"So what are we even looking for?" Kai groaned while stretching dramatically.
Itsuki sighed and reminded her teammate. "We've gotten multiple reports of shinobi going missing or being found dead throughout the land of wind. We are looking for them, obviously." She said incredulously.
Kai nodded. "Right…"
Kai was a tall Sunagakure shinobi with short black hair and black eyes, Itsuki was a short kunoichi with medium length brown hair and brown eyes.
The two were on a mission with two others, twins, Ichiro and Jiro, who were both short men with long ginger hair and blue eyes.
All of them were ninja from Sunagakure, currently setting up camp for the next day, where they would all continue their search.
The kazekage was currently very active with preparations on the raid on Konoha and so he was on edge against anything, for example, an enemy lurking in the desert, taking down various Sunagakure shinobi.
Ichiro finished setting up the tent and walked back over to the others. "What are you two talking about?" He asked before looking down at Kai's missing arm, immediately looking back up at his face.
Kai sighed when he saw this and covered his stump with his shirt awkwardly. "Just about what exactly we're looking for. Seriously no one has been found? About fourteen shinobi have gone missing." He asked.
Jiro joined the discussion to answer. "Apparently a squad of four had been found, they were all dead with a small hole through their heads." He said.
"Yeah! Apparently the one going around killing these people is either using a very small weapon like a rapier or is using an unknown Jutsu, strong enough to pierce through the skulls of trained shinobi through their forehead protectors." Ichiro joined the conversation and continued on from where Jiro left off.
Kai's eyebrows raised in surprise. "A technique like that and the person hasn't even been identified?" He asked in shock.
At that moment, Itsuki, who was the sensor of the squad, suddenly perked up and looked into the distance as she picked up a chakra signature.
The other three all immediately raised their guards and followed her gaze.
Ichiro's gaze sharpened as he tried to focus on the small figure approaching from afar.
From what he could see, a really small human was walking in their direction. The person was wearing a turban and a blindfold on their head. They were wearing a baggy shirt that didn't look like it belonged to the person. On the person's back was what looked to be a sword, which made the group raise their guard further.
Itsuki's composure fumbled for a moment as she looked at the person's chakra reserves, it was about the same as theirs, so the same as the average Chūnin. Even Kai, who was a retired Jōnin due to an injury on his arm, that was sent here to lead their squad and search for the mysterious disappearances didn't have much more chakra than this person.
Jiro grabbed a kunai from his back pouch as the figure got even closer.
He got ready to attack the moment the person raised a hand.
And then…
They waved?
Jiro hesitated for a moment, because the person waved at him in a seemingly friendly manner.
A few minutes later, the figure approached the squad and greeted them with a polite, childish voice.
"Hello!" The person wearing a blindfold said, the idea of this being a child making the squad lower their guards slightly.
Slowly putting the kunai back into the pouch, Jiro replied with a nod. "Hello? What are you doing out here in the desert alone, kid?"
The blindfolded kid rubbed the back of his head, some dark red hair peeking out from under his turban. "Ah, I must've gotten lost." He said with an awkward chuckle.
Kai suddenly spoke up. "State your name, where are you from? Why are you in possession of a weapon? Why are you blindfolded?" He asked in rapid succession, eyes sharpening as the kid looked as if he was listening to something for a moment.
"My name is Hikaru Otsutsuki, I'm from a village over in that direction somewhere called 'The Great Shuen Village', the Ninjato is just for protection and I'm blindfolded because the sun keeps getting in my eyes."
Kai looked off into the distance toward where the kid was pointing before nodding. "Hm, alright. I've never heard about any villages in that direction, are you sure?" He asked, his teammates peeking over from behind to listen to the conversation.
"I figured as much, I've never heard about anyone from the outside world entering or anyone even leaving the village. What are your names? Since I told you mine." Hikaru asked.
Kai raised an eyebrow but didn't see a problem with it. "My name is Kai, the woman behind me is Itsuki and the twins are Jiro and Ichiro. We are shinobi from Sunagakure on a very important mission." He said, showing Hikaru his forehead protector with the sand village's crest.
"So you know some cool techniques with that chakra stuff right?" The boy asked, suddenly more enthusiastic.
By now, everyone was a lot calmer and didn't see the kid as any kind of threat, so they started talking amongst themselves.
Kai laughed at the question and rubbed the back of his head with his one hand. "I used to… but now I'm only able to do very few due to being unable to use many hand signs." He said awkwardly, a little sadly.
"Like what?" Hikaru asked, like he was in a rush.
Coughing awkwardly, Kai answered. "The Three Bodies Techniques."
Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "And those are…?"
"The three basic jutsu taught at the academy, are you telling me you didn't attend a ninja academy, even though you're carrying around a sword like that?" Kai asked seriously.
"Nope, care to show me?" The kid asked.
Kai hummed in thought for a moment. "There's no harm in it, I suppose." He said before making a hand sign with one hand.
Hikaru suddenly stopped talking, a faint golden glow appearing behind his blindfold.
He then made three more hand signs with his one hand and then one clone appeared on either side of him.
"This is the clone technique."
The clones dispersed and he made another hand sign, then three more.
At that moment, he transformed into a direct replica of Itsuki, who was behind him glaring into the back of his head.
Right as Kai was about to show Hikaru the third technique, Hikaru copied the hand signs used for the transformation jutsu.
Kai raised an eyebrow.
*POOF!*
At that moment, Hikaru transformed into Kai, making everyone in the squad turn their attention that way.
"Woah! Kid, you did that with one handed signs?" Kai suddenly exclaimed, the others sharing his shock.
Turning back into himself, Hikaru coughed, not used to all the people talking to him at once.
Ignoring all of them, Hikaru suddenly froze and seemed to be listening to something before nodding.
Suddenly, the young boy pulled out a white and gold feather. "Hey, Kai. Why not use one of these on your arm?" He asked, as if Kai knew what the feather was.
Covering his arm, Kai was broken out of his excitement as he raised an eyebrow questioningly at Hikaru. "What?"
"Use one of Shuen's feathers to heal your arm, obviously!" Hikaru said with a smile.
Everyone's attention was suddenly on the feather in Hikaru's hand. "Shuen? Heal?" Ichiro asked.
"Yes, in my village we all worship a god known as Shuen! Shuen is a large peacock god, who gifts the villagers with his feathers. These feathers have the ability to heal any injury!" Hikaru said, smiling dramatically.
A greedy glint suddenly appeared in all of their eyes. "Is that right? Can I use it?" Kai asked.
Hikaru thought for a moment before nodding. "Sure! Try it out, it's a one time use but I have lots!" He said, handing the feather to Kai.
Kai looked down at the feather in his hand and he poured his chakra into it, feeling the energy entering his body and flowing to his arm.
The stump suddenly split open, bone growing out from it before nerves and muscle fibers wrapped around it before skin covered his now recovered arm.
His hand opened and closed, his eyes open wide in shock. "And you… have more of these?" He suddenly asked, a greedy glint in his eye.
Kai reached for a kunai, even though Hikaru had just helped him, he wanted more. And so did his squad and he doubted this kid would hand them all over nicely.
He was about to attack but then—
Hikaru vanished.
He used a technique that seemed to be the body flicker technique without hand signs! He suddenly reappeared behind Jiro, Ninjato already halfway through a slice.
Jiro barely had time to grasp what was going on before the impact sent him crumpling forward, breath torn from his lungs as his blood stained the sand.
"Jiro!!" Ichiro shouted his brother's name and attacked immediately, hands moving rapidly in a sequence of signs as a blade of wind appeared out of nowhere and flew toward Hikaru. The kid didn't retreat, the eyes behind the blindfold flashed golden, then unraveled the flow of chakra in the wind blade.
He suddenly flicked his hand forward.
The exact same blade of wind flew forward, it was a little weaker and less refined but it clashed with Ichiro's and dispersed the attack, sending the twin skidding back.
Kai quickly made his move.
The Jōnin didn't waste time, he immediately adapted to having both hands again and lunged forward, drawing a short sword from his belt. He was very fast, way faster than the others and his strike came down to kill Hikaru in a single sequence.
"Page Nine, Empty Bloom."
Steel rang as Hikaru shifted his body just off center as Kai's blade passed where he should've been, Hikaru's counter arriving right at that moment to kill Kai right then and there. But the Jōnin leapt back instantly, eyes immediately narrowing as he reassessed.
"Itsuki," he snapped without looking. "Track him."
She tried.
Her chakra field got smaller but more accurate, adjusting and compensating for the strange distortion Hikaru left in his wake, but the moment she locked onto him, the world suddenly tilted. The desert stretched, shadows appearing out of nowhere as thousands of chakra signatures bloomed around her, each one was as accurate and perfect as an actual human.
"W-what the hell—" she stammered, unable to simultaneously track Hikaru and disrupt her chakra to break the genjutsu, turning too late.
Hikaru emerged from one of the false signatures and struck.
The sand beneath her suddenly erupted as jagged spikes of earth broke her balance and forced her into the open, where Hikaru's blade sliced her throat cleanly. She fell with a gargle, the genjutsu wearing off.
Ichiro screamed and charged, grief breaking discipline as he hurled a barrage of wind blades, each one flying with enough force to cut the stone. Hikaru let two strike him, well… a clone. The dispersal of the clone masking his real movement as an earth pillar rose beneath him, sending him flying into the air before a faint golden wall appeared above him as he kicked off it, propelling him down.
Ichiro raised his arms too late.
The kid's sword struck once, ending the fight right then and there before Kai could intervene.
The Jōnin quickly formed hand signs, sand moving as earth whipped up from the ground,sending a wave toward Hikaru, meant to bury and pulverise him.
But the boy watched curiously.
"I seem to be able to use these Earth techniques far better than any other, perhaps it's my affinity?" He said before a manic grin appeared on his face as his blindfold and turban slipped, revealing a pair of green eyes with white pupils and blood red hair that fell to his shoulders.
The earth trembled and shifted, even denser and more obedient than Kai's technique. The earth began rising in reinforced slabs that caused the Jōnin's to collapse inward, trapping Kai's own jutsu against itself. Hikaru then flew through the opening, using the body flicker technique, as his sword whistled again.
Kai staggered.
Hikaru didn't give him any time.
They clashed once again, the man's skill was incredible, thanks to his experience as a Jōnin, but this kid's strange abilities were too ridiculous to handle. Kai landed blows, but Hikaru seemed to absorb them and use them as fuel.
The fight dragged until Kai overcommitted, desperation forcing his hand as he gathered chakra for one big attack.
But Hikaru suddenly flew past him.
"Page Four, Butterfly's Edge."
Before Kai could use the attack or even realise that Hikaru had flown past him, his head was rolling.
Only one person was left.
It was Ichiro.
Hikaru had purposely only wounded him, not killed.
He was instructed to leave one alive to bring the attention of Sunagakure to him and Shuen.
The kid sighed dramatically as a puff of smoke appeared around him.
He sat down, his hair was now pale beige with slight golden undertones, the ends of his hair were dark red from being covered in blood and his eyes were golden.
It had been three weeks since Sora had left the village, and was currently carrying out the orders of his ancestor.
Oroshiki Otsutsuki.