Hero of the Light Ch 21: Beneath the Surface
(Italics: Thoughts/Flashbacks/Dream sequence. Bold: Techniques/Title and Kyubi's/Demon's/Inner Character's Speech. Underline: Time Skips.)
Naruto wandered endlessly through pitch-black darkness, he looked to his left and then to his right as he said aloud:
"Who turned out the lights?"
Suddenly Naruto's vision was blinded by a bright, violet light, Naruto tried to focus with all of his might but no matter how hard he concentrated he couldn't make out the figure in front of him, the figure was surrounded by the light, radiating brightly as it said in a mysterious voice:
"You are the key to unlocking the darkness as well as the Light, your choices will either save this world or veer it toward the path of destruction. Choose wisely warrior of the Light."
With those words the light began to fade as well as the figure. Naruto watched the being vanish into darkness and called out to it:
"Wait what's that supposed to mean?! Hey come back!"
Naruto's eyes suddenly shot open as sunlight began to fill his vision, after a few moments the events of the other day came rushing back to him, he shifted his gaze toward Tenten who was still fast asleep, Naruto smiled at how beautiful she looked, he almost didn't want to wake her, but then Naruto remembered the importance of the mission at hand and knew he had to, he silently got dressed and rolled up his sleeping bag, he set his backpack down and approached Tenten and leaned in and pushed her lightly as he said:
"Hey Tenten..."
Tenten's eyes snapped open and the next thing Naruto knew he was pinned to the ground with her on top of him and a Kunai to his throat, her eyes began to widen in realization a moment later, putting a mischievous grin on Naruto's face as he said in a very sarcastic tone:
"Good morning...?"
Eight Hours Later...
Itachi sat atop a dark throne in a large, circular dimly lit room, the walls and floor were of a very dark stone as were the walls, etched into the surface of these stone walls were carvings of the Deity of Fire, Azura.
Legend said that the very first of the Uchiha learned how to utilize chakra and perform ancient Fire Jutsus from Azura himself after earning the Deity's respect. Itachi had previously visited this very ancient Sanctuary once before with his Father when he had first reached the rank of an ANBU Operative.
His father had told him that the strongest of the Uchiha would come there on a pilgrimage to prove to the rest of their clan they were worthy of the Uchiha name. He couldn't think of a more proper base of operations for the destruction of the Five great Military Powers of the world and the Resurrection of the Uchiha Clan. A Dark Cloaked Assassin appeared before Itachi and immediately bowed at his feet and said:
"My Lord one of our scouting Units discovered intruders approaching the perimeter, they've been identified as Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, what are your orders Lord Itachi?"
A curious smile appeared on the Uchiha Lord's face as he asked in a sinister tone:
"The Hidden Leaf you say? Keep an eye on them and find out what they're up to, and obtain the identities of these Shinobi, you are to keep me posted on their movements, you're dismissed."
The Assassin took a short bow and replied:
"At once my Lord."
And with those words the Assassin vanished into absolute oblivion.
Itachi put his fingers together smoothly and an excessively concentrated look spread across facial expression as he thought to himself quietly:
Is it possible...?
His thoughts were interrupted unfortunately as the form of Sasuke emerged from the darkness and said:
"Brother the Darkness Chakra... It's Pulsing..."
Sasuke held out his palm of his fist as an orb of pitch-black chakra pulsated very powerfully.
Itachi grinned darkly as he thought:
At Last we found Him!
Itachi shifted his gaze toward his brother and said:
"Sasuke come with me, we have the Vessel of the Light in our grasp now, now let us fulfill your destiny..."
Sasuke grinned darkly and followed behind his brother as he began to exit the room and replied:
"Yes Brother..."
Tenten sighed and stared off into the distance as she asked in an extremely bored tone:
"How long do we have to wait here? Shouldn't this informant have at least attempted to come into contact with us?"
Naruto took a deep breathe and replied:
"I'm not sure Tenten, the orders just told me to wait here until we made contact, and we made quite the trip so we should conserve our energy just in case..."
Tenten didn't respond, she felt she was being watched and narrowed her eyes as she concentrated with her chakra in order to heighten her perception of movement. She shifted her gaze to Naruto and made eye contact for a split second in confirmation as they both stood up and launched Kunai toward their rear.
Four Dark Cloaked figures surrounded Naruto and Tenten, swords in hand. Tenten immediately launched Four Kunai through the enemies skulls in sync, the Dark Cloaked figures fell to the ground dead as her and Naruto took off running. Not more than four moments later five identical figures appeared, took a quick glance at the corpses soaking in pools of their own blood, all made eye contact, nodded in confirmation and vanished just as quickly as they had came.
As Naruto and Tenten were running Naruto shifted his gaze to Tenten and said:
"You know Tenten I could have handled that myself."
Tenten winked at him and replied:
"I couldn't let you have all the fun now, could I?"
Naruto smiled and shifted his focus ahead of him again, Naruto shut his eyes for a moment and sent out waves of his chakra to detect any movement.
Naruto's eyes shot open as his body radiated a powerful, golden aura and thought:
There!
Naruto manifested a long, slender sword from an orb of light radiating in his palm and charged forward with all of his might. There was an explosion of chakra, sending Naruto flying into a nearby tree, Tenten appeared by his side and asked:
"Naruto you alright?"
Naruto stood up and nodded as he readied his sword in an offensive stance, narrowing his eyes as he tried to sense his enemy's movement. His eyes widened as he thought:
Above!
Naruto gazed upward just in the nick of time and quickly changed to a defensive stance as the Assassin came slashing downward with his blade. As Naruto blocked the blade Tenten jumped upward and launched Kunai at the back of Naruto's attacker as she yelled:
"Bastard!"
The Assassin blocked every last Kunai with a Kunai of his own with his free hand, launching it toward her as he said:
"Die annoying pest!"
The form of Tenten was replaced with a log as Tenten appeared above him and drove her blade down with all of her might as she roared:
"Don't ever underestimate me!"
Tenten came down in a high velocity as she slid her blade through the back of the enemy's neck. Giving the finishing blow as she sensed her opponent's chakra signature vanish.
Suddenly loud clapping filled her and Naruto's ears, from the darkness three identical Assassins appeared along with two leader figures. The Assassins in front stood to the side as if taking the roles of spectators, the remaining two figures stepped forward from their veil of darkness, revealing themselves causing Naruto's eyes to widen as he thought:
Itachi and Sasuke standing side-by-side?! What the fuck was going on here!?
Itachi grinned and said:
"He will prove a good target to utilize your training and show everyone what you learned here and now."
Sasuke extended his palm and manifested an orb of darkness as he looked at Naruto's confused facial expression and replied:
"I couldn't think of anyone better..."
A/N: Damn man that was one sweet fucking chapter! Action, gore, and light humor all in one! I thought I was procrastinating on Itachi and Sasuke learning that Naruto is the Vessel of their rival lost chakra element and I also wanted to show that Tenten kicks fucking Ass!
I've previously been told on more than one occasion that I created a very high-quality portrayal of Tenten's character if she were older, I personally find nothing special about her character in my story I just wanted this to be a good Naruto/Tenten light romance pairing and have Tenten be as bad-ass as Naruto in my story to eliminate the whole Damsel-In-Distress thing once and for all.
I mean I just honestly feel Tenten's character is the perfect balance between being feminine and a tomboy, mistaking femininity for weakness can be a lethal mistake, trust me if you do you'll get your ass kicked either physically or mentally by a member of the female race when you least expect it and your guard's down, anyway I hope people enjoyed reading this chapter even half as I enjoyed writing it, sorry it weren't longer. Please REVIEW if you care!
Peace! - DL5