52 - Rising Tension

Fuyuka had gotten all the information about Shadow Star she wanted out of Denra. "Okay, last question. Were you dropped into a pile of bricks as a kid or are you just this crazy?"

"You're not that much better," Naku pointed out. Fuyuka flipped him off (again).

"I'm pretty sure I was born this awesome," Denra shrugged as much as she could while being stuck to a tree.

"Do we leave her?" Yozora asked. "Or do we bring her along? It'll be risky to bring such an unpredictable person along, but if we leave her the enemy will just free her."

"As long as her chakra is sealed, she can't use jutsu, and we can keep Fuyuka's Stellar Snare on her," Naku reasoned, earning a nod from Fuyuka. "Great, let's drag my crazy grandma along."

Fuyuka now read Bleach- ahem, rested at a camp with the Fifth Division and the part of the Surprise Attack Division. She had turned Denra over, and the blue haired woman was currently tied to another tree and was telling anyone who passed by offensive trivia tidbits. Truly Fuyuka-style.

One of the samurai looked moments away from murdering her (except she's dead, that won't work, ha) when she told him 'heavy armor like that makes you more than two times more vulnerable to fire or lightning jutsu.'

Then something exploded.

The entire camp was alert in a moment, multiple of them gathering around the source. By the time Fuyuka had gotten there, Deidara and most of his pursuers were gone.

"Oh, leave me behind, why don't you," she complained, returning to her spot beside a tree to read her manga.

They returned after a while, one explode-y artist back in Kankuro's puppet.

A samurai approached her. "'scuse me, just came back from patrol. Who's that blue haired lady?"

"Did you crawl out from under a rock or something? That's my batshit crazy reanimated grandma," Fuyuka replied, putting down her manga.

"Ah, any interesting powers?"

This guy definitely crawled out from under a rock. "She blasts people with lightning while Fatui-posing. Take your guess."

"Sounds interesting," the samurai replied, turning and walking away. Fuyuka narrowed her eyes slightly. It was clear something was off about the guy, but she couldn't tell what it was.

The Intelligence Division was in the middle of their work when an olive haired woman strolled right into their midst. Since Inoichi was wearing one of the communication devices, Tsuretsu, who was assigned here since she's not much of a fighter (let the girl yap in peace), looked up. "Inoichi-san, there's a green lady here."

"Kyoki Shiomiru of the Shiomiru Clan in the Land of Frost," she replied curtly. "I want the location of Terasu Shiomiru."

Inoichi frowned. "We're in the middle of a war here, it doesn't work like that."

Kyoki narrowed her pale green eyes. She repeated her statement, this time a sharper edge in her voice. "I want the location of Terasu Shiomiru."

Inoichi was silent for a moment as he judged the situation. "...you can't take him from the war now, but he's in the Surprise Attack Division."

Kyoki turned around, her black and green kimono drifting behind her as she walked out of the Allied Shinobi Forces' HQ. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Back in the Sun Star cave, things were in utter pandemonium, because Yurei was missing.

Out of everyone, Yurei's motives were the most transparent- he had none. He was always just there, collecting whatever the heck he does, drawing his pictures, following orders.

"His chakra signature isn't in the cave. Even when he's invisible, a sensor who recognizes his chakra should be able to pinpoint him," Kyomu said. "When is Henka coming back?"

"All of you shut up and think!" Kessho shouted over everyone else. "What could convince Yurei to disappear?"

"I don't think he knows what humor is, so it's not a prank or anything," Hoka offered, crossing her legs.

"I don't know what goes on in his little invisible head!" Rina complained. "Dunno, cash bribe?"

"He's undead!" Kessho argued.

"Food?"

"Undead!"

"Crayon bribe?"

"Undead!"

While his highly unreliable subordinates argued, Kyomu was thinking. "Yurei... has always sought a purpose, which becomes difficult due to his current status."

He wasn't quite certain about the specifics of Yurei's state, but he was fairly certain the lavender haired boy was stuck in some semi-dead state. But what caused that? A traitorous follower of a certain someone. Someone who failed to successfully cast a certain jutsu.

Kyomu furrowed his eyebrows, trying not to get a migraine with the others now actively screaming. Then, he looked up (metaphorically, of course). "Who is the one reincarnating the people in the war?"

"Dunno, ask Henka when he comes back," Hoka replied, throwing another fireball at Kessho. (how did this turn into a fight?)

"I think," Kyomu theorized. "Yurei is trying to 'fix' his incomplete Edo Tensei."

"Kankuro."

The puppeteer looked up from his spot back by his own tree. "Naku. Need something?"

"I need permission to go find my teammates. Mitsuka and Terasu," the brown haired boy replied. "Because one of them is going to die."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow (a trait that he possesses, unlike his brother) at the direct statement, but he didn't question it. "Go if you want. Be careful and watch out for more fakes."

"Thank you." Naku turned around and walked off into the forest.

In some distant cave (yes, another cave, don't complain), there sat a woman. Her silver eyes were a sharp contrast with her burgundy hair.

She wasn't looking at what was in front of her, she was looking at something far away.

The pen in her hand flew across her notebook. 'Transformation jutsu. Weaknesses: direct combat.'

She placed the pen down, her hands forming a series of hand signs as her eyes closed. 'Executioner, Onyx. Hunt down 'Henka' of Sun Star.'

Despite the assignment of divisions, most people were already split off individually. That included Mitsuka and Terasu.

The woman they were fighting was mildly familiar.

Naku and Mitsuka's mother, Zansha, was the middle child of three and the only one surviving today. Her younger sister, Akano, disappeared at a very young age and was never seen again. Her older sister, Kazami, was killed on a mission the year Naku and Mitsuka were born.

The woman they were fighting was Kazami Sora.

It was poetic, in a dark way. Out of the three siblings, Akano was the youngest. She was the cheerful one. She saw the best in everything and everyone. She was the optimist, and she clung to memories. And she died.

Kazami was the oldest. She was the blunt one, the protective sibling. She was the realist. She saw everything for what they were. She lived in the present, she didn't worry but she wasn't careless. And she died.

Zansha was the strange one. She was the pessimist, the worried one, the overthinker, the one who's too careful. She only saw the bad in anyone other than her close friends and family. She was the one who only looked into the future, the one who never thinks of 'now,' and only of 'tomorrow.'

And the pessimist was the only one who lived.