You're not always right, damnit! Just because you were right then doesn't mean shit!

Ha ha ha. Funny. I wish it had been, then I wouldn't have to put up with this.

Sak...yuya? What the hell? No. Just...god no! Stupid shipping names...


Well, it happened. Pigs flew. Sakon had come up to me about a week later to show off his newfound skill. After having bragged about it for a good five minutes, he taught me how to do it as well. It was a pain in the ass. Sure, it was easy to use it, but there was a certain balance to it that made it so much more difficult. Use too much or use it too quickly, and you'd have the agonizing pain I had before when I had been still trying to escape. On the other hand, use too little or use it too slowly, and it'd drain your chakra down to nearly nothing. I finally did catch on, though not without several of both experiences. I still hated the stupid thing with a passion, but at least it wouldn't be so terrible now.

A couple weeks passed. This day, the four of us were going to train with each other. Or, at least, we were going to. That plan didn't exactly last too long. "So...who's the leader out of the four of us?" Kidōmaru randomly decided to ask, before answering his own stupid question. "Personally, I think it should be me. I'm the best strategist out of us, so I obviously should lead."

"I'm the strongest," Jirōbō butted in.

"You wish!" Sakon laughed. "You're the weakest one here, fatty. I'm the strongest, so that makes me the leader."

"Does it fucking matter?" I interrupted, groaning in frustration. "It's not like we can just do whatever, whenever."

"Of course it matters!" Kidōmaru said, looking offended, not that I gave a shit about him or his stupid feelings. "There's always a party leader. And that is the protagonist...me!"

"This isn't a game, Kidōmaru. This is real life," Sakon replied.

"Which is what makes this so fucking stupid," I interrupted, though Sakon continued on regardless.

"In real life, the strongest is the one who leads. I'm stronger than you, so I should be the leader!"

"I'm the strongest," Jirōbō repeated.

"No, you aren't!" Sakon and Kidōmaru said at the same time.

Why did they fucking care so damn much? "I swear, you fools are thinking with your dicks rather than your brains. Not that you shitheads had much there to begin with," I added snidely.

Of course, Jirōbō had to respond to that. "Tayuya, you shouldn't use such language."

"Like I care, you weak piece of crap!"

"I'm not weak."

"Are too, fatso!"

"You know what? I'll prove it to you," Sakon yelled over our bantering, turning to Kidōmaru. Jirōbō and I both decided to shut up and listen. "We fight, and whoever wins is the leader. Good enough?"

"Yeah! It's about time! Weren't we gonna do this before when y-?"

"Shut up!" Sakon snapped, suddenly irritated. Spider boy must have somehow hit a nerve, though I had no idea what it could be, nor did I care at the time. "No one needs to know about that!" Sakon rushed at Kidōmaru, only just managing to avoid the spider web sent his way. I knew that, if any of those webs connected, this fight was as good as over. Kidōmaru had bragged before that nothing could break them with force, not even two elephants pulling at each end. Firsthand experience showed me that it was probably true.

Arms were flying, and not just because spider boy had three on each side. Sakon suddenly had three arms on one side, each one interlocked with one of Kidōmaru's. What was going on? Never had he done something like this that I had seen. Is this somehow Ukon's doing? I wondered. The two struggled to overpower the other when Sakon unleashed a flurry of kicks on his other side at ridiculous speeds. Unless, of course, it was just like the arms. Kidōmaru jumped out of range before he got too battered. Spitting his spider silk out of his mouth, he mixed it together in his hands before throwing it at Sakon, the ball expanding into a large spider web.

Suddenly, Sakon's Rashōmon rose from the ground, the web sticking onto it instead. So focused as I was on spider boy that I hadn't even realized what Sakon was up to. He liked to call that demonic wall thingie "Lord Orochimaru's ultimate defense". Not even my Doki were able to put a dent in it without fucking wailing on it dozens of times.

Kidōmaru leaped into the air, some of his silk threads latching on to the top of the Rashōmon. Two of his arms held him up in the air, dangling from his threads, while the other four pulled out more silk. This silk, though, was golden in color and seemed much harder. Sakon's eyes widened, seeing something I couldn't. He ran to intercept Kidōmaru but stopped upon Kidōmaru dropping down in front of him. The golden silk had formed into a bow and arrow, the arrow pointed straight at Sakon. "Game over," Kidōmaru said triumphantly. "I know your reflexes are quick, but can you really dodge this at point-blank range? You made the difficulty too easy."

What unnerved me was that Sakon didn't appear at all concerned. He chuckled, tilting his head to the side in mock confusion. "Did I? Aren't you forgetting something?"

I realized just as Kidōmaru did what was wrong: there was only one head. So where was the second?

"As overconfident as always."

I recognized that voice. Ukon. Except he wasn't just a head on Sakon's body. He was a full person. They were nearly identical in appearance, being twins, except Ukon's hair covered the left side of his face instead of the right, and he wasn't wearing a red beaded necklace like Sakon did. He was standing behind Kidōmaru, pressing a kunai to the older boy's throat. "As you'd say, game over," Sakon said, a cocky grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah," Kidōmaru muttered, lowering the arrow pointed at Sakon's heart. Only then did Ukon move the kunai away. Spider boy plopped down, sprawling out on the ground with all six arms laying haphazardly. "But only because Ukon decided to finally come out in a fight for the first time in five years. So there. You're the leader now, Sakon. Happy?"

He nodded as Ukon walked over and literally merged back into his brother, becoming just the head once again. Yeah, totally not creepy at all. "Yep. In more ways than one."

I rolled my eyes. "Great to know our leader's a fucking two-headed fairy boy." Sakon looked unamused but said nothing. I stood up and added, "Well, I'm just gonna leave before you scumbags do something even more stupid."

Before anyone asks, the reason I didn't try to butt heads with them was that it was utterly ridiculous. I didn't care who was the leader of this stupid Sound Four nonsense, and it wasn't my problem. Why would I want to be the leader of such a stupid group of losers anyway?

I was barely out of the room when Sakon added, "And you're next under me, Tayuya."

I stopped, turning around. Maybe I misheard him. "What," I said, the word sounding more like a statement than the question it was meant to be.

"You heard me. You're second to me. If you have a problem with it, too bad."

I huffed in annoyance and walked out, having nothing to say in response to this stupid situation I found myself in. Why the hell did he do that for? Kidōmaru would have been a better choice any day of the week. And it's not like I wanted this...even if a small part of me felt proud that he believed I was stronger than fatso and spider boy.


Happy New Year!

And I'll be honest. I started out 2019 by procrastinating this chapter. Oops? I had plans to make this bigger and better, plans that went down the drain. I just couldn't figure it out. I'll make up for it later...I hope.

Anyway, I don't have much to say, so I'll see you guys next week!