Anthem Of My Dying Days
Author's Note
- Thank's everybody for your never-ending supports!!!! I appreciate them very much!!!!
- The name of this episode 8... I take it from the title of Artic Monkey's song, Fake Tales of San Francisco (I love this song very much!!!)
- This episode will be revealling many secrets about dark Naruto... an action-packed episode...
Okay, back to our stories...
Episode 8 - Fake Tales Of Konoha
It was 7.30 o'clock in the morning. Some people had stared their usual life in the morning while others were still sleeping, playing with their sweet dreams. But for Rock Lee, he woke up early, 6.30 o'clock in the morning and took a shower before he dressed up and started jogging to his usual taijutsu training field. He was among the most hardworking jounin in Konoha, in order to achieve his dream to be the strongest ninja of all without using any ninjutsu or genjutsu. He kept on jogging to his taijutsu training field, hoping that there's nobody there to watch him training. As soon as he reached the field, he was quite surprised to see Naruto had already there enhancing his sword skills. Wow, that's the spirit of youth...
"1st Kata... Tsuki!!!"
"2nd Kata... Hidarinagi!!!"
"3rd Kata... Hidarikiriage!!!"
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu... Ku-zuryusen!!!"
Nine slash were delivered to a wooden target in a same time, causing the wooden target to explode and broke into tiny pieces.
"1st Kata... Miginagi!!!"
"2nd Kata... Migikiriage!!"
"3rd Kata... Hidari-Tsuki!!"
"Mizoguchi Haitto-ryu... Gatotsu!!!"
Naruto struck a big tree which is used to be a target for Rock Lee to train his taijutsu, totally demolished it. As the big tree tumbled down onto the ground, Naruto stood there in disbelief, to discover that the technique that he was performing just now was Saitou Hajime's famous technique, Gatotsu.
"Wow, I've finally discover Saitou's Gatotsu technique... great...", Naruto blinked his eyes, not believing that he was finally know what had made Saitou Hajime's Gatotsu technique very powerful and could not be challenged even by Battousai himself.
"Saitou-kun, you're absolutely genius... discovering a killer stance in Mizoguchi Haitto-ryu (the Shinsen Gumi basic technique) and then modifies it into a technique that specialized to kill enemy with a single blow... Great!!!! That's my Saitou Hajime-senpai!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!!", Naruto shouted loudly, with an evil grin on his face.
Naruto's deep thought was interrupted by a loud voice by Rock Lee.
"Naruto, you've just destroyed my big tree!!!! How am I going to train today??!!! Oh, how am I going to develop my spirit of youth today???", Rock Lee showed his sad face, which scared Naruto.
"Oh, sorry...", Naruto sheathed his Nagasone Kotetsu and quickly walked away, without showing any expression on his face.
"Hei, Naruto!!! Not so fast!!! You have to accompany me until Neji and Tenten arrive!!!"
"Fuck you!!!", Naruto spoke while showing his middle finger.
"Fuck you too!!", Rock Lee replied back ,showing his middle finger too.
"Hei, that's my word... how dare you use it against me??", Naruto spoke in anger.
"Is it your word?!... 'Fuck You Too"... wow, what an elegant word!!", Rock Lee spoke, as his face was full of admiration.
"Yes, Rock Lee!!! You've bloomed your spirit of youth!!!", Naruto quickly made his pace quickly to the entrance gate of the training field.
"That's not a joke, Naruto!!!", Rock Lee suddenly appeared in front of him.
Okay, okay... but I'm afraid my hand is not so useful when it comes to taijutsu...", Naruto spoke, as he stopped right in front of Rock Lee.
"Yes, Naruto!!! That's I want to see from you!!! The youthful spirit is blooming... Oh, it's so sensational!!!!"
"Fuck you!!! And your so-called Youthful Spirit!!!", Naruto mumbled, felt extremely bored to hear Rock Lee kept on lecturing him about the youthful spirit.
...XxXxXxXxXxX...
"Okay, time to stretch our muscle!!!".
Rock Lee quickly moved into his taijutsu stances, while Naruto calmly lit his cigarette and exhaled the smokes as he stood steadily.
"Hei, Naruto!!! Are you serious or not??!! We're in the middle of a training and you still can light your cigarette without performing any taijutsu stances at all!!!", Rock Lee shouted loudly in anger.
"This is my stances... as you can see now...", Naruto stood straight, while smoking.
That time, Rock Lee appeared behind Naruto and lifted his feet as he tried to kick Naruto.
Naruto dodged it and delivered Rock Lee two kicks, causing him to moved back to his original position.
"You didn't even use your hands just now... are you mocking me??", Rock Lee tried to attack Naruto with his famous taijutsu stance, Shishi Rendan.
"I'm not specialized in using my hands to knock people down... After all, I only use my hands to kill enemies by wielding my sword, not just to knock them down...", Naruto spoke as he put his cigarette between his lips.
"Taijutsu... Shishi Rendan!!!"
"My own bare-hand fighting style... Ku-zuryusen without sword... how will it gonna be??", Naruto spoke, grinned happily as he had the chance on practically applicating his Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu without using swords at all.
Neji had arrived at the taijutsu training field when he saw something extra-ordinary to him. Naruto was delivering nine attacks at the same time to Rock Lee, the technique was exactly as same as his Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu Ku-zuryusen, only this time he uses his bare-hands.
Rock Lee was thrown away to a big tree, causing the big tree to collapsed to the ground.
"Ha... performing Ku-zuryusen without using swords is far more painful... shit, my hands bleeding...", Naruto looked at his hand, and quickly bandaged his hand.
"Wow, Naruto... your technique... they're very good!!!", Rock Lee voiced as he got up, examined his bleeding hands which covered his body from being struck by Naruto's attack just now.
"Oh, sorry for causing you some bad... injuries... Nah, some bandages and an ointment, treat your hands or else, leave them if you wanna be crippled without your hand...", Naruto spoke as he exhaled some smokes.
"Okay... I... I just don't believe that you had developped great skills since your runaway to Japan 4 years ago... that's sooo youthfullll!!!".
"Ha ha ha, Rock Lee... actually that I will be using the technique just when fighting against anybody from the Hyuuga Family... ", Naruto sat besides Rock Lee.
"Just like the old says, save the best skills for the best moment...", Rock Lee said, while resting.
"Yup, let the dead watch at least some best show before they died...", Naruto spoke, after throwed away the last cigarette.
Both ninja jounin and samurai laughed before Naruto finally walked away out from the training field.
"Ah, Naruto's full of youthful spirit now...", Rock Lee spoke in admiration as he watched Naruto slowly made his pace to Konoha Main Office.
ACT 1 - Battousai Hitokiri vs Kagerou Hitokiri
Naruto calmly walked to the compound of Konoha Main Office while smoking when he saw his master sat at the main stairs of Konoha Main Office. There Naruto saw many of Konoha ninja such as Kurenai, Anko, Kakashi, Gai as well as his former comrades such as Sakura, Sai, Ino, Shikamaru and Kiba standing around the compound.
Kenshin Himura got up and slowly made his pace towards Naruto. Their Ki began to filled up the space as both of them stood steadily towards each other.
"Where as Saitou-kun and Yoshinobu-senpai, sensei??", Naruto began his conversation.
"They're in the Hokage office...", Kenshin replied, and smile.
"I wish to see how far you've developed yourself these years... draw you sword, Kagerou Hitokiri...", Kenshin calmly unsheathed his new sakaba-tou, Tou-aii.
Tou-aii was another reversed-blade sword made by the famous craftman Shakku Arai. The word 'Tou-Aii' itself means 'The Sword Of Love And Compassion', which symbolized Kenshin himself as a swordsman who vowed not to kill again to atone for his fallen Imperialist comrades during Bakumatsu era.
"As you wish.. Hitokiri Battousai... will you let them to watch our fight... or do you want me to get rid of them??", Naruto asked, while unsheathing his Shinuchi, another reversed-blade sword that was made by Shakku Arai and had been used by Kenshin before he gave it to Naruto.
"Let them see the true quality of Bakumatsu No Hitokiri... wield your sword without any fear... uphold the justice, protect the innocents!!!", Kenshin uplifted his voice, pointing his sword towards Naruto.
Most of the ninjas looked among themselves, maybe eager to watch the gonna-be best fight between the master of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu and his apprentice.
"How dare these samurai choose our office compound as their fighting site...", Kiba voiced, unsatisfied.
"Shooo, shut up Kiba!!! Maybe this is useful for us... right, Ino??", Sakura spoke, thinking about her idea to watch both samurai fought and at the same time gathered informations about the sacred technique of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.
"Yup, Sakura...that's true...", Ino replied.
"Kurenai-sensei, what's your opinion about both Battousai and Naruto??", Shikamaru asked, thinking about any possibilities of the Konoha ninjas to win against the most powerful hitokiri in Japan.
"Oh my god, their excessive Ki... they're totally expert in sword-fighting... more than Tenten herself...", Kurenai answered in trembling voice.
"This Konoha will surely destroyed if Kyoto just send these two Hitokiri to conquer us... It's just... their desire to kill are extremely high, like a blood-thirsty demon...", Anko said clearly to them.
"Anyway, let us observe this fight carefully and gather as many information about Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu...", Sai spoke, while his eyes looked straight forward to the upcoming fight.
"Ready... Kagerou??".
"As you wish, Battousai..."
At the speed of the blink of a eye, they dashed towards each other.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu... Battou-jutsu!!!"
K-changggg!!!!!
Both samurai faced each other again and they quickly prepared for another attack.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu... Ryu tsui-sen!!!", Kenshin whispered after he jumped as high as possible to retrieve as many momentum as possible.
Naruto stood steadily and quickly changed the direction of his sword while he whispered the move that he will be using to counter Kenshin's technique.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu... Ryu sho-sen!!!!".
Their swords clashed in the air just before both of them landed on the ground.
"Time for ultimate technique... Naruto-kun!!!", Kenshin prepared himself to launch Ku-zuryusen.
"I know, sensei...", Naruto stood steadily and pointed his sword towards Kenshin.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu... Ku-zuryusen!!!" Both samurai shouted as they delivered the attack to each other.
NINE SLASH AT THE SAME TIME!!!!! The accuracy and the speed needed to launch the technique had totally shocked all of the ninjas who watched the fight with their naked-eyes.
"They aren't human beings, are they? Oh my god, their speed are extremely shocked me!!!" Kiba spoke, in disbelief.
"These are not the end of the fight yet... look, they're preparing for the final technique... The technique that supposed to be the ultimate technique of all stances in Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu..", Kakashi spoke, calmly.
"Let the dragon chooses its way of life, let there be no question asked on why or how do it chooses its way!!!", both Naruto and Kenshin voiced loudly before they dashed towards each other.
"HITEN MITSURUGI-RYU... AMAKAKERU RYU NO HIRAMEKI!!!!"
The sword clashed, the surroundings became quiet and silent while both samurai stood steadily on their ending pose.
"What the hell...!!!! I just... can't think of anything... about it!!! It's just... the way they wield their sword... are full of art!!!", Kiba spoke, trembling in fear.
"Ino, do you watch that?? How do we want to fight against these demons?? Even Sasuke-kun will never win against these bunch of well-trained samurai!!!!", Sakura spoke, without blinking her eyes.
"They're demons... No wonder they can survive the bloody era of Bakumatsu...", Sai spoke calmly, while reading his notes about the History of Japan.
"Naruto... why don't you wave your hand at those ninja?? It's just to let them know that we will not kill them...", Kenshin sheathed his Tou-Aii. He was so glad to see Naruto had developped himself drastically, wielding the sword without any hesitation at all. Kenshin smiled and finally walked away from the compound.
"Okay, Kenshin-sensei... anyway, thanks for your teachings... without your teachings, I'll never make it just like today...", Naruto spoke calmly, while sheathing his Shinuchi.
ACT 2 - Yoshinobu and Tsunade, A Long Conversation
While other ninja who were standing on the rooftop looking to themselves for not disbelieving of what they have seen just now, Tsunade and Yoshinobu watched the fight calmly from the Hokage's office.
"That Naruto's life have completely ruined now, his eyes have told us everything...", Tsunade spoke, while throwing his view at Naruto which slowly lit his cigarette before walked away from the compound.
"Ruined?? You have to be grateful since he chooses to stay here and to serve under you, rather than he chooses either to live in Japan or to continue wandering all over the world without seeing your lame faces at all in the first place...", Yoshinobu spoke in harsh tone.
"Yoshinobu!!! The shiny blade of your sword have totally blinded you, you know?!! He's totally ruined for sure... F' you and your damn ways of the samurai!!!!", Tsunade shouted towards Yoshinobu's face.
But then, Yoshinobu still stood calm and steadily, which irritated Tsunade the most.
"My sensei, Seijyuro Hiko the 14th had once told me a poem about putting our trust on those who had choosed their way of life... Let the dragon chooses its way of life, let no question ask on why or how the dragon chooses the way...", Yoshinobu added before continued smoking.
Tsunade suddenly grabbed the colar of Yoshinobu's long coat before shouted half-histerically towards him.
"Don't act just like nothing happens!!!! You and your demonic Hitokiri comrades have totally ruined his life, now you act just like he's normal as before!!! Do you think he will remained unchanged after you and that damn Himura had taught him the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu technique??!! Your life has ruined for sure and now you wanna ruin an innocent boy's life???!!"
Yoshinobu still remained calm and cool.
"Tsunade, he choosed to be in that way of life, then why should you interfere his decision? Let me tell you something, Naruto is sick of being a weakling all the time thanks to your Konoha's pathetic way of teaching a ninja to be strong and well-skilled jounin... He had begged us many times to train him to be just like us... At first I also didn't agree with Himura's decision to train him, but since Himura said that he has a full trust on Naruto of being a strong samurai which can continue Himura's principle of protecting the innocents and weaks, uphold justice against those who acted wrongly, then so be it...", Yoshinobu arranged his words, stunned Tsunade for a minute.
"But look at Naruto now... he's totally different from himself before...", Tsunade started to cry.
"I know... four of us had the same sad experiences of being isolated and mistreated in wrongful ways...", Yoshinobu spoke after finished his cigarette.
"Naruto... he was once an energetic person I ever knew... He never pulled-back his boastful words, to be the strongest ninja and to claim the title of Hokage... But now, he even says that he is no longer need the title of Hokage... he even lose his own personality... I can't stand of looking straight to his face which often tells me that the new Naruto now is made of the feelings of cruelty, despair and sadness... I... I... I just can't... I just can't stand it anymore...", Tsunade spoke with her tears running wild over her cheek.
Silence conquered the surroundings of Hokage office fo a couple of minutes.
"...the eyes of despair and sadness...", Yoshinobu continued back the conversation.
"The enemies recognized us by looking straight forward into our eyes. By this characteristic, they had nick-named us... Himura as The Eyes of A Hitokiri, Saitou as The Eyes Of A Wolf, they even nick-named me as The Eyes of Insanity... Recently, the enemies had Naruto as The Eyes Of Despair and Sadness due to his eyes which showed the people his despair and sadness which had pushed him to wield the sword against the enemies without any mercy at all...".
"Do you totally blamed on us for isolated and mistreating him??", Tsunade spoke in anger.
"Tsunade, please don't make your own conclusion... I don't blame on anybody about it... It's just the nature wanted him to be just like that... In this case, you must not blame anybody as it will totally ruins everything...", Yoshinobu replied in normal tone, trying to avoid himself drawing his sword towards Tsunade.
Woman never understand the sense of pride and dignity in man's heart. They always act wrongly according to their heart and not to think about other consequences that they will face in the future.
"Yoshinobu, I know you better than anybody else in Konoha... You used to live here before the Meiji Revolution had started in Japan and during the Ninja-Samurai wars, you always saved me from being killed by Miburo Saitou Hajime in every battle that I've joined... You also stopped Saitou from eliminating my entire ninja squad for many times... Please, I beg you for this time... please change Naruto back into his usual personality... I beg you!!!", Tsunade kneeled in front of Yoshinobu while crying loudly.
Yoshinobu turned back and spoke in his killer tone.
"We samurai doesn't interfere in anybody's life, let the nature make its own way... In this case, I'm sorry... I can't help you... I believe that only Naruto has the answer to the questions regarding his new personality...".
"How could you... Yoshi?!!!"
"Tsunade... Our ways of thinking are completely different from the ninjas... We have our own reasons for being who we are now... please understand our condition now, because once a samurai chooses to do something, you'll never change his decisions...", Yoshinobu walked slowly before he opened the door.
"I'm sorry, this time I too useless to fulfill your wish... It's just too ambitious...".
Tsunade cried loudly as she can to release her sadness which she had kept in her heart for so long. She could not forget on the way Naruto used to be, a childish little prankster. But now it's all had gone... just like the dry leaf that had been destroyed into tiny dust after being blown by the wind. She hold her necklace and prayed that God will change Naruto from being a heartless ghost into a teenager he used to be.
ACT 3 - Saitou and Team 7, Of Sword And Knuckles Conversation
Saitou had just finished his bowl of plain soba in Ichiraku Ramen stall when Kakashi and his Team 7 sat beside Saitou, ordering three bowls of ramen.
"Greetings, Saitou Hajime... It has been a long time since our first meet in Osaka 5 years ago...", Kakashi started his conversation with Saitou.
Saitou slowly dragged his cigarette between his lips and lit it.
"Greetings, Kakashi...", Saitou replied in simple words.
Sakura and Sai looked Saitou furiously, trying to discover his complex way of thinking.
"I wonder that your Mizoguchi Haitto-ryu is still that sharp or not, since the Tokugawa Shogunate era has over now... but now I'm totally puzzled on how you will carry you own principle into the new era with the new law prohibited the citizens and police to bring samurai katana in the public...", Kakashi spoke, in calm tone and polite manner.
"Even though the era has changed, but a samurai is still a samurai, a ninja is still a ninja, Shinsen Gumi is still Shinsen Gumi... Isn't it true, Kakashi??"
"I don't think so, Saitou...", Kakashi replied back, watching Saitou exhaling the smokes to the air.
"Kakashi, we have the same principle... Aku, Soku, Zan!!!! Slay the evil instantly!!!! I swear by the title of the Captain of Shinsen Gumi 3rd Division that I will obey this principle anywhere, anytime to atone for my fallen Shinsen Gumi comrades during Bakumatsu era... We, Shinsen Gumi have fought fiercely to defend this principle, and I certainly know the harsh obstacles that we have to face in order to defend it..", Saitou spoke, in usual tone.
"I will not understand your complex way of thinking even though I've fought against you in many battles...", Kakashi smiled, to see that Saitou smirked after finishing his cigarette.
"Then so be it... Kakashi, don't be too naive or you might end up being a new Himura Kenshin...", Saitou slowly stood and payed for his plain soba.
But as soon as he made his pace, he was stopped by Sakura.
"Haruno brat, please stay of my way...", Saitou spoke as he stood steadily while gripped his katana tightly.
"Saitou, I need an explaination on how can Naruto changed drastically into the Hitokiri that we now can't even recognized who he is??", Sakura asked curiously.
As usual, Saitou answered the question with a giggle and finally a big violent laugh.
"Don't ask me... ask him for yourself, moron..."
"Why you...!!!", Sakura tried to land Saitou a strong punch but stopped when she saw a front sharp-pointed blade of a katana in front of her face.
"I'm not gonna think twice before I kill you, even though it is violating the Shinsen Gumi Code, which stated that I must avoid fighting for my own sake...", Saitou spoke calmly.
"Hoo hoo, stop it... Saitou!!! Will you violate your Shinsen Gumi Code by just killing an innocent girl??" Kakashi appeared in front of Saitou, holding his kunai.
"Ha ha ha... just consider that's a joke...", Saitou sheathed back his sword.
Saitou, now I see... your sword skill is still that fast and sharp... I guess I have underestimated you... You can't be taken lightly, even though your era as the ferocious captain of Shinsen Gumi 3rd Division has ended 3 years ago...".
Saitou kept in silent, smirked violently which scared Sakura the most.
"Haruno brat, about your question just now... I can't answer it since Naruto has choosed his own way of life... You have to ask him all by yourself, but before that don't forget to wish Naruto to spare your life and not to behead you or maybe even worse, slicing you into two halves... since he doesn't like anybody to ask him the stories about himself, even we just don't give a damn about his past..", Saitou spoke in a mocking tone, which made Sakura more angry of him.
"Saitou-san, in the next two weeks Konoha will be organizing an International Taijutsu Tournament... please ask Naruto-san whether he want to participate the tornament or not, because that is the time for him to show the villagers that he is not a weak person anymore...", Sai spoke in a polite manner.
"I will let Naruto know about it... Sai, what makes you put your whole trust on Naruto??", Saitou asked Sai.
The surrounding became silent for a moment before Sai answered the question.
"I have the same past as Naruto have... That's why I know the reasons on why he ran away to Japan...", Sai smiled after talking a bit about himself.
"It seems that both you and I have the same experiences... and that experiences had pushed us to be stronger and stronger from time to time...", Saitou bowed towards Kakashi and Team 7 before he continued walking with his samurai katana on his side.
Kakshi smiled as he watched Saitou walked away.
"He's the only immortal hero of the Tokugawa Shogunate government who lives until today, thanks to his strong will to survive the bloody era of Bakumatsu...", Kakashi spoke to his Team 7.
"Saitou Hajime, the last wolf of the Shinsen Gumi... The last true samurai who walks with pride and dignity as the most honourable Shinsen Gumi captain across the streets...", Sai added while reading his notes about the history of the Shinsen Gumi.
"The last wolf?? Where have all of his comrades have gone??", Sakura asked Kakashi.
"All of Saitou's comrades died during battles between Shinsen Gumi and the Imperialist in Bakumatsu era... The Shinsen Gumi itself had been disbanded at the end of the Bakumatsu era...", Sai interrupted the conversation.
"Oh, that's so sad... That's why he looks soooo sad even though he often tries to hide his sadness...", Sakura spoke in a sad tone.
"Fate had changed us in many ways. It's our decision to choose our own way of life and to follow it according to our will...", Kakashi spoke in calm and cool tone.
"Oh... well then, let's go back to Konoha main office..", Sakura spoke as she ran towards Konoha main office with Kakashi and Sai, only to see Naruto and Kenshin sitting under a big tree, having a conversation.
"Naruto..."
- end of Episode 8 -
Author's Note
- Sasuke Shipuuden version and his comrades Juugo, Karin and Sigetsu will appear in episode 9... he he he... surprised??!!
- Stay tune for Episode 9 - Katana, Sake and Cigarette
- Hint for episode 9 - The appearance of Naruto's nemesis, Gentatsu Takatsuki of Aizu Clan to settle the score with Naruto, The appearance of Sasuke and his Sound Village ninja to participate the International Taijutsu Tournament, the fight between Kenshin Himura Battousai and Hyuuga Hiashi at the compound of Hyuuga Mansion.
- Sorry for the late update, I just don't have much time to finish this episode since I have a lot of assignment to do...
- I'm thinking of inserting some sex and romance parts between Sasuke and Sakura, maybe in episode 11 or 12... Guys, I need your opinions on this!!!