Chapter 23
Iruka was drunk; he only had one kunai hidden in his sleeve, and he had little will to live. A perfect combination for what he would have to do. It was a dark and lonely night. Nobody would even hear of it, and before civilians even woke up, everything would be cleaned up.
Using his kunai, Iruka cut off his ponytail, holding the strands of his hair in his hand as he jumped down from Mizuki's apartment. Instantly, he was surrounded by shinobi in masks. It was clear they were waiting for him.
"Iruka Umino."
"Shut up," Iruka didn't feel like he needed to hear their bullshit. "I killed Mizuki. Anko tried to stop me, but ultimately failed. If you try to spin it any other way, it only means you saw what happened and did nothing to stop it."
"Surrender. You are surrounded." That was better.
"Yeah, no," Iruka replied, holding up his cut hair. "Earth Release: Falling Needles."
Iruka threw his hair, scattering it into the air, before it turned into durable and sharp needles that fell everywhere around him. Those bastards didn't even react as the needles hit them. Too bad he didn't have any poison with him to coat those needles; otherwise, he would have already taken quite a few of them down.
A chain grabbed him by the leg. Iruka didn't even bother to fight it back as he was dragged to the ground before he was jumped by a swordsman intending to pierce his eye. That was the problem with killers. They always went for quick results.
Iruka just needed to tilt his head to avoid the sword and let it pierce the ground next to his ear. Stabbing the swordsman with his sole kunai, Iruka grabbed the sword before getting to his feet and stabbed one of the links of the chain, making it impossible to move.
But now he had nothing to deflect the shuriken flying at him. So, he caught them with his forearm. He was so drunk that the pain didn't even register with him as he pulled out the shuriken from his flesh.
"Earth Release: Expansion." The three shuriken in Iruka's hand now turned into Fuma shuriken.
He threw one at the chain wielder so he would stop his pathetic attempts to regain control of his chain and used the other two to block the swords coming from his sides. Only a third came in front of him.
Now that the chain was loose with its user abandoning it, Iruka kicked the sword stuck in the ground into the third assailant before yanking the chain with his leg back, hitting the swordsman to his right. The moment he could move his right arm, he used the Fuma shuriken in it to force the one on the left to retreat.
"Earth Release: Break."
Iruka threw the two Fuma shuriken at the rest of the assailants and broke them into pieces, once again forcing them to back away from him. It gave him a moment to gather his breath, as he felt like he was going to throw up from how much he had moved.
If only he knew Drunken Fist or something, he wouldn't have so much trouble dispatching them. It sure was difficult otherwise. And now he only had a chain in his hands as a weapon—something he was particularly good at using.
He knew he couldn't stay here for long. There was no end to these guys, and not a single one of them was simple to take on. But he didn't have many means to break through the encirclement. The situation was quite dire. Well, it wouldn't be his first time standing on the edge; it was just his first time doing it while this drunk.
"Too loud," Iruka said as he heard the ground under him move.
Jumping up, he avoided the hands trying to grab him. Only two came from the sides and a third from above, and the last one straight ahead. He was pretty screwed, and all he could do was block the sword coming in front of him and use the force to fall back.
Only now he was pushed against the wall of the building. With nowhere to go, Iruka could only use the chain he was blocking the sword with to wrap around his opponent and use him as a shield in front of them.
It didn't do much as his opponents weren't very keen on preserving the lives of their comrades. Their swords pierced through him and still got Iruka. At least the blades didn't go all the way into his chest, or he would be dead right here, right now.
Pushing them all away from him, he was once again without a weapon, and now he had two wounds in his chest. And if that wasn't enough, hands came out of the wall behind him and wrapped around his neck, choking him out.
"It's over," a voice said into his ear as a head came out of the wall.
Iruka was quickly losing his breath, and he already saw dark spots in his vision. It seemed quite a bit for only him. Was he really that scary for them to use so many shinobi against him? Maybe he should be proud of himself for achieving that much and go to sleep.
"Hey," but then it hit him. "That technique is something Orochimaru uses."
"You don't need to know any more."
If only he had acted like he didn't know what Iruka was talking about, it would have made it a lot simpler for both of them. Now, he was forced to move. Putting his foot against the wall, Iruka grabbed the man's head with his hands and flipped him over, smashing him into the ground.
Meeting the eyes of the rest, Iruka's hands moved still on his opponent's head, and with a snap, the man was no more. There were many ways this could go, and not many ways for him to get out of this alive.
"Earth Release: Hollow Ground."
But it didn't mean there wasn't a way. As his hand finished a hand sign, the ground under them suddenly fell. It was already dark, and now, in a pit without any street light or moonlight, nothing could be seen.
As the fireball lit up the area, the six shinobi who fell together with Iruka saw him finishing a hand sign before the walls around them collapsed, and earth fell on all of them, filling up the pit they were in. It was like the pit never existed; now there were six shinobi buried under the streets of Konoha.
…
Climbing out of the ground, Iruka spat out the dirt in his mouth before retching almost everything he had drunk tonight on the ground. It took a good moment for him to shake off the dizziness and gather his strength.
Now that he had sobered up a bit, he started to feel the pain in his arm and chest. The wounds weren't deep enough to worry too much about, but they would only be a hindrance if he didn't manage to patch them up quickly.
It probably wouldn't be easy to get supplies from anywhere at this hour, and he didn't want to get any of his friends involved in this shitshow. So, as stupid as it was, he had no choice but to go home.
It was the place where they would come for him, but it was also the safest place for him right now. He needed to get his stuff if he wanted to survive the night. And he didn't even know who was involved.
If it were only Danzo, then it would make everything far simpler. But if he was against the whole village, then he had no hope at all. He either would have to die or run away. So, first things first, he needed to contact the Hokage.
"Summoning Jutsu."
After making sure he was safe for the moment, with no one around, Iruka summoned his contracted animal. A honey badger came out of the smoke. Black eyes belonging to the little black and white monster looked back at Iruka.
"You dare to summon me?" the honey badger spoke. "And I do not smell honey on you either. Do you wish to test the great Matsu's patience? Do not think just because you defeated me once, you will be able to do it again. And not with your injuries, pathetic human."
Annoying little shit. Iruka still regretted making a contract with it. At the time, he thought honey badgers were cool, and they are quite strong. But it was hard to deal with them as they didn't like to listen to humans ordering them, and if Iruka couldn't pay them for their services, they would turn on him in a heartbeat.
"I know, I know," Iruka replied. "I don't have chakra to waste on you. So, let's make a deal. I need your help."
"Last time you only offered three containers of honey, and it didn't last long. If you want help from this great Matsu, you'd better be prepared to offer at least five containers."
"Fine, fine," Iruka quickly agreed. "Bring a message to the Hokage and come back to me with what he has to say. I will owe you five containers of honey as you wish."
Now Iruka had to worry about how he was supposed to get honey for that damn animal. It was hard to predict them, and their patience didn't last long. So, once all of this was over, he'd better get the honey he promised if he didn't want his throat to be bitten off.
"Very well, I will help you, pathetic human."
Iruka quickly wrote a message and gave it to Matsu, who, upon receiving it, dug into the ground and disappeared. With this done, Iruka quickly returned to his home. And it seemed he had just got there in time, as nobody was waiting for him yet.
The first thing he did was get out of his torn clothes and patch up his wounds. Then he vomited everything in his body before taking painkillers. As much as they would lessen his senses, he needed them to be able to move while ignoring pain.
Neither his body nor his mind was strong enough to ignore pain. Whatever was waiting for him tonight, it would be painful, and he needed everything he could get in his hands to survive. Then he took more medicine to clear the dizziness and give him energy.
At this point, all he knew was that once the effects of the pills wore off, his body would probably completely crash. And that would already have happened without the alcohol in his system right now. He certainly wasn't looking forward to the hangover that would come.
Well, that was for his future self to worry about. Now he needed to prepare. Changing into his combat outfit, Iruka armed himself with all the kunai and shuriken he had. All the seals and scrolls he had. And most importantly, the poison and his tanto swords.
Just in time before his seals reacted to foreign entities entering the area. He wondered how many it would be this time and if they would be more competent. His question was answered as two shinobi he knew very well burst through the window.
Danzo's personal bodyguards. Fu Yamanaka and Torune Aburame looked straight at Iruka as they drew their swords from their backs. They either were very confident to come alone, or more were coming soon enough, and they were there to make sure Iruka didn't go anywhere.
A.N. As always. Thanks for reading and supporting me. If you want more 7 more chapters of this story and 42 chapters in total with all my current stories, please consider supporting me on pa treon ironworlf852. Thanks in advance.