Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto of the Mirage ❯ Chapter 28 ( Chapter 28 )

When Karin announced that Iruka had been the one to murder her entire village, Yugito was interested. When the red head announced his rather absurd nickname, she couldn't help but laugh. It had to be one of the top ten stupidest names she had ever heard of. Even the other member of the Akatsuki, well at least the white part of him, laughed as well. The black half seemed ready to strangle itself, just to quiet the other part down.

 

“Well…that's a new one…I guess.” Iruka had sweat dropped when the new nickname came out. “Most people just knew me by `the Magician'.

 

When the kindly chuunin revealed that name, everyone stopped laughing. `The Magician' was known to every shinobi nation as a ninja who was a master of deception and misdirection. He was the first Konoha shinobi since the Yondaime Hokage to cripple a nation single handedly. It was reported that one day the Magician walked into Kirigakure, had lunch, went to a bath house and left. Five hours later, over a quarter of the population had died of an unknown and untreatable poison. Even as they lay dead, red marks would appear on their bodies; as if a branding iron had been pressed to their skin.

 

He didn't stop at just Kirigakure. All over the elemental countries, people would die with those same markings on their body. No one even realized that the Magician was a Konoha shinobi, until it was discovered that no one from that area had died with those symptoms. To this day, no one had isolated the poison that was responsible, as every tox screen and blood sample had been contaminated by so many kinds of venom that it was impossible to point a finger at one of them.

 

There had never been a successful identification of the Magician, as some claimed he was tall and lean, others squat and fat. Others claimed he was a red head others blonde. In a world that relied on information, he had effectively dropped off the map.

 

Suddenly, every question that Yugito had about the scarred `chuunin' became compounded. Was his name really Iruka? Was that really his hair color? Was he even a man? Could he be come woman pretending? Misdirection was a powerful thing in the shinobi world, and there was no better master than this man if he was telling the truth.

 

Iruka stepped onto the water to square with the red headed woman.

 

“You're from Tokushima, aren't you?” He asked, not because he was unsure, but so he could perhaps buy enough time to leave this without having to kill the girl.

 

“No. I am from Otogakure; Orochimaru-sama saved me from that miserable place and gave me the opportunity to exact my revenge on you. I was from Tokushima, but there is no Tokushima anymore…you made sure of that.” Karin responded.

 

Iruka sighed, realizing that conflict was inevitable now. With unsurpassable ease and insane speed, he completed his string of seals before Karin knew what had happened.

Small whirlpools popped up, surrounding the red head, before they turned into conical spikes of swirling water. Karin responded by forming a thin whip from the surrounding water and slicing through the drills on their way towards her. Iruka frowned, something was off.

 

“You've noticed it, haven't you?” She asked, smirking. “All my life I've been preparing for you, knowing nothing about you or your style of fighting has been a blessing in one sense. Nothing you do can surprise me. My Mizu no Muchi (Whip of Water) is not normal. It allows me to not only slice through any water based attack, but hijack and neutralize any chakra that you put into the attack. In one sense, I am a living embodiment of Kisame's sword.” She began her own set of hand seals before the water rose up and briefly surrounded her before rushing towards Iruka. “Suishouha! (Water Collision Destruction) Iruka was forced on the defensive as the wave was too large to avoid. “Doton: Doryuu Heki.” (Earth type: Earth Style Wall) He spat a river of mud from his mouth that quickly grew to stop the incoming water, but he soon realized his error.

 

“Raikyuu!” (Lightning Ball) Karin roared as she shoved the tiny ball of crackling lightning into and through the earth wall that Iruka had raised to defend himself. He tried to run through some seals, but Karin got there before he could finish.

 

“I'm not letting you finish those!” She tried to catch his shoulder with her left hand which was glowing blue. Iruka dropped to the surface of the water on his hands and just avoided the chakra scalpel that was aiming for his artery. Lashing out his back legs, he managed to catch Karin in her back and launch her forward and away from him. Iruka tried to capitalize on her momentary disorientation. “Suigadan.” (Water Fang Bullet) Once again the drills tried to skewer his opponent, but in his rush to form the attack, the water was coming from his current position, and not near Karin, giving the kunoichi plenty of time to block them with her whip once more. She spun around; whip protruding and forming a circular barrier between her and the drills that tried to pierce her. As she slowed down, one more drill tried to catch her off guard, and her eyes widened at her miscalculation. The water was heading directly between her eyes. She had no choice but to show her trump card. Holding up her hand, the water stopped before it began to fall harmlessly at her feet. Reaching forward, Karin grabbed at something that was nearly invisible in the water before pulling it back and letting the remaining water fall at her feet.

 

“So this is it? This is all the skill that the Magician has? I'm rather disappointed, having to use a jellyfish to do your dirty work for you?” In her hand she held a jellyfish by the bell, letting the poisonous stinging tentacles hand down harmlessly. “He is impressive; a box jellyfish certainly has enough venom to kill me, BUT NOT YOUR FINEST! You will tell me how you have killed thousands!”

 

Iruka stood back up and drew some senbons from his uniform before throwing them at Karin. They forced her to drop the jellyfish so that she could avoid the projectiles. She twisted to her left, making the left side of her body lead towards Iruka. It was a good plan, and he tried to capitalize once more, as he rushed her weak side, but she had the last laugh as she tripped him up with a small tendril of water that rose to do her bidding. He stumbled forward, dropping his senbon, but one flew in such a manner that it scratched her left foot. Not caring about the superficial wound, Karin rushed forward, chakra scalpels active and cut the muscles and tendons in his arms. She tried to cut the tendons on his legs, but Iruka turned into a pile of water. She had never seen Iruka make hand seals, so she began to spin around trying to find him. Iruka was no where to be found. He had disappeared.

 

“There is no way I was fighting a water clone the entire time!” Karin fumed. There wasn't any movement around her. Odd...shouldn't Zetsu captured the jinchuriki already? Where was he? She looked over to the spot where he had cut off the route of the Nibi's container. He wasn't anywhere to be seen and neither was the jinchuriki. Karin focused and tried to sense Zetsu's chakra. It was no where to be felt. She pushed farther; there were no chakra signatures in a three mile radius. The only things that were left were the smoldering bodies of Yugito's teammates, standard procedure for a fallen ninja…wait that wasn't right! The first thing that Zetsu would've done once he captured the demon vessel was eat those two subordinates! Holy shit, this was a genjutsu! She quickly summoned chakra and dispelled the genjutsu.

 

The number of differences between the genjutsu and the real world were so real that Karin almost didn't realize that it had been dispelled. Instead of the burning bodies of Yugito's ex-teammates, Karin found the decapitated body of Zetsu smoldering; the only recognizable part of his body was the flytrap head gear he had. She tried to stand up, but she found herself paralyzed and unable to move. There was no way that this was possible! It was like…like…

 

“Magic?”

 

Iruka's voice cut through her thoughts.

 

“You! You really are the magician aren't you?” She was amazed at the power this man had, and yet, she couldn't help but laugh. “To think, I was defeated that easily by a genjutsu of all things. You know, being a medical specialist, I've spent my time building up immunities to every kind of poison known to man, so for you to be able to do this is quit a feat.”

 

The brown haired chuunin was sitting next to her without a care in the world. He took the news and didn't react.

 

“Come on! Do something! I need some validation!” She yelled at him.

 

“How would you have me react? I knew you were a medical specialist just from the way you walked. If you really were out to hunt me that the first thing you would've done is build up immunity to any poison you could get your hand on. I am not surprised by anything that happened here.”

 

“Then at least tell me how you did it!” She was getting hysterical now.

 

“I thought you'd already figured that out? It was a genjutsu from the first moment you saw me.”

 

“Not this! Tokushima! Tell me how you did Tokushima! How did you kill all those people?”

 

For the first time, Iruka seemed to be in deep thought. He furrowed his brow for a moment before relaxing.

 

“Nah. A good magician never reveals his secrets and besides, I didn't kill those people.” With that he walked over to the stream and walked onto the surface. Running through his hand seals he motioned for Yugito to pick up Karin and come with him before he finished his technique.

 

“Kuchiyose no jutsu.”

 

A spasm of pain racked Karin and she tried to repress a scream and was only partially successful. It was like her entire body was on fire and her legs and arms began to cramp painfully. She could feel her lower back burn and ache at the same time, as if she had been stabbed in the kidneys. She suddenly felt extremely nauseous and rolled onto her side to empty her stomach. When she did, she noticed what creature Iruka had summoned and in her last moments of life, things began to fall into place. It was a jellyfish. The Dolphin could summon jellyfish! She began to heat up as a fever started to try and burn out the poison in her body. Thinking back to the `fight' she had with him, that box jellyfish she caught, it wasn't just there, it was a summon! When she thought that he hadn't completed his technique, he really had. He really was a magician, deceiving at every turn, first with a genjutsu and then by his actions.

 

“Yo-you…don't use senbons…do you?” She asked, as she began to feel the pain intensify.

 

“No I don't.” His voice was without feeling as he continued to head back to Konoha.

 

Jellyfish made sense, they were extremely toxic and there were so many that he could summon thousands at a time and all the different toxins would mask the true killer from detection. He was one sneaky bastard. She tried to curl into a ball to lessen the pain she was feeling in her back and legs, but the effort was almost too much. She lowered her head and stared at her feet. There, on her left foot was the scratch from that senbon he had dropped in his illusion…but that shouldn't be there! As she stared at it more, the red wound began to curl and expand, becoming a violent red.

 

“An-another jelly-je-j-jellyfish?” The pain was coming in even more intense and frequent waves.

 

“They are called Irukandji, possibly the most venomous jellyfish known to man and one of the tiniest.”

 

Yugito watched the captive as she spasm and wiggled around in pain.

 

“It seems to be a very painful way to die, doesn't it?” She said offhandedly.

 

“Irukandji venom is not nearly as dangerous as the bigger jellyfish summons I have, in most cases they are non fatal if just given time to wash out of the body.”

 

Iruka's words were the key that unlocked the box for Karin.

 

“I didn't kill those people.”

 

“The Magician is a master of misdirection, if he goes to his left or to his right, attack the middle…he's just as likely to be there as anywhere else.” Those quotes floated though Karin's sweating head as things snapped together. Jellyfish venom is highly toxic to fish and prey, but to humans it is rather slow acting. Irukandji venom is delivered in far too little a quantity to be fatal, but if the victim doesn't notice the small fish, but do notice the larger ones, then they get treated for the wrong kind of venom…which is potentially deadly. It was ingenious, if only her kinsman hadn't tried to treat their wounds, they might have lived. Another round of pain went off and she could no better stifle her cry of pain as she could hold water in a sieve. But this time, she smiled as it passed.

 

“I'm not going to die, am I?”

 

Yugito was shocked. For all the pain the kunoichi was going through, how could she even think such a thing?

 

“Correct, you are worth more to Konoha alive. Weather or not that is a good thing…I won't say.

 

Karin passed out soon afterward and the remainder of the trip back was uneventful.

 

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