Chapter 54 - The Land of Herbs: Hell on Earth!

“I never thought I’d be here again…” Sakura uttered, seeing the Land of Herbs before her. All too quickly, the memories came flooding back. Of the little girl, bound and gagged, blood all over her, obscenities written on her forehead. Of the brutal genjutsu directed at her. Of the injured Lee. Of the stoic Ekyt staring at nothing, with God-only-knew-what running through his mind. Everything about this place seemed wrong, and haunted. The soil was fresh and fertile, but the sky was dark and forbidding, black clouds occasionally bringing thunder forth, but no rain. Nevertheless, the land prospered, and it’s citizens were mostly happy. They had found their second Koubakage after nearly fifty years without a strong leader. Not before trying to force Sakura into the role, however.

“This place feels so wrong. It is as though my intestines want to burst through my stomach to escape the anxiety…” Lee remembered all to well that he had nearly been decapitated by a kinjutsu-controlled skeleton. He distinctly thought back to chasing the insane old man behind all this, before he fell down, injured after opening the first gate of chakra. The feeling of being worthless shamed Lee more than anything, and it had strengthened his resolve to train hard. But that did not mean he wanted to face that fear again. But I must! I need to be strong, to overcome all my obstacles! Neji is now a jonin, and I am only a chunin! I will show him that I am strong, and I will make Gai-sensei proud of me!

“This place is hell.” Ekyt summed up the situation in his usual manner. He thought back to his fight with the long-dead Koubakage. He had been outmatched, and even nearly killed when he was thrown through an ornate stained-glass window. But the Koubakage had been a kind man, even in death, and told Ekyt that the kinjutsu had been poorly done, and that Ekyt needed to defeat him. Ekyt would never forget closing the casket door on a still-living being, never mind the fact that the being had asked for it. Knowing you were ending someone’s life, even undead, was unnerving. But that hadn’t lasted long, as Ekyt had rushed off after Sakura, just in time to save her mind from collapsing under the strain of a horrid genjutsu.

The three were all clothed for the occasion. Ekyt was wearing his ANBU gear, armor, dragon mask, and gloves. He had again used his trench coat to cover himself up, finding the ANBU cloak problematic, since it was little more than a poncho with no pouches. You couldn’t see Ekyt’s expression between the two masks, but his voice was full of determination, somehow masking the fear he felt. Ekyt had faced death in the form of Orochimaru, Itachi Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha without a second thought. But this place was so traumatic, so horribly haunted in his mind, it was as if he had second thoughts. But he pushed those aside once more, ready to face death again.

Lee was dressed in his usual clothes, but had added a green warmup jacket over the top of his jumpsuit. Lee’s serious face was set into a mask of something close to despair. But that soon turned into a grimace, one that plainly came from an internal challenge. If I get scared, I will do 1000 laps around Konoha on my hands…

Sakura was also dressed like normal, except she had changed into longer blue gi pants, and added a pink jacket over her vest. She put on her gloves, face determined. I’m not going to let that genjutsu get me again. Last time, Ekyt had to save me before I died. This time, it won’t be like that! When we fight, I’ll hold my own! I’m strong now, everyone’s said so, and I believe it!

All three were now chunin. Lee and Sakura had achieved the rank of Tokubetsu jonin, but when Ekyt was kicked out of the village, they had protested. In retaliation, they were busted down in rank by the senior counsel. But, despite differences between the three now, they all agreed it was worth it. Ekyt and Lee had buried the hatchet, and Sakura was thankful for that, because that genjutsu seemed to have hit her hard. She was a genjutsu-type ninja, but most of her training had become chakra control and medical-related jutsu.

Lee was a taijutsu progeny now, able to open Five Gates of Chakra, and his speed was remarkable. He could simply outrun most attacks. If he got a hold of you, the fight was over, unless you were special. And getting in close was easy when you were so fast your opponent couldn’t see you.

Ekyt was the hardest to read. Genjutsu had become his de facto specialty, but he was blessed with two kekkaigenkai’s, and a knowledge of jutsus that went beyond chunin level. In his back tool pouch, Ekyt had stored a sample of the Kaguya blood-chakra mix Kimimaro had given him. If there was ever a place to need those abilities, it was hell on earth.

The three were standing at the top of one of the mountains near the Land of Herbs. It would have been irresponsible to just walk in without studying the landscape. But it was all too familiar to Lee, Sakura, and Ekyt. It was burned into their memories forever.

The land was garden, nearly all of it. Row after row of carefully tended-to soil. There were farm houses, long antiquated and weathered by the elements, but they were surrounded by farm land. It was strange that this place had such fertile soil. The climate was cold nearly year-round, and there was little rain, despite the forbidding dark clouds above.

The land also had no Shinobi of it’s own. It simply didn’t need any. If one Village attacked the Land of Herbs, all the other would crush that village. It was too important. The crops that came from this village were both unique and necessary. One plant in particular, the Daisho tree, produced berries that created healing salves, and seeds that were natural remedies to poisons. The tree itself was unassuming, twisted and gnarled, and generally ugly, with green leaves decorated with yellow lines. And there was only one of these trees, so it was somewhat sacred. It was planted in a place of prominence, and it had many attendants, all of whom seemed to be massaging the roots that poked up from the ground.

Why this land, farmland, was the giver and receiver of so much trouble was unknown. It could have been just an unlucky nation, but it prospered so much with it’s crops and economy that the answer was unlikely to be that simple.




Naikou watched the three strangers in her mirror. She narrowed her dark eyes at their headbands. Her blue eye shadow had been smudged with tears, but quickly re-done. Naikou was vain, to say the least.

“The girl was one of my targets…she’s very beautiful…she’s probably never felt pain in her life. I want to share my pain with someone as beautiful as I! But what’s this?” Naikou shifted her gaze in the mirror to the boy in the mask. “He gives off a strange aura…His face is very well hidden…I believe I should meet him. Perhaps make him one of my prisoners…But first, a test of their skills…Koori, please allow the Soul Soldiers to attack. I wish to see how well they fare…”

Koori glanced at the screen, and smiled widely. “My lady, those are the three from before. The boy in the mask ruined my eye and undid my genjutsu. The girl defeated me, and the boy with the eyebrows rescued my hostage. I have a picture of the three of them. It will help me in casting my jutsu…” Koori adjusted his spectacles before reaching into his black and inlaid-gold cloak, and extracting a picture with one aged hand. Naikou snatched it away. Her eyes widened, and she stopped breathing for a minute.

“The boy in the mask, he’s this one, right?” Naikou demanded, nearly frantic, jabbing at the picture with one well-manicured finger.

“Yes, my lady. Ekyt Kaguya, a name I will never forget…” Koori muttered angrily. I’ll see that kid to hell…How he’ll pay, oh, how he’ll pay. His life will meet the price.

“Neither…will I.” Naikou memorized every detail of the boy with the mask, then handed the picture back to Koori.

“Cast your jutsu…I want to see how strong they are…You may go, I need some time to prepare myself…”

Koori bowed and left, walking down the hall to his ‘workshop.’




Koori’s workshop was a sinister place. Torture racks, jars with human body parts in them (Including one with a collection of green eyes), and blood lined the walls. In the center of the room was Koori’s desk, where ancient manuscript after ancient manuscript was stacked. All of them seemed to be bloodstained parchment, indicating that they were old, and that they were kinjutsu. Selecting one, Koori went to work. Making hand signs and muttering strange words, Koori selected one jar of blood and dipped his hand into it. On his left shoulder, he made a half of a summoning jutsu mark. On his right shoulder, he made the other half. Finally, Koori ran his thumb down his forehead, blood dripping off it.

“Soul Soldier Summoning Jutsu!” Koori cried out. The souls of the dead left to seek out their former bodies. Koori smiled widely as the souls sailed around. He was looking forward to revenge on these three.




Ekyt put a hand up, stopping Lee and Sakura.
“Do you feel that? It’s chakra alright…but something isn’t right…” Ekyt bit his thumb and touched the ground with his palm. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu).” With a small bang and a cloud of smoke, Holly, Ekyt’s attitude-toting Keeshonden dog appeared.

“Kid, I swear, if this another note to Tsunade, I’m going to bite you SO hard…” Holly scratched at her collar. “Whaddya want, get to the point.”

Ekyt petted her. “Holly, do you remember the Land of Herbs? Can you sense any chakra? Very old chakra?”

Holly’s sensitive nose sniffed the air. “Oh yeah. Tons, kid. We’re talking 100 different types. And it’s old…no way it’s the chakra of a living person.”

“Thank you, Holly. Neiri (end).” Ekyt ended the jutsu. Looking at Lee and Sakura, he nodded. “It’s that kinjutsu again. On a major scale. We can’t stop the jutsu, but we DO have to deal with the results. If these things are old, their bones will be brittle, and susceptible to taijutsu. Fire also seemed to be effective.”

“Ekyt, can you re-create that jutsu? The Dragon’s Encampment wall, using the explosive agents in the exploding notes? That will take out a large portion. Then we can move in with taijutsu, and destroy them!” Lee declared.

“I can create a crater, and Lee, you can pull up a section of earth I dislodge to give us a point of cover. Ekyt, you maintain the jutsu while we’re doing all this.” Sakura had hoped to make the battlefield a little more beneficial to each member of her team’s respective strengths.

Sakura and Lee went to work, while Ekyt walked in front. He shed his trench coat, and the cold air stung his bare shoulders. But he wanted access to his swords, shuriken, kunai, bones, and anything else he could use. He couldn’t maintain a fire jutsu forever. Knowing that, his nimble fingers went to work, attaching explosive tags to kunai. Once he had ten, the ground began to twist and heave, and bony hands crawled up from the ground, and red eyes became visible. Ekyt threw the kunai, spreading them out in a precise range.

“Remote Detonation!”

The tags exploded, sending bones clanking into the rapidly-darkening night. Even the soldiers that had been blown away marched forward unless they were completely destroyed. The agent that caused the explosive notes to detonate was still in the air, so Ekyt made his handsigns quickly.

“Fire Release: Dragon’s Encampment Wall!”

There was a second explosion, two times larger than the first. The shockwave alone destroyed soldiers. But the fire burned high, nearly 100 feet in the air, and scorched the oncoming soldiers. With that, Ekyt leapt backward, behind the makeshift barricade Sakura and Lee had made.

“Good job, Ekyt! You rest, Lee and I will mop up the rest!” Sakura called over to him. Obediently, Ekyt sank to one knee, nodding.

“OHWAHHH!” Lee ran out in the thick of the enemies. One had an axe, and swung it. Lee leapt up and over it, spinning around and delivering a kick that sent the bone soldier’s head clattering away. Before he hit the ground, Lee backflipped up and in between two soldiers. They both leaned forward to strike him. Lee’s fists halted their progress, breaking them in half at the rib cages. A third grabbed Lee, but Lee simply kicked one bony leg out from under it, then used a backfist to end that enemy.

“Kee-yah!” Sakura shouted, focusing her chakra to her fist, then bringing that to the ground. A chasm grew in the rich soil and swallowed up the soldiers. Four more jumped from different directions. Sakura’s fist cleared the enemies away. When two grabbed her, Sakura activated her chakra scalpel and cut them to ribbons.

Ekyt had stayed out of the fight until now. He dug his heel into the ground, and pushed off, gathering momentum. Flinging out one armor-padded arm, Ekyt grabbed two skeletons around the neck and snapped their necks. Shifting his weight, he threw the two bodies into three oncoming soldiers, ruining all five in the process. Ekyt sensed an attacked from behind. Stepping his leg out he threw his hands out in a double knife-edge strike, hitting the enemy high, while it’s legs kept going forward.


“This is taking too long!” Sakura shouted, bashing another enemy to bits.

“Any ideas?!” Lee answered, kicking one bony menace under the chin.

“Get behind the barricade, now they’ve got shuriken!” Ekyt pointed out. All three leapt safely behind the barrier of soil. The shuriken sank in, but then started to penetrate. One hit Lee on his shoulder. Sakura went to tend to him, while Ekyt thought about what was going on. He could harden this wall, and buy them a little more time. Something the Third Hokage had taught him about mixing elements. His fight with Orochimaru…the chunin exams…I’ve got it!

“Dragon’s Ember Jutsu!” Ekyt used the palm of his hand to shoot fire at the wall of muddy earth, hardening it. It was a makeshift version of the Third’s own “Earth Encampment Wall Jutsu”. The sound of shuriken bouncing off echoed through the mountains. Lee was okay, and ready to fight.

“This is still taking too long. And we can’t go out from behind the barricade…Genjutsu won’t affect the things, their brains are gone…The terrain doesn’t help us much, either…I’ve got an idea! Kuchiyose No Jutsu!” Ekyt summoned his Water Dragon this time. The diminuitive dragon knew just what to do. It spat out a Mizu Bunshin of Ekyt, then disappeared. Ekyt instructed the clone to melt, and create a river in the mud.

The river caused the soldiers to slip and fall, giving a momentary lapse in the shuriken barrage.

“Dragon’s Ember Jutsu!” Ekyt said again. The forced the mud to harden, trapping the soldiers in the ground where the river of mud had flown. They vainly tried to escape.

“I get it! Lee, you take care of those! I’m going to try something new! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!” Sakura shouted. When her palm hit the ground, an enormous slug (Not Tsunade’s) hit the ground.

“Kaorra, can you use your acid attack? I know we’ve never tried this before, but there’s not much choice!”

Kaorra responded by sending jets of acid over the stone wall. Using his forehead protector as a mirror to peer around the corner, Ekyt saw the damage being done. Only the soldiers trapped in the mud remained. Lee quickly dispatched them with his taijutsu.

The three Leaf chunin were exhausted, but they couldn’t rest here.

“We need to restore our chakra…did anyone catch a safe spot on the way here?” Ekyt asked, still combing the area to make sure the bony bastards couldn’t attack..

“The best spot is a small outcropping of tree and rock I saw on the way here. It’s not too far, but far enough, and off of this dangerous soil!” Sakura was all too happy to have the correct answer here.

“Alright, we should rest our chakra. There’s no way that same attack can be used on us again. There can’t be enough bodies, souls, or tributes. If that was kinjutsu, it must have taken a TON of blood to summon those monstrosities. Blood from human sacrifices…” Ekyt thought back to Orochimaru, and the horrors he had seen in his short time as a Sound Ninja.

“We should rest tonight, then talk to people in town tomorrow. See if anyone else has been hit with a harsh genjutsu.”



HEY EVERYONE, QUICK QUESTION: JAPANESE JUTU NAMES, OR AMERICAN JUTSU NAMES? WHICH ONE DO YOU LIKE BETTER? LET ME KNOW IN YOUR COMMENT! CIAO FOR NOW COMPADRES!

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