15 A Hectic Birthday Party 2 (1/2)
In a year, Konohagakure had changed numerous times. As the village prospered, new residential apartments were built to accommodate the growing population.
The abundant forests surrounding it, however, remained the same, as if frozen in time.
Like he had always done, Akamaru quickly jumped into the water, splashing around without a care in the world. He loved the icy freshness of the stream to cool off the scorching summer sun. Even after Daji's personality had resurfaced, his habit remained the same.
”We're here... now what?”
Kiba mumbled while laying under the shades. He would usually play along with his partner, but right now he was just too lazy to do so. He practically got kidnapped here, after all.
”...I actually have no idea either.”
The 'kidnapper' irresponsibly replied.
Her mission was to keep the boy out of the house until evening. It was already midday, so she just had to hang in there for a few more hours. Gotta think something to distract him. Anything. Ah, drat, she got nothing at all...!
”Hey,” Kiba suddenly called out.
”Y-yeah?”
”Those things you randomly taught me, like that king-koong thing...”
It's Qinggong, you ignorant-!
”...Where did you get them from? They're not like any ninjutsu or taijutsu that's been taught in class.”
”Eh?”
Where did she get them? Well, they were all techniques that she had copied from various sects during her previous life's eventful youth... but there was no way that she could answer like that.
In situations like this, the best solution was to find a convenient scapegoat!
”Lord Kokuo taught me.”
”Oi!”
Just push it all to our venerable spirit beast!
”...”
Kiba narrowed his eyes. He got this burning suspicion that this girl was lying to him, but he also felt that if he kept pushing for answer, she'd just retreat farther and spit out more outrageous answer.
”...Is that so? I see.”
He decided to just let it slide. For now.
”By the way, what does it mean when you said it's called a 'twisting ladder'?”
”Not twisting, ascending! It's 'Cloud-Ascending Ladder'! It's the Qinggong of Wudang sect that allows you to move in high speed and leap so high you're literally walking in the air!”
”Walking in the air... the heck?”
Aside of some random words, her description was so absurd he couldn't bring himself to believe her.
Although, his speed did increase after trying out the method that she had taught him... but still, walking in the air? Not even the infamous Body Flicker Technique could do that! They're ninja, not ghosts, godamnit!
While they were talking, Akamaru was seemingly done with playing in the stream. He had quickly jumped back out and frantically ran toward the two.
Kiba was the first to notice that something was going wrong. Very wrong.
At the same time, Kokuo suddenly yelled within the girl's mind, a tinge of panic coating its words.
”We got visitors, kid! Four of them! Get out as fast as you can!”
Kokuo was very chill throughout the year even when they passed by active ninja from Konoha. To incite such reaction from the Tailed Beast, that meant the guests weren't going to be polite with them.
She quickly poured out her chakra to envelop her body.
”Kiba, your Four Legs-”
”On it!”
Before she could finish her sentence, Kiba had crouched down and activated his family's prized technique. Akamaru jumped to his back right as he reached them.
And then, they bolted away toward the direction of the village gate.
They had quite a head start. With their speed, they should be able to reach the village before those strangers could reach them.
However...
arth Release: Earth-Style Wall>
”Watch out!”
They were forced to skid to a halt when a huge wall made of dirt and clay suddenly rose up from the ground, blocking their path forward.
”Go around them-!”
arth Release: Earth-Style Wall>
Similar-looking walls were erected on each of their sides as well, boxing them in.
Perhaps they could just leap over the walls, considering those things were only as tall as an adult's height. However, the problem was that they had mistakenly stopped for that split second, breaking off their momentum.
Thus, their pursuers were able to catch up.
Four shadows flickered into the scene, wearing identical set of gray shirt, pants, and flak jacket. Each of them had a porcelain mask to cover their face, like Konoha's Anbu, but the design was flat, with only two round holes for the eyes.
”...They're not from our village,” Kiba growled. Actually, he couldn't tell which village they came from, since their clothes didn't show any village's customary traits. However, he could tell from their scent that they didn't belong to Konoha.
For foreign ninja to wander around near their village and used jutsu against them, that could only mean that they were enemies!
The guy at the furthest back raised his hand, and then pointed at Hikari. With a monotonous voice which was filtered by the mask to not give off his identity, he said with a threatening tone,
”Hand over the girl. If you don't get in our way, we will let you live.”
As expected.
'Lord Kokuo, they are...'
'Iwagakure ninja. Who else?'
The Tailed Beast harrumphed. So, they had finally tracked them down to this place. It actually took longer than it had initially expected!
”If I give her to you, you'll let me live? Heh...”
While she was talking with Kokuo, Kiba had taken a step forward, shielding her behind his back.
”What a frigging joke! Let's go, Akamaru!”
Woof!
Both human's and his partner's chakra flared up in an instant.
<Beast-Human Clone>
With a poof, Akamaru transformed into an identical version of Kiba. The two then leaped forward like bolts of lightning, slashing their sharpened claws toward the pursuers.
”Guah!”
Aiming at the places where they weren't protected by their flak jackets, the claws succeeded to draw blood thanks to the heightened speed from Four-Legs Technique and his additional practice.
Before the opponents could recover, Kiba and Akamaru bolted off once again, changing targets with each strikes to confuse and broke up the opponents' formation.
”What speed! Is he really just a kid?”
”It doesn't matter! Just stop him!”
The pursuers' hands moved in high speed, forming hand seals of Ram, Tiger, Boar, Snake, Tiger.
arth Release: Practice Brick Technique>
The ground shudder as the dirt rose up to form one, two, three layers of walls right on Kiba and Akamaru's path.
”As if that would help you!”
Perfectly synced with each other, both human and his partner spun their body mid-jump, forming a drill that cut crisply through the air. One struck from the left, while the other struck from the right.
<Beast-Human Taijutsu Secret Art: Fang Passing Fang>
The power and speed overwhelmed the dirt wall as cracks formed before they were blown apart in the blink of an eye, leaving the opponents with no chance to follow up with other jutsu. The twin whirlwinds crashed onto the three ninja, throwing them to the ground as their flak jackets were sliced through, unable to defend against the sharpness of the attack.
Kiba and Akamaru stopped their spin and landed on the ground, struggling to catch a breath. That was the first time that they had utilized the technique in a real battle. Although the effect was better than he'd expected, their stamina wasn't up to par for continuous usage. In his heart, he lamented the time that he had wasted being lazy. If only he had trained his endurance more...
Meh. At the very least, all three ninja had been taken care of...
Wait, three?
arth Release: Tunneling Technique>
Obscured by the fourth layer of earthen wall, one of the Iwa ninja was able to dive under the ground, surfacing right behind Hikari.
A strong hand immediately choked her and lifted her up, while the cold edge of a sword was barely scraping her neck.
”Don't move, kid. Or else, your friend will die.”
Of course, he was just bluffing. The Tsuchikage had strictly ordered them to bring the Jinchuuriki back alive, at all cost. He would sooner beheaded himself rather than defying that order.
However, the kid didn't have to know that.
”You... cheap bastard...!”
”Kiba-!”
He was angered beyond belief, but what could he do? That was a blunder on his part not to keep track of the opponents. Now that they'd gotten a hostage, he couldn't-
”Son of a bitch, I'll make you pay!”
The Iwa ninja angrily yanked him by the hair and then threw him to the ground. Another ninja did the same to Akamaru, who returned back to his real form after getting hit with a kick.
They proceeded to rain down punches and kicks on the boy, venting their frustration over getting wrecked by a little kid's half-assed jutsu.
”Kiba, no... kuh-!”
The Iwa ninja tightened his hold over Hikari's neck before whispering a threat.
”Worry about yourself, kid. After we're done with that boy, you're next. The Tsuchikage only told us to bring you alive. Doesn't mean we can't hurt you.”
Her eyes widened, fear swirling inside. Seeing her reaction, the Iwa ninja was satisfied.
The group that was pouncing on Kiba had gotten bored with the boy. One of them drew out his kunai, intending to finish the fight once and for all.
”W-wait...!”
She let out a faint sob. Her trembling hands clumsily grabbed her captor's wrist.
”I-I'll go with you... so please... let him go... I beg you...”
Her voice was so weak, it barely qualified as a whisper.
”...”
The Iwa ninja flinched for a moment. In the end, he sighed.
”Oi, you guys, no need to go that far for a child. Just leave him half-dead, that's more than enough.”
The guys frowned. Had their squad leader gotten soft all of the sudden?
Nevertheless, his words did make sense. It was a bit too petty to mess with mere kids. They reluctantly stepped away from the boy, but not without giving him one last kick to the face.