Otsutsuki (Book 2 of the Aftermath Series)

Part 2: Puppets

"What do you know about me?" I asked after a few minutes. My tone was equally as casual and up-beat as his own. He laughed a little. "More than you know about yourself I assume." He answered. "There's no way I'll walk out of here alive but the only reason I'm still talking is you need information." He said. "Which means you know the kind of business I am running." He hummed under in his breath as he started searching through the files on his desk before he found one. "Ah yes, here we are. Hisakawa Asa. Well first things first, that's not your real name. Your birth name is Otsutsuki Koharu. Though the origin of your new name is unknown but clearly your identity had been protected by someone. Then there's the traveling you did as a child and you know the rest but what is really interesting is your origin. You have likely heard the legend about the beast killing a pregnant woman and then feeling guilty about the baby blah blah. Let me tell you the real version. It is much more exciting." 

"In ancient times there was the Otsutsuki aka the founders of shinobi kind. You know how the story goes, they bread with regular human fighters and clans were formed from their offspring, each of them with a special trait or Kekkei Genkai that they inherited from there non-human parents. These clans becoming the Hyuuga, Nara, and Uchiha etcetera etcetera. What is lesser known is that there was another clan. A clan where the children received more  than their fair share of traits from their non-human ancestors. They were the Otsutsuki clan. It was never more than five people living at a time but then they just disappeared during the Waring states period. Most people thought they had died out in battle. But then there was what the legend you've heard is based off loosely. A child born during the war had survived with the help of it's fathers family. 

"When the child was nearly your age he witnessed his father and grandparents killed by someone who had known who he was. He survived and lived for ten years in secret before met a young Hyuuga girl. They fell in love and soon she fell pregnant. He told her the truth about his identity and she left her family to live in hiding with him. It is a lot harder to live on the run when you are pregnant and the night the woman went into labor they were attacked she was injured badly while he was struck down trying to protect his lover and child. The woman escaped. She called for a summoning. He was a large lion, a king among summonings. He protected the woman as she birthed her child, a baby girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, she passed away from her injuries soon after delivering the child. Her summoning felt remorse over the loss of his companion and attempted to rescue the child as someone approached. It was a single man. He startled the beast with his approach and the beast dropped the child from its mouth in response. He then tried desperately to catch the child only for the man to do so. He then fled, fearing the beast but he didn't understand the beast was just trying to protect the child. The beast realized his intentions and almost let him go before he decided to give the child a parting gift. He placed a seal in the child's mind, using his claws to hold her in place when the man snatched the child back away from the beast and took her to a nearby village." 

I placed a hand on the faint smooth scars on my cheeks. Huh. "The most interesting part of this story is the plot twist. The man who 'rescued' the child is the one I believe to be going after you now. The man took the child to an orphanage and dropped it off but, I believe that now he wants her back desperately after coming to some kind of realization. I've haven't figured out what but it must be dangerous...or powerful. If he want's her back so bad, don't you agree?" He asked and I quelled the thoughts swirling that were making my head spin. "Yes. Do you know his name?" I asked and he just laughed. "I do not but you do. He's someone you've known all your life, literally. If you thought really hard I bet you could figure it out yourself." His tone darkened and suddenly I felt like he was much stronger than I ever anticipated. "Yes. I suppose I could with that information. Which is why you have to die." I said and lept to my feet. Jiraiya sense also rose to his feet instantly. The man just laughed, actually he was cackling like a mad man then his mask swung open. Yes open, like on hinge and released a no doubt toxic gas. 

Jiraiya and I both thought the same thing. "Wind Style: Vacuum Blast" "Wind Style: Casting net" My jutsu placed an air net around the poison and Jiraiya shot the net of poison all the way through the wall behind it. "It's a puppet." I frowned approaching what we thought was the Benefactor. It turned out to be a basic wooden puppet with some kind of temporary animation jutsu on it. I frowned and turned back to Jiraiya who was gasping as if he had been punched in the gut. "Jiraiya, did you inhale the gas when I wasn't looking? What's happening?" I asked pulling my mask back on. "I know who it is. I've been thinking about it since he said you had known them your whole life and only one person came to mind. I know who it is and we have to return to Konoha right now before it's too late." He gasped out in shock and horror. 

We took off out of the compound in record time. "You have to go on ahead. You need to get there before he finds out and beats you too it." Jiraiya ordered knowing that my speed is far greater than he could ever reach. "Who is it?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer and looked back at him. "It's Hitoshi." As soon as his words registered in my brain I took off at top speed. The Leaf village is six days from where I am currently. If I move at top speed then I should be able to get there in two. We have to hope that the real Benefactor hasn't alerted Hitoshi yet or that it takes him longer to get there than me because he could walk right into the village and it would be celebrated. He could harm or kill my loved ones in minutes of arriving. He could kill the Hokage and take over the village. I tried not to think instead focused on running.