Chapter 19.2- One Thousand Hands

“That’s enough, Uzume” Shika stepped in again as I went through the ,last bit of the stitching that I needed to ensure Toshiro was truly out of the danger zone.

“What? Why?”

“I’m the team leader here. Shori’s actions, just like yours, are my responsibility. I was the one who ultimately made the choice to trust them and follow Shori’s lead.”

“You know as well as I do that you only did that because he’s Shori. Fucking golden boy of the Senju Clan who can do no wrong” She turned away from Uzume to face me now, even as I did not directly look at her, keeping my focus on Toshiro’s form.

“Well, you fucked up Shorirama Senju. You fucked up today just like you did last year with the-“ She cut herself off as she realised what she’d been about to say. But it was much too late for that. The words had already hit and they’d landed with devastating effect. I knew how many people had died that day. No matter how much Granduncle Tobirama tried to hide the numbers and ordered the Senju and Hyuga attendants I spoke to to never mention that day, or how he ensured there was no publication of the figures in any of the archives I had access to, all I’d had to do was find someone to ask under a henge. I tried to ignore it, sweep it under the rug, but she was right. My mess up had killed over a thousand people. And now today I’d almost killed someone I truly cared about.

“You just better hope Toshiro lives through this because if he doesn’t, I’ll kill you myself” This time, when I lifted my head to hers, I could see the worry in her red eyes. Not just worry, but rage. I deactivated my byakugan both to test a theory and to see her without the harsh clarity that the doujutsu brought with it.

“Toshiro will be fine. Won’t even have a scar” I said to her with a smile that I really wasn’t feeling and also wasn’t trying very hard to sell.

“Good. Now an apology?” Something about my face had calmed her down, and the screaming was finally done.

“I’m sorry. To all three of you. I thought we had a chance of making an ally with the Mizu shinobi, so I ignored my common sense and all the warning signs. Konoha needs allies, and that is partly my fault so I blanked out once presented with a chance of solving the problem I’d created myself.” I told her next, while waiting for it to happen. I checked my reserves, unsealing and swallowing a soldier pill with the same concealed movement.

There was no chance the movement had gone beneath Uzume’s notice and she merely raised an eyebrow at me.

“Just need to make sure I have enough chakra at hand for the journey home”

“As team leader, there’s no way we’re going back today. I’m just about dead on my feet” Shika’s words seemed to be the signal, and I spotted it just out of the corner of my eyes. A shard of an icicle that formed right next to Uzume in a second. I substituted the both of us and stood in her position and allowed the Executioner’s blade to sail to the side and took great pleasure in slamming the rasengan, half formed as it was, right into my opponent’s midsection. The attack, formed with more power than rotation sent her flying into the distance. With my newly activated byakugan, I could see her teammate retreat from the shadow he planned to strike at Shika from to catch his teammate’s flying form.

“How?” The sharp toothed man asked, and I took pleasure in the confusion on his face.

“You bastards. You knew who we were. Right from the beginning. Maybe even before we were sent on this mission in the first place. You saw us coming and you staged most of this to get us in a position where you could ambush us.” I accused.

“Ha. Good reasoning, kid. Very sharp as well. Asami will probably be pissed at me telling you this since it’s her plan to brag about but her fault for getting knocked out so easily. Yeah, we knew you were here from the moment you spoke to the Mayor. We watched as you searched the office later on and then found out what was going on. Once we figured that out, we sent the Chunin that was assigned to us to attack your team while dressed as a shinobi from Yugakure. He was supposed to leave an impression and then escape, but you lot proved to be more tenacious than expected and somehow captured him. Of course, he had the good sense to kill himself before you got anything from him. And then we killed the Mayor to make sure he couldn’t give you any information and then drew you into the ambush. Of course, you ended up proving harder to kill than expected.” He said, giving the story of how we’d been played as fools from the very beginning with an amused expression on his face.

“But how did you manage to get around pretty boy’s byakugan. Those aren’t easy eyes to fool”

“Yeah, they aren’t. But he uses them like a child, and my nose is better either way”

“Nose?”

“My name is literally Hohojirozame” He said with a deadpan expression. Great White Shark. Makes sense.

“Now, next question. Why are you being so loquacious?” Shika asked, pinning him in place with her coal black glare.

“Delaying you until the platoon of chunin stationed nearby come around to see what exactly that massive explosion was. From what I can smell, they’re about two and a half kilometres away. Well out of your range, kid” He said, addressing the last part to me with a smile on his face.

Fuck. My eyes met Shika’s. I formed a single seal and bathed Hohojirozame’s position in flames even as I reached down to chuck Toshiro on my shoulder and begin running.