Breaking Limits
Recap:
-Naruto may very well turn into a douche, due to Tenten's jealousy.
-The Bloodline Thief has familial ties to Koharu. His first name has been revealed as 'Ito', but prefers to go by his middle name 'Hanson'.
-Fu has become aware of names in the fic, and can translate them for their literal meanings. (This was done just for laughs, but I'm seriously considering making it more…resolute. Not important to the plot, just more staid.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But the original poetry I own that's posted on this website is currently flagged to be removed. Damn. All those still interested to check 'em out, they'll be up until the end of the week…and then I'm moving them to FictionPress.
37.
Naruto wore a silly smile on his face as he closed the door behind him. Life was getting better, was his secondary thought, although his primary one was that of what he had learnt. It felt off, but what the hell…Tenten had no reason to lie to him, did she?
He got the feeling that she was lying to him, but he shook it off. They were close. Sure, he had gotten distant ever since he lost most of his cognition, and she had become catatonic and looked after by psychiatrists. But he had always sent something that his meagre allowance could afford to keep on helping the orphanage where she was staying. A bag of sweets here, a bowl of ramen there.
And then there was his other ways of helping. The more effective kind.
Naruto couldn't lie, or at found it extremely difficult. He had reason to believe that it went against his nature to, and the most he could do was tell half-truths, or avoid speaking at all. And his belief was that she didn't lie. After all, women were strange creatures to him; tell him nice things one minute, yell at him the next, act happy 25 or so days a month and harsh for another 3 to 5, so on and so forth.
Well, when he had done it to Tenten, she hadn't acted as if she hated it, so it must've been all right. All she said sounded logical-
"I've gotta stop arguing with myself," the Uzumaki mumbled with himself. "It's one thing to do it with my brothers, but just to myself can't be healthy."
He became resolute with himself that he'd just go with it. Besides, he needed to focus on the date he had with Hinata. He had an idea where to take her, and he had the Hyuuga girl's gift in a seal in his back-pocket.
He traversed the hallway and he and went down the stairs to the girl's room. He knocked at the door and waited patiently; soon, one of the kunoichis inside came to answer the door. It was Ino.
"Naruto? Waddya want?" She asked patiently.
"Oh, hey Ino. Is Hinata-chan in there?" He asked his fellow blond. The girl paused a bit, wondering what the Uzumaki wanted from her, but couldn't possibly fathom what. Of course, this triggered her curiosity to know and a need to find out.
"No. What do you want from her anyway?"
"I'm taking her out-" He started to say, before he remembered who he was talking to. Her face lit up in a huge smile that had a lot of mixed feelings, mostly those that leaked an aura of unbelief, and…relief? "I take it that you know I was going to say, 'to train'?" He tried weakly, but she'd have none of it.
To his surprise, the blond squealed. In fact, it was reminiscent of how she used to do with Sakura over Sasuke whenever he did something 'cool', and he cringed inwardly. "Oh my Kami, you finally noticed!"
"Noticed? Wait…huh?" He scratched his head. "What do you mean, 'noticed'?"
"That you 'noticed'," she mocked using air-quotes, "damn, Naruto! You finally decided to join the real world! Do you know how long everyone back in the academy was wondering how long you'd notice-"
"Aw, damnitall," Naruto growled under his breath. "Every one of you guys knew too? Did everyone know except me?"
"Oh yeah," the Yamanaka replied cheekily with a smirk. "We all knew it's a pity you didn't know back then."
Naruto sighed. Was he really that dense to those sort of things? All of a sudden, he was afraid to know the answer, but he calmed himself down. After all, the date would be a good one, (he hoped) and he had Tenten's advice (he prayed it would work.)
"Alright, but keep this to yourself."
"A secret?" Ino felt the responsibility…the responsibility to keep her mouth shut. "Sure, sure."
She turned to leave to re-enter her room when Naruto suddenly called to mind about what Tenten had advised him about earlier. His eyes lowered to the girl's rear, and reached forward to pinch her.
…
…
…
There was no 'Reflex' for what could've happened next. It only served to remind him when and why 'Reflex' didn't go off sometimes to save him from danger. Because it wasn't danger.
(Vote= 32-7) [STOP HIM!]
"Naruto-kun!"
As he looked to his left, he got a literal flying tackle at the chest and got knocked to the ground amidst tangle of limbs. His air was briefly gone, but when he looked up, he was stunned to find himself peering up into Tenten's face. "Wha-? Tenten-chan? What're you doing?!" He exclaimed the question. Not even he could figure out why the girl would-
"Hey, it's…it's…" The Higurashi stumbled in speech. "It's…a smudge!"
"What's a smudge?" Ino asked cheekily as she gazed at the two on the floor, yet to get up. "And why are you all over Hinata's man?"
She said the last part rather saucily, and it threw Tenten off as she got up off of her yang on the ground, and he did as well. "Well, I was…there was something on his shirt." Tenten licked her thumb and pretended to wipe off a smudge on the boy's clothing, "see, all better now."
Naruto and Ino could only offer deadpan looks that spoke volumes of 'really?' but Tenten tried to ignore it. "Sure, you did," Ino said sarcastically.
"Wait a minute…" Naruto spoke up. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone, Ino! And you just told Tenten, even though she knew already."
"…" Ino was silent. "Isolated incident." She retreated into her room backwards and slammed the door, signifying that she was done talking to them. However, Sakura was in the room seated while thinking about Naruto's likely ownership of a dojutsu and Ino broke her thoughts. "Hey Sakura, you'd never believe who's going out on a date…"
=X=X= Outside
"What the hell was that for, Tenten-chan?" Naruto chastised the bun-haired girl. "You just upped and tackled me for no reason. And what kind of a pathetic lie was that?" He said it all in a berating tone, but when he saw her look down, as if in shame. "Look…I'm sorry. I…didn't mean to get ignorant. It's just that-"
"…" She was still silent.
The Uzumaki sighed. "Look…I have to go. I still need to find Hinata-chan." He turned to make good on his word, but he was stopped with a hand on his shoulder.
"No. Wait." She had stopped him and he turned to face her. She still appeared hesitant to speak but for her sake, he waited patiently for when she was ready. "…"
"…"
"Well, you see, what I told you back in the room…"
"Yeah? The advice? Thanks for it. What about it? In fact, I was about to try it on Ino but then you came along, and-"
"Forget about everything I told you."
"?" His look was basically a gigantic question mark.
"All of it," she saw his questioning look and answered it. "It's all bullshit."
"Then why'd you tell me that BS when you knew that I'm really stressed out over this?" He asked angrily.
"It's…it was just a…prank," she lied the last, although it was hesitant; she didn't really want to tell him why she had done what she did. "It was poor timing, but uh, just forget about it."
"You mean it was a lie?" He concluded. "'Cause I don't see how that could possibly be a prank. I've been getting this sneaking suspicion that it could lead to disaster, but I kept telling myself that it was fine, because I was sure that you wouldn't try to do any wrong by me."
"No! It wasn't a lie-" She faltered under his stern gaze. "Y-yeah. It was a lie. I'm sorry."
"And then you lied about it being a lie. Why would you even do it in the first place? You know how I've been basically falling apart about tonight, and no doubt you would have just made everything worse, and make me offend the only girl that's ever had feelings for me, and may be the only one that ever will!" She had never seen him this angry before, so she knew that she had really stepped into a steaming mess this time.
How she badly wanted to tell him how she felt about him, but now, it didn't seem right. If she really loved him, she wouldn't have tried to pull off such a stunt in the first place. Besides, he was talking about what he knew, and as far as he was concerned, he was hated by everyone of the village except for a select few, and Hinata was a part of that number. If she could have done, or nearly done what she had tried to accomplish, then she had no right to pursue him, or be among the number that held him in good esteem. Wasn't she the one to tell Neji that same morning how Naruto had it hard? To think that she was about to make it worse made her sick to her stomach. Kami, she felt like such a hypocrite.
"..."
"Why'd you do that?"
'I doubt you'd want to hear the reason why I was being selfish,' was her dominating thought.
He shook his head while he walked away from one of his oldest friends…one he had trusted on a deep-seated level. "I have to go."
He turned and walked away, leaving the girl to stew in the bad-conscience of her own misdeed.
=X=X=
"Why would she do that?" He mused to himself, having not yet come down from the height in his mood. "Damn! I shiver to think what would've happened! What if I had done it to Ino? The Daimyo's wife? If I can't trust Tenten, then who can I trust?" He turned inwardly to try to find out if Kurama was about, but he had gone again. It made the blond absently think that his brothers must've been going through some serious training (or an epic version of it) if Kurama was practically gone more than three-quarters of the time.
"It must be going well with them, if he can be gone so much," he mumbled. "While I'm here, up to my neck in troubles with academy mates and girl issues. And I can't even find Hinata-chan-" He froze. "Aw, damnit."
Paying closer attention to his surroundings, he held his breath and waited. Just when he realized that he couldn't sense her about, he turned on his Insight and found the Hyuuga girl perched in the tree just behind him using his peripherals.
Becoming befuddled, he turned it off, and she disappeared. He instantly became frustrated. He formed the ram seal and flared his chakra. "Kai!"
The amount of chakra he released from his virtually kage-sized reserves practically gave off a concussive effect that knocked the kunoichi from off of her branch, but luckily, she righted herself before she hit the ground; landing on her feet. She knew that she was caught, but she smiled it off. Naruto had to know why, though.
"Why?" Was all he said.
"No good reason," she admitted. "I just wanted to see how you were 'coping' for tonight."
"Not so well," he shrugged. "Hold up…since when could you do a genjutsu? As a matter of fact, how long have you been learning it? Is it Kurenai-sensei's invisibility one?"
"No. It's her camouflage one. I've been trying to learn it since coming back from Wave. It's not too difficult, because even Shino learnt it in just a week, and I was the one with better chakra control."
"It kinda bugs me that I got a teacher that can't really teach me anything," he groaned, but he shook it off quickly. "But I gotta stop grumbling about my poor hand at life." He took her hand in his and smiled. "It's starting to look up."
She reciprocated his smile, and together they walked off. However, Hinata kept discretely looking behind her. Naruto noticed, but pretended not to.
=X=X=
Tenten picked up the seal off of the ground and became puzzled, even as she was still feeling the throes of her bad consciences. "Hmm? What's this?"
She got the feeling that she had seen this seal before, but couldn't quite place it. As one who frequently used seals, she could easily deduce that it was a storage seal based on the sealing matrices and kanji on it. Curiosity got the better of her, not to mention she was seeking a distraction from her current 'down-in-the-dumps' disposition.
She was thrown for a loop when she unsealed the contents, only re-discover Naruto's gift for Hinata. "What in the world?" She was breathless. "How did it get here?"
The seal was lying on the ground where she and Naruto had previously lay, and she quickly deduced what had happened while she resealed it. "It must've fallen from him, like a pocket or something."
The Higurashi leaned against the wall next to her on her back, suddenly thoughtful about what she could, would and should do. 'Hmm…maybe he'll bomb the date with Hinata. Like showing 'forgetfulness' to bring her something. Wait…no, he can't forget anything. That's stupid.' She face-palmed herself in frustration. 'What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't even be thinking in a situation like this! I should be happy for him! I should be running after him to pass it to him so he can give it to her! Why can't I just be happy for him and do what I should be doing for him! It's not about me. I should be like Naruto, to put others before myself. I should just let him go, no matter how much I want him for myself."
She stood straighter now, as she was more resolute here and now than anywhere or anytime else.
But at the same time, she had never felt so reluctant. In spite of this, it only served to remind her that the blond was no ordinary specimen of a human being. It was going to be extremely difficult to see the two locking arms instead of him with her, but she'd have to make the best of it. And even if she couldn't learn to be happy for him, she could always learn to pretend to.
She walked off after Naruto in the direction she had seen him go off in.
…
…
…
She walked after them at a fair speed, but when they arrived at the location, she forced herself to slow down when she saw them enter what appeared to be a middle-strike between a highly rated establishment and a roadside stand. That is, good food fare, without having to make reservations and prices just above what was expected, rather than prices one was usually unprepared for.
Tenten grinned to herself. At least he has good taste, she mused. She was about to enter when she realized that it would be awkward to just walk in just to give him what he had lost when they had their spat not even fifteen-twenty minutes before. She thought this to be her main reason why she couldn't find the confidence and mettle to just enter, do what she needed to do and leave, but despite herself, found herself content to just watch the pair from the window behind the curtains. There was enough of a perspective to see the two, but if they looked to where she was, they'd only see a crack of her, and they wouldn't have much to go on to know if she was there or not.
From the expressions, they looked like they were enjoying each other's company, but then she read Hinata's lips say her name.
To her disappointment, Naruto's expression noticeable soured more than just a bit.
=X=X=
"Come to think of it, why were you even following me using that camouflage genjutsu?" Naruto queried as returned his attention to his meal. It was his first time eating it, and he had been welcomed to try it by the waiter; grilled salmon, complimented by rice and such. And Hinata went out on a limb and ordered udon noodles that were accompanied by small pieces of pork and dumplings.
"I was-"
"Stalking me, again?" He interjected, raising an eyebrow. "We've been over this. I'd rather you walking beside me than behind me."
She blushed a bit but soon suppressed it. "Well, it's not like that…this time, I should say," she amended her statement. "It was more like a test. How did you know I was there, anyway? Is it because of your eyes? Do you have a dojutsu?"
"The walls have ears," he answered. "You were testing it on me? That's not really fair, I've always had a weakness of sorts against it. Why don't you go test your luck on Neji or Sasuke or someone like that?"
"I was…curious to find out what you had planned, so I was always just one step behind you."
"Stalking," Naruto moaned adamantly. "How long were you there?"
She suddenly became uneasy. "Let's just say I…we never parted ways."
His eyes widened. "What? You mean…"
She nodded. "I saw and heard everything. Including your little comical episode and…your issue with Tenten."
Her companion's face contorted with a frown. "I don't know if I should be pissed that you breached my privacy, ashamed that you had to see that, or angry with Tenten…wait, so do you know what she was doing?"
"Hai, I do know." Hinata became thoughtful. "Not only that, but I believe I also know why. I don't think you should hold it against her; besides, she stopped you from doing anything to Ino, although I was getting ready to intervene myself."
"I don't wanna talk about it, anymore," he looked down to his dish and a wry grin creeped over his face. "Wait a minute…I could've sworn that I was the one who was having the grilled salmon?"
His dish appeared to have been swapped for Hinata's dish of noodles, and currently, she was the one having a bite of it. "It only goes to show how much you weren't paying attention; you're distracted. Besides, I saw that you wanted to try my noodles, and I also wanted a bite of your salmon. But since I'm not sure we're at the point of 'shared eating' where we intimate enough to feed one another…"
She looked up and saw her partner blushing. "Wha-?"
She smiled almost triumphantly. "Well, all things in due time. But you're avoiding the issue, and I think it's really important."
"What is?" He asked in a nigh-gruff tone.
"About Tenten. What you think about her. She had her reasons, surely."
"There can't be a good enough reason," he muttered in between bites of his udon noodles. He kept on looking down and mumbling to himself, so much so that Hinata had to reach across and tilt his chin up so that he could face her to hear her out.
"This might be a real 'downer' for a first date, but to be honest, when I saw you going to Tenten for advice, I was getting jealous. Again."
He had to stop eating, or he would've choked. "Again?"
She nodded. "I was jealous. Really. About how close you two were. At first, it was as if you two had seen each other for the first time ever and you were both hitting you off and I was still way behind in the background."
The Uzumaki scratched the back of his head rather sheepishly. "Heh…I guess I'm still a knucklehead for not noticing a great girl like you."
"If I took that as a compliment, it'd be an insult to your intelligence. It's my fault, as I was too shy."
He raised an eyebrow. "And it built up to the point at which you screamed at me to 'take you on a date'."
The kunoichi became bashful nearly instantly as she recalled what she had done. It'd be a long time before she mustered up enough boldness to repeat such an act but the truth was, it was mostly exasperation mixed with desperation. The memory of her screaming into her crush's face just to go on this date-…worth it.
Well worth it.
But the point hadn't been made. She had figured out Tenten's reasons, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her. And the close bond that her significant other shared with her needed mending, and she wouldn't want to be the cause, (although indirectly,) of its current state. She had gotten between them and-
All's fair in love and war, she started to think, and Tenten was about to ruin not only Hinata's date with him, but Naruto on a whole with any girl. Even if he had done it with only one girl and was then corrected, that girl could still tell another girl, who would tell another, and that another would tell yet another, and soon everyone would know of his slip-up and avoid him like the plague.
That person could have been Ino, for instance.
But it wasn't Hinata who stopped him, it was Tenten herself, who was seemingly abandoning her strategy.
Tenten had her faults to be sure, but who didn't? Hinata knew she had his, Naruto must've had his, but right now, everything was telling her to drop the issue and just seize Naruto, but where would that leave Tenten?
Out in the cold. Along with the Uzumaki's resentment, if he continued with his current mindset.
"Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah, Hinata-chan?"
"Tenten…did it because she loves you!" She blurted out. Time, all acts of eating in the establishment briefly froze to acknowledge the two on their night out, before all realized that they were eavesdropping on a matter that did not concern them. Their eating utensils that had stilled between bowls and mouths resumed embarrassedly, the owners looking away before they were caught in the act of listening in.
Naruto's jaw dropped, and he could feel his lower lip quivering. "What?" He asked dumbfounded.
...
...
...
Tenten, who was outside, cupped her mouth with a hand to suppress a gasp in her shock, appalled as she considered the complications that arose. But what she couldn't understand was why Hinata would tell him. Why?!
It was for her to tell him, not some kind of word of mouth! After all, she-
No...it didn't matter. Tenten didn't even feel like trying to listen in anymore. She felt as if she was going to be sick to her stomach, but the strangest part of it was that she didn't feel sick. It was all emotional, and it was worse than the physical one, no questions asked. She had hurt the one closest to her, and the creeping horror of which she was convinced that in spite of all this, even if she was forgiven, she'd never forgive herself, and she didn't feel like she deserved his anyway.
Her eyes stung and her vision blurred. Immediately recognizing that waterworks were clouding her eyesight, she angrily tried to brush them away and they soon receded, but she knew that she wouldn't hold them back for long. Glancing back down at the seal in her hand, she realized that she still hadn't returned the seal back to Naruto yet.
Steeling herself for doom, she walked inside.
...
...
...
Naruto's jaw dropped, and he could feel his lower lip quivering. "What?" He asked dumbfounded.
Hinata felt like she was out of place, but she felt a need to look out for the girl who had fast become her friend. "She was becoming jealous! She must've thought that by ruining your chances with any other girl including me, that she'd be your only option."
"What kind of messed up reason is that?" The Uzumaki exclaimed his rather rhetorical question as he quickly. "That doesn't make any sense; in fact, I can't even see that making sense on paper. Doesn't she know that I'm already an outcast to the village? Why would she try to make things worse?!"
"Love makes people do some stupid things, Naruto-kun."
The blond could feel a headache coming on. "Love? Jealousy? This is getting a bit too much, even for me. Come to think of it, why would you even tell me this?"
Hinata looked down. "I looked down on her, but she still tried to help me to muster enough confidence to even approach you and...threaten you to take me on a date," the Hyuuga heiress grinned a bit, and Naruto couldn't help but smile back, as he got the joke.
"Well, sorry about the date though. Didn't turn out to be much of one. It must be because I brought my angst and emotional junk with me," he looked away, finally coming to a decision to at least salvage what he had lost. "Maybe I can still make it up to you." He reached his right hand behind him to feel his back-pocket where he kept his date's gift in the seal, but he frowned as he didn't feel any such thing.
"Huh. Where is it?" He mumbled. He realized that Hinata had replied to him and he had missed hearing it. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."
"You could make it up to me in Konoha by taking me on another one."
"Where is that shy girl who used to faint around me?" He asked with a wry look. She in turn became bashful all of a sudden before she began staring past Naruto; her look became one of trepidation. Naruto glanced behind him to see the weapon's mistress approaching him, but he didn't display any outward change in behaviour. That was also true for how he felt on the inside, as he was still wondering how he should emote himself on all fronts.
He was still confused.
He noticed that she looked positively miserable, and her eyes appeared as if she had been crying, or was about to. He tensed himself, but instead, she took out a note-sized piece of paper as she reached him before handing it to him. He took it in caution, but soon observed it to be the very seal he was looking for.
He looked up again with, about to inquire as to how it came to be in her possession, but she answered it before he even asked it. "It fell out of your pocket when I tackled you. Naruto-kun, I'm really sorry-"
"Tenten-chan, I-" He tried to cut in, but he got no leeway as she continued.
"I just want you to know that you don't have to bother with me, anymore."
"Look, I forgive-" He didn't even finish as she turned and bolted out of the restaurant into the nightfall outside. Looking around wildly as if he lost his head and unable to make up his mind to go after Tenten or to stay with his date, he took note of Hinata placing some money on the table and he called to mind what she meant. "Right! Half of the cost!"
He dug into his pocket feverishly for his cash and slapped down more money than he'd care to count onto the table, and the seal itself. He backpedalled in his haste while hailing the Hyuuga heiress. "Hinata-chan, I really-!"
"I know!" She called back, knowing what he wanted to do.
"I promise, I'll make it up to you-!"
"I know!" She answered again.
"I'm so sorry, but I have to-" He was almost at the door now.
"Naruto-kun, I know!" She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Thanks!" He threw his hands out to her as if in a wave before he turned to leave through the door. "You're the best!"
He was gone in the next second, and Hinata had to fight against herself to not activate her byakugan to see how far he had gone. Hinata smiled to herself before it fell into a sad-looking one. "I don't know about that one."
She went back to the meal on the table, now looking across to Naruto's now empty chair, and pretended that he was still there. "Oh Naruto-kun, that's too much money. Is most of that a tip?"
There was no answer, but she didn't care. She then eyed the seal, wondering why there was such a big fuss over it. She then recalled the seal that she had wanted to see the contents of the night she 'officially' confessed to Naruto. That had been a hard night to sleep for her, but now, she had it right in front of her!
Almost akin to one guilty of a crime, she inched her hand over to it and took it up, before unsealing the contents. She was practically breath-taken at the sight of the bouquet; a marvellous combination of purple and white lilies with lavender adorned all within by being inset around the edges. In the very focal point of it all, a single red rose was placed and the plastic that had pulled everything together was considerate too, as it appeared to be of high-enough quality even worthy of use by the higher ups in the Hyuuga such as her father, all patterned with the words 'ALL FOR HER'. After deeply inhaling the flowers, she then noticed a card addressed to her, and she opened it to find a haiku inside.
Thanks, Hinata-hime,
I feel very much honoured.
Hope to love you too.
She smiled to herself as she read it. "I hope so too. But if Tenten is the better one for you, Naruto-kun, I'll stand aside."
Rising up out of her seat, she called for the bill. Once it was paid, she left the restaurant with the bouquet in her arms, a peaceful look on her face. One good turn deserves another, she supposed.
She also supposed that she deserved this bouquet.
She deserved it very much.
=X=X=
"Tenten-chan, wait!" Naruto hollered.
"Just leave me alone! I said don't bother with me!"
"What does that mean?!" He shouted to the kunoichi far ahead of him. He couldn't quite believe it. The girl had some speed in her sandals; no doubt it was because she worked under a taijutsu master who valued speed and strength above all else. It's not that she was losing him, it's just that for all his efforts, he just couldn't catch up, or gain any more ground.
They were tree-hopping into the night, and Naruto grew more worried about the beasts that killed people and ate them to the bone, then the bones themselves. From all of his reasoning, he could see that it was getting far too dark, even for a normal night. He recalled from the earlier reports about how an over bearing darkness usually preceded the grisly deaths.
"Tenten-chan! We've got to leave and go back to the hotel! It's not safe out here!"
She had no answer, except to drop a few smoke bomb pellets, evidently done to lose him in the cover they provided. There was no need for that, as it now became increasingly dark and the smoke bombs only made it worse. By the time Naruto had passed through the smoke to the other side, he could barely see his hands in front of his face.
"This is getting really bad!" He muttered in his urgency to find the girl. As he peered around, he soon heard what sounded like multiple footfalls and the sound of the Higurashi's yells. He had a hard time trying to get a tell on the situation, but he deduced that she must've gotten tripped up somewhere to his right.
But the footfalls sounded like they were coming from all directions and were converging to where he had heard the weapon's mistress. He became alarmed at this, and his theory from earlier ran through his mind.
If I'm right, then good people have nothing to worry about.
He was harrowed at the thought of being wrong, and even more that he might be right. But what and how and who could determine who was good from who was not? Not everything was so black and white.
Was Gato an evil man?
Well, for starters, he killed people, sold women into prostitution, committed arson and the like.
He was evil, wasn't he?
Was Zabuza an evil man?
The man was known by the moniker the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'. That 'Decapitating Carving knife' of his wasn't a knife at all. It was a goddamn over-sized sword made for bifurcating multiple people with one swing. And the stories that the man told while he was on good terms with Naruto...it made everyone who heard pale in horror. Zabuza was basically a mass-killer, and little more than that if he actually was something else.
He was evil, wasn't he?
What about himself? (Naruto)
Naruto knew that he had killed before, and several times, went over the top to do it. Killing? If there was a humane way of doing it, Naruto knew he had never done it. And what of his brothers? Surely, he was responsible for all the killings and any other misdeeds they may have committed, as they were all created by him.
He was evil, wasn't he?
And what of the Kyuubi?
He'd been killing people before Naruto was even born. From the time he had entered existence, he had killed, or so Kurama had claimed. And then there was the razing of the village. Yeah, he had been under foreign control, but there was simply no forgiving his deeds, was there? He had destroyed more than half the village and the same amount of life with it.
He was evil, wasn't he?
Naruto didn't know. He didn't consider himself as evil, and he didn't think of Zabuza nor did he think of Kurama as evil. But he did know with all that he was that Gato was evil.
"Maybe it's because he enjoyed it. Maybe it's because he did it for the sake of doing it. Or even it's because he did it just for the sake of doing wrong. But I don't recall ever regretting any sort of killing, and I don't think Zabuza has either. Or he's gotten past it. I dunno. But all I know is that they're going after Tenten, or they're strafing by her too close for comfort. I have to do something."
Deciding that Insight might prove to be fruitful, he activated his dojutsu and realized that he couldn't so much as see in the darkness, but in fact, saw through it.
The darkness wasn't real. It was false.
He tried a genjutsu Kai as he ran through, tree-hopping to get to Tenten's location. If it was a genjutsu, it didn't dispel, but now he realized that he could see four legged beasts tree-hopping as he did but while he couldn't quite make out their colours (still too dark, and Insight didn't really have a colour scheme) he could still see that they were of many assorted sizes. But not only that, he could also hear a great many of flies buzzing, and even saw birds flying amongst the tops of trees. Birds with overly large wing-spans.
For the first time in a long time, Naruto felt...scared.
"Waste! Decimate! Devastate! Annihilate! Raze! HYA HYA HYAAA! Decimate WASTE!"
It was done like a chant, and it echoed around the forest, seemingly from each animal. But then, the cackling came in full swing, and it gave Naruto the shivers...the unpleasant ones that froze his spine and he couldn't move.
"HYA HYA HYAAA! HYA HYA HYAAA!"
These creatures were all around, even running around and past him, and he took heart that they were ignoring him. After breathing a sigh of relief, he realized that they weren't going to simply pass her.
They were converging on her location.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no! Please, Kami, NO!" Naruto yelled, hardly able to bear the thought of Tenten being destroyed infinitesimally, her body eaten by creatures such as this. In his state now, he lowered his gravity seal to two to race ahead to catch up to the girl.
=X=X=
Why couldn't he get it through his head? Tenten wondered bitterly. 'That's Naruto for you. Loyal to a fault, all the time, every time.'
She got the feeling that she was being stared at intensely in this growing thick of darkness that enveloped the woods that she was running through. She felt fear spreading through her like a malignant cancer, and all it collected to the point that she wanted to scream in terror, but held back on that by biting her lower lip.
"Waste! Decimate! Devastate! Annihilate! Raze! HYA HYA HYAAA! Decimate WASTE!"
In a panic at hearing the voices call and mockingly laugh at her, she threw her weapons haphazardly all around. She used a great deal, but no one, (or nothing, rather) called or groaned in pain. She was about to throw more when she missed the next branch to leap to due to the darkness, but accidentally knocked it with her head and her feet flew forward in front of her and fell to the ground on her back.
It wasn't enough to badly hurt her head due to her headband, and she had taken worse spills before. But what froze her was the sight of ethereal and nightmarish creatures come creeping forth out of the darkness like shadows taken on a form. She believed she could make out the glistening of large teeth, and glowing, glinting eyes watched her, and they came closer.
"No! Stay back!"
"Waste…HYA HYA HYAAA!"
"Leave me alone!" She yelled in a tone she hoped sounded threatening as she turned to run again. Throwing down caltrops as she backpedalled, she then swerved and started running now, her hands before her and in front of her face to protect it. She bumbled through the undergrowth, nearly tripping up far too often as she couldn't even tell if her eyes were open or not anymore; it was that dark.
"DECIMATE WASTE! ANNIHALATE! RAZE! WASTE!"
Then she crashed headlong into something, only to fall unto the ground. Something warm ran down the side of her head and she feared that it was her own blood.
"WASTE!" "HYA HYA HYAAA!"
"NO!" She heard a yell that she believed to be Naruto's, before a cry of pain like a howling animal's came from behind her, then even more of a warm liquid ran down her body. She could smell the iron from it as it ran down her body and nearly froze completely. It was blood. But was it hers?
She then heard the sound of steel stabbing into flesh, which was then followed by the sound of something heavy impacting another. By the sounds of grunts, she that usually preceded these sounds of attacks, she could tell it was Naruto doing the acts, but what was he doing the acts on?
She smelt smoke now, as a small flare of something lit up, revealing Naruto beside her. The flare was then revealed to be the ending flame of a paper-bomb connected to a kunai, and the Uzumaki threw it somewhere ahead of the two of them, where it lit up the area with a fiery explosion.
Before her Ekrixiphobia kicked in at the sight of the explosion, she saw what looked like dozens of the creatures all around her revealed by the momentary lighting, all with saliva dripping from their maws and carrion birds with eyes that stared at her. None of the creatures were really looking at Naruto. They were all dead-set on her instead.
She realized that they were coming for her like demons out of hell, coming to drag her soul with them to wherever they came from.
"NO! SHE'S NOT WASTE! SHE'S NOT GARBAGE!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, surprising her. "She has value, y'hear me! She has value! She is VALUED!"
"I'm…what?" Tenten asked herself mentally as she strained against her body for it to respond to her brain's commands.
"I know what you creatures really are!" Naruto bellowed all about. "I know what you want! But not her, not Tenten-chan! She has value! You hear me! She still has worthwhile use and purpose! She's not broken; she's whole! She's fine just the way she is!" There was another sound of a melee attack as Naruto said the last with effort; yet another animal crooned in pain. The bedlam of fighting continued on the creatures, but Naruto himself soon cried out in pain, just two feet or so in front of her. "She is valued!" The Uzumaki continued through what sounded like gritted teeth. Tenten's body finally responded and she crawled over to where she heard Naruto last on her hands and knees, shivering all the while.
It was a horrible experience. It was pitch black to her, and upon her last glimpse of sight, she had seen a multitude of creatures, on the ground, in the trees, flying around, EVERYWHERE! Naruto surely couldn't take them all, as most of them were quite large. More than half of them were bigger than two horses put together, and shaped like dogs.
Her phobia should have rendered her completely useless for a long while, not to mention total her mental stability for a week, but for her to even manage a crawl was nothing short of a miracle. The logic followed that route, but she never could comprehend why she would be crawling to the boy she was fond of instead of trying to make her escape while the creatures' focus rested on him instead. But she knew why. It was obvious too.
In fact, when she felt the weight of one solidly step onto her back, and she was pinned under its massive foot. Paw was more like it, and judging from the paw that covered her upper back and a blunt claw-like object extend unto her neck spoke large volumes as to what kind of creatures these were.
Their claws were non-retractable, and they spoke of destroying waste…?
They were carrion-eating creatures, as they killed and thinned out those who were weak, and destroyed all that was worthy of being dead, or that which was already dead.
But the thought that she was to be classed like that didn't bother her. She still tried to claw her way to where she had heard Naruto go down, but the gigantic paw wouldn't allow it. Reaching downwards for a kunai at her side, she desperately tried to slash it backwards to hurt the creature enough to make it release her, but although she managed to nick it a few times, she failed to get away.
"Let me GO!"
"...Not waste? Value?" The voices seemingly asked themselves questioningly, as if unsure what to do next.
The sound of the cackling came again, before the paw pressed down almightily, and she lost consciousness, the sound of muttering Naruto's name barely being heard as it escaped from between her lips.
=X=X=
"No!" He yelled as he awoke suddenly. His eyes frantically searched around, trying to gather his bearings and he soon did, thanks to Focus. But all that rested on his mind currently was the fate of the weapon's mistress. So much so, that he didn't even realize that he was somewhere else. Somewhere unrecognizable but as it was common to try and find similarities to what one was familiar with, Naruto realized that it could be likened to a library. Books were strewn about on the ground, some pages torn up, true, but nearly everything else save for those were on three bookshelves that penned him in from all sides sans for one. A foul odour permeated the air, and the boy knew that it couldn't have been must-...the smell was far too strong. It was fairly well lit, though, as chandeliers hung overhead with candles that had wicks aflame that hardly flickered. All was still.
"Tenten-chan? What-…where are…we?" It was as if he was now only seeing as he noticed the girl lying belly up on what was apparent to be a pile of books behind him, in his blind spot. He tried to get up but barely could, as a crippling pain reminisced in his chest. He was forced to remember how he had taken a damaging strike to his upper torso from one of the creatures who attacked him and-
"But…where are they? Where are we?" He forced himself to take it a bit easier so he could at the very least get up unto his feet and limp to her side; she was unconscious. "Tenten-chan? Tenten-chan?" He gently slapped her face, trying to get her to wake up. All the while, he looked around and soon realized that they were in a library-…an abandoned one or a neglected one, judging from how dusty it was, although that wouldn't explain the small piles of white somethings here and there. He had to guess that it was done on the part of the creatures, but where were they? If they weren't around now, then that was for the better. In fact, now that he thought about it, the smell must've been coming from those piles and lumps. They varied in size, but he had no inclination to study them.
As he tried to wake her up, he looked the kunoichi over for wounds. She had some dried blood on her face from an opening he found under her headband. It didn't look serious, or serious enough to require attention immediately. As he looked down on the girl's face, he couldn't help but bring to mind how contorted her expression looked now, like how she was when she was younger in his care.
'She still hasn't gotten over her past? Or is it something new?'
He heard yapping noises, here and there as if the creatures or phenomenons were in the same room area as he was. He realized that the creatures may have carried them off to this location, but why? How, in fact?
"Mmm…aghh…" He looked down, hearing the murmurings of the Higurashi; she was waking up, as even her eyes fluttered and fully opened. "Urg. Wha-? Naruto-kun? Where are we?" She lifted an arm up and eased him aside so that she could rise up at the waist. Seeing him flinch upon contact with her hand against his chest, she hurriedly withdrew it. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"N-nothing." He defended, hoping to not worry her. "C'mon, we have to go."
She realized that something must've been wrong with him, but didn't press it in favour of finding out something else. "Didn't you bring us here? To this…library?" She observed with a studying gaze.
"No. I fell unconscious."
She realized that the same thing had happened to her, and slowly became more and more alarmed. "Then-"
"The creatures must've brought us here." He finished, mirroring her look. "We've gotta find a way out." He looked all around. "This part is lit up with candles, but I think I feel wind coming from…" he pointed off in a seemingly random direction, "over there. I think it's the best bet to find an exit."
She didn't have a response except to scramble to her feet, but she noticed that Naruto had less luck just trying to stand straight. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I am," he muttered through gritted teeth.
"No, you're not." She felt reminded about how the previous night had gone. "I guess my lying caught up to me. It's karmic, and it's fair, I suppose."
"No! It's not like that." Naruto defended.
"Just drop it," she stated with a tone that implied that she didn't feel comfortable talking about such a subject. She held out her hand, which he reluctantly took. After he did, she then helped him to stand straighter, and hooked his arm over and around her shoulders and neck. It was harder, because she was a bit taller than him. (Or he was shorter, it was all about perspective.)
They both hobbled off into a passageway that was littered with books on either side on the ground at the foot of bookcases filled to capacity, tightly packed with books and scrolls. As he was passing, Naruto snatched one and popped it open with one hand and it fell open on the pages in the middle. "What the…"
"What is it?" Tenten queried, having seen what he had done.
"This one's a jutsu. For water release." He let the book fall onto another page and saw another one. "Here's another one. This jutsu's for earth release."
"Keep that book," Tenten cautioned. But instead, he dropped it and snatched another one despite her advice. She was about to complain, but she saw as soon as he did that this book also had info about techniques. The next one he took up in favour of the second one was on the practices and uses of puppetry, and the fourth, a biography on Tobirama Senju, the second Hokage. This went on for another minute, and Naruto was having a hard time wondering if he could make enough seals for the whole library.
"This is a lot to take in. Where and how did these books come about? Did those creatures do this? Or is it just a coincidence that this might-be lair of theirs happened to be a dark and dank library?"
"I don't know."
They were silent as they stagger-walked along, and Tenten grew more and more nervous with each step, as Naruto leaned heavily against her. She was getting self-conscious about it, but didn't know how to tell. him. It wasn't uncomfortable, just a minor inconvenience. But she bore it; it was the very least she could do. The crap that she had pulled last night probably assured that she would be paying him back for life, not to mention all he had done and gone through for her sake when they were younger.
"Tenten-chan?" Naruto mumbled.
"Hmm?" Came her intelligent reply.
"How did you know where to find me last night to give back the seal?"
No use lying, she thought with a sigh. "I followed you. I was standing outside, nerving myself up to just go and give it to you, but I ended up just watching instead."
Naruto hesitated. "Thanks. But does that mean that you saw and heard everything?"
"I heard enough." She could tell that he was thinking about what Hinata had told him, and feared that instead that not only would he and her never be together as a pair, but that it would ruin their friendship even more. Things might grow increasingly awkward to the point that they may stop associating with each other to avoid the discomfiture.
"So, about what Hinata said-"
"As a sister!" She blurted out as a last ditch effort that might yet salvage what was left of their friendship, since he might never come to be with her. "I love you like a sister would like a younger brother!"
"..." He was silent as he tried to get a read on her. Finally, he just tried to push himself away from her. "Ugh. Lying begats more lying. Your eyes looked up and to my left. You were consulting the side of your mind that embodies creativity." He stumbled a bit, but finally allowed most of his weight to lean against a bookshelf. "Are you ashamed of it, or something?"
She looked away and tugged nervously at her collar. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, I really am. But I'm afraid of acknowledging-"
"You feelings?" He guessed to finish her sentence.
"Yes!" She exclaimed. "But I'm even more afraid of losing you, you know? I mean, all the way from when you first got me to the Orphanage was when I realized that I had it for you bad, but I soon forgot about it. All my 'isms' and 'schisms' and medication and what not..." Her eyes fell, fearing to meet his gaze. "And then meeting you again, just to find out that someone else had you in their sights."
"Hinata-chan, you mean." He answered the left-out detail of her confession.
"Uh-huh," she continued. "But I tried to help her and junk, 'cause even now, I still feel like I'm damaged goods and all that B-S. And Hinata's basically a goddess compared to me. I'm just an orphan no money, and I probably have more mental problems than proper sense to not try to trick you like I did. I'm probably the closest person besides Kyuubi who knows the kind of shit you had to go through, and I was about to make it worse."
"But why? Why'd you do it?" He pressed.
"I...Hinata told you already." She muttered unsurely.
"I'm asking you!" He exploded suddenly, making her backpedal a step or two. "Why are you so afraid to just be frank with me?!"
"..."
"..."
The air was poignant with emotions as the two finally locked eyes. Tenten was still afraid to just tell him, and the Uzumaki, while he was told already, wished to hear it from the girl's mouth itself. "It's because...it's 'cause I love you, okay? Not the kind of words for me to just say so casually," she shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter, anymore. If you'll let me, I'll still be your friend, giving you a shoulder to brace on, a person to make bets with, someone to compete with; hell, I'll even go to your wedding and smile. Although I probably won't bring a gift, though. I'm still broke. I'll only go to it to crash it to get the food for free."
There was a pause at this, and Tenten hoped desperately for mended bridges. Instead, Naruto burst out into laugher that hurt his chest, but he didn't care. "For the food, huh? Ah, c'm here!" He extended his arms, but it was with trepidation and tentativeness that Tenten stepped forward to him and hugged him back. The hug was particularly enjoyable to the weapon's mistress, and she momentarily forgot about the situation they were in.
"God, I wish I could kiss you right now." She murmured. "But it's not right. You're dating Hinata."
"That's true. But I have a feeling that she wanted me and you to at the very least come together like this after your gaff nearly ruined my social life with the girls."
"What girls," she shot back, her head still over his shoulder.
"You and Hinata-chan, apparently." Naruto sighed. "Why can't life be simple?" He finally let go of the girl, and they smiled at each other. "No hard feelings."
"Thanks." She was about to try and brace him up like before when she realized that the upper part of her Chinese-style blouse looked bloodied. Her eyes widened, but she realized that it couldn't be hers, as she felt no pain. "Naruto-kun! Are you injured?!"
He gulped fairly loudly. "Uh huh."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to worry you. Besides, Kurama will soon heal it."
"Kurama? Hmm...is that Kyuubi's name?" She hazarded. Getting a nod from him, shrugged. "Ah, well. Anyway, let's just get out of this stinkin' library."
He retook his position at her shoulder, and the two walked off on their previous course. "It must be those white piles."
"The smell?" Tenten joked. "Is that white stuff on the ground shit?"
"I hope not, 'cause it'd mean these grounds are probably marked as territory for those things that nearly killed us." Naruto answered. He kicked at a dry pile, but froze after he did. The girl holding him up had to ask him what was wrong.
"Oh Kami," Naruto trembled. "We've gotta leave as soon as possible. That was shit alright, but…there were bone pieces in it."
"Bones?" Tenten paled.
"Human bones," the Uzumaki affirmed. "One of them looked like they had a ring on it."
They put a bit more haste in their hurry to leave now, but instead, came to a sort of pedestal in an end of rows, and a large book rested on a stand. The two looked all around for a door or any kind of exit for that matter, but saw nothing except for a probable dead end with only the oversized book for a welcome.
"Great," Tenten murmured. "We're gonna die in a frickin' library with who-knows-what kind of creatures that eat people, and our alternative is starving to death or dying from a lack of fluids."
"Sorry," Naruto murmured.
"It's not your fault." She tried to console, and he appreciated it greatly.
"But if this isn't the way out, how did we get here?" The blond Uzumaki couldn't help but wonder. "Help me up to that pedestal. I want to see why that book is up there."
"Hardly the time to want to read, Naruto-kun."
"It must be special, if it's all the way here by itself." She helped up to where the book was, and Naruto flipped open the cover. "Hmm…so that's where we are. And that's what those creatures are..."
"What?" Tenten asked anxiously. "What are they? I'm getting paranoid, and you're being too damn vague!
"It's a summoning contract. With the Scavengers."
Well, this chapter was easy at first, but the library scene needed (and still needs) a lot or ironing out. Besides, we're about a chapter away from the end of this arc, some things will be explained, a little more will be spoiled (just info, I don't mean 'rotting', obviously) and you...well, at least you all can see why I did this arc. It's very obvious, and if you don't see it, then you're as blind as a bat.
In other slightly related matters, can anyone guess the type of creature that dominated this arc? You know, nocturnal hunters and eaters mostly, eyes that reflect light, can eat prey entirely and basically ignores everything else (including pain) while they eat, is a scavenger by nature, and leaves behind poo that is mostly white because they eat bones?
Oh, for the love of-...look at the smart alecks trying to Google it. Oh well. I can tell you, it's a summoning creature idea I've never seen before in all of fanfiction. You would not believe the amount of searches and researches that I've done to check, and find out how notorious and useful the creature is.
Another hint(s): The 'Hya Hya Hyaaa' was the sounds of laughter. It lives in Africa. But hey, this creature can work for a fictional Japanese setting.
Valete omnes,
MRAY 4TW.