Million Ryo Investigation

The Investigation Begins
In a small building in Uzushiogakure, missions are assigned to anyone who is brave enough to try to complete it, and the reward is usually high. Normally, Shinobi would not attempt to complete any of these missions, but this time, Ikido was allowed to do so. There was an unusual mission that was waiting to be taken, and Ikido was willing to complete that specific mission. He entered the building and took a deep breath as he saw the mission flyer on a wall.

The building he was in was the size of a regular classroom. It only had one long desk with a computer on it, and a masked woman was standing behind the desk. Ikido viewed the mission flyer and read, "There is a small unnamed village near Uzushiogakure that was reported abandoned. All belongings, all civilians, and all cattle are gone and only the houses remain. There were no sightings of them anywhere so they are reported missing. Please investigate this incident, and the reward is one million Ryo." Ikido was excited to start this investigation, and he walked towards the woman to begin the mission.

Ryūza sighed as he walked into the building. He hated going to these "special mission booths" but all other mission were either too boring or did't pay enough. He walked into the dusty room and inspected a flyer. "Hmm inspect a haunted village and earn a million ryo. Why not?" He strutted up through the lobby up to a old desk as his cloak flowed behind him. He adressed the woman at the desk in a booming tone. "I'll accept the haunted village mission!" she looked at him and began to speak before he cut her off. "Hey who are you." He chided addressing the red haired man beside him.

"I am Ikido, and I was going to accept this mission, not you. And for your information, this village is not a haunted village! No where in the flyer does it say to investigate a haunted village! It's only an abandoned one!" Ikido said in an angry tone. Normally, he would speak nicer, but this time, it was an exception. He grabbed Ryuza's man by his shirt and said, "I know who you are, you are a missing nin. I research missing-nin. If you want to attack someone in this village, this is where your trail stops. For all you know, you had something to do with the village and then you called it haunted, knowing it wasn't. If I were you, you would leave silently." Ikido let go of Ryuza's shirt and faced the woman.

Ryūza began to laugh hysterically. "You really want to challenge me?" he asked producing a blue rose. He tosses it towards Ikido as the petals flew off of it flying around his face and spreading their sweet aroma. The world changed around them as blue petals coated everything around them."Welcome to my realm. I hope you enjoy your stay as you won't be leaving." He smiled and laughed again."You can only break up to B rank genjutsu if I'm correct. Don't even try to break this one." He scoffed."Anyway now that you're trapped let's talk. First off, don't grab my collar again or i'll slit your throat. Second, get your research straight. I've never attacked a village before and I don't plan on it. Just because i'm not allied with a village doesn't mean that i'm going to go on a killing spree. Third, if you'll stop being so angry and jumping to so many conclusions we could go on the mission together." He finished panting."either go on the mission with me or go away, cause i'm going."

Ikido was shocked at the situation he was in. First, he had no idea how Ryūza knew that he can break up to B-Rank Genjutsus. Second, he never thought that a missing-nin had so much power. He was not going to get intimidated by this, but either way, he knew he could not break this Genjutsu. He said, "Fine, I will go with you to complete this mission. But don't forget, we need to split the million Ryo between both of us, 500,000 each. It shouldn't be that hard though, just investigate a town, find out what happened to the civilians, and done." He did not yet trust Ryūza but he had no other choice. Of course, there was something bugging him. Why would investigating this town have such a high reward?

"Yeah of course." Ryūza agreed as the genjutsu began to fade and the world became normal once again. He smiled at Ikido and spoke again."If you have any further questions toward my alligences or motives ask me once we've left." With this words he turned to the lady at the desk and again spoke in his booming voice. "We shall accept the mission!"

"Excellent news!" The woman said. She typed something on the computer and said, "Alright, you are allowed to start the mission already. Please remember that we are not responsible for any injuries you may experience during your mission. If you come back with no information, mission failed. Please remember that and you may go." With that, Ikido looked at Ryūza, then at the door, and said, "Alright then, let's go." He, with Ryūza following him, walked out the door and began walking in the direction of the village.

As the two were walking, Ikido felt uneasy around Ryūza. He hesitated, and then asked, "Two questions, how did you know I can only break up to B-Rank Genjutsu? Also, what are your motives in joining this mission? What are you hiding?" Ikido had a feeling that Ryūza was hiding something, and he needed to figure out what it was!

Ryūza laughed a bit and smiled at the man."I figured these questions would come up. To answer your first question you are a very high ranked jōnin in Uzu,'The Brains of the Uzumaki' if I recall. I make sure to research people who may attempt to stop me in certain areas since I am a missing nin. Your second question is something i'm asked quite a lot, I just don't like being tied to a village. I was never very patriotic or whatever, I always just wanted to do missions I liked when I felt like it." Ryūza paused and looked directly at Ikido."Just because I don't belong to a village you shouldn't put me up there with criminals." He stated quite angrily as he turned and walked forwards.

Ikido looked at Ryūza and then turned back, and said, "I am sorry. I won't make that mistake again. It's just that I knew a missing-nin, before he became a missing-nin, a while back." Ikido sighed as he continued walking, not knowing just how dangerous this mission really is...

The Ghost Town
After a whole day's search, the two finally reached their destination. There were no one in the streets, nor were there any signs, boxes, trashcans, nothing but buildings...just like the flyer described. The scent of cattle was also not there. Ikido wondered where everyone could have gone and said, "Wow, I never believed the flyer. This really is a ghost town. Ryūza, where do you think we should start looking?"

"Probably the town hall, there may be clues to their whereabouts there or at least some leads." As they began to walk again Ryūza asked another question."So you spoke of another missing nin. would you mind telling me what happened?" he asked.

Ikido sighed as he began searching for the town hall and said, "His name is Ichiko and he was a good friend of mine. I looked up to him, did so much with him, and then just one day, he left the village for no reason. I hated him for that, and I guess I took out my anger out on you. Sorry for that." The next thing he knew, a woman scream can be heard from a big building up ahead. He began to run towards it and said, "My god! This isn't a ghost town after all! Ryūza, this has got to be the town hall! You look for any clues and I'll find the woman in distress!"

"Umm ok." Ryūza answered quite quizzically. As Ikido ran off towards the voice he walked into the dusty old town hall. He walked through the old offices till he reached the mayor's desk. He scanned the papers on the desk and began to shuffle through them."Hmm" He thought to himself."Some of these letters mention a curse on this man for something."

As Ikido was running towards the voice, he saw several milk cartons on the ground and thought to himself, "''So they didn't take everything, interesting." ''When Ikido reached the voice, he saw a woman with long black hair and her back was facing Ikido. "Mam, are you okay? I heard you screaming so I came to help." Ikido asked nicely. As soon as he blinked, the woman was gone and when he turned around, she was right there, with her face staring right at him. She was pale as a ghost, with blood flowing down from her eyes. She then began to scream real loud and jumped towards Ikido.

As Ryūza continued to shuffle through the papers he heard a super loud scream."Aikido what the hell are you doing." He thought to himself as he ran towards the source of the noise. As he rounded the corner he saw Ikido jumping away from a place woman."Hey miss are you ok?" He shouted at the lady. The woman looked at him and again screamed like a banshee. Her face was pale and her eyes were just dark holes in her head. "What the hell!" Ryūza shouted as the woman lunged at him. He jumped to the side and prepped an attack. "Five Element Bomb!" He shouted ramming the swirling mass of elemental energy into her. The lady when flying across the square and slammed into a building before falling to the ground.

Ikido looked at the lady who was on the ground as steam began to arise from her body and she evaporated. He looked at Ryūza and asked, "Was this a Genjutsu?" He hoped it wasn't, cause he didn't notice getting stuck in one. He also noticed that Ryūza's chakra was normal. "Alright then. Let's just forget about that. Did you find any hints on this village's civilians whereabouts?" Ikido asked.

"Oh yeah look at these." He said handing Ikido a few pieces of paper. "It says there used to be some priests in this town till the mayor wanted them to leave. It says that the priests cursed the man and his town for sending them away."

"Cursed the man?" Ikido asked. He sighed and said, "Great, now we have to deal with curses as well. Alright, we have no choice. Let's try to find more about those priests." What sounds like two kids can be heard whispering inside a couple of bushes nearby. Ikido walked towards the bush and then a little boy with a knife quickly got up and aimed for an attack at Ikido. A little girl also quickly got up and kicked Ikido's leg to immobilize him temporarily, allowing the boy to continue his strike. He could not sense their chakra and he suffered a surprise attack. The boy was going fast, what now?

As the boy was about to stab Ikido two water dragons slammed into them sending the two children flying."Ikido learn to attack!" Ryūza shouted as he rushed over to help him up."Now lets go take a look at those two."He stated pointing to the two children suspended in water bubbles.

Ikido looked at the two children and said to Ryūza, "I'm sorry, I don't really like to attack children. Now tell me little kids, why did you attack me?"

The little boy angrily glared at Ikido and said, "You killed our mom! We saw you just do it! You have the power to make your victims disappear, just like you did with everyone else in our small village!"

Ikido sighed and said to the boy, "I know how you are feeling now, we just beat up your mother and she vanished, like everyone else in your village I get that. But please listen, it was not us who harmed your village and your mom was attacking us. We don't have that power to make people vanish once they are defeated. Please calm down so we can help you find the rest of your village folks."

The two kids began whispering to each other and the little boy asked Ryūza, "You haven't said much, how can we trust you?"

Ryūza smiled a little."My my, you to are quite sharp for your age." He popped their bubbles and spoke again. "I am Ryūza and this is Ikido. We are two shinonbi on a mission to find out what happened here and If we can save this place. You don't have to trust me but know this I simply want to find out what happened in this village." He finished smiling at the two children. He pulled out a scroll and slammed his hand into it releasing a large picnic blanket with tons of food on it."Let's have some food and you can tell us everything that happened." He stated to the children, offering them a seat.

As the two kids began eating, the little boy said, "Well, you see, today when we woke up, our parents weren't home. We went outside to see what happened, and we saw multiple bodies on the floor, dead. They all began poofing away and we were scared and began running around, looking for our parents. That's when we found dad dead and then poof away. Nearby was mom, but she was alive, she looked strange, the way you saw her. She led us here and then for some reason, she screamed and you guys showed up. My sister has been quiet since this morning. Yesterday, some priests talked about some curse and then they left."

"Hmm it seems that whatever this curse is, it is turing people into these ghouls. We need to find these priests or at least where they used to be. Can you tell us?" He asked the children.

The little boy finished eating an apple and said, "They used to be in a church. I don't know how to get there from here but I do know that it has The Jashin Cult symbol on it, it's the only building with it. If you find it, that's the church."

"The Jashin Cult....I should've figured." Ryūza grumbled as he got up off the ground."You kids take this food and hide. Ikido we need to find that church come on." He shouted as he began to walk into the city."Have you ever encountered a Jashin cultist?" He asked as ikido got up from the ground.

"Not really, our encounter with the priests is the first time I'll meet Jashinists. I hear that they are immortal though." Ikido answered. After about an hour, they found the church. They both walked in but nothing was inside, no chairs, desks, nothing. Ikido looked at Ryūza and asked, "Well, coming here was a waste of time. Should we ask the kids more questions, if we can find them? Don't forget that we couldn't sense their chakra, so it might be a long search."

"Wait." Ryūza shouted. As he ran back into the church with Ikido running after him. He ran to end of a long carpet and pulled it up."I knew I sensed something." he stated as he looked at the wooden door lying in the floor. They both grabbed the wooden trapdoor and pulled it open. Ryūza jumped through the hole and fell into a large black room with torches on the walls and bloodstains on the ground. "Ikido you might want to see this." he shouted as he approached a moving body on a Jashin seal.

Ikido looked at the moving body on a Jashin seal and asked, "What happened to you? Who put you there? Where are they now?" Ikido wanted to help already, but he couldn't. If he did, the victim might attack. So, if this was a ghoul, then it will have an inhuman response to his questions, like a growl or a screech.

The man coughed and spoke in a very coarse voice."I was attacked by some cultists when I found them down here. They left me on the brink of death to suffer forever." He coughed again as some blood came out his mouth. "Do you know where those men went?" Ryūza asked him. The man coughed up more blood."I heard them speak of a temple in the mountains around here." He coughed again. "Before you go please..." He paused."Please put me out of my misery."

Ikido did not want to just kill him, but luckily, he had some medical jutsu. He walked up to him, kneeled down, and began to use Mystical Palm Technique on his injuries to heal them. "Don't worry, you'll be fine, I'll heal you." He hoped his injuries were able to be healed though.

Ryūza leaned against a wall as Ikido tried to heal the man."Even if you heal him he's marked for death. See that seal on his neck. It's designed to shut down his body three days after it was placed." Iv'e seen it quite a few times before." Ryūza sighed.

Ikido understood what Ryūza said and grabbed a kunai. He then quickly stabbed the man's heart, took out the kunai, and tossed it aside. Ikido then looked at Ryūza and said, "I didn't want him to be stuck like that, so I had to do it." As he said thay, he looked at the entrance to the room and saw the little girl there, holding a bloody knife. Blood was all over her, unlike before when she was perfectly clean. The little boy was not next to her.

"Well great."Ryūza sighed."Now we have to kill her too." He paused a moment and then looked at Ikido."You know what..you fight her. I haven't even seen you punch anything yet."

Ikido did not like to hurt children, but if the girl comes any closer, he will then have no other choice. The little began walking slowly towards Ikido, still holding the knife, and that instant, Ikido grabbed his sword and qucikly stabbed the girl through her chest. When he took out the sword, the girl collapsed and died. The sword was bloody and Ikido put it away. He will have nightmares after this day. "NOOOO! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" The little boy surprisingly screamed as he entered the room and ran towards his sister's body.

"Hold it!" Ryūza commanded as he approached the girls body. He inspected her neck for a moment then kicked the boy across the room."You little shits." He roared. He looked over at Ikido who looked confused at his actions and explained."The little girl has a mark of Jashin on her neck. These two are part of this damn cult."

Ikido was shocked to hear this. "Ryūza, I know you're mad and you want to kill him, but leave him alive. We don't exactly know what to expect from the mountains, so we should have him lead us." He told Ryūza.

"Fine." he replied angrily as he grabbed the child and held him up to his face."You will take us to the priests or I will rip your still beating heart out you Jashinist freak." He said as he stared at the child. The child shuddered and nodded to him."Good." Ryūza replied attaching a water line to the kid."Now GO!"

The Cursed Mountains
After only a day, the three reached the entrance to the mountains. "The temple is at the peak of the mountains. There is a long flight of stairs leading to it, but we Jashinists know a different way up. Umm, I forgot where it was so it looks like we have to take the stairs, but you will most likely be tired way before you reach the top." The little boy said.

"Oh no stairs whatever will I do." Ryūza cried sarcastically. He then sprouted wings and grabbed the child and Ikido."Up we go!" He shouted as he flew up the mountain. He landed at the top of the stairs and let the two go. In the distance, down a path flanked by pools with many flowers lie a temple made of wood. It looked very old.

Right before the three were about to walk towards the temple, different ghouls, like the womam from before, went out of the temple and starting rushing at them. A priest grabbed Ikido'a arm from behind and threw him off the mountain with a lot of strength, while the ghouls began attacking Ryūza, they weren't attacking the little boy though.

"Dammit Ikido." Ryūza swore as he blocked a incoming ghoul. He threw the ghoul over his shoulder into another one and kicked the two into a pond. "Five element hydra." He roared as five elemental dragons formed behind him and began to rip the ghouls to shreds. He then grabbed the priest by the throat and slammed him into the ground."WHAT IS GOING ON!!"

The priest ignored Ryūza and looked at the little boy and said, "You have done well to bring the ultimate sacrifice my Prince. It's a shame that the princess was killed, but sacrifices are needed to accomplish goals! You mom and dad are going to be happy my Prince, very happy. "

Ryūza was fed up with these assholes. He picked up the boy and he him and the priest by the throat."Die!" he shouted as two bladed tails shot through them ripping their hearts out and killing them. He dropped to corpses to the ground and turned to the temple."I hope Ikido's ok." he whispered to himself as he walked towards it. -Meanwhile, Ikido woke up in a room with lit candles on a window. Outside the window was a field of flower. Inside the room was a bed where Ikido was on, and a chair with someone sitting on it, reading a book. Ikido at first could not see the person correctly, but then he noticed it was none other than Ichiko. "Ichiko...what are you doing here!?" Ichiko looked up at Ikido and said, "We need to talk." -When Ryūza entered the temple, it was pitch black. The only light was a candle over a door up ahead. On the door, there were words that read, "A mistake that will cause trouble in the future can only be solved at a red hot light."

"Well this is easy." Ryūza laughed as he inhaled and then shot a giant fireball into the wall.

This was a grave mistake for Ryūza. As soon as the fireball hit the wall, the wall caught on fire, soon spreading to the other walls. The temple doors were the only ones that didn't catch on fire, but everything else did. If Ryūza didn't hurry, he may burn into ashes.

Ryūza walked calmly out of the temple and proceeded to watch it burn. "I'm gonna go find Ikido."He declared turning towards the stairs.

When Ryūza turned around, he saw the little boy standing up, looking at him. There was blood on his chin, from when his heart was ripped out and blood came out of it. Blood was on his chest and shirt. The little boy said, "I am a true Jashinist....I am immortal...your partner......to get to him....walk down that path. Keep going and you'll know when....you found him."

Ryūza smirked. In and instant he appeared behind the kid and sliced the mark of Jashin off his flesh. The boy began to turn to dust."Rest in piece." Ryūza whispered as he walked towards where Ikido was supposed to be.

As Ryūza was walking down the stairs, he heard growls coming from the inner part of the mountain a quarter down the stairs. A little cabin can be seen where the growls are coming from.

"Well here we go."Ryūza sighed as he opened the door.

Inside the cabin was the same exact room where Ikido woke up in. Two ghouls evaporated and Ikido was standing over them. Ichiko was still reading. Ichiko noticed Ryūza, stopped reading, and said, "Oh, Ryūza. Welcome to the rise of the planet of the ghouls."