Premonition of War -- Part 2
It was hours after the battle before Riku fully came to; waking up slowly, and suddenly his eyes shot open as he lurched forward. His hand quickly moved to his chest, though, where Shinru’s spear had driven through him. It was already wrapped up in cloth, circling around his upper body, but not only did it still terribly hurt, but it burned as well. Riku couldn’t remember much, but he did remember fire and Shinru’s spear going through it right before he went unconscious, he guessed that the spear had picked up a lot of intense heat as it went through the flames.
Shinru looked over his shoulder, having been standing in one of the larger rooms in his quite sizable home and seeming to stir something, “You’re awake. Good to see.”
The almost friendly comment and the warm way that Shinru had said it caught Riku off guard, but at the same time it wasn’t completely unexpected, Riku let out a low groan as he looked back down, seeing that he was sitting on the floor and everything below his waste was wrapped up in a large blanket. He could still feel the remains of the Akatsuki cloak. Forcing himself to look up, Riku spotted Soul Eater at the other side of the room, leaning on the wall in the corner.
“So I suppose that you don’t remember much at all, then?” Shinru asked, taking back Riku’s attention.
Riku didn’t want to answer, didn’t want to talk to Shinru at all, but he decided to go along with it anyway, “I remember my arm hurting… and then… I dunno.”
Shinru nodded, and then turned around, holding a small cup, “Tea?”
Riku thought to do something rude that would show Shinru just how angry he was, something like slapping the cup away onto the ground, but instead simply shook his head, a blank stare on his face, “You sure are in a good mood for a guy that just got nearly killed.”
Shinru laughed as he put the small teacup back onto the table that he had made the tea on, “Nearly killed? Hardly, I could’ve won that fight with one hand tied behind my back and the other arm severed,” he said sarcastically, though with more than a bit of truth behind it.
After a long moment of silence, Shinru turned back towards Riku, leaning back on the table behind him, and began talking again, “So I suppose that you were here originally to find out about those guys with the black coats. He told me that they had contacted you.”
“And who exactly would ‘he’ be?” Riku questioned.
“I was thinking that we would talk about that later… on our way back to Konoha, perhaps? Or I suppose that on our way to the Sound Country would be more accurate—I’ve heard of the war.”
Riku gave a snort in reply, “If that was your way of asking me to leave Akatsuki and go back on The Leaf Village’s side, and your side as well, then forget it.”
Shinru gave a sigh, and then went quiet for a while before speaking again, “Why… do you even want in on Akatsuki in the first place? Because of what you found out about me… that I was the one who—”
Shinru got no further before being cut off by his son, “Quit flattering yourself. At the time, perhaps, my decision had a bit to do with the heat of the moment after finding out what a treacherous, spineless excuse for a father you were, but that holds little affect on my decision at this point.”
Shinru winced at the callous adjectives that Riku had used to describe him, but went on casually with the conversation anyway, “Does it really?”
“Yeah, really,” Riku said while standing up. He struggled slightly to do so, but Shinru had apparently fixed him up well enough to be able to move, “At this point, it’s just because I’m not as much of a fool as I was before. Do you seriously have any hope that there could be any other possible outcome than one that ultimately holds Akatsuki being on top? Any one of the members could easily walk into Konoha and obliterate it at any time, and yet you still somehow manage to believe that there’s still a chance to defeat them.”
Shinru smirked slightly, the simple fact that Riku had referred to Akatsuki as “them” told him that Riku didn’t yet fully believe that he was a part of them, and therefore could still be changed… but Shinru also saw that Riku was in a state that would make staying with or leaving Akatsuki his completely uninfluenced decision, something that would simply be directed by his own choice at some point and time.
Riku began walking out of the room, and Shinru looked over to him, “And where, exactly, would you be going?”
“I have a war to get to,” Riku said, “Come if you want to—it’ll only make finishing you off a simpler task for another of our members to handle.”
Riku continued walking out, and Shinru watched as he left, and then he watched as Soul Eater disappeared with him, and then blew out a long sigh, “Well… I was bound to come out of hiding sooner or later. Might as well make it during a big appearance during a war eh?”
~
The two factions stood at two giant ledges that stood opposite from each other, staring one another down. The ledges were so far apart that any talking done would be in the form of yelling, as there was a large valley that split it down the middle. The valley was quite odd in shape, further off to the right of Akatsuki’s side of the ledge, and they were about one hundred yards to the right of where the ground dipped down into the valley, the canyon made a turn to go directly forward, and then a few more series of turns and twists as far as the Akatsuki group could see. The Canyon of Echoes, they called it. It was in a secluded area of the Sound Country, so far off from the actual village that the area was nearly forgotten. This area was quite dead. Nothing grew here; the ground was rocky and almost seemed like a cross between dull brown and gray. There almost seemed to be no weather in this area. The sky was empty, only containing a few scattered clouds and a full moon, quite a fitting setting for a war, Tenzu noted.
Some of the Akatsuki group was standing in a triangle formation. Their leader, of course, stood at the head of it, Tenzu and Reaver on either side of him, the bulky swordsman Ryuu, his two large swords strapped on his back, undoubtedly accompanied by numerous hidden weapons, standing behind Tenzu and a thin Fumio behind Reaver. Some of the rest were absent; their leader figuring it best not to bring the entire group and that they likely wouldn’t need them anyway. When Riku would arrive, only half of Akatsuki’s full numbers would be here, meaning that the seven here would be badly outnumbered. Besides the five there, there were two more, one behind Ryuu and the other behind Fumio. The one behind Fumio looked very young. Older than Riku, of course, but perhaps in his twenties. He had blue, unruly hair that spiked upwards. He wore no headband; most of the Akatsuki members no longer did so, and both of his arms and hands were covered by the sleeves of his cloak. He seemed to have some sort of blue paint over both of his eyes. They reminded Kabuto somewhat of Kakashi’s scar on his sharingan eye, but it was painted instead, and across both eyes.
The other one had very dark brown hair that covered his eyes, something that they would be sure to use against him in battle. As Kabuto looked closer, he realized as that it actually wouldn’t matter. A large cloth was over both of his eyes, which seemed to be dark red at some part, as if they were blood stains. Like the other one, his hands and arms were covered by the cloak.
Kabuto stood at the head of his group, though there were only three with him, a much larger army remained hidden, likely somewhere in this canyon. To his left was May, his lieutenant, and to his right was a large and bulky man, his chief warlord, an outstanding strategist though at the same time hardly an intellectual man when it came to anything but battle, whose name was Argo, which found a slight amount of amusement within Kabuto due to how close the name was to the word “agro,” a testament to the large man’s berserk-like nature. Strapped on his back was one large sword, which made Ryuu unable to help himself when he saw it, placing a deadly stare on Argo as if saying: “When I find you, we’ll see whose better with the blade.”
Those three were the only truly high stature members amongst Kabuto’s group, but none of the Akatsuki members dared to doubt the power of his army. Kabuto himself could easily rise more formidable foes within seconds with his forbidden Edo Tensei jutsu. Kabuto had taken quite some pride in that jutsu, every day it seemed as though he could summon more and more powerful ninja at once; the last time that Tenzu had seen him use it he had been able to summon ten ninja, each of which could easily take down armies of jounin. Aside from that, Kabuto undoubtedly had an army of his “experiments” somewhere nearby, where he could summon them within seconds, and if he was planning to betray them for as long as the leader of Akatsuki figured, then there was no doubt that he has plenty of new and far more powerful creatures that none had ever seen.
As was fitting, it was the leader of Akatsuki who broke the standstill, making two quick handseals. Suddenly, earth from the ledge that Akatsuki was on extended outwards and connected with the ledge that Kabuto’s trio was on, connecting the two ledges with a sort of platform-bridge. The three on Kabuto’s side walked towards the middle, as the leader of Akatsuki, Tenzu, and Reaver walked up as well, the rest staying behind.
As they finally stopped, both sides cautiously staying a few meters from one another, it was Kabuto who began speaking, “It’s been quite some time. A year? More? Less?”
Their leader shrugged in response, “Apparently too much time. But enough with the useless banter, explain to me why you would come to us in search of conversation?”
Kabuto took in a deep breath, “Look, you’re not the real target here. I was hoping to draw out Konoha from the village and take down as many of their stronger shinobi as possible alongside you.”
“Alongside us? Or above us?” Tenzu asked curiously.
Kabuto shrugged in response, “Above, I suppose. Hear me out; with Konoha out of the picture, you will have no trouble with completing your little conquest. All places that Akatsuki captures are yours, Akatsuki itself will remain yours as well, your possessions will not be mine, and you will remain answerable only to me.”
With the last part, all three Akatsuki members in attendance knew that Kabuto’s request was completely futile, but their leader was curious, and decided to play along, “And why, exactly, do you need to work above us? You’ve never been one in search of sheer leadership, Kabuto. If you plan to allow us to keep all that we have now and more, then why do you need us under your command? Would it not be simpler to just remain a member of Akatsuki?”
“I’m searching for something, something that, to be honest, I cannot have any of you interfering with. It was a belonging that once belonged to my teacher. I can’t tell you much more than that. All I can say is that I have to find it quickly. If I do, it will be for the good of both of us.”
The confident Akatsuki chief laughed slightly, “Well I’ll be sure to beat the information out of you when we next meet,” and with that, he turned and walked away, “Tenzu, you may do the honors.”
Tenzu quickly went into a series of hand seals, Reaver walking away behind their leader, and threw his head back; building up flames in his mouth, but suddenly, a flash of lightning came from above and slammed down in between the remaining Akatsuki member and Kabuto’s group, the three slightly surprised by the end of the conversation. The lightning flash did nothing to the earth bridge, though, but it made a sound loud enough to halt Reaver and the Akatsuki leader and make them turn around. The flash of lightning was large and quick, and when it receded, almost as fast as it had come, there stood a single man wearing a hat and white cloak with flames trimming the bottom—the customary cloak of the Hokage. The man was facing towards Kabuto
“Kakashi, it’s been quite some time, huh?” Kabuto asked, in a sort of mocking tone.
“Indeed…” Kakashi said, looking Kabuto over, “You look more and more like Orochimaru every day.”
Kabuto grimaced at that, as if it had given him some sort of painful reminder about something. Kakashi had guessed that the reminder was about the death of his teacher, when ironically, it was quite the opposite.
“So, I take it that you’re not alone?” Kabuto asked after re-gathering his wits about him.
Kakashi gestured his head to the side, where, at the area where the ground sloped downward into the valley, perhaps two or three dozen Konoha shinobi stood, or sat in some cases, scattered about and talking amongst themselves, many looking towards where Kakashi stood. After the gesture, Kabuto continued speaking after that, “Well then, I suppose that there’s no more need for us to talk. The next time we meet will be on the battlefield. I’ll be waiting for you all.”
Kabuto and his accomplices disappeared in flames with that. The flames slowly ate upwards at their body, as they gradually vanished until they were nowhere to be seen.
Kakashi turned around to regard Tenzu, “So this war… I suppose it will be a three-way war, then?”
Tenzu turned and then noticed that their leader had already walked back, and then shrugged “Not necessarily. I’d truly hate to overcomplicate things with a war on both fronts. Kabuto is likely at the very end of the canyon. The valley is undoubtedly filled with his army, and even if we simply walk around the valley and then drop in when we can see him, we’d be practically completely surrounded by his group.”
“Your point?” Kakashi asked.
“My point is that the best way to go through is by using the valley, perhaps myself and a few others could pull off isolating Kabuto, but in general, the canyon is the best way to get to him. And so if both of our groups must go through the canyon…”
“If we fight amongst each other then we would be fighting every step of the way to Kabuto, which leaves openings for him to exploit, and leaves us all the weaker when we reach him, am I right?”
Tenzu grinned and shrugged, “They did say that you were quite the strategist.”
Kakashi stared at him for a long while, and then looked over his shoulder to regard the rest of Akatsuki, “One step out of line, and we’ll forget all about Kabuto and focus solely on killing every one of you.”
The Uchiha’s smile grew larger, “We’ll be on our best behavior.”
The Hokage, of course, couldn’t see the smile, though he knew that he would regret this one way or another. Kakashi grabbed the Hokage hat that he wore and tossed it aside, landing extremely far away from him and actually landing where the Konoha shinobi had their small encampment set up, “A temporary truce, then.”
Temporary and uneasy, Tenzu thought to himself. But that wasn’t the important thing now. Neither Akatsuki nor Konoha were truly important. The only goal was taking Kabuto down. Who knows what he would do if he won? And who knows what kind of insane thing he was searching for? Later that day, when it became even darker than usual, rain poured down, an hour later a large, edgy group consisting both of ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village and members of the notorious Akatsuki made their descent into the valley, and barely a moment after that, war had broken loose.
