April 5th, Night
"Mom! Please wake up!" Akage cried out, his eyes stung and tears streamed down his face.
His hands were dyed red as he tried to shake her awake and knelt in the puddle of her blood.
"Come on, get up! Please, I don't want you to be gone."
Tears fell on her cooling corpse and Akage had to accept that his mother died. After releasing a shuddering breath, he grimaced at the wounds in her torso and the kunai stuck in her stomach.
"Captain…" The bald jonin responsible for her death pointed at the two next to him.
He was baffled that Akage just ignored the nine Kumo-Nin, and the corpses of his own comrades. Didn't he see them? What about the destroyed area— the uprooted trees and the muddy earth?
"Ignore him, Haruta," Aruku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's a kid, and he just lost his mother."
"Isn't he their brat?" A tall brunette asked. "We should take him to the Raikage."
"You're imagining things, he doesn't look anything like them."
Haruta squinted at the kid hugging the corpse, "The brat looks like a young Otoi with red hair. A blend between the two, really. Should we let the Medic-Nin look over your eyes, captain?"
"Fine!" Aruku barked. "Just let him cry it out, first. It won't take too long, anyways. No matter how long you want to cry, at some point you can't anymore."
Haruta smiled with teeth, glancing at the blood soaked teddy bear next to Akage.
"Right!" He jeered. "A birthday present for the little brat. I mean, you heard her, today's his birthday. Happy birthday, Akage!"
Haruta howled with laughter while walking off to the side and began wiping the blood off his sword.
"Cruel bastard." One of the jonin amongst them muttered.
Truth be told, Haruta wasn't well liked among their ranks. They all secretly wished that he should've been the defector instead of Nami and Otoi. Some of them had even been saved by Otoi in the past, and now they were the ones to kill him and his wife.
Such was the world of the shinobi: Kill traitors, complete your mission, and avenge your fallen comrades. Even if, in the end, the target was a woman merely wanting to protect her child.
"What a cruel world…" Aruku uttered.
Time passed quickly, and like Aruku predicted, Akage's crying ceased. Not because his emotions were under control, but merely for the fact that he was utterly exhausted. His eyes burned, his throat was hoarse, any scream that passed his lips resembled raspy croaks of a dying animal. It was as if his larynx was broken.
The brunette kunoichi glanced at Akage as she sealed the last body of her deceased teammate in a scroll. She swallowed all the pity she felt for him and, in a measured tone, she spoke to Aruku.
"Captain, we really need to return to Lord Raikage. We've stalled for too long already."
"Right," He grunted in agreement, then swiveled his head from Haruta to his other teammates. "Haruta! Search the body, and pick up the child. We'll return to Kumogakure, now. The rest move into position!"
"Right!"
"Understood."
"Yes, captain."
Numerous replies rang out, and the shinobis moved to complete the tasks that they were given. Haruta was of course also one of them.
"She's dead, brat," He scoffed and loomed over Akage who was still latching onto the corpse of his mother.
Akage didn't respond, he couldn't, he was closed off from the world outside. Everything felt distant to him. His ears rang, his chest ached, and his nose burned.
The only thing he registered was his mother. He always felt secure in her embrace — she was soft and warm, and she smelled so good.
Like citrus, like home.
Now she was cold and rigid. Her chest no longer rose when he laid his head on her, it would no longer lull him into sleep, and she smelled of iron. The smell of blood was what she once told him.
Her body twitched and his head snapped up.
"See? She's dead," Haruta barked out a laugh and nudged her with his foot. "No matter how many times you beg, at the end of the day she'll still be dead."
He kicked her.
Once, twice, thrice.
He kicked her!
"Don't take it personally," He laughed. Laughed! "It's just the job. Besides, that bitch killed some of my friends today. The least I can do is to kick her some more."
Haruta smirked at her, kicking and kicking. Her body shook and shook and shook!
The last kick pushed her forwards, and Akage had to catch himself from falling. His palms made contact with the ground and he grunted in pain.
The floor was cold, like his mother.
Haruta squatted down, rummaging through her belongings gleefully. He lifted her bandages and whistled at the empty eye sockets that greeted him.
Akage simmered in fury as he stared at Haruta's back. His small fists balled up in anger, his right hand grabbing the object that had clattered to the floor before. It was Nami's tanto.
"That man kicked her," He thought and looked at the sword strapped to Haruta's back. "He killed her!"
He saw it. He saw him kick her, he saw him stab her! Again and again, until she died! He killed her! His mother was dead because of him!
… His mother was dead…
Dead.
Something inside him snapped, and he lunged at Haruta.
The blade pierced through Haruta's shoulder blade, and he howled in pain before flipping over the corpse.
Akage fell to the ground, landing on his shoulder and losing his blade in the process. It was still stuck in Haruta's back, though he could see the tip sticking out the chest. It narrowly missed anything vital.
Haruta pulled the blade out with a self deprecating chuckle. He held it up, noting how his blood and steel glinted under the moonlight. His grip tightened and he smirked at Akage who bent down and picked up a kunai from the floor.
"I like that look," Haruta spoke, noting the burning hatred in Akage's eyes. "That stab was free since I let my guard down. Seriously, how could I turn my back on you, when we're both enemies? You might be a brat, but you're still the kid of a traitor."
He pointed the tip of the blade at Akage and grinned.
"Next time you won't be so lucky."
The Kumo Shinobi turned their heads towards Akage and Haruta the second they heard the shout of pain.
"I think killing you with her sword would be hilarious."
"Haruta!" Aruku growled. "What do you think you're doing?"
"That brat attacked me. I'm just defending myself from an enemy shinobi, captain."
"I told you we're bringing him back alive!"
"Fine!" Haruta spat. "A scar then. It won't kill him."
Akage clenched his teeth as his shoulder throbbed. He glared at Haruta, switched the kunai to his left hand, and charged again.
He tried to stab, to slash, even to kick and grab, but everything was useless. His awkward attacks were avoided. Haruta just danced around him, throwing scathing insults and remarks about Akage's dead mother, trying to rile him up some more.
Finally, when Akage was heaving and panting, Haruta retaliated. He landed a kick that sent him skidding across the cold ground and crashing against a tree.
Akage cried out in pain and humiliation. His stomach hurt and his back flared up in pain, but the frustration was far greater. He couldn't land even a single attack, even with his opponent being injured.
"I'm done with your games," Haruta walked up to him and pressed his foot down on his kunai hand. "You're weak and all tuckered out. Pathetic. Even your crippled mother put up more of a fight than you"
"That's enough," Aruku body flickered behind Haruta, grabbing his shoulder. "You're not going to kill this child. Lord Raikage told us to bring him Nami Uzumaki's and Otoi's offspring if they existed."
"And, like I've told you before, a little scar won't kill the kid."
"I'm the captain of this mission, Haruta!" Aruku exclaimed. "Ignoring my order will result in consequences!"
"Reprimand me after the mission is over," Haruta lifted his foot and kicked the kunai away.
His face was twisted into a cruel smile as he grabbed Akage by the throat and lifted him up.
"Lord Raikage won't care about a small scar," He pressed Akage against the tree and raised Nami's tanto, holding its tip centimeters away from Akage's face.
"I remember this sword." Haruta pressed the tip against his forehead, right above his left eye." I saw it once in a weapon shop in our village. I honestly wanted to buy it. Fine chakra metal, you don't see that everyday. Otoi, that bastard, snatched it up before I could. 'It caught his eye," he said with his dumb grin."
Akage just glared at him. He couldn't free himself against his grip, couldn't fight him, and couldn't avenge his mother, but he could stay defiant. He was frustrated that he had lost, but he wouldn't show fear. He wouldn't give that murderer the satisfaction of seeing him like that!
"I'm wondering if it could catch yours."
The blade bit into Akage's skin, but his gaze was locked on to Haruta. Pain erupted as the blade slowly parted his flesh and cut its way downwards.
Aruku turned away from the scene with gritted teeth, and the other shinobi clenched their eyes shut as an agonizing cry echoed through the forest.
Searing hot pain assaulted Akage. In an effort to escape, he bit down on the hand that held him up, but it was fruitless. In the end it continued. Slowly, excruciatingly slow, he felt his face being cut open.
First his brow was split, and his vision was dyed red from the blood gushing out. Next his eye was cut apart, and the red tinted vision vanished. And lastly a trail was cut straight down his cheek.
Haruta let go of him and he fell to the floor, clutching his bleeding face. He could feel it, a vertical wound from the forehead down to the chin.
"Bastard almost bit through my hand," Haruta muttered, shaking his left hand and letting the sword fall to the floor.
"You're disgusting!" The brunette rounded on him, pushing past Aruku and grabbing Haruta by the collar.
"You could have stopped me, but none of you did. Even our dear captain here just stood by. Besides, nothing about our mission said that I couldn't 'play' with him for a bi—!"
Blood shot out of his mouth and his words died in his throat. He stared down at the lightning covered hand poking out of his chest, and turned to see a silver haired man standing behind him.
Aruku and the other Kumo-Nin jumped back, their heads on a swivel.
"That's a Leaf headband!"
"When did he get here?!"
Nine more shadows dashed out of the tree branches, revealing the forms of a tan, bearded man and masked shinobi from Konoha's Anbu Black Ops.
"Oy, Kakashi!" The bearded man spoke. "You destroyed our element of surprise."
"Ah, is that so, Asuma?" Kakashi rubbed the back of his hair and pushed the body aside. "I just thought we should neutralize the biggest threat to the kid. Someone should check on him, by the way."
Just then, they heard a shout from behind and saw Akage stabbing the body of Haruta repeatedly. Tears and blood streamed down his face as he stabbed and stabbed.
With a final cry, he plunged his tanto as deep into Haruta's face as he could, and stood triumphically over him. He spat on him, kicked his body, and turned to look at the new arrivals.
His sole working eye lit up when he saw the red swirls on their flak jackets.
"M-my name!" Akage pointed to the plushie next to his mother's body. More specifically, he pointed to the pendant around its neck. "My name is Akage Uzumaki! Future Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf! Please help me!"
With that he slumped over unconscious.
"Would you look at that," Kakashi said.
"Kid got spunk," Asuma added. "You heard the kid, we shouldn't want to disappoint our fellow shinobi!"
"Got it!" The Anbu said in unison, and immediately attacked the Kumo-Nin.