"Sukuna."
Sukuna saw two projectiles, one red and one pink, shoot at him at great speed. If he didn't have Sharingan, he might have even taken a stance to intercept them, thinking of them as enemy attacks.
Both Sakura and Karin slammed onto him, almost knocking all the breath out of his lungs, cursing and kicking about him taking on dangerous fights.
Karin made sense, but Sakura acting like this was new.
"So, my little sister does know how to act cute…!" He smirked. But he hid it away as soon as Sakura gave him the glare very reminiscent of their mother when she was mad.
That mostly meant a very long lecture from one of the best sets of lungs Konoha had to offer.
To Sukuna's dismay, his sister had inherited those impressive lungs.
"I'm alright, thanks for asking. So, what's going on here?" He got up as professionally as he could, intending to mask their rage under the professional calm he mastered after years of playing "The Ripper" in the underground market, his personal title he earned after countless dangerous missions.
"What happened! What do you mean what happened? You… you're what happened. One second you were fighting that giant turtle and the next you were gone. I am the one who's supposed to ask what happened here." Sakura retorted with an angry face, or maybe those were tears he saw in her eyes.
For a second he really felt bad for worrying her like that.
"Sorry, but if that attack landed here, there wouldn't be any bridge to protect, let alone the bridge builder." He smiled the best of his ability and slowly patted her head with calm strokes in an attempt to soothe her anger.
It seemed to work, as she didn't question him after that.
Oh, there were questions alright, but Sakura just decided not to ask for the time being. They were still on a mission.
"Hm." Sasuke grunted on the side while Naruto just looked clueless as ever.
By this time, Kakashi was done processing the memories he got from his clone, now seeing Sukuna in a new light.
'The boy is more capable than Hokage-sama gives him credit for.' he mused, perhaps he was looking at the next Tsunade Senju here.
The joy of having a strong next generation for his village lasted for two seconds before his own lack of strength came to his mind. He was completely useless here.
So much so that a junior had to take over the burden of fighting a Biju. A big doubt about his own strength started to hover over Kakashi.
On the other side, both Zabuza and Gato were done quarrelling. The outcome was simple enough: Gato was cancelling his contract with Hidden Mist arbitrarily.
"Kill them, just get rid of that nuisance of a bridge builder. Anyone who comes in your way, kill them as well. I want all of them gone." Gato shouted to his goons.
A dozen or so men grinned like they were hyenas who had spotted their prey.
"Oi brat. What happened to Yagura?" Zabuza spat at the disgusting practices of these money lords, totally not taking into consideration the disgusting practices of shinobi, and turned his attention back to Sukuna.
Zabuza didn't have to ask; the brat came back but Yagura didn't. What could it possibly be? However, this was Yagura they were talking about.
A former Kage and an almost perfect Jinchuriki. Zabuza couldn't believe even he could beat Yagura. Let alone a brat who hadn't even grown out of his mother's skirt.
Though recalling how this same brat was the reason he had to take a run for it the last time, he had to ask.
"Dunno," Sukuna shrugged. Why should he take responsibility for their Jinchuriki?
"What you mean you don't know? You think I'm stupid? Tell me what happened!" Zabuza yelled, his blood pressure rising at the absence of the reinforcement he called for. Why did he even bother showing up if he wasn't going to do anything?
"He made one of those giant black balls again. The bastard was planning to blow the entire place up along with me. I instead blew the jutsu right onto his face before he could launch it toward me.
Then BOOM!
I don't know what happened to him after that. I barely escaped." Sukuna shrugged again.
Zabuza looked even more baffled and angry at that. The brat was making fun of him.
However, now that he was on the back foot and there wasn't really much to fight for—since Gato had arbitrarily cancelled their contract—he was not liable to save him.
So he did what any reasonable man would do.
"Kakashi, as you heard my no-longer-to-be client is cancelling the contract, in this case, we have no qualms between us anymore.
As it stands, we are no longer enemies." Zabuza said, hoping that the Copy Ninja would leave the matter at that. He really couldn't fight off both Kakashi and that brat together while saving his now-unconscious students.
Kakashi pondered over it. The fact that their Jinchuriki and former Kage might be dead was already enough to spark war over the matter.
Kakashi was having a headache by now. So here was the question: should he let them go or kill them?
He doubted he could stop the news from spreading. Killing them would definitely aggravate the matter.
The best option was to take them hostage, then at least the Leaf would have some weight to throw around if a war situation took place. However, capturing them would be much harder.
Kakashi sighed. For the sake of keeping the little bit of peace between both nations and villages, he decided to let Zabuza and his Genin go.
If he were to take them hostage, the Leaf would have a better place to start the negotiations; however, it would surely aggravate the matter.
No matter what, war was the most dejected outcome in Kakashi's mind. He would do anything to stop it if possible.
"I accept." Kakashi nodded, and Zabuza visibly sighed in relief.
"Cool, so we just have to take care of those idiots over there, right!" Sukuna pointed at the dozen or so men coming at them with all sorts of weapons in hand.
"Correct." Kakashi sighed, a headache forming at the possible aftermath of this situation. However, Kakashi was anything but not easygoing.
He gave his classic one-eye smile while covering his left eye with his forehead protector once again, deactivating the eye and the binding vow attached to it.
"Oh! Me me me… I wanna do it, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto raised his hand like a kid ready to do something new for the first time.
"We might have to kill them, you know." Sukuna interjected, and just as his words sounded, all the enthusiasm Naruto displayed was gone.
While trained well from childhood, these kids still hadn't really killed anyone. Let alone Naruto—even Sasuke, who was planning to join in, stiffened just for a second.
For all his bravado about killing his brother, Sasuke still hadn't killed anyone.
"Don't worry," Kakashi reassured them, sending a pointed look at Sukuna before continuing.
"We don't necessarily have to kill them."
"They are bandits and sellswords. If you let them live then tomorrow they will come back, maybe if not for money then to loot the town here. I don't support violence or anything, but believe me, they are better dead." Sukuna said this to counter Kakashi's attempt to reassure the ducklings.
Kakashi paused and then gave a long hard look at Sukuna, like subjecting the boy from head to toe, trying to find what brought this on.
'He isn't like a naive Genin.' Kakashi knew the boy was different, but to talk of killing so many so nonchalantly—Kakashi was a bit worried.
However, Kakashi couldn't dispute what the kid said. They really were scum, and if they let them go, they would most likely attack others later.
"Part of a Shinobi's life is taking others' lives. If you can't kill then you can't become a ninja." Sukuna put away all his big-brother vibes and pointed at the dozen or so enemies.
"But… but that is inhuman. We don't have to kill all of them." Sakura interjected.
"Yes, we can't just kill all of them. Sakura-chan is absolutely right." Naruto, the biggest Sakura simp there was, spoke out. Though he too didn't feel like killing them all.
"True, killing all of them is not needed. But this is a very good chance to temper your wills. If you can't kill here, then let me tell you, you'll never be able to kill when it counts.
That will lead to your death or the death of a comrade or a loved one." Sukuna shook his hand like he wasn't forcing them.
"I won't force you. Do as you wish."
This brought a kind of pressure on them which none of them had experienced so far.
Kakashi wished to say something, however, he knew Sukuna was right. While killing all the thugs was far too excessive, the point stood. To grow as a Shinobi, one must close their heart to this kind of thing.
To be able to kill when necessary while still not drowning in killing and power.
Sakura and Naruto looked unsure while Sasuke's fist clenched tight. He knew Sukuna was right. He had to do it if he wished to get stronger.
Last was Karin, who already had killed before; for her the pressure wasn't that much.
o
A/N: What do you think about the chapter?
I do believe with all the hacks Sukuna had, he genuinely can take down Isobu. Though I didn't confirmed cause its just my though. Do tell me can three tails own biju dama can kill him ?
As for the conflict between villages upon the possible death of their Jinchuriki and former Kage, I don't know honestly how the matter should play out. Any ideas, I genuinely wish to know.
Lastly, Sukuna's attempt to make the ducklings grow up. Well, it's kind of understandable seeing how he constantly tries to make them grow.
If Gojo Satoru can do it then Sukuna can as well, right!
Do tell me what you think of the chapter and how to improve upon it. Bye.
xxx
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