Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza

Chapter 16: The Blood Cult: Part III

The Blood Cult- III

Team Kage left the small lumber village behind them in silence, the glowing red orb of light still hovering over the village silently, casting a chilling glow down upon it. It was fitting given the mass execution site that they had just left and they were all silent, lost in their own thoughts. For Naruto, it was still something that he was having trouble coming to terms with. From what he remembered from his life before ANBU- and there wasn't much- Naruto had experienced some of the harsher realities of life before. There had been loneliness, ostracism and sadness. People hadn't liked him very much. It had not been nice and he would forever be grateful for the Hokage for lifting him above those feelings, moulding him into a shinobi and giving him purpose and a place to belong.

However, Naruto was not deluded or conceited enough to claim that his childhood had been worse than everybody else's. In his age group alone, Uchiha Sasuke had gone through a much more traumatic and horrifying experience- one that would forever linger in back of the other boy's mind. Perhaps the Uchiha would have understood better than he did. Naruto just couldn't comprehend the point of all the suffering and pain that those poor people in the village had gone through. He simply could not comprehend why somebody do something like that. Even with all of his experiences in the ANBU and working as the Hokage's assistant, it still eluded him.

It kept the young ANBU quiet during their fast-paced travel to the next town. Daichi and Yuuka were in the lead, the former using his Byakugan and the latter using her limited sensor skills to try and locate the enemy. It was a long shot, especially after what Daichi had reported back at the village. The tortured man had not had any chakra in his body at all, and that warehouse had emitted a kind of energy that acted as a kind of blind-spot to the fabled eye techniques of the Hyuuga. Naruto couldn't explain that either. Everybody, from the lowest of the academy students- even civilians- to the most powerful Kage's, knew that chakra was essential to life. Without chakra, one could not live. It was the product of physical and spiritual energy, naturally produced by all living creatures- plants, animals, humans. Even the world had natural energy, ancient chakra flows that ran deep through the earth- far out of reach by any living being.

How could somebody survive without chakra? What had that strange energy been?

Naruto leapt from one branch to the next, the wind rushing through his hair. As he landed, his handed drifted up and touched his stomach as a startling realisation came to him. Was that strange energy...demonic? But, no, it hadn't felt anything like what Naruto briefly remembered from those hazy memories inside Ancor Vantian. Still, if anybody in Team Kage could locate the enemy then it would have to be Daichi and Yuuka. Daichi had his eyes and the blank spots would be just as good as an indication as actually seeing them, while Yuuka had the best sensing capabilities out of all of them. The human body, especially those of shinobi, expelled chakra from their tenketsu regularly- it was part of the chakra circulatory system, much like how human's exhaled carbon dioxide. Such chakra quickly dissipated into the air quickly, but it acted like a beacon to those with the talent to perceive it. Even if the enemy were not using chakra, perhaps Yuuka could detect some residue of that other strange energy.

Hopefully Team Kage could locate and intercept the unknown attackers before they reached the next village.

At the front of the group, Daichi held up a hand and Naruto tensed. He took a deep breath as he finished his jump, shelving his thoughts, questions and emotions and landing neatly on the thick tree branch. By his body language, Daichi was looking forward intently, peering at something far beyond the range of a normal eye. With the Byakugan activated and for the most part, Daichi could automatically see 50 meters around him. With some effort, he could extend that range and see ten times further, although it took some chakra.