"…I should probably go and find someone to train me, but I don't really know anyone that would be willing to train me nor do I know anyone strong." Sora muttered beneath his breath while invisible, walking on a thin path past quite a few travelers.
He was currently on the way to the nearest bar, this one in particular Sora had heard about while eavesdropping on a few passer-by's conversations.
As for why he was heading there? He was obviously going to check out the bingo book thingy he had heard about to see who has the highest bounty and if they were willing to train him.
A little skeptical on whether or not he should enter in a disguise, as Hikaru or maybe just as someone new, Sora ended up just going as himself.
He opened the bar door and no one took note of him, no one even noticed that he had entered until he sat down at the bar counter.
Because…
"You!" A shrill voice came from Sora's left side.
He turned to see a girl his age with short hair tied into two spiky pigtails on each side of the back of her head staring at him with wide eyes.
"Me?" Sora asked, tilting his head.
The girl covered his mouth quickly, making Sora's expression turn a little aggressive.
She glared at him. "You're Fuko's younger brother, right? What the hell are you doing here without covering up? You have a bounty, you know?!" Aki spat several concerns Sora's way, making sure as to not bring any attention their way.
Sora's eyes widened slightly before his form quickly changed right as people started to look their way.
His hair turned red, eyes turning green while his features turned a little sharper. "I have a bounty? And how do you know… my sister?" Sora asked, shoving the girl's hand off his mouth.
Aki rolled her eyes and shook her hand. "Mhm, you have a bounty of 1.5 million Ryō. I know your sister because she comes here often to pick up bounties." She said with a sigh, not too bothered by Sora's sudden appearance.
"1.5… million? Is that a lot? What's Ryō? And my sister takes bounties…? What the hell have I missed?" Sora sent multiple rapid fire questions Aki's way, turning her expression a little more bothered.
"Yes. Yes. Money. Yes. No idea, she's been doing it for a while." Aki said, starting to look more uncomfortable with the more people that looked their way. "Can you leave now?" She said, trying not to be too rude but not caring enough to put too much effort into it.
Sora, as Hikaru Otsutsuki, shook his head as he asked. "Can I see the bingo… book thing? I want to find someone strong to train me."
Aki clicked her tongue. "Sure, here you go. I'd recommend going to find Fuko, she could probably train you and she's looking for you right now." She said, giving Sora an unimpressed look.
Sora didn't really know how to reply, he was still extremely confused by what the hell was even going on with Fuko.
She was always in the village, but apparently she wasn't? She's a bounty hunter? There are multiple Fuko's?
He had no idea, so he pushed it to the side and flipped open the bingo book.
Flipping past everything and going straight to the end, where all of the highest bounties were.
"Kakashi Hatake… the copy ninja? He can copy techniques? So what… so can I." Sora scratched the back of his head while reading all of the highest bounties. "Orochimaru? Ew… why does… Does it look like that?"
Sora quickly realised that he would most likely not be able to find a teacher this way and that he would actually have to go out and find one himself or continue being self taught.
"All of these guys are from hidden villages and I don't want to align myself with any of them, either that or they are rogue. No swordsmen like that old man… They are all ninjas!" Sora complained.
Aki looked over at him. "Dude, just leave. You keep attracting attention, go find Fuko, she will be able to help for sure." She said, rubbing her temples.
Sora glanced at her. "You're quite rude, aren't you…" he murmured and moved a few seats away from her so that he could read without being interrupted.
Aki did not care enough to respond and went back to sipping her drink.
Sora scratched the back of his head, thinking about what he could even do with any of this information.
That's when the bartender came over, noticing Sora's confusion. "If you are confused, the rogue ninja do not necessarily have ties to a hidden village. If you are worried about drawing the attention of the ninja world… I'd recommend going after a rogue ninja or someone relatively unknown." He said with a smile.
Sora looked up with a polite smile. "Thanks."
With this new knowledge, he went back to reading, looking more at the rogue ninja instead of the ones from any hidden villages.
"Orochimaru is a no go… dude is far too ugly for me. Sasori of the red sand… he seems pretty cool, master puppeteer is quite the title. Itachi Uchiha, a sharingan? What is that?" Sora scanned through again.
Sora hummed in thought and suddenly came up with an idea. "What if I use the identity of Hikaru Otsutsuki to become a bounty hunter… grab a bunch of these bounties and go and fight them! Then, when I'm fighting them, I will be able to copy their techniques and get stronger…" Sora muttered beneath his breath.
Then he nodded to himself, satisfied.
"Hey… you." A rather intimidating voice suddenly came from behind Sora.
He turned to see a burly man with an eyepatch and the Sunagakure headband around his arm standing behind him. "You're Hikaru Otsutsuki, right?"
Sora raised an eyebrow. "…how the hell do you know my name?" He asked, genuinely confused before he remembered that he had used this identity to terrorise the sand village not too long ago while following orders from his ancestor.
"I knew it!" The man suddenly yelled as he pulled out the large sword from his back, pointing it at Sora. "You're the Hikaru Otsutsuki with a 1 Million Ryō bounty back in the village!"
Sora's green eyes widened. "Huh?!" He spat, pulling out the Ninjato from his back.
Aki watched from the side, taking a glance over to observe what Sora was capable of.
…
…
"It's been a few days, we still haven't found him." Fuko said, her unimpressed expression remaining. "Are you sure you can find him?" She asked.
It was late at night, far away from the bar where they had taken the bounty and in the middle of nowhere.
As for how many people were in the cohort… a lot.
It became clear to Fuko that Sora was only one of their many targets, Ryū gathered a large cohort of bounty hunters so that he would be able to go and hunt a large number of them within a short period and get rich quick.
Ryū glanced at her. "It'll take a while, but we will find and kill the brat pretty easily." He said with a reassuring smile.
Fuko just nodded, expression getting darker than before.
"What's with the look? Change it, we need you to be pretty so that my men have motivation." He said in a joking manner, but there was a tone of seriousness beneath it that Fuko noticed.
Fuko shook her head and stepped closer. "Who do you think you're speaking to?" She asked, her white pupils constricting as she got up close and personal.
Ryū gulped and took a step back before rubbing the back of his head with an awkward chuckle. "S-sorry." He stammered before retreating back to his men.
"I can't keep doing this, it's getting harder and harder to hide my bloodlust. But they are sure as hell begging to be ripped to shreds…" she spat, a dark glint in her eye.
She then quickly shook her head. "No. Shishio taught me to never get worked up over those beneath me, it'll only mess up that technique. If I remain calm and composed when facing those who are beneath me, I will be stronger." She took a deep breath to compose herself and walked over to her tent.
…
Later that night, Fuko felt something strange, her ears caught something off.
"She's sleeping right? Are you sure…? I think we'd be better off just taking a peek, not going all the way."
"No. There are five of us, she won't be able to stop us.
"If two of us can hold her down, another one can…"
Fuko sighed, this was the reality of bounty hunting as a woman in a squad filled with men.
Right as she was about to turn invisible and leave, she heard another, familiar voice.
"What the hell are you guys up to this late?" A gruff voice came from further away.
"Ah… Ryū! We were just going to… punish that woman for talking down on you before." A man with a lisp said with an awkward laugh.
"Oho?" Ryū replied, "Well… I'm sure I'd love to see the look on her face. Especially after how she dared to talk down to me… I'll go in first, I'll distract her." he chuckled.
The tent flap shifted and Ryū crept inside.
The interior was dim, only slightly lit by the faint orange glow of a lantern.
Fuko Hino lay on a small bedroll with her back turned to him.
Long beige hair that faded to gold fell down her back. Her posture was relaxed, lazy.
Ryū smiled.
Too easy.
He lunged forward.
Fuko didn't turn around, but her hand moved.
Her fingers simply flicked to the side.
A thin, invisible line cut through the air.
Ryū's head slid off his shoulders.
The body stood for half a second longer before collapsing to the ground in a wet heap, blood spreading across the floor.
Fuko sighed softly. "Rude, I was actually going to spare you all and leave peacefully."
She stood up slowly, stretching her arms above her head as if she had just woken up. Outside, one of the men noticed the body hitting the ground.
"Did you guys hear that?"
Footsteps approached.
Fuko rolled her shoulders and walked slowly towards the tent flap, brushing past the headless corpse and stepped outside.
And when she did… she smiled.
It wasn't just five, only five were talking.
She saw all thirty of the bounty hunters Ryū had gathered surrounding the area.
Every single one of them had their eyes on her.
"Oi… Ryū, what happened—"
The man's sentence was cut short when Ryū's head rolled out of the tent behind her.
Silence fell over the camp.
Fuko tilted her head slightly. "Oh? There are even more of you! Thank goodness, I have so much pent up frustration." She said brightly.