AUTHORS NOTE: This stories has been canceled and I left a long note below to explain why... Please read it.
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APRIL FOOLS!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Just kidding you guys and gals. BUT THIS IS AN ACTUAL CHAPTER!
Hmmmm...Only 17 reviews last chapter, are you guys holding out on me because this story doesn't write itself ya know? But still at least I'm getting somewhere and this story would be nothing without you.
DISCLAIMER/ I don't own Halo or Naruto
"I've learned that people will forget what you've said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Mayo Angelou
Chapter 10: Time goes by for some
[Sometime later]
(DATE/June?)
John who sat at the main navigation port control room glared at the blue holographic map of "earth" above him and resisted the urge to smash the screen that had been giving him the same answer for a multitude of minutes. Growling again he rapidly typed on the keyboard with a small bead of sweat running down from his now longer brown hair that went just above his forehead toward his eyebrow that was scrunched up.
It had been 3 months and 27 days since the day he returned Nawaki home in Konoha and began to study this planet's terrain more and more through the use of many mini portable Spy drones that he had discovered in the lower portions of the Infinities engendering room.
When searching for a welding power tool to repair his helmet's side view he had found 4 of them locked up and wired shut. But after some "physical" measures he was able to find more than 40 of them. They were about the size of a football in the shape of a plane with two side wings with a small camera on the very bottom and only the lens being visible beside the small portable rocket engine on the very back.
Activating them was pretty easy since it was on the right lens with "Health Warnings" of not being directly in front of the camera when it snapped, otherwise you would be at risk for radiation poisoning.
Priming them though for launch was the difficult part since he didn't know how to properly construct them and reroute their internal drives. After more than 4 agonizing days or rummaging through thousands of booklets and data pads memories cards for the data, he stumbled across it finally and successfully primed it..
Properly guiding them over this world was pretty hard since once they took flight, they could take more than a thousand images in 100 degrees and convert them into a video in less than 10 seconds. Programming the self-guiding system was almost like a jigsaw puzzle of imputing numerous codes and orders.
Next was finding a launch site that would be suitable for the spy drone, which was simple since the Infinity had numerous openings to massive gap down the center of the hundreds of openings across it when the plates were ripped when entering the atmosphere. Speaking of entering the atmosphere John was able to fully witness the video replay of entering this world many months prior.
Almost like the heavens falling it was quite a sight to behold of watching the tons of metal hit the ocean like a cannonball nonstop. Chief went to the very tip of the Infinities bow that was pointed toward the Hidden mist village.
He launched 5 of them at the time since he didn't want them to become lost or possibly stolen, but he felt satisfied when they took off over the ocean into different parts unknown.
Currently the exceptionally tired John sat bare of his armor wearing a tight white UNSC shirt and a pair of black sweats that hung on his frame tightly to the point they looked as if the would rip at the seams. Let's just say washing clothes wasn't his strongest suit after he learned how to disassemble assault rifles, tanks, Mjolnir schematics, mines, and was starting to begin operating plasma weaponry toward his arsenal. Not work washing machines. Although the 2nd attempt to repair it was successful... In a way.
He nearly ripped his hair out of his scalp in frustration but instead slammed a scarred fist on the plastic built-in keyboard, smashing it in half, making hundreds of keys fly like stray bullets everywhere. He sat there for a few minutes before groaning softly at the mess he had just mad. The reason for his minor distress or major in his case was the disappearance of the flying camera.
For the past few weeks while being isolated on the Infinity the spy cams had covered more than 1 million miles across land, air, and sea running on nothing but solar energy which had become a better fuel source and had documented more than trillion of shots over numerous small chains of islands around the Kanashi Ocean, villages across the borders which all had different customs, secluded temples, and hundreds if not thousands of people in those areas on the motion tracking scanners.
Consequently though one had disappeared somewhere over the west. John didn't know how or when exactly, but one of the cameras had been knocked out in mid-flight losing all type of transmission readings and it became strange to John in a way when he tried rebooting it. He didn't know why, but losing one of those cameras was important even though he had a plethora of them at his disposal. Losing one was essential to his survival and he needed to get it back immediately.
John had also had his fair share of the war after seeing the amount of devastation it had committed to the world by numerous lands. One of his camera's had located one village called "TSUKIGAKURE" after comparing it to the map in the THE ELEMENTAL NATIONS/ GEOGRAPHICAL FACTS AND HISTORY, and watched as the village be ransacked by multiple men wearing Amegakure headbands while killing any oppressing moon shinobi while taking civilians prisoner. Chief had scanned the book cover to cover, taking mental photo's of each of the villages insignia's and identifying who he was watching who kill who.
That wasn't the only one though since Chief had watched multiple villages go down in flames or be decimated beyond repair, hundreds of shinobi (mostly civilians though) were being slaughtered by any means necessary and captured to be turned into prisoners of war, but in the length it was covering though, Chief truly saw that it was indeed a world war.
He didn't know why though, but after seeing the amounts of conflicted bloodshed he detected a small obligation of joining as it went through his mind every now and then from time to time.
However something that he didn't know how to perceive but could described it as the halting logic idea stopped his desire to join the war every single time, instantly eliminating the thought of partaking into it. Even though he had no business in it he felt a rope trying to pull him in and it was beginning to work slowly at seeing the numerous swords clash, the excessive explosions caused by explosive tags that rocked the villages foundations, the blood being spilled upon the ground, the screams of horror and yells of anguish from the ninja, and the compulsive combat in close quarters...
This is were he felt like he belonged, for one short period of time he felt he was needed there, out there in the battlefield while trying to find a way off this planet. Every now and then between hours of exploring the downed super warship John would go up to the top deck and stare across the moving glass ocean with the feeling of the sun's rays on his face and the smell of salt in his nostrils, contempting him of it's stable yet alluring beauty.
The Master Chief never paid much attention to area's surroundings unless it was part of the missions objective first hand, but something about this planet besides everything appearing as an animated illustration caught his eye's attention every now and then, this was when he realized this was the reality he was in. And it was possibly hopeless to ever return home, but the burning sensation in the back of his mind of pure indignation kept that false hope alive like the flames of the sun.
Chief stood up fully cracking his back, triggering multiple bones to release some tension. But not much at the numerous level of anxiety he was experiencing, which he didn't know why, but he felt very tired too with not getting enough sleep for the past few days. He didn't want to sleep though and he didn't need it.
It could also be mentioned his eyes were bloodshot and his skin tone was noticeably lighter as well since all he wanted was to get home.
He wanted home.
He wanted Didact.
He wanted revenge.
But finding a way off... Or out of this damned universe would be a miracle.
Chief looked over the cold room filled with hundreds of data screens rolling numerous statistical material information before he proceeded over to the double doors and letting them slide open for him to exit. After entering the outside and walking in the hallway he felt something cold garb into his shoulder in a grip so tight that his shoulder felt like it would begin to bleed.
Then he felt something even colder brush against his skin like ice before an ear splitting shriek rang in his head like a thousand bombs exploding simultaneously. Every fiber within him jumped like fireworks as his arm's sprung up and tried to grab onto anything for a weapon when he felt something smash into his back and it stung his scars. Chief ignored the pain and grabbed into a table with books on it before flinging it whims him with one hand and seeing something that made his brain stop.
Standing only 8 feet away in the cold hallway was a woman who appeared naked and was crimson, almost glowing in a sort of way with numerous numbers and data frequencies running up and down her body like snakes. Her face was something that made John want to yell in freight but his mouth stayed shut as tight as an air lock. When the woman looked into his direction-
It was Cortana.
But yet... It wasn't at all. When his eyes scanned the wraith like being before him his mind kept arguing with itself trying to process the eidolon thing...
It was... And it wasn't Cortana.
It wasn't Cortana.
Chief didn't know which!
She looked mad with a grin that made Chief clutch his fist tightly at the sight of her, something painful occurred in the back of his throat when he looked at her eyes that were pure white, shining like two far away stars in the sky. Her fingers were now pointed at an end like knives's tipped edged. Her hair that used to be combed softly with her bangs cropping her face now looked wild and unkempt like a feral animal. John couldn't say anything at what he was seeing but wanted to know what she was doing-
He had to jump back in surprise defense when the red Cortana that looked absolutely fiendish with nothing but pain opened her mouth with her jaw splitting at the sides and roared at him with a sound mixed with her angelic voice and the sound of misery's hellish gates flourishing the cramped hallway. Making the skin on John's arm have goosebumps at how cold it suddenly became..
John had time to react when she ran at him with wobbly legs like a drunken sailor but he couldn't do much but stare at her and wonder in bewilderment at what on earth had brought her before him in such a state. When she sprung forward her elongated yet pointed fingers slashed at him, but he raised his bare forearms up in defense but regretted it when he felt everything on his arms burn like hell. As if he had just dipped them in boiling water while dipping them in salt to ease the pain but made it worse. He seethed his teeth in slight discomfort at the burning sensation that seemed to scald his arms and he jabbed his hand in a tight fist forward, catching the crimson Cortana in the collar bone but he all he under his knuckles when his fist touched her was the non existent texture of air as if he had struck nothing.
He had to roll back when she attempted to pounce on him like a panther, but due to the close proximity she was and how confined the hallway was he didn't have much room he accidentally and quite sloppily smashed into the wall below a window. When he tried to stand up he felt something snake around his neck and begin to squeeze making his breath get caught and his eyes nearly pop out of his head. John stood up and tried to shake the crimson Cortana off but she only dug her nails that felt like scorching iron rods deeper into his back.
John yelled when he threw himself backwards and smashed the crimson cortana into the ground making her shriek in his ear and nearly puncture his ear drum. His arms went wild when his hands clutched at the neck of his old friend now attack and yanked her forward before slamming her in a wall.
John reared a fist back and punched forward before grunting in pain. Suddenly everything seemed to click in his brain and the invisible weigh on his shoulders vanished. He looked over to where he just stuck and saw that he heavily cracked one of the reinforced windows with his knuckles that were now beginning to bleed. The medium sized pain kicked in and he retracted his fist, seeing some small shards stuck in quite deep. His eyes blinked rapidly and soon his world came crashing down when he felt his stomach churn forward and felt something run up his throat from his stomach suddenly and his rain shut off for a moment.
Throwing his head to the side and bending over warm bile escaped his mouth and spilled onto the floor with a splat and he began coughing his lungs out while trying to asses himself that it wasn't real over and over again. Trying desperately to get the sounds of Cortana's screams out of his head and trying to forget the image of her grin that stung him.
After more than 2 minute the Petty officer wiped his mouth and looked at his forearms and saw they were bleeding as well with the blood in the early stages of clotting. Feeling as if the world was going to quickly around him he began to walk fast down the hall and to the armory with his face resembling a furious rhino about to maul someone...
XXXXXXX
(121 minutes later)
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After several detailed hours of wandering the Infinities armory, looking for anything useful John had located numerous data pads with very light characteristics of his MJOLNIR mark VI. Although most of data pads diagrams and graphs appeared as gibberish to him with his above average mathematical intelligence and weapon development skills.
While he was given a general education conspiring of general math, basic English, human history, human anatomy, along with many smaller subjects, but he would never truly master the highly advanced construction of such items, and that being the overall development of the mjolnir armor.
Although he was able to add attachments that took hours upon hours.
John who now wore his armor looked down at his orange visor with the creases in the reinforced glass that shimmered over the corners under the lights above him. Brushing a gloved hand over his orange glistening visor he turned the helmet around and placed it over his head and bolting it into place with his HUD activating. When he moved his arms to get the feeling of his suit, he could suddenly feel the numbing pain deep in his forearms surge like lightning to an electric rod but ignored it.
Shifting the major weight adjustment to his back he paced in a circle, getting a feeling of the area and to ease his nerves. He had altered the ammunition port on his back of the armor's holding reserve system by improving the length. For example, he used to only hold 256 rounds with the MA5D assault rifle, but now he improved it all the way up to 1600 rounds. The only major downside though was now that he carried 1,344 more rounds for an assault rifle his back was 128 pounds heavier from the behind and this was bad since it could very well slow him down if he wasn't careful when advancing in other directions or being on the offense.
Next, he had also implemented the use of a new armor capability which the helmets mainframe can support a larger motion sensor with heat signatures. Originally, the motion tracker was only able to reach up to 80 meters in radius, now it could go up to 120 meters.
Thirdly, Chief added another component that would improve the speed of how quickly he could take a weapon off the clip. Before there was the magnetic strips that held onto his weapons by being placed at very specific places on his body from his back and thighs. After discovering a secret compartment in the Armories back room codenamed "QUICK GRIP" across the box.
Chief learned that it was magnetic strips that could be applied to the palms of his gloves. Once it was installed it would have the weapon fly right into his hand at will when held directly over it. This would cancel out the magnetic on his body and activate the one on his hand, making the weapon stay put in his hand, and once he was finished with his weapon all he would have to do is put it right back and the magnet would deactivate.
When he grabbed for the MA5D assault rifle from the workbench that had been cleaned thoroughly, he turned the safety on and clipped it on his back before looking over the selections of weapons at his disposal currently.
On the very end of the table was a Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920 leaning against the wall, next to that was the Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (M6 G/GNR) or better known as a SPARTAN LASER that needed a new cooling system to be inserted which would take a couple of minutes, next was a pair of M739 Light Machine Guns that shined under the lights rays after being cleaned.
Beside that was a M363 Remote Projectile Detonator (M363 RPD) also called the "STICKY DETONATOR" that had been amped up to hold a larger kill radius from 3.75 meters to a whole 5.85 meters. The splash damage up to 8.05 meters by enhancing the explosives and the outer splash damage 8.75 meters to 10 meters.
Chief bent down to pull a lockbox out from underneath the table and placed it on top before flipping the lid, showing multiple 120mm magnetic explosive device ammunition before taking one by one out and strapping them across his waist from front to back. All in all he was currently carrying 16 120mm magnetic explosives while making sure the were strapped on tightly by giving each one a good jerk.
Feeling like the Infinity was becoming too cramped for the time being he decided over the last incident to try and locate that missing spy drone that had vanished over the western part of Earth. When looking into the book containing all the information and cross analyzing the land the place was simply known as Kaze No Kuni but translated into The land of Wind.
Chief didn't forget the abnormal name for a country since each country or better yet each village, town, temple,district, shopping stand or better yet city had it's own unique name with a near endless list.
He grabbed the M363 Remote Projectile Detonator (M363 RPD) and placed it on his thigh as he walked over to the launching bay he stepped down the flight of spiral stairs and walked briskly past a damaged AV-14 Hornet and toward a AC-220 Vulture that had been unused but had to have the left engine port of it's wing disassembled than repaired after being damaged. It had been one of the least damaged aircrafts in the hangar bay and one of the most fully operation one currently at the moment. After flipping the head window up and climbing inside the one-man cockpit he shuffled lightly in the small seat. At that moment he made it note that he would have to enhance the size capacity of the cockpit for the heavy assault unit.
Once his hand closed the front window he activated the engines, mapping system, cooling system, then finally unlocking the armaments ranging from the dual GUA-23/AW/Linkless Feed autocannons, the Argent V missile, and the A-74 Sylver Vertical Missiles since he felt he was entering a war zone and would need it for his long journey to locate the spy drone. After looking toward his hands the numbing sensation in his arms rung a bit when he moved but he pushed it far from his mind but couldn't drop the image of Cortana's remorseless expression that he witnessed earlier...
When the Vultures frame began to pull up from the floor when the ducted fans in the rear engines spun like a blur, it then slowly began to move forward through the tight hangar bay. Chief firmly guided the oversized gunship as it finally exited outside the chamber. The weather that day was cool, around the mid 70's with high winds pointed in the direction he was headed for.
Ever so slowly he rose above the Infinity and gazed at the endless ocean and couldn't help but feel amazed at the length of this earth since over the cameras calculations this planet was 16.2 times bigger than the original planet earth. That was truly mind-boggling in his opinion since when the very first time he visited earth it was like any ordinary massive planet in the solar system, but thinking of an earth that was 16.2 time's bigger was like seeing the earth almost the size of jupiter. Only problem was is that Jupiter was 11.2 times bigger!
Chief looked on the stretched mapping system on the upper left corner that signaled and hummed each time the transmitting beacon did a surround frequency. John pressed a button on the top left corner that made a waypoint toward his destination and signaled all following drones to return. On the mapping systems it revealed that Spy drone No. 1 was currently over Snow country due to the coordinates, Spy drone No.2 was presiding over The land of Tea, and Spy drone No. 3 was returning to the Infinity after looking over the Land Of Iron...
The small nearly invisible jet engines began to push the Vulture until he sped up onward and soon carried onward at a pace of almost 320 mph, racing over the rushing waves far below, and while Chief guided the oversized ship he ambiguously thought about who and what he would see battle this time in the Land Of Wind... Unaware of what he was about to find.
XXXXXXX
(Elsewhere)
XXXXXXX
Deep in his office next to to Hiruzen's, the scarred warhawk Danzo Shimura scowled at the reports coming from Konoha shinobi out on the lines of Takigakure. Still, as of 4 months ago had not one of his professional trackers from the Inuzuka clan been able to locate the one known as Spartan-117. Finding him was important to Danzo for a few reasons.
Reason one was that he himself never saw him since he was at a war meeting between clan heads. Danzo had missed seeing the man face to face, but wished he had with all the stories going around the ANBU units.
Reason 2 was while the Spartan's abilities were unknown to most of the elemental nations, it was apparent that he wasn't someone to take lightly. There were small reports spurring mostly around Kirigakure about a 7 foot tall green man with a massive orange eye that launched an assault on the Mizukage... And left the Mizukage quite literally disarmed by making him lose it. Along with numerous top Kiri shinobi dead and many more injured.
He, or the Spartan had shown a vast array of technology that were so advanced from theirs that he even had a machine that could fly like a bird! At first he didn't believe this and had a harder time believing it when Hiruzen had told him personally. This was from accounts of a multitude of people walking the streets that day in the market district who witnessed it firsthand...
Danzo was many things. Curious was one of them.
Overly protective... Well that's another story.
Once he had heard that the spartan returned Nawaki and just left without a word he was a bit mistrustful at the giant.
He felt like berating his former for letting such an asset slip right through his fingers on such short notice. This man with what he could do more than likely give Konoha an edge in the war and possibly win. Although it was unsure to say if the Spartan was friend or foe... Even though he returned Nawaki Senju, it didn't explain why he did though.
Most people who came across a dying boy would simply leave the boy to perish during these times for self reasons.
It left Danzo thinking of whether the Spartan should be sought out for being recruited in Konoha's ranks to ensure their tide of the war and security for peace... Or sought out to be destroyed and made sure it stayed that way.
Danzo placed another stack of papers on the side of his desk before reaching into the cabinet for the last form at the very bottom. Grabbing it with his wrinkly hand and grasping the corner he pulled it up before looking over at an illustration of a man... But soon turned out to be the Spartan with a large number at the bottom. His gaze remained the same when looking at the paper once more Danzo's mouth formed a thin line at what he read.
[WANTED DEAD]
SPARTAN-117/ 'THE Orenjiaido Akuma'
If seen attack immediately without remorse.
Bring body for proof.
Head is optional.
-12,000,000 RYO-
BOUNTY HOLDER: KIRIGAKURE
Danzo merely grunted sourly at the bingo book form before placing it in a orange folder and exiting the room to deliver it to the Hokage.
XXXXXXX
(3 hours later/ LAND OF WIND[KAZE NO KUNI/ 風の国] just outside Sunagakure)
XXXXXXX
Chief glanced at the wide spreading desert land below through the side of the pilots windshield and noted how big the wasteland was in comparison to some of the other deserts he had come across in his time. Looking over the sand covered mountains that were a lightish yellow color outside of what looked like a city all constricted by sand. This was Sunagakure.
He knew this of course and looked at the city that held thousands upon thousands of small fortresses in a sphere for hundreds of miles in radius. It seemed that this lands atmosphere held a dry parched are to it. Even though the temperature was only about 85 degrees Fahrenheit contrasting the usual 100 degree deserts in Chief's mind.
After scoping out the direction he had been following for more than 4 hours inside the cramped interior space of the vulture, he correctly located the spy drone homing beacon about 2 miles outside of the barren wasteland of Suna's village. He wanted to keep a low profile from the public eye and he did so by keeping the Vultures frame as high as possible, and also used the cover of any clouds lingering in the sky, which there weren't many since the desert was in the middle of the heated whether. Steering the Vulture forward and making sure he was outside of the city limits, he began to fly toward a dirt mountain that could provide enough cover to him from the villages eyes and seemed to be the to the closes part toward the drone that also had a flat surface...
Arriving toward the mountains peak he turned the engines down slowly which significantly lowered his altitude very quickly. Nearing the top of the mountain he slowed the fall so he didn't crash into the mountain and landed softly in the sand. When he felt the landing gear touch the ground he turned everything off and activated the locking systems for the weapons. He pushed the lid upward emitting a hiss and exited out by jumping toward into the sand that sunk a bit from his excessive weight.
He unhooked his assault rifle from his back and felt it launch into his palm tightly as he turned the safety off and aimed it ahead, leading to a perpendicular pathway down the mountainside. Chief proceeded forward on the scorching sand with his waypoint pointed to the left but had to create a detour on a narrow path down the narrow trail.
He kept traveling for about an 12 minutes leaving sizable footprints in the sand that displayed his size 19 foo, but were quickly brushed away by the winds. Covering over them. Chief kept himself pressed up against the mountains rocky part since the drop was about 1200 feet can lead to a very deep crevice that seemed to stretch for miles upon miles across the valley.
After arriving towards the bottom of the mountain Chief strolled over toward the left and begun advancing around the lower base of it, taking mental pictures of where he was and remember the way back. A few trees were there around the area and some were dead as they laid across the path from lack of water. He simply stepped over a few that laid there while moving a few off the cliff edge, plummeting like a rock. Looking to his scanners tracer he calculated the exact distance.
"20 more meters." Chief thought to himself when he approached a empty cave that stood in the side of the rocky hill. Tightening his grip on the stock of the assault rifle he scanned the area around him and didn't seem to catch anything at the moment and he took one last look of the animated sun that stood high in the sky before he advanced toward the caves entrance.
This struck chief in the wrong way since the very last transmission on the Spy drone showed it was above a running river, not a dark cave...
His brain steadied a bit when he activated his assault rifles lights, illuminating the inside of the cave and showing the dark dusty walls inside from past sandstorms that seemed to swallow up the floor. It looked as if the cave's interior was quite completely littered with an endless ocean of the small sand particles that cave the appearance it was consuming the inside.
When the master chief arrived at the end of the cave a wall stood before him, halting his journey. But what perplexed him is that he not only came across the signal of the fallen spy done that was less than a couple feet away but a living signal from above. He looked around again but couldn't see anything that looked relevant minus for the stalagmites that hung proudly from the ceiling. This didn't lower his weariness though when he arrived to an opening in the side of the compressed wall. When he approached it he had to duck his head and squeeze in through which wasn't in any way easy.
After proceeding to do this over for a few minutes he became enthralled by the largeness of the room he stumbled upon. It was big... Very big in fact. Walking slowly forward through the pitch black dug in he he saw that the signal was within this room, approximately 49 feet above him. Looking up he saw that the caves inner walls pushed out a bit and looked like it could support something if one were to place it there. Chief clipped the assault rifle to his back and walked forward to the wall as he placed a hand on it to begin his climb up.
Almost instantly when he placed his hand on the bumpy cave wall, something smashed against the center of his hand sharply in the span of a second. This alarmed him him as he spun around with his rifle in hand speedily and blasted to whoever had attacked him with precise accuracy. But the Spartans aim was off however when all he hit was the rocky wall as the bullets ricochet in the opposite direction. He looked down to what hit him and saw it was a shuriken that bent on the side from hitting him as it lay in the sand.
"You're invading my cave wanderer." A deep booming voice sounded from above. When chief turned his head up to see where the voice came from he was smashed so hard that his head bent back and crashed into the cave wall that everything behind him collapsed like cardboard soon after. He then smacked into the ground but quickly sprang back up to see a man standing above him with arms crossed.
The man was 6 feet tall with medium dark skin that looked rather tan from Chief's perspective. He had slim bodily features and his face saving for his eyes were covered by a white tarp that wrapped around his mouth and over the top of his head, he also wore a ripped black tank top that displayed a good portion of his muscled physique and also showed a few stitching scars around his biceps that looked quite fresh as they appeared like they were imputed a very short time ago. Around his legs were a pair of green pants that looked thick for whether in these type of condition with a few patches on them and on his feet were a pair of dark yet filthy sandals with bandages wrapped tightly from his knees toward his ankles.
Chief cocked his gun upward without question and fired 2 shots but saw the man explode in a puff of smoke as he felt the area around him tremble powerfully and he nearly lost his balance when the stone floor beneath him shoot up, making him buckle downwards and smashed him in the cave's ceiling, making his armors alarm go off and down to 82%.
His knees bucked in his chest forcing a gust of air to forcibly exit out of his mouth along with some spit when he flew upward and smashed in the ground causing some of the caves dust to spur around. He shakily but sturdily stood up from the cold sand and clutched the side of his helmet when he heard a deep breath behind him again followed by the man saying grimly.
"When they spoke of a man whose movements were nearly untraceable, I thought they were exaggerating." He remembered. "Looks like they were wrong." When Chief turned his was he was met with a pair of eyes that nearly stared right through his soul. Even though he was in the pitch black dark and a bit far to most people that they wouldn't be able to notice anything wrong, Chief could distinctly make out the man's green irides with no pupils and red sclerae staring at him like some sort of mysterious specter.
Chief cocked his head to the left suddenly and he reached behind his back for his assault rifle, he aimed it upward and began spraying bullets at the man as he jumped up expertly and evaded each shot by centimeters apart. Flipping, spinning, and finally striking at John.
Raising his rifle in defense when the man smacked his foot again toward his head, he was able to block it followed by another spin kick while in mid air. Chief reached up and gripped the man's ankle before yanking him down and slamming him on the ground as he hit his back first, John aimed his gun down and shot him... Then he exploded like a bomb.
Chief's energy shields absorbed most of the blast leveling it down to 13%, but the force propelled him backwards yet he was able to catch himself from falling on his shoulder and hastily stood up fully before turning to his left and hearing the man's steady mocking laugh to him from afar. Chief checked his scanner but couldn't see the man anywhere...
"I'm Kakuzu and your bounty shall be mine." The man who introduced himself as Kakuzu started from anywhere, making the word "Bounty" ring in Chief's mind for a about 2 seconds as he looked cryptically around him for any signs of his attacker who was well hidden.
"Bounty?" Chief's perplexed voice asked aloud . Enough for Kakuzu to hear apparently when he suddenly stood right before him instantly just at arms length with his down to his sides calmly and said.
"Yes. 12 million RYO from the Mizukage himself. Quite a lot from a very silent and calm man, who, if I remember correctly wanted you to undergo the slowest and most painful death to make the bounty double... I'm here to make sure that happens." Chief's scowl deepened and he was momentarily wondering who he was talking about...
Before it struck him like a gravity hammer at full force as the recollection of a few months kicked in.
That man from Kirigakure who used advanced water jutsu's and clones...
The name Mizukage sounded very clear now in Chief's memory bank now
"You've got a lot of attention on yourself now from bounty hunters... And I enjoy hunting someone who even survived one of the tailed beasts." Kakuzu said as his left arm twitched weirdly making chief raise a brow in confusion. What was that?
Chief launched himself forward and threw a left hook at Kakuzu who raised an arm up and blocked it without budging, making chief feel as if he had smashed his hand in the side of a mountain wall. Kakuzu quickly uppercutted chief in the stomach making his shields flare violently before backhanding him on the side of his helmet far from his position. Chief got up to his knees and coughed a few times with his eye twitching from the lack of oxygen. Kakuzu hadn't moved from the sport before narrowing his green and red eyes at John.
"Your speed is above average but nothing special. Strength... Is just above the average gennin. No chakra abilities... You won't survive long."
Chief got up and didn't his rifle but had a very subliminal feeling he was very outclassed. His attacker in just a few moves displayed rough combat strategies and proved to be an adept strategist when it came to planning. Kakuzu was fast, strong, and durable with an unconventional amount of skill..
Chief knew he was going to be beaten and killed if he couldn't find a way to trick Kakuzu...
He just didn't know what yet...
"That armor looks fitting on you. I should probably rip it off your corpse and see if I can make a profit in it..." Kakuzu taunted chief as he stepped closer, trying to antagonize him and catch him by surprise.
John didn't fall quite so easily at the implication though since he had a long experience with that type of foolery trick that had probably passed over him long by now. The unggoy or simply known everywhere as grunts, who were famously known for their cowardice on the battlefield were also quite mischievous as well and would pretend to run away in fear making marines or Spartans give chase only to stumble upon a horde of jackals or Elites waiting for them.
Kakuzu teleported right before chief making him step back in defense as Kakuzu snapped a chop and brought it at John's neck, which felt as if he had been struck by a fully loaded speeding tank that sent him back in a blur rolling in the dirt. Taking in his bearings as he stood up and fired again at Kakuzu who... Extended his arms so long that they disconnected from flesh leaving only black wiring to hold them together as they evaded all bullets and grabbed on the back of Chiefs head and ripped him forward, right off his feet.
Kakuzu brought Chief before him and said arrogantly, "You lose," then kneed him so hard he felt as if his intestines imploded with his armor going down as low as 34%. "This was insane" was Chief's thought of the man's inhuman strength displayed onto him as he nearly up-chucked in his helmet and bent down to his knees to slow his hoarse breathing and catch it.
When Chief's eyes drifted to the left he could see Kakuzu's arm still disconnected besides the black nerves all mashed together in a tangled heap and could make out the sound of a an ambiguous thumping sound that reminded him the distinctive noise of a human heartbeat.
Kakuzu placed his hand on chief's helmet and said victoriously. "The council of Kirigakure's civilians only wanted a body... They didn't say you needed a head."As he explained this he began to slowly pull on chiefs head hoping to decapitate him, but what Kakuzu failed to notice was that in chiefs left hand was an active multiple purpose grenade.
Chief shot up like a cannon slamming his the back of his head into Kakuzu's jaw before slamming the grenade into Kakuzu's chest ripping his flesh and tearing through his ribs and kicked him on the groin making the bounty hunter roar out in pain. Chief shot off in the opposite direction and toward a lake when the grenade exploded and nearly catching him in the blast radius. He breathe softly as he turned around and saw nothing but dark smoke and some fires as the dead trees on the outside lit up.
Chief felt grateful but also knew he could have just alerted any of the villages border patrol with that grenade since the average shinobi could run for days without food or water, and so could Spartans-II's. As chief looked back to the hole so he could re-enter it he was caught off guard when something engulfed him in a near blinding light of orange and red that almost blinded him.
Instincts were active as he speedily rolled out of the dancing flames that burned his armor and he looked to where the source was and saw... A hideous red and white mask spewing flames out of its mouth, giving it the appearance of a fabled dragon. Chief's eyes grew wide when he saw small black tendrils connected to the mask looking indeed like a dragon and followed the trail before his eyes landed on the familiar red and green eyed man.
The white mask closed its mouth with a curdling quench and the black tendrils retracted back into the man's arms, after that the black stitches tied into his skin as back together. He didn't make a sound when it dug through. Chief wondered what the hell he was and said aloud. "What..."
The man began doing a row of hand signs as he said. "You took my heart bastard... So I'm taking yours in exchange." Kakuzu claimed making Chief turn his head confusingly at the statement as Kakuzu let the black wire from his black and arms escape outward and begin to from some type of massive blob. Chief ignored what was happening before him and ran forward as fast as he could like an unfocused arrow to shoot Kakuzu in the chest or bash his face in, but something from underneath him smashed his jaw upward making the shields flare before something grabbed him by the neck to swing him around side to side like a ragdoll, where Chief clenched his fingers tightly on the rifle's grip and tried to assert himself while in mid-air. He then felt the tightness around his throat disappear and felt as if he was about to hit the ground. He slid in the sand and saw he was quickly approaching a crevice. Bucking his knees forward he shot them out and stopped himself from flying over the edge and into a canyon, but the speed he was traveling at made the rock he pushed himself onto broke under his weight and made him start to slip down the steep margin until he quickly latched his hand onto the first thing he could grasp. His hand was met with something as he felt the hard rock squeeze underneath his grip.
Looking down the dark abyss he saw a small work like river running who knows how far below him with his legs dangling in air with one arm held on.
He saw something come up from behind on his scanner and looked up to detect Kakuzu standing above him with his eyes as thin as lines as he sneered. "Hanging huh? You're more pathetic than I have ever imagined. Not even worth a Million I just picked up on the way here, what it then? The description on the bounty form sounds more deadly than what you've shown me..." Chief chose the option of saying nothing and ignoring the statement as he tried to think of a way to escape this situation... but only had one idea.
Locking his leg down onto a small rock sticking out slow him he flew up before grabbing onto Kakuzu's ankle and ripping him forward. This kakuzu exploded into a torrent of flames making chief shield his eyes as he managed to pull himself up and away from the ledge. He looked to see the pathway leading up to the Vulture was clear and gave him the option to run or to fight.
Chief looked over to the upper right of the edge of the cliff and saw his rifle shining in the dirt. Retrieving it and loading a fresh new clip he tried to figure out where Kakuzu was but didn't see him. He knew he would return at any given moment but he wasn't going to sit and wait, but rather let Kakuzu find him and then take him down...
Chief went as fast as his legs could carry and went back into the cave and took the same route as he did before making sure to check his surroundings cautiously while keeping an eye on his scanner.
After arriving in the same part of the cave he was able to get the spy drone and look it over.
The left wing was only held together by wires when it crashed, bucking the metal inward before tearing, and the back engine making the the drone fly possible was dented on the left side damaging the internal parts. Strapping it on his back and grunting at the weight of the 400Ib piece of UNSC hardware he went over to the hole in the wall before hearing something behind him. Chief quickly ran over to the gaping hole that had been made from the scuffle between him and Kakuzu and exited it.
Skeptically he looked behind him and wondered what kakuzu was planning before he felt something digging into his neck, he turned around only to see something shiny and black smash into his visor making him fly backward and nearly over the ravine as he landed on his stomach roughly and stared at the ground.
He pressed his hands down, pushing himself off the ground and looked upward at what hit him until he spotted a giant black blood made of those black wires again and the only thing that wasn't covered was by the wiring was the white and blue mask that looked as if it were crafted by a toddler. Chief held his rifle upward before rushing toward the trail that lead up the mountain to the vulture and firing at the monster at the same time as it began to rush him.
His rifle ran dry of ammo and he emptied the clip and was about to place a new one in, but had the rifle ripped from his hands and saw it be pluned over the ridge and into the ravine. Chief could only watch as his rifle spun in the air and soon disappeared below his vision and he soon heard from below him.
"You can't run, and you can't hide."
Chief had enough now as he became increasingly agitated at the hunters continuous threats towards him. He turned around toward the still standing bounty hunter who walked towards him with a calm walk, almost like he was taking his time, Chief held his hand over the Sticky detonator that was attached to his thigh and felt the gun fly into his hand as he aimed it below with a careful aim and shot the sizable explosive toward Kakuzu. The softball sized projectile shot out like a cannon and flew in a straight line down the path before it began to blink red rapidly, it stuck beside Kakuzu who dashed back over the sand with the speed rivaling a flying hawk. Kakuzu looked at it tan back to Chief and said.
"Your aim is-
There was a strong detonation that rocked the side of the mountains sand formation, causing pebbles and larger stones to being to collapse toward the dazed immortal bounty hunter. Chief watched as the side walls began to spill over towards Kakuzu who began jumping over one stone to another like a multi national winning gymnast.
Chief reached behind him for an explosive and loaded it on the end of the gun with a push and a twist,he aimed again and fired the second round near the stones Kakuzu was going to land on, Kakuzu's eyes became thin as lines when he saw this however, and he managed to evade it by launching one of his as toward a stone above him...
What he didn't see however, was Chief aiming the sticky detonator at the stone he had latched onto.
Kakuzu felt his hand become sliced and engulfed in flames as he felt literally every fiber in his being t not scream. Kakuzu grunted as he yanked it back and landed on the pathway to we're the spartan was running and looked down at his arm as he raised it eye level and saw the charred flesh become sticky at the ends of his fingers, and were a clear liquid mixed with blood drained out side the third degree burns that were deep in his skin. Kakuzu growled loudly and said.
"No more games... This time it's personal."
"Likewise." Chief responded angrily as he kept a trained eye on the immortal who was standing 34 feet below him down the steep trail bleeding. He watched closely as the men's dark hair blew softly in the warm breeze and could make out some features of his face, most noticeably the stitches beside his mouth. Chief glimpsed at the dark liquid that slowly dripped down from Kakuzu's hand to his elbow slowly and took note of his gaze that had a dark look to it that made him appear more menacing than before.
Chief didn't know what happened until the man pressed both hands together and held the same signs for a period of a few seconds.
Nothing moved but the wind carrying sand.
Chief knew what he was going to do and didn't waste any time to blast Kakuzu with a sticky detonator.
However he simply moved his head to the left and let the airborne explosive device fly right past him. "That won't work anymore for you." After that was said he did something that made chief feel his eyes grow to the size of saucers. The mans stitches on his back ripped apart, forcing his sides to peel back like the slices on a banana. Chief didn't know what he was seeing until the figures formed before him and each one was oddly shaped with a different themed mask.
Kakuzu then separated his inner stitching from the figures and chief watched as he became on whole person again as the small black strings put themselves back into place. One of the masked beings fell over in a heap with its mask having a few shards from the grenade piercing through it.
"How?" Chief asked aloud.
"Interesting? That was one of my hearts you just destroyed with your little explosion." Kakuzu said offhandedly, not taking his eyes of the prize. "Quite lucky I must say since no one was able to think of that before..." He conceded. "But now it shall not be happening again since I learn from my mistakes..."
"Heart?" Chief asked in absolute perplexity. Hearts? As in more than one? There had to be something wrong with that-
"Yes... Hearts. I steal them off shinobi and gain their ability, and when I lose one I just grab another. Many years I've done this... And I enjoy it." Kakuzu lectured toward the guarded Chief who stood completely motionless. "Each heart has a unique power that I can control. Fire, earth, water, air, and lighting. These are my abilities and you've shown nothing... Not even basic chakra techniques."
"I don't use it." Chief responded and trying to see an opening
"Enough about me, I want my reward now." He finished as he made one of the indescribable figures lunge toward him and swiped at him with a fast yet wobbly strike that chief was able to duck under but didn't see Kakuzu race beneath him and strike him in the shoulder with a downward chop.
Chief sunk into the ground and seethed in pain when he felt his shoulder twinge heavily from the hardiness from Kakuzu's combat. Chief threw his hand behind Kakuzu's neck and brought a knee up to the man's stomach and was met with the pain of kneeing a solid rock that bent slightly inward. Kakuzu felt it too however when he buckled slightly at the man's above average strength. Chief swung himself around the man and placed him in a choke hold with his left arm tucked under Kakuzu's chin and the other hand on the back of his head. "Nice... attempt." Kakuzu wheezed out painfully before the black wiring in his back shot out and wrapped tightly around John's arms, legs, neck, and frame like thousands of tiny snakes
"But sadly it won't do you any good." He held a single sign before shouting.
"WIND STYLE: PRESSURE DAMAGE!" After that the howling winds appeared from nowhere. Chief became distracted at the sudden gust of wind... That only grew to monstrous strength...
There was no easy way to describe what happened but could be defined as being put in an absolute spin sickle set on Hellraiser speed
Chief felt his entire body be thrown around like a rag-doll in the sounds of winds that could rival the sounds of a tornado. Everything was thrashing about crazily and he couldn't see anything clearly with how fast everything was moving around him. It was nearly impossible to control the actions of his arms with the g-force acceleration by the second and tell where the ground was and where he was spinning.
When he tried to grab onto anything that flew by but felt himself become lifted in the air higher and higher, making the ground below grew smaller and smaller. Chief felt uneasy and quickly knew gravity was taking effect when he began to plummet back down towards earth.
He was rushing past 100 mph now and the wind was screaming past his helmets inner speakers and the heaviness was beginning to pull him even faster since this planets gravity was more powerful due to it's size, leading him to point he actually thought he wouldn't make it. In most cases when falling from this high of altitudes, Chief was given training to buck his knees inward to protect his inner organs from the impact. Looking down to see where the ground was he tried to resume his balance which was very difficult to catch, but triumphed after the first chance. Averting his lower section until it was pointing toward the ground the master chief saw he only had a few hundred feet left and was surpassing it by a few seconds. If he had a UNSC Air Force M-spec reentry pack or an anti-gravity well landing gear than his chances of survival would be greater...
But this time he would be lucky to land with his legs intact from without and within.
With only a hundred feet left to go and soon dropping quicker than he could keep up with, Chief tried to lock his armor as quickly as he could before he-
CRASKIISHHHHHHH!
-slammed right into the side of the vultures side door with enough psi to rival getting smacked by the bow of a Pelican at full speed. He felt his left rib cage bend inward and felt something exploded in his legs. He rolled to the side out if the dent he had just made and landed in the dirt face first. Chief felt absolutely livid now as he felt something burn deep in his legs and a numbing sensation his his feet. Everything besides his head and arm felt like they were burning. He couldn't see anything as his helmet had planted in the sand and all chief could hear were the hollowing winds in the desert crashing over him.
He opened his eyes and saw nothing but blurred blackness along with an assortment of eye floaters in different colors. When he blinked a few times his vision was cleared a bit and he could see that his shields were completely down and his armors status read DANGER.
"Get up." Kakuzu's voice resonated on chief's hearing. Chief complied as he lifted his head from the sand that spilled out from the openings in his armor and he groaned softly at the numbness he was experiencing his his knees that felt deep.
Probably nerve damage.
Chief used what little strength he had left to push himself up and look at Kakuzu who stood right in front of him only by a couple yards and said. "You survive quite a fall. But this was too easy, still 20 million shouldn't be wasted." Kakuzu walked forward right in front of the Vultures gunning wings and prepared to execute chief by doing the same thing by gripping his helmet and beginning to pull until Chief began to feel some of the muscles about to tear...
Then an idea formed in chiefs head at the sight of Kakuzu "standing" right in front of an armed GUA-23/AW/Linkless Feed Autocannon... Completely vulnerable to damage.
For some strange reason when chief had that thought of it firing, something actually processed through Chiefs wireless mainframe and synced the order toward the vulture's The autocannon. It didn't have to aim but was right behind it's intended target. Kakuzu had no idea what was going on when the mainframe read.
-Target acquired-
Kakuzu didn't know what went off like a pounding explosion and sounded like an impenetrable snapping boom, but all Kakuzu knew was something smashed into his back and erupted out of his chest with a chunks of his flesh being blown off in chunks of blood.
He felt it though... That's what frightened him at that moment.
The horrendous burning sensation that was indescribable and the force behind it was almost instantaneous. All that he knew at that moment was that his lightning heart had been struck on the upper left corner, and smaller metal shards stabbed into it.
Kakuzu was pushed forward by the strong might that he fell down over the lip of the mountain. Trying to grab onto anything as he began to slide down and was able to stab a kunai into the soft sand but it didn't help. Forcing chakra in his feet he was able to push himself up and finally keep him in total balance along the sand hill. Kakuzu looked down at the hole in his stomach that lead outward to his back and growed loudly before smashing a fist in the sand in anger.
BOOOOOM
-and smashed his fist right into a sticky detonator shell that had fallen off chief's waist earlier...
Chief who was still attempting to get up struggled to his feet with the searing pain in his side burning like a flaming skillet had pushed up against him, and his leg that felt like it had been struck by an endless barrage of needlers at full force.
He turned his head toward the bare edge where Kakazu fell and disintegrated after being shot. He couldn't seem to detect him on his scanner and could only assume the most plausible. When he painstakingly walked over an looked down to see anything the only thing he saw was a shattered white mask spilling over and down the sand.
Chief had a minuscule feeling that Kakuzu could have survived and was just playing possum since he survived several explosions from his upgraded sticky detonator, and a direct blast from an auto-cannon through the back, but he had a large feeling it would take a while for him to return. Chief felt the wind pick up even more, noting the sand as it blew away in the wind, sounding twice as loud now. He even noted despite feeling like he felt his organs cave in the side from the excessive force and his legs were in an agonizing state right now, but not broken. since it wasn't possible. Chief breathed softly to himself and had an ominous feeling a storm was coming from the weather patterns and the dark looming cloud approaching.
Chief looked to where he hit the Vulture from falling at 800 feet and saw he only smashed into the right sides weapons compartment where all he had them all cached in case of sizable danger.
Which had unfortunately happened to him by chance...
"Lucky me." Chief thought to himself dryly as he ripped the weapons compartment door off and looked at the damages. He knew some of them would be damaged beyond repair from how deep the bent went in, but he was very lucky it was the weapons instead of his health.
Stumbling toward the cockpits entrance while holding a hand down on the side of his thigh that stung whenever he put weight on it, chief climbed inside before making a right in the cockpit and sat in the seat which didn't help much for him.
He did the same routine of activating the vulture by turning the mapping systems on, priming the weapons, priming the mapping systems, and rebooting connection with the Infinity for autopilot.
The jet turbines in the rear began to spin and launch the intense heat from the excessive friction and this caused the vulture to slowly ascend. Chief pulled the throttle back slowly and watched as the village in the distance began to shrink without much hurry. He then slowly steadied the vulture toward and it followed his and before it soon began to pick up speed very quick and fly through the sandy air that began to evoke louder winds and soon a enormous cloud of the sandstorm appeared.
The vulture lifted above the storm and kept above it for awhile as it slowed up a bit when chief stood up inside the gunner ships cockpit before opening the back door inside and limped over to the very back part, next to one of the gunning ports. There he sat down against the wall in top of one of the reinforced crates and slowly glanced outside the window elbow to gaze at Sunagakure's mile long shadows casted by the sun.
He noted the architecture that was so foreign to him and couldn't help but praise the men and women who built the village completely out of sand. Chief knew the war wouldn't end anytime soon since he was in one for for 27 years and it had still been active with the storm unit from the former covenant.
Chief saw one of his tools beside him and slowly gripped the drills handle next to him. Pushing it against the bolt of the side of his helmet he un-tightened each bolt on the side before sliding his helmet off with a few sand specs falling on the metal floor. The hungry and nearly exhausted chief looked into his helmets visor and noted his reflection seemed more busted up now with a bleeding scratch above his eyebrow and his nose that had an enlarged bruise forming.
He looked over his damaged features one last time and remembering what he had to do at the Infinity when he got to the medical station. He leaned back and put the helmet to the side and glanced out the window once more to get another eyeful of the endless desert.
After watching it for more than a few moment a realization came to him. Almost like a light switch in his mind he knew...
He knew he had a job to do and no one was would be willing to be able to make the compromises and complete it. Pushing the thought to the side for a second he coughed with a very dry throat and a dizzy feeling. He was thirsty. No, scratch that he was beyond parched. Looking about the cabin he found the reserved water tank and took a few gulps of it straight from the drain at the very bottom of it.
He needed that since he actually considered of joining a war that was not his... But after the numerous amount of time and consideration he had no choice but to be where he was needed. Simply because he wanted to and wouldn't waste time with excessive searching which lead him no where. Maybe joint the war and exploring a bit would lead him somewhere.
It would be joke if Chief denied that he wouldn't always stumble across the right way almost every time...
The master Chief stood up firmly with a new found strength, ignoring the numbness in his left thigh and went back into the drivers seat. He looked at the endless wastelands before pushing the accelerator forward, thinking deeply of where he should strike first and how hard. However,he was only one man on an enormous cataclysmic world with beings stronger than him, faster than him, quicker than him, smarter than him, more durable than him, maybe even luckier in ways. But even if they were bigger than him times a hundred...
John swallowed some spit that was collecting in his mouth and noticed the distinctive taste of iron mixed, giving him the reminiscing taste of his death missions. He felt alone inside the quite vulture cockpit with nothing but the sound of the engines roaring behind him... Alone with nothing to prove, and no obligation to begin with... He was only one... Man after all...
Man...
...
His brain ceased motion and just stayed inactive for a few moments. Even though he was only one man, and they were a bigger threat than he was, but he knew that those who made the biggest of differences in a world just started as one man with nothing left to lose...
John formed a deep frown and thought to himself.
"Time to finish it."
AUTHORS NOTE: Well, tell me what you think.
April Fools to all, and to all a good night.
SHIPWRECK-5897