Bridge Chapter 26 ( Stupid fucking hacks)

Why did I agree to this? Right, the one person that I genuinely care for right now wanted me to do this. Wait, no that's not even right either I'm the one who volunteered for this she was on her way to do it herself. 

Walking through the Village Hidden In The Mist was odd. There was a palpable tension in the air as people cast wary and suspicious looks at each other. Looking for those Hidden Monsters hiding beneath the surface. 

Or maybe they were worried about being accused of being just like those bloodline ninjas. Whatever the case may be it did not make a productive environment to have this level of paranoia out and about. 

Batman could get things done with his level of paranoia but he was just one man. A smart man with many plans backing up his righteous sense of weariness. On the other hand, most people are not that man so paranoia is genuinely a terrible idea. 

It leads to mobs and lynching of people that they weren't even targeting in the first place. Not that lynching and mobbing a person should be the response you have. 

I was able to avoid most of the unpleasantness of the stares coming across the Village because of my Coat. I invested more of my empowerment into the item ensuring that it was far away from just being an elephant in the room that no one mentioned. 

At its current level I might as well be invisible. If I took direct action to a person of course the facade would fade but no one could really recognize my existence for the most part. 

Even if I was confident about my concealment it did not bring confidence to this operation. I was in the heart of the enemies opposing Camp after all. 

I was by myself as I insisted that Ringo stay in a relatively safe area nearby. She may have been a fantastic ninja but bringing her directly into Yagura's path would be a mistake. 

So I just had to hope that my preparations were enough to get me through this. I knew for a fact that they should have been but there was something about this entire scenario that was driving me crazy. 

The Serene calmness that was brought about by the gamer's mind certainly helped me deal with these surging emotions but that was like being pushed to the edge and then being dragged back over and over. 

It was also not like the calmness of my actions brought about any confidence in what was happening. All the gamer’s mind was designed for was to allow me to take action without intense negative emotions dragging me into a panic or a frenzy. 

So I was just going to have to wander about the Hidden Mist until I found exactly what I was looking for. 

I did have a general idea about where they were keeping the Kiba blades. Ringo was a rather important member of the previous Government after all. 

So I knew where all the little hidden tricks of this Village were located. Of course that knowledge might have changed after a while but something told me that was not the case. 

Yagura was not exactly in a position in which he could concern himself with the operational security of his own village. Then again he does have some competent minions who would prioritize the safety of the village over Yagura’s odd position. 

I could see the gazes of masked Ninja watching like Hawks as people wandered the streets. Even knowing that they could not see me I felt this shiver run down my spine. 

Just a little longer and I could leave this place without looking back. Just one little heist and I could go back to my peaceful grinding.

Walking past oblivious guards, opening doors that should have been closed, and bypassing Security Seals by using the access codes Ringo had given me. 

I seen greeted with the sight of the vault that I was looking for. Everything was going perfectly fine so why in God's name was I feeling like this? 

Like my limbs were submerging into a never ending swamp. My mind heavy with thoughts that had no right being thought. I felt like I was being stared at by a beast but I was wandering into it's open jaws. Any moment those jaws with snap shut and I was going to find myself a tasty morsel. 

The object of Ringo's desire was right in front of me. The blade sitting innocently in the vault without a care in the world. I reached my hands forward shakily and hesitated right before I made contact. 

Everything inside of me was telling me not to touch it. I really should have listened to my instincts over my common sense. 

When I touched the blades and put them in my inventory that long-forgotten scream popped up in front of me. 

A quest was generated and I felt dread pulling in my stomach. 

[A quest has been generated: Would you walk into my parlor? The spider said to the fly!]

For some inexplainable reason, you thought it would be a good idea to wander right into the territory of one of the big bads of this world. Obito happened to catch sight of you as you were wondering about it. He was surprised about people not seeing you and that drew his interest. He wanted to know what you were after.

He is interested in testing you. So he is going to throw his pet Jinchuriki at you. If you can’t handle Yagura than you are not worth that much attention. He has Black Zetsu for spy work after all.

Objective: Survive an encounter with Yagura!

Reward: ???????

Punishment: Probably being blow into chunks from a Tailed Beast Bomb.

[]

As soon as I read what was in front of me several thoughts ran through my head. One, Obito was able to see through my concealment. I hoped it was because of his Sharigan and not from his likely high level.

Two, Obito knew nothing about me or he would not risk sicking Yagura of all people on me. From his perspective the only interesting thing about me was my ability to hide from sight of normal shinobi.

Three, I could not count on Yagura not seeing me. God, knows if being a Jinchuriki also gave him a way to sense me. He might not even need that as Obito would be directing him like the little puppet he was.

Finally, I needed to act and I needed to act now.

Reinforcement sparked along my frame as I tried to push myself as far as I could. Buffs and spells designed to increase my parameters came one after the other as I tried to hurry along.

The ground cracked underneath my feet as I rushed out of the building no longer caring if I breached the security seals.

As I passed the border of the door way of the building I got sight of the person standing there menacingly. Or maybe I should call him a thing as he had no sense of self by this point.

Yagura stood in front of the building with a dull flat expression on his face. Not enough to warrant questions being asked but it was clear Yagura was not in his right mind.

His gaze locked onto my position but it was like he was not seeing me just acting. Seafoam colored Chakra started bubbling around Yagura the feeling of it was malicious and hungry.

Then Yagura swung one of his tails and even with my enhanced speeds I was hit. Then I knew pain.

Searing heat passed over me then the chakra lingered on my body trying to consume me. Beyond that, my body flying though the air and skipping along the ground from the force of his heat was certainly painful.

It was only the various buffs that I cast that saved my life. Thankfully runes were too versatile. I could see why Odin was praised in most forms of fiction.

Still, my health was dangerously low so I popped off my CON perk. My injuries recovered instantly and the lingering malicious chakra coating me faded away like a dream.

Yagura's cloak was bubbling even more and I was sure that he would soon be shifting into the three tails soon. For now, he seemed content to watch me. 

I felt dread pool inside of me again and the nerves I was experiencing came back in full force. I was not ready for this. When I got a mission to fight Kages I was cocky but feeling the pressure coming off of this mindless puppet had me shaking.

The serene calm finally claimed me again.

I could leave right now. Pop over to an alternative version of Naruto. The thought of leaving Ringo behind was the only thing stopping me from doing so.

But did I really have a choice here? What kind of shit luck was this? How come Obito happened to stumble on me exactly when he needed to!?

I was not sure what I could do about this other than running away from this. As if trying to answer my questions my Item Empowerment pool refreshed. Since the level of that skill was steadily rising the pool I could work with was much larger.

So many options so many ways to go about this but I just did not have the time to work this out. I looked over at the beast that was already causing a rising panic in the village and a plan started to bloom in my head.

Fuck if I was going to play I might as well try to play for keeps.

I shifted my expression into a cocky and mocking expression making sure my fangs were out and about. I needed all the power I could get to pull off my plan and that meant hamming it up as a vampire at least this time I was in control of my actions.

I could only hope that things stayed that way. The last thing I needed was my bloody happy self being too blind in the pleasure of everything here to prepare for the inevitable fall out.

I looked over at the lumbering beast in front of me with a glint raising in my eyes. Then again my vampiric side might appreciate this dumb ass plan.