Chapter 53: Inside My Own Head
Naruto
Judging from what I could gather from my surroundings, I was north of Konoha. Leaving without a map was kind of stupid, but I hadn't been able to find any in Kotoke's house. So I trudged on, through the drenching rain, the crashing thunder, and the weariness in my bones. It had been almost three days, and my stomach was eating me from the inside out. As said area screamed and gargled, I clamped a hand over it, in an attempt to silence it, as well as quell the gnawing pain. Unfortunately, I had eaten all of my food, the half loaf of bread and the hunk of cheese(Yes, bread and cheese, like in allll the adventure book things) three days previous. I was hoping out of my mind for a town of sorts where I could buy some food, or barter for it. Also, the ache in my feet had spread to my whole body, and I felt ready to collapse.
Hour after hour of wet, painful walking, and for all I knew, I could have been going the wrong direction. Finally, as the storm began to fade, as was the light which wasn't there, a could spy the outskirts of what looked like a village. My growling stomach hurrying me on, and my soaked clothes dragging me down, I turned towards it. What seemed like hours later, in reality only about ten minutes, I nearly collapsed in front of the main gate into the town. A shabby looking guard sat under the awning of the gate, safe from the downpour.
"H-Hey," I stammered, staggering, too, under the shade.
"Hey," He replied curtly, raising an eyebrow as I slumped against the wooden side of the door.
"There an- an inn here?" I asked, still panting for breath, looking hopefully at him.
To my absolute relief, he nodded, pointing down the road.
"On the left," Was all I got, but I was off.
The rain beat once again on my already soaked shoulders, running down my arms and pooling in my shoes. I regained balance, forcing myself to make the walk. I slid the inn door open when I reached it, doing my best not to collapse as I stepped in. The first thing I noticed about the lobby, after I closed the door, was the warmth. I could have easily curled up on the circular rug on the floor and gone right to sleep. Instead, I was helped to my feet by a woman in a white and red dress. She guided me to a chair, where I sat, trying to quell the quivering of my limbs. She hurried away, returning minutes later with glass of warm milk. I slouched in the chair, thankfully taking the cup from her hand into my own. I nearly spilled as I carried the glass to my lips.
"Easy there, you don't look too good," A voice, I could only guess to be the woman's, said.
She steadied my hand, and I drank, looking up at her as I did so. She went back to her desk as I downed the heated liquid. I smiled to her, rubbing at the mud on my cheek.
"Feel any better?" She asked in her lilting voice, eliciting a nod.
As she smiled back, I tried to read the name-tag that was clipped to her shoulder. It read Shara, and I nodded.
"Yeah, thanks... Shara," I answered, rising steadily to my feet.
"I take it, sir, that you would like to stay for the night?"
"That'd be correct, you have any rooms?" I replied, and she nodded.
"Name?" She asked, pulling out a clipboard.
"Uh, Naruto Uzumaki," I said, for half a second debating whether to use an alias, and figured against it.
"Alright, this way please," She said, walking down the hall to the right.
I followed silently, my balance very much regained. Many rooms passed around me, and the girl stopped four doors from the end. Shara pulled a key from her pocket, sliding it into the hole in the door. It slid open, revealing a tidy room.
"Please, make yourself at home," The girl told me, before handing me the key and returning to her desk.
I looked around, seeing the white sheeted bed, the single window, and the small closet. I locked the door, and pulled off my sopping clothes, tossing them into a heap in the corner. Unlike the five days previous, as I plummeted to sleep, the dream that appeared was different.
A blue sky, below me. I was upside down, standing on the side of a building. I staggered back, wheeling my arms. After about thirty seconds, I realized that I wasn't falling, and regained my balance. I frowned, looking around. It was quite odd, and kind of creepy (Yes, im giving him a Oturan, like in bleach, just cuz he's so cool. I'll explain it later). The only time I had been anywhere like this was when I went to visit the Kyuubi, but the Kyuubi was nowhere in sight. Instead, a white haired, white skinned, black clad form stood about thirty yards away, holding something loosely in it's hand. I peered closer, and realized that it was a twisted version, of myself.
He raised his head, winking at me. His face was different from mine as well, breezily confident, with a sarcastic grin slicing through the indifferent features. In his chalk white hand, he held an inverse version of the wind sword that Jiraiya had given me, almost a year before. I suddenly realized that I did too, hold a sword that is. It was my white and black wind sword, and now, I was really confused.
"Who are you? What do you want?" I called out, duh, best way to get information.
"You get to decide that, or I'll decide it for you, Naruto," He laughed, his voice warped and echoing, as he twirled the sword in his left hand.
Shit, I thought. I had about a year of training with a sword, but I still wasn't that good, coupled with the past while i'd spent with a staff, I'd almost forgotten about it all together. Still, I took a stance that I remembered from Jiraiya's training. The form disappeared, warping to my right. I didn't have much more than a second to realize, and swing my blade around to parry. Sparks flew, and I was shoved back, using my back foot to brace myself from going off the edge. I reflexively reached for a shuriken, but realized that I didn't have any, and cursed. I saw the sword coming towards me, raising mine in defense, slashing out at (Yes, I would much rather have everyone use swords, which I might end up having some of em do) the oncoming attack. My sword was slammed down, and I had to lean way back to avoid the razor shard tip of the other me's white sword slicing through my throat. Memories flashed back, and I was bolstered with strength. I remembered Kotoke's lessons, Jaraiya's teachings, and countered. I flash-stepped behind him, or me, or whatever, slashing down. Effortlessly, he parried, and before my feet hit the ground, slammed me back, and sending me skidding against the floor. I slid for an unrealistically long time, and the other me spun his sword by the cloth tassel, launching it like a spear down at me several times over.
I slid to a stop, and regained my footing. I ran at him, and our swords clashed in a furious, angry rhythm. My blade slid up his, his blade slammed down on mine, his sword stabbing out from all corners whenever I drew away. I spun, slashing at his torso, but the attack was deflected. It was like a dance, a really hard, fast, dangerous dance. I was fighting for my life, and he was absentmindedly blocking. Twice through I tried to activate my Kekkei Genkai, or call on the Kyuubi's power, but neither worked, much to my dismay. I swung a sideways slash at the doppelganger, who defiantly cartwheeled over, using the sword itself to push himself off the floor. There was something about the indifferent way he blocked, parried and slashed, seemingly without effort, but enjoying every minute of it, that scared me even worse than the thought of death.
He crowed with laughter, and blood flew from my shoulder, searing pain rocking my body. I leapt back, swapping my sword to my left hand, clutching my wound with my other hand. The freak show twirled the sword by it's wrapping, and a faint nimbus of black flickered around his hands, as he shot the sword towards me at a blinding speed. I could only watch as it sailed towards my head, straight as an arrow, and as he disappeared. He flash-stepped to about three feet in front of me, and stuck out his hand. His sword, still rocketing towards me, stopped, it's tip about an inch from my neck, grasped tightly in his outstretched hand. I heard the Kyuubi, barely, as I slumped to a kneeling position.
Don't lose, kit. Don't lose.
Flickerings of red in the corners of my vision caused me to rub my eyes. Red fire flickered from around my arms, my legs, and blazed in my eyes. I rose, grabbing the sword by it's blade, pushing it back. I raised my own sword, the same red fire dancing on it's blade. I swung it, an arc of the energy hurtling up over his head. His hollow, black eyes widened slightly, then he laughed.
"Using your Kyuubi's power? Thought so," He grinned, stabbing the sword into the ground.
Red and black flames poured form the crack it made, and he swung it straight up, trailing a stream of sparks. I blinked, and my eyes went from red to silver, my vision swirling and morphing.
"Kekkei Genkai too, alright, this is getting interesting," He said, and placed two fingers like claws on his forehead, pulling down.
Yellow sparks appeared in his black eyes, and he grinned.
"Who are you?" I asked again, to a mirthless laugh from my double.
"See if you can figure it out, kid," He said, and as he swung his sword, the black and red beam rocketed towards me.
A/N
Haha, yes. I'm adding the equivelant of a Hollow Ichigo to Naruto, howdya like that. Okay, Hichigo is my favorite anime character (sept Hina-chan) to date, and I was given the perfect reason to implement someone like him here. Naruto will be using his sword more often, and you will see much more of Oturan. Also, there's a reason why people don't use Living Clones as much. Think about it, low chakra cost, small amount of your own life that's refunded at it's termination, can learn and think on it's own, beats a shadow clone any day, right? Wrong. The drawback is something pretty big, but I wont spoil it for ya.
