Chapter 5.4- One Thousand Hands

“Okay, its our time to shine” He whispered at his teammate. She did nothing but grunt at him, but it was a meaningful improvement. At least, she no longer just blatantly ignored him and his plans. He hated how she acted like he was beneath her, but that was a matter for another day. They flew through the treeline at top speed, jumping into thew fortress at opposite ends. He had faith in her to carry out her path. The only genin more skilled than Uzume was Shori, and he was incomparable to anyone else.

He weaved seals, spreading a genjutsu through his part of the building. Shori had taught him this one from the Senju library. It did nothing but make the victims fall asleep. It was more useful than most others because it wasn’t designed to affect only a single target like most other genjutsu. It was Area of Effect. That made it slightly weaker than if it had been used against only a single target, but they were civilian bandits with no ninja training. They had virtually no genjutsu resistance. He felt the genjutsu take hold and he began to make his way from room to room, careful to step on only the balls of his foot. The first room was empty. Then first four he checked were empty. It was only on the fifth room that he found a single bandit sleeping. His snores bounced against the walls of the room.

Toshiro made sure to creep silently and applied some chakra to his feet to ensure that the room remained silent. He leaned over the man on the futon and closed his eyes to steel himself. Blade over heart. His lunatic flashed for a second as he sliced through the carotid artery as he’d been taught. He stood up after being sure the man was dead and moved on the next room. It was a butcher’s job, what he did. But he was a shinobi. These men threatened the people of Konoha. His mother. He had to fulfil his duty. Part of him wondered if Shori and Uzume ever had second thoughts about things like this. He forced himself to stifle the chuckle. The idea was ludicrous. They’d been raised to be shinobi from the day their lives began. Things like this would be easy for them.

He walked further into the fortress. Six. He’d eliminated six people so far. That meant that there were closer to nine people on Uzume’s half of the fortress. He opened the last room and almost stepped backwards at seeing two men in this room. Unlike the others, they were naked. He blocked the thoughts that rose in his mind. He knew what sex was. It wasn’t surprising that two men in a stressful situation would lean on each other. He walked inside the room and made his decision to do his job. Both men were so entwined that it was difficult to get at one’s neck. It was fine. He eliminated the first with a slice along the carotid like routine. With the second, he rolled his body over, and somehow he managed to break out of the genjutsu. On seeing the shinobi over him, the man let loose an impressive scream. Toshiro stabbed his kunai through the man’s open mouth and into his brain, silencing him.

He just hoped that the noise hadn’t ruined Uzume’s part in the mission. He opened the door and was met with the Uchiha girl wiping off blood from her gunbai. It wasn’t the blunt instrument he’d expected on the first time he’d seen it. The edges were deceptively sharp.

“That was sloppy” She commented with a scoff.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion” He replied tersely.

“Are you done with your end of the fortress?” He asked her.

“Yes I am. Now we head to the leader of this mostly crew” She said, and he nodded. He was almost surprised that she’d made the effort to wait for him before moving ahead. It was the plan, but he was proud that she’d stuck to it.

They moved up the stairs as one unit, walking in step. Both their steps were silent, and when they finally arrived at the door, it was to find it open.

Uzume pushed it inwards and it moved with no resistance. They found their target sitting on a wooden chair, waiting for them. It was shaped like a throne, all things considered. Given this was the great hall of the fortress, it wasn’t much a surprise.

“So it was Konoha. My bet would have been on Iwa” He said, looking at them with a smile on his face. The darkness parted to reveal a tall man. Taller than sensei. With long black hair in a ponytail and coal black eyes.

“I’ve let you kill those useless fools with no resistance. I gain nothing in killing children. Turn around and count yourselves lucky” He said, not even standing to address them.

It took a second for Uzume to cross the distance between them. Her gunbai cut through the throne as their target bent downwards to dodge out of the way of the attack. His hands slammed against the ground, and Toshiro was sure that it was only months of sparring with Shori that gave her the instinct to retreat. Where she’d previously stood was a single spike of gleaning stone.

She weaved through seals of her own, but her fireball was denied by a massive wall of stone with a snarling tiger imprinted on it. Toshiro weaved seals and reached for their opponent’s chakra network with his genjutsu. It took hold for only a second before snapping. The wall in front of them shifted, having spikes form along its surface. To deter them from climbing, maybe.

His deduction was disproven. “Dodge” He screamed as the wall came apart and the spikes were sent hurtling at them. He dove to the side while he heard Uzume do the same on the other side.

“I won’t give you another chance to retreat”

A/N; All will be explained with time