[Hitomi: :O "NO WAY!"]
[Shiori: :D "YES WAY!"]
[Raiden: TT_TT "You get all the attention..."]
[Hitomi: "IT'S ANOTHER HITOMI CHAPTER HECK YESH!"]
Enjoy this, you're bound to love the ending!
Recap: We last left off with everyone facing off against Hidden Sound ninja. Hitomi vs. Karin, Shiori and Raiden vs. Dosu, Isao vs. Zaku, Akane vs. Kin, and Melpomene Black vs. GEOMETR— wait... Ignore that last bit...
Chapter Nine
"No use trying to run!" Zaku called out after Isao.
Of course, Isao was used to running away; it was something he'd been doing his whole life. But Zaku had a point; running wasn't going to help him now. Ordinarily he would've kept at it and hoped that the Sound nin was one to easily tire out. But he had to get back to his sister and didn't have time to mess around with some moronically overconfident genin. Time to wrap things up.
Isao halted to in his tracks and spun around to face the other shinobi.
"Don't even bother trying to fight me," here, Zaku took an attack stance and held his arms out. "I have air currents traveling through my arms as we speak, and I can focus and strike with them at will!"
Isao just smirked. "What arms?"
Zaku was about to yell a comeback, when he realized that the sentence made no sense as an insult. In fact, the sentence just plain made no sense at all. All the same, he looked down at his arms anyway. To his dismay, his arms were suddenly throbbing with pain, and, as if they'd been snatched by an invisible hand, they suddenly snapped in opposite directions, and Zaku howled in pain as the joints shattered. But…how was this possible? What sort of jutsu would allow someone to turn invisible and break his arms? What was going on here?
"Pathetic…you talk a good fight but you can't even dispel a basic genjutsu," Isao muttered as he started back the way he came, leaving Zaku to wordlessly fall to the floor as his knees buckled, lying there writhing in unreal agony.
Akane and Kin were both taijutsu specialists due to their lack of ninjutsu and genjutsu expertise. Even though Akane wasn't the greatest of kunoichi, even she was disappointed in how boring the fight was when an easily defeat Sound nin lay unconscious at her feet.
Akane dusted some debris from her legs and straightened her bow. Just as she was about to return to her position to be there when Karin arrived, a shadow appeared behind her, flickering through the branches, and then Isao landed lightly on his feet before her.
"Was he any trouble?" Akane asked.
"Nope, you?"
"Boring," she said sourly. Then, her eyes widened. "Oh Kami-sama! If we had trouble…what if Raiden-kun did as well? We have to get back into position now," and she was off before Isao could say another word.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Raiden yelled.
"It means that I'm getting more and more inclined to kill you every second, even though it's technically not necessary that I do so," Dosu muttered, getting even more annoyed by the green-haired shinobi.
Meanwhile, Shiori sat down on the tree branch she stood on and closed her eyes, assuming the half lotus pose. Her extra perceptive senses indicated that Dosu wasn't going to be hostile at the moment, so she had some time to think.
"Hey! This isn't the time to meditate!" Raiden snapped. "We have to figure out a way to fight those stupid sound waves!"
"How can you fight something that you can't even see," Dosu scoffed.
That's it! Something we can't see…something that's invisible…my Invisible Barrier jutsu! It'll not only block the sound waves, but it'll send them bouncing right back at him! Perfect! Shiori smiled to herself, but remained seated with her eyes closed, building up more chakra.
"You're no help!" Raiden turned back to face Dosu. "Lightning style: Raikou Shi-ku Jutsu!" he shouted as he worked his way through the hand signs. Greenish lightning illuminated the sky as it shot through the air, aimed straight for Dosu.
Dosu just shook his head. "When will you learn?"
That machine on his arm fired up again, and just as Shiori felt the vibrations about to redirect the attack as sound waves, she whispered, "Invisible Barrier Jutsu."
A moment later, just as predicted, vibrations thundered towards them, but the invisible barrier Shiori's chakra had erected held firm, and redirected the vibrations towards Dosu, which gained momentum and power upon bouncing off the "wall." The sound waves hit Dosu with such sudden, unexpected force and magnitude, that the mechanism that had caused the attack cracked and shattered into pieces. Dosu's eardrums sustained near critical injury, and he was crumbling to his knees clawing at his aching head moments later.
"How…how did you…" Raiden murmured, realizing that his teammate must've planned this out somehow.
"There isn't any time to explain; we have to get back to Hitomi and Karin before it's too late," Shiori reminded him.
Present, Back with Hitomi…
My anger became an all consuming fire as I exhaled through the ring of my right thumb and index finger. Not smoke or embers but real, searing flames were what I blew out. Karin's wide-eyed stare was soon obscured by the sphere of swirling, leaping flames that engulfed the place where she'd stood a moment before. One instant, all of my unbridled rage was pouring out of me in an energy rush, adrenaline flowing through me. I AM an Uchiha, I thought, I may not have the Sharingan, but I AM Uchiha! I bet this was way better than how Sasuke-teme's first Fireball Jutsu turned out anyway! Then, I felt strangely fatigued, and all the fire was gone, just smoke curling through the early night's breeze. All the power and anger had been released at once, and now, I felt…empty, almost… My knees buckled, and I savored that time to get all my breath back; that jutsu had certainly taken a lot out of me.
Looking up, I saw that a circle of dead grass stood before me, some of the singed plants still plagued by flickering wisps of flame. It was the place where Karin had stood a moment ago, I soon realized. Then, a hard knot formed and convulsed, twisting in my stomach. Had I…killed her…?
With the rest of Team 11…
Shiori and Raiden emerged from the trees just as Hitomi's first effective Fireball Jutsu was dying out.
"Hitomi!" They both called out, but as they were running over to her someone tackled Raiden from behind in a hug, sending him hurtling to the ground in the attacker's grasp. "Raiden-kun, you're alright!" Akane exclaimed cheerfully; she was apparently oblivious to the fact that she'd practically just assaulted him.
Isao ran over as well just as Raiden was getting to his feet, Akane hopping up shortly afterwards.
Shiori smiled and called out to her teammate, "Well, now you're an official Uchiha! Even if you don't have the Sharingan! How do you feel?"
"Sleepy…like I need to just collapse and take a nap…" the Uchiha-Yamanaka groaned.
Just then, seemingly out of nowhere, Karin was there, and her fist closed on the scroll in Hitomi's backpack, yanking it free and pushing the Sharingan-less Uchiha to the dirt. In one swift, graceful motion, she tumbled backwards and shot up high in to the sky, landing without falter on one of the numerous tree branches encircling us overhead, her Sound nin partners appearing beside her. She held up her prize smugly for Team 11 with a smirk, gloating in her moment of swelling pride. "I must say, hearing that you don't have the Sharingan is a great disappointment, Hitomi. How dare you lie to me! But all the same, we have the scroll, so our mission is accomplished in the end! And don't you see, you baka Konoha nin? You worthless genin are no match for Orochimaru-sama. And someday, you're all going to pay. He'll grind your pathetic village into the dust and I'll look forward to jailing you for experiments like the little lab rats you are." Here, she glared at me. "And even that precious weasel of yours will fall prey to the great Snake Lord. See you at the Chunin Exams." It was only the spellbound shock that kept Team 11 and their allies from leaping through the trees and pummeling her to the ground. Rooted to the spot by the thought of all their information gone, at how they'd practically walked into Orochimaru's hands, they were helpless to do anything as the teme redhead disappeared into the foliage with the Sound nin in close pursuit.
When they were out of sight and Hitomi's ragged breathing had evened out, she reflected on Karin's so-called grand victory speech, and thought to herself, Well, that was probably the most overrated and cliché villainous speech of tyranny in existence. Not that she'd really heard enough villainous speeches of tyranny to really judge, but still. Besides, she'd implied Itachi-sama to be weaker than her leader in that speech. And no one insulted Itachi-sama and got away with it.
"I can't believe…they got away with it," Raiden muttered, which pretty much contradicted Hitomi's whole train of thought at the moment.
The Uchiha-Yamanaka lowered her eyes and whispered, "Well…there goes my chance at finding Itachi-sama…"
Raiden sighed. "Sorry, Hitomi. I realize…it was a real big of you and all not to go all traitor and run off and hunt him down…so…I'm sorry you lost your chance…"
Akane and Isao gave sympathetic looks.
Shiori gave the Uchiha-Yamanaka a small squeeze, and sighed. "There'll always be another chance. You know what they say; when there's a will, there's a way. But… as for the scroll…it's gone," Then she dug a kunai deep into a tree trunk with a single hand in frustration. "We lost the Hokage scroll…"
"We lost the scroll…" Hitomi whimpered miserably in agreement, sighing melodramatically in her lament. "And all we have as consolation is the Hokage scroll."
Shiori didn't catch on. "Yes… and all we have as consolation is the Hokage—wait…what did you just say?"
Reaching into her knapsack the Yamanaka produced a plain white scroll tied with a scarlet ribbon to hold up in front of her teammates, though she didn't look at all victorious. In fact, she seemed rather gloomy and downcast at the moment.
Raiden stumbled forward and took hold of the scroll; his hand trembling in anticipation as the others gathered and intently watched him thrash the red ribbon untied and thrust it aside. Unraveling the scroll, he reread its familiar contents, "To my dearest friend of Kusagakure, I give you, as a sign of faith and as a gesture of diplomatic peace, the listings of all jutsus used, in the process of creation, and those still being experimented within Konoha, also called Village Hidden in the Leaves…" they all exhaled in relief at being reassured of the scroll's legitimacy.
"But wait…" Akane's brow furrowed with incomprehension. "Then…what was that scroll that Karin took?"
The others were just as baffled at the thought until, a moment later, Shiori's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh, Hitomi…you didn't," she couldn't keep the widening grin off her face.
Hitomi sighed miserably once again. "Now I'll never own one…"
Deep in the heart of one of the numerous, almost impossible to navigate labyrinth of a thicket within Kusagakure, an almost sinister air to its surroundings, a certain excitable and highly annoying redhead kunoichi bounded into the hidden doorway veiled within a curtain of vines to the side of a tree trunk thicker than an average sized home. At sensing her chakra signature, part of the bark—which was actually a genjutsu of sorts—slid away and granted her entrance to the spiral staircase that led down the hollowed out trunk, deep below the earth's surface. Karin navigated her way effortlessly, guided by the familiar beacon of power and everlasting life that was the chakra signature of her Orochimaru-sama. It wasn't a long descend until the staircase started to branch off in different directions, and Karin made her way through the various forks until she reached a grand doorway with ornately carved snakes intertwined over the entranceway. Taking in a deep breath, her chest swelled with pride at the thought of the highly successful mission report she'd be able to relay to her sensei. Of course, that last botched mission with the inconveniences of several runaway Curse Mark prisoners and all those escaped Inuzuka pups had made for a pretty messed up situation, but this time, this time, everything had gone perfectly without a single hitch. Confidence surging through her, she thrust the doors open as wide as she could, and, beaming, held out the scroll to Orochimaru, who stood waiting expectantly at the doorway.
"Ah, at last, more jutsu to add to my collection…it's been a while since I've studied what my dear friends in Konoha were up to…now, let's see…"
Karin couldn't help the grin that showed through her businesslike demeanor. "Well, Orochimaru-sama, isn't it everything you'd hoped for?" Karin cooed, hungering for praise like a puppy begging to be noticed by its master.
"…"
"Isn't it, Orochimaru-sama?" When she received no reply, she craned her neck in a vain attempt to glimpse whatever it was that Orochimaru was reading on the scroll.
His eyes twitched, as did his long fingers, he looked even paler than usual, and it seemed as though he were about to have a seizure of sorts.
"…Orochimaru-sama?" Karin repeated uncertainly, seeping concern into her words without her meaning to.
"Karin…this is a certificate of ownership…for a WEASEL!" he lobbed the scroll into the air, and it ended up crashing down on her as a headshot. "And you KNOW how I feel about those damn WEASELS!"
"All around the mulberry bush Orochi chased the weasel," Dosu sang—who was disoriented and suffering from some mental damage as well as trauma by this point. "Orochi thought 'twas all in fun—POP goes the weasel!" he finished merrily.
That's when Orochimaru appeared at his side and roared into his now frail eardrums, "WELL THE WEASEL SHOULD GO POP NOW SHOULDN'T IT?"
Miles and miles away, his frigid fingertips warmed by the mug he was handed, Itachi Uchiha sipped his tea, the cold enveloping him as he set the cup down again. Not long after he did so, he was seized by two sudden sneezes and a small coughing fit. The waitress cleaning up the stand smiled sympathetically and said, "They say that if you sneeze, it means someone's either thinking, or talking about you!"
"Undoubtedly," Itachi replied dryly in that monotone voice of his.
Perhaps if Dosu hadn't insisted on adding verses to Pop Goes the Weasel,the missing S-Rank nin wouldn't have caught a cold that day.
AWWW…Itachi-sama's caught a cold…I think I might be starting to get one myself… :( Dosu, it's all your fault! xD
[Sasuke: HEY! You stole my plot!]
[Hitomi: Did not!]
[Sasuke: Did too!]
[Hitomi: It's my plot!]
[Sasuke: No, it's not, it's MINE! ]
[Orochimaru: Already, I feel like ripping out someone's Sharingan. Which one of you is a part of that plot?]
[Hitomi: (immediately points at Sasuke)]
[Sasuke: -_-" Wow, Hitomi, thanks a lot…]
*Authoresses(?) Comments*
I know, I'm sorry…I, er, "borrowed" a lot of characters and situations, but I just wanted to get Raiden using an attack and that second-to-last scene in there somehow, so this is how it came about…
Hitomi looked up to Itachi when she was little, and he was nice to her when she came to visit the Uchiha compound with her mother, that's all the extent of her "relationship" with him. It's not that she's "in love" or a raging fangirl, just that she looks up to him and wants to show him she can be strong too. And no, she doesn't plan on pulling a "Sasuke-style defecting from Konoha" or an "I want to kill Itachi for revenge" sort of thing; it's not really her style.
Akane is entirely Mel's idea and so is her appearance and everything. Her personality is actually based on a very close friend of ours. So I can't really take credit for that. However, I enjoyed introducing her in this chapter, because it allowed me to mess with our oc's ^_^
If you like Karin, I apologize. If you like Orochimaru, the Sound nin, ect, I apologize. But I just couldn't miss a chance to mess with them when I remembered that Karin was from this village.
Not really sure if Isao and Akane are here just for this one "arc" or if they'll be visiting from time to time. I think we may go with the latter though, just for Ray-chan's sake xD but I'm not sure… What do you guys think? Should they stay? Should Sunshine and Akane be a couple? xD
[Raiden: O_O]
[Akane: :3]
[Hitomi: "HELL NO!"]
[Shiori: ^_^"]
Er…sorry…this was unnecessarily rather long…just like this chapter ^_^" If you liked it, review. If you liked our new characters, review. If you hate it, review. If you want Akane and Isao to take a hike, revie—[No, Hitomi, you can't]—and if you have any criticism at all, please help me! I'm still kinda new to this! ^_^"
Thanks for reading! :)
-Lucky
Hey guys... we're uploading a LOT on deviantart... wanna see what our characters look like? Even Akane and Isao! C'MON, VIEWS! WE NEED VIEWS!
Also, our twitter is steadily being updated with coolio facts, yo! We're also putting reminders for different characters' birthdays in Naruto.
-Melpomene Black
