sheathed them behind his back. Unlike almost everyone else he'd seen, the man didn't really have a speck of dirt or blood on him, besides the few scuff marks here and there. He looked spic and span.

"Yeah, well, you can't say it didn't have it coming." Sasuke replied, now being able to stand on his own.

"I guess you're right." he laughed under his breath.

"You did a good job, you scary brat. I don't know how much my chains would have held it down." Kimura complimented. Sasuke just grunted at this praise, it didn't really matter to him because everyone had done their jobs and he had only carried out his. And he hated to admit that those blindingly fast attacks that Tae Shik had thrown out helped out significantly.

'Too bad most of them won't see the results of their efforts,' he thought morbidly.

The blood of humans and monsters alike were sprayed everywhere in a messy haze, he saw severed limbs, crushed skulls, and bodies reduced to the equivalent of chewing gum on the pavement. He clenched his fists, tightly. No matter how many times he'd seen it, it never got any easier bearing witness to such gory scenes, but he was definitely more numb to it than he'd like to admit.

"Oh, you're okay, halo girl." Sasuke heard Kimura address a despondent and distant looking Hana. Sasuke didn't have to look to know that Kimura was relieved, he could hear it in his voice.

"Yeah." she replied quietly.

"Hey! I'm alive too!" They heard a muffled yell that caught their attention. A brief scan revealed that it was coming from behind the monster where its tail would be. It seemed that one of the tank-type hunters, Dong, had been trapped underneath the monster's tail. "Uh, a little help?" he chuckled.

"Let me give you a hand," Kimura pushed the tail off the man and offered a hand for him to take, "Thanks, Raid captain!" he chirped happily and gratefully accepted the silver haired man's helping hand.

"Sure. W-Wait, did you just say, Raid captain?" Kimura questioned and Sasuke saw a little red tinting his cheeks. Dong nodded his head, "Yeah, I think it's well deserved. There's no way I could have taken charge like you did, sir."

"O-Oh, uh, thanks man," he stammered again, "You don't have to be so respectful. Sir, is a bit much," Dong just looked confused, probably wondering why the person so confidently barking out orders a few minutes ago was being so bashful all of a sudden. 'Maybe he's not used to praise,' Sasuke figured with a shrug of his shoulders.

"So, are you ready to leave now, Sasuke?" Tae Shik questioned. Sasuke didn't respond immediately, only scanning the gory battlefield once more, committing it to memory.

"Yeah, enough blood has been spilled, don't you think?" he replied, his expression was blank and unreliable to any hoping to discern something from his face. Maybe the closest feeling would be regret, but for what? He did not know yet.

"I don't want to leave the bodies here to rot forever," he said.

"Oh, I didn't think you were so sentimental, Sasuke." Tae Shik replied with haughty laughter. His left eye twitched, "What are you on about? The dead don't deserve to have their bodies left here." he replied with a twinge of aggravation.

"The dead don't deserve anything, they're dead. Besides, they'll rot out there the same as in here, so what difference does it make?" Tae Shik retorted, causing Sasuke to twitch in annoyance. He'd never met someone that got on his nerves quite like he did.

"Fine! If it bothers you so much, then there should be a recovery team already stationed outside," he sighed. " I'll let them know to recover whatever corpse they can," he looked at one omelette crushed corpse, "Preferably, ones that are still intact." he murmured in visible disgust.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and scooped up Kil Nari's corpse and lumped over his shoulder. She weighed practically nothing, he realised.

"Yeah, I agree but what about sleeping beauty over there?" Kimura pointed out the unconscious Hellbeast that had been asleep throughout the whole fight.

[Halo Showers]

Hana screamed as 10 laser thin beams of energy flew from each finger and cleanly sliced through Hellbeast with surgical precision. She released her technique once the monster had been rendered into nothing more than two halves. Sasuke saw her eyes were wild and ferocious as haggard breaths escaped her mouth. He didn't need his Sharingan to tell him that she had expended nearly all of her mana in that one attack. She had been a hunter longer than he'd been and was surely aware of the consequences of mana exhaustion, but it seemed she didn't really care. That thing had it coming for all the blood that had been shed.

"Well, that takes care of that." Tae Shik was the first to break the uncomfortable silence that enveloped the group from Hana's rather abrupt emotional outburst. "Let's get out of here!"

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Sasuke breathed a sigh of annoyance as the medics on sight pampered him all over from the back of their van, making sure his vitals were at stable levels— which they were— and treating him for any cuts and bruises. Those he had plenty of.

He had been peppered with questions after question the moment he stepped out of dungeon by the Association agents on duty, but luckily they had been turned away by Tae Shik. Apparently, he was a big enough deal to be able to do that by his lonesome.

Kimura and the others were directed elsewhere to get patched and probably to get interrogated about the events pertaining to the raid. He was curious to know how much they would reveal. It was clear that his existence wouldn't remain a secret for very much longer, at least in the Association's eyes.

He looked up, noting that the sun's position hadn't changed much from the time they'd spent in the dungeon.

'She wasn't wrong about the time density there. It looks like only 2 hours have passed, but I was definitely in there for two days.' he thought, it seemed that time worked on a similar level to Itachi Uchiha's tsukuyomi genjutsu, one that he had suffered through enough to be intimately familiar with its mechanics.

The others didn't seem to have the same hassle as he did and were simply sent on their merry way after having their vitals examined by the recovery unit.

'Are things always this tedious?' he wondered.

"You know, things aren't usually this extensive after a raid," Tae Shik said, coming to sit next to him in the van. His words so eerily pertained to what he was thinking, almost as if he could read his mind. Could the bastard read minds? "Things really do change around a lot when you're around, eh, brat?" he continued.

As he spoke, he didn't miss that the medics that were hovering him, previously, had left them by their lonesome. It seemed that this guy really was a higher up.

"Hn" he grunted, maybe if he ignored him for long enough then maybe he would grow bored and leave him alone. "I'm here to tell you that the recovery team is back with the bodies you cared so much about," he said and Sasuke was able to see the two giant Hellbeast corpses being loaded onto a couple of trucks parked outside the school.

"Just the bodies?" he raised a brow and Tae Shik did that annoying laughter of his. "Among other things," he replied. Sasuke imagined that they would be taken to a holding facility in the area, where the dead monsters would be stripped to the bone for all their useful parts and sold off to the Auction house for Hunter gear. Another aspect of this world that was taught to him.

"What's he doing here?"

"Is that the master of Hunters Guild?"

"I think it's him guys!"

"Wow! He's so cool up close!"

Hushed whispers and mummers drew his attention away from Tae Shik as he peered ahead to discover what all the commotion was about. The sea of police officers and Association agents blocking his view parted and gave a wide berth for Choi Jong-In to pass through. He was dressed in his long flowing white cape that had golden trimmings running along its edges with his bright red and gold chest plate proudly displaying the Hunters Guild insignia.

When he arrived he towered over him with a harsh glare from the sun reflecting off his glasses adding to the clearly unhappy mood he was in. Sasuke looked up unbothered, wondering what he was doing here but then realised that he had probably been contacted by Kil Nari before she died.

The redhead turned his head to address Tae Shik, "Could you give us a moment?" he requested, but it evidently wasn't one from his tone and Tae Shik knew this was the case, backing off without so much as a fuss. Not that he would have made a fuss, Sasuke thought.

"So, your caretaker is dead. Care to explain to me how that happened?" he asked with a tilt of his head. His tone was hard but not angry or anything of the sort. It seemed he was still deciding whether to at least be annoyed. However, Sasuke chose to remain silent.

"She left me a voicemail saying that you entered a dungeon by yourself. Did you learn nothing from her lessons?" he asked again. Sasuke stayed silent, his face blank to the world. He wouldn't play his game of the disappointed parent scolding their child, he was much too prideful for that.

"Why are you so eager to throw yourself into danger when you know the risks?" he continued with a harsher tone. Sasuke suddenly felt a spike of rage at that and in a moment he'd rather forget he shouted, "Because I'm not supposed to be here!"

Choi looked taken aback for a minute, trying to process what his words could possibly mean. Then, he sighed and kneeling down to his level, "I'm sorry," Sasuke perked up questioningly, wondering what he was apologising for. "We are still looking through our databases for anything related to your family and other relatives. It must be hard being all alone in this new country." he surmised with bounds of empathy in his eyes. Sasuke just nodded going along with his line of thinking, he still didn't understand what he wasn't even part from this dimension. He didn't even exist like all their records showed.

"I didn't ask her to follow me." he said, finally a little bit of silence.

"You didn't have to. It's her job." Choi replied in a matter of fact tone, because it was true.

"..."

"But that doesn't mean you have to bear the burden of her death on your conscience, that's my duty as her superior." he said in an effort to placate his feelings of guilt, not that he needed to because they would stick with him regardless.

He clenched his fists. Wasn't this why he left the Hidden Leaf because his feelings were getting in the way of his path to power. He'd thought he'd cut away those feelings that day when he left Sakura on the bench.

'So, why am I feeling anything for her?' he questioned himself. Was it because her death was his fault? Or maybe, it was the fact that her death had no meaning? Maybe that was what aggravated him the most?

Why did someone like her die? He just didn't get it. Just like he didn't get it that night his entire clan got massacred. He knew the reason for their deaths, even if it disgusted him to his core. However, their deaths had no meaning beyond that, he knew that his family didn't deserve to die like they did.

That was why he fought so hard for their vengeance, for their justice because he had faith that he'd find the answer if he continued down his path of darkness. He couldn't pathom what he would do if their deaths didn't mean anything.

"Well, let's get out of here, Sasuke." Choi said a bit more cheerfully, rising to his feet. Sasuke nodded, taking the IV drip stuck in him and pulled on the plain white shirt they provided him with. It was a few sizes too big for him but he couldn't complain. Just just a bit like the brown trousers he wore that sagged at his ankles. He had no clue what they did with his old blood covered ones, but hopefully they burned it like he wanted to.

Speaking of which, "I was actually wondering if you could take me somewhere for these to be exchanged for cash?" he asked, showing Choi the three essence stones that laid in the palm of his hand. Choi blinked at the crystals, "Huh, I figured it was you who took out the Screaming Hellbeasts but to also obtain their essence stones? I'm glad you actually did learn something." he laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he glowered a little, but Choi just laughed louder.

They eventually did end up going to an appraisal shop downtown and got about 200,000 won for their trouble. Not bad for his first raid.

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3 Days later

"You want to learn the way of the sword?" Choi repeated the question he had just asked him.

It had been three days since that gate at the school and the school had sent out a notice to all students and parents that classes would be resuming next week. This was because the Hunter's Association was still sweeping the campus for any mana residue that could form into a gate on campus again. Choi said it was a useless endeavour because there was no way to know something like that because mana flowed everywhere throughout the atmosphere. He figured it was more likely that they were installing magic detectors to alert them if a gate did reform in that area. It honestly made Sasuke guess as to why that wasn't done before considering how much education of the youth was valued in this country. Wouldn't it make sense to have them installed in every institution.

Regardless, it just meant more time for training, which he was never opposed to. He'd been working on increasing his stamina whilst using the curse mark stage 2. That monstrous transformation had an equally monstrous drain on his stamina reserves, which he didn't like because he wanted to use that power more. It was too much of a strength boost to be a last resort.

Thinking back on things, he wondered why he was able to use his transformation for so long against Naruto but against the Screaming Hellbeast he wasn't able to maintain it for any longer than a few minutes. Maybe he was more determined to win against the knucklehead than he thought.

"Sasuke?" Choi asked, peering over his shoulder and taking him away from his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry," he blinked. "Yeah, I want to learn about the blade." he replied, sitting down on a chair in the kitchen to sip on some water.

"Can I ask why?" he said, continuing to cook something on the stove. It smelled nice, he had to admit.

"I've come to realise that using my bare hands to fight monsters ends up becoming a very bloody and messy ordeal. I figured using a sword will minimise that." he answered, using the towel around his neck to wipe away some of the sweat on his forehead.

"I suppose that makes sense, but I don't know anything about swords, Sasuke," he replied.

"I also figured that was the case so I wanted to know if there was anyone you could refer me to meet with?"

Choi paused momentarily, putting a hand on his chin in thought, "I might know someone…" he said and then started smiling for some odd reason, "I've been meaning to introduce you to her for quite a while actually."

Sasuke blinked in interest, curious at who that could be.

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Cha Hae-In wiped the sweat beaming down from her forehead. It wasn't hot at all considering she was within the air conditioned training halls of Hunters Guild headquarters. But she had been exerting herself so much that it felt hot.

Her muscles felt like lead, the sword she had been swinging around heavy in her hands with her eyes drooping by the second. Maybe she had pushed herself too hard today. She shook her head to fight off the exhaustion and that's when she her the robotic swish of the training room doors opening.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Master Choi approaching dressed in white buttoned up t-shirt, black slacks and those brown leathered loafers he'd become so fond of recently. Alongside was a boy no older than thirteen or fourteen, he had spiky raven black hair with long bangs framing his quite feminine looking face. He wore a plain black shirt with black wristbands and navy blue trousers and black boots at his feet. The boy seemed to be carrying a long black stick with him and looked very familiar for some odd reason.

'No, that looks like a sheathed sword.' She denied her initial assessment. She blinked as her vision cleared and then finally realised who the boy was.

"I didn't figure you'd be here of all places, Ms. Hae-in. Working diligently, I see!" he commented, making sure to keep some distance between. He was obviously conscious of her mana smell and knew it only got harder to block out the more tired she was.

"Ah, Master Choi, I'm just sharpening up my sword skills." she replied, knowing that she would be visiting her instructor at the end of the week to further refine her technique.

"That's actually why I came. You remember Sasuke here, right?" he pointed out the young teenager and she nodded. "Well, he was hoping to learn the way of the blade from the best person, I know!" she flushed at the compliment. He didn't have to be so embarrassing.

"Oh, uh, is that so? Well, I'll be happy to help him but I'm not really that great." In terms of swordsmanship, she was nothing compared to her master, Song Chul. And so, she kindly brushed off his praise.

He didn't seem to be of that opinion, "Nonsense, I've seen at work. You're as good as I've seen, better even! I'm sure you can teach him a few things!" he retorted, patting Sasuke on the shoulder.

"Uhm, sure. I'll do my best!" she agreed easily enough in the end and Master Choi had left the both of them to get acquainted with one another.

She took a breath to calm her nerves and it was then that she knew why she would never forget about the teenager. He didn't smell bad to her at all. It wasn't that he smelled good or anything but rather his scent didn't make her want to tear off her nose.

She smiled unknowingly.

"Hello Sasuke, it is nice to finally meet you." she greeted offering her hand for him to shake. He accepted the handshake and nodded, "You as well, Ms. Hae-in."

"Oh, uh, you can drop the Ms," she said, bashfully. "Just call me Hae-In."

"Alright, Hae-in it is, then," he replied. "Shall we get started?" he asked.

"Yes, of course!" She cleared her throat and felt a wave of dizziness hit her. "Um, but can I take a break first? I must have pushed myself too much." she laughed awkwardly.

Luckily, Sasuke didn't seem to have too much of a problem with that and so they ended up in the headquarters cafeteria sitting at an empty table close to the window. The cafeteria was on the second floor of this six story property and she had chosen the table because she liked the view of downtown Seoul whilst sipping on some apple juice.

"Master Choi said you obtained your hunter licence recently. Can I ask what your rank is?" she asked and she saw him perk up, obviously being taken out of whatever thoughts were running through that head of his.

"B-rank." he answered simply.

"And your class?"

Sasuke gave her a quizzical look, "I don't know. Don't really care to be honest." he said in that apathetic tone of his. "Well, that's not out of the ordinary. The Hunter's Association usually takes a few weeks to call you back for a second evaluation and examine what class you fall under. Depending on your rank that time could be significantly shortened. As I've been told you've only been, officially, a hunter for about 4 days now, you should get a call back soon." she informed him and judging by the look on his face he had no idea that that was the case before now.

It was fine though because Master Choi had only informed her on the day that she had a second evaluation.

"Why are you asking me this?" he questioned.

"Well, it is common for those that don't do a second evaluation to divulge into skills that don't realte or add to their primary skills as a hunter. Maybe you don't really need to learn the blade?"

She thought that her words would give him pause but he scoffed instead, "I don't care what they classify me as, I'm already familiar with my abilities and how they work. So, swordsmanship is the most optimal path for me." he retorted so sure of himself that she really couldn't doubt his words, but it did make her curious as to what his skills actually were. Choi Jong-In did mention in passing that he sported some pretty impressive fire and lightning magic. A very rare sight for a hunter to wield two elements at once, but not impossible.

"Oh, alright then! Um, I guess we can get started!" she smiled, standing up from her seat. A little bit of rest was more than enough to get her fit and fired up once again.

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This one was a lot of fun!