Chapter 37: Lost Light
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, therefor I cannot claim the money it makes
Sakura threw a number of shuriken as cover, chasing them at a decent clip with her fist held back for a strike. Yue dodged to the side a bit, but not enough and a number of the throwing stars bit into her left arm and side, making her wince as she directed the curse seal arms to rush at Sakura. The medic twisted through the black and red arms, finding it relatively easy, at least when compared to Sasori's attacks.
Yue growled and went through a few hand seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu!" Yue shouted as she spat out a powerful stream of flame, forcing Sakura to retreat a bit. When she saw Sakura back off enough, she decided to use a trick she had very recently learned she could use with her leftover reserves. "Katon: Gōka Messhitsu!"
A giant blast of flame roared into the sky, dark clouds forming, lightning crackling inside them with increasing intensity. Everyone wondered if the storm that had been breaking up before was Yue's creation or if someone else had made it. Whoever did it, they were quite innovative.
"I hate to do this, especially when I'm so badly drained and I need every bit of myself I have left, but I have no choice in the matter!" Yue declared as she focused her chakra, lightning crackling on her body, forming onto her arm. "Onmyoton: Raijin no Ude!" The same gauntlet Yue had used to defend against Sasuke's Kirin reformed on Yue's arm from the lightning, though it wasn't glowing this time. Yue used a classic defensive jutsu she rather favored to complete her plan, lifting her armored hand overhead. "Raiton: Hiraishin!"
With Yue electrified, the storm unleashed a number of lightning bolts on her, striking at her armored hand, each bolt making the gauntlet glow brighter and brighter. 'What is she planning?' Kakashi wondered to himself, confused as to the function of the 'weapon' Yue had summoned.
Yue lowered her hand as the thunderstorm started to break up again. As they watched, Yue's hair started to spike up, the ragged ends of her jacket becoming bolt-like. Even her curse seal started to alter, the arms taking on a somewhat... electrocuted appearance. "The power of lightning and the curse seal. Does a medic have the strength to defeat the power of the Heavens and Fate?" Yue asked.
"Sakura! Despite Yue-san's appearance, she isn't electrified! Her chakra is completely kneaded though!" Hinata called.
"Hinata's right, Yue's chakra appears to be primed solely for raiton right now, so be careful and try to avoid striking from the front!" Kakashi instructed.
Sakura drew more throwing weapons and flung a barrage at the young woman, lightly wounding her again with a number of them. The last few had practice explosive tags on them, ones Sakura had made in case she had to fight Sasuke, so the clouds were filled with chakra and blinded the hanyō's sharingan.
Yue growled and scanned around, cursing the blue blur all around her. She only realized what Sakura was planning when the girl's fist was right next to her head. The missing-nin barely got the chakra arms up in time to soften the blow, eating away at the chakra in Sakura's arm, but it was still enough to make her soar a few feet away. Yue used her right arm to perform a rough handspring, landing so she faced to where Sakura had been last, her feet digging into the ground until her slide stopped. She felt some heat from her ears on one side, a sign that the blow had caused her ears to bleed a bit.
"Enough games!" Yue shouted as she drew kunai and shuriken with her right hand and all her chakra arms. Yue then flung enough electrified kunai to make a three person ANBU team proud, practically tearing the cloud apart with the amount of weapons she threw. Within ten seconds, the coat was bare of its hidden arsenal of small weapons. "This is damn useless now!" Yue roared as she flung the coat off.
Sakura was going to rush in for a quick strike, but then something happened.
THUD!
"Her jacket was weighted?" Kiba muttered as the dust cloud blew away.
Yue stretched her arms, looking over at her left one. It was wrapped in bandages from the second knuckle up to mid bicep, metal plates held onto it by red metal bands to form a crude, sectioned gauntlet. There were some pretty bad looking scars on Yue's exposed fingers, which told of how the rest of her arm looked, and she had the claw scars on her right side. From behind, Kakashi was able to see crisscrossed scars on her lower back that continued up under her shirt. 'Whip scars? Ah. I remember now. What a horrible way to celebrate your twelfth birthday,' the man thought to himself. He'd never seen Anko threaten medics with death before that day and he hadn't since.
Yue's curse seal wavered, the arms shifting around on her back as the 'mouth' reappeared. With the seal completely formed, Everyone felt the slight drain on their chakra reserves. "This infernal sensation... I hate this power, but I need it, I'm nearly out of chakra and I cannot support Lightning Form with an empty reserve. Now to feed," Yue muttered.
"What is she saying?" Kiba asked himself.
Yue's arms all came close to each other, fusing into one, then the sole arm blurred out of the ring of explosion clones, seizing a ninja and everyone watched as chakra was dragged into the arm, flowing to Yue.
"Shino-kun!" Hinata shouted as the claw released the Aburame, splitting into the usual four as it was retracted.
"I'm fine... She left me with adequate chakra for travel, but fighting is out," Shino stated. He could tell his insects were greatly confused as to the sudden loss of chakra.
Sakura zipped forward, zigzagging so Yue's chakra arms couldn't track her properly. When in range, she started to strike out at the hanyō, but the chakra arms kept working together to weaken Sakura's blows, either that or Yue used her own arms to defend. The armor on her left arm was just enough to stop the blows, especially if Yue used her right arm to add much needed support to her weakened arm. The good news was that Yue was purely on the defensive, unable to risk attacking. Sakura did learn that the curse seal arms were susceptible to chakra scalpels, the fingers being sliced off when Sakura could risk using the jutsu.
'Either my curse seal goes down or I stop using my sharingan. I need both or else I can't even fight in my current state. I need to drain another ninja...' Yue thought as she shoved Sakura back with a five armed strike. She sent out two chakra arms, aiming for Hinata and Kakashi.
"Raikiri!"
"Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō!"
One claw was cut into pieces and the other was just sliced off. Yue pulled the arms back, restoring the claws. She forgot Kakashi was more than likely quick enough to stop her. As for Hinata, what the hell was that? Yue's method of dealing with the Kaiten, would it work on that jutsu? It didn't have the fatal weakness to the famed 'absolute defense' of the Hyūga clan, one that they themselves seemed to ignore in favor of their pride. You didn't ignore such a weakness, you acknowledged it and did your damn best to either compensate for it or remove it. That was why the Hyūga clan was far from the strongest, since they were the only clan in Konoha that didn't accept their weaknesses, just went on and on about them being the 'strongest in Konoha.'
Sakura managed to break through Yue's defenses again, delivering a series of not-so healing chakra infused punches to the young woman's torso and head, hoping to do enough damage that Yue couldn't continue fighting. Unfortunately, each impact felt like Sakura was punching hardened stone, meaning the curse seal also brought up the user's physical resistances.
Yue suddenly vanished with a crackle, appearing a distance away from Sakura. "I hate wasting chakra on escaping, but I've got to end this soon or I won't be able to move at all."
"Yue! Why are you with Akatsuki?! It just doesn't make any sense!" Sakura shouted.
'I don't have time for this. Lightning form is chewing up my already drained reserves... I don't want to reveal my trump card just yet, and I highly doubt I can use it after Orochimaru's last stunt...' Yue growled as she formed the chakra arms together into one massive, ragged claw. "You wouldn't understand anything at all, Sakura. You're normal, you never were mistreated at all."
"What? I was BULLIED for three years because of my forehead!" Sakura shouted.
"And Naruto probably had three minutes of a 'normal' life before he became the target for Konoha's hatred. I spent my entire ninja career mistrusted, hated and most my accomplishments were stolen from me by people I was paired up to work with. There are chūnin in the village, jōnin who don't deserve their rank because of what they did to other people," Yue growled, her sharingan blazing with rage, "unless you can spend a day in our lives, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL WHAT YOU WENT THROUGH SUFFERING!"
Yue swung her left arm, an electrified shock wave roaring at the medic. Sakura managed to evade it, just barely, and looked up in time to see a second blast of electricity coming at her. She dodged this too, but it caught one of her legs and numbed it completely. Before Sakura could even start to do anything, the chakra arms came together as a large claw, smashing into the ground before her, sending her rolling away.
Sakura winced in pain and went to lever herself up, but fell onto her stomach right away. "What? But my chakra-" she stopped, feeling a strange tingling in her arms. 'She let me hit her so I'd take on a hidden electrical charge... Those lightning blasts! They were meant to trigger the shutdown of the nerves in my arms!'
Yue loomed over Sakura, the claw ready, aiming for Sakura. It reared up, sharpening the fingers into true chakra blades with lightning crackling on them.
'I can't get out of the way!' Sakura thought as she closed her eyes and held her weakened arms up in reflex.
"Sakura-chan!"
….
….
…?
Sakura opened her eyes, wondering why she wasn't torn apart yet. She looked up in time to watch the chakra claw completely break apart, the curse seal receding and Yue's sharingan failing.
"She's almost out of chakra..." Hinata muttered to herself.
Yue stumbled back, panting from her nearly dry reserves. She'd never drained herself this badly before and she was aching now.
Sakura healed her arms and leg, restoring sensation and strength. She stood up, looking to her battered friend. "Yue, you can't fight anymore. Just give up."
Yue glared at Sakura, hating how her vision was so badly blurred without sharingan. She shook her head. "I'm not done..."
"You're finished. Without chakra, you're just really strong. Chakra exhaustion makes it difficult to even stand, so don't strain yourself and quietly give up," Sakura said.
Yue dug her nails into her palm, drawing blood that felt hot to her cool skin, a sign of severe chakra exhaustion. "I don't need my chakra... You never even bothered to find out why Akatsuki kept me around!"
That stopped Sakura. Akatsuki, now that she thought about it, chose members who had specialties of some sort, but Yue's raiton and kekkei tōta probably weren't enough to warrant Akatsuki's notice.
"Nefirimu!" Yue roared as transparent red fire enveloped her body, her eye turning a wicked red as the pupil slitted in spite of the sun being behind her.
"Hinata! Wha-what is that?" Kakashi asked, thinking that him not being a born Uchiha was preventing him from seeing the chakra for this new jutsu.
"Her chakra reserves are too low for any decent ninjutsu," the girl stated. She'd never seen anyone who didn't use chakra for any technique that involved non-physical effects. If it were just a regular slash or a special melee maneuver, then no chakra present in the attack would be understandable, but this clearly was something that couldn't be done without some form of power.
Yue took one step forward, then vanished. Sakura was suddenly assailed from multiple angles within seconds, then blown away with a straight punch to her shoulder. Before Sakura could react, she was grabbed and thrown the other way, only to smack into Yue's arm, flipping her in the air once to land on her back.
Sakura coughed, feeling a slight burning pain from the areas she had been struck. She lifted her shoulder into view, seeing that her skin did have an abrasion on it. She lifted herself up slightly, then found herself lifted onto her feet. She looked forward, seeing Yue's glittering red right eye stare into her jade left eye.
"Want to experience it, our agony?" Yue asked.
Whack!
Yue coughed up a bit of blood, slumping slightly. She looked down, seeing Sakura's fist still resting against the base of her ribcage, right where the scar lay. She felt chakra flowing into the wound and it definitely wasn't there to heal it.
Yue looked back into Sakura's eye. "Yeah, I'll show you..."
Sakura was about to point out that Yue couldn't use the sharingan when she released her, letting the battered girl barely keep herself on her own two feet, only to fall to her knees a moment later. Sakura felt her neck grabbed, her body lifted up again so her eyes were locked with Yue's uncovered one, dark green light starting to flicker in her pupil.
"Can you see?" Yue asked as green flames consumed her right arm. The hanyō brought Sakura close enough to whisper something to her as the green flames flowed into Sakura.
"Huh? …..Ah... Ahhhh. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone cringed as Sakura started to scream, a look of abstract horror on her face, tears running down her cheeks, all of this happening in spite of Sakura not being burned by the strange green fire. Nobody moved to help, mostly because of the clones waiting to detonate if anyone did anything other than watch. Naruto was the one who had the hardest time staying still, wanting nothing more than to run in there and save Sakura from whatever it was that Yue was doing to her, but he couldn't.
Sakura stopped screaming, just stared forward at the missing-nin that held her neck. She felt new tears ready to spill from her eyes, especially when she looked over and saw Naruto standing there, hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles looked like they were about to burst.
The clones flinched, then detonated in large, but harmless plumes of expended chakra. The moment that Hinata and Kakashi saw no trick, they ran forward, but Naruto overtook them.
"Sakura-chan!"
Sakura didn't move until Naruto got over to her. "N...Naruto..."
The blond reached out and grabbed Yue's wrist to free Sakura, but that seemed to be all that it took and Yue collapsed, falling against Sakura. "Sakura-chan... Is she..." He couldn't finish his question.
Sakura shook her head. "She's alive, but her chakra is dangerously low. Whatever that power was, it caused more damage to her than she did to me. It completely chewed up her chakra reserves and aggravated all her wounds..." To cement that point, Sakura pulled her hand away from the side of Yue's head, showing her bloody palm. The girl was almost ice cold and she was sweating too.
Hinata looked over the hanyō. "H-Her chakra network is temporarily burnt out. She won't be able to use ninjutsu for a few w-weeks at the very least. Even her coils are working slower than a civilians. A-And..."
"What is it?" Kakashi asked.
"I can see O-Or-Orochimaru's chakra in her body," Hinata said. This stutter was more out of fear than her usual timidness.
"With the curse seal, that's to be expected, right?" Shino asked.
Hinata shook her head. "N-Not like that, more like...like how you s-said Kabuto was."
Sakura discretely looked over as much of Yue's body as she could, noting the various scars and a tattoo on her left hip that resembled snake's scales, but no signs of that creepy transformation that Kabuto was undergoing when they saw him not too long ago when he 'thanked' Naruto for helping him find himself. A scan with her medical ninjutsu showed that there were various abnormalities with Yue's body, mostly with her newer scars. The eye patch seemed to have a seal of some sort on it, making it impossible for any form of chakra examination of a fair section of her skull.
Kiba, Shino and Akamaru were the first ones to turn, getting ready for the new arrival. Naruto looked and quickly moved between them and his teammates. "No matter what, I won't let you near them, Uchiha Itachi!"
The Uchiha looked directly at Naruto, his sharingan off and his let hand clutching his chest. "That Yue... She couldn't have been killed by Sasuke, so where is she?"
Naruto drew a kunai. "I told you that you won't-"
"Itachi... Give it up."
Everyone looked to Yue, who had her eye barely open. "We failed...miserably. We don't have any reasons to continue with the...acts."
"What act?" Itachi calmly asked.
"Neither of us are true missing-nin. We never cut ties to our villages, we just did what we felt...we had to do to prepare others for the...future," Yue said.
"I haven't killed Sasuke yet," Itachi said.
"Just drop it! Did you really think things would change if he killed you? He's the exact opposite of what you wanted him to be! Him killing you would just make him worse!" Yue snapped, then coughed a few times, blood coming up as well. "Shit... Sakura, you're chakra control is fucking scary!"
Itachi sighed. "Yue, you always did manage to give me and Shisui headaches. You also were able to read us like open books."
Yue grinned slightly. "Itachi, flattery will get you nowhere with me. You messed up big, brushing me off like your little brother that time. My ninjutsu scores fell two points when you left. I'll make you pay for that."
"I'm confused," Kiba muttered. Akamaru whined a bit, agreeing.
"There is much to explain and it will take a few days to return to Konoha with Yue in that state. During that time, I will do my best to explain what I can, but there are certain things I must keep silent on, since I don't know what repercussions my words may have," Itachi said.
"Itachi, get my jacket..." Yue said.
Itachi looked to Yue as if she had grown a second head. "Just leave it."
"I'm Akatsuki either way, whether missing-nin or not. Pain granted me the right to wear that jacket and I will until it is reduced to threads, ashes or I'm dead," Yue insisted.
Itachi took out a scroll and rolled it out. He rolled the jacket onto the scroll and sealed it away, not wanting to lug that heavy thing around. He and everyone else present swore that nobody else in the world would wear such a thing, not anyone in their right mind anyway.
[Konoha, same time]
"Guy-sensei! I found even heavier weights!" Lee exclaimed.
"Lee-kun, maybe you should visit a tailor and have weights placed in your flak jacket, like me!" Guy boldly stated while pointing to the hidden weights. (little did he know, his were lighter than Lee's)
"Ossu! I will do that, Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted.
Everyone turned away to avoid the eventual sunset illusion.
[Uchiha hideout ruins]
Everyone shivered, thinking that something beyond horrifying just happened somewhere.
"Well, we got Itachi and Yue, so maybe now we can get some answers," Kakashi said. He and Yamato placed chakra restraints on Itachi, leaving Yue alone since she couldn't do anything at all for the time being, not that chakra restraints even worked on her.
[A few days later. Konoha hospital]
Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura and Ino were present, as per Yue's request. The elders were present as well, against Yue's request, though they were in the viewing booth. Itachi was standing nearby, dressed in a surgeon's somck and looking as happy as a cat caught outside in a monsoon. His expertise was needed, whatever that meant. He was no medic, so why was he here? Maybe Yue just wanted him to see her injuries, to learn how far gone Sasuke was.
The scroll Yue mentioned had been checked for traps, laid out and examined by seal experts to ascertain what it was. When it was revealed that it was just a simple, small capacity medical storage seal that couldn't handle any form of dangerous summoning jutsu, bomb or virus. Tsunade had it brought in and gave Ino the duty of unsealing it, since she wouldn't be assisting much in this particular operation, she was just a witness.
Sakura and Shizune were making notes of Tsunade's scans of Yue's state when Ino cried out, making them turn to see what had been in the scroll.
A container, or a jar to be exact, with a clear fluid and...
"Is that..." Shizune started.
"Kami!" Itachi gasped as he stumbled back, knocking over a trolley of surgical tools.
Everyone looked to Itachi, seeing him staring at Yue. They looked down and saw that her eye patch had come undone alongside the scroll's seal, revealing what lay beneath. Ino quickly scampered out of the room, the sound of retching reaching their ears quite clearly.
[Five hours later, behind the hospital]
Ino sat on a bench, unable to believe what she had seen. She knew that, as a medical ninja, she'd see some horrible things, but what she had seen was worse than anything she could have imagined, and that message that Yue had on the top of the container, it was chilling and made her question lots of things she thought she knew.
Sakura came out the door, wiping at her hands in spite of nothing having gotten onto them. It was just the sensation she had felt through her surgical gloves that bothered her and she had no doubt that she'd have nightmares for a long time, especially since she had been subject to Yue's method of showing her that she truly didn't know anything at all about her teammates, that they were deeper than she could have imagined.
"Sakura... How did it go?" Ino asked. After throwing up, she couldn't go back into the room.
Sakura sat down. "We did the best we could. There wasn't much we could do except heal her, but other than that... I..."
"Sakura, did you read the top of the container?" Ino asked.
"Yes," Sakura said after a few moments, "she was telling the truth too."
"What? How could you know that?" Ino asked.
"I don't know really. When Yue stared into my eye and those green flames went into me, I saw things, things she obviously saw. I think... I think she shared her memories with me," Sakura said.
"Forehead, that's not possible. Yamanaka can do that, nobody else can," Ino stated.
"Who knows what demons can do? She's a hanyō, so maybe she can," Sakura countered. After a few moments, Sakura turned slightly to face her friend. "Ino, about that injury..."
Ino stood up. "Sasuke-k... He's... Sakura, I don't know what to think of him anymore."
"Ino..." Sakura muttered.
Ino looked to the sky. "Sakura, he ripped Yue's left eye out. Carved up her face even after she couldn't fight anymore! You say that she gave you her memories, so you should know if it's true."
[Flashback]
Yue screamed as Sasuke finished removing her left eye. He placed it in a jar of preservative fluids. He stared at it for a moment, looking at the pattern of her mangekyō sharingan. "The same eyes as Itachi... So you really did kill your 'best friend.' For all your talk, you are surprisingly evil, aren't you?"
"You bastard!" Yue roared as she shot up a bit.
Slice!
Yue fell back to the ground, feeling a burning pain in her right shoulder.
"Shut up! I don't need sermons from something like you! You and my brother, both of you are monsters who kill for power! I don't need the mangekyō to defeat either one of you because I'm greater than the likes of you!" Sasuke shouted.
Yue tried to move, but that last one was mostly from adrenaline. She was drained of strength. 'If that Uzumaki girl comes over, I can replenish my chakra a bit by biting her. Strange ability, probably bullshit too.'
Sasuke sat on Yue's stomach, sheathing his sword as he did so. "I'm going to punish you," he said as he drew a kunai and held it on the side of Yue's vision that was now gone, a crackling was heard. Before she or anyone else could say anything, Yue felt pain near her eye socket and screamed, but Sasuke shut her up with his free hand as he kept working on her.
"I'm going to leave you with your eye, so that you know how easy it was for me to take one," he stated as he drew a line through her skin with his kunai, then started on another, "try to interfere with my revenge again and I'll do more than pull out an eye and disfigure you!" He completed the 'brand,' rather happy with his twisted work.
With the damage done, Sasuke placed the container next to Yue, making sure it wouldn't roll away or fall over. "Nobody will put it back in your head. Enjoy having your eye so close, yet so far. Karin, heal her so that she won't die here. I still have uses for her, and I want her to suffer as much as a wretch like her should."
[Flashback end]
Sakura shivered at that, it being the last in a line of memories Yue had shared with her. Yue's left eye was surrounded by scar tissue that would more than likely never heal right, permanently marking the girl. At least they were able to get her eye back in and reattach all the nerves and muscles, meaning it would hopefully start to function as soon as she fully healed, relatively speaking. It still bothered Sakura that the skin around Yue's left eye would probably resemble a monster's, but there was little they could do since it was all scar tissue and they couldn't graft skin to such a delicate area.
She didn't deserve it. Nobody, not even the most twisted monster alive deserved that...butchery.
"What did Yue ever do to deserve that? I'm starting to think that everyone is right about Sasuke," Ino said.
Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Everyone is saying that Sasuke is a monster, that he's a willing traitor," Ino said.
"That's not true! He's-" Sakura started.
Slap!
"Wake up! Orochimaru is dead and Sasuke didn't even bother looking, forget coming back! He chose to abandon the village three years ago and he's not coming back!" Ino shouted.
Sakura started to tear up, remembering his cold eyes from when they had found him at Orochimaru's hideout. To him, it seemed like they weren't worth his time, like they were beneath him in every way. His only interest in Konoha had been one thing: killing Naruto.
"Yue's been trying to tell you and Naruto that, hasn't she? I remember what you told me after I found out she was alive, so why did I figure it out before you? Aren't you the smart one?" Ino asked.
Sakura slumped to the ground. "I just..."
"What is it Sakura?" Ino asked.
Sakura looked up, tears in her eyes. "I just don't want to lose them. I want my team back!"
Ino drew Sakura into a hug, now knowing that her desire to bring Sasuke back was nowhere near as selfish as some people thought. It wasn't so that she could have the one she loved to be by her side again, it was just so Sakura could have her extended family back. Having lost Asuma, Ino understood Sakura's feelings a bit, but...
"Sakura, the Sasuke you and Naruto want to return, I don't think he exists anymore," Ino said.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
Ino closed her eyes. "The Sasuke you knew is gone. He's grown into someone else, someone darker. You have Yue's memories, so you should be able to see how he is now. Do you think things will work out with that type of person?"
Sakura wanted to deny it, but Yue had also given over the knowledge of the curse seals that she had, meaning Sakura knew that the seals drew on the latent darkness of a person, it didn't create it. Sasuke would have eventually wound up this way, one way or another.
"Ino... What do you think of Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"Honestly, I think he needs some serious help. He already removed her eye, then he cut up her face. Scarring a woman's face is a no-no," Ino said.
"Do you like him still?" Sakura asked.
Ino shook her head. "No, I actually gave up on him about a year ago. I've been looking around lately, but the pickings are slim."
"What about Naruto?" Sakura asked, a grin on her face.
"Kami no! I mean, he's kinda cute and he's pretty strong, but I can't see him as anything more than a friend. Besides, I treated him badly as a kid, so I think it'd just be weird to ask him out or anything, like it was all some kind of extreme tsundere plot to isolate him from other girls so I'd be the only one he could be with," Ino said as she released Sakura from the hug. To even suggest that, wow, just wow.
Sakura chuckled a bit. "So Shikamaru and Choji are out?"
"They're like brothers to me, and Temari would flay me alive and use my skin to make a new fan if I went after Shikamaru," Ino muttered at the end.
Sakura had noticed the 'Desert Rose' had been awfully close to Shikamaru of late, and she could see her killing Ino for even hinting at seeing the lazy Nara as a possible romantic partner. "Sai?"
Ino frowned slightly, sort of resembling Naruto when he was younger and thinking. "He's good looking but...he doesn't seem to be...all there, so to speak."
Sakura nodded in agreement. Sai was just too weird sometimes because of his upbringing. "What about Yue?"
Ino paled. "Are you suggesting I give up on men?"
Sakura smiled a bit. "If the pickings, men, are slim, why not try your own 'team,' so to speak?"
"Come on Forehead! Are you telling me to go lez? I know some guys fantasize about that kinda thing, probably involving me and you with a most likely small part of themselves between us, but it doesn't really work at all!" Ino shouted.
"But she does love you, a lot too. I felt that in her memories. You are actually part of why she was a missing-nin," Sakura pointed out.
Ino blushed a bit, remembering the then small girl's confession almost four years ago. "She abandoned the village because of me? That's not inspiring much confidence..."
"Yue left because protecting you from inside of the village was, in her eyes, impossible. She's not like Naruto, she can't let so many people into her heart because she's afraid of being hurt, but she decided long ago to fiercely protect those who were let in. That's why she was called the Feral Feline, because she fought so hard to protect her team and sensei. It was like watching a wild tiger fighting to protect its young. She only survived with Akatsuki for three years because she knew that her assassinating killers, crooks and cons would protect you and those precious to her in some way. Without you and those few people in her heart, it would have just been senseless murder," Sakura explained.
Ino blushed a bit harder. She had been on a handful of dates before, been confessed to numerous times as well, but to think someone loved her enough to abandon all they cared for just to protect her, that was head and shoulders above anything that a boy had ever done for her. Heck, one freaky guy took her to a maid cafe, a MAID cafe, but the food and drinks were amazing there, making it Ino's favorite place to go and relax. (that and the maids called her 'hime-sama') Boys and young men had said they'd lay their lives on the line for her before, but none had actually done it. Yue, on the other hand, seemed ready and willing to step between Ino and a fatal blow for nothing more than knowing Ino would survive.
"Are you considering it?" Sakura asked, a devious smirk on her face.
"Wha- N-No! I'm straight! If my dad knew what you were suggesting, there would be no limit to what he'd mind control you into doing! You'd wake up in Naruto's bed, naked and begging him to ride you til sunrise!" Ino shouted, completely red.
"I think you swing both ways, Ero-pig," Sakura accused, a sly smile on her face.
"At least I didn't turn into a female Jiraiya-sama for BL and yaoi, you fake prude!" Ino shouted while pointing at Sakura.
"Th-Th-That was just-" Sakura stuttered, beet red as she struggled to come up with an excuse.
"You called Naruto a perv and all this time, but it was you who was a pervert all along! I swear that you dream of Naruto and Sasuke getting it on while you watch, you rotten washboard!" Ino pressed on.
"At least I wasn't kissed by a girl before!" Sakura shouted, angry, embarrassed and just saying anything at all to shut Ino up. Worst part was that she HAD a dream like that before.
"And? It was on the forehead, not the lips. Besides, girls kissing each other doesn't count," Ino countered.
"Is that how little Yue-sama means to you?"
The two girls turned to see Nohara Rin standing there, a somewhat cool cool on her face. It was hard to believe that this woman, who looked no older than eighteen, was actually Kakashi's age. Yōki had its advantages.
"W-Well she is a girl, and I'm not really interested in other girls..." Ino muttered, unable to look at the medic.
"Then tell her that," Rin said.
"She's recovering, the shock might-" Ino started.
"That's an excuse. You just don't want to face her, coward," Rin growled.
Ino blinked. "What the hell is your problem?"
"I appreciate Yue-sama's kindness, unlike you. If Yue-sama went as far for me as she does you, I would answer her confession. I wouldn't leave her hanging for almost four years," Rin stated.
"It's not that easy to turn someone down," Ino said.
Rin shook her head. "I turned down lots of boys back when I was in Kakashi-kun's team. I let them down easy and as quickly as I could. To leave them without an answer for so long is to give them hope. The longer you wait, the harder it will be on them." She looked to the sky, seeing a vaguely bird shaped cloud lazily floating by. "Yue-sama's emotions are more delicate than you think, like the thinnest crystal. Your silence hurts her more than your words. Being ignored hurts her a lot more than being hated. She doesn't vent her emotional pain, just leaves it to fester in her like a flesh eating disease."
Sakura winced slightly, remembering how Naruto had been when he was a kid. He hid it well, but Sakura had caught his crushed expression a few times as she and all the other kids were taken away after he showed up. She had just ignored it because Naruto was a nobody that all the adults could care less about, so why should any of the kids care? Rin's words came back to haunt her, telling her that her reasoning, at the time, had been a flimsy excuse, a coward's way of escaping guilt. The worst part is that Sakura had, until the exams, kept using that stupid excuse to chase away her guilt when it came to her dealings with Naruto.
"Are you saying that me not talking to her is worse than an entire village wanting her to leave or be executed?" Ino asked.
Rin looked back into Ino's eyes, pain reflecting in her brown eyes. "Yes, it is worse than any wound she has suffered. It is the only wound I cannot heal for her. Even death and Hell's punishment hurt her less than your silence."
Both Ino and Sakura were silent. Sakura was thinking of how her and Naruto's situation was similar to Yue and Rin's. Naruto had wounds that medical ninjutsu couldn't even begin to touch, even if Sakura were to suddenly gain Tsunade's ability overnight on top of her own, she couldn't do anything to remove those old scars. Ino knew that Rin was right, but facing someone who sacrificed so much for you, so much for nothing, she might as well go in there and carve Yue's heart out herself.
"Rin! That's where you were!"
Tayuya came up, chakra seals still wrapping her wrists, curse seal and neck. "The Kage's looking for you."
Rin nodded and turned to leave, but shot a cold glare at Ino. "I won't let you be the one to heal Yue-sama's scarred heart, I will do it myself."
Once the medic walked away, Sakura turned to Tayuya. "Uh, is she?"
Tayuya nodded slightly. "She fell in love with Nee-san a little while after they met. Apparently, Nee-san saved her from being eaten by the wolf demons and the wolf summons, so Rin decided to follow her to pay the life debt. Somewhere along the way, I noticed that Rin's way of looking at Nee-san changed. Admiration became attraction."
Ino felt a slight stab in her chest, then shook it off. 'So what if that woman is after the neko-nin. I have NO interest in her as a romantic partner!'
"You're that Yamanaka girl that Nee-san has the hots for? Well, if you were a bit older, I might try you out. Well, Nee-san would probably go wild and suck every drop of chakra out of me while grinding my skull into dust, so I'll just leave ya alone," Tayuya said after looking Ino from head to toe.
"What the hell?! Did Yue go to a lesbian gathering to find you two or something?" Ino asked, covering herself as best as she could.
"Hey! I've been a lesbian from day one! Guys are fucking lazy and dirty, girls are cute and they make the sweetest noise when surprised or pleasured! Rin only switched teams after falling in love with Nee-san and we all know Nee-san has been eying you for a long time now!" Tayuya roared.
"Team Lezzy Cat... I thought I heard it all," Ino whined.
Tayuya glared at the blonde girl. "I see that Nee-san fell in love with your looks at first, since Rin was right about you: you're a spineless coward and you're personality is as appealing as a bag of burning shit." She shook her head and started to walk away.
"Hey! I'm not done with you yet!" Ino shouted, not wanting to be the loser in an argument.
Tayuya looked back and stuck out her tongue while giving the blonde the finger. "Fuck off grasshopper! You're a million years too young to be fighting me. Besides, I need another interrogation session with Anko-chan, since I'm not telling her e-ver-y-thing~ yet!" She took off with a very slight skip in her step.
"Oh Kami, she's got a thing for that dango loving, female version of Naruto?" Sakura asked, shocked. She never thought she'd see the day when someone fell for that crazy woman.
"Freak in love," Ino said, explaining it all in three words. She left, deciding that she had something to do, just not today.
Sakura stayed behind the hospital for a while, thinking of what she had been shown, especially an event that took place a week after Naruto first met Yue.
That vicious beating he received after meeting the Feral Feline, one that was so severe that it made him completely forget about her.
[Two days later, hospital]
Ino had asked to be contacted when Yue woke up. Sakura, Ino and Shizune had used medical ninjutsu to heal Yue's muscle and skeletal damage, finding the very same problem that had plagued Tayuya before Tsunade figured out how to heal it. It is unknown exactly how it happened, but part of the chakra system that surrounded the spine, mostly between C5 and T4, were damaged and caused progressive, reoccurring damage to the chakra system, resulting in a steady decrease of the victims physical abilities and available chakra reserves. Unlike Yue's original thoughts, Tsunade noticed that the damage had occurred when the two were younger, around the same time Yue first activated the curse seal, meaning that it was most likely caused by the curse seal's ability: chakra siphoning. Plain and simple: Yue's inexperience caused damage to the two of them.
By the time Sakura faced off with her, Yue barely had half her full combat ability and she had lost access to a fifth of her chakra reserves, though combat analysis still stated Yue would have lost while facing Sakura down if she had her full chakra reserve and her injury fixed, only due to Yue having her disabilities and extreme battle fatigue. She would be back to peak performance as soon as she fully recovered, but there was one worrying thing that came up in the medical examinations, as well as one funny thing that made Ino smile, especially when she remembered Naruto's face at the time.
[Yesterday, Tsunade's office]
"You called for us, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked.
Tsunade turned to see Team Kakashi, Team Kurenai and Team Asuma gathered. "I've decided that, since all of you had some form of interaction with her, you should all be here to listen to the damage report."
"What about Guy's team?" Choji asked.
"They're outside of the village on a patrol, so I'll debrief them separately. I only decided to do it today because Team Kurenai is going on a mission later this afternoon," Tsunade said as she lifted up a few pages. Truth be told, she didn't want to have to heal everyone present when Guy and Lee went off at the list. "First off, Kazeneko Yue is a slight bit above five feet one inch tall, weighs in at ninety-six pounds due to lean muscle and a lighter skeletal structure. She's completely healed from all her previous injuries, though there is nothing we can do about her left arm and the scar tissue," she looked to Sakura, "did you inform them of that injury?"
Sakura shook her head. "I felt it would be better if you told them."
Tsunade sighed, not liking how things were about to become. "For old injuries, Yue appeared to have suffered a very deep wound to her torso. All my tests seem to indicate that her aorta was pierced, and her teammates confirm this, but that would mean Yue had bled to death in less than five minutes."
Everyone wondered about how she survived such a wound. Maybe her heritage had something to do with it, such as a much higher blood generation level than a normal human.
"She, of course, has the scar across her neck and the old scar on her left bicep. More than fifty percent of her left arm is severely scarred and the muscle function in that arm has sharply decreased. Her right side has deep, but healed lacerations that indicate she tangled with a bear or something really large with claws. She has whip scars around her upper back from a past B-rank mission that ended in failure, her capture and torture for knowledge," Tsunade continued.
Yamato blinked. Those were the kinds of wounds long time jōnin had. Well, he knew about her neck and back scars, but the rest were unusual, Actually, the wounds on her arm were to be expected, considering she went up against Naruto's fūton rasengan with a raiton.
Tsunade sighed, not liking this part. "Her left eye had been removed and the area around it...mangled with a kunai that had lightning chakra flowing along it. We managed to reconnect the nerves and muscles, then reattached her eyeball to the optic nerves and set it in place as well as aligned it properly. We did our best to fix her eyelid and the surrounding tissue, but she is badly scarred."
"Wait, her eye was ripped out?!" Kiba shouted, a shade or two paler than a moment ago.
"Who did that?" Shino asked.
"It was Sasuke," Ino said.
Hinata fainted and Shino looked away, very slightly. "What the hell is his problem?" Kiba asked.
"More than likely, he saw Yue's mangekyō as an insult to him, who doesn't have mangekyō in spite of being an Uchiha, and decided to tear one out to make her less of a threat to him," Kakashi theorized, "I noticed it before, Sasuke has both a superiority complex and an inferiority complex, a very rare thing to see in one person. Yue having superior sharingan stimulated the latter and threatened the former, just like Naruto and his rapid growth."
"He got the wrong one though, Yue-san projects Amaterasu from her right eye. He removed the one that causes less damage," Yamato pointed out.
Kakashi shook his head. "I think he had an idea of what he was doing. I think that being subjected to Tsukuyomi twice in his life has given him an ingrained fear of the jutsu. For him, being slowly burned to death with Amaterasu is preferable to being subjected to Tsukuyomi torture again and again."
"What is her eyesight like?" Sakura asked, remembering how Kakashi mentioned the mangekyō's weakness.
"We won't know until she wakes up, but with her using Amaterasu so much as well as awakening that 'Susanoo' a while ago, I wouldn't go expecting too much," Tsunade admitted.
"How come she didn't heal from any of her wounds? I thought that she was like me, a fast healer," Naruto asked.
"According to Tayuya and Rin, this is a drawback to heavy usage of the reimyō buki. The sheer power they produce causes a person's healing factor to be reduced. Using too many in too short of a time makes it so that the person cannot heal anymore and needs external help, such as a medic constantly working on the wounds," Tsunade said, reading from Anko's report. She flipped back to her and Shizune's report. "On a final note, Kazeneko Yue is 100% virgin."
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what?!" Naruto stuttered out, turning completely red.
"Yue's hymen is intact," Tsunade said.
"Huh?" Naruto's jaw fell open, not understanding anything at all.
"It means nobody banged her yet, idiot," Kiba snorted. He smirked as Naruto turned even redder.
"But don't girls usually tear their hymen during taijutsu practice? With her being so skilled with it, you'd think she broke it back in the academy," Ino pointed out. She freaked out when she found out hers was gone, mostly due to the blood she found. Took her mother twenty minutes to calm her down and explain. That was not the kind of thing a ten year old was used to.
"Shizune and me think that it stretched, but Yue's healing factor is high enough that it reversed the stretching and preserved her virginity. All I can say is that she would be able to experience true loss of her virginity, unlike most kunoichi. Well, she has no interest in men, so I doubt that will happen," Tsunade said as she put the report down, "any questions?"
There were lots of questions, mostly things like if Yue's status as a missing-nin being revoked.
[Flashback end]
Ino pushed open the door to the room, seeing Yue standing at the window, looking outside.
"Ino? Is that you?" the hanyō asked without turning, though Ino could see that Yue had sniffed the air due to the window reflecting Yue's half bandaged face.
"Y-yes," the Yamanaka answered.
Yue placed her hands on the window, leaning in close to squint. "Ino, did Konoha change much since I left it?"
"Can't you see for yourself?" Ino asked without thinking.
Yue turned, her uncovered right eye squinting slightly. "Without my sharingan active, everything is too blurry to make out details. I hope my left eye is better off..."
Ino hung her head. "I'm sorry I said that."
"It's my fault alone that I'm like this. I knew what using my jutsu would do to me. Awakening the Susanoo let me know that the countdown had started, and now I think the clock is beginning to wind down," Yue said as she went back to looking out the window.
Ino decided to end her solo dance around the subject. "Yue... About that confession you gave me..."
Yue held her scar covered left arm up, which was thankfully still covered by her bandage/armor combo. No matter what was tried, those couldn't be removed at all. Tsunade assumed that they were somehow sealed onto Yue, sort of like how her eye patch had been. "You don't need to say anything at all..."
"But-" Ino started.
"Who would want to be with a monster like me? Nobody is stupid enough to truly love me anymore, they'll just end up like Jin: shredded gore on my claws," Yue cut in.
Ino was shocked at this. Yue had always struck her as headstrong, confident and impossible to sadden. The only time she had ever seen the hanyō not smiling confidently was during the Sandaime's funeral, where she hid off in the tree line and cried quietly to herself. Could Yue have a self-defeating personality?
"If I were a normal human. If I were just human..." Yue stopped for a moment, then sighed. "Ino, I loved you because you are beautiful, far more beautiful than I ever could be. You are so radiant it almost blinded me, who has always lived in darkness. You have a confidence that I've never seen shake, even in the face of powerful opponents. I never saw you falter once, never saw you react to any insult that was thrown at you, aside from Sakura's."
"Yue..." Ino breathed, a blush crossing her cheeks.
"But then I got to see you more, u, I mean learn about you," Yue said.
Ino frowned. 'I don't like the way this is going...'
"I know that you're horrible at cooking, that your first batch of cupcakes emptied a classroom for two days and laid your father out for an entire week, that the doctors had to pump his stomach so he'd survive the food poisoning. I once found you making Shikamaru and Choji do all the work during a D-rank mission while you rested in the shade because it was very hot. I found out that you cannot resist good clothes and sometimes make your father buy them for you if you spent all your money on other outfits. I once saw you sleeping with a fashion magazine fallen on your head when you were supposed to be minding the register of the flower shop. I even know about the time you accidentally ran out of your home after forgetting your underwear and went the whole day in just a skirt, blouse and bandages because you woke up very late," Yue rattled off. That last one was obvious because Ino forgot both of them, meaning you could clearly see her nervousness concerning her skirt and, well, you can guess about the top. Ino had avoided water like it was a plague bog that day.
Ino was completely red now and her mind was stuttering worse than Hinata in front of all of Konoha trying to admit that she loved Naruto while hyped up on sugar loaded coffee. Basically, after removing the stuttering, her thoughts were somewhere along these lines: 'How does she know all of that? Stupid question, she's a skilled ninja, but those are some of the most embarrassing things that have happened in my entire life! This is so mortifying! If Forehead learned of any of this, I'd have to leave Konoha in shame!'
Yue smiled, but refused to turn to look at the girl, not that she'd be able to see her as clearly as she would like to. "It was...nice finding all of that out about you."
Ino's mind calmed, wondering what the hanyō was going on about.
"I was no better than a fan girl, idealizing you, thinking you were perfect. Seeing that you were just as flawed as any normal human, it made you seem so much closer to a wretched beast like me. I think... No, you did steal my heart at that time. I liked you before when I confessed to you, but after learning all of that, I fell for you so hard that it hurt to walk under Akatsuki's colors, to hide in the darkest of shadows again. I wanted to be wrapped in the light you produced, even if it destroyed me," Yue said, feeling her face heat up as her heart became a drum in her chest.
Ino was blushing too and, surprising even to herself, her heart was hammering in her chest. Most guys went on about her looks and such, but none ever said that her faults attracted them. Nobody, aside from her parents, ever said that they loved her when they knew of her flaws. She chalked it off as embarrassment. No way she was falling in love with another girl! She was NOT that Tayuya girl! YAMANAKA INO WAS STAIGHT!
"But that doesn't matter. I'm hanyō, a demon's child. I can't bring happiness to anyone. Anyone who I tried to bring happiness to has suffered or died. Shisui-senpai, Saru-jiji and Jin died. Itachi-senpai was forced to kill his family and live as a monster, you and Sakura were forced to witness Sasuke's descent into darkness, Naruto is tortured from within and out, Anko's treated like a volatile bomb," Yue said, then lowered her head, "I'm just a black cat, a bringer of woe, a sign of bad luck when I cross your path. A weapon of living flesh, bone and blood. I'm no ninja at all... just a damned demon waiting for the day I'm finally purged from this world, all to make it a better place."
Now there was a very different pain in Ino's chest. Was this the real Yue, the one nobody was allowed to see?
"Ino, you and the others may hate me for this, but I'm going to find Sasuke and, if my last attempt to save him from his darkness fails, I will tear his life out after I destroy his eyes," Yue said as she glared out the window, her mangekyō flickering weakly as it activated, her vision's sharpness rising more and more as the chakra in her eyes grew stronger.
"What did you say?" Karin asked, shocked.
Sasuke glared forward, his inverted mangekyō seeing the world for what it 'really' was. "I will destroy Konoha and you three will help me," he stated as the red lines on his black eyes began to glow.
A/N~
There's chapter 37. In case anyone hasn't figured it out by now, Yue's left arm is basically crippled by shinobi standards, severely limiting her abilities. She can perform hand seals and use non-combat ninjutsu with her left arm, but striking is impossible due to her arm and grip strength dropping to levels that make using even kunai impossible.
I want you people to know that, since before Kaguya's appearance (I predicted that she'd appear as a bad guy, Madara was too weak and the Sage appearing suggested his mother or brother was going to appear as the Big Bad), I pretty much had the end of KTD planned out almost in full, just missing a few details between what I have written out and the very end, and I already had a general idea of the various events that will take place in the sequel. I am telling you people this so that nobody can accuse me of stealing ideas, since I had already decided on the details I wanted in the sequel. First off, all of the Kaguya battle will be canon, so it will be skipped. OC Villain #2, the one I mentioned last time, will appear and, well, you need to read on to find out. Here is a spoiler though: this character will not say "I know all ninjutsu," and then use a grand total of three jutsu, like Kaguya. This character will be firing off new ninjutsu left and right, and they will actually do things instead of floating in the air talking to a blob of black goo while the heroes plot on how to defeat them. This character will truly shake the world, because this character is the final antagonist of KTD, their defeat will not be simple and it will take longer than a few hours to defeat them.
Now I have made a slight change to the sequel and it is a good one: Ōtsutsuki Toneri, from the last Naruto movie, will appear in the sequel and he will be the initial antagonist. Now this works out because of what I had planned and it actually ties in quite well with K3D's plot. As for why I think Toneri is targeting Hinata, I think it is because, well, I think Hinata is also part of the Ōtsutsuki clan. Her eyes are similar to Kaguya's which is unusual, since most Hyuga eyes are almost the same color all over, not pearl like Hinata and, to a lesser extent, Hanabi. He could be trying to kidnap her so she could be his bride, so that their children can bring about another Rabbit Goddess, since they probably lost most of the pure blood in their clan.
Anyway, even if the movie goes in a different direction with the reason why Hinata is being targeted, other than to create a relationship out of nothing, Toneri will appear in K3D with that purpose in mind when it comes to Hinata, along with mass genocide of the human race. And as a final note, Naruto will NOT fall for Hinata in the sequel, she'll just be the primary target of Toneri, who is not going to drop the moon, the home of his people, on Earth. The bulk of K3D will, as I've said before, take place outside of the Elemental Nations with new foes who use powers unlike those of a ninja, and Hinata, as well as Sasuke, will find love out there. (Not canon characters, OCs)
Omake-
The woe of an OC
"What the fuck?!" Yue shouted.
I sigh, turning away from one of my many weavings. "What is it now?"
"I was reading the script and I can't believe you are going to do this to me!" the hanyō shouted.
My other creations shake their heads, unable to believe that she still thought she wouldn't be dealt the shitty end of the stick still. Excele isn't kind to his creations, not like most writers, he put them through Hell because it built character. Sadly, Yue appeared to be too young to know this already. Well, with her being a revolving OC, maybe she'd learn in time.
"Which version are we talking about?" I asked.
"Two Demons! Seriously, it's the only one that you are working on all the time that I appear in!" the irate girl snapped.
I looked at what she was pointing at and sighed again. "Don't blame me, I just have a plan for you and that event will make it happen."
Yue sulked in a corner. "I just want to get with Ino and Rin already... The fans are begging for it too!"
"Soon enough. Now get back to work, Naruto and the others won't know what to do if you don't convert that into paper script and hand it over to them," I lightly ordered.
"Can you get someone else to do it?" Yue asked.
I looked at her, frowning slightly. "Why?"
Yue looked away, sweating a bit. "That Hinata can be scary sometimes. She keeps asking me when she'll get a script from you that involves her and Naruto hooking up. She came at me with a knife last time. Her eyes went dark."
"I'll get to it some day, but she's difficult to write and it's even more difficult getting that blockhead to notice her feelings without a diamond drill, a stratospheric jet, bolts and a frying pan," I explained. Do not make me tell you how that all works.
All my creations, who are reading what I've read so far in Naruto, all nodded in agreement. Naruto's density was on par with a black hole.
I've got something for you guys-
I was writing a fic and I was presented with the dilemma of many a writer: a hole in the plot, a soon-to-be corpse shaped hole. Like many writers who were in conflict over this problem, I decided to fill it with a person that people would want dead from the get-go. This guy is great for the role, so good that I decided to share him with all the writers and readers of this fic.
Name: Yikio Toshi
Ages-
Part I: 12
Part II: 15
Clan: Yikio
Abilities-
Unknown ability: It is unknown how, but the Yikio can use a genjutsu/ninjutsu hybrid to produce the most deadly counter possible: the enemy's own attacks. Many believe that this ability encompasses numerous elements, though it cannot be proven how it functions.
Elements-
Water
Jutsu-
Various Medical ninjutsu (mostly water based)
Various water release jutsu (his strongest is water dragon bullet)
Hansha-tai [Body Reflection] – A jutsu that functions in a way that is impossible for even the sharingan to comprehend. It somehow causes the injuries the user would suffer to be transferred to the person who the user is staring at, normally the one dealing the damage, without the user suffering any damage. Drawbacks include only being able to target one person at a time, a radius that the target has to be within for the jutsu to function, a 'threshold' of damage that the user can 'suffer' before the jutsu is rendered ineffective and the death of the targeted person results in the jutsu failing. It is theorized that this is a jutsu that uses earth release to protect the body and wind to cause the damage, but this is unconfirmed.
Appearance: The first thing people know about Yikio Toshi when they get close enough is his eyes. Something in them is either dirty or missing, since they give people the feeling that he's a sociopath or psychopath, possibly even both. Yikio's all tend to have jade eyes and dull grey hair, traits that Toshi has. He tends to wear sleeveless shirts, cloth or leather bracers and full shinobi pants, generally darker colors as well, with a pair of grey shinobi sandals. He is described as attractive, a 'pretty boy' if you will, but then his mouth opens and sound comes out. He tends to have his hair a bit long, enough to fall into his eyes at the front and go a bit below his neck at the back. When he gets older, his features sharpen and he looks a bit older, but his growing insanity makes him look like he's lost sleep.
Personality: Yikio Toshi is a spoiled rotten little shit, that's the first thing people learn about him. The money put into his clothes alone can greatly assist those who need it, but the fact that he also hired the best possible tutors in all subjects, actually bought people in the clan council and many of the civilian representatives makes him a giant sink hole of money, a hole his parents are more than willing to dump their nearly unlimited funds into.
Due to his extreme sense of entitlement, he believes that his will should be followed by all, unless they are people he has deemed worthy of owning their own freedom. The few people who deserve to be free, in his opinion, are Sasuke and Ino. For Toshi, Sasuke is someone to aspire to be like, to model one's self after, so he tends to put people down who of are lower standing and is more than ready to kick Naruto when he's down. Other than that, Toshi is a shameless brown noser of the Nth degree.
When it comes to Ino, Toshi seems to have some kind of possessive crush on her. He believes that, if Sasuke shows no interest in Ino, that she should naturally hook up with him and him alone. He believes that nobody other than Sasuke and himself are worthy of Ino and, on more than one occasion, has shown that he might be mentally unbalanced when it comes to her. He has been caught stalking her a few times, but he tends to pay off the ninja who find him or threaten them.
Toshi is also noted to be very, VERY pro-clan. To him, 'clanless trash' shouldn't be allowed to become ninja, that they should be the 'civilian rabble that support ninja.' People who are from clans, but weren't given the 'proper upbringing' of their clan are also unfit to become ninja. Out of all the clan members that Toshi finds unworthy, Hinata stands at the top due to her being so meek and weak compared to even the weaker members of the branch house.
Despite his nasty personality, his loyalty is Konoha is great, his talent is a few steep steps below Sasuke's and his parents fund a lot of programs in Konoha, meaning he and his clan are a necessary evil, one that most people do well to ignore.
After abandoning the village to join Sasuke in Oto and, later, joining Akatsuki's army for the war, he has clearly lost his mind entirely, believing Ino is merely going through the motions of being a loyal ninja, all while wanting to be by his side. He views the members of his clan as being pathetic trash that is unwilling to embrace the future of the world, stubbornly clinging to a dying belief. He hates Naruto with a burning passion, calling him the most deluded of fools, the 'Idiot King' (Bakaou) even.
History: All you need from his history is that he scored in the top five of his graduating year and he is completely obsessed with Ino and Sasuke. He's not too skilled in taijutsu, mostly relying on his family jutsu and genjutsu to defeat his foes. He's handy with a kunai and both close and long range.
One other thing to keep is that Ino knows of his feelings for her, but wonders why he likes her at all. She finds it bothersome and just a tiny bit creepy. She is unaware of his stalking until he starts going too far and becomes too visible. (He does sneak pictures of her while she's getting dressed or bathing)
Method of Death: In an ironic twist, I have it so that Ino, the object of his obsessions, is the one who kills him during the war. She always slices a major artery wide open, leaving him to bleed out without giving him a single glance. A fitting end for him.
Responses-
Guest: Yes, Kakashi will lose his sharingan in this story. I haven't decided on if he will be able to use sharingan again after the war or if he will be like a true Uchiha and be able to call upon the power again. If he does retain sharingan powers, there will be a severe limit upon them, such as being able to use the full power only once per week or something so he isn't so overpowered.
EliteSlayer103: Yue's level ups aren't really that, it is just her revealing more of her power. Yue's Susanoo, as you may have noticed, is powering up much slower than Sasuke's, who seemed to fully develop his Susanoo in less than two months, if it even took a month. Yue will not master and stabilize her Susunoo until the war, and she'll need help to do so. Yue's body can handle Susanoo, if she lets herself rest up and heal completely, but she isn't and her taxed reserves were her downfall.
Thedarkpokemaster: Glad you liked the last chapter and I wonder how this battle of stubborn desperation was for you. There is more of Yue putting on her doctor cap, so to speak, and instructing people on the reality of the world around them in this chapter, as you have read. And, because it is so much fun, Yuriko will live to perv again. Look forward to it.
NaruSaku fan 100: First off, I'm sorry for our mutual loss in Naruto's final chapter. Kishimoto appears to be a woman hating piece of shit and his career is already over. (the last movie is a colossal flop in critic ratings)
Alright, I never said my fights were bad, just that I can't fight at the level of a Naruto character, so my ability to make it feel real(ish) to the readers is a bit shaky. Luckily, I play a ton of games that allow me to do crazy things.
Sakura fan 55: Honestly, I'm having a hard time thinking of how to respond. As far as I am concerned, the last two chapters of Naruto are dead to me. I am pissed off about the final two chapters and, if it wasn't for it being them being the final chapters, I wouldn't bother with them at all. They will be placed separate from the rest as a sign of disrespect to a shit ending that seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the series. Other than jacking the main antagonist, his clan, his background and his obsession with Hinata, for the reasons I theorized above, the movie is dead to me as well.
Super Saiyan Sakura Haruno: You don't know how many times I've had to switch to the Western naming style when it comes to your chosen handle.
To be honest, to give Sakura more justu related to her chosen profession requires me to look to Kabuto for new jutsu, such as the chakra scalpel. Kishimoto gave Sakura, by far, the worst jutsu loadout of the series, even worse than Hinata's five or so moves, with only three being unique to her and one of them being a half version of a full jutsu.
Sakura will get some unique jutsu during the war and I will reveal what I have decided is the only element that Sakura could have as an affinity, one that will make her a more effective fighter and medic.