It has been almost a week since these girls last saw Toru. They obviously missed him. Not only because Toru is the teacher of these girls, but also because they love him more than anything in the world and would do anything to make him proud.
It was amazing how these girls managed to get attached to Toru in just a month after meeting each other. Still, neither Ajisai nor the other girls will regret it. To them, Toru is a quiet, strong and intelligent boy. Although he was the same age as them, Toru seemed strangely more mature than any boy their age.
"The stars... they are beautiful..." Suiren smiled beneath her mask. She hadn't seen the stars in a long time. Remembering those times with her family was depressing, but somehow she managed to recall it all with a smile, for those were beautiful memories she would never forget.
"We hardly ever get a chance to see the stars since it's always raining. Still, I think this is worth it. I wish Shi no Tenshi-sama was here to see the stars together with me... alone... in a soundproof room."
Suiren and Ajisai looked at Fuyo with a frown after what she said. Obviously Fuyo was starting to make comments that such a young girl shouldn't make. But Fuyo meant it, she wasn't lying.
Secretly she felt a great attraction to Toru's body. Of course, Fuyo not only desires Toru's body, she also genuinely loves him. But every time she sees him she can't resist. Maybe it was puberty or that sort of thing that had her in a state of heat. And despite all this, she felt no shame for her horny thoughts she has towards Toru.
"Hm..." Ajisai decided to ignore Fuyo's comments. She wanted to tell her teammate that she was disrespecting Toru by saying that kind of thing, but she just didn't say it, it wasn't worth it if Fuyo wasn't going to listen to her anyway.
She looked up. The stars were quite bright in the sky, dimly illuminating the cold, dark desert. She thought... 'Toru-sama can't see the stars in our village... I wish he could see them too. Like that day... when we were eating bread while looking at the village scenery from Pain-sama's statue...' She sighed and a small smile formed on her lips as she looked up at the sky. She thought about Toru, she thought about him all the time and despite this she doesn't think this is love.
"Let's go to sleep. Let's hide under the sand" Ajisai ordered. Her team followed the orders without complaining.
-Amegakure-
Blood covered the ground as a puddle stained his sandals. His gaze was as cold as ice and with an X slowly spinning inside his pupils. He held the daggers in his hands, covered by the blood of the corpses in front of him.
None of the victims suffered. They all died the instant Toru's sharp daggers ripped off the heads of these traitors of Amegakure.
The room was empty except for the presence of Toru and the corpses.
"I'm done... I have to take the bodies to Pain, huh..." Toru smiled. His clothes weren't stained with blood fortunately, so he wasn't supposed to wash them until tomorrow.
"Guilty!"
"Traitor!"
"Die!"
"You fucking brat!"
The voices inside his head began to be heard. A ghoulish grin formed on Toru's mouth as he held his head in pain. "It's already started..."
Toru was not only going blind, he was also being tortured by the souls of the people he killed. Over and over again, every day without fail. Only when he was alone in the presence of death. The X in the Kodō Shigan began to spin violently as the whole atmosphere changed.
The floor filled with blood, the walls filled with darkness and corpses rose from the floor.
"Fufufufu... kukuku... hahaha..."
Tears began to spill down Toru's cheeks as his laughter filled with pain and agony began to be heard echoing in the room.
'Stop! Please! Please! No more!' Toru shouted, but no one heard him.
The living corpses paid him no heed and began the torture. They plunged swords into his neck, tore off his hands and pulled out his entrails with a ninja weapon. His eyes were gouged out while still inside their sockets and his teeth were pulled out one by one. His toes were crushed and finally his legs were amputated.
He was hung by the neck and continued to be treated like a lifeless piece of meat.
When everything returned to normal, Toru was lying near the corpses. A tear of blood ran down his cheek.
He opened his eyes and everything was dark. Little by little his vision was beginning to deteriorate. Luckily his ability to see returned, but it was not like before. Now things looked a little blurry.
'The pain I felt... it's always too real...'
His breathing was heavy. He was exhausted, tired of always having to see that kind of thing. Things that make him suffer. Still, he always in his mind says something he used to say a lot in his past life. "It's okay. I'm used to this. I'm used to this" A phrase that causes him even more pain. A pain that will always take him to the deepest depths of darkness. That maniacal laughter, acting as if he were a psychopath simply serve him to not remember his past life. "I... I'm broken..." Toru looked at his hand and smiled. "Haha... haha... haha... I'm like an old toy that no one wants to play with."
Toru heard a child's voice inside his head. Somehow that child was asking for help as he cried inconsolably, but no one will ever be able to hear him cry out from the bottom of that boy's heart with the messed up and broken mind. The boy smiling, as if that suffering was pleasurable.
After that there was only silence.
-Out of the room, just behind the door-.
Konan folded her arms and listened to everything with an expressionless look. After that, she left without even asking what was going on inside that room. Although she could already get an idea, it was none of her business. This is something only Toru has the right to talk about.
And he obviously will never tell anyone, because unconsciously her mind blocks those memories still holding the pain she felt at that time.
-The next day. Ancient ruins of the windy country-
A mysterious team was walking through the hot desert sands near the ruins of what appeared to be some ancient building made of sandstone. The eyes of three girls were on that team. With weapons in their hands, intent on snatching the scroll from them, they nodded in agreement with Ajisai's plan.
The one walking at the head of the team seemed to be a Hyūga, his moon-white eyes easily gave him away. There was also a guy completely dressed in green with a somewhat strange bowl hairstyle. Next to him was a rather normal and cute girl who was smiling and sometimes looked embarrassed when talking to her teammates.
'They're from Konoha. They seem to be about the same age as us, no, a year older it seems. Maybe those people who know Toru-sama' With a cold look, Ajisai made a tactful hand gesture. 'They're from Konoha. Make sure not to name Pain-sama, Konan-sama or Toru-sama. Now, get ready."
Fuyo and Suiren knew that the Hyūga was going to be able to see them hide easily. After all, they possess the ability to see things at a far distance with the Byakugan.
As Ajisai's team prepared to attack, the Hyūga clan boy sighed. He realized that they were being stalked by three girls who were hiding in strategic positions using the ruins as a hideout.
"They are watching us. There's no point in trying to attack" Neji looked all around. The girls began to move, surrounding them in the process. However, Neji doesn't want to fight in vain, so he took out the scroll from his clothes and showed it. "We have the scroll of the earth. If you have the opposite scroll to ours, then we will fight to obtain it. However, if you have the same scroll there is no need to fight. Now go out and decide."
To avoid a fight in vain, Neji decided to do this. If the enemy is carrying the same scroll as them, then they could save themselves quite a bit of time and a pointless fight.
But even though this guy tried to be reasonable, Rock Lee and Tenten watched as a shadow moved quickly until it was a few meters in front of them.
There appeared a purple-haired girl. She held a kunai in her right hand and a shuriken in her left. The position of her arms formed an X in front of her chest. This posture protects the head and the vital points of the torso quite well. Toru taught this to Ajisai and she took it upon herself to modify this posture until she felt comfortable.
"Suiren, Fuyo..." Ajisai said and then...
Neji and Lee's eyes widened in disbelief as the two missing girls appeared at their sides as if they had teleported. They immediately ran in circles around the team at such a powerful speed that it lifted the sand off the ground causing a small tornado.
This of course caused Neji's team to go on the defensive. They were now surrounded and with no chance to escape. This was Ajisai's team's response to Neji's team.
"We will get the scroll."
Ajisai pulled a seal from the bag strapped to her right leg and slammed it to the ground. Neji clicked his tongue at this, but Tenten smiled confidently as did Lee.
"So it's time to fight, huh..."
Tenten held a large scroll in front of her as she thought hard about what she was going to do. It wasn't every day that she faced a kunoichi who used the same type of fūinjutsu as her. So she wasn't going to waste this opportunity to show off her true abilities.
The scroll opened and a large cloud of smoke mixed with the tornado. Strange silver spheres began to be shot in all directions which exploded on contact with any object. No doubt everything became even more dangerous when Ajisai realized that her teammates would get hurt if they continued with the attack.
So she forced her friends to retreat.
Ajisai remembered some of Toru's words.
[If you don't know the enemy's abilities; retreat and force them to attack. Gradually they will show you their capabilities as time progresses. Take care not to waste energy, limit yourself to defending and then strategize].
Fuyo and Suiren made sure they were next to Ajisai. They had to protect all possible angles.
"Mou~ you guys sure are aggressive. Still..." Tenten took a big leap and soared quite high. She released a large amount of sharp weapons from the scroll that shot out at Ajisai's team.
They reacted quickly and pulled out the umbrellas they had tied behind their backs to block the rain of blades. However, Neji and Lee took advantage of the girls' moment of weakness and went on the attack.
Fuyo and Suiren jumped back and opened their umbrellas. From these began to come out a great rain of needles with intentions to kill Lee and Neji, but the white-eyed boy is no fool.
He found a simple way to defend himself. He used the palms of his hands to deflect each of the needles. Although some of them managed to hurt him.
"Konoha senpū! [Konoha whirlpool]"
Lee threw a kick at Ajisai, but Ajisai easily dodged it and threw the shuriken. The shuriken missed due to Lee's agility, but that wasn't all, as Ajisai ducked and tried to kick Lee's chin. However, the attack failed as the speed she used was not enough.
"Suiren! I run away!"
Her teammates quickly came to her call. They took it upon themselves to distract Neji and Tenten while Ajisai takes on Lee. This was not going to be easy.
The exchange of blows suddenly began. A shinobi's martial arts are essential when facing another shinobi. Lee has his own taijutsu, Ajisai the same. However, the fight was pretty evenly matched. Lee thought Ajisai was too agile and fast, but lacked strength in her punches, as he could parry them with his hands.
"You're strong. You're great, but I don't think you're fighting with all you've got" Lee continued to throw kicks against Ajisai, she managed to dodge them. "You're from Amegakure, that mysterious village. So, please show me how strong your village is" With the flame of fighting passion burning in his eyes, Lee smiled and continued to fight.
Ajisai thought this guy was a weirdo. Someone obsessed with fighting, but still, she didn't plan to continue this for much longer, as right now Fuyo and Suiren are being easily outmatched. Ajisai will end this in a second.
"Dansu gyakusatsu [Dancing Massacre]." Ajisai said looking at Lee while holding the kunai tightly.
At that moment, when Lee heard Ajisai, the exact words she said, how she said them and how she looked at him while saying them reminded him of a person, Toru....
"Dansu...?"
Boom!
Lee was distracted because of this and was stabbed in the leg and then kicked, sending him into a nearby wall. Neji and Tenten looked at this and widened their eyes in shock.
The entire wall was destroyed and Ajisai looked at the rubble with an expressionless face. There was blood on her kunai and she was a little shaken from the fight.
She narrowed her eyes as she saw a small piece of rubble move. Lee stepped out of it.
"I'm not defeated yet!" It was like a red meteor approaching Ajisai. Lee's skin changed and a powerful green aura surrounded him. The entire ground was destroyed with every step he took. "Fifth gate open! Konoha Senpū!"
Throwing a downward kick at Ajisai, Lee tried to hit her, but she was quite fast and agile. And although she had too much trouble being able to dodge that punch, the next one was faster and more powerful. Ajisai could not dodge it and had to use her arms to keep her vital organs from being injured. This led her to be thrown against the same wall where Lee crashed.
'This is the power of Konoha...?' Ajisai looked up at the sky. The memory of Toru defeating Konan in one blow came to her mind. After all, Ajisai knew that Konan was not weak at all, she was extremely powerful, she was an angel sent by god. but Toru defeated her in one blow. Ajisai concluded something interesting. 'How weak... even though I didn't expect anything from them, they still managed to disappoint me. Hm~ Toru-sama is much stronger than that. I was trained by Toru-sama!'
Ajisai came out of the wall and stretched a little. After that, Fuyo and Suiren quickly joined her after managing to escape from Neji and Tenten's clutches.
"Dansu gyakusatsu..." The three girls said.
And now Tenten and Neji could hear it too. Those words that Toru used to mention when he used his taijutsu. They were the same, there was no doubt, but these girls' taijutsu was different despite having the same name as Toru's taijutsu.
There was something strange here.
However, no one had time to think, as Ajisai's team attacked moving quickly all over the place. They were like invisible shadows passing by causing large air currents that hit the bodies of Neji's team.
"Don't get distracted."
Suiren appeared behind Tenten and attempted to stab her. This made Tenten jump back, still, Suiren reappeared in front of her and kneed her in the stomach to a second later kick her and send her flying away.
The force at which Tenten was sent flying was so much that it knocked her out instantly. After this, she collided with Ajisai, who at the same time was kicked by Lee, being buried on the ground next to Tenten.
"No! Ajisai!"
Suiren and Fuyo ran to help Ajisai, but due to the force of Lee's kick, the entire ground began to break apart to finally leave a large hole that swallowed Tenten and Ajisai.
They were all expectant at what they saw.
________
We start the week with a new chapter.
Volume 3 is already starting with the real "Naruto: Shippuden". It's a few chapters away, so don't worry. I'll keep writing to finish the Shinobi World and move on to the next one.