Chapter 35: Loss and loss
Disclaimer: I own Kazeneko Yue, some jutsu and the Ruuko clan. That is all.
What surrounded Yue was a ribcage of some sort, a spinal cord and a series of almost metallic ribs curving around her, ending in what looked like inward facing curved blades. The bones themselves were a color similar to that of stone-like volcanic glass, the flames around the ribcage was a very dark red, almost like dried blood. The spine was thick and mechanical looking, like a segmented pipe, bladed ridges sticking out the back of each vertebrae.
Yue stood up, the ribcage rising with her so it rose over Hanabi's head. "Hanabi, stay there," Yue commanded as flames started to sputter from the left side of the new jutsu. The few kunai that had found shallow homes in Yue's body fell out, barely any blood escaping the wounds.
One of the Ne ANBU moved to the front, holding a kunai in hand. "I have no fear of you and your sharingan genjutsu," he declared, stabbing at her with his kunai, thinking he'd pass through the chakra bones.
Yue didn't even flinch, the steel dagger shattering like it was brittle glass when it met her Susanoo. The flames kept sputtering as new bones were formed, the left shoulder and arm seeming to push out of the flames. After it formed three long fingers and a thumb, it seized the man and lifted him off the ground.
"You...tried to kill Hanabi, tried to kill me..." Yue said, her rage visible as the strange jutsu seemed to pulse, growing a slight bit more solid.
The man glared down into the girl's eyes. "You will fall, demon. We won't-"
CRACK! CRACK!
"GAAAAHHHHH!" the man screamed as the fingers closed on his body, effortlessly shattering his ribs, crushing his insides. They kept closing until the man screamed his last and the skeletal hand dropped his broken corpse to the ground.
"Which of you bastards is next?" she asked, her voice dripping with murderous intent, glaring at the people before her as the skeletal chakra arm beckoned.
Instantly, almost the entire crowd backed up, not wanting to die to this insane monster. Her power felt more than repulsive enough, but she could easily kill without even trying.
"Y-You demon! You murdered him!" a woman shouted, scared of what might happen, but still willing to give voice to her thoughts.
A man in the crowd looked away from the woman, who hadn't realized that Yue had executed a man who was a single step away from committing treason. Even if Yue had left him alive, he wouldn't live much longer than a week. In a way, Yue had cleaned up the village without all the bureaucratic bullshit the council normally brought up.
The skeletal hand picked up the man's corpse, then pushed it off to the side. "So it follows my will... This would be useful because of my arm..." Yue stopped there, looking at the area and noticing her distance vision was slightly blurry. She rubbed at her eyes with her right arm, then looked again. No change. 'My vision is starting to fail. I guess Ruuko only start to go blind after getting Susanoo. That explains why Ruuko kenjutsu has such a heavy reliance on hearing, feeling through the sword and the ability to sense people through their KI. I thought it was to avoid demonic illusions and genjutsu...'
Kakashi noticed Yue's actions, realizing that the girl was starting to have problems with her eyesight. He himself had noticed that the vision of his sharingan was slowly being eaten away at too. Luckily his right eye was his own, meaning his vision was safe for one eye at least, allowing him to continue reading Icha Icha. It wasn't his bottom line, but it was his favorite past-time. Nothing would suck more than being a blind old man with more Icha Icha being released.
The remaining of the Ne ANBU went all out, jumping at Yue with explosive tags strapped to their bodies, ready to go off. Seeing the danger of this, Yue's Susanoo slapped most of them away so they'd explode with very little collateral damage, the final two were grabbed and thrown as well, though it was straight up.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yue had just taken out some of the Ne ANBU's domestic division, or she rather helped them kill themselves. The fact of the matter is that Danzō had lost a portion of his power just now. Her rage at people willing to sacrifice a child to kill her was far from gone, in fact, it was even greater now. Her Susanoo, once more, seemed to grow in power as her anger rose, the still incomplete hand burning with flames.
"Rasengan!"
Yue and her Susanoo turned, the hand coming up in time to seize the ball of chakra, sparks spraying as the expanding rasengan scraped the bones, cracking pieces off in spite of the chakra reinforcement. Yue, seeing the damage her Susanoo was taking, made it shove the ball aside, smashing into the ground a bit behind her. After the jutsu was ground out, she noticed that one of the fingers was completely broken off, the other fingers fractured all over. 'It can move automatically to defend me as well... Interesting.'
Red eyes met red eyes, Naruto angry that he had to rely on the power of Kyūbi again, but it was effective if Yue's jutsu had lost most of its hand. "What is that thing?"
"Just a sign that I am far beyond salvation, Naruto," Yue said, then grinned a bit, "you can call it 'Susanoo' though, that's what people call it."
"Seems it can't help much, since I broke its fingers," Naruto pointed out.
Yue focused her chakra and, right before Naruto's eyes, the Susanoo repaired itself. "You were saying?" Yue asked, starting to feel that the drain was getting to be a bit much. Summoning it for the first time, having it grow an arm, repairing it after blocking a charged rasengan... She couldn't keep it up for too much longer, especially since her chakra reserves hadn't been full to begin with. The fatigue from the chases and her shadow clones was building up too.
Naruto and his two clones were starting to form a wind release rasengan and Yue was certain that if a large rasengan damaged her Susanoo, what he was making would completely destroy it. Add into that, at this very moment, Yue realized that the ribcage was damn heavy and wouldn't let her jump too high or move quickly, she released it, the bones disintegrating and the flames dying out. Naruto stopped forming his jutsu, confused.
Yue looked at him, her mangekyō greatly dimmed, allowing the pattern to be seen clearly. They were nothing like Itachi's, making the younger ninja realize that mangekyō each had a unique pattern. A thick black ring was where all sharingan normally had a thin black ring, a horizontal line going from either side of her pupil to the ring, rounded ridges around the outside edge of the ring, tiny points on the inside part of it. They were an interesting ruby red rather than blood colored.
'Kind of pretty,' Sakura thought, as did a few other girls and a rare handful of men.
Yue, as one would expect, never appreciated the appearance of her mangekyō, actually hating that she had any dōjutsu or bloodline to begin with, resulting in her refusing to use it in her youth, much to Anko's displeasure. Yue hated bloodlines, mostly because nearly everyone who had one seemed to have no moral compass when it came to using it and had a superiority complex because of the power at their disposal. She became a jōnin without anyone knowing she had sharingan, even if she was only given it so she'd die sooner. She deserved her former rank now, not like some people who only held rank due to their bloodline or ability to use jutsu exclusive to their family.
Hyūga were so reliant on their byakugan that it was pathetic, which was part of the reason she liked Hanabi, who heard of her and had come to learn how to be more rounded out while Naruto was training with the pervert and Kurenai was sharpening Sakura's chakra control during the chūnin exam break. The fact of the matter is that if you were to get out of the range of their hands, you could easily kill a Hyūga because they had no real long range skills, since their byakugan made them taijutsu monsters. Well, there was that air burst attack they had, but it was easy to dodge if you just stayed behind the Hyūga. Hanabi had seen Neji get defeated in the exams and she realized that taijutsu alone wasn't enough. With very little time, Yue had been trying to help the girl learn some ninjutsu. It was through that time that Yue learned that the Hyūga clan seemed to be like the Uchiha, most of the clan having an affinity, though the Hyūga appeared to be water rather than fire, probably why they could be so damn calm. Yue had been teaching the girl the basics of water manipulation before she left, though Yue had to read from a scroll to do so. Without her sharingan, water jutsu were impossible to use, just like almost any element other than fire or lightning.
The Uchiha, well, Yue had their eyes and knew of the temptations of their powers. Stealing jutsu, near perfect genjutsu immunity, ability to reflect genjutsu, casting genjutsu with a mere glance, the list was long. Yue actually found it funny that the Hyūga, and some other people, believed that the Uchiha had somehow copied their eyes. The byakugan only allowed the ability to see chakra, at a very high level of course, the sharingan's powers far exceeded that. If any dōjutsu was copied, the byakugan was a poor imitation of the sharingan. Yue could choose to copy jutsu, as opposed to Uchiha who automatically stole jutsu, or so she thought, so that was a bit of a relief. Of course, her current example of a regular Uchiha, Sasuke, showed that the clan was corrupt to the core and their affinity for fire was perfect for them, since their anger burned like a wildfire being fed by a dry wind.
There were other bloodlines in the world, but Yue had the most experience with the two she had just thought of. Fact is that most bloodline users became trapped by their own power, making them boringly predictable. That was the reason she hated Sasuke and saw Hanabi as a great kid, because Sasuke's sharingan had activated every time he fought and Hanabi had been learning that she didn't need her dōjutsu all the time. Of course, Yue had her sharingan active a lot, but that was because she had to make sure that she lasted long enough, that she pushed Naruto to his limits of power, so he could destroy the sharingan once and for all by killing her, Sasuke and Itachi. The sharingan would never plague the world again, there would never be another Madara or Sasuke. And if today was any indicator, she'd need her sharingan more and more as her vision failed.
Yue shot forward, starting up a taijutsu battle with Naruto. With one arm down, she dodged more than she blocked. Naruto's style seemed sharper now, more controlled. Yue didn't think Naruto was doing better because of her wounded arm or the fact that her Susanoo had hurt her slightly due to her inexperience with it, he truly was pushing her back with his own skills. More than once he surprised her and he sometimes scored clean hits on her. He had even pulled his injured arm out of the sling, though Yue could tell that he was mostly using it for balance.
Yue spied an uppercut that Naruto aimed at her stomach, placing her foot on his fist and using the force of his punch to throw herself back and onto a wall, where she stuck with the assistance of her still usable arm and feet. She sealed Tyrfing away, even at a distance, and summoned a guardless silver katana. "Sorry to cut this short, Naruto, but I've got things I have to do," Yue said.
Naruto stared up at her and was surprised when the little Hyūga girl ran out in front of him, after shoving him slightly. "Yue-san! Why did you abandon Konoha?" she demanded.
Yue didn't answer the girl, couldn't answer her. The girl had improved a lot from the relatively quiet girl who kept her emotions bottled up inside like a normal Hyūga. Either she took Yue's advice or the girl and her sister were getting along better now. Either way, it was nice to see the change.
"Answer me!" Hanabi shouted, her Hyūga side showing through, or at least the side she got from her father.
"It's difficult to explain. I'll just tell you that my goal is similar to Akatsuki's," Yue said, not looking at the girl who she considered her third student. Naruto was the first, Sakura the second, Hanabi the third. It hurt that all three looked at her as an enemy, as Akatsuki, but it was required, something Yue couldn't avoid.
"If that's the case, I can't let you leave!"
Yue turned to see a woman coming at her, an ANBU with a cat mask, sword on her back in its sheath, though that was quickly changed. Yue looked up, seeing a metal pole. In an expert performance, Yue shot to the pole, rebounded off it and swung her sword twice, the woman's now severed sword flying away as the back of her vest shredded, her mask also being cut loose. Before reaching the ground, Yue flipped her sword into the air, the weapon coming down and punching through the ANBU's still airborne mask, splitting it in two as it impaled itself in the ground next to the woman.
"I'll leave you with that one, treat it well," Yue said, then took off along the wall, aiming for the gates of the village. Everyone aside from a few ANBU followed, those men and women going to check their fallen coworker.
"Cat, you alright?" Owl asked.
Cat sat up, quickly putting a hand to her back. "She didn't even touch my shirt, just the vest... And some hair," she said.
At the gates, the guards shot off to either side, not wanting to deal with this girl that could summon a skeleton to fight her battles for her. "Yo-You'll never g-get through!" one of them shakily stuttered, scared.
Yue frowned as she ran up to the gates. "Tyrfing!" she commanded, the sword appearing as she jumped at the gate.
CRASH!
Yue had flipped in mid air and smashed the edge of her sword into the door, a wave of red energy racing over the door, the door lurching back as the force of the slash pushed it, all the locks and bars holding the doors from opening splitting from the sword's edge and the demonic energy Yue put behind it. Not wasting any time, Yue rammed into one of the gates, the barrier creaking as it shifted open enough for her to leave, which she did.
Tsunade and the crowd stopped at the gates. "Damn... Naruto! You and your friends go after her! The objective of this A-rank mission is to bring her back!" the blonde commanded.
Naruto nodded and he led the Eleven Leaves, plus Sai, after Yue.
[A few hours later]
The team returned, far from triumphant. Yue had dodged them, trapped them, even Kiba and Akamaru were bawling from being hit with pepper/onion bombs right in their sensitive noses and eyes. Neji was still temporarily blind from the intense flash of lightning that she breezed his nose with. All in all, Yue had escaped and humiliated them in hopes that they would give up chasing her, which worked when she used 'oiroke no jutsu: Sakura Han' on Naruto, letting him feel the potency of his own original jutsu first hand, though Lee got caught up in it too. She had attempted to put Sakura under the effects of Tsukuyomi again, but Naruto had prevented it.
Tsunade decided that they needed information on Akatsuki. Rather than dig up Hidan's head and spit on Shikamaru's efforts and wishes, as well as violate the Nara clan law preventing non-Nara from entering that forest, she ordered the teams to go hunting for three known Akatsuki targets: Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame and Kazeneko Yue.
[A few days later, near Orochimaru's northern hideout]
Yue was trying to dig up more information on Orochimaru, having already collected the ring he had stolen from Akatsuki. Sasuke was missing, so she wanted to see if anyone had news of his whereabouts. Kabuto was missing as well, but he was probably killed by Sasuke or went mad, hiding somewhere in fear. She had already found one of Orochimaru's people, a kekkei genkai user named Guren, who had given over her information on two of Orochimaru's bases: the northern and southern hideouts. When Yue asked why she was getting the information so easily, Guren bitterly told her that she'd been tossed aside in favor of Sasuke. That and Kabuto had killed a young boy she had cared for. Basically, the woman wanted revenge and told Yue to bring Kabuto to her if he was ever found, preferably with his limbs shattered so he couldn't run away.
Akatsuki had reset the clock on her body's steady breakdown, as well as healing her arm as much as they could. Her left arm was drastically weakened, unable to be used in combat unless it was with hand seals, a raikiri sword or yōki attacks. It even had a tremor sometimes, probably from the nerve damage she had suffered. Luckily the nerves and tendons had been repaired, allowing her to conquer the now somewhat daunting tasks of handling chopsticks, reading and writing! Seriously, fine movement was a bit rough on her left hand now and her grip strength would allow a civilian to beat her in thumb wrestling. Oh well, she could use her right hand too, so it wasn't a huge loss. Good thing she downplayed the injury or else Pain would have had her monitored by that Zetsu freak.
So here she was, not too far from the northern hideout, where Hebi-teme's curse seal was born, and who does she find?
Uchiha Sasuke, along with three ninja.
Yue decided it was time to finish her little game with Sasuke. She didn't care about having an honorable or even worthwhile match, she just needed to stop the pursuit of Konoha completely. Dumping Sasuke at Konoha's feet would stop their pursuit of Yue dead while they tended to their precious prince.
"It's decided then," Sasuke said, completing the creation of his team.
"What's decided?" Yue asked, appearing in a shower of sparks.
Sasuke turned, calmly glaring at her. "I knew you were here, my scar was acting up."
"You should really get that checked out," Yue said in all seriousness.
Sasuke noticed Yue's jacket. "Those marks... You're Akatsuki, just like Itachi..."
"You always did have awe inspiring powers of observation, genius," Yue said.
"I should kill you, but you'd be far more valuable if I caught you. I might be able to drag Itachi out of hiding," Sasuke stated.
Yue's eye brow rose. "Hiding? You make it sound like he's afraid of you. He's got more important things to deal with."
"You don't need arms or legs to talk, though I'd like to cut your heart out this time," Sasuke growled.
"And I want nothing more than to burn your bones out of existence with a blaze release, but I'll end it at breaking your legs. These ones that you picked up, they'll be the ones who will die," Yue said, drawing Aka Kubikirihōchō.
"Suigetsu, there is your prize," Sasuke said, pointing at the crystallized blood sword in Yue's hand.
The sword lover looked the blade over. "Looks very different from how I remember it, but I like the blood coloring," he said, smirking as he drew his sword.
Yue activated her mangekyō, knowing that she'd need it if these guys had been kept by Orochimaru for so long. He didn't keep useless things.
Karin was sweating, sensing all the chakra around her. 'H-How is this possible? Her chakra...its so dark...almost black. Even the curse seal on her neck is brighter than it. Sasuke, I don't think we should fight her. I-I think we should beg her to let us leave! And what is this foreign chakra I'm sensing from deep within her? Something's seriously wrong with her!'
Sasuke calmly drew his sword. "Suigetsu, enjoy yourself."
The water user ran forward, holding the long blade at the ready to cut Yue in two. She saw this coming, knew his attack angle and everything already due to the powers of her sharingan. When his blade started to slide forward to bifurcate her, she performed a jump that was a few inches above the sword and landed in pretty much the same spot she had started from, but deep in his guard this time as his sword went very wide.
"What the-" he started, only to have Yue swing her sword and cleaved both his Achilles tendons.
Crackle...
Yue vanished, flickering back into view with charges of lightning arcing off her body as she moved. With each charge, she appeared in a different area near Suigetsu, her blade held at the end of a swing.
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle.
Yue reappeared before him, sword held behind her right shoulder.
'She cut me?' he thought, feeling his body coming apart.
Yue swung her blade down hard, cleaving through Suigetsu's body, cutting his brain, trachea,, spine, aorta and guts in two, her blade hitting the ground with enough force to actually cause the ground to fracture under the edge as a week gust of wind blew away from the impact point.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Yue's eyes widened, realizing that each slash felt off. Seeing water where the teen had been, Yue shot off with her lightning enhanced speed, getting well out of range of the boy.
Suigetsu reformed, his shirt barely rags, his pants turned to shorts. "Damn, she sliced my sword up," he grumbled as he looked at the hilt and handle.
SPLASH! "Worry about your clothes, dumbass!" Karin screamed, having punched the boy in the head, reducing it to water.
Yue chuckled. "Looks like you reformed Team 7."
Sasuke wanted to argue, but suddenly saw Suigetsu as Naruto and Karin as Sakura, minus the love the blond had for the pink haired girl. He kept it inside, but he mentally groaned and face palmed. 'Dammit! What the hell was I thinking? WAS I thinking at all?'
"Well, I guess that means you're a little homesick," Yue said.
Sasuke decided to get back at her. "Maybe I'm a tiny bit homesick. You know all about how low a person can get when they miss home."
Yue's cat ear twitched. "What?"
"Sorry, you must be a bit short of hearing," Sasuke said, smirking.
"Allude to me being short. One more time, I dare you," Yue warned.
"This fight would be much more interesting if only the stakes were higher," Sasuke said, smirking like he had won the fight already.
Yue appeared before Sasuke, her sharingan blazing. She drove her fist into the Uchiha's stomach, making him fold from the force of her blow. With him like that, she pulled her arm back and swung her leg up, clipping Sasuke in the forehead with her knee, making him lean back. To end it all, Yue hopped up slightly and swung her leg down, her heel crashing into Sasuke's chest, slamming him into the ground with enough force to leave a Sasuke-print behind. This all happened in less than three seconds.
"I can't help it if I'm a runt!" Yue roared, practically spitting flames in her rage. If one knew her, they'd say that Yue resembled the Red Hot Habanero, Uzumaki Kushina.
"S-S-S-Sasuke?" Karin squeaked, thinking the Uchiha was dead from that attack. Luckily, he wasn't. Poor Sasuke, still fully conscious, was wondering how the hell he just got his ass handed to him so quickly and effortlessly. He couldn't process how the power gap between them was so damn large.
Suigetsu moved forward, only for Yue to fire lightning into him, proving that water was a great conductor.
Yue felt the massive spike of killing intent, shifting away in time to avoid Jūgo's transformed arm. When he swung again, she summoned a large shield and put it in the way.
CLANG! CRACK!
Yue was shocked when the shield shattered from the force of the man's blow, but she reacted quickly and activated her level 2 curse seal enough to produce the chakra arms, catching the blow and stopping it completely.
"Y-you too," Jūgo managed through his killing rage.
Yue directed the arms to wrap up the arm of the curse seal's origin, completing her curse seal as she went, aiming to throw Jūgo overhead, to get rid of him for a few moments. The man reacted faster though, smashing his knee into her forehead before he was flung aside. Suigetsu worked up his nerve again, or got over the raiton that had been lanced into him, and surged into Yue, attempting to drown her as he became a ball of water.
"Give it up," the water user stated, though the only form of 'giving up' he'd accept would be her death. Kami he wished he had a sword, then he'd stab her a few times through his water body.
Yue struggled, using her curse seal, using her chakra, none of it worked. 'Susanoo wouldn't work either, not until I break free... Che, time to negate the suiton.'
"I-I think she's giving up," Karin muttered, looking over her teammate.
Yue opened her eyes, dark red flame on her right hand, pale blue on her left, then she brought them together. "Onmyōton: Kasukēdo..."
Splaaash!
Suigetsu slowly reformed his body from a puddle, finding it far more difficult than normal. "What the hell did she do?"
Yue hefted her left arm up, a deep navy blue crossbow with silver on it attached to her forearm, water flowing around both. "You are nothing to me anymore, boy."
Suigetsu snorted, then flew through some hand seals. "Suiton: Suiryūdan no jutsu!"
Yue held her left hand out, the silvery bow glowing brightly, the water spiraling faster as a lot more joined it, her other hand held in a half ram seal as her mangekyō glowed. "Suiton: Suikōdan no jutsu."
A water shark that formed from the floating water and slammed into the dragon, tearing the serpent's throat out as it kept going forward. Suigetsu barely managed to change into water, allowing the jutsu to fly over his head. He reformed. "Damn! Sasuke didn't mention you could use suiton as well."
"I can't," Yue said.
"Then what did you just do?" Suigetsu demanded.
Yue pointed the bow at the boy. "I didn't do anything at all."
As they watched, water flowed from nearby water sources, flowing through the air itself, heading for the bow. Luckily, Suigetsu was not pulled in.
'The hell is that thing? It's creeping me out,' Suigetsu thought.
Karin couldn't take her eyes off the bow. 'Solid chakra...'
Sasuke managed to figure out what happened a few moments ago (in his mind) and forced himself into a sitting position.
"I'll kill you!" Jūgo roared as he rushed up from behind Yue, axe arm raised over her head, a maniacal gleam in his eyes that matched the grin beneath them.
Yue spun around and pointed the bow at the man, a bolt of water ready to go. "Shūha Kaze," she stated.
Twock!
SPLASH!
…..
CRASH!
Jūgo had been hit dead in the chest with a large bolt made from water, which pushed him back a good distance, then detonated in a massive spray of water, sending him into a rock wall with enough force to stun him. He was even knocked out of his psychotic rage, though it was only temporary.
"The hell?!" Suigetsu shouted, unable to believe that she had that much power. And what suiton was that? He'd never heard of such a jutsu.
Yue winced, the bow breaking into water and falling off. She felt the bite to her chakra, not as significant as one would think, but she knew that she had to play it very safe now. The true drawback of the reimyō buki was in full effect now. She also shut down her curse seal, since it would just hinder her.
"You two, back me up. She's not as powerful as our target, but she's still a thorn in my side," Sasuke said, rallying the ragtag team. Jūgo was still a bit dazed.
Yue growled. "Don't think I'm such a pushover, Uchiha! Susanoo!" The ribcage and arm blazed to life around her.
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock, having remembered his father telling him of this legendary power the Uchiha had. He never thought he'd see it in his lifetime, never wanted to see it either, especially against him. It was even worse that some little bitch from a weaker clan had it.
Suigetsu and Karin scattered as Yue drove the Susanoo's lone fist forward, shattering the ground. The hand shot out after Karin, catching her and driving itself into the ground, stunning the girl. From within the Susanoo, Yue released a lightning blast to fry Suigetsu again. She had noticed that he slowed a bit, both his speed and his jutsu, when electrocuted by her. She didn't know if it was that way for all raiton that hit him or if it was just her own positively charged raiton, but it worked. Jūgo was still staggering around like a drunk.
"Just you and me now, Sasuke," Yue said as she released Karin's partially conscious form, walking forward in spite of the massive burden her Susanoo put on her. She knew she was doing something wrong, since Itachi always said his was light until its completed skeletal form, but this was all she had now and she had to make due with it.
Sasuke went to strike Yue with his sword, but she used her Susanoo to disarm him with a backhanded slap to his arm. He ran through the seals and spat a fireball at her, but she used her Susanoo to force it into the ground, smothering the fire. He then tried to get her with his chidori sharp spear.
It hit, the electrified blade punching through the bones with ease, lancing through Yue's left shoulder.
"Got you, Ruuko," Sasuke said, increasing the charge. He smiled as the ribcage cracked some more around the electric blade.
Yue gripped the lightning sword with her right hand, sighing. "Pathetic."
Crack!
Sasuke's eyes widened when she twisted the blade of lightning, actually snapping it. He then remembered how he had built up the power of his raiton to counter Naruto's rasengan and Itachi's might, forgetting Yue's extreme talent with the very weapon he had honed for three years. It was like trying to drown a shark with a suiton: utterly useless. In his defense, he thought she had died that night three years ago.
The right half of the Susanoo faded away. Yue held her right arm back, lightning crackling wildly. Pristine white lighting surrounded Yue's hand. "Raikiri: Idai Yari!" Yue shouted, a surging brand of lightning extending from her hand, rushing at Sasuke's heart.
"Sasuke!" Karin shouted, tackling the young Uchiha out of the way, just in time for the spear to miss them. It lanced into a wall, punching through it with ease, passing through two more solid stone barriers before Yue cancelled it out.
'Dammit! She's advanced even further, and she used raikiri rather than chidori. She's far more dangerous than I originally thought,' Sasuke mused. He'd need to kill her somehow, but with her talents, she might be able to rival Itachi someday, maybe even exceed his power. It'd be nice if he could copy the raikiri, but she didn't use hand seals for it and the chakra flow was nearly impossible for a regular sharingan to track.
Yue flung her hands out, Susanoo fading completely, palms facing out. Lightning crackled, forming six rough spears, three on either side of her. "My chakra reserves far outstrip yours, Sasuke. How many times can you use chidori per day? Can you dodge my Raikiri Gatoringu?" she asked.
Sasuke decided to stop messing around, it was time to use that.
Yue swung her hands forward, the lightning spears swung up and shot towards Sasuke in very quick succession, who dodged them or, in the case of one, cut it in two with his sword. He went to use his jutsu, but Yue finished her hand seals first.
"Katon: Gōka Messhitsu!" Yue shouted, releasing a powerful blast of fire at the lake, evaporating a very large amount of it in the process, and partially burning part of the prison/lab. It looked less like a katon and more like the wrath of a fire god.
"Sasuke! Are you alright?" Karin screeched, the heat of the flames having drained the medic of her fighting spirit. The other two, Suigetsu and Jūgo were standing, though Suigetsu looked tired from the extreme heat he'd almost been subjected to.
Jūgo turned to face Yue, Suigetsu and Sasuke standing on either side of him.
"What? You're going to band together to fight me?" Yue asked, her purring tone replaced with an angry growl as she felt herself weaken from using so much chakra so quickly, "and here I thought Uchiha Sasuke-sama didn't need help from anyone!"
Sasuke drew his sword out of the ground. "To kill you, to kill Itachi, I'll do anything I have to. I'll let myself be corrupted, I'll take drugs to speed up my growth, I'll suffer agonizing training, I'll even team up with others, so long as you and Itachi are dead in the end, I'll do it."
Yue shot forward with Aka Kubikirihōchō, ready to cut down Jūgo. She didn't count on Suigetsu becoming a wave, smashing into her and temporarily blinding her, just long enough for Jūgo to drive a hard punch into her chest, sending her flying back while her sword flipped away, nearly impaling Karin in the head.
"Che! Missed," Suigetsu grumbled as he reformed.
"BAKAYAROOOOO!" Karin roared, throwing rocks at the water user, who let them tear through his liquid body.
Yue was starting to get up, but Sasuke slammed his foot down on the spot he had driven a kunai three years ago. "Suffer!" he declared, forcing lightning through his foot and into the scar. Yue screamed, her chakra sensitive nerves sending more pain signals then necessary due to the damage they had suffered previously.
Sasuke kept it up for a while, then stopped when Yue stopped making noise. He pulled his foot off of her, noting that she was actually smoking slightly. The Uchiha figured it was probably due to them being complete opposites in terms of electrical polarity, which would explain why their raiton didn't mix well.
"Is she dead?" Jūgo asked, a bit concerned.
Sasuke stomped on Yue's left shoulder, getting a mewl of pain from her. "Not yet," he said, lifting his sword overhead.
"Sasuke! We don't need to kill her!" Karin shouted.
The boy looked at her, his sharingan glaring into her soul. "Why not?"
"B-Because she might have c-clues to Itachi!" Karin stuttered, scared for a moment there.
Sasuke grunted in agreement. He knelt next to his former teammate, grabbed her hair and roughly lifted it up as he glared into her mangekyō with his sharingan. "Well, anything in that useless skull of yours related to where Itachi is?"
"Rot in...He-Hell...you duckass headed...fucked up mis..take," Yue managed, seriously feeling pain from her cracked ribs. The raiton didn't help matters, but it only aggravated the fact that Jūgo nearly broke all her ribs with one punch. Yue nicknamed him 'The Hammer.'
Sasuke shook his head as he let hers drop. "I'll let you live, but you are never going to attack me again."
"Make...me," Yue shot back as her mangekyō reverted to her original eyes.
Sasuke grinned coldly, scaring Suigetsu and Karin. "I fully intend to." He held his blade over her, point aimed down at her.
[Twenty minutes later]
Karin had done what she was told, but couldn't look at the girl or the very slowly spreading puddle of blood that spread from her. Thankfully, the screaming only lasted a few minutes.
'Is this how Sasuke is now? I wonder if I should be following him...' Karin thought to herself. There was brutality, then there was what Sasuke had just done.
Sasuke was satisfied that his sword was free of blood, therefor not at risk of rusting, so he put it back into its sheath with an audible click. "We're done here, time to move on."
They would have moved on, but something stopped them.
"Kyaaaa!"
The guys turned to see Karin, held by Yue, the hanyō's teeth sunk into the girl's left shoulder.
Suigetsu drew his new sword with both hands. "She's damn persistent!"
Karin struggled to talk, but she couldn't because Yue's right hand was wrapped around her neck. After a half minute, Yue dropped the girl, looking a hell of a lot stronger than she did a moment ago, Karin looked exhausted. "She has a most interesting healing ability, and it replenished some of my chakra too, good thing Guren mentioned it," Yue noted, then glared at Sasuke's team with her reactivated sharingan.
Sasuke's face remained impassive. "What are you going to do now? How much more will it take for you to mind your own business?"
Yue summoned Tyrfing as her sharingan flickered, making Suigetsu partially change into water in excitement at the sight of her weapon. "I don't kill for pleasure or because I want to, I give death to those who deserve it. But you know what, Uchiha Sasuke?" Yue asked, her voice still gravely with anger, "I'm no better than a common killer. Cutting people apart, killing them, feeling their blood hit my skin, it's the best thing I'm able to experience in a world that despises me and wishes for my death." Suigetsu was nodding his head vigorously, agreeing with her completely. Killing and cutting were the best!
"So this is why Orochimaru marked you as well," Sasuke noted. The man did have a good eye for strength, insanity and a willingness to slaughter. Pity he couldn't see treachery coming for him, just like his old master. 'Hn, the irony.'
Yue pointed the blade at Sasuke, her mangekyō glowing bright red. "Sasuke, I was going to defeat you, throw you back to Konoha, to Ino, but now I'm not going to bother with that. You're a threat to everything around you, a cancer that takes and takes and destroys! Hell doesn't want you, but I'm going to send you there anyway, in pieces!"
Sasuke smirked. "You aren't a threat to me, not anymore. Next time I see you, be of some use and bring Itachi so I can kill him."
Yue laughed. "You don't understand, do you? He's out of your reach, you useless moron! He was ANBU while you were struggling to climb a fucking tree! You were only called a genius because of your last name, you dumbass Uchiha! You're nothing at all to anyone on this world! Did you think he's just been sitting around, waiting for you? He's strong, far stronger than that bastard you killed not too long ago, and he's only getting stronger. Orochimaru was the worst person to go receive training from because he was AFRAID of Itachi and his power!"
Sasuke coldly glared at the girl. "He chose me to end him, to avenge the Uchiha clan that he massacred."
"And you struggled against me, one Ruuko with failing sharingan and a crippled arm! He cut down an entire clan of fully able sharingan users! If he wanted to, he could just snap your neck and be done with you, to go do bigger and better things, like capturing Naruto and other jinchūriki for Akatsuki," Yue said, "face it Sasuke, you don't fit into anyone's grand scheme. You're just a pawn without a king, moving about without a clue as to what you should do. You aren't important in the least bit. He didn't spare you to be an avenger, he spared you because you weren't worth the time or effort."
Sasuke lanced a chidori sharp spear into her heart, surprised when she cracked like glass. "Genjutsu..."
"Did you really think I'd stand in the open after I got up?" Yue's voice echoed over the area, "I put you and your 'team' under my mangekyō's genjutsu while I was healing myself with Karin's power. You really need to work on your genjutsu resistance, since I'm nowhere near as good as Itachi. At this rate, he could have you think you were killing him while he was really gutting you with your own sword."
"Coward!" Suigetsu shouted.
"I'm in no condition to fight right now. I'll leave you alone, to wander around behind that deluded fool you call a leader," Yue said, her voice fading near the end.
Karin got to her feet, having a bit of trouble at first. "I can't sense her anymore. I think she left a shadow clone to tell us all that."
Sasuke grunted, turning from where the girl had last been. "We're going. Akatsuki must have a base nearby, so if we look around it, we'll find information on Itachi's whereabouts."
The others agreed and decided to search around for the base, if there was one, then move on to gather information on Itachi.
[Later that day, far from the Northern Hideout]
Yue growled as pain wracked her entire body, a deep and burning pain at that. It felt like lava was running through her veins. "What's...ngh...happening to me?" She looked at her hands, watched as blood red energy dripped from the cracking skin of her hands and forearms. She felt pain in her face and knew that the same was happening there as well.
While Yue was busy with her pain, a number of samurai stepped out of the bushes, their green armor color matching the forest behind them perfectly. "Slay the beast while she's weak!" the leader ordered.
"Yes!" the other ten cheered. They smelled like cats, proving that they were nekomata.
The men charged at Yue, blades raised. Yue saw them, but the pain kicked in even more than before. She saw that there was freaking light burning out of the cracked skin now. "Maybe that was a bad idea, whatever that was..."
From miles away, anyone could see the explosion of red light. The blast lasted a few moments, then a shock wave tore through a limited area of the forest as the light faded away.
Yue coughed a bit as she stood up, hugging her left arm to her body as she did so. "What the hell... Huh? I'm not hurting anymore?" She looked at the wounds, noticing that they were just bad cracks in her skin. They hurt, but nowhere near the level they hurt before. They were even starting to heal.
Yue winced slightly as she felt a familiar chakra. She turned around, forming a ram seal as she focused on the chakra, connecting to it.
Yue's vision was replaced with the interior of a cave, shadowy figures appearing in a circle. Yue stood slightly behind two figures, one with an ornament in their hair and the other had spiky hair, sort of like Naruto's.
"Now that we're all here..." the spiky haired one began.
"Uh, customer-san..." the man tried.
"What?" a very irate Yue asked. She was still pissed about her fight against Sasuke, and that was nearly a week ago. It didn't help matters that it was so soon after that event. Yue clenched her right hand, nails almost biting into her palms. 'I hate people who toy with others...'
The man winced. "Uh, you should really slow down a bit..."
Yue took a long swig of the burning alcohol, a passing habit she picked up from Kisame. The man didn't drink much, rarely in fact, but he, Itachi and Deidara had taken Yue to a bar for her eighteenth birthday and they discovered something about her then. First, it wasn't her first time to a bar. Second...
"It's not like I can get drunk off this stuff. Just accept the money and I'll keep drinking," Yue grumbled, putting some money down. Sadly, Yue drank Anko under a table when Yue was only twelve. It helped that Yue's body burned alcohol so quickly that she'd have to drink a whole gallon of the really strong stuff in less than ten minutes to become dizzy.
The man winced as he got a bottle of the strongest, and most expensive alcohol he had. He once served this to Senju Tsunade herself and she was laid out after half a bottle. This hanyō had downed ten bottles and the only sign she actually drank it was the scent of the sake on her heated breath. He should be happy for the business, but...
"I don't really like serving someone who doesn't appreciate the drink," he said, grudgingly handing over the bottle.
Yue took the top off and poured herself another saucer of the liquid. "I do appreciate it, I'll just never get drunk off it," she said, then drank it, "I can get my hands on stuff that will knock out your sturdiest patron just from the smell. THAT stuff can get me wasted."
The man's interest was peaked. Not only was he a bartender, he was also something of an alcohol connoisseur. He would often leave his little stand to his friend when he heard of new drinks being mixed or people brewing new alcohols, just so he could try them out and see if he should serve it to his customers. Despite his stand being small, it was one of the most well equipped bars in all the nations. He was actually waiting for confirmation on being allowed to serve a new drink, one that was almost pure alcohol and could easily be mixed with others due to it being tasteless. He hoped to open a new, far larger bar in Konoha soon, since he had more than enough money to open a chain of bars.
"Hmm. Can I try some?" he asked.
Yue grinned as she finished the bottle off. She twitched her tail, the ring on it glowing brightly. A white furred, regal looking Balinese cat the size of a lion appeared and Yue spoke to the cat in a language the man didn't understand, then it disappeared. A few minutes later, a white haired gentleman appeared with four bottles that were tied together at the necks hanging from one hand, a dark wood platter with an elegant drinking saucer resting on the center of it. His well made clothing of a very formal style, coupled with his demeanor and bearing, all suggested that the man was both a bartender and a butler.
"Lady, I have brought what you requested of me," the man stated, holding up the four bottles.
Yue nodded and gestured to the bar top. "I'd like a nice drink to forget some things for a while, and this man would like to try some nekomata sake," she said.
The butler set the bottles on the bar top, removing one from the bindings. He set the expensive saucer before Yue and popped the cork as the stand's bartender got his own saucer out.
After their drinks had been poured, the man smelled his drink, finding it to be extremely sweet scented, but very heavy as well. He knew that more than a few drinks would render him completely drunk, a few more would probably blind him. He was quite surprised when his customer, who he had seen as a bit of a drunk cretin, actually smelled the drink like he had. They both sipped, the human coughing a bit at the sudden and intense burn while the hanyō sighed in contentment.
"Now that's what I call alcohol," she said, knowing half of the bottle would make her worries run into a little corner of her mind and stop bothering her for a while. She smirked as the man stopped coughing, wiping a tear from his eye. "Good, eh? I'd say a saucer is more than enough for most humans," she stated.
The man took another sip, managing to not cough this time, though he did wince a bit. "It's very sweet too."
The butler frowned. "Sweet? The alcohol is supposed to be all about heat. Something must be wrong with it."
Yue waved at the man. "Don't worry about it. This stuff is always sweet, you and the rest just can't taste or smell it."
The butler nodded, a bit unsure. It was odd sometimes, since their little princess had a different pallet compared to them. 'Sweet' was one of the new things they struggled to learn about. They knew that honey and sugar were sweet, since they had been told this, but they didn't notice it themselves.
"How do they make this?" the bartender asked, finally used to the burn after nearly emptying his saucer. His years of sake tasting were helping him resist the alcohol's very strong influence, but he wouldn't last too much longer if he kept drinking.
"I can't tell you, but I will say it involves techniques humans cannot use," Yue said.
The butler poured another saucer out for the bartender. "Enjoy, sir," he offered.
The bartender took another sip. "I wonder if I could have a bottle or two, to see if my regulars like it. It'd be an interesting business venture," he suggested, looking to Yue.
Yue finished her third saucer, feeling the effects slightly. "Nnn. My grandfather is stagnating everything. Trading is a great way to kick the economy in its slacker ass and get it running again. I think I'll take you up on that offer. Maybe, if things go well, you could wind up supplying the nations and us nekomata can finally get things rolling again."
The man held up his saucer. "Business partners?"
Yue tapped her saucer to his. "Yeah, let's hope it works out."
After a bottle was in her, the images of Team 7, Team Anko, Hyūga Hanabi, Yamanaka Ino, all of them started to blur out of Yue's head for a while, letting her escape the demons that tore apart her mind and heart every night.
Didn't do anything about the murderous headache she woke up to.
[An Akatsuki hideout, Two days later]
Whoosh!
"What the hell?" Deidara muttered, looking at the newcomer who just barged in. He was still pissed off at how Yue told him that he wasn't strong enough to deal with Sasuke and his team. As if that idiot cat knew anything at all! He hated sharingan users!
"Oh! Oh! Who is this Deidara-senpai?!" Tobi excitedly asked while trying to not bounce around. As expected, he failed miserably at staying still while excited.
"That's-" Itachi started.
A blade suddenly extended from the sleeve of the newcomer, ending a bare inch from the Uchiha's left eye.
"Kukuku. Did you miss me Itachi?"
A/N~
An old arrival in one of Akatsuki's bases? Before you guys get the wrong idea, Yue's coping methods are not drinking or reading smut, she's just gained an interest in both of them, and getting drunk is a way for her to run from her problems. Her coping method will be revealed later. While I'm here, her drunken personality isn't too different from normal.
Since I brought up a nekomata's breed, Yue is a pure black Siberian nekomata/human hybrid, a runt of course, resulting in her being small. If you know your cats, then this partially explains Yue's physical abilities and learning speed. She also has the triple purr and, although it has not been done yet in this fic, can 'chirp meow' like said breed as well. Her tail fur's length is managed, since, as she claims, "I look like I'm shocked all the time if I don't cut it, no pun intended."
While I'm here, I'm surprised that people didn't rage at Yue getting a Susanoo.
Jutsu Index-
Oiroke no jutsu: Sakura Han [Sexy Technique: Sakura Version] – A variation of the Sexy Technique that involves the user turning into a nude version of Sakura. It is noted that the jutsu was highly effective against Naruto, who was blown away by it, and Lee, who started screaming about having dirty thoughts involving Sakura.
Raikiri: Idai Yari [Lightning Blade: Great Spear] – Yue's version of Sasuke sharp spear, but using the Raikiri. She coats her entire arm in lighting and extends a flat, undulating blade from her palm or fingertips, forming a deadly spear with far more piercing power than the Chidori. She can also extend it like Sasuke does, but it weakens the jutsu.
Raikiri Gatoringu [Lightning Blade Gatling] – The original form of Chidori Mizukiri. Yue uses the chidori to fire off short spears of lightning. Yue can form three spears with each hand and fires them off in gatling gun fashion.
Reimyō Buki Index-
Kasukēdo [Cascade] – The water Ethereal Arm. It appears as a standardized crossbow, aside from its size and the fact that parts of it appear to be made or water, such as the bow string. Its powers are all related to water flow types and are nearly relentless, even though it is only partially mastered. Has the ability to draw on most natural sources of water for ammunition.
Shūha Kaze [Wave Blaster] – The power of a wave compressed into a large bolt made from water. Possesses more than enough power to throw large grown men back a few feet, but doesn't cause much in the way of direct damage. A jutsu exclusive to the Kasukēdo.
Weapon Intro-
Name: (Cursed Sword) Tyrfing
Type: Unknown, Single edged sword
Blade length: 3 feet long
Blade width: Five inches
Coloring: A black blade with a gold and silver handle and a strange, seemingly living tail.
Particular traits: Wide blade, no guard, blade and handle appear to be one piece, handle has a tail-like structure attached to it, weapon appears to be alive to some degree
History: Tyrfing was a sword created by a demon who was incapable of allowing his monstrous yōki out of his body. Ironically, he wasn't the type of demon to kill people, but was forced to when the Ruuko came at him. After his death, the blade was cursed with his rage and frustration at finally being able to use his powers, only to be cut down. This caused anyone who tried to wield the blade go mad with insanity and attempt to kill anything within reach of them. The influx of yōki would steadily eat away at their body before they died from it.
Yue is the blade's second true wielder and, in a twist of irony, suffered the same issue as the original wielder. By forcibly combining some of her power with the blade, she has cured herself of her yōki disability. It is unknown if she requires the blade to use her yōki anymore or if she is free to use all of her demonic power without it.
Rumor has it that Tyrfing never misses a target and it can never be destroyed. It is unknown if the former is true, since Yue has missed plenty of times with it.
Predictions-
Damn. I forgot one last time. Oh well, it wasn't that hard to figure out that, somehow, Kaguya became the Jūbi.
I predict that, if Naruto does die, Sasuke will use Rinne Tensei to bring him back.
I predict that, if Sasuke does die, many people will be extremely happy, but everyone in the manga will be sad.
Responses-
Profesional Ninja: Susanoo is described and it will be explained during the war why Yue's Susanoo and the chakra surrounding it are different colors. As for Ino's reaction to that power, you will see it during the war, when Yue masters Susanoo.
Yuri-Hime-Chan: Yuriko meeting Ino... That will occur later, when the lust crazed clone can be better controlled. As for the redhead, she's a random woman, has no ties to the Uzumaki clan (or does she?) and her hair color was wine red. This woman will be brought up later, because she has a slight bearing to the story. You'd actually be surprised at who she is.
ValeriNera: Lesbian hanyo, a non-emo/fake evil/perverted sharingan user, lust crazed clone and a lesbian harem. Easy to see why it is one of your favorites. That, and it updates.
Rose Contestshipping fan: I think you're going to regret saying that you love where this is headed, since it is mostly a downward slide for Yue from here on out. She's getting slighted again and the upcoming war will only make it worse.
As for Rin, well, you'll have to wait for that.
Rocketshipping fan: ...Damn. Well, it was obvious that she'd try to hunt him down, just not for the reasons you were probably thinking of.
Super Saiyan Sakura Haruno: Hinata didn't die because, despite her having even less screen time and interaction with Naruto than Ino, she is a 'main supporting character.' I know of a few manga/anime that have main supporting females that are stalkers, but they are generally comedies. As for Neji dying, it was just for dramatic effect and to show that he had changed since his introduction. As if seeing him do a 'nice guy pose' in Tenten's memories wasn't enough...
NaruSaku fan 100: Sakura's sole purpose now is to draw attention to danger, Naruto's new abilities and a liability on the battlefield. As for Naruto's 'healing ability,' I see it as more of a 'time reversal' or 'forced regeneration' ability. It isn't true healing, just something similar to it. Makes you wonder what 'awe inspiring' powers Sasuke has in his left hand.
I'm thinking of trapping Sakura in the Mugen Tsukuyomi, but it will be broken because of a flaw that I noticed in the jutsu.
As for what happens to the poor hanyō, you seem to realize that things are about to go from bad to worse for her. Just read on and see how I, as TV Tropes would say, break the cutie.
Sakura fan 55: Ooh, a redheaded stepchild. Well, that's what I jokingly call trouble making red/orange furred cats. My friend had one called Maddison, and the little kitten completely DESTROYED his room when left alone for three hours. She tore his curtains apart, ripped his chair up, turned every scrap of paper into confetti and wound up pulling down all the clothes he had hanging up in his closet, but seeing her curled up in the middle of that disaster zone, snuggled up in a pile of his shirts, he just 'awwed' and made it a point to get her some toys to play with.
I will give you a spoiler: Sakura will stop being such a tsundere within five chapters.
thedarkpokemaster: Yuriko is nowhere near done being a being composed of chakra and lust, mostly the former. She will keep appearing, along with Tokki and Yu-sensei.