Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza

Chapter 18: The Blood Cult: Part V

ANBU Directive #1: At all times must an ANBU preserve the Will of Fire, ensuring the safety and security of the village of Konoha and her inhabitants, young and old. This supersedes any and all other orders.

Naruto had failed.

The inhabitants of the Land of Fire had been killed, one after the other, again and again, before his very eyes. The blood of dozens- hundreds- of innocent men, women and children stained the cratered, blackened grounds.

The last civilian, the daughter of the Fire Lord himself, hung limply from a cross, her hands and feet nailed into the wood and her body bound by an unknown sealing technique. Naruto couldn't get her free, and his duty meant that none of them could retreat without her.

And his teammates were wounded and dying.

There had been six in Team Kage.

Hyuuga Daichi, codenamed Crow-3, who lay on the ground, his short-cropped black hair stained with mud and his once brilliant white eyes dim and grey.

Status: Incapacitated.

Yamanaka Yuuka, codenamed Snake-5, who knelt down in the muck, both hands clasped to the side of her head. Her mouth was moving endlessly, her eyes unfocussed behind her mask.

Status: Incapacitated.

Towa, with a terrible wound gushing from his elbow, a thin trickle of blood leaking from the side of his mask. Towa, who had somehow been linked with the enemy command, a technique that seemly transferred any injuries that Hidan suffered onto himself. Towa, who held a hand to his chest as he toppled face first to the ground.

Status: Incapacitated.

Now they were three. Komachi had fended off Hidan's cultists for the time being as she guarded the wounded, and Kage stood before Hidan, his dull-black blade punctured through the slick, silver-haired man's chest. Naruto stood next to him, the palm of his hand bleeding as he gripped Kage's blade. For a moment, the two ANBU froze as Hidan shuddered in pleasure. Then, Hidan's face twitched and a look of rage flashed over it.

Naruto was panting as he released his grip on the blade. He had just managed to drag it down at the last second, lowering the thrust from a fatal stab to the heart to a less critical blow to the chest. He thought he had missed most of the vital organs, but it was hard to tell with Hidan, with his blackened skin and abnormally-protruding bones.

Kage's head turned back to Hidan and his body language screamed his sudden understanding of what was happening. The normally-stoic Jonin paused for a fraction of a second, and was almost skewered as a rage-filled Hidan brought his scythe down upon him. Both Naruto and Kage jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack- Kage's blade remained in Hidan, who looked furious.

"You fuckers!" he growled. His eyes were wild, bloodshot. "Who the fuck do you think you are, interrupting my ritual like that? I'll burn you alive, heretics!"

Naruto glared at him furiously, his chakra surging. His tenketsu were burning, his limbs were strangely light and his tongue felt like he had licked a lightning-release technique. He quickly looked at his captain and saw Kage was suddenly looking unsure, hesitant, even. The ANBU captain's dull-black blade was still lodged in Hidan's body, a wound that had apparently been transferred over to Towa. Hidan's body, his charcoal-black skin and thickened, protruding bones began to contort as he began to revert back to normal, and the bloodied symbol by his feet was shimmering hazily, evaporating into nothingness.

"Jashin will be fed today," Hidan promised.

His tongue came out and he licked his scythe again, lapping at the smear of dull-crimson liquid like a dog lapped at a drink. His skin, which had been fading, grew dark again and his bones surged out unnaturally. Naruto's eyes widened as Hidan's body exploded in a shower of blood once more, the crimson rivets dripping to the ground and forming the eerie symbol of the priest's dark religion.