Soooo I'm liking the reviews I've been getting :D Thank you everyone for the encouragement. I know I say this a lot, but it really does motivate me to whip out another chapter even quicker. Now... let's see what happens. ;)
Chapter 10
"Oh puppies... Come out, come out, wherever you are." Ukon sang as he stepped through the brush entering the forest in search for them. Before he lost his focus completely he saw them heading into this direction.
"Unfortunate that the weather is blocking my vision. But, it could be worse. Sakon would just be whining the entire time, and there's nothing worse than an annoying sibling." He said to himself, as he continued his trudge through the winter forest.
Suddenly his attention was caught by the sound of several snapping twigs off to his left. When he looked, nobody was there. He carefully kept his gaze fixed on the pile, listening for any sounds of movement, but nothing came.
"I need to stay focused. This little brat has to be here somewhere. He could barely move, and his variation couldn't have taken him far."
X X X
"B-But, that jutsu."
"I know. That's why I can't do it without you. You might be a kid version of me, but you know how to work as a team. You got Akamaru, that's proof right there."
Young Kiba sat cross legged as Akamaru laid in his lap, his hands leaned back. "Okay, big me. Run me through the hand seals again. I don't want to mess this up."
Kiba smirked. "No problem. Watch, I know it's scary at first, but I promise if you just follow my lead, we'll be okay."
Young Kiba smiled as he watched his variation instruct him.
X X X
"We got it, Lady Tsunade."
"Blood Type B Transfusion is complete."
"Stitching abdominal region now."
"Heart rate falling into normal range now. Pulse is stabilizing."
Tsunade wiped her forehead off in relief. Fifteen hours of surgery and over a quarter of their village's total supply of type B blood later, the surgery was finally coming to a close. The surgeons congratulated themselves, but Sakura still remained in her concentration.
"I need to make sure everything starts out alright. I just want to make sure."
Tsunade nodded. "I'll stay here with you. The rest of you are dismissed. Good work."
With that the surgeons left the room. When the last one left, another moment went by as Tsume entered the room, accompanied by Akamaru and Kuromaru.
"How is he?" She asked sternly.
"The operation was a success. Sakura is checking to make sure his vitals adjust to the new blood properly before we send him into recovery. The team is on standby incase something goes wrong."
She nodded. "Thank you, Lady Hokage."
She shook her head. "Sakura is the one you should be thanking. Not me."
Tsume looked at Sakura, still in focus. "I never said this to you, but I am sorry I ever doubted you. You mean the world to my son."
Though her eyes were closed, her ears were not. A small smile escaped her lips. "Thank you, ma'am. He means the world to me, too. That's why I would never let anything happen to him."
Tsume smiled. "I'm glad."
X X X
The search was over. Ukon finally found his target. There, standing in front of him, about seventy feet away, leaning against a tree, was Kiba gripping his arm.
"Hehehe. So it looks like your little clone decided to give up on you and run? A logical decision, but I still think that's rather cold hearted, even for someone like me."
Kiba gave a weak laugh as Ukon approached him. "It's ironic, isn't it? We're in my mind, and I can't even win a game on my own home turf. That's pretty embarrassing."
"It is. But don't worry, it won't be yours to worry about much longer." Ukon laughed as charged at him.
Kiba merely picked himself up from the tree as he readied himself for the first blow. A quick strike from above, but was blocked.
"Fool! You keep falling for the same old trick!" Ukon taunted as his left arm went straight into his stomach, causing him to gasp for air as blood shot from his mouth.
Kiba smirked as he started laughing.
"What?"
"And so do you."
Ukon tried to jerk back, but it was too late. Kiba grabbed his punching arm, keeping him in place.
"What? What's going on? You think you can win by grabbing me like last time when there's no one around?"
Suddenly a sound of falling trees fell on his ears, coming from behind.
No-No way!
"Fang Over Fang!" A younger Kiba cried as him and Akamaru flew towards Ukon from horizontal sides.
"Let go of me, you little bastard!" Ukon smashed his free hand into Kiba's face, releasing him from his grip, and knocking Kiba into the snow on his back.
Ukon narrowly escaped the attack as Young Kiba and Akamaru quickly turned and began their speed towards Ukon at an alarmingly fast speed, nearing the speed of Kiba's "Wolf Fang Over Fang."
"I'm not falling for the same old trick again. I'm not my brother, I won't play games with any of you!" He quickly bit into both of his thumbs, making the single hand seal.
"Summoning Jutsu: Double Rashōmon!" As he finishes, he places both hands to the ground as two of the demonic gates rise in front of him to protect him from the attack.
"Poor kid hasn't felt the sting of the gate yet! You'll find out soon enough!"
"Sorry, brother, but you fell for the same trick again, for the second, and final time."
"...!"
Ukon could only turn as Kiba was already behind him, making a stance to trip him. Without any time to react, he lost his balance, and began to fell.
"The first attack is always a fake!" He said as he began his attack.
"Leaf Rising Wind!" His foot planted itself into Ukon's back, sending him up into the air at an incredible speed.
"There's no way I can lose! Not when I've come this close!"
His view of the gates saw them as tiny, even for being as large as they are. He was still going up, despite finally regaining his balance, and the air was growing thin as he barely noticed the three whirling gusts of wind appearing to him in a triangular formation, finally stopping to reveal their physical forms.
Three Kibas. Two younger ones, and the original, facing directly in front of him. Before he could throw a punch, one of the Young Kiba's elbowed him in the back of the head, sending him flying downward.
"Time to finish this!" Kiba shouted.
With that, all three began a complex combination of hand seals, finally stopping on horse, speaking in unison.
"Inuzuka Style: Forbidden Jutsu: Triple Jet Stream!"
Ukon was flying downward as he heard the jutsu being completed. He forced himself to face them, only to be in the pathway of what appeared to be a completely black tornado.
"Sorry, Sakon. Guess this is it for me." He said while falling out of his second stage curse mark, into his original form.
With that, the faster than sound twister collided directly into Ukon's torso. The speed quickly cut into his skin, before finally ripping his entire mid-section apart in a bloody fashion, sending large chunks of his body in several different directions.
The tornado finally stopped as the three ninja caught themselves hitting the snow, although they couldn't move after landing. The Young Kiba on the left finally gave way, returning to be Akamaru before collapsing into the snow.
"Akamaru!" Yelled Young Kiba.
"Don't worry," Kiba said. "He'll be okay. That jutsu won't kill him. But we won't be able to move for a while. The Triple Jet Stream is faster than the speed of sound, completely cutting all five senses off from us. And it can only shoot in one direction. If it goes off, and if we don't hit somebody, we'll keep going until we do. And if we're in it for too long, we'll suffocate. That's why we're so out of breath and exhausted."
Young Kiba only nodded, probably still confused, but tried to show some understanding.
"What happens now?"
Kiba laughed. "To be honest, I don't know. All we can do now is wait until we get our strength back..." His voice slowly grew weak as he passed out from exhaustion.
I did it... Who would have thought?
X X X
It was warm. He was covered too from the feel of what seemed like a blanket. Kiba opened his eyes, only to find his eyes reflected back at him. He was back in the fun house. And he wasn't alone. All of the ten younger variations who attacked Sakura were standing there in a crowd in front of him.
"What... What's going on?" Kiba asked, turning around to see his younger self sitting up, not speaking, but watching the younger ninjas stare at them. Akamaru laid next to him, still asleep.
"Looks like you did it," Young Neji commented. "Thank you for killing El Demonio."
"Thank you?" Kiba snapped. "You little mother fuckers all ganged up on Sakura and knocked me out!"
They all stood aside as Young Sakura slowly walked towards him, completely unharmed.
"Wh-What? You're okay?"
Young Sakura only smiled. "It was a curse. And I am only a memory. I can't be killed, and I was the only one who wasn't affected by El Demonio's curse."
"Curse? What are you talking about?"
"When he came to us," Young Sasuke stated. "He put us all under a spell that made us obey him. We could see outside, but our bodies and voices were completely at his mercy. And because we cannot be killed, he could torture us for all eternity if we disobeyed him."
Kiba looked over to his young self. "Wait. What about little me? How come he didn't turn?"
Young Choji spoke up. "He's your memory. It's you, essentially. He couldn't control your memories because your current self was still alive. That's why he had to try and kill you."
Huh… It makes sense now.
"You have done a great thing." Young Lee said, smiling and bowing to him.
"Um... Thanks, I guess." Kiba replied, still very lost by this whole situation.
"Kiba!" Young Sakura squealed as she ran to hug the younger version, still sitting up, dazed from recently waking up.
"You're okay." She said, burying her face into his jacket.
A still face quickly beamed a wide grin. "Of course I'm okay! I mean, compared to what you went through, this is nothing!"
SLAP!
"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO FULL OF YOURSELF!" Young Sakura yelled at him. Young Kiba simply laid back in defeat as the red mark on his cheek deepened in color.
Jesus. Is that how I really am? I gotta stop that. Even my little me is as bad as I am. Kiba thought, looking at his younger self cowering in fear below Young Sakura.
"Ow... Sakura, why'd you hit me?" Kiba asked, still on the ground and confused as to why he was subjected to such violent abuse.
"Hmph!" She crossed her arms, turning herself away from him.
"Don't worry," Kiba said, looking at Young Sakura. "He's like that. You'll get used to him," He grinned widely, giving a thumbs up similar to Guy's. "Trust me!"
"I guess." Young Sakura huffed.
"So what do I do now?" Kiba asked in the direction of the crowd.
"Now? Now you go back. Take a look." Young Shino pointed behind them.
Kiba turned to see the original twelve mirrors. Now instead of reflections of himself, each one had a picture of the eleven ninjas he had grown so close to.
"I see..." He examined the mirrors, coming to the middle left and middle right. The middle left's mirror contained an image of Sakura, in his most recent memory of her.
"Then... That wooden mirror."
"It's yours!" Young Naruto exclaimed.
"All of your memories have been wondering around ever since El Demonio came. Now that he is gone, we can all rest back inside your mind, and you can return back to your world." Young Lee explained.
"Wow. Lee, is that you?" Kiba asked, confused as to how Lee could explain something so intelligently.
"What?" Young Lee asked, completely oblivious to what Kiba said to him.
"... Nevermind." He replied. "So, how do I do this?"
"It's a real drag, but I'll show you." Young Shikamaru stood in front of them. He walked over to the mirror of his own present day reflection and turned to face Kiba. "All you do is walk into the mirror. Your young variation has to step in with you, since you can't have a present without a past, and vice versa. For us, we can finally go back inside. Originally we couldn't, because El Demonio had images of only you, keeping us away from returning to the memories of ourselves within your mind. But, since that's out of the way, we can finally head back."
Young Shikamaru waved to Kiba as he stepped into the reflection of his older variation. He walked into it as if he was stepping into a pool for a swim. The glass rippled as his body finally came in completely, and the glass stilled. The others followed, one by one, returning to their present memories, until only Young Sakura and Young Kiba remained.
"Bye, Big Kiba!" Young Sakura waved as she walked up to the mirror.
"Goodbye, Sakura."
With that, she stepped into the mirror, giving similar results as the others before her.
"Guess that's our cue." Young Kiba said, standing up, heading to the mirror with Akamaru on his head.
"Hold on," Kiba interrupted. "When I first met you, there was an unmarked grave under the big oak tree outside the fun house. What was it?"
Young Kiba shrugged his shoulders. "That's a memory buried far in the back of our mind. Maybe someday you'll be able to find it."
He nodded. "I guess so." He stepped forward to the mirror, with his small variation to his right.
"Ready?" Young Kiba asked.
Kiba gave a final look to the fun house. All of the mirrors showing images of all of the ninjas in his grade. What they looked like now, aside from Sasuke, who was wearing the same outfit and looked the same as he did when he last saw him at the Chunin Exams all those years ago.
"Yeah," He said, looking into the wooden pallet which was now glass, rippling as they were near. "I've had enough of this place to last me a lifetime."
Young Kiba smiled, and they both entered the mirror, with the smaller entering first. Kiba felt himself enter the glass, feeling as if he was diving into the ocean.
And he awoke. Gasping for air he jerked up in his hospital bed, quickly covering his eyes from the brightness hitting him.
"Agh! Dammit! Who has lights this fucking bright?"
He wasn't able to see to his left, a strong pair of arms wrapping around his side, instinctively causing him to move his hands despite the stinging in his eyes. But his eyes weren't hurt enough to not notice Sakura, holding him as tears flooded down her face.
"Sakura..."
"Heh... It took you long enough to wake up, lazy bum."
He reached an arm to wrap her around him, but stopped at the pain in his chest.
"Don't move!"
"Dammit, FUCK!"
Sakura laid him back into the bed slowly. "It's the stitches. Please don't try and move. Your entire body is covered with them."
"Wait, then-"
She nodded. "The operation was a success."
He smiled as he laid in the bed. It worked. Then... Was I just dreaming? Or did it actually happen?
"Kiba?" She asked, noticing his face.
"Yeah?"
"What's wrong?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just tired."
She nodded. "I can go, so you can rest." She stood up, but was stopped as his hand grabbed hers.
"You didn't let me finish. I was going to say I'm just tired... of being away from you." He grinned as he pulled her onto the bed, directly on top of him.
"I missed you." She said, stroking his cheeks with her hands, running them up his head, ruffling his hair.
"Not as much as I missed you" He kissed her, moving over on the bed and allowing her room to lie down next to him. "And boy, have I got one heck of a story to tell ya."
END!
Oh man, forbidden jutsu ftw or what? I don't know where the idea came from, but I thought it was a nice little touch up =P And there ends the little Ukon Arc. I thought it was a nice little fill. I mean... That won't be the ONLY fighting involved, but it was a good way to test out if I could write it out properly... I think I did OK, but I got some more time before I have to try and work on the next one. You'll see.
And how about that Leaf Rising Wind? WOO! Guy-sensai ftw. :D Anyway, please review! Stay tuned for the next chapter! :)