Wandering Heathens

Mission: Pacification

The clay bird landed just outside the border of the Land of Lightning and Zubuza hopped off. She wrapped the bandages Sasori had given her around the lower half of her face to conceal her teeth and identity. "You're back" a short, long haired girl said, stepping out of her concealment. "Haku. Do you have it?" Zabuza asked her. She bowed and presented a closed scroll to the swords-woman. Zabuza took the scroll, unrolled it, bit her thumb and smeared her blood on the symbol. The scroll disappeared and a large sword lay on the ground in its place. She grinned as she wielded her Executioner's Blade, taking practice swings with it before balancing the blade on her shoulder. She turned to look at her liberators, gave them a nod and she and Haku began walking away to fulfill their end of the bargain.

"Well that's done. What's next?" Shinjo asked. "We fly to the Land of Clay. Deidara needs to replenish her supply of clay but the Village isn't cooperating. You and Ryuu will subjugate and pacify the Village by force and bring it under Akatsuki control" Sasori explained as Deidara flew the bird towards the doomed Village. "That sounds more up our alley!" Ryuu replied as he searched for a weapons scroll. "HM!" Deidara muttered as she silently fumed that she wouldn't be able to bomb and terrorize the Village she so despised. "Don't be upset. You'll get wrinkles" Shinjo said to her while inspecting his sword. Deidara glared at him while Sasori smacked her on the back of her head and she returned her focus to flying the bird.

After several hours, Deidara landed the bird in a dirt packed clearing and the men hopped off. "Send a signal and we'll come back for you" Sasori said as the bird took off, leaving them in a cloud of dust. Coughing and brushing their robes, Ryuu and Shinjo turned to look at the Village in the distance. "Well?" Shinjo asked as he began walking. Ryuu trotted after him and they began discussing their plan.

"Ok, so we have to bring it under heel? I don't recall them saying if we can't destroy and loot it" Ryuu pondered. Shinjo shrugged and replied "I think they just want a steady supply of armaments. I doubt they care about the well-being of the Villagers." "Excellent" Ryuu said darkly, flames dancing on his fingertips. Shinjo smiled at him as they approached the open gates.

"State your business!" A guard commanded them. Ryuu stabbed a senbon into the man's neck, paralyzing his vocal cords and the two stepped over his silent writhing body as they entered the Village. Citizens milled about, running errands, stopping to make small talk with acquaintances and shopkeepers set up displays of their wares outside their shops.

"Not a bad looking place" Ryuu muttered to Shinjo who nodded and looked around. He approached a fat shopkeeper and asked where he could find the Village's leader. "In the quarry. You gonna buy something?" "No" Shinjo replied and beckoned Ryuu to follow him in the direction the shopkeeper pointed out.

They followed a beaten path that wound around natural rock formations and approached what looked like a large gash carved into the landscape. Rhythmic shouts followed by rhythmic banging reached their ears as they approached the quarry. Men stood stripped to their waists with sweat glistening off their bodies as they swung pickaxes at the rock and clay, prying the rich material out of the land. More men loaded the material into wheeled carts that young boys competed with each other to race to the sorter. The sorters were old men who sifted through the loads and classified the rocks and clay for sale. Overseeing all of this was a middle aged man who looked as if he had been a strong fighter in his youth. He calmly smoked a pipe as Ryuu and Shinjo approached him.

"Impressive!" Ryuu said to him and he merely nodded, his pipe clenched between his teeth as he looked them over. "You want to buy?" He asked. "I want to negotiate" Ryuu replied as Shinjo watched the sorters. "Hmph!" The leader snorted and turned to face Ryuu, his aged, but still muscular arms, crossed in front of his chest and his feet spread shoulder width apart. Almost as if he was itching for a fight.

"The negotiation is simple: agree to Akatsuki rule and your Village lives. Deny us and you all perish" he finished menacingly. The leader removed his pipe from his mouth and spat at Ryuu's feet, "I don't negotiate with terrorists and I especially don't negotiate with the Akatsuki!" He said defiantly. "Are you done?" Shinjo asked while quietly unsheathing his sword. "No! You tell Pein to fuck off! We will never bow to her or her organization of depraved criminals!" Ryuu sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration, "last chance" he said. "Are you deaf?! I fucking said no, asswipe!" "I hope, somewhat reluctantly, that you have someone to greet you in your afterlife," Ryuu said as he caught Shinjo's eyes and nodded. With a smooth motion Shinjo swung his blade and the man's head rolled off his body, landing on the earth in a cloud of dust.

The workers, who had watched the conversation, howled in anger, defiance and heartbreak as their leader's head rolled on the ground. Shinjo kicked the offending body part into the group of workers, smiled and waved at them to attack him. With a collective roar of rage the workers rushed towards him with their pickaxes and chakra drawn, ready to avenge their leader's death.

Shinjo stood on the balls of his feet, gently rocking side to side as he dodged weapons and chakra, slicing, stabbing, impaling men of all ages in an orgasmic orgy of blood and violence. Limbs, organs, and bodies lay around him as he released his anger. Slavery, whether willing or unwilling, brought back nightmares of his childhood and he found that destruction and damage quelled his inner rage. He looked to see Ryuu battling his own share of enemies, a grin on his face, as he ended lives all around him. I wonder, if we had been raised right, would we be like this? Needing to destroy and refusing to give into soft emotions. Would we have been normal with a Village and a family and something or someone worth fighting for? Would we have been whole?