Chapter 20.1- One Thousand Hands

“Hey guys” I said, finally managing to catch up to the two of them. Uzume turned to me with a glare, and Shika did not look any more pleased to see me, but neither of them was surprised so it was clear they’d at least been watchful of their surroundings. Of course, they still ran the risk of me being a transformed enemy shinobi as remote as it was that anyone would ever be able to truly capture magnificence like mine in something as plebeian as a henge. I had aura. Pizzazz. Flair. Henge could not confer any of those, so they were probably right to not be so worried.

“What the hell was that pretty boy?” Uzume was the first to ask, and I just shrugged at her- having no actual idea what she was talking about.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the stunt back in Waves. Why’d you turn back?”

“Should that not be obvious? I was the clear and obvious target. I had the best combination of skills for a quick assault upon their positions to delay them, confuse them, and then escape at the same time.”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant why didn’t you keep running. We could have outran them”

“With that lump of bones? I doubt that. They were a quickly moving cell and had more than enough sensors to bypass everything we could have done as a group to deceive them so I took it upon myself to isolate them in a fixed area with their target- force them to split up to try to trace me in the forest, and then pick off as many of them as possible. And then when I’d taken out what felt like enough of them. I replaced myself with a clone, suppressed my chakra signature and swam the distance between Waves and the Mainland” I said.

“You swam?” Now it was Shika speaking, looking at me like I was insane.

“They would have noticed the chakra expenditure if I tried to run across like you were. They also would have noticed a boat or whatever. My water release affinity means I have an easy enough time holding my breath for long periods, and I swim faster than I run so it was a good enough way to get out of dodge. Good thing I did because the psychotic bastards burned down the whole fucking forest. I thought I’d seen the peak of pyromania with this one here” I had to lean back to dodge the shuriken that Uzume absently tossed at me.

“Impressive” was all my cousin said as she began to stand from the makeshift camp I’d joined them at. My best guess was that they’d taken the time to rest now that they were safely within the Land of Fire and well within range of multiple chunin patrols that would not hesitate to meet Kiri aggression with force.

“Don’t do that again” Uzume growled at me as she stood.

“What?”

“You’re not the one for sacrifice plays, Shori. You’re too selfish for that so stop trying to be something you’re not” I’d opened my mouth to disagree with her words, but I was forced to shut it in favour of catching Toshiro’s body and placing him securely over my shoulder. Shika and Uzume both took point and I brought the rear in a reverse arrowhead formation we’d learned at the academy. It was supposed to signal to patrolling chunin that we were shinobi on the way back from a mission with an injured member that needed to get to the village as soon as possible as possible. I contemplated taking another chakra pill as I felt my chakra drop to that dangerous 15% line, but when I weighed arriving at the village on the verge of chakra exhaustion against the lecture I’d receive from Tsunade about chakra poisoning, I decided the former was the more appealing option. Uzumaki genes or no, Tsunade was very strict about chakra injuries in whatever form when it came to me.

Even these soldier pills I used so liberally had been bought from an outside source and not the clan armoury. Clanheir or no, the Quartermaster had been forbidden from allowing me get my hands on them and so she did. The wizened old woman was too sharp and much too loyal to Tsunade for me to acquire then substances under her nose.

XXXXXXXX

The Second Hokage, Granduncle Tobirama, stared at all four of us from beneath his hat with an expression that I struggled to place. It must have been the angle, I decided. Kneeling as we were, we could scarcely see much of his face. I crushed the temptation to activate my byakugan to get a clear look at his face. I hadn’t the chakra in the first place for such wasteful expenditure, and Grandnephew or not, I doubted the Anbu would hesitate too much in striking me down if I even created the appearance of a threat on the Hokage’s person, and the spontaneous activation of one’s doujutsu was a universally recognised threat.

“Well, that was a mission that went about as badly as it could have” He said with a deep sigh.

“Mizu is moving quickly. Stealing children for their academy is as plain a sign as any that they are preparing for the wars to come.. Their aggression within the Land of Waves must be matched by whatever means” We kept silent as he ran through his thoughts out loud. Shika was fidgeting already, and I could already tell that she was beginning to wonder why we were being made privy to all this.

“…And then there comes you four. Shorirama-kun, the bounty on you is already proving to be problematic. Six different non-affiliated assassins have already been apprehended in attempting to enter the village.” He said, making me lift my head to his in shock.

“For only that much money?” I asked instinctively. I’d understand taking a shot at me if one ran into me outside the village’s walls, but trying to sneak into the greatest of the five was reckless.

“Oh you would not have seen the most recent edition of the bingo book” He said absently before picking one book from his desk and tossing it at me.

A/N; Here ya go.