Blood.
It was of KyuubiÆs opinion that when the inhabitance of the Konoha was concerned, the more of it spilt the better. For thirteen years she had been trapped within an astral prison, denied of her vengeance. Konoha would burn for its trespasses and she would personally see to it that when future generations uttered the name, it would be in the form of an ephitate or some dark omen. Her intentions were to scrub the wayward village from the earth, leaving a lifeless scorch mark that would fail to bear life for centuries.
Today, that goal was proving exceedingly difficult..
The auburn redhead sprinted across another rooftop, trailing spatters of blood as she hastily retreated from another platoon of heavily armed ANBU, kunai flashing around her as she wildly evaded the specially tagged spikes. The kimono clad Kyuubi rolled right, evading the majority of the steel salvo but missing the crossfire she had been herded into. A cat masked ANBU stepped out of the shadows and hurled her own kunai into the fray and Kyuubi spun out of the roll, hand ablaze with green fox fire. Two of the knives were immedietly engulfed in the blaze, flash vaporized out of existence. The remaining kunai was diverted from its lethal vector and instead found the flesh of her shoulder.
ôRRaaaRAAHHH!!ö She snarled, ripping the blade from her from her muscle and huring it away before the seal could power up with ethereal energy specifically detrimental to her continued existence. Blood trailed behind the lethal implement as it bounced across a rooftop before exploding in a flash of electrified light. Another splotch of crimson began to seep across the torn finery of the redheadÆs kimono she gathered enough chakra to create a suitable distraction, lighting the roof with a spectacular blaze of fire before leaping into one of KonohaÆs anonymous back alley ways. Her fingers flashed through a jutsu and her form took on that of translucent shadows as she ran deeper into the urban maze.
Damn every one of these man monkies to hell! she hissed to herself, turning down yet another corridor while hugging the walls and staying within the shadows. On any other day, she would be able to positively annihilate every last one of her tormentors and reduce their precious village to ash. Today, however, she was bound by seal, flesh and blood. They could hurt her, had hurt her and had all the tools at their disposal to finish the job. Kunai tagged with thunder heaven seals, she recalled painfully, pushing chakra into her newest wound at he shoulder to speed up the healing process.
Much as Kyuubi hated to admit it, the Hokage had done his job well in preparing for her eventual return. There was no shortage in people prepared to kill her and they were disinclined to engage her hand to hand ranges where she could put her limited chakra to the best use. Nor were they willing to provide her with the time nessisary to untangle the seal and remove it, much to her chagrin. In short, they had the numbers, weapons and power nessisary to ensure her demise.
And that of the brat, she appended mentally. She had been hoping that his continued existence would serve to give the humans a second thought before killing her outright. Apparently that second thought had been given, considered and discarded. For the greater good, she snorted, ducking into a shadow darkened back alley, melting into the cover. Taking one thirteen year old boyùeven considering who likely sired the spawnùdown with her was hardly a sufficient body count to warrant a conversation with death.
No, the body count needs to be much higher, The shadow of Kyuubi decided, her long, delicate fingers shaping the initial seal form. The demon fox woman fed chakra into the construct, her hands flashing through the seals. Astral earth lockà three sidesà eiich nii, sew, done. Astral fire lock, blood encrypted, twelve sidesà brute forceà Three hand signs later she was through the barrier and carving her way into the next seal. Wind astralùbooby trapped! Chakra feedback loop tied to a elemental fire wardà carefulà
Shsssssssssssss!!!
KyuubiÆs slitted eyes flew open as her hearing picked up the subtle hiss of high speed wind. Two triangular ears immidietly zeroed in on the sound. Above! Left! Kunai! The scarlet woman dodged the silver streaks with unnatural speed as three ANBU from rooftop above began to coat the alley with steel and blades from on high. The female kitsune dropped her shadow jutsu in favor of chakra conservation and offense. She let a gout of fire billow into the roofÆs ledge to obscure her attackers vision and broke for the mouth of the alley. She closed on the opening and felt something offà power in front of her. The fox woman slid to halt and her fingers flashed through a quick jutsu. Power flowed forth and countered the illusion in place, revealing another squad of heavily armed ninjas that had set up their kill zone under genjutsu illusionary cover while the distraction had played out on the roof. A couple more steps and she would have been too deep inside it see anything less than a lethal outcome. Even now, thoughà
The demon fox woman threw herself down and steel flew, streaking above and around her as KyuubiÆs rooftop assailants recovered, creating a deadly crossfire of edged weaponry. The crimson haired demoness was prenaturally quick, but the sheer weight of fire being directed into the confines of the alley ensured she took hits. First came the shallow cuts, perforating her kimono with razor thin slices and blood. Eventually a kunai found the whirlwind even as she was about to summon power for a counterattack.
The tagged kunai found her left arm and she tore the point out with her right hand, only to have another imbed itself deep into her lower back. Pain shrieked through her wounded body and she pulled that one out as well, both daggers bouncing to the dirt with a flash of lightning. The Kitsune prepared to improvise and exit through the ally wall when two more Kunai found her. Kyuubi dug the first one out of her leg hastily, but didnÆt get to the second in time. Her hands closed around it and the blade flashed a brilliant white, dumping itÆs chakra into her system. A single blade in and of itself was hardly lethal, especially given her reserves, but the intense strobe of pain was more than enough to create a distractionà
àAnd an opening.
The demoness hissed as the next wave of kunai flashed in. She continued the evasion, but slower. Another kunai found its mark and while she was reaching for it, another. She wasnÆt nearly fast enough to retrieve both and the pair discharged.
ôRaaaAAAAGHHH!ö The howl echoed down the ally. Both tags lit off and destroy the defense kyuubi had been weaving in an excrutiating flash, sending what had been a controlled evasion into brutal auger, skidding across the unforgiving alley gravel as he body twitched involuntarily. The spit second it took the kitsune to find her senses wasnÆt nearly enough time to recover and this time, she was nearly immobile. The nin crossfire found her with brutal efficiency, allowing eight kunai to find their mark while four more of the specially tagged implements followed. The back ally pulsed brightly four more times, each accompanied by a helpless scream.
ôCease fire!ö
The steel rain stalled with the command, allowing the group of veteran ANBU specifically assembled to deal with this very threat to assess their handiwork. What they found would have turned their stomache if they hadnÆt known exactly who it was they had just taken out.
The crimson hair woman lay in a crumple in the center of the ally, her body riddled with Kunai. Each wound allowed a small river of blood to burble from from her flesh, but every man looking upon the creature knew those particular kunai hadnÆt been the primary source of damage. Molten slags of smoldering steal were interspersed among them, respresenting the spent heaven seal tagged kunai. They stuck out of her body at odd angles as well, the heat of their energy expenditure scortching both the finery of her kimono and her pale flesh.
A senior ANBU stepped forward with another four specially tagged kunai in hand. His lieutenant followed. The cat masked commander regarded the fox woman coldly. ôThe Hokage will be her to finish the job shortly, beast.ö
Kyuubi pulled her face from the gravel surface, fixing the nin with the only eye not matted with blood. It began to glow furiously and her body began to attempt to right itself in spite of the all-consuming pain. ôIà willà. Youà willà dieàö
ôNot today.ö The ranking nin and his second considered the spasming woman impassively. He fanned the kunai through his fingers with a cruel smile. It really was a pity they wouldnÆt be enough to kill her. No, that required a rank S genjutsu to accomplish. All the tags did was discharge chakra into her body and reacted violently to demonic chakra. In short, it was barely enough to incapacitate herà
àThe monumental pain it was causing her was simply an added bonus.
The captain sighted the demoness, who was only beginning to regain her balance, and loosed the kunai with a heave. The kunai would have less than a seconds worth of flight time, and the ANBU officer doubted the fox would be able to intercept a single one, let alone all four.
Vengance was sweet.
KyuubiÆs slitted eyes tracked the four blades as they left his hands, and she knew as well what they represented. Defeat. Two blades would be enough to buy enough time for their infernal leader to arrive. Three would complete incapacitate her. Four? I probably wonÆt even be conscious four my own death.
The split second hung in eternity and Kyuubi readied her final defense, futile as it may be. She tensed for the deflection.
Silver flashed as four tagged kunai were suddenly ablated by a shower of sparks, diverted to the earth just inches from her feet. Four more kunai landed next to them lazily, their tips finding the ground. The Kitsune was too shocked by the sudden defense to notice the flames burning off the end of each one.
ôTAG!ö One of the ANBU yelled and the squad in the ally pulled back hastily. A single tag had an effective radius of about three meters. Four in the confines of an ally would create serious property damage and the nins took cover immediately.
The four square tickets burnt down and exploded with hallow thuds around the kitsune, blasting the alleyway with thick white smoke. Even through his shock, the ANBU commander watched as a shadow dropped into the cloud from the opposite rooftop. What the hell?! First smoke, thenà Realization dawn on him.
ôBack in position!!!ö
Even as the alley and rooftop squads hastily returned to their crossfire, the dense cloud began to glow blue, suddenly erupting in a bright flash. Warning screamed through the commanderÆs brain and he rolled right as a blue sphere of power blazed by. His team member dove for the dirt as well, barely missing eating the two-by-two ball of energy. The commander looked up from the ground, back towards its origin.
A perfect hole had been carved through the smoke screen, revealing a glowing boy, supporting the unsteady demon with his shoulder. The Raiju container?! The demoness seemed almost as surprised as he was. The boy balanced the kitsune woman then spun around, pushing a fist into the wall to his leftà and incidentally the support below second sqaudÆs roof top position. Stone masonry held against the punch, but only for a moment. spider cracks consumed the wall from where the small boyÆs fist had impacted while the tremors throughout the structor signaled second squads appointment to vacate their position.
Nins scattered and brick promptly imploded on itself, taking a section of the roof ledge with it. Chaos now reigned supreme as the collapse filled the ally with is own dust and debries, completely obscuring the pair. The ANBU commander scrambled to his feet , his hands flashing through seals.
ôKaze Houshutsu!ö A blast of chakra driven air erupted from the hand seal, forcing a window of clear air through the dense cloud of smoke and dust. The officer smiled as the visibility opened his attack corridor. A kunai slid between his waiting fingers andù
Gone.
The dog masked ninÆs eyes searched every corner of the ally before him. The fact that he found nothing but a caved in wall and over a dozen kunai where the demoness and her ally had been cause the man to tighten his already frustrated grip on the kunai in hand. the Hokage was going to have his ass for this one.
ôSpread out, spiral search pattern!ö He snapped, causing his ANBU host to leap into action. He stared down the empty alley once more, snarling before leaping to the nearest rooftop himself.
----------------
It was a rare thing to truly surprise a being as old as Kyuubi. Few people knew that Kitsune of the Prime material plane gained a new tail once a century, and with it, new abilities and power. To put this all in perspective, Kyuubi had accumulated a total of nine. If you did manage to catch her attention it was normally out of curiosity or being perceived as a plaything for her amusementà Or if one werenÆt so lucky, a target of her displeasure.
Now she was staring down at the thirteen year old supporting her in shock.
ôDonÆt move.ö
Nor was the being known as Kyuubi used to taking orders. She was a being of pure power. Lesser things- such as the inhabitance of this man monkey village -didnÆt order her around, but she had managed to survive nearly a millennia on power, instinct and guile. Weakened and very nearly defenseless, instinct told her to heed the childÆs words as the cloud of near suffocating dust and smoke roiled around them. Logic told her to run. Logic insisted that once the cloud cleared, it was all over.
ôKaze Houshutsu!ö
Wind jutsu, she noted grimly as the chakra gained depth around them. A small gale hit them like a wall, shredding their visual cover in less than a second. The boy remained absolutely still. What was heà? She looked deeper, probing with ethereal sight. It was a very difficult thing to perceive, even with her enhanced senses. Chakraà but notà andà flowing backwards? She could see the cloak of un-chakra, roiling around the teen and up into her where he held her up.
The discovery was puzzling in and of itself, and much as she yearned to dissect the riddle further, she was ass deep in her own crisis. Riddles could wait. She turned her attention from the boy to the ANBU captain less than fifteen meters away. The nin seemed to stare down the alleyway and through them before turning on a heel with a snarl.
ôSpread out, spiral search pattern!ö
Kyuubi blinked as the ninja up on high and at the mouth of the alley suddenly dispersed with the order. The captain himself gave the alley one last look before leaping up and away himself. The black haired boy held what was now obviously a cloaking jutsu for another few moments, then dropped it, releasing a strained breath. The fox woman studied her unlikely savior as he recovered from the strain, taking the moment to seal her own wounds as well.
Blue eyes suddenly snapped up, fixing her upon her with thinly veiled malice. ôÆRuto still alive in there?ö
The kitsune arched an eyebrow. First that not-chakra cloak and now knowledge of herà hostage. She quirked a slight smile that was completely at odds with how dire the situation was. ôFor now.ö
The blue eyes cooled noticeably, ôGood, cuz heÆs the only thing keeping you alive. LetÆs go.ö
It was of KyuubiÆs opinion that when the inhabitance of the Konoha was concerned, the more of it spilt the better. For thirteen years she had been trapped within an astral prison, denied of her vengeance. Konoha would burn for its trespasses and she would personally see to it that when future generations uttered the name, it would be in the form of an ephitate or some dark omen. Her intentions were to scrub the wayward village from the earth, leaving a lifeless scorch mark that would fail to bear life for centuries.
Today, that goal was proving exceedingly difficult..
The auburn redhead sprinted across another rooftop, trailing spatters of blood as she hastily retreated from another platoon of heavily armed ANBU, kunai flashing around her as she wildly evaded the specially tagged spikes. The kimono clad Kyuubi rolled right, evading the majority of the steel salvo but missing the crossfire she had been herded into. A cat masked ANBU stepped out of the shadows and hurled her own kunai into the fray and Kyuubi spun out of the roll, hand ablaze with green fox fire. Two of the knives were immedietly engulfed in the blaze, flash vaporized out of existence. The remaining kunai was diverted from its lethal vector and instead found the flesh of her shoulder.
ôRRaaaRAAHHH!!ö She snarled, ripping the blade from her from her muscle and huring it away before the seal could power up with ethereal energy specifically detrimental to her continued existence. Blood trailed behind the lethal implement as it bounced across a rooftop before exploding in a flash of electrified light. Another splotch of crimson began to seep across the torn finery of the redheadÆs kimono she gathered enough chakra to create a suitable distraction, lighting the roof with a spectacular blaze of fire before leaping into one of KonohaÆs anonymous back alley ways. Her fingers flashed through a jutsu and her form took on that of translucent shadows as she ran deeper into the urban maze.
Damn every one of these man monkies to hell! she hissed to herself, turning down yet another corridor while hugging the walls and staying within the shadows. On any other day, she would be able to positively annihilate every last one of her tormentors and reduce their precious village to ash. Today, however, she was bound by seal, flesh and blood. They could hurt her, had hurt her and had all the tools at their disposal to finish the job. Kunai tagged with thunder heaven seals, she recalled painfully, pushing chakra into her newest wound at he shoulder to speed up the healing process.
Much as Kyuubi hated to admit it, the Hokage had done his job well in preparing for her eventual return. There was no shortage in people prepared to kill her and they were disinclined to engage her hand to hand ranges where she could put her limited chakra to the best use. Nor were they willing to provide her with the time nessisary to untangle the seal and remove it, much to her chagrin. In short, they had the numbers, weapons and power nessisary to ensure her demise.
And that of the brat, she appended mentally. She had been hoping that his continued existence would serve to give the humans a second thought before killing her outright. Apparently that second thought had been given, considered and discarded. For the greater good, she snorted, ducking into a shadow darkened back alley, melting into the cover. Taking one thirteen year old boyùeven considering who likely sired the spawnùdown with her was hardly a sufficient body count to warrant a conversation with death.
No, the body count needs to be much higher, The shadow of Kyuubi decided, her long, delicate fingers shaping the initial seal form. The demon fox woman fed chakra into the construct, her hands flashing through the seals. Astral earth lockà three sidesà eiich nii, sew, done. Astral fire lock, blood encrypted, twelve sidesà brute forceà Three hand signs later she was through the barrier and carving her way into the next seal. Wind astralùbooby trapped! Chakra feedback loop tied to a elemental fire wardà carefulà
Shsssssssssssss!!!
KyuubiÆs slitted eyes flew open as her hearing picked up the subtle hiss of high speed wind. Two triangular ears immidietly zeroed in on the sound. Above! Left! Kunai! The scarlet woman dodged the silver streaks with unnatural speed as three ANBU from rooftop above began to coat the alley with steel and blades from on high. The female kitsune dropped her shadow jutsu in favor of chakra conservation and offense. She let a gout of fire billow into the roofÆs ledge to obscure her attackers vision and broke for the mouth of the alley. She closed on the opening and felt something offà power in front of her. The fox woman slid to halt and her fingers flashed through a quick jutsu. Power flowed forth and countered the illusion in place, revealing another squad of heavily armed ninjas that had set up their kill zone under genjutsu illusionary cover while the distraction had played out on the roof. A couple more steps and she would have been too deep inside it see anything less than a lethal outcome. Even now, thoughà
The demon fox woman threw herself down and steel flew, streaking above and around her as KyuubiÆs rooftop assailants recovered, creating a deadly crossfire of edged weaponry. The crimson haired demoness was prenaturally quick, but the sheer weight of fire being directed into the confines of the alley ensured she took hits. First came the shallow cuts, perforating her kimono with razor thin slices and blood. Eventually a kunai found the whirlwind even as she was about to summon power for a counterattack.
The tagged kunai found her left arm and she tore the point out with her right hand, only to have another imbed itself deep into her lower back. Pain shrieked through her wounded body and she pulled that one out as well, both daggers bouncing to the dirt with a flash of lightning. The Kitsune prepared to improvise and exit through the ally wall when two more Kunai found her. Kyuubi dug the first one out of her leg hastily, but didnÆt get to the second in time. Her hands closed around it and the blade flashed a brilliant white, dumping itÆs chakra into her system. A single blade in and of itself was hardly lethal, especially given her reserves, but the intense strobe of pain was more than enough to create a distractionà
àAnd an opening.
The demoness hissed as the next wave of kunai flashed in. She continued the evasion, but slower. Another kunai found its mark and while she was reaching for it, another. She wasnÆt nearly fast enough to retrieve both and the pair discharged.
ôRaaaAAAAGHHH!ö The howl echoed down the ally. Both tags lit off and destroy the defense kyuubi had been weaving in an excrutiating flash, sending what had been a controlled evasion into brutal auger, skidding across the unforgiving alley gravel as he body twitched involuntarily. The spit second it took the kitsune to find her senses wasnÆt nearly enough time to recover and this time, she was nearly immobile. The nin crossfire found her with brutal efficiency, allowing eight kunai to find their mark while four more of the specially tagged implements followed. The back ally pulsed brightly four more times, each accompanied by a helpless scream.
ôCease fire!ö
The steel rain stalled with the command, allowing the group of veteran ANBU specifically assembled to deal with this very threat to assess their handiwork. What they found would have turned their stomache if they hadnÆt known exactly who it was they had just taken out.
The crimson hair woman lay in a crumple in the center of the ally, her body riddled with Kunai. Each wound allowed a small river of blood to burble from from her flesh, but every man looking upon the creature knew those particular kunai hadnÆt been the primary source of damage. Molten slags of smoldering steal were interspersed among them, respresenting the spent heaven seal tagged kunai. They stuck out of her body at odd angles as well, the heat of their energy expenditure scortching both the finery of her kimono and her pale flesh.
A senior ANBU stepped forward with another four specially tagged kunai in hand. His lieutenant followed. The cat masked commander regarded the fox woman coldly. ôThe Hokage will be her to finish the job shortly, beast.ö
Kyuubi pulled her face from the gravel surface, fixing the nin with the only eye not matted with blood. It began to glow furiously and her body began to attempt to right itself in spite of the all-consuming pain. ôIà willà. Youà willà dieàö
ôNot today.ö The ranking nin and his second considered the spasming woman impassively. He fanned the kunai through his fingers with a cruel smile. It really was a pity they wouldnÆt be enough to kill her. No, that required a rank S genjutsu to accomplish. All the tags did was discharge chakra into her body and reacted violently to demonic chakra. In short, it was barely enough to incapacitate herà
àThe monumental pain it was causing her was simply an added bonus.
The captain sighted the demoness, who was only beginning to regain her balance, and loosed the kunai with a heave. The kunai would have less than a seconds worth of flight time, and the ANBU officer doubted the fox would be able to intercept a single one, let alone all four.
Vengance was sweet.
KyuubiÆs slitted eyes tracked the four blades as they left his hands, and she knew as well what they represented. Defeat. Two blades would be enough to buy enough time for their infernal leader to arrive. Three would complete incapacitate her. Four? I probably wonÆt even be conscious four my own death.
The split second hung in eternity and Kyuubi readied her final defense, futile as it may be. She tensed for the deflection.
Silver flashed as four tagged kunai were suddenly ablated by a shower of sparks, diverted to the earth just inches from her feet. Four more kunai landed next to them lazily, their tips finding the ground. The Kitsune was too shocked by the sudden defense to notice the flames burning off the end of each one.
ôTAG!ö One of the ANBU yelled and the squad in the ally pulled back hastily. A single tag had an effective radius of about three meters. Four in the confines of an ally would create serious property damage and the nins took cover immediately.
The four square tickets burnt down and exploded with hallow thuds around the kitsune, blasting the alleyway with thick white smoke. Even through his shock, the ANBU commander watched as a shadow dropped into the cloud from the opposite rooftop. What the hell?! First smoke, thenà Realization dawn on him.
ôBack in position!!!ö
Even as the alley and rooftop squads hastily returned to their crossfire, the dense cloud began to glow blue, suddenly erupting in a bright flash. Warning screamed through the commanderÆs brain and he rolled right as a blue sphere of power blazed by. His team member dove for the dirt as well, barely missing eating the two-by-two ball of energy. The commander looked up from the ground, back towards its origin.
A perfect hole had been carved through the smoke screen, revealing a glowing boy, supporting the unsteady demon with his shoulder. The Raiju container?! The demoness seemed almost as surprised as he was. The boy balanced the kitsune woman then spun around, pushing a fist into the wall to his leftà and incidentally the support below second sqaudÆs roof top position. Stone masonry held against the punch, but only for a moment. spider cracks consumed the wall from where the small boyÆs fist had impacted while the tremors throughout the structor signaled second squads appointment to vacate their position.
Nins scattered and brick promptly imploded on itself, taking a section of the roof ledge with it. Chaos now reigned supreme as the collapse filled the ally with is own dust and debries, completely obscuring the pair. The ANBU commander scrambled to his feet , his hands flashing through seals.
ôKaze Houshutsu!ö A blast of chakra driven air erupted from the hand seal, forcing a window of clear air through the dense cloud of smoke and dust. The officer smiled as the visibility opened his attack corridor. A kunai slid between his waiting fingers andù
Gone.
The dog masked ninÆs eyes searched every corner of the ally before him. The fact that he found nothing but a caved in wall and over a dozen kunai where the demoness and her ally had been cause the man to tighten his already frustrated grip on the kunai in hand. the Hokage was going to have his ass for this one.
ôSpread out, spiral search pattern!ö He snapped, causing his ANBU host to leap into action. He stared down the empty alley once more, snarling before leaping to the nearest rooftop himself.
----------------
It was a rare thing to truly surprise a being as old as Kyuubi. Few people knew that Kitsune of the Prime material plane gained a new tail once a century, and with it, new abilities and power. To put this all in perspective, Kyuubi had accumulated a total of nine. If you did manage to catch her attention it was normally out of curiosity or being perceived as a plaything for her amusementà Or if one werenÆt so lucky, a target of her displeasure.
Now she was staring down at the thirteen year old supporting her in shock.
ôDonÆt move.ö
Nor was the being known as Kyuubi used to taking orders. She was a being of pure power. Lesser things- such as the inhabitance of this man monkey village -didnÆt order her around, but she had managed to survive nearly a millennia on power, instinct and guile. Weakened and very nearly defenseless, instinct told her to heed the childÆs words as the cloud of near suffocating dust and smoke roiled around them. Logic told her to run. Logic insisted that once the cloud cleared, it was all over.
ôKaze Houshutsu!ö
Wind jutsu, she noted grimly as the chakra gained depth around them. A small gale hit them like a wall, shredding their visual cover in less than a second. The boy remained absolutely still. What was heà? She looked deeper, probing with ethereal sight. It was a very difficult thing to perceive, even with her enhanced senses. Chakraà but notà andà flowing backwards? She could see the cloak of un-chakra, roiling around the teen and up into her where he held her up.
The discovery was puzzling in and of itself, and much as she yearned to dissect the riddle further, she was ass deep in her own crisis. Riddles could wait. She turned her attention from the boy to the ANBU captain less than fifteen meters away. The nin seemed to stare down the alleyway and through them before turning on a heel with a snarl.
ôSpread out, spiral search pattern!ö
Kyuubi blinked as the ninja up on high and at the mouth of the alley suddenly dispersed with the order. The captain himself gave the alley one last look before leaping up and away himself. The black haired boy held what was now obviously a cloaking jutsu for another few moments, then dropped it, releasing a strained breath. The fox woman studied her unlikely savior as he recovered from the strain, taking the moment to seal her own wounds as well.
Blue eyes suddenly snapped up, fixing her upon her with thinly veiled malice. ôÆRuto still alive in there?ö
The kitsune arched an eyebrow. First that not-chakra cloak and now knowledge of herà hostage. She quirked a slight smile that was completely at odds with how dire the situation was. ôFor now.ö
The blue eyes cooled noticeably, ôGood, cuz heÆs the only thing keeping you alive. LetÆs go.ö
