Chapter 14
Team Ro was headed towards Kumogakure, their goal, to eliminate a Konoha spy who had betrayed the village.
The trip was very different from the ones Keigo had taken with his old team, few stops just to rest and no chatting.
Tenzou's presence reassured him as it had on their previous missions.
The landscape began to change as they moved further away from the Country of Fire, the lush forests giving way to high rocky mountains.
From the debriefing before leaving, Keigo had understood that their subject was stationed in a base just outside the city, positioned in a clearing between two peaks. They were lucky the few trees would provide enough cover to regroup before attacking.
Having arrived at their destination they crouched on the branches of two adjacent trees.
"Frog and Hare on the south side, Cat will wait here in case he tries to escape" Kakashi started, "Duck with me on the west side"
"Yes captain" they all responded to Kakashi's orders.
The plan was pretty simple overall, Shoko and Hisao would be the cover while Keigo and Kakashi would come in for the elimination.
Everyone left to go to their positions.
Keigo had the window that would be his entry point into view to sprint when Hisao gave the signal.
A sign that although a few minutes had passed, he had not arrived.
Keigo glanced towards Kakashi for directions, he didn't know what to do.
"Teleport there to the kunai you planted earlier and check out what's happening" the order came.
It was a good plan given that as soon as they arrived the entire clearing had been covered in kunai for the teleportation jutsu his father had invented.
Keigo didn't have to be told twice before leaving.
The south side was the side with the least cover and the only kunai he managed to place was just hidden behind a rock.
After a more than risky landing, Keigo looked for traces of his companions.
He found them fighting with their target.
Both Shoko and Hisao were very strong fighters but they almost seemed cautious and didn't use excessive force during their fight.
It didn't take long for Keigo to understand why.
The entire place and the target itself were covered in tags bombs.
High level fuinjutsu.
One wrong hit and the house and everyone inside it were gone.
Helping them with jutsu wouldn't make sense, as soon as a shred of chakra entered the room everything would blow up. entering to fight would have decreased the space to move and would have hindered his companions.
Keigo could do nothing but watch and offer support from afar.
Shoko and Hisao were doing well until they cornered their enemy in the corner of the room.
Close to walls and the tags.
Keigo could see the spy's eyes light up in realization.
"GET OUT" he tried to warn them by shouting.
It was as if time was passing in slow motion.
Keigo dashing out of his cover, arms outstretched towards his comrades as if he could catch them and carry them out.
Hisao who had lost his Frog mask in his haste to turn around and was now staring into his eyes, realization written all over his face.
Shoko didn't even have time to realize what was happening.
The last thing Keigo saw before he was hit by the blast wave was Hisao's reassuring smile as the blast hit him from all sides.
He was floating in the water when he regained consciousness.
Keigo wasn't sure if he had woken up when the only thing he saw when he opened his eyes was endless darkness.
Despite the burns he surely must have had, he felt no pain as he stood up.
His feet remained submerged in the water.
The place he was in seemed familiar to him but he still didn't understand how.
A bone-shaking growl brought him out of his thoughts.
His shoulders stiffened, he knew that growl, it still haunted his nightmares sometimes.
Unconsciously a hand began to massage the scar hidden by the armor.
He looked up from where he was staring at his feet and was met by the enormous face of the nine-tailed fox.
Keigo's chains held his body close to the ground and limited his movements.
"We can finally meet face to face" a deep growl cut through the silence.
"You can actually talk" was the smartest thing Keigo could get out of his mouth.
"Of course I can talk, you little brat" was the harsh reply.
"Well you can't blame me if I didn't get lost in chatter while you were trying to get rid of me and my family, right?" His temper was coming out, years of pent-up anger pouring out on the one who had taken a piece of his heart away.
"News flash, you managed to take out mom"
"I know, I've been in your head this whole time remember?", that wasn't creepy at all, Keigo thought.
"It's not like I wanted you here, I just had to do it to save my family"
And the fox understood, and also explained to him about the control he was subjected to that night, how his actions were not really his actions even though he hated humans, and how all the jinchuriki before him had helped increase the anger he felt towards the human race.
He told him that he also hated Keigo at first, then he began to understand him, a child who for the love of his family had kept him trapped, and who was hated for what he carried.
"When I was only little the Sage told me that I would find someone who would understand me. And I think I did" the fox concluded.
"From now on you may need more chakra than you have available, I can lend you mine" he added almost as an afterthought "If you free me from the chains we can collaborate".
Keigo didn't know what to think as the fox's immense fist was held out to him.
For a long time he hated the burden he carried but recently he had realized that sometimes he had been helped by him.
Before changing his mind he held out his own fist to hit the one that was extended to him.
"That's fine but don't get any bad ideas about mass massacres" Keigo said with a smirk.
"Let's start a lifelong friendship, Keigo and...."
"Kurama" a voice said with deafening laughter.
Keigo regained consciousness, his body still airborne from the explosion.
Although the conversation with Kurama had lasted a long time, it seemed that not even a few seconds had passed in the real world.
He hit the ground with a hard crash, his body dragged a few meters and his head hit the ground violently.
A second crash not far from him was what gave him the strength to get up to check.
His eyes met a half-charred body. Hisao.
He ran towards his wounded companion even though he had no medical knowledge.
Seeing him closer he knew that there was no escape for him, Keigo would bring a body containment scroll to Konoha.
A faint voice reached his ears and as he crouched close to the body Hisao raised a weak hand to grasp the edge of his armor.
"My son" Shorter and shorter breaths interrupted Hisao's speech, "please promise me you will look after him"
"I promise" Keigo sobbed.
"Thank you Kei-"
Hisao didn't have a chance to finish his sentence, his breath caught and his eyes went blank. Keigo could feel the chakra leaving his comrade's now dead body. With tears falling behind the mask he closed his now blind eyes.
Kakashi and Tenzou arrived at that moment, both with burns spread across their bodies.
"A platoon of Kumo-nin arriving" they said.
Keigo gave no signs of hearing what they said, his eyes still trained on the body at his feet.
Hisao had always kept an eye on those he considered the little ones of the team, Keigo first and foremost.
Now he wouldn't even be able to see his son being born, the little Konohamaru he couldn't stop talking about.
Keigo promised himself that he would look after the child like Hisao had done for him.
"The prospects are not in our favor, we are at least one against twenty, we won't get out of here right?"Tenzou asked in an unsure voice.
Kakashi had yet to take his eyes off the body.
"No, we will have the opportunity to return home" Keigo answered.
'I can lend you my chakra', the words rang in his head.
Without recognizing his teammates he began to walk towards the opening of the valley which was beginning to fill with lines of enemy shinobi.
'Well Kurama this is our time', he thought
Red flooded his vision but instead of losing control of his actions this time he was fully conscious.
as well as invading his vision the red had formed a covering over his entire body, his clothes glowing with the color with black bands interrupting them.
Although he couldn't see it at the moment his eyes had also changed color and the birthmarks on his face had thickened.
He could feel the canines becoming more pointed.
And the chakra, now he could feel everything and everyone, it was as if every single molecule of chakra within a twenty kilometer radius was at his fingertips.
The Duck mask was long forgotten.
before him lay part of Kumo's army, armed to the teeth.
Too bad they had no chance of winning with the new abilities Keigo had.
Now that the fox was no longer chained, chains emerged from his hands ready to strike anyone who got too close.
In the eyes of the enemies Keigo was no more than a flash of red passing from one side of the clearing to the other, cutting through their lines.
It wasn't possible to hit an enemy you couldn't even see.
Soon the carnage was complete with Keigo standing in the center of it all, barely breathing hard.
His gaze was directed towards the horizon, the coast was in sight and the outline of an Island was visible.
It was somewhat bittersweet for Keigo that this was his first sight of Uzushio.