Chapter 11 - Purple Haired Goblin.
"Let's make this simple, and start over, tashikani. My name is Akai Hozuki. I was known as Akai Kiri, the Red Mist of Kirigakure. One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, the wielder of Hiramekarei."
The Hokage let out his tenth sigh in the minute.
"So what do you expect me to do? Lock you up? Interrogate you? Let you stay here? You're making everything complicated, Akai."
"I took pride in that." She replied smugly, crossing her arms, "and there's no need to do anything. I'm not going to harm anyone."
"You still have your bad habit." Hiruzen pointed out, referring to the orange book in her hands, and a certain masked shinobi who had his fingers twitching, while glaring at her.
She laughed sheepishly. "Even with that, no one is killed, right? Besides, he's an elite shinobi. He should have been able to protect the book. And I just want to borrow it for a while. This is the only edition I haven't read."
"It has explicit content, you know?" Ibiki asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup." She said, as she showed the page she was at. The Hokage quickly turned away, covering his nose, trying to stop the bleeding, while Ibiki's eyes began to twitch at the sight. She grinned, and turned the book, then continued reading.
"A-Anyways..." Hiruzen trailed off, wiping away the blood, "Would you want to hide this fact, or not? I'll tell the jōnins no matter what, but I can hide it from the chūnins."
"The less the better." She replied, "I'm a badass, and no one will know."
"... You're dismissed."
She disappeared, with the orange book still in her grip.
| * | * | * | * | * |
The next few days was uneventful, unless you count the time when Kakashi was found in her bedroom, currently searching for his prized possession. Let's end the story with a chopped off silver hair, and a beaten up jōnin who was accused as pervert (which is true).
Akai found herself sitting on a tree near the gates, watching as the previously said perv, Whiskers, and 3 strangers walked out of the village, heading out to the Land of Waves.
She was glad at how everything is. Ibiki was getting busier with his works, resulting him leaving his team in the middle of training.
So, she taught weaponry to her teammates. She taught them how to use a sword. Akito showed his teammates many sealing techniques, while Shin shared his knowledge about medical justsus. Best part? Ibiki knows nothing about this. The team is looking forward for surprising him.
Akai jumped off the branch, and began to walk away, her hands in her pockets. She made her way towards the training grounds, to meet her said Sensei.
"Akai," Ibiki called, causing her to turn, raising an eyebrow, "Follow me. I can't train the team, but you need a sensei. And I want you to go with her to the training ground."
Akai frowned. "Her, tashikani?"
"Is that the brat, Ibiki?" A voice said, causing her eyes to twitch.
Akai turned, to see one of the strangest human in Konoha. The woman had light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her purple hair was styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs. Over this she wore a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards. In addition to her Konoha forehead protector, she also wears a small pendant that looks like a snake fang and a wrist watch.
"Don't call me brat, tashikani." Akai growled, slightly annoyed.
The woman burst out laughing. "Why the hell did you say 'tashikani'?! It's so funny!"
"Shut up, tashikani!"
"Oh... Verbal tic, huh? I see... Anyways, my name is Anko Mitarashi. Now, let's beat you up into a bloody pulp!"
Akai inwardly groaned. Another insane 'thing' to add in her life.
"You have to meet my teammates." She stated in annoyance. The woman scrunched up her brows.
"Ibiki! You said a brat! Not brats!"
"You must have misheard me. I said 'a brat and her teammates'."
"NANI?! Hey, Scarface, tashikani, are you saying that I-..." She stopped when he disappeared from sight, teleporting away.
"Damn Scarface.." Akai mumbled under her breath as she glanced back at Anko.
"What are you looking at, brat?" The purple haired woman said to the small blue haired girl.
"I don't know, tashikani. But I'll let you know when I find out." Akai said with a wink. Anko's face turned a deadly shade of red as she glared at Akai.
"One." Anko said, and Akai's eyes opened wide.
"N-No." Akai said, and Anko took a step closer.
"Two." she said, but before Akai answered, or Anko could finish her counting, Akai teleported away.
Of course that wasn't going to stop Anko from beating the brat to a pulp.
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akai was sitting inside of Akito's room, her legs crossed as she sat on his bed. He wasn't there, but she was hiding from Anko.
Akai laid back on the bed and began to throw a kunai knife up in the air, twisting it around on her finger randomly. She was bored; that was an understatement. She had to stay in hiding so the crazy haired lady wouldn't find her, but she wished she would have found somewhere more... fun to go.
It must have been a few hours of Akai just sitting on Akito's bed, bored out of her mind, when the door to his room opened, and Akito let out a scream when he saw someone sitting on his bed.
To make everything worse, Akai screamed back, in order to amuse herself.
Shin suddenly appeared behind Akito, and stood there dumbfounded. He then covered Akito's mouth with his hand, shutting him up immediately, silencing Akai in the process.
"Geez... You guys are so loud... Such idiots..."
The Haruno's teammates gave him a flat look, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"Akai, did you kill the silent-lonely-Akito?"
Akai's nose scrunched up in shock, "What the hell, tashikani?!"
"And stop calling me that!"
"Sorry, my bad. Please forgive me, loud-obnoxious Akito."
The blonde's eyes twitched, and he approached Akai, motioning her to leave his bed. She obeyed, and now sat on the floor.
"Anyways, Akai, I met a purple-haired woman who was looking for you. She's outside the house now." Shin announced calmly.
Akito cracked his fingers, feeling more annoyed than before. "Seriously?! You brought strangers to my house?!" He asked, totally unaware of Akai's mental state. She was now holding her head, eyes wide in fear.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, I'm dead, I'm dead, Kami give mercy, I'll die..." She kept muttering to herself, receiving a questioning glance from Shin.
"BRATS! GET DOWN HERE! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! ESPECIALLY YOU, BLUE-HAIRED FREAK!"
"Okay, we should just follow the orders..." Akito muttered, as he looked down from the window. He furrowed his eyebrows as he realized who, or what, was waiting down at the house's entrance.
"Who is she, Akai?"
"Our temporary Sensei... A devil sent by Scarface to watch over us and make sure we suffer, tashikani..."
"Eh...?" Shin wondered out loud, tilting his head.
"She's insane. Pure crazy. Got no right mind. She smells like dango and sake mixed together with blood, it makes me wanna puke. I hate my advanced senses..." She whispered the last sentence to herself.
"She sounds like a horrible woman..."
"I HEARD THAT, YOU INSOLENT BRATS!!" A voice yelled, as the door of the room was slammed open. It was the said woman, glaring at her soon-to-be students.
"... Crap, tashikani..."
| * | * | * | * | * |
Two and a half hours later, and all of Ibiki's squad were panting as they laid on the ground. After hearing the comments that Akai had made, Anko made them run all the way around Konoha 50 times without stopping. Needless to say, the kids felt like their legs were gonna fall off.
"Stupid.. purple.. haired.. goblin.." Akai muttered to herself, and Anko's head cracked towards her.
"What was that?"
"I said I love you, tashikani!" Akai said with a cheeky grin, and Anko rolled her eyes slightly.
"Are you guys ready for more training?"
"MORE?!" They all screamed together, Anko pinching the bridge of her nose as the kids screamed.
"Stop complaining, it's not my fault. You guys want to be good ninja right?"
"Yes, no." They replied. Akito and Shin being the two to reply yes, Akai replying no. Anko smiled at Akai, a very sarcastic smile.
"So you're the rebellious one, huh?" Anko said as she got dangerous close to the girls face. "You know what that gets you? 20 more laps around Konoha. GO." She said. A large groan passed Akai's lips as she started around the walls again.
| * | * | * | * | * |
It was already dark outside by the time Akai stopped running the laps and made her way back to the home she shared with Ibiki. She sighed heavily as she threw herself on the bed she was given, resting her arms on her stomach and staring up at the ceiling.
The house was quiet, oddly quiet without Ibiki yelling at her about everything she did, and how she acted. Ibiki wasn't here to help her do things that she would need help with.
Akai could only assume that is how it was like with an actual parent. Someone always over your shoulder, someone always pushing you to do your best. Maybe Ibiki was the closest thing that Akai would ever have to a parent.
And she was starting to not mind that so bad.
Akai smiled as she finally crawled back into her bed, covering up with the covers and falling asleep.
And this is how she spent the next few weeks. Laps, push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups, that's all Anko told them to do. Sometimes she would start a match, the jōnin against the 3 genins.
Akai always came back home exhausted, not even having time and energy to train herself. But after almost a month, she became used to it. Seems like it increases her already-great stamina.
Anko may be scary, crazy, even. But Akito, Shin, and Akai have to admit that her way of teaching is really effective. Chasing them around the village, sitting on them while they're doing push-ups, she really succeed in pushing them over their limit.
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akai was woken up when someone entered her room. Her eyes snapped open, and the next second, she was already behind the person's body, holding a kunai beside his neck.
"C-Calm down, A-Akai..." It was Akito.
Akai sighed and lowered the kunai. "Sorry. Bad habit, tashikani. I thought you were that purple-haired-monster."
Akito gave her a flat look. "We do need to meet her. Come on, hurry and get dressed." He replied, and Akai gave him a nod.
She soon found herself sitting in front of Anko, between her teammates.
"Well, I really want to see you brats dragging yourself around Konoha," she started, "but sadly, my role as your sensei is over today. The Hokage needs my help to prepare the Chūnin Exams. About that..." She trailed off, pulling out 3 sheets of paper.
"Ibiki and I had recommended the 3 of you to enter it. So, here's the forms, it's up to you either to compete or not."
"More like Ibiki forced you, tashikani." Akai muttered, receiving a slap at the back of her head.
"I'm leaving." The Mitarashi muttered, and left. The peace didn't last long though, Anko's mini male version soon found the group and dragged them to his heaven.
Not long after, Akai was already eating a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku with her team and Naruto's. The two Harunos were talking about their teammates, while Akito was having a silent staring contest against the ravenette, which turned out to have the name Sasuke.
"From the puddle, 2 scary ninjas appeared! We beat them up, and then that old man finally says that a criminal named Gato wants to kill him, dattebayo!"
Akai raised am eyebrow, taking a sip of her tea. "So, you got attacked again?"
"Yes! This time, it's a guy in cow pants! He was shirtless, carrying a large sword, and half of his face was bandaged!"
Akai narrowed her eyes, and slowly put down her tea cup.
"Then he announced that his name is Zabuza Momochi!"
Akito's and Shin's attention were quickly snapped to the Uzumaki.
"That shinobi has some newly gained scars, grumbling about how a Hozuki had injured him not long ago. It was suspicious, as if he wanted to tell us something about that Hozuki, who was also called Red Mist, his fellow swordsman" Sasuke added, and Akito quickly gripped Akai's shoulder from behind her.
"You fought once?" Shin asked, but Sakura shook her head.
"Twice. On our last battle, he was killed, along with his partner, Haku. Zabuza's last word were 'I entrust Kubikiribōcho to the only swordswoman Kirigakure has ever had'. But we don't know who she is, so we left his sword on his grave."
Akito eyed Akai, who is now frozen in shock.
"Eh? Akai, are you alright, dattebayo?"
She shook her head slightly. "Don't worry, tashikani." she said, smiling at him, "But I have to go. See you tomorrow, min'na!" She added, before she ran out of the ramen shop, leaving a few ryō next to her empty bowl.
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akai rushed to the Hokage Office,and slammed the door open. She ran in, meeting Ibiki and Kakashi inside.
Ibiki looked at Akai for a while, his lips in a thin line. He finally sighed. "Zabuza is-..."
"I know." She replied, "But why don't you bring back the sword?" She asked Kakashi, who's eyes widen.
"Crap," he muttered, "I totally forgot that it's you."
Akai scoffed, turning to the Hokage, giving him a look. The Hokage stared at the two jōnins, letting out a sigh. "Ibiki, Kakashi, you are dismissed."
As soon as the two were gone, Akai went up to his desk. "I need to go to the Land of Waves." She stated.
Hiruzen sighed, "I already know you would say that," he answered, "Very well. But you have to come back before the Chūnin Exam starts, or your team would be disqualified. You know that, right?"
She nodded. "I'll be back even before Ibiki knows I'm gone."
With that, she disappeared.
| * | * | * | * | * |
Akai had lost track of time. She didn't stop running, already entering Kirigakure territory. One thing stayed in her mind, blocking everything else from her memory.
'Another shinobi died. Your rival was killed.'
It frustrated her. How everyone close to her was dead. Even her rival, her so-called enemy.
She was crying, times and times she stopped just to scream out of sadness. All her actions were based on no logic, no thinking, just mere anger, grief, just her emotions.
All in all, she was exhausted. She got no chance to rest. And once she finally had the time, a bomb was dropped onto her.
As she reached the small village, Akai slowed down. She looked around, her gaze hardened at the sight of the laughing kids, walking and chatting with their parents, eating sweets and holding hands.
"I've never seen you around. Are you new here?" A voice asked. Akai turned, to meet an old man staring down at her.
"I'm looking for... someone..." She trailed off, "Do you know Zabuza Momochi?"
His eyes widened slightly. "Follow me."
Akai obeyed, and soon a familiar large sword came into view.
Akai stared at the large sword, before nodding at the old man. She slowly walked up to the sword as the man departed from her, and she ran her hands along the shaft of the large sword.
"I forget how large this sword is until I'm close to it." She said lightly before she closed her eyes and placed the same transformation jutsu on the sword as she did to Hiramekarei. Eventually, the Kubikibōcho was the same size as her dagger.
She bent down in front of the grave, and ran her fingers along the dark stone, nodding her head slightly.
"You were a good enemy, Zabuza. I'll take good care of Kubikibōcho, I promise, tashikani."
"You've always had him and your uncle wrapped around your finger when you were younger. But the more powerful you got, the more threatened Zabuza felt by you." A voice said, and Akai flipped around quickly to see that it was Mairu.
Akai gave a small sigh and nodded her head slowly. "I know." She replied, walking a little closer the woman. "It's just really weird to think that he's dead. That he's really gone."
"Your uncle said the same thing yesterday." Mairu said, and Akai froze.
"You mean he was here to see Zabuza?"
"Yes, he came to visit Zabuza and he said hello to me." Mairu said and Akai clenched her fist. Her hands were shaking slightly, and her eyes closed as she let out a deep breath.
"When Mangetsu died, he never came back. But it's different when it's Zabuza who died." She said bitterly. "I knew his family never meant as much to him as the swordsmen."
"Now you can't say that because your uncle loved you."
"Probably only because I'm part of the swordsmen without even wanting to be, tashikani!" she snapped.
"No, your uncle loved you very much Akai, if only you knew.." Mairu said, and Akai scoffed slightly.
"As if I'd believe that." She said before putting her hands up into the hand sign for the teleportation jutsu.
"Akai, no, wa-..." Mairu said, but it was too late. Akai had already disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
| * | * | * | * | * |
Another hours pass, and Akai finally arrived back at Konoha. It was almost midnight, she could see, and she walked through the gate, careful not to wake the guards up.
Walking through the empty streets of Konoha, Mairu's words never left her mind. However, as Ibiki's house came into sight, she immediately panicked.
The Morino was standing in front of the house, unlocking the front door. Akai quickly teleported into the backyard, and climbed up, smirking slightly when she saw her window unlocked. She went in silently, closing the window carefully.
Akai shuffled to get into her night time clothes and to get the Kubikiribōcho hidden so Ibiki wouldn't find it. It was just seconds after she crawled into her bed when the door was pushed open. Ibiki walked in slowly, eyeing her in confusion when he saw her still awake.
"Can't sleep?"
She nodded slightly at the question.
"I... Uh... I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about Zabuza. I... I don't know what kind of relationship you guys had, but I'm sorry you lost someone else." Ibiki said, and Akai chuckled quietly.
"Look at big ol' scarface having a heart, tashikani!" She said, and Ibiki rolled his eyes slightly.
"You ever tell anyone, I'll deny it." Ibiki said, and Akai nodded slightly, still laughing.
"You got it, Scarface."
| * | * | * | * | * |
I can't believe we're getting to the Exam Part TT^TT Time flew fast and yet you're still following Akai!
You will like the next chapter more, I promise, tashikani! XD
~MidRav
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