EPISODE 9: Maida's Sharingans
Jim realized that there were various traces of smoke in the air, and all of them were coming from where the village was. Clearly, something was happening there and if it caused that much smoke, it involved plenty of fire. It could not be anything good; that much was obvious to him. Were they under attack? May be Jounen had returned with a larger group. He started to worry about Maida when he thought about that. She was their main target from the beginning.
He was about to start his training for the day, but after the realization of danger, he knew he had to go back right away. He quickly grabbed his sword and rushed towards the village. He was wearing a black headband, a white shirt, and orange training pants. Despite his speed and his concern for what was happening, it was going to take him some time to return to the village; he was one mile away.
While he ran, he kept thinking about it. He thought about the worse scenarios, such as an all-out attack from The Leaf's Anbu squads. This was a possibility if The Leaf was not a good clan as he believed it was. He prepared himself on the way to deal with the worst case scenario. One thing was certain: another high-level ninja had to be involved and another big battle was going to occur once he arrived.
Meanwhile, the White Zetsu—or the Zet—clones had caused havoc at the village while looking for Madara's grand-daughter. The villagers were fighting them too. People had chosen to fight against them, instead of giving them what they wanted. However, things were starting to look bad and some had already revealed that she was in the medical area. Others called her Maida, giving up what her name was to Zet.
Su was also using his ability of going through surfaces to search houses, but he wasn't at the medical area, so he had not found anyone with sharingan eyes yet. He couldn't do this for too long either, he had to look for a clone or a villager because his life force started to fade slowly when he stayed unattached to a living body for too long. This had been his curse and his biggest weakness since the day when both Zet and he were turned into what they were now.
Chief Barton was already aware of the chaos. He could feel and see some of what was happening. His mother was a woman from the Uchiha clan, a former deserter, just like Maida's mother, Maida, and Kenn. He didn't inherit the sharingan eyes of the Uchiha bloodline and he never talked about this though; therefore, very few knew about it. This was the real reason why he had accepted the Uchiha deserters in his village and why he excluded them from his reports to The Leaf. (The Uchiha clan was a close ally of The Leaf, but various Uchihas had left both The Leaf and the Uchiha Clan.)
Although Chief Barton's mother and Maida's mother had been gone for years, Maida reminded him of both of them. So, it was correct to say that the chief of the village cared about Maida as if she was a family member. This was why she was allowed to stay there even before Jim Namikaze arrived, when many people disliked her due to her eyes…
The new invaders were destroying Chief Barton's small village and killing his people. Now, they were headed for Maida Uchiha as well.
He decided that he would not let them harm the girl! She was like family. He was old and didn't have the sharingan, but thanks to being part Uchiha he could use some of their techniques and, just like Maida, he could feel what others were thinking. Besides, he had been a great ninja in his youth, so he was no push over in battle either. Barton grabbed his crossbow and his two canes—which were really swords in disguise within the canes—and headed for the medical zone of the village.
Zet—the real one, not a solid clone—was already there. He could not wait to see the one that carried Madara's blood and the sharingans that were always active. He knew those eyes had to be special because even Madara Uchiha didn't have his sharingans active at all times. Only the grand Sage of the Six Paths had sharingans that had that trait.
Zet stood at the very center of the plaza, where all the medical cabins and houses were. This was the same place where Jim and Maida had met months ago.
"Maida Uchiha! Come to meet us and we won't harm this village any longer! If you don't come now, everything will be destroyed. The destruction won't stop until we get to you!"
Maida knew what was happening. She could see it even more clear than the chief because of her special sharingans. She knew that the one leading the attack was there and it was her who he wanted from the start. She couldn't see his thoughts clearly, but what was happening was more than enough to understand him. She headed for the door to go to the open plaza to meet Zet. However, the old nurse in charge of the place and two others stopped her.
"Don't go Maida," said the old woman while she held one of Maida's arms.
"If you go, they will kill you!" said the other two young nurses that blocked her way.
"What about everybody else? Like he said, they will continue until they get to me. And I know what they want."
Maida was worried, but it was not about herself. The other people and what could happen to them worried her more. Her mind was already made up about it, but before she could leave, one of the other nurses there stood up and went to the door.
"I will tell them! We should not have to die and pay because of you!"
When the young nurse said this, she sounded angry and full of hatred. She had been hiding the jealousy and envy that she felt towards Maida for a long time; and truth be told, this was not about saving the others, but rather about settling her own personal grudges with Maida.
This was the same nurse that had an interest in Jim Namikaze before he picked Maida—instead of her—to help with his recovery. After that day, Maida was considered one of the top nurses in a matter of weeks because of her special skills. However, this girl perceived that she deserved those distinctions too because she had been there longer. Most importantly, she never got over the fact that Jim didn't choose her, even though she was more attractive than Maida, from a physical point of view. And, naturally, this girl was not an angel either… deep down, she saw this as the opportunity to eliminate Maida, the one she saw as the culprit of her bad luck.
"Yania, what are you doing!?" yelled the old nurse, but it didn't have any effect.
Yania went outside and told the white green-haired invader what he wanted:
"The Uchiha woman that you seek is here in this cabin. They are hiding her! Take her and leave us in peace!"
She said it while pointing towards the right place and looking straight at Zet.
Zet couldn't contain his emotion; he couldn't wait to get his hands on the special sharingans that could end up being even better than Madara's. He even wished that they could be as powerful as his father's mighty eyes. After all, only the grand holy sage had sharingans that were always active.
Zet saw this as his chance to fulfill his master plan without Madara Uchiha. And perhaps, without any of his allies, all on his own. He knew that this was possible if the girl's sharingans turned out to be like the eyes of the holy sage that created the ninja world.
In front of the door, there was someone already. She was the one that revealed Maida's location. However, Maida was starting to come out at that exact moment.
Zet started to walk and made his move really fast, aimed at the two women:
"Earth-bullet jutsu!"
(A technique that combines Jounen's wind-twirler with Jim's earth-shoot. It adds mad spinning to the small earth spire that is aimed at the target.)
The sharp piece of rock that Zet used pierced through Yania's heart like a bullet from a real rifle. She didn't even know that Maida was already outside and definitely didn't expect something like this. Maida grabbed her from the floor to attempted to save her, but it was already too late for that. Even her advanced medical ninja skills were not capable of saving Yania from this.
Maida started to feel desperation and some anger towards Zet, even though this was not her nature. He, his allies, and his clones had brought total chaos and despair to the whole village in less than one hour.
Zet talked to her:
"I killed someone that wanted to betray you. I'm sure that your eyes had already seen that. She was your enemy. And… I'm sure that you also know why I am here now."
Zet was trying to sound friendly, even though his intentions were clear. Maida left it clear that she knew what his true intentions were:
"You want my sharingans. You think that they are like my grandfather's powerful eyes, but they are not like his."
Zet was a little surprised at first:
"Oh my, you really know a lot, don't you? Your eyes must be pretty good indeed."
He summoned some of his White Zetsu clones and in only a matter of seconds, two appeared from the ground close to Maida and two others appeared close to him. The two that were close to Maida grabbed her arms and pushed her forward while they walked towards their creator, Zet.
The clones were close when, suddenly, they felt their arms were burning and had to set Maida free.
She was the one that had done it. She grabbed their arms and used one of the medical ninja's forbidden techniques: anti-healing. Instead of curing their wounds, she created wounds on them.
Zet was not expecting this, but he wasn't worried; if this was her way to attack instead of the sharingan's power, then she surely had not learned any powerful techniques yet. Things were going to be easier than what he expected. The truth was that even Zet would have had to go all out in a serious battle with a true master of the sharingan, like Madara Uchiha, but she wasn't at that level.
She attacked the clones again like that, but this time they were prepared to retaliate. Both grabbed her with one hand and had a wood knife grow on the palm of their other hand. They placed the knives on her neck and forced her to keep walking.
Then, a big surprise happened to the white clones. A small arrow pierced the head of one of them and the other one got another arrow on the neck. Both fell down to the ground and stayed there. Chief Barton arrived on the scene.
Another clone came from the ground and held Barton's crossbow while the two that were with Zet ran towards him. When they were close, Barton grabbed the two canes he was holding with his other hand and unsheathed the two medium-sized swords—revealing that they really were not canes for an old man. A few sword slashes were enough to deal with the clones that had no weapons or armors to protect them.
"I won't let you destroy my village and my families any longer!"
Barton grabbed the crossbow and shot an arrow straight at Zet's face.
The arrow was so fast that Zet really didn't have time to do any of his techniques to block it, neither could he grow a shield of trees like Spiral. He only had time to move his head out of the way; and it almost caught him!
Zet got really mad when he realized that the small arrow had given him a small cut on his left cheek. He had not been able to dodge it! (In other words, the old man had awesome crossbow skills.)
Zet touched the ground and made wild branches—like Spiral's—grow close to Maida and Barton. Both were caught and trapped by the branches. He also made another batch of White Zetsu clones to block any villagers that were coming to help Maida and the chief.
Su and Spiral—who was on the masked Uchiha's body—arrived at the scene, but they stayed a little far to fight off any villagers that tried to get closer to the chief or to Maida. Su took over one of the clones. He was already starting to feel very weak from not being attached to any living body since the moment when they started the assault at the village. Su preferred a powerful body like his nephew's—Zet—but he had to allow Zet to examine the sharingans. Neither he nor Spiral had that ability.
Zet's face-cut healed abnormally fast, but his pride didn't heal quickly. He went towards Barton first and stood still when he was in front of him. The chief was firm, despite the imminent danger.
"You monster! You won't get what you want!"
"I will get what I want old man, starting with you. Because of your defiance, I will grant you a slower death."
Zet made a wood knife on his hand and used it to deliver a lethal stab to Barton. It wasn't at a vital point, but close enough to one, so Barton was not going to make it if he didn't get medical attention soon. Then, Zet made the branches go back to the ground and Chief Barton fell down there.
"With that wound, you will live another hour at most, and you will see me get what I came here for."
He left Barton there and headed towards Maida. She attempted to use genjutsu on him, even though she didn't have formal practice on such sharingan techniques.
(Genjutsu can only be used by sharingan users. It refers to the type of techniques that can cloud or change the perception of reality for an attacker. In Jim's world, those with sharingan eyes can learn and use genjutsus; and the Uchihas are the best users of it by far.)
Zet didn't seem worried about genjutsus however.
"You don't know your genjutsus well, but even if you did, they won't work on me. That was one of the useful things that I learned from my past trip out of the Human Realm. I learned how to fight against many advanced techniques that I didn't have. Now, let's see if you have anything new for me Maida Uchiha."
Zet placed the palms of his hands on her eyes, just like his clone had done with Kenn before. Maida struggled as she felt that his palms were merging with her eyes, but she couldn't escape the branches. Then, it happened: Zet's eyes took the same form as Maida's sharingans.
He had random visions of past events. He saw himself as a kid and as a teenager, years before he was cursed at the Realm of the Snakes. He remembered how he was the only one of Hagaromo's children that wasn't recognized as powerful in the Human Realm. His half-brothers, Asura and Indra, and his father, the Sage of the Six Paths, always had all the praise. He saw how he became a powerful sage at the other realms where the human-like animals lived. (The word "sage" at Jim's world is used to denote a master of sage chakra and a user of the most advanced elemental techniques. It is not used as a synonym of "wise.")
Zet also remembered the grand battle where both he and his uncle Su lost everything and ended up as the black entity, Su, and the white green-haired entity, Zet. Someday—after he dominated the Human Realm with his master plan—he would get revenge on the one that had done that to him, and on Su as well, for using him during that time. Finally, he saw something that wasn't from his past; it was a battle where both, he and some unknown shinobi—who's face wasn't clear—were present. The unknown shinobi was dressed as a sage from one of the other realms, but his face was all blurry…
Zet had enough of this! Apparently, this was the power of Maida's sharingans. She could "see" things. He tried to test her sharingans for genjutsu techniques and he tried to force them into a mangekyou transformation, but it was futile. After straining himself very much trying to draw out the power of Maida's sharingans and judging how much they would be able to evolve, he concluded that her sharingans would ever turn into rinnegans. However, he drew his conclusion from the fact that he could not turn them into rinnegans himself AND they didn't feel as powerful as Madara's eyes. The truth was that Zet's ability to assess sharingans didn't work with Maida's eyes. He couldn't tell if they could get powerful or not. He just felt that it was unlikely.
Zet was extremely disappointed. He was expecting something special from the fact that they were always active, but all he got was a series of flashbacks from his life. Even worse, he was almost certain that these would not turn into rinnegans, so they didn't work for his master plan. He and his allies had gone through all the trouble at the village for nothing…
Zet finally detached his hands from Maida's eyes and his eyes came back to normal.
"It is too bad that you are Madara's grand-daughter. You are nothing like him. His sharingans were much more powerful than these eyes that you have. Even at his death bed, he was able to awaken the rinnegan, which is the ultimate sharingan eye that comes after the mangekyou sharingan. I couldn't even turn your eyes into mangekyou sharingans, so it looks like your eyes can't help me to complete my plan."
Zet's disappointment started to turn into anger slowly. And the branches around them began to drain Maida's life force. He stopped them before they could kill her and made them come back to the ground, after he had his left hand on her neck. He lifted her with that hand only. His voice was piercing:
"A grand-daughter that he apparently didn't know anything about won't be one that he will miss. Besides, after he summons the ultimate genjutsu for us, we will also take him out. It must have been a curse for you to be from his bloodline though, just like it was for me to be the bastard son of the Sage of the Six Paths. I will free you from that curse, Maida Uchiha."
Even though she was in critical condition, Zet wanted to deliver the finishing blow himself. (Deep down, he despised both his father and Madara because they, and not him, had been chosen to have the rinnegan eyes.) His right hand approached Maida, while a final wood knife grew on its palm. He was going to use that knife on Maida right when it happened:
Three sharp spires of earth lacerated his two arms when they went through them at high speeds. He had to drop Maida right away. His arms were in a really bad shape in an instant.
The one who did it had to be a pretty skilled earth-style ninja. Even Zet never used more than two spires at a time for that technique and this person used three.
Zet looked at the distance, and so did Su. They saw someone there with a sword, a white shirt, and orange pants.
Jim Namikaze had arrived!
NEXT- Episode 10: Jim Namikaze Vs. Zet and Su Otsutsuki
