Negotiations with a Demon Swordsman
No matter. Time for diplomacy!
I flew down in my crow body, aiming for the window.
He noticed me the moment I got within a few hundred feet of him, damn, Shinobi are scary.
I perched myself on the windowsill, and stared at them.
Haku was also there, standing silently with his back against the wall. I didn't see the Demon Brothers, though. Did he already send them ahead to scout out Tazuna?
I checked my DP just in case before I started talking.
DP:332
Alright, enough for a big illusion if needed. Here we go.
***
Zabuza carefully watched the crow that perched itself outside his window, he made sure to position his body so he could easily draw his Kubikiribōchō in an instant if it tried anything funny.
He noticed Haku shifting into a better position from the corner of his eye, good lad.
"It's the same one that was stalking around earlier," He said casually. "What do you think?"
"A summon?" Haku answered hesitantly.
Zabuza didn't think so, he had never heard of a Crow Clan before, and this thing didn't react at all to his aura, not even a single twitch, so neither a normal animal and unlikely to be a summon, maybe some random Shinobi's pet?
"Mmm... could be."
"Should we kill it?" Haku asked quietly, Zabuza frowned slightly upon hearing those words. He could hear the hesitation in the boy's voice. Still too soft...
"No, if it belongs to a Shinobi, killing it would alert them. If it were smart, it wouldn't have gotten this close again." Zabuza replied while eyeing the bird carefully, it was still staring at him with its beady little eyes.
"Well reasoned." The crow suddenly spoke up calmly. "But wrong."
Zabuza wasted no time, his hand flashed towards his Kubikiribōchō, drawing it in a single smooth motion, swinging it towards the bird with enough force to cut through steel.
His sword stopped short right before it could reach the bird, the edge of the blade touching its feathers.
"Who sent you?" He asked coldly, his grip remaining steady despite how heavy his weapon was.
"My patron wishes to offer you employment."
Oh? Now that was interesting. Zabuza had been approached by many people over the years trying to recruit him for various reasons, but this one took the cake in weirdness.
"And what does your patron want from me?" He asked simply, without letting his curiosity leak into his voice.
"For you to not protect Gatō for the next week." The crow answered. "Afterwards, my patron wishes for you to teach."
Someone was going to attack Gatō? Well, it wasn't too surprising, Zabuza had spent less than a couple of hours in the same room as him, and he already knew he was a disgusting weasel who deserves to get shanked in an alleyway.
But going against his client like that... Even though he didn't have any respect for the man, he did have a reputation to maintain. This better be worth it.
"Missing-nin that turn their back on clients don't last long..." He said slowly.
"The assignment would be long term, years at the least," The crow replied matter-of-factly. "My patron wants someone to teach his followers how to fight effectively."
Zabuza hummed slightly while thinking things through.
"How many people, and what's the pay?"
"Around two dozen at first, the number will increase later as more are recruited. What would you wish to be paid with? Strength? Protection? Ryō?"
Zabuza frowned slightly, one of those then? This patron was either some powerful Shinobi from one of the major nations, or a scammer.
He glanced sideways towards Haku before looking back at the bird. "Strength."
Haku blinked in confusion upon hearing that, but he quickly caught on. Zabuza wanted to test whoever this patron was.
"You will have to meet my patron then, in person." Zabuza felt a shift in the air, the crow's eyes still stared into him, unmoving.
"Are you sure?" It asked, tone unchanged since the beginning of the conversation. "You might not like what you see."
Well, that was ominous, but Zabuza knew himself to be quite adaptable. As long as this 'patron' wasn't S-rank in power, he could handle it.
"I'm sure."
With that, the crow's eyes began leaking black liquid, Zabuza tensed up, raising his blade towards it once more.
But the bird didn't react to his movements at all, and as more and more of the liquid leaked out, it began dripping from its beak and body onto the windowsill, the liquid flowing up the walls and ceiling of Zabuza's room. Soon, everything around them became pitch black with the same strange fluid.
Then, countless stars blinked into existence all around him, twinkling gently in an endless sea of darkness.
Zabuza looked down at the ground below, finding nothing but an abyss beneath his feet, stretching forever downward without end.
He gathered his Chakra and pulsed it, trying to dispel Genjutsu, only for nothing to happen.
"Kai!" He shouted loudly before sending another pulse of Chakra throughout his body. No effect. He gritted his teeth slightly while taking a defensive stance.
He glanced towards Haku, who seemed to be in the same situation as him. He was glancing around nervously at their surroundings before his gaze met Zabuza's own.
Haku tensed up even further after seeing what must have been a rare look of unease on Zabuza's face, he had never seen someone cast Genjutsu that could resist being broken by him.
A weird pressure washed over both of them suddenly, their instincts screaming at them to flee, but there was nowhere to go. They were trapped.
Something moved in the darkness ahead, behind the stars. Something massive, easily dwarfing anything either of them had ever seen before.
Zabuza's breath caught within his lungs as he tried to withstand the pressure, this was worse than the 4th Mizukage, far worse.
Eyes appeared from the darkness, three orbs of gold stared down at him with incomprehensible emotions gleaming within their depths.
A BARGAIN?
The voice was overwhelming, it drowned out everything else in existence, as if it spoke directly into his soul itself.
He swallowed thickly before trying to force words past his lips. "Y-yes."
Zabuza was not a weak man, far from it. He had done horrible things to people for little more than money, he didn't mind doing things that would turn a regular person's stomach, he enjoyed killing people.
But... whatever this thing was, it was on a scale beyond anything he had ever encountered before. The sheer pressure emanating from it made him feel like an ant in comparison. Even the Sanbi paled in comparison.
IT IS STRUCK
SERVE WELL
The eyes vanished, the stars fading away along with them until nothing remained except for absolute darkness.
And it rushed back inwards again, the endless void retreated into that fucking bird, leaving behind no trace of its presence once more.
Zabuza stood silently in his room, sword raised defensively still. He looked sideways towards Haku, who was shaking slightly.
"You were warned." The crow finally spoke up again after several seconds of silence, breaking them out of their daze. "After Gatō is dealt with, a messenger will seek you out."
With that, it flew out of the window and disappeared into the night sky above.
"What was that?" Haku whispered softly once they were alone, his voice barely audible even within the quietness surrounding them both.
"I don't know..." Zabuza answered honestly while lowering his weapon slowly before sheathing it again, the memory of those golden eyes burning themselves into his mind forevermore.
He was never one for religion, but if someone asked him to describe what a God would look like, he would tell them to fuck off.
But if pressed further... his description would probably match what he saw just now.
"Call back the Demon Brothers, tell them to lay low," He commanded sternly after taking a deep breath to compose himself better. "If this thing is an enemy to Gatō, then we do nothing to help him."
Haku nodded hastily before leaving the room quickly without another word. Good lad.
Zabuza looked out the window, where the crow had flown off into the distance mere moments ago.
A part of him wondered why such a powerful being would go through all this trouble, he couldn't comprehend why it didn't just kill Gatō itself, it's not like he was anything to that thing.
Maybe it wanted to test its followers? He shoved his curiosity aside. He felt like he had gotten involved in something way beyond his understanding.
Hopefully, this didn't come back to bite him later down the line...
***
DP:52
Annnd there goes almost all of my DP... again. I wonder if it will always be like this. For every one problem I solve, another rears its ugly head.
I should have waited on the whole recruiting the crows thing until after Gatō was dealt with.
Oh well, it's not like I could predict the future, if only the original series had dates and times for everything, but noooo, everything was super vague. 'One Month Later' isn't exactly helpful, ya know?
Thankfully, I now had a few days of DP production to save up for whatever this whole situation ends up costing me. I will have to keep some in reserve to 'pay' Zabuza, I was surprised he chose strength, but it was actually better for me, it's not like I had any money anyway.
But for now I could relax. In a week, either my little cult would succeed in taking down Gatō and gaining control of Wave, or they would fail and get slaughtered.