"What?" Koyuki asks in bewilderment. "Of course he is!"
"A big enough threat to remove?" I seriously ask her.
"Are you asking me if I want my uncle dead?"
...
"Yes. I am." I confirm. "I'm trying to not be as… violent as I have been recently. No that's not right, I don't care about violent. I'm trying to be more restrained about when I'm violent, that's more accurate. I could easily waltz onto the bridge and slaughter everyone, hell the pile of shinobi behind us is lucky I didn't use my fire heart -"
"Fire heart?"
"- and used wind to push them around. So this is me trying to be a less indifferent and uncaring version of me. I need a reason to kill, a valid reason."
"Didn't you kill three people the moment you arrived on the warship?" She asks in confusion.
"I said trying? I mean they were in my way and threatening my life, that's good enough right?" I weakly make an excuse. "And it's not a warship it's a fucking blimp. This pathetic balloon doesn't deserve to be called a warship. We're getting off topic."
"Koyuki Kazahana, do you want me to protect you by removing the threat that is your uncle Doto Kazahana? The man that killed your father. The man behind all of your suffering. The man that has driven the Land of Snow into poverty and despair. Will you allow me to kill him for you? I sharpened the blade. I will hold it against his throat. I am ready to spill his blood to the ground. But I will not decide if he will die, that falls to you. It is by your will that I kill him. This is your choice."
"Ye-"
"Wait." I cut her off. "Think about what you're agreeing to. Take the time to draw your conclusion, this is something that I will not have you second guessing after it's done."
We fall into a silence that's only broken by the moans of the pile of shinobi at the other end of the hallway.
"Yes." She confidently says. "I want Doto dead."
"It will be done." I assure her. "But when the Konoha shinobi freak out and start yelling at me you will step in and tell them that you asked this of me. That you were the one that decided his fate, not me."
"If that is the price I must pay, then I will pay it." She balls her shaking hands into fists. "I'll gladly pay it."
"Sweet!" I happily chirp out. "Let's get going then! I've got a man to kill and steal armor from!"
"Wait right now?" She asks me in shock as I start to jog down another hallway.
"Well… we've got to find the bridge first."
...
"So… Uh… now what?" Naruto asks as he stares up at the hovering blimp.
"We wait." Shikamaru says. "Eventually it will come down."
"Bets on if it crashes or lands?" Anko asks the group.
"Stupid bet." Kakashi smiles to himself. "Alvarcus is on there. It's crashing."
"Totally crashing." Naruto agrees. "Dude knows some crazy jutsu, it'll be lucky if it's still in one piece."
"Crashing while covered in copious amounts of fire." Shikamaru goes one step further. "Alvarcus really wanted that fireball."
"I bet it lands." Ino goes against everyone else. "Sure Alvarcus is on there but so is Koyuki. He can survive a crash but she can't and he knows that."
"You really think that's going to stop him?" Anko asks. "He'll probably hop off then make it go boom. I bet he does that, I'm saying it's crashing too."
"We'll just have to wait and see won't we?"
...
The Bridge
"How hard can it be to subdue two people?" Doto mutters to himself. "Just two. One isn't even a kunoichi. Why is it taking this long?"
"You could send us after them." Nadare offers to his boss. "Between me, Mizore and Fubuki we will make short work of their recapture."
"No." Doto denies that option. "You three will stay here with me. Let the pawns tire him out, that's what they're for. Then when he's weakened we shall defeat him once more. It won't be just a defeat, I want total defeat. Unquestionable victory. We will take everything he throws at us without flinching and then we will end it with one blow. We will show him just how strong we are and tempt him with our own power to join our side."
"Is there any particular reason you want him to join us?" Nadare asks. "He may be slightly above average in skill but that doesn't mean much."
"You lack something, Nadare." Doto sneers at the deadly shinobi. "Yes, you are a very strong fighter yourself but you cannot see him like I do. He has potential, lots of untapped potential. I will make full use of that to further my own goals."
"Right. So just a couple of things." I casually stroll into the bridge with Koyuki trailing behind me. I have my fingers laced together and both of my hands behind my head, I'm giving off an completely relaxed vibe.
"One: Pretty sure I already did this kind of intro but fuck it I'm doing it again.
Two: It can be very challenging to subdue two people, especially someone as crafty as I am.
Three: It wouldn't matter if you sent those hat defiling monsters after me, I'd crush them in a moment. Seriously though why the fuck did you all cut holes in your hats? No nevermind, moving on.
Four: You don't have enough pawns to tire me out. I'm just that good. Or is it they're just that bad? Whatever.
Five: The only way to make me acknowledge 'total defeat' is to kill me, so that's a bit counterproductive for your whole make me join you scheme.
Six: I am far, far, far above slightly better than average. Don't insult me, you all have seen nothing. I am capable of feats that none of you could ever hope to match. Seven: Fuck you and fuck your goals. I'm not doing shit for you. Eight: This whole listing off things idea got really old quick so I only have one more. Nine: I want my reward."
"Your… reward?" Doto questions me. "What reward?"
"You promised to reward whoever brought you me and Koyuki. I brought you me and Koyuki. I want my reward." I start to tap my foot on the ground. "Are you going to ask me what it is?"
"What… do you want?" Doto forces out. He's thinking that after I get the reward I'll submit to him again since I did kinda imply that. But he's wrong, very wrong.
"Your armchair." I bluntly tell him. "I'm something of a collector and that's a damn nice chair. I want it."
"Fine. It's yours." Doto agrees. "Now Nadare, Mizore and Fubuki will escort you back to the warship's hold and make sure you stay there."
"FOR THE LAST DAMN TIME IT'S NOT A FUCKING WARSHIP!" I yell at the top of my lungs at the idiotic man. "YOU'RE FLYING A GLORIFIED BALLOON! A BALLOON! IT'S LAME!"
"Just go back to the hold already." Doto waves me off. "I don't have time for this."
"What you think I'm willingly going back there?" I scoff out and the lazy yet alert posture of Doto and the three shinobi swaps to something more rigid. They're ready for me to lash out at them. "The jailer lady is crazy. I'm saying that. Surely you see how meaningful that is."
"You just have to make this difficult don't you?" Doto sighs. "Nadare, subdue him."
"With pleasure." Nadare cracks his knuckles in preparation for what he thinks will be an easy beatdown. "His voice pisses me off, he never shuts up."
...
A/N:
If we hit 500 Power Stones by the end of this week, I'll drop an extra chapter as a thank-you!
Thanks for the support! ;)
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