Chapter 5 - The Hunt (pt 1)

Love and Desperation- two of the most potent feelings in the human spectrum. Love for a woman can drive a man to ruin. Desperation for a man can force a woman to compromise herself. Each is flawed yet complimented by the other. Bound by chains of love or by chains of desperation, one will find oneself on an unnatural path. To be alone is not human nature; to love is natural; to feel desperation for that love is common.
It is desperation that causes wars. It is desperation that causes death.
It is love that prevents wars. It is love that causes death.
Either may be fatal, but which to choose should you be offered the option:
Feel no love in your life or feel no desperation?
Regardless of the answer, if that choice is made, then that life is no longer ‘human’ nor beast. It is simply existing for the sake of existing. To live without meaning is the same as dying.
==

Aido Namikawa
Denryou Miyazaki
Masahiro Harunobu

Those three would suffer first, Yuji decided. In order, just for simplicity’s sake. He would collect the bounties attached to their heads from the Leaf. He would give some to his parents and some to Azami. Given the major crime he was planning to commit, he doubted he would be allowed to live. If he managed to escape, then at least Azami would be taken care of. But even better would be if she could come with him…

He smiled behind his surgical mask. A man and woman taking on the world, alone save for each other.…
It was such a romantic concept.

In an strange way, so was destroying the rapists behind his girl’s traumatic incident and attempted murder. Azami had made a career out of bounty hunting until the war started. Then she had worked as a mercenary. She had made her money, and was all set to retire at age nineteen. How cruel was it to deny her that? So destroying them; dedicating their destruction to the woman he loved…

Yuji’s chakra sparked, causing a few leafs falling in the still-crisp spring air to burst into small flames. He didn’t bother to calm himself right away. He’d been playing the ‘good boy’ for too long now. He needed this release.
--

Aido Namikawa had seen his share of battles. The eye patch told the story of his first and last major injury. His head was shaved, showing scars, save for a small ponytail in the back. His body was a patchwork of scars. Scars that ran so thick and criss-crossed so deeply that knives could become lodged in them. There were rumors that he was so tough that he cut himself up, then had genin attempt to stab him. If they lost their nerve, they were removed from the program. If they stabbed him, they passed.

Rumors, of course. Namikawa let them grow unattended. It was best to have fear in the eyes of friend and foe alike.

He disdained the formal guards that most people of his status took for granted. Those hands were needed elsewhere; to rebuild the fallen Cloud home. The war with the Leaf had taken it’s toll. The Leaf had been gracious in victory- they had not entered the Cloud village even once. That was kind of them. Foolish, but kind.

The damage was caused by the Raikage’s rage. How useless.

Namikawa respected the man’s formidable power and presence- he had modeled himself after the Raikage- but was unsure of the man’s intelligence and mental stability. Perhaps that was why Namikawa was considering assassinating the Raikage. He was next in line, after all, to take the title. He was at the perfect age. Old enough to be wise; young enough to remain active and visible without being doted to.

Sitting in his home, he only entertained the thought. He would not actually do it. The Raikage was respected, and needed to die in a ‘good’ way, to ensure that his successor could promise revenge. The game was politics, and if he were to take charge, he needed a good platform. Perhaps hiring an assassin; someone not directly involved…

The slight flickering of a candle noted the presence of an intruder. Namikawa looked up, intending to reprimand whatever fool had dared disturb him. Instead, he saw a nightmarish vision in black. He couldn’t place the man, but he knew him. And for some reason, despite not remembering his face or name, terror gripped him.

Such malicious blood thirst…This man has come here to kill me.

“Who are you?!” Namikawa demanded in his fiercest warrior voice. That alone could send a man scrambling for cover. But apparently, not the man in front of him. He stood firm in the doorway, blocking the moonlight. The surgical mask over his face moved as he began to speak.

“My name is Yuji Itou. I was supposed to have died in a fire a year ago.”

Namikawa smirked; he had overreacted. This was just some insane man. Some harmless creature who was mistaken.
“I am sorry to hear that. But that is an odd way to introduce oneself, is it not?”

Yuji took one step forward, closing the door behind him. “Not when that is the only thing you need to know about me. Considering you set the fire in the first place. Right after you committed the crime that brought me here tonight.”

Namikawa decided to keep him talking; having a house alone in a bamboo forest now seemed regrettable. No one would hear him if he yelled for help. He would have to incapacitate or kill the intruder; then run for back up. Namikawa was brave and strong, but not stupid. He realized he had been backed into a corner.

“What crime have I committed against you?” Namikawa asked, genuinely unsure. He had set a lot of fires during the war a year ago. It was standard during war time, after all.

Yuji took another step forward. “You were the one who threw me into the wall. The blow that left me out cold while you and three others raped my mistress. Azami- does her name ring a bell?”

“The bounty hunter…”
Realization struck Namikawa. “You were the captured Leaf shinobi! How dare you invade here?! The Leaf and Cloud are no longer at-”

Yuji closed the distance between them, a hand over Namikawa’s mouth. He spoke in a whisper that chilled Namikawa to his very core.
“You think I care? This isn’t about your war crimes, you disgusting vermin! This is about what you did to Azami. You’re charged with attempted murder, arson, and rape.”
Yuji lowered his voice even more, sounding horribly dangerous now.
“Technically, you should be charged with two counts of attempted murder. But I’ll let the one on me go. You protected your leader. I can respect that.”

Yuji pushed Namikawa hard into the wall, his hand still over his mouth. Namikawa, now desperate, tried to fight back. Before he could move his arms, both had been stabbed with kunai and pinned to the wall. The hand over his mouth muffled his cry of pain.
“…But the second you touched her, you became guilty. There is no honor in rape and torture.”

Yuji removed his hand, allowing Namikawa to speak.

“And yet you torture me?!” he roared, hoping to appeal to the young man for at least a fair fight. “You are without honor!”

“MY HONOR DIED WHEN I COULDN’T PROTECT HER!” Yuji roared at the top of his lungs. The candle flickered from the sound of Yuji’s voice. The doors rattled and the windows shook. The only sound that could be heard was the wind flittering through the bamboo.

“Well, your time is up, Aido Namikawa,” Yuji declared after a moment or two. He struck the man hard on the chin, knocking him unconscious.
-

Namikawa awoke from a smell that he couldn’t quite identify at first. He noticed that he was bound first. The smell that woke him up was unimportant. He had to get free while he could!
The smell again. Smoke.
Ah, a cigarette! That was it!

“Good morning, sunshine,” came the voice that Namikawa had, in a short time, learned to fear. It was Yuji, sitting calmly across the room. His mask was around his neck, and in his mouth was the offending cigarette that had caused Namikawa to wake up. “So, now you’re helpless- how does it feel?”

Namikawa managed a sneer, despite his circumstances. “What? You want revenge? Is that it? Are you going to rape me?”

Yuji laughed as he stood up. The floor creaked a muted warning as he walked over. “Don’t flatter yourself. My body is hers and hers alone. I wouldn’t defile myself with you.”
Yuji leaned close and blew more smoke in Namikawa’s face.
“I wouldn’t give you the pleasure.”

Yuji turned away, just for an instant. Namikawa didn’t even have time to squirm as Yuji whirled around and kicked him in the side as hard as he could. He felt his ribs cave and shatter from the force of the blow.

“Let’s see…you broke her left arm, I think.”

Yuji put his foot on Namikawa’s shoulder, stomping down while he pulled up. Namikawa was restrained at the elbow and wrist, which meant that-
SNAP! SNAP! CRACK!
-His elbow and wrist would break along with his shoulder.

“AAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!”

Yuji let him squirm for a moment. He made sure to smile. He didn’t truly enjoy this, but at the same time it was right. That in mind, he stamped his foot down on the destroyed arm, holding it in place as he took the most dull, jagged kunai he had and began to cut at the shoulder. Over the screams of pain, he told his victim:
“If it hurts, we’ll just take it off. That way, the pain goes away.”

The arm came off. Yuji threw it aside, causing a shower of blood to leave droplets on the wooden floor. Then he turned to his victim, staring down harshly, a smile on his face. His sunglasses were still in place, and he replaced his mask after one more drag on his cigarette.

“It’s almost over. But I don’t think you understand the severity of your crimes just yet.”

Before Namikawa could even think to reply, Yuji raced over and pried open his eye. He took off his mask and sunglasses.
“Take a good look! This is the last thing you’ll ever see!”

Yuji ground his cigarette into Namikawa’s good eye. He left it smoldering there, and began to walk heavily around Namikawa, making sure he could hear his footsteps. It was horrifying; being able to only hear and guess at what your captor was going to do next.

“I won’t kill you…” From the right. Unseeing eyes shift that way…
“You didn’t kill her…” From the left. A tormenter whose footsteps you never hear…
“That is either your saving grace…” From the back. …And yet, his voice comes from all over…
“Or your damnation…” From above.
“Go ahead, go insane. I encourage it. But just remember…” From the back.
“…I won’t be the one to end your suffering.” From the front, inches from the face of his victim.

Namikawa screamed and screamed, but no help came. Yuji let him go for a while, not intending to do anything else. He had avenged Azami’s rape and assault, and that was enough. Whether this fool rebounded was up to him.

Namikawa bit his tongue off. Blood flowed out of his mouth until he snapped it shut. He soon perished, having drowned in his own blood.

Yuji watched dispassionately as death overtook Aido Namikawa. He shrugged mentally- he hadn’t killed the man. He hadn’t forced him to bite his tongue off. That was all his doing.
Just as it was his choice to rape Azami.
A choice the man would not, apparently, live to regret.

Yuji untied the man and laid him on the floor. He closed the man’s eyes and even said a prayer for his soul. Then he raised a small dagger with his name on it and jabbed it into the eye socket with burn marks around it. That was one way to identify your kill on the battlefield.

Making handsigns, he tapped the body and had it sent to the Leaf village. He would have delivered it himself, but to even carry the rapist coward’s body would have brought dishonor to Yuji. Besides, his business was not yet concluded. He had more people to…deal with.
==

Denryou Miyazaki lived on a mountain. He was young and largely unmarred by battle. That was partly due to his skill.
Skill at evading battle, that is.

Truth be told, at nineteen, he had never actually fought for his life in real battle. He simply paid the right people to give him credit. Those same people served as his protectors. If they tried to betray his trust (well, whatever trust a bribe could buy), he would know instantly. He was no fool, after all.

What was the expression? Ah.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
He smirked, curling his arm around the lucky kunoichi who’d shared his bed last night. She had been alright; maybe a little stiff. Worth an seven on his private scale. He notched his bedpost accordingly, then began to work an excuse to not ever see her again. Perhaps, if money didn’t work, she would ‘accidentally’ fall to her death.
What a romantic notion. She was just dying for his company, after all.

BOOOM!
The sound shook Denryou’s house. He leapt out of bed, pulling on the nearest thing- unfortunately, his female companion’s kimono had been closest. He was halfway out the door before he realized his mistake. But he couldn’t very well go back- not seeing what he had.

One of his guards was being held up against the house. His head hitting the wall had made the sound. There was a gloved hand over the man’s mouth, but that wouldn’t have mattered. The man was too scared to speak, and Denryou didn’t blame him.

The man holding him in place seemed twenty feet tall. Adorned in all black, his face covered with a surgical mask and sunglasses, he was imposing even before you got to the bloodlust. That was easy to sense even to a talentless brat like Denryou.

“Denni, what’s going on?”

His idiot, stupid, fool, useless one night stand had come out to investigate, attired in nothing but a curious look, one arm across her chest, the other covering her crotch.

This made the man in the sunglasses raise an eyebrow. But he ignored the naked woman, fixated on Denryou.
“Well then, it seems I DO have the right place. I’ll give your guards credit-not one of them sold you out. This one-” Yuji dropped the man, who began gasping for breath “-even put up a good fight.”
Yuji strode forward, one step at a time. He looked at the girl finally, shaking his head.
“You idiot. Give her back her clothes. I don’t know what kind of game you were playing, but don’t leave a naked woman outside in public view!”

Denryou was so frozen with fear that he barely noticed Yuji ripping the kimono off him and handing it to the woman. She, too, was surprised, and her reddening face fixed on Yuji’s. He seemed to be smiling under his mask.

“You should go now, miss. I’m afraid ‘Denni’ here is a convicted rapist who is about to be brought to justice. So please, go get yourself tested for any medical diseases you may have contracted thanks to this pig. If anyone asks, I’m Doctor Ishibashi from the outpost town Karakuri.”

The woman shrugged into her kimono, bowed to Yuji, and ran for it, apparently horrified. Yuji shook his head- stupid woman. It was fairly obvious he was no doctor, but she had believed him.

Denryou still hadn’t moved, despite being buck naked. Yuji had his back to Denryou, expecting to be attacked. When no attack came, Yuji understood.
His power is bought. He’s a naïve, foolish child.
However, he cannot go unpunished. He will learn life lessons from me- the hard way.

“You should have attacked while my back was turned, you incompetent little child,” Yuji taunted, wagging his finger as he looked over his shoulder. “And you’re hardly dressed like a military aide. Seems your only abilities lie in bribery.”

“H-how much to spare my life?!” Denryou was stumbling over his words, so afraid for his life was he. “I-I’ll give you anything you want! Name your price!”

Yuji closed the distance between then in the blink of an eye, his hand around Denryou’s neck. He pushed the young man back into his house, banging him against the walls as he went. There was a low table near the door; Yuji threw him through the it. The fine bit of ikebana in a rare vase bloodied Denryou’s nose when it fell onto his face.

“Do you remember me? A year ago, I was supposed to have died in a fire.”

Yuji picked Denryou up by the neck and threw him through a set of sliding doors and into the next room. Denryou scrambled to his feet, holding a piece of wood from the shattered doorframe like a weapon. Yuji grabbed it and tore it away, throwing it into the hallway.

“But I didn’t die. Instead, I woke up in time to find my mistress tied up, having been raped for a full day by four people. One of them was you!”

Denryou fell backward, pushing himself away on his backside. “N-No! I didn’t! I wasn’t there!”

“DON’T LIE!” Yuji roared, kicking the remnants of the door out of the way. Denryou jumped and pushed himself back even farther, until his back hit the far wall. He was all but sobbing now. He tried to scramble away, but Yuji grabbed him by the hair and rammed his head into the wall.

“That very blow knocked me unconscious and unable to protect my mistress. Being helpless is an awful feeling, isn’t it?”

Yuji said all that in a low whisper, holding Denryou’s hair tight. He spied a bathroom and pushed Denryou in, knocking him into a large mirror.

“Put your arms above your head and I won’t kill you,” Yuji said simply. Denryou carefully complied, looking for Yuji’s approval. Yuji smiled underneath his mask and nodded.
“Good.

THOCK!

He stabbed a kunai through both of Denryou’s hands, pinning him in place. Denryou screamed, but there was no one to help him. Yuji had ran off all the guards.

“Kick me even once and I’ll kill you. Now hold still!”

Yuji held out a knife, close to Denryou’s face. He put it lightly against the flesh on his cheek, adding more pressure gradually until blood dripped down. Then he began to rake the knife back and forth across Denryou’s cheek, just deep enough to cut skin and cause pain. He made a circle, then stopped his cutting. He reached up to Denryou’s face, grabbed, and pulled.

“AHHHH!”

Yuji held up a slice of skin that looked vaguely like a piece of roughly circular bologna. He let it drop onto the floor with a sickening sort of ‘splat’ sound.

“Not quite the ladies man now, are you, ‘Denni’?” Yuji mocked him, carving what seemed like a roadmap over Denryou’s chest and stomach. Denryou screamed and screamed, but Yuji didn’t stop. He kept talking to his captive as he calmly dissected him.
“You didn’t stop when my mistress begged you to stop. You kept going. And you knew it was wrong, didn’t you? You disgusting little freak!”

Yuji stepped back to admire his handiwork. He frowned at it, worried that Denryou might die before he was done.

“Because you’re rich, I assume you’re stupid, sheltered, arrogant, and spoiled. And women…they just don’t say no to Denryou Miyazaki! No, not to him, for whom all women pine!”

Yuji pulled a roll of toilet paper off the holder on the wall and attached it to a part of the sliding wooden door he had broken on the way in here. He had made an effective torch. He held it up near Denryou’s face. Yuji’s face was lit by the fire, and with his sunglasses and mask on, he looked very much like a deranged surgeon. Which, considering what he’d just done to Denryou, wasn’t too far off the mark.

“I don’t want you dying on me, Denni. So I’m going to close those wounds.”
Yuji lowered the torch toward Denryou’s skin. Embers spitting from the fire fell on his exposed giving him just a taste of what was to come.

“This might sting a little…”

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