The Fox's Third Flash of Hope

Chapter 18

Sorry it took so long to update. First I was run over by writer's block and then I was off the wifi grid for a week. Then I was flattened by block again.

At least she managed to stay conscious this time.

Well, kind of.

The flames created a huge air vacuum everywhere it roared, and Kansen felt the lack of oxygen almost instantly. Her vision blurred and began to lighten, her throat and lungs burned. The intense heat didn't help. She slid back as the concrete tilted up, hopelessly scrabbling and trying to maintain leverage, but to no avail.

Something fell past her to the ground with a heavy thump. Her foot hit stable concrete and the sudden support threw her backwards. The redhead somehow managed to twist around and land on her hand and knees. Blissful air returned to her shaky body in heaving breaths. Her sight cleared up, revealing Niju lying on his back a few feet away. Blood seeped slowly from a cut somewhere on the back of his head.

The redhead pinched him. Hard. The poor boy's eyes popped open and he bolted upright with an ear-splitting "OW!" The fury on his face vanished when he caught sight of his teammate's cold, bored, and annoyed expression. A noticeable shiver traveled up his spine. Kansen turned her unflinching gaze to her bag and reached inside, retrieving a roll of white gauze.

"There's no time to waste, so let's get you patched up," she ordered.

"What do you mean— oh," Niju suddenly noticed he was bleeding. How he hadn't noticed before was a mystery. Without consent, the redhead parted his dark, blood soaked hair that concealed the wound. Her hands carried the bandages nimbly around Niju's head and explained the situation to both of them, figuring it out as she talked. "We're probably stuck in one of the side tunnels. The way we came is blocked by that mass of rubble," she paused and pointed at a pile of huge chunks on one side of the dimly lit hallway, "the others are most likely stuck in the other tunnels separated into small groups."

Niju half listened and half marveled at her skill at tying bandages, but was jerked back to the present with a yelp of pain when Kansen deftly tied the cloth with a forceful pull. "Pay attention," she snapped. "Plan is simple: Find a way out of here, somehow reunite with the others, and make it to the village alive. Got it?"

"Yeah....." he was still in a slight state of shock.

"Then let's go," the redhead stood up and began walking down the unblocked direction. She didn't bother to see if the Zanto was following her or not. Her ears told her enough.

*****

Unfortunately for those two, they were the least experienced group of the separated Leaf ninjas. Boruto had ended up with Penami, and Sarada was by herself.

The Hidden Star's hideout was more or less a circle, with a few outlying tunnels here and there. The center was the huge room that was now collapsed and an exposed hole in the ground, with five main tunnels branching off of it. All five eventually led to an exit. The catch: the exits were anywhere along the tunnels, maybe hidden along the wall or at the end of a particularly hidden side tunnel. Not to mention they were protected by a password protected barrier, the phrases different for each one. 

The point is, this underground structure was made with the highest security possible, and breaking out is pretty much impossible. The only weak area is the vicinity of the central chamber, since the tunnels descend deeper into the earth as they expand away from the center, cutting off the option of busting out upwards, like Kansen originally did in another one of the main tunnels. 

And as luck would have it, none of the escapees happened to be in that tunnel with a hole in the ceiling. If one of the teams had lucked out and ended up in there, they would have gotten out in a matter of minutes.

And of course, there's the fact that none of our beloved protagonists know anything about the layout of their enemy's territory.

So, let's get back to how Kansen is doing dealing with her teammate.

*****

How about we just say she wasn't doing a terrible job at it. But she wasn't exactly succeeding either.

The back of Niju's shirt was clenched tightly in the redhead's fist, the black haired boy unconscious and being dragged along by the female that really had a lot more arm strength than she looked like she had, considering Kansen was pulling him over the concrete floor with one hand and walking completely normally. Her eye twitched in irritation at the memory of the trouble the boy had put her through.

They had passed by the soundproof room where she had defeated Washura, and also where she had knocked out the kunoichi that had originally captured her. That same kunoichi had leaped at her once again, bringing to light long, burnt orange hair and brown eyes now that her mask was gone. 

All the recent suffering and death had awakened Kansen's killer instinct that normally lay dormant. It sharpened her hearing, reflexes, and overall abilities. The far more experienced kunoichi was heavily hit in her abdomen with a forceful kick from the kunoichi that had just been introduced to battle the day before.

As the orangette lay on the ground convulsing and spitting blood and saliva, the redhead slowly and smoothly strode over to her and slid her short sword from its place by her left side. She bent down, intending to end her enemy's misery and disgrace.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Niju shouted behind her.

"This is war. This is life and death," she turned her head with a merciless stare. "If you can't even finish a life, you have no place in this career." That moment of distraction had cost her. Normally she wouldn't even think about taking her eyes off her foe. Though she managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, a long red gash cut its way into her left arm, given existence by the long haired ninja's kunai. Had the ninja that bore shoulder length hair not turned at the last second, the blade would have been lodged in her heart and lungs. Certain death.

No hesitation left, Kansen used her own blade to cut a similar gash on her opponent's body. The life bled out of her sliced neck. Niju watched in stunned horror as his teammate that had always seemed so innocent like everyone else plunged the sword with no qualms into the Waterfall kunoichi's neck.

Kansen stood up and looked over her shoulder with a look even more ruthless than before, as if the new blood had fed the nightmare that seemingly possessed her. In a split second she was behind him and hit a point on the back of his neck, allowing him to fall to the ground.

Now the redhead was towing him behind her with her right hand, her left sleeve torn off and white cloth tied around the wound on her upper arm. She still held her blood stained sword in her left hand.

Now that you know the backstory, I guess she wasn't just irritated. She was also in a dark, twisted mood for killing. She wanted to leave her 'teammate' behind so she could continue on her way, but she knew that the others in the village wouldn't take it and she really had no other place to go. Knocking him out was the best option to avoid repeats of what had just occurred.

But she had a feeling some answers were close to being divulged, and she, Kansen Reitsui, jinchuriki of the Nine-tailed fox, would be the first to know them.

Feedback on Kansen's newfound "evil mode"?