The backlash of the Shukaku's defeat ended up being greater than Genji had expected. By the time he came out of his daze, the surviving enemy nin had already fled. Unwilling to wait for additional reinforcements, the vengeful ANBU charged after the enemy with just a few Konoha nin for support. He sent the others after the Suna nin, while he and Kakashi chased after the redhead wearing an Iwa forehead proctor.
Seeing his companion's condition, Kakashi couldn't help but ask the question, "Genji, you all right?"
"Thanks, Kakashi-san, but I'm fine," the young ANBU replied bluntly. The one-eyed Sharingan user carelessly shrugged off the comment. "You know what to do?" the young child queried. The deep, emotionless tone sent shivers down the former ANBU captain's spin.
"Yes," Kakashi acknowledged, secretly glad that the boy was on their side. He gave the response just as an explosion engulfed Genji.
The jounin sensei of Team 7 didn't even blink at the apparent demise of his comrade, preferring to focus his attention on the strange, demonic-looking character before him. "Cursed seal," he muttered. Of course, the enemy carried the same vibe as Sasuke, and there was no mistaking the girl's artificially dark skin and the horns protruding from her head.
The demoness grinned with malice. "So you fucking know! Big whoop-de-do. You shouldn't have followed me. Now, you're doomed as well."
To the enemy kunoichi's consternation, the Konoha nin actually grinned at her. His one good eye turned upwards to indicate his amusement. "I've dealt with your kind before. So I don't think so. Besides, my companion single-handedly brought down a tailed beast. I don't think you'll be much of a problem."
The Iwa jounin realized her mistake too late. She was already sailing through the air courtesy of Genji express.
"Ugh, you fucker," the foreigner grunted, spitting a wad of blood at the Konoha nin in defiance. A lesser shinobi would have been knocked out for the count, but this was a jounin with an active cursed seal. The Konoha fighters were going to have to work for this one. When the Iwa kunoichi's counterattack came, Kakashi was ready with his secret weapon.
"Raikiri!"
Hands pulsing with power and chakra, Kakashi cut through the lightning and earth techniques sent his way as well as the enemy's defensive earthworks.
"That move actually cut through my lightning attacks? What the fuck!" The redhead was suitably dismayed at the ease with which her attacks were thwarted. But shocked as she was, she wasn't distracted enough to allow her second foe to sneak up on her. The Iwa nin leapt away a split second before Genji descended on her position.
"You lose, Iwa kunoichi. You have no hope of escape or rescue. You're tiring faster than us and we have elemental type-to-type advantage. Surrender now and Konoha may show you the mercy that your own village will not," Genji enunciated clearly.
"You trash know nothing about me!" the redhead sneered, but her false bravado fooled no one.
"Don't I?" Genji reached into his ANBU garb and produced a flute. "I believe this is yours."
"Yes, it is," the Iwa nin responded, her skin having turned impossibly pale. "And I want it back. Die, you fucker!" she screamed, activating the traps.
Kakashi cried out a belated warning as a fiery inferno engulfed his ally. It had been a trap all along. The Iwa nin had predicted her attack's possible failure and had her former location booby-trapped as a precaution. When Genji attacked her position, he walked right into it.
"Who's the loser now, huh?" the Iwa kunoichi crowed as she retrieved her prized flute. But the response she received was not the one she expected.
From his place on the ground, the wounded young ANBU grinned at her. "Still you."
The Konoha nin covered their eyes as the explosive note hidden inside the flute detonated inches from the Iwa kunoichi's face. Howling in shock and pain, the redhead crumpled to the ground. Kakashi pounced immediately after and subdued her in seconds.
"How is she?" Genji asked as he picked himself up.
"Alive, for now. She'll need a medic though if we want to keep her that way," Kakashi assessed. "That was an awfully risky move. Why didn't you let a clone take the blow?"
"She might have noticed that it wasn't real. I needed her to think that she had won before I could get her to take the bait. Besides, she screwed up her traps by burying them too deep in the soil so I knew they wouldn't have hurt me too much," Genji answered casually.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Kakashi threw the body of the Iwa kunoichi over his back. "One last question. How did you know that your trick was going to work?"
"I had a hunch," Genji answered mysteriously. He certainly wasn't going to explain that he had met the same enemy nin while on a joint mission with Team 8… not yet at least, not before his identity was cleared up.
When Genji and Kakashi, along with their unconscious prisoner, returned to the site where the former had fought the tailed beast, Alpha Team and various miscellaneous personnel were there to greet them with cheers and applause. Obviously, they had either heard or seen parts of the battle between Konoha's newest hero and Shukaku.
"Genji, you're alright," the vice captain observed with a dry voice. It was obvious that Yuugao wanted to say more but didn't under the circumstances.
"I am," Genji answered reassuringly. The acting ANBU captain nodded with satisfaction before turning to Kakashi and his cargo.
"Who's this?"
"An Iwa nin we caught fleeing the scene. She fought at jounin level, so we better keep her sedated and under observation," Kakashi suggested.
"I have a feeling she might be a key player in the enemy's camp. Have a medic treat her in isolation and hand her over to the interrogation unit as soon as she's stabilized. She's a genjutsu expert so make sure that she's guarded by at least one illusion specialist at all times," Genji added. Yuugao nodded and immediately began barking orders to carry out the young genius's suggestions.
"Thank you, Kakashi-san," Yuugao stated. "You'll be happy to know that we found your students. They're badly hurt, but alive and not in critical condition. You can check up on them at the field medic's tent."
The Sharingan nin sighed with relief, though he wasn't the only one. Genji was also happy about the news. While he couldn't care less about the Uchiha, he was definitely glad that the two girls made it out all right.
"Thank you. It was a pleasure working with you, Genji. See you around, Yuugao." The man cheerfully gave a two finger salute before disappearing.
As other Konoha ninja and support personnel hurried about, the young ANBU slowly walked to the corpse of his captain and gingerly picked up his bloodied weapon.
"I'm sorry."
Genji looked at her. "Why are you sorry? I'm the one who failed to save him."
Yuugao didn't respond, recognizing the futility of arguing with her student at this point. But when he offered her the weapon, she shook her head. "He would have wanted you to have the Yamato."
Tenzou's codename was an eponym of his sword's name. According to samurai scholars, the samurai does not choose the blade; rather, the blade chooses the samurai. Tenzou was a ninja, not a samurai, but that didn't matter. In Genji's estimation, his teacher and mentor was as noble and virtuous as any follower of the Code of Bushido.
"I cannot accept this honor."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in this," Yuugao shot back. Genji swore she was sniggering back at him. To the acting ANBU captain's surprise, the twelve-year-old maturely accepted the gift without further complaint.
"So what happened to the two Suna genin?" Genji questioned with an audible edge in his voice.
"I'm sorry. They got away."
"Me too." Genji gritted his teeth. He would have liked nothing better than to chase after them, but that would've been excessively rash, even for him. And it wouldn't do for him to mope around like a lost puppy. "What's done is done!" as his sensei was fond of saying.
Now, the focus was on the broader battle. With the enemy jinchuuriki threat neutralized, Genji realized he should probably return to the command post. The young ANBU was about to bid Yuugao goodbye when her radio crackled to life.
"Yes, Hiashi-sama, he's here," the ANBU commander said in an emotionless voice. "I'll tell him."
"Tell me what?" Genji asked, looking at Yuugao with concern.
The kunoichi briefly paused to collect her thoughts before responding, "Hiashi-sama asked you to return to the arena as soon as possible."
"I was just going to do that. Is that all?" The younger ANBU didn't need to see his sensei's face to know that she had something else on her mind. "Just tell me. It can't be that bad," he cajoled. He had seen Captain Tenzou die with his own eyes! How could it possibly get any worse?
"I'm afraid it is, Genji." In spite of her best efforts, Yuugao failed to keep the profound sense of loss and sadness out of her voice.
Indeed, her next four words forever shattered Genji's world.
"The Hokage is dead."