Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 2: The Daitengu

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Chapter 18: The Power of Kings I

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On the mount Sojo, in the old village where the Daitengu and his disciples hide, in the council room, Tokiwa wakes up lying on a bed of feathers placed in the middle of the chamber. As soon as she opens her eyes, the tengu inside her, Amabie, speaks.

"Finally up! It was taking forever." she says.

Amabie, in Tokiwa's mind, appears as a woman, half humanoid, half fish, like a mermaid. The top-half of her body is human, but with fully red glowing eyes, long black hair, and deep blue skin with scales the same color under her eyes. Since she's only a spirit and not a biologic creature, she doesn't have nipples and neither does she have a navel. The lower half of her body is a fish tail covered in dark black scales.

The tengu is swimming around in what appears to be water, in her yamabushi's inner-world. Tokiwa looks at the mermaid and tries to remember what last happened to her. She was fighting the mercenary who uses Hyoton, and found herself trapped in ice. She must have passed out at that point. She remembers a few things from after the fight, like the Daitengu coming to her rescue as she was barely concious, but that's all.

Where is she now, she wonders. As she looks around and discovers the council room again, she sees Inosawa Yamanaka quietly standing next to her, like he was simply waiting for her to wake up. The haunted body doesn't say anything. Tokiwa tries to talk first, but thinks before, to make sure what she says is relevant. The best idea she has is to ask about their last excursion's goal.

"Lord Sojobo… Where is Tsubai?" she says.

"… Is something going on between the two of you?" suggests Sojobo after a brief silence, intrigued by the woman's concern about this man. "Did you ever use the siren call on him? No. Impossible. You never met him before yesterday."

"What are you talking about?" asks Tokiwa who isn't sure if she understood correctly. "Something between us? What do you mean?"

"You were defeated by Naomi Yuki, who then killed Moritaka." he explains, judging best not to answer her last interrogations. "Fortunately I arrived in time to save Tenshi and you. But Indra… Sasuke Uchiha arrived, and we had to flee. Tsubai is still with him."

"I see…" says Tokiwa who doesn't know if she should be relieved or saddened. "Lord, the name you just called the Uchiha? You called him that earlier too, in the forest I believe. Why is it?"

"Indra, you mean?" notes the Daitengu.

"Yes, who's that? Why do you call him like that?"

"Indra is someone I…" starts Sojobo before abruptly pausing. "Sasuke and Indra really feel alike. There must be more than blood between these two. It would explain the Rinnegan."

"I don't get it." says Tokiwa, confused.

"Forget it. It's not important…" says the Daitengu to change the topic back to Tsubai. "More to our concern, Shibata betrayed us. I saw it coming. However he just made an alliance with Sasuke. I didn't see it coming. Didn't think he'd dare to."

"Did he?" asks Tokiwa, acting as if she had no clue about his intentions. "Does it mean he's our enemy?"

Sojobo just looks at her for a moment. He knows that she isn't aware that he can see, hear, taste, smell and even feel everything she does, even though he never tried to keep it a secret. He even gave clues about it many times by referring to Tsubai and other events that he shouldn't have witnessed. He tried to warn Shibata, but it didn't work. Apart from this, the only tengu who's aware of this ability is Tentoki, the celestial light that now lives in the traitor.

"Tentoki is going against me, so I have no other choice but to absorb him." he sadly says to the only person left to listen. "For now, he's not our enemy. He somehow convinced Sasuke not to kill some of us, including you and Amabie. This means Sasuke won't consider killing Tsubai now. So even if he's on his side, we don't have to worry. He's safe."

Tokiwa looks at him and processes these information. Tentoki must have awakened and guided Shibata's desertion. But what does he have planned for her? For what reason exactly did he join the Uchiha? Seeing the confusion on her quiet innocent face, Sojobo completes his explanation.

"Of course I am still their main target. Shibata took Kokoro away in order to delay Kawahime's rebirth. And now, he and Sasuke established a plan to kill me. Kill me before Kawahime comes back. But you, as I said, aren't a target anymore."

Tokiwa turns to Amabie in her inner-world to discuss this. Judging by what Sojobo just said, Se has no reason to stay here. She also knows that Shibata will surely go after Chuji to finish his years long mission before returning to Kiri. But she doesn't care about that. All that she wants now is have a comfortable and peaceful place to call home. And this place, this village, seems unsafe now.

"Amabie, we should run away too." she suggests.

"WHAT?" screams the mermaid. "I won't. I'm staying true to Lord Sojobo. If you want to go away, at least hand me back to him. He'll give me to another yamabushi who'll stay by his sides."

"Stop acting this dumb, sis!" yells Tokiwa as an answer. "You know how hard it was for him to find suitable yamabushi. It could take him many more months to find another one, not forgetting that he might die in the next days."

Amabie doesn't answer anything. She just realizes that her master's life really is at stake. The time of when he was invincible in his small world is over. Now, unless he achieves his rebirth, he's mortal and threatened by stronger than him. Amabie and Tokiwa both stop speaking and notice Sojobo looking at them with a compassionate face, like he hears what they're saying. Sojobo, to settle their argument, gives his instructions.

"Tokiwa. there's no point in staying here for you, or for me. I was keeping you by my side because I thought it was safe, but you almost died many times the other day. If it wasn't for Tsubai's odd affection for you, you wouldn't be here. You can, and should leave for a safer place. At least I know I can trust you, Amabie. I know you won't betray me."

Amabie stays speechless. Tokiwa's decision is made, but she doesn't want to make it too obvious.

"What about the others? Where are Ritoru and Chuji?" she asks.

"I spoke with them already. Ritoru is upset because he won't get any pay, since Moritaka's dead and I don't have any money. I've let him go… For Chuji, it's different. Ryutoki is really close to coming back. We're hours away. However, this isn't good news."

"What's with him?" she asks again.

"Ryutoki, even in his first life, was extremely violent and hostile to humanity. He's among those who can take over the yamabushi's body, and in his case it's truly dangerous. He could go after the other yamabushi, and after you. He's like a violent teen, constantly in lust for blood."

"… Ok… And where is he now?" asks Tokiwa, already imagining hundreds of her deaths scenarios.

"He tried to go after Kokoro, to stop her escape. But I ordered him to come back here. He has to be by my sides by the exact time of Ryutoki's awakening, without what I won't be able to save him and calm his tengu. This was my intention from the beginning, but with our recent dispatch, it became more difficult."

Tokiwa stays silent for a moment and, together with Amabie, thinks of what could happen next to their master. Neither of them knows, but Tokiwa is at least sure of the only thing she can do. She gets up from the feather bed and turns around to the door.

"Are you really okay with me leaving?" she asks to Sojobo.

"Absolutely. I encourage it." answers the Daitengu. "The least I could ask from you, is to keep the tengu safe. But you're already taking care of Amabie, which is enough to me."

"… I'll do more if I can…" she quietly says, wondering about this request. "Farewell, Lord Sojobo."

Tokiwa leaves, by the door, to exit this village and then this mountain. Right now she's unsure if she should join Shibata or immediately go back to Kiri. Sojobo stays in the middle of the council room and looks at her going. He thinks of his own fate. Despite Tentoki and Sasuke's efforts, he doesn't feel doomed. The only thing that bothers him is that he doesn't know what Tentoki's plan is. The white tengu managed to find a way to share his plan without him finding out. He can at least keep an eye on him.

As he is thinking, he remembers something he witnessed during his discussion with Tokiwa. While they were talking, he saw that Ritoru was not far away, with his ear to the ground, using Kasha's super hearing ability to spy on them and hear their conversation. He didn't care about it, as Ritoru presents no threat to him, and is calmly keeping Kasha alive.

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Ritoru is really upset. He feels like he was in for nothing. Even if at first, he thought that the tengu's power would make up for the pay, he changed his mind as time passed. He doesn't need the money,… But he really would have liked to have some. Now he's going down the mountain, jumping from tree to tree. Kasha, in his mind is jumping around and happily complaining about Ritoru's problems.

Like all the other tengus, she looks like a human hybrid. In her case, it's a feline like being with a more human morphology and face. She has orange eyes with red pupils that resemble Akashita's blue eyes. Her body looks like the one of a preteen girl, covered with light brown fur and with cat feet and claws. Her hair are blonde and as long as her body's height. On top of her head, there are her two cat-like ears that grant her and her yamabushi a super hearing sense.

"Blah Blah Blah! What are you even upset about? What's money even for?" she says.

"Shut up cat-girl!" yells her yamabushi. "You would understand how great money is if you were an actual person."

"But I'm an actual person." innocently argues Kasha.

"Actual people don't have to stay in other people's body to live."

"… Uh Yeah, well… Um… You're dumb!" she says, already out of arguments. "Here!" she jumps to Ritoru's face and rapidly scratches him.

"Shit! What the fuck! That… doesn't hurt." yells Ritoru before getting quieter as he realizes that they're only in his mind. "Tsk! To think you're the only thing I get out of this deal."

"Isn't that great? You could at least recognize that I'm way too cool. I can jump mid-air, play in mud, scratch you, and hear heartbeats."

"Hear things huh?" says Ritoru remembering the discussion he heard earlier. "… Kasha, you do know that Chuji is a wanted criminal in the land of water?"

"No, I don't. What's a criminal?" she answers, still innocently, and still jumping around.

"… Forget it… I think we should kill him."

"Kill him? Chuji? Why would we do that?"

"Why? For money of course!"

"Money again?"

"Yes money! Not just money actually. Sojobo said that his tengu was dangerous. So by killing him before the tengu wakes up, we kinda save lives."

"No we don't. You sound like you're just looking for excuses to make money. And if we kill him, Papa will be upset and will take me away from you. Not that I care, but maybe you do."

"You think?… Whatever…" says Ritoru who decides to forget about this idea.

"Actually I'd like to try!" she adds, suddenly changing her mind.

"Really? You think we're strong enough to beat him?"

"Huh? You said we were gonna kill him, not fight him. And yes I'd like to try. If you fail, we die, and Sojobo revives me in a few months. If you win Sojobo takes me away from you and will find a person who would actually consider what I want or think, rather than just taking my power for granted."

"But I HAVE your power for granted. And who the hell would be a better person than me?"

"I like the lightning cat girl we fought the other day." explains Kasha, referring to Minaa. "I'm sure we would be good friends."

"Why would she even want you? She already has feline-like attributes." angrily says Ritoru.

"… You're not fun…" simply answers the tengu, out of ideas again.

Ritoru's attention is suddenly grabbed by a sound he hears. Just footsteps, but he recognizes the sound and pattern. They sound like Chuji. He interrupts his chat with Kasha and quietly hurries to see if it's him.

It is. Chuji is walking closer to the mountain's top, since he was asked to come back by Sojobo. Ritoru tries to get closer without making any sound. He's now a few trees away from Chuji, who's on the ground. To trap him in mud and back stab him wouldn't be difficult right now. But is it worth it? What will the Daitengu do when he discovers it? Will he kill him or just take Kasha away?

"What are you being sneaky for, Lion-boy?" says Chuji, who already noticed Ritoru.

"Hm, he saw me… Nevermind then." thinks Ritoru.

"Was leaving when I heard you." he answers while coming down his branch, giving up on his killing intent. "Shit's up, so the Daitengu is letting everyone go. And you?"

"Why would you care to ask? And why would I care to answer?" rudely says Chuji.

"…? 'Cause you asked first, asshole!"

Chuji looks at Ritoru for a moment, and turns his back to him. He keeps walking straight. Ritoru just follows him. For a moment, he thinks about killing him again. He analyzes his target's behavior to evaluate the difficulty level of this task. At the same time, he tries to remember Chuji's bounty, to help him judge of the relevance of this action.

"So what are you gonna do, pussy-boy? Run back home, or in some place where there are underage girls?" asks Chuji.

"Shut up already! I'm just gonna get back to work." quickly says Ritoru, making up plans at the moment.

"You know, Lord Sojobo, Ryutoki… This really got me thinking that this job of yours is pointless." thinks Chuji aloud. "You pretend to be the real deal and make money by killing people, but the true money only comes when you kill someone strong. And to do so you gotta be strong, stronger than this person. But when you're strong enough for that, what even is the point of money?"

As Chuji is speaking, Ritoru is totally focused on his behavior and attention. He really looks like an easy target, his guard is totally down. Why shouldn't he try it? The difference in power between them plays no role here. People like the two first Hokage, or almost every Kazekage were murdered by weaker people who took action at the right moment.

And whatever Sojobo decides to do, he can just flee and join Sasuke Uchiha after that, like Shibata did. If the Uchiha took Frostbite with him and isn't willing to kill and the tengu anymore, he'll have no problem with taking him in too. There's really nothing to demotivate him. That's it. He'll do it.

Ritoru discreetly pulls out his claws and looks for the right place to strike on his target. From behind, he can reach his carotid. That's what he'll do. He leans back for a second to take a small run-up, and leaps forth to Chuji's neck with his claws forward…. He fails. Chuji reacts and moves his head before he strikes him. "Shit!" thinks Ritoru.

At the exact same moment, too fast for them to react or even just see, Shibata runs in the scene at incredible speed. With his hand closed and covered in white lightning, he was aiming for Chuji's throat to kill him in a single strike. But the target's reaction to Ritoru's attempt troubled him and made him fail. For only a very tiny fraction of second, Shibata sees his hand passing under Chuji's chin and missing his neck. Still seeing possibilities, he tries a different hit. With his elbow, he hits Chuji on the side of the skull, right above his eye.

The speed of the strike pushes him away, and he crashes into the first tree he meets. Knocked down and surprised, Chuji falls to the ground unconscious, but still alive. Ritoru just now realizes what happened and sees Shibata with a frustrated face standing before him.

"The hell you doing here?" asks Ritoru.

"And you? Why did you try to kill him? If you hadn't, I'd have had him." answers Shibata.

"Why? For money of course. Uh I mean for money. I mean,… because his tengu is gonna come back to life any minute and be very bad and all."

"Any minute? Where do you get that from?"

"The Daitengu said it. Today's the day for him."

"Tentoki, we really have a good timing then." says Shibata to his tengu.

"You better hurry while he's unconscious." answers Tentoki in his yamabushi's mind.

Shibata turns to Chuji, but Ritoru grabs his arm to stop him from doing anything. Shibata just looks at his hand and back at the mercenary's face, bothered by this grasp.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"I don't know. You kinda betrayed us. Why would I trust you now?" answers Ritoru, making up excuses again.

"I only want to kill him and Sojobo. Kasha isn't dangerous. Why would you care for them?"

"… I wouldn't. You're right. But Chuji's mine. I need his corpse to get the money for his bounty."

"He's mine. I was tasked to kill him years ago."

"Well I was tasked to kill him minutes ago by myself, but that's enough to me. You can kill him, but I get the corpse."

"I need his corpse too, idiot."

"Why would a hidden village care about a dead body? Just head home and say he's dead."

"If you get the bounty, Kiri will know it and you'll become a wanted criminal too."

"I'm already a criminal, and a lot of people want me, so it won't be new to me."

"Your bounty will be raised."

"Why would I care?"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!"

The two of them turn their head to Chuji who's the one who just screamed in a mix of pain and anger. While they were both distracting each other and complaining, he stood up. But something is odd with him. He looks still passed out. It's like something other than his brain is making him stand. He opens his eyes and looks at Shibata in front of him. His eyes have turned completely green and the white marks he had on the face are getting bigger and more opaque. His skin gets grayer, and chakra blades appear over both of his hands.

"This will make things far more complicated." says Tentoki, worried.

"Is that…" asks Shibata.

"Yes. Ryutoki just came back to life, and he's already taking over Chuji's spirit and body." explains Tentoki, deeply embarrassed by this turn of events. "We can't win against him. Unless… Let me think a bit."

"He doesn't look like he's gonna give you any time to think."

Ritoru looks at Chuji and then at Shibata.

"What's happening to him?" asks the mercenary.

Shibata doesn't reply and just pushes Ritoru back. He then brings his arms back to him. At this moment, Ryutoki dashes between them with his chakra blades pointed forward. If Shibata hadn't reacted, Ritoru would have been impaled and maybe killed by this attack. The two yamabushis hurry to keep their focus on their enemy, to not be surprised again. Ryutoki, who pierced through several trees, walks back closer to them with Chuji's body.

"I can't beat this one, Ritoru." says Shibata. "Do you mind making an alliance?"

"I'm not really in position to refuse." he answers.

In Shibata's mind, Tentoki already had enough time to think.

"Shibata, I first need to warn you. You'll be surprised by his power, whatever you expect." says the tengu. "However, if you work with Kasha's yamabushi, you may have a chance."

"Okay, so how do we proceed?"

"Ryutoki sure is violent and careless, but not Chuji. Maybe you should focus on trying to wake him up."

"Got that!"

Shibata and Ritoru stand focused in front of Ryutoki who's prepared for a next offensive.

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End of Chapter 18 – Next Chapter: The Power of Kings II