WELCOME BACK EVERYBODY! We're about to get into some real action in this chapter as Naruto and Night Raid prepare for their ambush on Syura and Wild Hunt to avenge Leone's home. And with all that Syura and Esdeath have done and what we've seen from them with what they did to Leone's home and her friends, do we even have to ask ourselves what she and Night Raid are going to do to Wild Hunt and the Empire in this chapter.
One thing is for certain, there will be blood and it ain't gonna be Night Raid's. And there's gonna be hell to pay for Syura and Esdeath and company. All of this and plenty of other twists and surprises are right around the corner in this one.
In fact, I've got another surprise for you, and I'm going to give it to you right now, as my way of saying thank you for waiting for so long. Remember how I stated in the last chapter that this chapter would feature a soundtrack provided by the "Big 4 of Thrash Metal?" Well, friends, I've decided to up the ante by not only inviting a couple of other iconic thrash metal legends to the mix but also adding in a healthy dose of some of the best death metal bands to the party as well for the ultimate soundtrack of destruction.
That means not only will you be getting an order of Thrash/Speed metal icons like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, and Accept, but you'll also be receiving a blood-soaked dose of Morbid Angel, Obituary, At the Gates, and Possessed to go with your usual carnage as well. So, without further ado, let's get the head's rolling. Ladies and gentlemen….IT'S SHOWTIME!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Akame ga Kill or any of the songs used in this chapter.
Author's Notes: Starting with this chapter, Tatsumi's Balanced Incursio armor from my previous story looks the same as his Evolved Incursio armor from the anime (given that the anime version of events is non-canon). Also beginning with this chapter of this story, I would like to introduce this special voice cast for the members of Wild Hunt:
Champ: Greg Dulcie
Enshin: Ben Phillips
Cosmina: Kari Wahlgren
Dorothea: Caitlin Glass
Izou: Ed Cunningham
A horse-drawn carriage was moving down a familiar dirt road outside of the Capitol, with two men nervously driving the carriage. In all honesty, both men didn't want to be doing this, but they knew that their lives would be forfeit if they refused.
Inside the carriage, Wild Hunt was comfortably nestled away, looking forward to when they reached their destination. They had already had so much fun with their last "investigation," and they looked forward to what was in store for them next.
"I must remember to thank Esdeath again for all of this. I must say, I've been having far too much fun recently toying with Night Raid." Syura darkly thought to himself as he thought of his meeting with his father and Esdeath a few short days ago.
~Flashback~
Syura was grinning as he sat at the table with Honest and Esdeath all having their little meeting of his latest operation. While Honest looked annoyed and Esdeath looking contemplative.
"It seems your little plan to lure them out hasn't worked as we hoped, Esdeath, not one Night Raid member was found there." Honest grumbled as he viciously bit into a turkey leg.
"It's not a complete loss, father, as my report stated we did manage to kill quite a few spies hiding there. I say at the very least we got their attention and hopefully have riled them up into making a mistake soon."
"Oh, what a glorious find indeed, I must thank you for the tip, Esdeath. My team and I had quite a busy day thanks to you." Syura said with a dark smile, thinking to all the people they interrogated for information. While no leads on Night Raid was a major loss, he would admit the spies they did find would definitely get Night Raid's attention at least.
"In that case, we should strike while the iron is hot...and I think there is one last place we can check to force them out of hiding," Esdeath stated with a hand under her chin in thought, recalling a certain piece of information she was told.
"Where is that?" Honest asks, curious about what was on his general's mind.
"Tatsumi once mentioned he was from a village back when he was under my care. It's not much, but at least we can try there. They have no real military force to oppose us and even if we don't find them, we can always use them for slaves or take what they have after destroying the village."
"That will teach Tatsumi a little lesson about what happens to those who betray me." Esdeath said making Honest and Syura chuckle darkly."
"Oh my, it seems the old saying does hold some truth after all. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Honest said gleefully, enjoying the idea of making the little man pay for causing them so much of a headache with those assassins.
~Flashback End~
Syura grinned to himself as he thought about the things he intended to do to Tatsumi's village once he got there. As Wild Hunt continued to their journey to Tatsumi's village, a flock of crows flew above them, like a harbinger of death and unforeseen chaos.
Just as Syura smiled evilly at the carnage he had been creating lately, a large tremor shook the ground and the cart they were in came to a screeching halt, much to Syura's annoyance.
"What the hell was that, why are we stopping," Syura said and Dorothea looked outside to see a giant Earth Dragon Danger Beast blocking their way with their drivers scared out of their wits.
"Oh, for goodness sake, it's just a worthless Danger Beast. I'll take care of this." Dorothea said.
"Sit down grandma, I'll handle it. The sooner we get to that brat's village, the better." Enshin said as he leapt out of the cart, smirking at the angered and offended look on Dorothea's face at the jab about her true age.
Enshin decided to make quick work of the Danger Beast so they could get going again, slicing off the monster's arm's with his Teigu, before the now angered Earth Dragon turned its attention to Enshin and lunged at him.
Enshin simply smirked before dodging the beast and using Shamshir to slice the beast apart and kill it with ease. After ensuring the monster was dead, he turned his attention to the two people driving the cart.
"Hey, what the hell gives. I thought we made it clear that we weren't stopping until we reached the village." An obviously pissed Enshin said and the two men cowered in fear as Enshin and the rest of Wild Hunt ganged up on them.
"We're sorry, but that monster was in our way and we couldn't get past it without it attacking us." The two men desperately tried to plead their case, but all it did was just annoy Wild Hunt even more.
"Tch, I guess I shouldn't have expected much from some peasants from outside the Capitol. I mean, not even being able to handle a Danger Beast on your own is just pathetic. Champ, take care of these two weaklings." Syura said and both men were terrified at hearing this.
"With pleasure. These pieces of trash were making me sick anyway." Champ said as he swung back and prepared to brutalize the skulls of both men.
Just as he did that, a quick shot rang out through the clearing. Everyone stood in disbelief as Champ stood in shock with his arm blown clean off from what appeared to be a gun blast. The serial rapist writhed in pain as he began to register what had just happened to his arm.
"Champie!" Cosmina screamed in horror, mortified at what had happened to her teammate.
"They're here." Syura thought to himself with gritted teeth.
"Maze of Torment" by Morbid Angel begins playing
Just as Syura began planning his next move, the crows flying above them exploded into a puff of smoke and Syura and Wild Hunt looked up and were shocked to see Naruto and a slew of clones in their place. Two of the clones swooped in and grabbed the two men driving the cart and got them to safety while the real Naruto and the rest of his clones each opened a scroll and activated it through the use of hand seals.
The scrolls began to glow before sending a thunderous hail of kunai and ninja stars raining down, surrounding Wild Hunt. Each weapon was equipped with an exploding tag that was activated with the release of hand seals by Naruto and his clones. Wild Hunt watched in horror as the fuses lit and began to burn down all around them.
"Wild Hunt…SCATTER!" Syura shouted before he and Wild Hunt took off in all directions to avoid the explosions with the clones dispelling and Naruto taking off after Syura. Champ grunted in pain as a blast of energy pierced his side, sending him tumbling into a tree as he struggled to get up, only to have a sword pointed at his neck.
"I've faced a lot of bastards...but you take the cake!" Tatsumi said as he angled the sword at Champ's neck. Champ grunted in anger and sent several of his Elemental Orbs from his Teigu at Tatsumi, who bobbed and weaved through them effortlessly.
"I only want to save the children from becoming rotten adults! Is that wrong?!" Champ said with unabashed lechery as Tatsumi tried to move in closer to kill him.
"Raping and killing children is NOT saving them, you sick fuck!" Tatsumi roared causing Champ to now fully focus his attention on him. Mine, seeing the opening from above in a nearby tree, fired a shot from Pumpkin at the demented killer clown, causing him to dodge the shot out of sheer panic.
But this proved to be a devastating mistake, as he wasn't fast enough to avoid the shot and the laser struck his groin, causing him to howl in agony. As Champ registered the shock of his weapon of choice being blasted to bits, Tatsumi, now in his armored state, came charging in, looking to deliver the killing blow.
"THIS IS FOR ALL YOUR VICTIMS BASTARD!" Tatsumi shouted and Champ's eyes went wide with fear as the image of Tatsumi bearing down on him looked like the image of a dragon looming over its prey. Acting out of sheer panic, Champ threw the Flame Orb at Tatsumi looking to incinerate him before he could reach him.
But Tatsumi, sensing his desperation, simply used his spear to launch the burning orb right back at Champ. Champ watched in horror as the orb hit him right in the gut and set him ablaze and he howled in agony until his screams died down as he became nothing more than a charred skeleton.
"Good job Mine, that worked out easier than I thought," Tatsumi said as he deactivated his armor and looked up at his pink-haired girlfriend.
"Yeah, no kidding. I can only hope the others have it as easy as we did." Mine laughed as she began to come down from her perch to meet Tatsumi.
~Meanwhile, in another part of the forest~
"Damn it, we gotta get the hell out of this forest." Enshin thought to himself as he sprinted through the forest looking for a way out. He soon spotted a clearing up ahead and made a beeline for it, looking to make a getaway. As soon as he reached the clearing, however, he was surprised by Sheele leaping in from out of nowhere.
"SHIT!" Enshin shouted with eyes wide in fear as he prepared to bring Shamshir up to protect himself, but Sheele, with a cold glare of death in her eyes, swung Extase and took off Enshin's right arm in a bloody display, leaving the misogynistic pirate stunned.
He was even more shocked when the next moment he was hit in the back with what felt like a number of needles. He looked back and saw to his horror, Chelsea glaring him down from a nearby tree he had passed by with a handful of her needles she had thrown at him in her hands.
"How the hell did she even get there in the first place!" He thought to himself as he fell backward to the ground and looked up to see Najenda and Susanoo approaching his defenseless body.
"This is eerily familiar to me for some reason." Chelsea thought to herself with a sense of déjà vu as she put her needles away and watched as her boss approached the paralyzed Enshin.
"This is the end of the line for you Enshin. I'm sure you thought you had an easy path to escape, didn't you? But what you failed to realize is that the moment you and your Wild Hunt cronies messed with Leone's home, all of you sealed your fate." Najenda said with a cold look in her purple eye and Enshin glared at Night Raid's leader.
"You BITCH!" Enshin roared in defiance and this only made things worse for him as Najenda gave him a dark look that all but sealed his fate.
"Quite the sharp tongue you have, let's see how effective it is once we cut it off. Susanoo, finish him off!" Najenda said and Susanoo nodded before he moved forward and ensnared Enshin in a chokehold. Enshin tried to fight back, but the damage from the needles he'd taken to the spine left him completely powerless.
Susanoo took his Wolf Fang Mace and placed it at Enshin's neck before activating it and beheading Enshin. Enshin's eyes widened in shock before gradually closing for good. Najenda took out a cigarette and lit it up as her team completed their assigned kill.
"Two down, four to go." Najenda thought to herself as she wondered how Lubbock was doing with his target.
~Meanwhile, in a cave in the forest~
"Slowly We Rot" by Obituary begins playing
Cosmina screamed in terror as she got herself caught up in a line of wires. The more she moved, the deeper she became caught up. As she struggled to get herself free, Lubbock, who was controlling the threads, continued to feed more threads into the trap, ensnaring her deeper into his proverbial web.
"I'd stop moving if I were you, sweetheart. You're only going to make matters worse on yourself the more your struggle. The less you move, the longer you can prolong your death." Lubbock taunted Cosmina, wanting to make her pay for what she did to her friend Leone's home.
"But what good is it gonna do if you're just gonna kill me anyway! Please, I beg you, let me go. I promise you and I can make beautiful music together if you release me!" Cosmina pleaded with tears in her eyes but Lubbock just gave her a mocking smirk.
"You know any other time that might have just been enough to get me to let you go…but then I remembered what you and your Wild Hunt bastards did to my best friend Leone's home and all the people she cared about. So…you're gonna have to die." Lubbock said as he activated Cross Tail's wires, cutting into Cosmina's vital areas and killing her within an instant.
Lubbock released her body from his wires and withdrew them into his gloves before giving Cosmina's corpse one last glance and exiting the cave. He had done his part, now it was up to his teammates to do the rest.
~Meanwhile with Akame~
Izou calmly stared down his assailant in the similarly stoic-faced, yet far angrier that she let on, Akame. Although the red-eyed assassin stared down the bloodthirsty swordsman with a stoic glare, her killing intent was high, and it excited the dark-eyed swordmaster.
"So, Murasame's wielder stands before me, seeking vengeance for her comrade's loss. I commend you for defending her honor. While I took no pleasure in the slaughter of your comrade's friends, they're sacrifices made great fodder for Kousetsu, as will you." Izou said as he drew his weapon and Akame's eyes hardened at Izou while the bloodthirsty swordsman looked to his prized weapon.
"Yes…I know Kousetsu, she seeks to feast on my blood, but it is you who will be feasting soon, I promise." Izou whispered to his sword as Akame drew her own blade.
"I will eliminate you." Akame declared as the wind began the blow around them as they tensed, ready to strike. After a brief pause, both Akame and Izou lunged at each other and their swords immediately clashed with Izou getting the better of the exchange and nearly cutting Akame in half, forcing Akame back.
"Victory is mine…!" Izou triumphantly grinned and Akame switched up her grip on her sword and went on the attack again, much to Izou's shock. Izou attempted to cut her down again, but Akame swiftly avoided his attacks and caught Izou with what appeared to be only a glancing blow with her sword, but for Akame it was more than enough.
"GAAHHH! For you to so suddenly turn the tables on my prediction of your strike…A…Akame…" Izou said as Murasame poison began to take effect and he collapsed to the ground before he looked up to Akame.
"Take it…with your skill…Kousetsu will be able to drink to his heart's content." Izou said as he offered his weapon to Akame, who didn't budge and only looked at him with her usual stoic gaze as she began to walk away.
"Guh, how could you…betray the last request of…a fellow katana user?" Izou said before finally succumbing to Murasame's poison and dying Before Akame stopped and spared his corpse a final glance.
"I…was never a swordsman," Akame said before she walked away, having taken care of her assigned kill. She hoped her teammates hadn't had any trouble with their targets.
~Elsewhere in the forest~
Dorothea made her way through the forest in search of her teammates that she had gotten separated from. She hoped to find her team and get out of this forest before Night Raid found her. As she trod down the dirt path, she heard a rustling of trees behind her and she quickly drew her magic gun and turned around, expecting to shoot a member of Night Raid.
"Dorothea, put that damn thing away it's me." She heard a familiar voice say and she looked and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was Syura, before putting her weapon away.
"Sorry about that, I've been a bit on the paranoid side since those Night Raid bastards got the drop on us," Dorothea said and Syura grinned evilly.
But I still have this, and as long as I have this, we're out of this little game of Night Raid's and home free." Syura said as he showed her Shambhala.
"What about the others though?" Dorothea asked.
"What about them?" Syura dismissively said and Dorothea was shocked as Syura was about to activate Shambhala to take them back to the palace. But before they could, a dimensional portal opened up below them and they fell into it and fell through a space-time warp to drop them in front of a familiar-looking base.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica begins playing
"Wha?! This is…!" Syura said as he saw the Night Raid emblems and realized where he and Dorothea had just been teleported to and he and Dorothea looked around and tensed to see Naruto coming head-on at them with a look of killing intent in his eyes.
"You have nowhere to run, you and your henchwoman are completely trapped," Naruto said as he drew his Hiraishin Kunai and activated it.
"Seriously!?" Syura said as he did a quick backflip to avoid the oncoming Naruto.
"How did he figure out or location?! No, that doesn't matter anymore! All that matters is getting out of here and getting back to the Capitol to deliver the information on Night Raid's base to father!" Syura thought to himself with malice in his eyes as he prepared to use Shambhala to teleport himself back to the Capitol. But as he prepared to, his Teigu was snatched from his hands courtesy of a set of wires.
"What the…!" Syura said before he looked up to see Lubbock holding onto his Teigu with a mocking smirk.
"I'll just be taking this from you. Safe to say where you're going, you won't be needing it." Lubbock taunted and Syura growled at the green-haired young man before he was surprised by Najenda appearing behind him.
Before Syura could turn around to defend himself, he was blasted in the back by Najenda with all of her strength using her mechanical arm which nearly snapped his spine and sent him crashing into the ground like a meteor, creating a large crater.
"Damn it! No way in hell I'm letting these bastards take my life without a fight!" Dorothea said as she reached under her dress and took out a vial of a gaseous substance. She slammed the vial into the ground, releasing the substance into the air and hoping to turn anyone who came near her into stone.
"That should keep you Night Raid clowns at bay for a while," Dorothea said as she began to make a break for it, using the gas as a smokescreen to hide herself. Just when she thought she'd lost Night Raid, she was slammed in the face by an armored fist care of Tatsumi, who's Balanced Incursio armor protected him from Dorothea's gas.
Dorothea skidded back across the grounds of Night Raid's hideout like a stone across a pond before crashing into a nearby wooden pit that Akame used to cook Danger Beasts. Dorothea crawled out from under the rubble, covered in soot, as she heard someone approaching her. She looked up to see a vengeful Leone approaching her while cracking her knuckles in anticipation.
"Hot-blooded ones like you, need to be tamed and pacified." Leone darkly said and Dorothea angrily snarled.
"That's my line you savage! Don't screw with me!" Dorothea snapped as she took out her magic gun and fired at Leone, who swiftly moved out of the way and ended up behind Dorothea before she could blink.
The mad alchemist barely had time to react before Leone, using every last ounce of strength and rage in her body, punched a hole straight through her chest, violently ripping out Dorothea's heart in the most brutal fashion. Dorothea's eyes widened in shock at what had just happened to her before blood poured from her mouth and she collapsed over completely dead.
Leone, still enraged over what Wild Hunt had done to her home, crushed her skull for good measure and to further vent her rage. Meanwhile, she looked over to see Syura weakly climbing out of the crater that Najenda had blasted him into and he looked to see that he was surrounded by all of Night Raid and Naruto.
"This is checkmate Syura. Nowhere left to run, nowhere left to hide." Najenda said and the arrogant son of the Prime Minister angrily snarled in defiance.
"Who's running anywhere…?!" Syura growled before charging straight for Najenda, which proved to be the first and last mistake he ever made. Syura was intercepted by Tatsumi, who sent him flying back with an armor-enhanced punch to the chest. He barely had time to pick himself up from this before he was strangled by Lubbock's Teigu wires.
As he struggled to break free, he was shot in the back of both legs by Mine before having his legs riddled with needles and shuriken by Chelsea and Naruto. Now with his legs virtually useless, Sheele swooped in to cut his arms off with Extase, leaving him totally defenseless.
"Leone, he's all yours," Akame said and Leone approached the mangled Syura, cracking her knuckles with vengeance in her eyes, and she mounted him while ensnaring him in a choke.
Leone looked into Syura's terrified face as he looked into her rage-filled eyes with a horrified expression at the beast he had awakened in Leone. As Leone stared down at Syura's pleading eyes, she envisioned all that he had done to her home and all of the suffering that he had no doubt put all of her friends and those she cared about through.
And all at once, the rage and hatred she felt came roaring back like the spirit of the lion that gave her strength through her Teigu and she began to brutalize Syura's skull repeatedly until it was nothing more than a puddle of blood. Still filled with undying hatred for the Prime Minister's bastard son, Leone kept striking away at the spot where Syura's head has been in a fit of rage.
"Leone-chan…Stop it Leone-chan! It's over, he's dead!" Naruto said as he tried to reach out to touch her shoulder and she batted his hand away. The growling lioness continued to slash away at the earth as tears formed in her eyes and her teammates watched in sadness as how much this affected her.
While shaking, Leone finally ended her assault and began uncontrollably sobbing at the grief and heartache she felt over what Syura has taken from her. Naruto crouched next to her and wrapped his arms around Leone and lightly embraced her, trying to comfort her through the pain, which made the rest of Night Raid smile, as they all understood that Naruto knew exactly what Leone was going through.
"Well done Night Raid, but I'm afraid you're too late." They heard someone say and everyone's heads snapped up to see Run flying overhead with Mastema activated. Mine prepared to shoot him down with Pumpkin, but Najenda forced her to hold her fire.
"What are you talking about Run? Wild Hunt is dead, we stopped them before they reached Tatsumi's village. Tatsumi's people are safe now." Akame declared before Run confidently grinned and the realization began to hit Night Raid.
"You bastard! You used Wild Hunt as a diversionary tactic so you and the rest of the Jaegers could sneak off to my village without being stopped!" Tatsumi shouted at the blonde Jaeger with rage in his eyes.
"Very good Tatsumi. Consider this a message from General Esdeath: This is the price to be paid for all those who betray my kindness. Now you must make your choice: Surrender yourself to me and the Empire or sit back and watch as these people suffer for your choices for every hour you are not here."
"I'll have each and every member of your village executed starting from the eldest to the youngest, until you either surrender yourself to me, or they tell me where you are hiding," Run stated and all of Night Raid along with Naruto glared in anger at the sadistic choice that Esdeath had given Tatsumi.
"The lives of your people now lie in your hands, make your choice!" Run said before he began to fly off and Mine aimed Pumpkin at him, determined to blast him right out of the sky, but Naruto immediately grabbed her, stopping her from firing and allowing the blonde Jaeger to escape.
"Naruto, what the hell! I had him in my sights, I could have taken him out with one shot!" Mine angrily berated and she wasn't the only one angry at him for stopping her from shooting Run as the rest of Night Raid angrily rounded on him.
"No, the second you shoot him everybody in that village is dead!" Naruto shouted back, his eyes a crimson red, his pupils slit from anger at the lengths that Esdeath was willing to go to just to lure Tatsumi out and Mine gasped in shock as she realized the point that Naruto made, and the rest of Night Raid was equally stunned as well.
"Yeah, I bet you didn't think about that did you? What I did just saved the lives of those people in Tatsumi's village! Because the second that bastard didn't make it back, Esdeath starts killing every man, woman, and child in sight one-by-one! We're going to need more time if we're going to save those people!" Naruto angrily said and Mine could only nod in agreement.
"Well, time is something we don't have right now. In one hour, those people in Tatsumi's village are as good as dead if we don't do something fast. I swore to Tatsumi a long time ago that the people of his village would be looked after, and I'll be damned if I go back on my word now." Najenda firmly said and Tatsumi gratefully smiled at his commander's words, which somewhat calmed him down.
"Well going back on my word is something I never do, and I have just the plan on how to save Tatsumi's village," Naruto said as he began to lay out his plan to the rest of Night Raid.
~An Hour Later, In Tatsumi's Village~
Naruto knew his plan was risky and the ONLY reason Leone was allowing it was because he promised her he wouldn't die, she knew how sacred his word is when given.
Disguised as Tatsumi, he watched his clones carefully and quietly sneak into the village, some even transforming into various animals that are overlooked beforehand. A few squirrels, some small birds native to these lands as Tatsumi described them to the letter, and some staying human until they need to disguise as rocks. Either because they got into position or to avoid any patrolling Jaegers in the village.
"This is decoy reporting in, the clones squad one is in place." "Tatsumi" reported silently from his position near the village just out of sight of the waiting Jaegers.
"Copy decoy, Mine is set up and has a clear sight of both the hostages and the Jaegers, Sending the clone squad two now. Keep an eye on the sky my friend and keep them talking to buy you time for them to arrive." Najenda's voice came in through the communicator.
"Don't worry, Najenda. Talking my way out of troublesome situations is one of my skills, over and out." Tatsumi/Naruto said with a grin as he took the device out of his ear and crushed it under his boot.
Not wanting to risk them finding it on his person when confronting them, he had to sell the fact he IS Tatsumi after all. Taking a moment to calm his breathing and heart rate for the trickiest con he has right now, he walked toward the village. Soon he spotted the Jaegers, who turned their attention to him as soon as he approached the village.
"Welcome, Tatsumi, it seems you've decided to forfeit your life for theirs after all." Run began pleasantly, making Tatsumi/Naruto want to punch him for being so pleased with trying to force his friend to this position. But he maintained his transformation.
"My village has nothing to do with this, I'm here, just let them go now!" "Tatsumi" demanded, taking a glance at the accusing looks from the village that was unfortunately dragged into this mess.
"How could you do this to us?!"
"We sent you there to get us funds to ensure our survival! Not bring the Empire's wrath on our heads!"
"Why would you risk us and our children like this?!"
"Tatsumi" clenched his teeth at this, trying hard not to snap back at these people. As much as he wanted to, he had to keep up appearances and this was the for the better. If Tatsumi did nothing, if Night Raid had never formed from those willing to fight the battle no one else wanted to, this corruption would never stop and victims would keep piling up.
"I hope you're happy, Tatsumi, you made everyone here in danger for your actions. You should have known the Empire would do this." Wave told him with a frown of disappointment that "Tatsumi" returned.
"And yet you follow these corrupt bastards, letting them make victims of innocent people and oppress those too weak to protect themselves." "Tatsumi" told him making Wave growl only to be held back by Kurome.
"Save it, Esdeath will deal with this traitor. Anything else is a waste of breath." Kurome told him, glaring coldly at "Tatsumi."
It was only a few minutes before he was brought to Esdeath who was before the elder of his village. His heart ached and he silently fumed at how beat up and tortured the man looked as Esdeath's face carried a sadistic smile at "Tatsumi's" arrival.
"Bitch...she's been torturing him as she waited for the hour deadline. As if what she hasn't done already hasn't been enough." "Tatsumi" thought in disgust.
"Ah, Tatsumi. so glad you could be reasonable. Shame my first visit to your little village is under these circumstances. I would have rather loved to have seen your home after we had a much brighter future..." Esdeath begins, only for "Tatsumi" to cringe in pain as she kicked his nuts hard. Falling to his knees Naruto fought with all his will to maintain his transformation as Esdeath hummed in satisfaction.
"Good, you're not a clone of Naruto's either. I would hate to think he tried to fake us out for one of his little tricks." Esdeath said as Kurome and Wave forced him to his feet and had him restrained before them.
"So Tatsumi, you know it doesn't have to be like this. If you tell me about your little friends in Night Raid, I could make your sentence and your village FAR lighter. Failure to comply will mean their deaths." Esdeath said making "Tatsumi" grit his teeth as he saw the pleading looks in the villager's eyes.
"It's not worth our lives, boy, tell her!
"Please listen to reason!"
"Don't let my child die because of your mistakes!"
"Damn you Esdeath, you're enjoying every bit of this, aren't you? It's just one big fucking game to your sadistic desires..." Naruto thought in restrained anger, feeling more and more disgusted with the half-ass promise she is giving. No way in hell she would let this slide as much as she claims. Worse, the grin on her face showed how she enjoyed how much it would hurt Tatsumi if he was the one hearing this.
"Cut the crap, Esdeath, we both know my sentence and theirs wouldn't be merciful. If anything, you'd increase the already overbearing taxes at least. At worst you'd have them all thrown in jail to rot, while I'm either a slave or killed." "Tatsumi" told Esdeath making the woman giggle.
"Oh no need to be so angry, dear. I do have some feelings left for you after all and you did bring this on yourself. Can you blame me for trying to give you an out?" Esdeath playfully stated, enjoying how Tatsumi was trying to hide his reaction to the hurtful words from the desperate villagers.
Naruto soon noticed the birds flying overhead as he felt their shared chakra, making "Tatsumi" have a smirk on his face. "You know, Esdeath, I'll never understand what he ever saw in you." "Tatsumi" said, making everyone widen their eyes before Esdeath snapped her head up as she heard poofs in the air above them.
"This again?!" Esdeath quickly summoned a giant shield of ice over her and her squad as explosive shuriken and kunai rain down from above. Only to feel dread as more poofs were heard from behind her group where the hostages were.
"What the-?!" Wave shouts in shock.
"It's an ambush!" Seryu warns her group as she and Koro were trying to fight off three clones ganging up on her and her dog rushing to his master's aid.
"The hostages are getting away!" Kurome shouts trying to chase them down, but she and her puppets were being slowed down by some of Naruto's clones that are fighting them off. A small group of fifteen clones leading the hostages to safety while another twenty was focusing on keeping the Jaegers busy.
"Esdeath, we need to fall back!" Run tries to warn his leader, weaving and trying to avoid the falling Naruto shadow clones and the ones on the ground throwing shuriken to make it difficult to fight back against the gang up.
"How did he get so many clones here?!" Bols asks, firing Rubicante and killing off four clones with its intense flames and getting forced on the defensive by three more pelting him with explosive kunai and shuriken from a distance.
Esdeath didn't even get time to say a word as "Tatsumi" exploded in smoke to reveal a charging Naruto with a Rasengan in hand.
"THIS IS FOR MY NUTS, YOU BITCH!" Naruto shouts as he shoves a Rasengan at her chest, only to be blocked by a hastily made ice barrier that broke under the strain but mitigated the damage to a minimum as she was pushed back.
"Heh...hehehehehehe! Naruto you never cease to amaze me, do you?!" Esdeath said, feeling ecstatic. "Come, show me the power of the so-called "Hero of the World!" I'll take your power and crush you as I do all enemies of the Empire!" Esdeath challenges Naruto as they both stared each other down, sadistic blue eyes looking into Rinnegan purple eyes.
And we are done with part one! Sorry to cut this one short, but this chapter was well over 10,000 words when I started writing it, so I had to cut it in half and split it into two chapters. I'm almost done with the second part of this tale, so it should be out soon, but before I get to that, I want to take this opportunity to address a few things.
First there's the obvious, my absence for the past year. This is the longest I've been away from FanFiction and it was a necessary hiatus that I had to take. I'll explain:
This past spring, I finished out my senior year of college at Florida A&M University and decided to step away to focus on finishing my degree. However, when I took the brief hiatus, I didn't realize how burned out mentally I had become. You have to realize, I had been a writer on this site since 2013, and since that time, I'd been writing virtually nonstop since I first joined. If you take into consideration that I had also been writing professionally for my schools' newspaper since late 2016, it only added to my increased workload.
So yeah, I basically decided to take a year off from writing to clear my head and recharge my batteries, so I could come back rested and rejuvenated and ready to give you guys my best. I also was able to land a job as a freelance writer for my local newspaper along with a job with my home church as their head of photography and video department. So yeah, you could say I've been busy the last few months putting my degree to use.
Which is why I now want to take this opportunity to address a few certain people. I normally don't address anonymous flamers; I don't think such people are worth the time or the effort to address. But in THIS instance, when said anonymous reviewers were coming at me at a time when I was uncertain if I wanted to come back to FanFiction because of said comments, let me just say this….I don't care if you're male or female…MAN UP…GROW SOME BALLS…AND STOP HIDING BEHIND A GUEST ACCOUNT SO I CAN TELL YOU WHAT I REALLY THINK ABOUT YOU, OR STAY THE FUCK OFF OF MY STORIES AND SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTHS!
Now that I've gotten that off of my chest, I can move on to talk about this chapter. First off, I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my two good friends warrior of six blades and TheLethalSperg500 for their help with composing parts of this chapter and also the next chapter. I don't feel like I could have gotten through the month's long writer's block I was suffering through without the ideas you guys gave me, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you guys!
The first thing I wanted to talk about was the voice cast for Wild Hunt. For those confused as to why I chose Greg Dulcie as Champ's voice actor, watch his work as the demented child-eating clown from Tokyo Ghoul, and you'll understand why I chose him for the role. As for Ben Phillips as Enshin, that one was WAY too easy as his work as Freed Sellzen from High School DXD MORE than qualifies him for this role, given Freed's almost mirrored similarities to Enshin in their similar misogynistic personalities.
Kari Wahlgren as Cosmina may come as a surprise to some, but when you think about why I chose her, it's not really that shocking. I chose Kari for her work as Blood+ antagonist Diva, who shares many similarities with Cosmina: Both are known for their mesmerizing singing voices, both were driven insane due to unfair circumstances (In Cosmina's case, she was branded a witch due to her voice and her entire village was burned down; In Diva's case, she was basically locked away for most of her life, and she went insane as a result), and both became hated by fans due to circumstances involving rape.
Dorothea's voice actor pick of Caitlin Glass really shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Since Dorothea's character seems to have been heavily inspired (or at least influenced) by Fullmetal Alchemist with the way Dorothea preforms her alchemy through the use of transmutation circles and Philosopher's Stones and her relentless thirst for immortality, I figured who better to voice one hotheaded blonde, than ANOTHER equally hotheaded blonde in Winry Rockbell.
As for Izou's voice actor, that was one I had figured out before I even started writing. I knew that for someone as battle-hungry and bloodthirsty as Izou, there's only one person that really fits the bill, and that's Ed Cunningham, the long-time voice actor for iconic SoulCalibur mainstay Heishiro Mitsurugi.
Now onto the opening scene. If it wasn't already obvious, the opening scene of this story is a callback to the beginning of Akame ga Kill, with the same two gentlemen who Tatsumi hitched a ride to the Capitol with in the first episode being seen again here, this time being forced to take Wild Hunt to Tatsumi's village under the threat of being killed if they refused.
In fact, this entire chapter is filled with all kinds of fun callbacks to the anime/manga that only die-hard Akame ga Kill fans would have picked up on. I'll get to them in a moment, but first, did anyone take a moment to notice the poetic irony in all of the members of Wild Hunt's deaths? I'll explain, for those of you who don't get it.
Champ's whole deal is raping and butchering children, so they won't grow up to become adults, well guess what, he ends up getting killed by essentially the two youngest members of Night Raid. Enshin is a misogynistic pirate who loves raping and humiliating women, well guess what ended up happening to him, he gets killed by the thing he hates the most: not just one woman, but THREE of them.
As for Cosmina, she's the most perverted member of Wild Hunt, who has a thing for handsome young men. Well, in a cruel twist of irony, she gets butchered by Lubbock, one of the more handsomely boyish members of Night Raid. Then there's Izou, who's bloodthirst knows no limits and will do anything to satisfy his swords taste for blood. So, I decided to have him killed by an even MORE skilled swordmaster in Akame.
And finally, there's Syura himself. And the irony here is that Syura is the spoiled brat of a Prime Minister's son, who finally meets his end at the hands of Leone, a girl born and raised in the slums of the Capitol, and also the one who's home Syura and his band of bastards destroyed in the first place.
Really, the only member of Wild Hunt who escaped such a karmic fate was Dorothea, but when you consider what ultimately did happen to her, I'd say we can all agree she did NOT get off easy in any way possible.
Now let's talk about those callbacks I mentioned earlier. The first callback came with Champ's death, as that was a replay of his death at Run's hands in the manga with the added bonus of having his dick blown off beforehand by Mine for good measure.
The next callback came with Enshin's death. For anyone who caught it, Enshin's death was basically a shot-for-shot replay of Chelsea's death (Hence Chelsea's line: "This is eerily familiar to me for some reason.")
To add a touch of dark humor to Enshin's death, I decided to have him mouth off to Najenda while virtually lying helpless (which is something I think we can all agree he would do), which only pisses Najenda off and basically seals Enshin's fate (as if it wasn't already sealed before).
As for Cosmina's death, that one was a callback to the anime/manga to the scene from the first time we saw Lubbock use his Teigu when he killed that tribal assassin girl who tried to invade Night Raid's hideout along with the rest of her teammates. I decided to take that scene and use it for Cosmina's death as I found it to be one of Lubbock's most creative kills.
Oh, and to address this, if Lubbock may seem a little OOC to some in that scene, keep in mind that Wild Hunt had just destroyed the home of his best friend Leone and killed everyone she held close to her heart. So, of course, Lubbock is going to be a little bit more ruthless than usual. I'd be stunned if he wasn't.
Izou's death was an exact replay of his death from the manga, with the same lines and even the same exact sequence of moves from his and Akame's fight from the manga. I almost considered following my good friend mimdmaster123's idea of having Akame rub salt in the wound by having her pick up Izou's sword and say something to the effect of "It is a beautiful sword. It will look great on my wall." But then I realized that's too OOC for Akame and I scrapped the idea.
As for the deaths of Dorothea and Syura, that entire scene was a callback to Wild Hunt and Syura's ambush on Tatsumi and Lubbock in the manga when they were out patrolling the capitol and got captured and teleported inside the palace. In fact, you'll notice that I even took many of the lines from that scene and turned them around on Wild Hunt for added effect (Like Dorothea's line: "Hot-blooded ones like you need to be drained and pacified," being turned around on her by Leone. Or Syura's line: "This is checkmate. And the credit…all goes to yours truly Syura!" being turned on him in a slightly modified way by Najenda.)
Now onto the whole plotline of having Esdeath go after Tatsumi's village. That was an idea that both warrior of six blades and myself both agreed on since it was in line with not only Esdeath's sadistic love of conflict but also her likelihood of wanting to repay Tatsumi for betraying her kindness and rejecting her for Mine and Chelsea.
The idea of Naruto disguising himself as Tatsumi to fool the Jaegers and set up for his and Night Raid's ambush was also his idea, so you can thank him for his hand in that as well. Oh, and don't worry about Night Raid, you'll see them in the next chapter when the action really begins to heat up.
Now onto something I've really put a lot of stock into for not just this chapter, but into my stories, in general, going forward: My music. As you can tell by my musical selection, my musical tastes have changed quite a bit since the last time you guys saw me, especially now that I've changed my musical service over from iTunes to Spotify late last year.
If you really want to get a look at how much my tastes have changed in the last year, you can check out my profile page and look at the updated lists of my favorite bands and songs. As for this story, I decided to put an emphasis on Thrash Metal and Death Metal for my soundtrack and decided to go with some of the most iconic bands from the genre.
For the opening scenes, I chose Morbid Angel's "Maze of Torment" along with Obituary's "Slowly We Rot", as I felt that both songs did a great job of illustrating both the mental and physical torture that Wild Hunt suffered at the hands of Night Raid and Naruto.
As for the choice of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", I had previously allowed fans to vote on which Metallica song they wanted to see for when Leone and Night Raid took their revenge on Syura, and that song won the vote by a wide margin.
As for what other songs I have planned in the next chapter, I already have an all-star setlist of songs from Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, Accept, Possessed, and At the Gates all picked out for the next chapter, so metal fans, get ready to rock because the next chapter is going to be EPIC!
Well, that's all for now, as the next set of stories you'll see from me will be my long-awaited return to my The Kyuubi and the Mages series with Naruto/Flare being the next pairing on my list (in fact, I've already begun writing that story and I'm already over 2000 words in at the moment), along with a double-feature in my Clan Restoration series featuring Tenten and Yugao in back-to-back chapters. I would have released those stories along with this one, but I decided to release this chapter as a way of letting everyone know that I'm okay and I'm back to writing as of now.
So, until next time, let me know what you thought in the comments and don't forget to favorite, follow, and review. I'm DarkChild316, and I promise I'll see you soon!
HAVE A NICE DAY!
P.S. As of the time of writing, I currently have a paid subscription to both Funimation and Hulu and will be able to stream all the amine I want. I currently have a list of anime I intend to check out, but if anyone has any suggestions as to shows I should look into, feel free to let me know.