Itsuki looked at Kenta, hand extended while maintaining a facade of a smile. He knew Kenta has no real option here but this did not make Itsuki happy in any capacity, especially when Kenta's situation has so many parallels with his own. Being orchestrated by the village high command, but having to stay village due to having someone they cared for, in his case, it is Ichika and Naruto while for Kenta it was her mother. Her death was probably what pushed Kenta over the edge.
But he swallowed up any guilt, but a smile remained on his face, part of the physiological profile he adopted in front of Kenta. After all, it is not just a face and chakra signature that can be used to recognize someone, and Itsuki did not want to be linked in any way to what he was going to do next.
Kenta looked at stranger's face, shifting his eyes to his extended hand and then to ninjato piercing his stomach and winching a little. Itsuki had deliberately pierced Kenta at an odd angle, missing his organs to not debilitate Kenta, even going as far as sterilizing the sword beforehand to reduce chances of infection. Kenta is safe now but with a single twist, his death was all but assured. And from the look in his eyes, Kenta understood it too.
After a moment of deliberation, Kenta took Itsuki's hand, forming an uneasy alliance.
' Raiden's ' smile brightened before his sight fell on the curse seal on his bicep.
"What do we have here?" Itsuki asked. Kenta lowered his head in shame, before speaking, "It is a curse seal to keep track of my location." Bening branded like an animal was a shame of his life.
"And that's all it is supposed to do?" Itsuki asked, not taking his eyes off the seal.
"Yes?" Kenta answered unsurely, not at all liking what the stranger was implying.
"Then you my friend... have been duped." 'Raiden' said dramatically, maintaining the persona Itsuki had chosen for his alter ego. Ignoring the paling Kenta, he continued, "This seal is relatively simple, it just tracks you passively and when activated, it kills you. And believe me, mister Kenta, it will be a very painful death."
Kenta looked at his curse mark with horror. In a swift move, he pulled out a kunai hidden in his sleeveless jacket and brought it down on mark, fully intended to gouge it out, even cut his hole arm if necessary. But before his kunai could do anything, a strong grip held his waist.
"I Am No oNE's sLave! I aM no OnE's SlaVe!" Kenta's eyes reddened with hate and anger, all rational thoughts escaping him.
Kenta kept on pulling with all his might but Itsuki's hold did not bulge. Before Kenta could do anything else, Itsuki struck at Kenta's pressure point, rendering him unconscious in one masterful stroke. Itsuki frowned, this was not a good sign for someone's psyche to panic that much, even under the threat of death, especially for ninjas, who deal with death at every turn.
But in certain ways, this makes my plan easier. With a quick hand seal, Itsuki expanded his sensing range to sense any hostiles and thanked for small mercies that no one was near their position or moving towards them.
Wearing medic's gloves, Itsuki removed the ninjato from Kenta's gut with a quick pull and started to heal the wound, making sure he will be combat-ready upon waking up. After the wound had healed to his satisfaction, Itsuki turned his attention to the curse mark.
Curse seals are not easy, even when compared to most sealing techniques and sealing masters specializing in them few and far between. Knowledge of curse seals is hoarded with jealousy, so much so that no known curse seal master was known after the downfall of Uzumaki.
'At least not publically. Orochimaru and Danzo both dabble in curse seals but they were far from being sealing masters, but mother was and so am I.'
Itsuki kept on analyzing the seal while reflecting internally. 'Mother's notes on curse seals were the only one I could pursue, it was the only mastery available to me. I hated it, oh how much I hated that I could only pursue a discipline whose sole purpose was to hurt and control others. Well, looks like it proved useful after all.'
Itsuki made a few hand signs and placed one hand on the seal, the other hand supporting the extended arm.
'Fuin: Seal Disperse'
"AHHHHHHHHH" Kenta's eyes shot open and his screams filled the foggy forest.
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"Huh"
A dozen miles from Itsuki's location, over a large cliff overlooking the entire valley few tents were laid. In one such tent, a man with a blindfold on his eyes shook into attention. Getting up from his position, he moved out of the tent with practiced ease and far more awareness than a blindfolded person should possess.
He moved in front of another tent, his feet deliberately making noise to announce his presence to the inhabitant of the tent.
"Enter" A lazy voice called from inside and the blindfolded ninja entered the tent and stood in from of Darui sitting in front of a table filled with maps. Lifting his eyes up from the maps, he addressed the blindfolded ninja, "Anything to report?"
"I have lost beacon of Kenta's curse seal"
"Oh" Darui did not show any outward sign at that but inside was another matter entirely. He continued, "It meant he is dead." It was more of a statement than a question but the ninja replied nevertheless.
"Yes, even cutting off the entire arm will not remove the curse seal and removing it is next to impossible. He is most definitely dead." Ninja replied, carefully watching Darui's reaction.
"Ok, dismissed." Darui lazily waved his hand and ninja left. Just as Darui was alone, his facade broke and his vision blured with unshead tears.
'First mother now you brother.'
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Konoha
"I want you all at border in twelve hours. Canabalize your tenketsu, overload on chakra pills, burn your chakra coils, I Don't care. Get it Done." Hiruzen Sarutobi belowed, addressing five hundred ninjas, Anbu and other companies that stood in front of him, looking every bit of Shinobi no Kami he was. Behind him, Danzo and rest of the advisors stood watching pensively.
"Disperse!" And all five hundred ninjas vanished, going off in moonless night.
"How could have we missed it? Such a large operation right under our noses and we none the wiser." Homura Mitokado, one of the elders asked, voice filed with anger.
All elders stood silent for a moment, before Hiruzen spoke,"What is done is done. For now we must focus on the present. Koharu, Homura start preparing ninja's for war."
Both their eyes widened in shock but nodded. They too understood Kumo will not give up easily but given Hiruzen's stance, neither will Konoha. After Hyuga affair, Kumo got too bold and needed being taught being a lesson.
Not far from there, Jiraya looked on sadly. "So war again huh."