Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Who knew... ❯ 38. IN SNOW AND SORROW ( Chapter 38 )

38. IN SNOW AND SORROW

 

Cold, cold, cold.

 

Kiri was cold.

 

Kiri was so damn cold.

 

Ren and Asuka couldn't believe that it could get any colder…but as they were heading north, and the wind was almost cutting their skin, they realised they were wrong.

 

Moreover, Tomori Isoshi didn't really help. It looked as if he enjoyed teasing and complaining about the two Konoha shinobis a lot.

 

Yes.

 

Hell was a cold, frozen place, and Isoshi was its ruler.

 

But Asuka had other plans than sticking to the cursed taichou's orders.

 

She had a plan of her own.

 

And no, the capture of the missing nin wasn't what worried her.

 

She was more concerned on the positive conclusion of her plan.

 

Ha ha.

 

Shit.

 

Truth was, she had no idea and no plan whatsoever.

 

Asuka was growing accustomed to hating the truth…

 

Maybe, just maybe, showing the goddamn taichou that she could kill him whenever she wanted was not really the best of choices. But still, the law of the stronger told her otherwise.

 

At least six hours had passed since they had begun to silently run towards the place that actually only Tomori-san knew. And she still hadn't managed to take a decision. Nor to make a plan.

 

Lame.

 

Suddenly, a thought flashed in her mind.

 

Screw the mission. Screw her career and her ninja hitai-ate.

 

If she wasn't going to be respected by the first moron she met out of Konoha, then wearing a hitai-ate would be of no use at all.

 

Yes, that was quite dramatic, but Asuka knew that it wasn't a matter of no relevance. Isoshi would have written on her ninja file, and if he wrote something bad, then she was literally fucked up.

 

Well, maybe they should catch the mukenin before; she still had a consciousness and a moral.

 

Damn.

 

And so, the plan was settled.

 

* * *

 

They had spent 8 hours running in the snow and fighting against the cold wind that hurt her skin.

 

8. Freaking. Hours.

 

They had to eat one of those energetic bars, because Isoshi would not allow them to stop for food.

 

Asuka wanted the taichou to order to stop with all of her strength. She needed it. It was absolutely necessary. Tomori Isoshi was an old fashioned young man, and she knew that to make him accept a fight there was only a way.

 

A challenge.

 

His chivalry and his honour forbade him to decline.

 

Haha.

 

`Bet he never thought about anything like that' the Yoshizumi girl thought, rather satisfied.

 

Her taichou's pace slowed down as soon as they came out of the forest, and got in sight of one of the many villages of Kiri, small enough not to have a name.

 

Awesome.

 

She sped up, and went almost to his side.

 

A hut. A hut covered in snow was the hideout of the mukenin they were looking for. Quite a cliché. But the girl didn't really want the criminals to be original. Orochimaru was original enough to make up for most of the others. Orochimaru. Bleah. That thing. Her kiss.

 

The kunoichi breathed in and out heavily to prevent the nausea to defy her, and she focused on the environment.

 

It was surely not the perfect place for a fight…trees, they were out of the forest but still, there were too many trees everywhere. And the snow was high enough to cover holes and stones and other kinds of obstacles that could have lead her to victory…or to defeat.

 

And the messy labyrinth of small, hidden streets could have easily diverted the fight from the place she chose. She had to think about that carefully.

 

And civilians.

 

It was a village, and even though it was already darkening, civilians could be a nuisance.

Oh well. Somehow she would do it.

 

Isoshi made quick gestures to each of them, signalling the place they were to patrol before breaking in.

 

As Asuka moved in the snow, concentrating her chakra on her feet to prevent from leaving footsteps, she noticed that Isoshi had asked Ren to have the place quickly checked with the Dokushinjutsu, the mind reading jutsu that the Yoshizumi clan used as a sort of Byakugan.

 

She saw Ren performing the well known mess of hand signs, and closing his eyes at the end of it.

 

A couple of seconds later, he released the jutsu, and nodded to the older man.

 

Asuka lowered her mask, and bit her lip.

 

Ready.

 

Aya had placed a small explosive scroll in the back of the house, not sufficient to make real damages, but more than enough to make the mukenin get out of the snow covered hut.

 

Three.

 

Two.

 

One.

 

The explosion was silent yet effective, and the mukenin dashed out of the hut in fear and took a fighting stance as soon as he noticed the four cloaked figures surrounding him.

 

“Who are you!” he shouted, preparing to throw kunais randomly.

 

“The angels of your death” Isoshi whispered loud enough to make himself audible, the smirk on his lips perfectly audible from behind his Oinin mask.

 

Tsubo were thrown at the man, hitting him on his vitals.

 

Asuka shook her head.

 

“That was easy. We can go home now.” Isoshi stated, turning his back at the hut.

 

Now or never.

 

The Yoshizumi girl raised her katana, and aimed at her taichou.

 

From that moment on, everything seemed to go on slow motion.

 

Aya and Ren, clueless, kept on walking.

 

Isoshi turned.

 

Asuka grabbed a kunai, and threw it behind her, while with the katana she stabbed the man.

The man who was behind her back.

 

“Aya! Ren!” Isoshi screamed. The two immediately turned.

 

That was an ambush.