5 Execution

They had twenty minutes until the first execution.

Watching the enemy from inside the air duct for the last ten minutes, Kakashi had learned that their companions were also on standby on the ground and that this attack had already been communicated to Konohagakure.

And that wasn’t all.

They had blown off the door to the pilothouse and gotten the pilots under their control as well.

“You the Hokage?” He could hear the leader’s angry roar slipping out. “What’s happening with Lord Garyo’s release?!” Apparently, he had begun negotiating with Tsunade. “We can’t wait that long! You have twenty minutes left. In twenty minutes, we do the first execution!”

He couldn’t hear her reply.

“We are serious! If Lord Garyo is not released by noon, we will execute a passenger every ten minutes!” After this angry shout, the leader came out of the pilothouse and spoke to the passengers. “You heard what I said! Whether you live or die is on the head of Konohagakure!”

A shiver raced through the group of passengers shrunken and huddled together.

“What’re we going to do, Kakashi?” Guy whispered sharply. “We bungle this, and they’ll blow up the ship.”

“We need to lower the ship’s altitude somehow. This air duct connects with the pilothouse, too. You should be able to get there if you keep crawling. Can I leave that to you?”

“What are you going to do? The first thing we need to do is collect all those explosive tag—Urp!”

“Ah! Idiot! At a time like this—”

Guy vomited magnificently, leading the attackers occupying the dining lounge to suspect that something was off.

“What was that, just now?!” Instantly, a huge commotion arose—a hornet’s nest jabbed with a stick. “Urgh! What’s that sour smell?!”

“The ceiling! Someone’s hiding in the ceiling!”

At once, several kunai shot through the ceiling—thk! thk! thk!—grazing the tip of Kakashi’s nose.

Kakashi and an ashen-faced Guy immediately fled to either side. In no time, lances were thrust into the ceiling, ripping Guy’s cheek open.

“You okay, Guy?!”

“What, this little—Urp!”

Wait. That’s not a lance. It’s an icicle, an ice sword.

The ice sword ripped through the air duct and chased after them.

“Guy! You’re in charge of the pilothouse!”

“L-leave it to me…”

They turned their backs on each other and crawled frantically through the air duct.

Kakashi had to twist his body up any number of times to avoid the ice swords. They just kept coming after him, like sharp fangs sprouting up from below. And they came to assault him from the front as well.

“Hngh!” He momentarily summoned his chakra to release a jutsu. “Lightning Style! Violet Bolt!”

A pale purple tongue of lightning gushed from Kakashi’s hand. Zzzmp! Together with the sound, the ice sword coming at him was vaporized and blown away.

Lightning Style, Violet Bolt. This was a new jutsu Kakashi had learned after losing his Lightning Blade.

In a narrow escape, an ice sword shredded the lingering afterimage of Kakashi fleeing through the hole in the air duct.

He had fallen into the washroom. By the time he grasped this, he was tangled up with a woman wearing a blue dress. Kakashi gently covered her mouth as she opened it to scream.

“Shh!”

“Mmmm!” The gagged woman struggled fiercely to try and get away from him somehow. “Mmmm… Mmmm!”

“I’m not going to hurt you!”

It was at that moment that he realized it was her. The long, flowing, curly hair, the large, wide-open eyes—they belonged to her, the woman still fresh in his memory.

“We met once before!” Kakashi told her. “You were about to fall and I caught you. Do you remember?”

And here it seemed the woman finally remembered who Kakashi was.

“I’m going to take my hand away. Can you stay quiet?”

The woman nodded with fearful eyes.

“I’m a shinobi from Konohagakure,” Kakashi said as he released the woman’s mouth. “I’m guarding this sightseeing flight. What are you doing in here?”

“I…” She got her breathing under control before replying. “I had just gone into the washroom when they attacked.”

“And so you stayed hidden like this?”

The woman nodded again.

In the small washroom, they were standing with their bodies very nearly pressed up against each other. A faint scent of lavender drifted up to Kakashi’s nose.

“At any rate, it’d be better to get out of here.”

He looked up at the hole in the ceiling of the washroom, but the ice sword had disappeared without a trace. The user had released the jutsu.

Did Guy manage to escape okay?

“We’ll go out through this hole.” Kakashi flashed a smile at the reluctant woman to reassure her. “It’s fine. We’ll come out in the kitchen next door soon enough.”

The woman blinked eyes wide with surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, no…” She hurriedly looked away. “Let’s go.”

So Kakashi lifted her up and pushed her into the air duct, and then followed after her himself.

They crawled along, and in no time at all they were dropping down into the kitchen through the opening he and Guy had used to climb into the ducts. Guy’s wheelchair was still there, right where it had landed when they tossed it aside.

The woman started to say something, but Kakashi held her back, suddenly bit his thumb, and pressed her to the floor.

“Shinobi Conjuration!”

Poof! White smoke surged up, and eight ninja hounds appeared—Pakkun, Buru, Urushi, Guruko, Shiba, Biscuit, Uhei, and Akino.

“W-what?” The woman’s eyes widened. “What are these dogs?”

“Where are we?” Buru shouted. “Oh, if it isn’t Kakashi! Been a while!”

“Shh!” Kakashi held his index finger up to his mouth. “You’re always so loud, Buru.”

“Seeing you looking all gloomy like this…” Akino grinned from behind sunglasses. “Looks like you’re still hesitating about formally becoming the Hokage, huh, Kakashi?”

“Sorry for being gloomy.” Even dogs are getting on my case. “Anyway, to get right to it, I need your help.”

“What’s up, Kakashi?” Pakkun asked. “It’s not like you to be in such a hurry.”

“I don’t have time to explain everything. Right now, you guys are five thousand meters above the ground.”

The faces of the dogs all tightened up immediately.

“Explosive tags have been set up all over this ship,” Kakashi added, rapid-fire. “I need you to find all of them without the enemy noticing.”

“Got it!”

With Pakkun in the lead, the dogs flew out of the room.

“You hide here,” he told the woman as he went to return to the air vents once more.

She grabbed on to his jacket. “What are you going to do?”

“They’re going to start executing people in just a little bit,” Kakashi said. “I have to stop them.”

“They’re demanding Garyo’s release, right?”

“Uh...”

“Even hiding in the washroom, I could hear that raspy voice of his.”

Kakashi nodded.

“Then all you have to do is release Garyo,” the woman said, almost clinging to him. “The longer you all hesitate, the more victims there will be.”

“We can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“If we do what that lot says even just once, order will collapse.”

“Order?” The woman laughed through her nose. “You all were at war a mere year ago, and now you talk about order?”

He simply stared at her.

“I’m sorry.” The woman lowered her eyes. “But anyone who talks about a world of order usually thinks that they’re the ones who are right, on the side of justice. War happens when two rights clash. And history only recognizes the rightness of the winner. Which is to say that the one with the most power is always right.”

“I understand what you’re trying to say. I mean, the Ryuha Armed Alliance is right in their own way.”

“So then…”

“Even so, we can’t release Garyo.”

“Even if it means the lives of every passenger on board?”

“I am definitely not going to let that happen—or at least,” Kakashi shrugged, “it would be so great if I could actually say that.”

Now it was her turn to stay silent.

“I’ll probably end up making some people victims myself. But I still want to save as many of the lives before me as I can.”

The woman’s eyes teared up, and her lips trembled.

“When two rights clash, the most important thing is to risk your life and put yourself in your opponent’s position,” Kakashi said, before he jumped back into the ducts. “Anyone who would easily take the lives of innocent bystanders in order to have their own words recognized has no right to talk about justice.”

Kakashi crawled back through the ducts, punched the vent cover out, and dropped down into the dining lounge.

Thud!

The ninja of the Ryuha Armed Alliance were completely unsettled by the shinobi appearing from the ceiling. Several pulled out kunai and charged toward Kakashi.

He crouched down, and as he knocked aside enemy kunai with his arms, he shot out quick blows in succession. As soon as he sent one flying, he launched a kick at the next one, and without pausing to take a breath, he sent his barrage at a third.

In the blink of an eye, three enemies had fallen at his feet.

“Quit fooling around already!” The remaining enemies came at him with bloodshot eyes. “Come at me all at once!”

“Stop!” came the leader’s angry roar.

The enemy ninja stopped moving.

“Back to your positions! Don’t forget you’re responsible for watching over the hostages. That’s the copy ninja Hatake Kakashi. You’re no match for him even in a group.”

Kakashi sent his eyes racing around the room. Nine people, including the ones that had fallen. That was the number of the enemy as far as his eyes could see.

The passengers in a huddle in the center of the lounge watched how this would play out with looks of both fear and hope.

“The copy ninja Kakashi, hm?” The leader grinned. “Although now that you’ve lost the sharingan, I guess you’re just plain old Kakashi.”

“Well, even plain old Kakashi has some tricks up his sleeve.”

“Like what?”

“Like chasing off vermin like you guys.”

“So you say.”

“Enough talk,” Kakashi said. “Konoha does not negotiate with outlaws like you.”

“I wonder.” A daring smile spread across the enemy’s lips, and he casually selected a passenger, pointing.

That was all.

“Aah…aah, th-that’s…” The body of the selected passenger was enclosed in ice before their eyes. “W-what’s this? What’s happening?”

“?!”

The man, with a look of terror plastered on his face, was frozen.

“Aaaaaah!”

Screams rose up from among the passengers. They collapsed as if trying to get just a little farther away from the leader of the Ryuha Armed Alliance.

“So you still won’t negotiate with us?”

“Stop it!” Kakashi shouted like he was spitting blood, but to this man, with a dull light shining in both eyes, the cry was like a heart-pleasing compliment.

Closing his eyes and looking satisfied, the leader raised his arms as if he were the conductor of a symphony and pointed to the next victim.

The man he pointed at tried to run away but was frozen mid-stride, arms up and one leg on the ground.

Only the sound of the female passengers sobbing could be heard in the lounge.

“That was a little early, but it was getting to be time at any rate.” The leader turned back to Kakashi. “I really had intended to kill only one, but because of you, Hatake Kakashi, I ended up killing two.”

“You…”

“I think you now understand, but the hostages already have a jutsu cast on them. If I felt like it, I could freeze every one of them all at once.”

“If you do that,” Kakashi glared at his opponent, “you lose your bargaining power.”

“You do say the strangest things.”

Kakashi gave him a puzzled look.

“Konoha doesn’t negotiate with terrorists like us, yes? So then it shouldn’t matter whether we have bargaining power or not. Konoha will not respond to negotiations.” The leader grinned. “And when they don’t, we will take everyone here with us, and the sightseeing tour will continue to the next world.”

“Ngh!” Kakashi gritted his teeth.

“Take one of the hostages to the pilothouse and make them report to Konoha on what they saw just now,” the leader ordered a subordinate before turning his back to Kakashi. “Hatake Kakashi, if you allow us to quietly capture you now, I can let the hostages live for the next ten minutes.”

Kakashi’s eyes flew open.

“However, if you go up against us, I will do what I have to do. I believe I’ve already proven that I am a man who does what needs to be done when the time comes.”

The two exchanged looks.

This man would really do it. Kakashi felt it in his gut as he looked at the hands of his opponent, readied like claws. If I move even a finger right now, this guy will definitely murder all the hostages.

Sighing, he released the battle spirit cloaking his body.

Immediately, the attackers flew at him and tied Kakashi’s hands behind his back. The ninjas he had taken down earlier got up and pounded his face. The corner of his eye where he was injured opened up, and blood dripped out.

It wouldn’t end with just that.

The leader came around behind him and double-checked the rope binding him. In the next instant, an intense pain raced up the index finger of his right hand.

Crack!

He clearly heard the sound of the bone breaking.

“Ngah!” Reeling involuntarily, Kakashi was caught by the leader, who then easily broke the index finger of his left hand as well.

Snap!

“Ngah!”

“That’s enough.” He heard a satisfied voice from behind him. “Now you can’t get out of these ropes.”

Cold sweat pouring down his face, Kakashi collapsed to his knees.

“If you’re going to kill anyone, kill me first!” Kakashi shouted over and over, but his enemy just snorted laughter at him.

“Your life is worth a hundred hostages. You might be useful in the negotiations with Konoha.”

And thus, ten minutes later, Kakashi was forced to witness an execution once more.

This time it was a woman.

He could only watch helplessly as the woman, wearing a gorgeous black dress, was swallowed up by an inorganic glittering like the jewelry she had adorned herself with.

“Release Garyo or hostages continue to die! It’s one or the other!” All the passengers pricked their ears up at the roar that reached them from the pilothouse. “Contact us within ten minutes! If you do not, we’ll start killing them in pairs next! People will continue to die because of you, Konoha!”

Dammit. Kakashi was filled with bitter regret.

Each minute and second dragged by. If they were at least at a lower altitude, he would still have a chance.

What am I going to do? His frustration was strong enough to wipe out the pain from his broken fingers. What on earth can I—

It was three minutes before the next execution when a small voice spoke directly into Kakashi’s racing mind.

“Master Kakashi, can you hear me? Master Kakashi?”

For a moment, he was baffled.

“Master Kakashi? If you can hear me, please answer. You’re on the Tobishachimaru, aren’t you, Master—”

“I can hear you, Ino.” He quickly understood that this was Ino’s mind transmission jutsu. “How did you know I’m aboard the Tobishachimaru?”

“Lee told us.”

Of course!

“Are you all right, Master Kakashi? They’ve captured you, yes?”

“You’re connected with Guy too, right? I’m fine. What’s more important is another execution is going to happen in three minutes.”

“Please look up at the vent in the ceiling without catching their attention.”

Kakashi did as he was told. From the shadow of the vent cover he had broken earlier, Guy popped his face out and raised his thumb.

“Right now, Master Guy has the explosive tags you sent Pakkun and the others to collect,” Ino’s voice rang out in his head. “Master Guy’s going to attack the enemy leader. While he does, please lead the passengers to the storehouse, Master Kakashi. Lady Tsunade has confirmed with the Land of Waves that inside the large boxes in the storehouse are parachutes. Use those—”

“No!” Kakashi said to Ino, and gave Guy in the vent a signal to stay back with his eyes. “Guy’s in no condition—and there’s an enemy mixed in amongst the passengers.”

“What!”

“Is Sai there?”

“Yes, he’s standing by in Lady Tsunade’s office.”

“Put Sai on. He might be able to rescue the passengers with his Art of Cartoon Beast Mimicry.”

“Right away.”

“And I want to know how the Ryuha Armed Alliance got onto this boat.”

“It appears they waylaid some passengers and took their places.”

“They did? At any rate, I’ll create a diversion and buy some time somehow. There’s only a little time left before the next execution.”

Ino’s voice in his head disappeared.

When he sent his eyes up toward the vent in the ceiling, Guy grinned at him again and popped his thumb up.

Idiot! Kakashi pushed Guy back with his eyes. Don’t do anything stupid, Guy!

Guy’s face was yanked back into the darkness of the air vent at almost the same time the leader of the Ryuha Armed Alliance returned from the pilothouse, even his footsteps loud.

“Just about time!”

The passengers held their breath.

“If you’re going to hate someone, hate Konohagakure, which has abandoned you all!” the leader said, loudly. “They value a single prisoner who has committed no crime over all of your lives!” And then he swaggered before the passengers like a tiger.

When the leader approached, they all closed their eyes and shrank into themselves. His arm was slowly raised.

“Such a pity, but next is you—”

Booom!

An explosion thundering out from the rear of the ship drowned out the rest of his words. The ship listed heavily, and the passengers tumbled to the floor, screaming. The attackers also lost their balance and were forced to grab on to something for support.

Piercing alarm bells began ringing.

“What?!” the leader cried. “What just happened?!”

“Fire in the stern!” a ninja shouted as she came running in from the pilothouse. “It looks like someone blew up the drive area!”

Did Guy do that? Kakashi’s eyes darted back and forth. He was sure Guy had used the explosive tags Pakkun collected.

“You still have friends here?” The leader approached like an angry demon and grabbed hold of Kakashi by the hair. “What exactly did they do?”

“No idea.” Kakashi glared coolly at his opponent. “But don’t you think you’d better hurry up and put the fire out?”

“Hnnnngh.”

“The buoyant air bladder is right above the engine area. If you dawdle here, it’ll all go boom, you know.”

But it was Kakashi who was thrown into confusion seeing the look that rose up on his opponent’s face. All impatience and anger disappeared from that face. In fact, it took on an almost relaxed look, as if he were enjoying the situation.

An intense unease raced up Kakashi’s spine.

When the alarms stopped, the passengers timidly got back up.

“The fire’s been put out!” the ninja who went to check on the situation returned and announced. “Two of the propellers were knocked out, but there’s no damage to the air bladder area. The hole opened up by the explosion’s already been repaired. We should have no trouble continuing on our course!”

Kakashi couldn’t keep his surprise off his face.

“There’s no way, it’s just too fast—that’s what that look says.” The leader looked at Kakashi and his frozen eyes and laughed with what sounded like real pleasure. “We anticipated Konoha ninja infiltrating this ship. Did you think we had not prepared for the eventuality?”

“Kahyo, huh?”

The sneer disappeared from his opponent’s face.

“Is that your trump card?” Kakashi asked. “I know she’s an Ice Style user. It was probably her ice that put out the fire and blocked up the hole from the explosion.”

“Impressive. So you figured out that much, hm?”

“Before discovering your trump card, I felt a little awkward about showing you our cards, but…”

His enemy looked at him carefully.

“But I guess that won’t do, hm?” Kakashi said, and turned his eyes to the ceiling. “Look. Up there.”

Reflected in his enemy’s eyes as he looked up was Guy, already falling toward him through the air, axe kick readied.

Well, he did work out even on rainy and windy days, after all. Kakashi took in the figure of Guy, who had thrown himself into his training after he was released from the hospital.

Annoyed with his right leg, which wouldn’t move like he wanted it to, Guy howled over and over in a place where no one could see him. He cried tears of bitter regret so many times.

But he never quit his training. Whenever Lee was with him, he smiled that “nice guy” smile and popped a thumb up.

“See, Lee? A leg’s just one part of the body,” Guy would declare resolutely. “You can’t let your other parts, which are all healthy, go along with a bad leg. In particular, you can’t let this sort of thing lead your spirit astray. Even if your right leg’s no good, you’ve got your left. And if your left’s bad too, well, you still have two arms.”

I underestimated you a little, Guy.

“Enter the Leaf’s Noble Gentleman!”

Whump!

Guy’s axe kick exploded onto the crown of the enemy’s head and shook the ship itself.

The power behind it was intense, enough to rip a large hole in the floor. If there hadn’t been space beneath the floorboards for the pipes, the enemy’s body would likely have been plunged through the bottom of the ship and knocked out into the sky.

In the darkness below the floor, the cut electrical wires shot off crackling sparks.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi.”

“Guy!”

“Ah! Owowowowow!”

A dense fog of debris rose up.

“And all you passengers.” Appearing from the midst of this fog was Guy striking his “nice guy” pose—thumbs up, with a wink and a gleaming smile—despite the fact that he was crying from the pain in his leg. “Now that I, the Leaf’s Noble Gentleman, have arrived, you can all relax. I intend to get on the big ship and—Urp!”

Guy fell to all fours and vomited.

“Aah, your motion sickness is terrible too.” A second after muttering this, Kakashi shouted, “Guy! Behind you!”

“What?”

Abruptly pulling himself up, Guy was suddenly sending a headbutt straight for the face of the ninja coming at him from behind.

The attacker went flying.

“Huh?” Looking at the fallen enemy, Guy forgot the pain in his leg and stared blankly. “What happened to that guy?”

But this one blow held up the movements of the other shinobi. They drew their swords and surrounded Guy, but no longer carelessly tried to close the distance between them.

“J-j-just as plaaaaanned!” Hopping around on one foot, Guy placed his hands on his hips and thrust out his chest. “Did you see that, everyone? This is the true power of the shinobi of Konoha! Nothing is impossible with the power of youth!”

“With a face that pale, you’re clearly lying. Anyway, hurry up and cut these ropes for me.”

“Roger!”

Wham!

The floorboards in front of Guy exploded as he took a step toward Kakashi. An enormous fist shot up from beneath the floor.

Guy jumped back, and Kakashi’s vision was blocked by dust and debris once more. Wood chips danced up, scattered, and fell on him.

“Lord Rahyo!” A cry rose up from amongst the attackers. “You’re all right, Lord Rahyo!”

“Rahyo.” It was their leader striding forth from the cloud of debris. “That is the name of the one who will bury you.”