16 - Ursa Major

Yozora sat in a dark cave, cradling himself as he looked around in fear.

He didn't have cool powers like his siblings. Why would the weird ninja man kidnap him? The boy hoped Aunt Sewanin had told his siblings, they'll definitely save him.

Sewanin wasn't actually his aunt, obviously, but she was a kind old lady who chose to join them in the village Yozora's siblings set up. They never told him why they made it, although he suspected it had something to do with how often they were victims of attempted kidnapping.

The boy curled up more as four kidnappers walked into the cave, one of them scolding the others.

"There are only three Tsuyoku's, what do you mean you decided to take the one who hasn't activated any powers?" the one with long dark red hair and a long scar across his eyes questioned. Kidnapper 2, who had short brown hair, flinched, taking a step back. "Gah, sorry, I thought it would be easier to influence a child."

"Well then, trick him, don't violently kidnap him!"

"I said sorry!"

Kidnapper 1- the boss, it seemed, crouched beside Yozora, giving him a kind smile. Strangely, despite the likely blindness, he could find him perfectly well. The purple haired boy only backed away, not fooled. "Hey, kid. I'm Kyomu. What about you?"

Yozora curled back further. "I won't tell you. You're bad."

Children may be easier to influence, but extra childish kids with a 'good and bad' mindset are worse than genius teenagers. Seriously, Kyomu wished his subordinate had taken the blond boy instead. Actually, no, he seemed too smart. His lazy sister might be better.

Well, too late to send the kid back and kidnap somebody else.

Kyomu collects ninja or otherwise with powerful natural talent, kekkei genkai, or other abilities and convinces them to his cause. He had a leadership complex, wanting to create his own village, even his own region.

Just imagine, the Land of Kyomu. Kyomu- the Kyomukage!

Yeah, he'd keep working on the name. What's important now is that he had to recruit more powerful people. For now, he'd throw the kid over to some of his current recruits until he develops his powers.

But no, good ol' Kyomu just couldn't get his way.

"Tell your raven to fly slower!" Fuyuka complained, chasing after the two Tsuyoku's. Sewanin had remained at the village, unable to run at her age.

"Kanashi is leading us to Yozora as quickly as possible. We need to find him," Shigetsu replied flatly, bursting into the cave.

The two siblings looked at Fuyuka expectantly.

Wait up.

"You two idiots can't fucking fight?" she asked, disappointed. What's the point of having cool powers if they don't fight with it? Great, now she has to carry two deadweights while she beat up a weirdo and his weirdo subordinates.

"Rina, dispatch of the girl. Kessho, Kitanai, subdue the Tsuyoku," Kyomu commanded. Kitanai, the one with brown hair and Kessho, a man with medium length silver-gray hair and literal pink eyes, surrounded the Tsuyoku siblings.

Fuyuka lunged to stop them, but found herself caught by dark threads. The third, a woman with short dark pink hair and blue eyes, jerked her hands to one side, the dark threads throwing Fuyuka against the wall.

"You should never have tried to fight us," she hissed, dragging Fuyuka along with her shadow threads, throwing the blue haired girl against the wall.

Meanwhile, Shigetsu and Nemuri were trying not to die. Kitanai appeared to be related to Sunagakure to some degree, as he manipulated the dirt on the cave floor that was apparently classified as sand to throw into their eyes.

Shigetsu tried to blink the dirt away, only for Kessho to encase him in a crystal wall. He appeared to have crystal release as a kekkei genkai.

Nemuri wiped the sand out of her eyes, finding a rock which she threw towards the sand manipulator. Kitanai flinched as the rock zoomed towards him, but unfortunately Nemuri's aim wasn't good enough as it clattered beside him.

"I do hope Kyomu gives me permission to model a few sculptures after you two. The Tsuyoku have good genes, don't they?" Kessho commented, but was halted when Tabiki appeared seemingly out of nowhere, crunching down on his ankle.

Angrily, he materialized a crystal into his hand and threw it towards the animal, only for a raven to swoop in and safely drop the fox on a ledge in the cave.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Shigetsu kicked at the weakening crystal wall. Noting his efforts, Nemuri chucked a second rock at the wall, their combined efforts just enough to break it.

"Kanashi, now!" the blond shouted. The raven, having successfully dropped off Tabiki, lunged towards Kessho, biting off a bunch of silver hair.

"M-my hair! You don't know how long it takes to style. You little..." The Crystal Release user grasped his head, fixing Shigetsu with a glare.

Shigetsu only used telepathy to communicate with his pets, only reading minds occasionally. However, this was an exception. He concentrated, sending a flurry of entirely random thoughts to the monologuing man.

"I'm a sculptor, I can make good statues and I can make bad tuna-" He blinked, as if confused at what he was saying. Shigetsu continued sending the most random things into his foe's head. The poor blondie didn't know this was the strategy Fuyuka had used before.

"I might convince Kyomu not to recruit you at all, you little spherical gorilla novel, lightsaber dango T-shirt- gah!" Kessho stopped talking, but unfortunately his brain kept spinning with weird thoughts.

Fuyuka, while being thrown around, managed to grab a shard of crystal from the crystal wall Kessho had made earlier. She tried to hack at the shadow threads, only to find that unfortunately they were not solid. However, she managed to catch Kanashi's beady bird eyes.

'Please tell me this raven is smart enough to understand and doesn't die,' she prayed, chucking the crystal towards it.

"What was that? Can't even throw?" Rina mocked, throwing Fuyuka into another wall. However, her eyes widened as Kanashi swooped down, making a clean cut on her back with the crystal shard.

Fuyuka discovered one lucky fact- Rina could only create one thread per hand. Angrily, the pink-haired girl detached Fuyuka and threw her shadow threads towards Kanashi, who swiftly avoided it and pecked at her face.

Now free, Fuyuka placed a kick on the other girl's back, knocking her to the ground.

"Kanashi, spin!" she shouted, hoping the raven could understand. Thankfully, he did, grabbing a thread still in the air and making a few clean loops around the pink-haired woman.

Soon enough, Rina was entangled in her own shadow threads. Taking advantage of the moment, Fuyuka tossed a kunai which managed to graze Kitanai's shoulder. The man whipped around, allowing Nemuri to kick him clean in the balls.

"Ow!" he complained, launching a beam of sand at the blonde. The Tsuyoku tried to dodge, only to be knocked into the cave wall. Shigetsu, making sure Kessho was still thoroughly confused, grabbed another crystal shard and threw it towards Kitanai. The brown haired man dropped to his knees, clutching his shoulder and arm in pain. Nemuri rushed over, stomping him on the face to knock him out.

Kessho, no longer confused, summoned a few crystal shards which he threw at the three. Fuyuka caught hers, throwing it right back before following up with a Pentagonal Web.

The man groaned, stuck to the wall by the chakra web.

Kyomu cursed under his breath. These were supposed to be powerful people, why are they losing so easily?

Fuyuka, Shigetsu and Nemuri rushed over to Yozora, who's light green eyes were wide with awe. "Nii-san, nee-san, you were so cool! You too, Fuyuka-san!"

"Great, now let's go back so I can take a nap," Nemuri declared, helping her cousin up.

However, while they were talking, Kyomu had managed to rouse his subordinates. The three encircled them, eyes dark.

"Stay back," Fuyuka warned, hefting up a shuriken. However, she didn't need to act, because a large figure plowed the three onto the ground.

Said figure was a bear. A semi-transparent blue bear held together by a constellation. Fuyuka liked stars, so she could recognize the Ursa Major easily. Shigetsu lifted a protective arm towards Yozora as the bear approached him.

However, the furry creature simply ducked and sat before the purple-haired boy, making a bear-smile towards the boy. Hesitantly, Yozora raised a hand, petting the constellation creature.

"I think," Nemuri muttered. "Our little cousin just got his powers. At eight years old, too."

With a pop, the bear vanished in a shower of light, leaving only the constellation frame which drifted away.

"That was cool," Yozora whispered. "You mean I can summon Ursa Major whenever I want?"

"Yeah," Shigetsu replied. He dusted his clothes, turning towards Kyomu and his subordinates, only to find all four of them had vanished. He frowned, facing Kanashi and sending a thought.

"I sent Kanashi to make sure they don't come back," he explained to the others. "Let's go back now."