Sparks from clashing metal lit up the thick mist as screams and the sound of torn flesh reverberated as the mist slowly turned from white to crimson as if it bled.
Shitsuya leaned on his sword as he panted heavily.
The fog dissipated and he looked around. Shitsuya walked through the rivers of blood and mangled corpses as the rain poured down, looking for any signs of life.
Finally he found one.
Resting his back on broken tree trunk, Shikane took shallow breaths.
His hand held the stump on his shoulder as blood trickled from it onto the rest of it on the ground.
Looking up at the sky he thought with certainty, 'Looks like this is the end for me.'
Many faces of departed friends passed through his mind.
Unlike what Shikane thought, he felt no regrets like he imagined he would.
Throughout his life, Shikane viewed himself as a failure and scum.
He was the so called brain of the team, praised for his intelligence yet he couldn't save any of his teammates or students.
'Inosuke, Chota. I'll be seeing you soon.' Shikane thought.
'What a shitty story, I hope everyone forgets about me.' Shikane prayed before breathing his last.
Staring at Shikane take his final breath, Shitsuya stared at the dozen or so dead Shinobi surrounding him.
Shitsuya searched Shikane's body for a few seconds before finding the culprit behind all this blood shed.
Taking the small scroll, Shitsuya put it in his pocket before grabbing a few other scrolls from his pocket.
He had to prove that he fought so he would have to bring all the corpses on this battlefield as witnesses.
After having taken most of the bodies, Shitsuya destroyed the rest before quickly leaving.
A few minutes later a few ninjas with hidden rain headbands arrived and scanned the battlefield.
******
It took Shitsuya only a few minutes to arrive at the drop off location.
Tapping an inconspicuous tree, a hidden compartment opened and Shitsuya put the scroll inside.
Leaning on the tree, Shitsuya meditated for a few minutes to recover his chakra.
Although his instructions were to place the scroll and leave, he was exhausted and injured.
He planned on resting and healing his wounds before leaving.
Placing a palm above his injured right arm, Green chakra sputtered out and started healing him.
Shitsuya had made sure to copy the mystical palm Jutsu from the healer who often took care of his wounds after his training sessions with Mitsuki.
Just as Shitsuya sighed inwardly at the inefficiency of his healing Jutsu, a female voice rang besides him.
"Need some help with that?"
Shitsuya shot away from his position and looked back at his sudden ambusher with his two Tomoe Sharingan.
The blonde woman in gray armour and a leaf headband stared back at him.
Behind her stood white haired man and a black haired pale skinned man with snake like yellow eyes, both wearing the same grey armour and leaf head band.
******
Orochimaru licked his lips as he watched Tsunade healing the Shitsuya.
Listening to his story about how he and his team were ambushed while on their way to deliver the scroll to him and his teammates Orochimaru couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.
Only he knew the real truth of the matter.
Their ambush was all part of the plan, Konoha's plan that is.
Konoha had a reputation of being too soft on its Shinobi but that was far from true.
Shitsuya's team was amongst many who Konoha would use as bait in their strategy to weaken the other forces in the rain country.
Konoha gave several fake missions to it's own ninjas and leak the info of that mission to other forces.
Their enemies would send squads to interssept the Konoha ninjas, Konoha would then use the Sanin who were unaware of the truth of the matter to kill the enemy forces.
It was a wonderful scheme, Konoha could cull huge numbers of their enemies at the price of only a few unremarkable Shinobi all while avoiding being seen as the aggressive party and issuing official missions to the Sanin which meant they could avoid even paying them for their work.
Orochimaru hated being used but decided to play along with Konoha's plan as there was nothing he could do about now and instead deciding to keep it as future blackmail material.
Konoha's schemes aside, it seems like they made a miscalculation this time around, as instead of being annihilated the team set up by Konoha was managed to actually fight back and defeat the other party although only one of them survived to tell the tale.
Looking at the several bodies stored in the scroll, Orochimaru used a mind reading technique to read it's memories before death.
Orochimaru at first thought that the Uchiha brat had either abandoned his comrades or was saved by them.
However his smile grew as he watched how Shitsuya's decapitated the owner of the body who's mind he was reading.
*****
Shitsuya was healed personally by Tsunade, looking at his previously wrecked body now completely healed of even the slightest scratch, Shitsuya marveled at her skill.
'Looks like her title at the best healer isn't for show.' Shitsuya thought as he watched Tsunade and the other two leave.
They were on a mission of their own so they he couldn't stay with them. Shitsuya sighed at the missed opportunity to create a relationship with the Sanin before heading back to the fortress.
[A/N: Hope you enjoyed the triple release.]