Epilogue: What Happens Next part 1

Epilogue: What Happens Next

“Never. Again.”

“Agreed.”

“Fuck sewers.”

We all mumbled our gripes as we left the sewers, each of us covered in muck, grime, and rat.

Yeah, it turned out that the reason no one did that mission wasn’t just because the ring was hard to find but also because giant fucking rats lived there. One of them even took the liberty of eating the ring; thank god Sui could see through the rat that ate it. Else that would have been a huge waste of time.

People avoided looking our way as we trudged through the village to the Hokage’s office. Sui dropped the blood-covered ring on Hiruzen-sensei’s desk, forcing him to put down his paperwork.

“Weren’t you three supposed to return it to the owner…” Hiruzen-sensei’s voice trailed off as we all gave him death glares.

“Third Hokage…” Sui’s voice was cold as the veins in her face bulged. “If we did that, we’d get a complaint. And I refuse to get paid half when I had to go shoulder deep in rat guts.”

“I see.”

“You see…” Sui chuckled at first. Oh no. Then it turned into a full crazed laugh. “You see!”

Sui lunged at Hiruzen-sensei, who didn’t even move. His eyes wide. I shot my hands from my pockets, restraining Sui with wires as she continued to snap.

“The mission said nothing about chakra-infused rats! What the hell kind of contracts are you taking! Are you going senile!”

Sui shouted out her pains as I pulled her towards me. Eventually, calming down once I ran my hands through her hair. But she still insisted on glaring at Hiruzen-sensei.

“Wow Sis, I didn’t know you had it in you.” Tayuya said, joining me in giving Sui head pats.

“So the infestation got that bad.” Hiruzen-sensei said, wiping the sweat off his face.

I doubt anyone in the room except me expected Sui to snap like that. She had a high tolerance for a lot of things, but when it came to bullshit, she drew the line.

I think the last time she snapped like that was when Iruka-sensei failed her for getting a perfect score on a written exam. Something about the test being how well you could cheat and well… she didn’t need to cheat to pass. By the end of it all, Iruka-sensei never made an assignment like that again.

“Well I’m glad I sent you three on that mission.” Hiruzen-sensei said as I noticed he avoided making eye contact with Sui. “I’ll be sure to give Team 9 a bonus for dealing with that issue. Now, whose ready for some filing.”

“First rats… now paperwork… Go fuck yourself geezer.” Tayuya placed her lips on her flute, but before she could blow into it, I restrained her as well. Hiruzen-sensei actually didn’t seem that fazed by Tayuya’s outburst; in fact, it looked like it relaxed him a little.

“So Yuki, it seems like you’re the sane one of the group.”

“Yeah… I wouldn’t say that.” My Sharingan flicked on against my will, and when it did, I had to blink a few times to turn them off. That continued to happen the entire time since I left that hellscape.

“I see. Did you complete the other missions that were due today?”

“We did but received complaints about smelling like ratshit.”

“That’s unfortunate. Why didn’t you guys clean yourselves up first?”

“The same reason why these two haven’t broken free.” I sighed, feeling the aches in my body. “Chakra exhaustion from this morning and then—”

“I understand. Team 9, you’re dismissed for the day but be ready for tomorrow.” Hiruzen-sensei sat back down at his desk, ignoring the bloodied ring that sat as proof of our hard work. “I am happy to see that none of you got hurt, and I am proud of my students.”

Usually, receiving praise from the Hokage would have made me jump for joy or even make Sui crack a smile but right now, we just wanted to take a shower.

I released them from my wires, and we walked off without a word.

2

After the deep cleaning we did to our bodies and burning those tainted clothes, we lounged around in Sui’s room.

“Should I go and apologize?” Sui said, leaning against my shoulder, her face hidden behind her hair.

“Why? That old fucker deserved it.” Tayuya didn’t look at us as she wiped down her flute, paying extra care not to miss a spot. “Using us as exterminators. Disgusting.”

I wrapped my arm around Sui and rubbed her shoulder. “It’s fine; I’m sure Hiruzen-sensei understands you were just upset. And thanks to you, we have the day off.”

“What’s left of the day.” Sui grumbled.

“We could play Shogi.” I offered with a smile.

“As if I’d want to lose—”

“You’re talking about that board game right?” Tayuya looked up from her flute that seemed to sparkle just like her eyes. She really does care about that thing.

“See, Tayuya wants to see us play.” I got up to go get the board. “We can teach her.”

“I hate it when you’re pissed.” Sui let out a sigh as she leaned against Tayuya.

“I’m not mad. How am I mad?” I said, searching for the board game until I found it on the top shelf of her closet.

“I mean, we just completed a D rank mission which should’ve been a C rank mission but got paid as if it was a D rank mission. Not to mention I had to wash my hair five times after the tomato bath. I can assure you I’m perfectly calm. Especially as the one who didn’t yell at Hiruzen-sensei.”

I stared up at the goddamn box I couldn’t reach because of the clothes in the way. When did Sui get so many clothes? How did she even get it up there?

As I scratched my head, a small Doki launched off my shoulder, knocking me to the ground. It then returned, standing next to me with the box in hand. This small Doki was different from the usual pink guy as it had hair covering its face with old samurai armor on. I stood up, taking the Shogi box, and as I did, a weird thought crossed my mind. What’s under all that hair.

I reached out to the Doki, only for it to grab my arm. Tayuya didn’t even play her flute that time. Which was weird as they seemed to only move when she played it, like they were entranced by her music. The Doki emitted a low growl as if it was a dog, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Weird…

“Shouldn’t you not summon those?” I said, shooting Tayuya a questioning glance.

“Shouldn't you be saying thank you? Ungrateful little shit.”

“What? For the board? I could’ve gotten it with my earth style… maybe.”

“No you idiot. You were trying to look at a Doki’s face.”

“I was just going for a headpat.” I said, setting up the board.

“Doki’s don’t move on their own unless you piss them off.”

“So headpats are a no-go noted.”

“My stupid little brother, I should’ve let it maul you. Looking at its face will enrage a Doki, and even I wouldn’t be able to control it.” Tayuya sighed. “You’re supposed to be smart.”

“I wouldn’t be smart if I didn’t try things out.” I pointed out as I took my spot behind the white pieces.

“Try that shit again, and you’ll have to kiss that pretty face of yours goodbye. They’ll definitely love to add your sorry mug to their collection.”

“Wait, it was going to take my face?!”

“You think his face is pretty?”

Me and Tayuya stared at Sui. While I appreciated her pointing that out for me, I almost lost my face! To some weird monster summoning. That was not the time to embarrass Tayuya.

“I meant pretty as in soft and delicate. I would never find a crybaby who's never killed attractive.”

“Yeah, Yuki does have a babyface, doesn’t he?” Sui crawled away from Tayuya and pulled at my cheeks, giggling.

“Can we get back to the topic at hand.” I said, only mildly enjoying Sui’s warm touch. “Tayuya summons things that steals faces. And I almost lost mine.”

“At least with no face, I can’t call you a crying bitch anymore.” Tayuya shrugged, talking as if I could live without a face.

“She has a point.” Sui laughed. “Oh, but I’ll miss hearing your voice.”

My ego inflated like a balloon. “I always knew you loved the sound of me.”

“Tayuya, can we choose what stays or goes?” Sui said, immediately popping it. What part of my face does she want to get rid of?

“I wish. I would’ve had his mouth stolen weeks go.” Tayuya blew into her flute a bit, but after hearing the sound, she grumbled and took out this thin metal rod. I had no idea what she was doing, but at least that stopped the conversation of my face being torn off.

“Alright, so you ready for some Shogi?” I smiled at Sui, who only chuckled as the light in her eye was back. I’ll have to thank Tayuya for that.

“Ok, I’ll play you, but—” Sui snatched up two of my pieces, my left lance, and bishop, with a smile. “—We’re playing a handicapped game.”

“Th-that’s a heavy handicap.”

“Oh where was that earlier excitement Yuki.” Sui said as she sat next across from me, waiting for me to make the first move.

I sighed as the world slowed down. “Tayuya. Watch and learn.”

Tayuya’s eyes lit up as she crawled up to the board. “Why do you have your Sharingan on? Does it help you play?”

“Uh…”

Sui burst out in a fit of laughter. “Go on, tell her why you do that.”

“It’s not funny.” I said, ignoring Sui as I went on to answer Tayuya’s question. “It helps calm the nerves.”

“And…” Sui said, egging me on.

“And I think I’m cooler with my Sharingan on.”

Tayuya stared at me with the purest look of disappointment I had ever seen her give me. “You’re such a joke.”

I sighed as I moved my first piece, starting a series of straight wins against Sui. It was actually grueling to do because every time I moved a piece, Tayuya would ask: “Why did you do that? Which piece is that? Why does the Kanji change when you flip the piece over?”

It got to the point that Sui had won a couple of games due to the time limit running out. That was when I decided that her first lesson in learning more than just how to kill someone would be Shogi. That way, I wouldn’t have to lose a game because of the timer again!

3

The next morning, we were once again not greeted by our ANBU caretakers; it seemed they were still out on their mission. Thankfully Sui woke us up because I would’ve slept in.

“Don’t tell me you’re still tired from yesterday. I gave you more than enough time to rest. A ninja must use their time properly.” Hiruzen-sensei said as he tried to sink me into the ground.

“B-blame Tayuya.” I struggled to talk while concentrating on countering his Earth Turning Palm Jutsu with my own. “She talked to me all night.”

Hiruzen-sensei stared at me with his hands on the ground. It was weird seeing the old man in some sort of crab walk.

We were currently doing some one-on-one training in the training grounds’ forest, and today Hiruzen-sensei decided to divide us up for instruction. We each got a Hiruzen clone and were in separate areas suited for what we were learning.

“Hmmm. Yuki, I’m glad you and Tayuya are getting along but don’t let your hormones get in the way of what’s important.”

“Wait what?” My hands and feet sunk into the ground that immediately hardened.

“Yuki, that did not feel like mastery to me.” Hiruzen-sensei dusted off his hands before they slunk back into his robes.

“Hiruzen-sensei, you seriously can’t blame that on me. I can take hearing embarrassing stuff from the others but from you? You’re the Hokage!”

“I don’t believe I was wrong in my statement.”

“My heart belongs to Sui.”

“And that may be a problem.” Hiruzen sensei stared down at me, his eyes narrowed. “I have a friend that you’ve met twice now—”

“Danzo...” The word slipped through my teeth. Just the thought of him brought that feeling back as my violet chakra surged, and I broke free from the ground that shackled me filled with chills.

“Yes, Danzo.” Hiruzen-sensei continued, ignoring my temper tantrum. “He, like you, cares deeply about one thing. Yours is your family, and him is the village.”

“He has a funny way of showing it. Do you even know what he did to the Uchiha?”

“Do you?” Hiruzen-sensei’s words cut through me as he waited for my answer.

“I don’t, but I know he had to do something.”

“And why is that?”

I sighed as I clutched the collar of my shirt. “I have this feeling of hate for him so great that I have to believe he had to do something with the Uchiha Coup de tat.”

“Where did you hear that name.” The Third Hokage kept his voice steady, but there was a slight edge coated in sorrow within his words.

“You know where.”

“Sui… That kunoichi is very much not meant to be a Genin.” The Third Hokage chuckled, but it sounded painful. “If you’re going to hate anyone for that, you should hate me. My weakness is the trust I place in others and my unwillingness to take drastic action. As there is always a better way, a compromise, yet I was too slow.”

My eyes saw through any slight adjustments in his face, the slightest twitch of his fingers, and even the orange glow of his chakra where they all told me he wasn’t lying. I dipped my hands into my pockets. “Then were you the one who had the Masked Man kill my family.”

“Masked Man?” The Third Hokage looked confused, and that told me everything.

I let go of my kunai. “There were two Uchiha that night who killed everyone, not just Itachi. If you don’t know that—” I relaxed my eyes, “Then I have no reason to believe it’s your fault.”

“There was another Uchiha—” Hiruzen-sensei’s muttering was cut short as he sunk deep into the ground with only his head above it.

“So didn’t I tell you I mastered this Jutsu already.” I said, smiling at the mole I had just created.

“Fine. You can move on to the next lesson.” Hiruzen-sensei rose up from the ground, tapping my forehead. “But if you spread your focus out to too many techniques, you’ll end up a jack of all trades master of none. I got out of your Jutsu too easily.”

“Being a jack isn’t all too bad.” I said, unfurling the scroll off my back.

Hiruzen-sensei facepalmed. “That was not funny.”

“I thought it was clever.”

“Of course you did, but it seems like our session time is up.” Hiruzen-sensei said before his voice steeled. “You’re going to have to tell me more about this Masked Man. I was only aware of Itachi’s involvement.”

“I’ll tell you when you finish telling me about the Uchiha coup de tat.” The world slowed as I stared him down. “Without the fucking riddles.”

The Third Hokage sighed before he disappeared into smoke, leaving me with some last words. “You Uchiha are going to put me in an early grave.”

“I wonder whose fault that is.” I muttered as I did the hand signs. My face burned as I stared at the sky.

“Fire Style: Great Fire Ball Jutsu!”

Like a Dragon, I roared flames into the air above me, and when the fire died out, I decided to take the rest of my frustrations out on training.

4

“Earth Style: Terra Shield Jutsu!” I stomped my foot on the ground, and a rectangular cut of the floor flicked upward, creating a makeshift shield. It stood tall about my height, but the problem was how thin I made it. That would block kunai at best.

I stared at the instructions again. It had a diagram of how I needed to first do the hand seals, which was easy, but then I had to shape my chakra to extend across the surface. That was the only way I could kick the ground up to make a shield, and the problem was that I needed to extend it deeper into the ground.

“Maybe he was right.” I grumbled. I needed to practice Earth Turning Palm more to get the right width, but—I laid down as the wall slammed back into place. “That doesn’t make much sense when—”

“You fucking slacker.”

My eyes widened as Tayuya’s foot loomed over me. I did the hand seals Boar → Ox then placed my hand on the ground. “Earth Style: Earth Turning Palm Jutsu!”

Tayuya’s other foot sunk, causing her to wobble and fall backwards, hitting the ground with a thud! How much does she weigh? I thought as I stood up and held my hand out to her.

“I guess you weren’t slacking the whole time.” Tayuya mumbled, taking my hand. I half expected her to use that as a chance to slam me into the ground, but instead, she opened her mouth.

“Wind Style: Blowing Swirl Jutsu!”

A gust of wind shot from her mouth, forcing me to spin in place until I dropped onto the ground. The world woozily turned and shifted to where I couldn’t focus on anything but Tayuya’s laughter.

“You like that! And guess what? I can also use it with my flute! I’ll blow everyone away with my performance.”

“Sounds like fun.” I said, standing up on wobbly legs. “But thanks to your Jutsu, I can’t concentrate on my own.”

“Good because I’m starving.” Tayuya’s stomach growled, causing mine to agree with her.

“I guess it is lunchtime.” Not to mention my progress with my Jutsu is screwed.

“Then it’s settled; let’s go get Sis.” Tayuya said, tossing me my scroll, which knocked me back on the ground. I stared up at her with red eyes that she seemed to laugh off. “Fine, I’ll carry it for you little bro.”

Feeling the weight lift off my chest, I still gave her a cold stare. “I’m not going to get used to being called that.”

“I could always force you to.”

“That sounds wrong—I’ll shut up now.”

5

After some walking, we found Sui sparring with Enma on the river. I was about to call out to her, but Tayuya pulled me back by the collar as an adamantine staff slammed into the water in front of me.

“Thanks for the save,” I said, rubbing the water out of my eyes.

“That was for last time.” Tayuya grumbled. “Pay more attention!”

“I wonder whose fault it is that I can’t do that right now.”

“Fucking hell, I’ll work on the Jutsu some more—”

“Incoming!” Sui screamed as she slid past us as if she was surfing.

Behind her was a wave of staffs flying towards us, way more than what Enma used on the day we met him. I counted at least five times the number of staffs he used prior. What kind of training is this?

“You’re kinda fucked Yuki.”

“Why’s that—” I suddenly gained a shit ton of weight as Tayuya ran off without my scroll on her back. She’s actually trying to kill me.

My wind style definitely wasn’t going to outrun that, which meant unless I wanted to become a shish kebab, I had to try it. “Time to see how much I’ve changed.”

I did the hand signs as the staffs closed in and turned around, deciding it would be better if I didn’t look at my impending doom. Concentrating on my feet first, then letting the chakra spread out evenly across my body. The sensation of being pinpricked by thousands of tiny needles surfaced as a deep blue chakra outlined my body in a slight cloak. “Lightning Style: Lighting Cloak 25%!”

With a step forward, I bolted off and caught up to a shocked Tayuya.

“Are out of your fucking mind! You’ll kill us before the staffs!” She was right as the water I ran on became electrified and followed us faster than the staffs. “Couldn’t you tell that’s why Sui didn’t use hers?”

I gave her a smile with red eyes, knowing full well what would happen as I passed her. “You reap what you sow.”

“Hell no I don’t!” The L-shaped lines spread across her face as Tayuya sped up, matching my speed.

“That’s fair. I thought you said you weren’t going to use that anymore?”

“Go to hell scum.”

“Oh hey you two enjoying the exercise?” Sui said as we had finally caught up to her.

“Sis, what the fuck is this?”

“Training.”

“We noticed that Sui. I’m sure Tayuya meant—Why the hell are the staffs following us!”

We had made numerous turns, yet the staffs didn’t crash into the ground instead, they followed us. Almost as if they were—

“Chakra seeking missiles, mine in particular, but it looks like Enma doesn’t like you two.” Sui shrugged her shoulders. “And I can’t blame him.”

“What the fuck did I do!”

“You called him a shit flinger just yesterday Tayuya.” I said, pointing out her selective memory.

“What! That’s what apes do.”

“I’m a monkey king!” We couldn’t see him, but not one of us missed Enma’s yell.

“So Sui, got a plan? Cause if I keep my chakra cloak on any longer, I’ll need another trip to the hospital.”

“Oh wow, you did it Yuki! I’d kiss you right now if it didn’t break my concentration.”

Looking at Sui, there was sweat beading on her face—or water—but she did seem tired from surfing the entire time. Even Tayuya was breathing heavily as her tattoos glowed orange.

“Not… Hah… Now…” She muttered as she held onto her neck. So there is a limit to how often she can use her curse mark. That was good to know, but that didn’t change the fact we needed to do something.

“Sui.”

“I got it. Just follow my lead.” Sui turned around as she slid to a stop with deep blue chakra swirling around her. “Lightning Style: Lightning Cloak 50%.”

She bolted off towards the staffs, and I understood the plan as I called out. “Tayuya, it’s time to blow them away with your performance.”

“My melodies are made for people. Not stupid fucking staffs.” Tayuya turned around with horns protruding from her head as she entered her curse mark stage 2 and pressed her flute against her lips.

The world slowed down, and the chills calmed my nerves as I released my chakra cloak, focusing on my Sharingan. I needed to be accurate as we only had one shot, I thought, staring at the incoming wave.

I pulled out four wind kunai and four earth kunai and threw them at one-third of the adamantine staffs already sending out a trail of fire along the wires.

“Improvised Style: Dust-styled Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!”

“Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!”

“Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!”

With our combined effort, the adamantine staffs were reduced to pieces, splinters, and dust. My Sharingan immediately shut off as I collapsed onto the water next to Tayuya, who was back to normal and exhausted.

“Hah… Why the fuck… Hah… didn’t we do that earlier?”

“Running was easier.” I said, staring at the clouds as I tried to ignore Tayuya’s glare. “Ok, easier before I knew they could turn. Who expects staffs to turn?”

“…” Tayuya didn’t say a word, but even if she tried to, she’d be overshadowed by the loud squeal of joy that came from Sui as she jumped at us.

“That was amazing!” Sui said, holding onto Tayuya and me in a hug, our faces rubbing against one another. “Our first-ever team attack! What should we call it? Team 9 Tri-strike? Or. Or. Melodic Dismantling Fist! Ah! So much to choose.”

“S-Sis, you’re corny as hell.”

“Too cute—I mean…” I tried to think of something else to say, but nope I meant it. Seeing Sui all giddy and Tayuya get embarrassed was something that could only be described as: “Too cute.”

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