A few hours after the meeting, Hayato reappeared in the palace with a fresh look. He was wearing a red, thigh-length short sleeved haori which had a triangular, green and orange pattern at the edges and exposed his chest and abdomen. He was also wearing black trousers,sandals and white lether greaves. Finally he had bandages tied around his hip and a lether belt worn upon them, on which a dagger sheathed in a scabbard was tightened and there were several pouches on the belt as well.
After entering the room where the meeting occurred, he found Hattori and Aki, in her human form of course, sitting on the tatami and casually chatting and drinking tea. They both greeted him, offered him a bit of tea but he once again refused. None of them commented on his newly-bought apparel.
Hattori got up, checked outside through the window and nodded at Aki.
"I believe we can start." she said as she got up from the tatami as well and moved towards the wall where the map was hung.
" This is your mission's location." she stated and pointed at the country's coastal province on the map.
"Some people call this place the Ghost Province since no one lives there anymore from the continuous pirate raids. Well, the objective is simple. Locate the pirates and either destroy them or capture them. If they have a leader, I want 'em captured at any cost!You are going to distinguish them by their blue attire and their black armors."she explained thoroughly.
" Understood."Hayato said with determination.
" Well... I can only wish you good luck! Though, I don't think that you are going to need it, hehehe. "Hattori joked.
Hayato kept his silence for a bit.He then checked at his HUD.
" Im going to leave now. It's around 4 pm and I calculate I will be there around 9 pm. It would be better to catch them on their sleep."Hayato suggested.
Hattori gazed at Hayato with a confused look. Why arrive there so late, he thought.
Aki didn't seem to be bothered by his statement, even if she wanted the job to be done as quickly as possible.
" Oh! And before you go, let me tell you something."she said, changed back to her Otsutsuki form and lifted a bit her chainmail shirt that leaked from below her turtleneck sweater. She revealed her belt where the scabbard of her sword was tightened. There was an oval-shaped metallic piece on the belt, with a weird symbol on it
" If you see this symbol, run." she warned him, with a serious tone.
Hayato did not answer immediately and analyzed the symbol. It was a circle with a square in it. Inside the square there where another nine circles. It didn't seem sinister at all, yet he felt he had seen this symbol before.
" This is the symbol that the Otsutsuki clan uses on Earth." she exclaimed.
This is what rung a bell at Hayato. He had seen this symbol embedded in ruins related to the Otsutsuki, during his missions as a shinobi.
"If you see anyone having this emblem on their clothing just flee!You won't be able to know whether it's a foe or an ally so the best and safest thing you can do is flee!" she continued.
"U-Understood!" Hayato stuttered and headed towards the door.He thought that it would really be very unlucky of him to meet another one of those detestable individuals.
"Once again, good luck!" Hattori wished to Hayato, seriously this time. Hayato then confidently opened the door and left the room. Many of his questions about the current situation are of his world, his beloved home, were about to be answered. And he absolutely looked forward to it!
_______
"Can you go back to your human form now?" Hattori complained at Aki, as he stared outside through the window.
She was kinda irritated by his constant whining about her changing forms and didn't reply, yet she transformed to relieve his stress.She continued to stare outside of the window.
" Uhm, by the way, can I ask you something about Hayato? H-have you noticed this... uhm, this lifeless yet grumpy look in his eyes? Like, even a blind person could tell that he is totally unmotivated, even if he speaks with determination ."Hattori noted.
Aki surprised turned her head towards him.
" He does? "she thought.
"Well... Last time I took a look at him was during our battle. He had an expression of nervousness and rage, due to battle stress probably. During our conversation, my sight was disabled. Sooo... I don't know what you are talking about..."
"I just hope that he will be able to complete the mission." Hattori sighed worried as well and Aki nodded affirmatively.
She was intrigued by Hattrori's words about Hayato. How could someone that comes from the past be unmotivated about learning how much his homeworld has changed during the course of time.
Perhaps... Hattori was just exaggerating? She wanted to know about Hayato's backstory and who he really was. Aki regretted that she didn't ask all of that during their conversation a few hours ago.
_____
Now Hayato, transformed as an eagle using the transformation jutsu, was soaring through the sky,heading towards his objective and observing the landscape.He decided to stop by a few villages in order to learn about their lifestyle. Well...what he saw wasn't very pleasant to the eye.
Due to the fact that hus mission was far away from Satsuma he had the chance to observe the lifestyle of humans in the current era.Hayato noted that they live a simple rural lifestyle, mostly in villages and towns and some of them unfortunately live in extreme poverty.There doesn't seem to be laws that protect them from bandits and military crimes, and if they do, they execute their job horribly.
Also in this era, people seen to have already discovered electricity, as early forms of batteries and daguerreotype cameras, are present, yet in very small quantity.
What was truly interesting and equally terrifying was the fact that in shrines and places of worship, statues with Otsutsuki characteristics,like horns, Rinnegan and delinquent facial features were built.
Hayato also noticed that the country is mostly inhabited with elderly people, women and children. So what Aki said was true. This country was hit by a terrible war.
Furthermore, as much as he was drawing near his destination destination, the atmosphere was becoming grittier and heavier.The scars of war could be clearly seen. There were small craters on the ground, probably from canonballs, weapons that were tossed around the place , violently mutilated bodies that were left to rot on the battlefield.Crows were feasting on dead horse's carcasses,whole villages and forests were burned to the ground and the worst,he saw corpses of innocent children that were tossed in a river. Truly a horrific sight.
It was this moment when Hayato had truly sympathized Aki . First thing she did when she met him was to fight me and test his capabilities in order to send him on a mission for her interests. Hayato complained about that, yet he now understand why she did it.
What kind of leader would care about his personality while his or her people suffer like that. Why would someone who is drowning and see a lifeboat coming on his or her way would care from what kind of wood it is made of? He maybe judged Aki as a person but not as a leader.
Then, he recalled the words of the Shodaime Hokage, that there is always conflict no matter the era
_______
As Hayato was flying deeper into the province,he started to feel quite unsure about the info that he was going to acquire. What if things were completely different from what he had in mind.What if the situation in the world was irreversible?What if the information he was about to acquire were nothing but lies?
He was a hundred percent sure about one thing.That the consequences of his past actions have not disappeared. And no matter how much the odds were against him, he would go as far as he can to re-establish the human dominion back to the planet.
Yet there was a "chain" that wrapped his heart and grew bigger and bigger as failures in his life occurred. This chain was guilt, which was consuming him from a young age.
______
As he was he continued to soar further into the war stricken land, Hayato noticed a series of poles rising from the horizon.As soon as he got near near them, he noticed something horrifying.
On the poles there were crucified people with their hands nailed against another pole which was horizontally tied on the vertical one, on which their legs were nailed as well. They had no skin on them and the blood from their hands and legs was running through the poles and formed a lake from blood on the path.
When he flew above the blood lake, the reflection of his bird form changed into a more triangular one. Then the ambience of the atmosphere was interrupted by a loud boom which was followed by the sound of steel clashing, the humming of flames,the high-pitched sound of lightning bolts that could make the ear bleed, the whistling sound that kunais and shuriken make and the sound of blood- curdling screams.
Well... atrocities like that were not unusual back in his day, but Hayato was kinda disturbed by this sight. He ignored though the battlefield-like sounds that he heard as he passed above the crucified people. It was just another hallucination.
He also thought that this was a doing of those pirates. There is little possibility that a regular army would do something so brutal like that.Or, that's what he thought at least.
He had almost reached his destination since the sea could clearly be seen.Yet, he could see a convoy people with black armors and blue clothing walking on the path, into formation.Behind them there were several other people, wrapped in chains.
Yes. It was them undoubtedly. The pirates that Hayato was supposed to neutralize . Their armor was pretty similar to those of samurais and regular foot soldiers. Anyone could have mistaken them for a professional army. Thus, he decided to fly a bit closer to observe them better.
Hayato thought that it was better to follow them until they reach their base or their ship. This is were the fun would begin. He also noticed that the chained people had bruises on them and even cuts. Some of them were elderly people who could barely even walk.
"Good grief. It seems that together with technology, human rights disappeared as well." Hayato thought angered. The things he had saw as he traveled into the country as a bird had already made him lose his temper.
An hour later, when the convoy reached the beach it mysteriously dissappeared! Hayato then, full of curiosity, decided to land. Upon landing, he felt a shockwave passing through his body and canceling his transformation. Then somehow the empty beach was now filled with life, with pirates entering an anchored ship carrying cargo and loot.Hayato quickly rushed behind a boulder to hide.
"I-I could neither see the ship nor the pirates while I was flying! A ship so huge would be visible from hundred of meters away. I can undoubtedly said that, in order to hide so many people and a huge vessel like this , jutsu has to be used."Hayato thought,surprised by what had happened. Not only that, a chakra signal could be picked up as well! Hayato prepared himself for everything.
The size of the ship was truly unreal!Someone could even compare it to a floating city! It was at least 500 meters long, with 100 cannons manned on each broadside.It had 7 masts and was mostly made out of wood.If a broadside fired, a city like Satsuma would've likely been completely annihilated.
Hayato then waved some handsigns and striked the earth with his palm, somehow leaving a lightning bolt on it. Then a clone formed from the bolt with the word "LIGHTNING"written on his forehead with kanji again.
" Head back to Satsuma and inform Aki that every one of them has been successfully captured."Hayato ordered the clone and he instantly headed to Satsuma. Heh, what a cocky bastard...
Hayato transformed into a wasp this time and through a gunport of the ship he managed to get into the interior. He noticed that the pirates had small seals on their foreheads,seals that he had his never seen before.
Hayato afterwards transformed into a centipede and slithered through the cracks of the wooden planks, easily navigating into the ship. He believed that he should search into the ship in order to find any captured civilians.
Lucky him, as he was searching through the ship he stumbled across a door with several locks on it. He slithered below the door and entered the room. There were people in it, chained as well and some of them had little to no clothing. He finally found captured civilians and now he only had to evacuate them, but how?He also noticed that there were small seals on their foreheads as well, just like the pirates.
He undid his transformation, but the small poof that the transformation jutsu makes when undone terrified the civilians.The cybernetic components on Hayato's body made them to freeze out of fear.
"No worries. You are all safe right now!" Hayato assured them.
"An... An angel?" an elderly man found the courage to speak.
"N-No just listen-"
"The Phoenix Country's army is so incompetent that heavens had to send help to free us!" a woman interrupted Hayato.
"Mama, what kind of armor is this mister wearing?" asked a little child
The whole situation frustrated Hayato.
"YEAH, NOW LISTEN TO ME!" Hayato shouted in order to enforce silence. He had to evacuate them a quickly as possible.
"I'm gonna evacuate you ASAP so please please be quiet!" he continued.
Instantly then, he turned towards the door and with two tiny rods that emerged from his fingers he lockpicked it and opened it.
Hayato peaked outside of the room and checked the dark corridor to see if anyone was coming.
"Ok, field cle-" and just as Hayato was going to finish his words, someone
punched him from his right . He was launched through the corridor and penetrated the stern of the ship. He found himself then on the surface of the sea, a couple of meters away from the ship.
When he got up, a pirate in samurai armor appeared in front him.
"Wohooo,that was my best punch ever I swear!" a woman's voice came from the armor.
Her armament was different from the other pirates. She had a golden crescent - like piece of metal on her helmet and also wore samurai face mask. Hayato noticed that she could stand on water, meaning that she could mold chakra.Yes, this was thr chakra signal that he picked up earlier.
"Wha-! Why couldn't I sense her coming?" Hayato asked himself, fairly surprised by the punch's speed.
"Holy crap look at this guy's appearance!"she commented on Hayato's metallic parts.
" Either the Daimyo of the Phoenix Shogunate payed sorcerers to summon a hellspawn or your mama pleasured herself with an iron ingot when she was pregnant! "she shrugged,mocking him.
" I can't find any logical explanation to your look. "
He didn't answer immediately since he cringed so much, his head started aching a bit. But deep inside, he was humiliated.
" I'm surprised that the the Gravity Field Jutsu didn't crush you like a fly. Anyone who doesn't bare the seal would be killed immediately!"she stated.
" Which means that you have more chakra than me! Shit! "she continued.
" Perhaps she knew I entered the ship because I didn't bare the seal that she is talking about? "Hayato wondered.
"Well, jokes aside. The Daimyo send you, didn't he? We fucked his regular army 24/7 and now he sends us someone who controls chakra. It doesn't matter to be honest because you are gonna get fucked as well!"
"Tell me, the dead kids in the river...Was it you that killed them?" Hayato asked as he tried to hide his rage.
"Little shits couldn't even lift the hammer and they were practically useless. Not to mention they planned an insurgency and even wounded one of my men. It was unacceptable!" she answered.
"And... The crucified people?" Hayato made one more answer while his anger could be heard on his voice.
"The motherfucking Daimyo didn't answer our request for money so we did this to remember it to him" she replied with pride.
Hayato didn't ask another question and entered a battle pose.
"Not satisfied with my answers, aren't ya. Well I pretty much don't care." she said as she leapt back, waving a few handsings.
"You are just gonna end up like those poor kids..."she finished
... TO BE CONTINUED