Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
The Shinobi Legend
Arc 0
Chapter 2: Distance
He was drowning.
There was no light, yet his body burned as if the sun was on top of him. The distance between him and the surface was indefinite, unreachable no matter how hard he endeavored. His lungs, filled with murky water slowly started to collapse upon themselves. His hand that instinctively reached upwards, pleading for someone - anyone to possibly help him slowly went down. Even with the ungodly amount of water in his lungs, he chuckled. He was going to die. There was no miracle that would save his life from the void-like abyss. Quietly accepting his fate, his eyes were about to close...until he looked up.
Skeletons. Charred bones. Severed heads. Deformed and ashen parts of civilians, shinobi, and family he knew all too well appeared above him as if they were remnants of the past. The specters of the fallen came to haunt him, how ironic. His mind flickered in and out of consciousness, the water making way to his brain, yet the mournful and downright haunting cries from the specters were able to get their point across from his near catatonic state. "Why did you kill us? We were your villagers. We were your family…" They "sang" in unison, violating and puncturing his mind with their cries.
Before he knew it, his lungs were fully crushed by the pressure of water. He was too deep in the hellish abyss. No words to describe his guilt, he looked up and whispered with the remains of air in his last breath, "...I-I'm...sorry…"
He quietly closed his eyes and his life ended.
"I'm sorry!" Even in a state of lethargy, the boy's upper body catapulted itself from the bed. Heart pounding, body shivering yet drenched in sweat, he managed to control his breathing. "Calm down...Why do I keep having this same dream over and over again...Come on, has nothing really changed these past four years?" Internally irritated that a recurring dream could have such control over himself, the memories of the recent dream fully replayed through the mind of Satou Tsukishima. "...Why?" He called, yet his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Light, something that was taken so much for granted flickered through the blinds of the windows, easily overpowering the gloomy atmosphere. Satou turned to the light, basking in its glory as it washed away the vestiges of horror for the time being. His hand, still marred by the recent nightmare, clutched his chest in impulse. "I need to get ready for the Academy - exams are in a week anyway. I don't have a right to mourn everyone like this. This grief...should be something I carry in silence..." The boy slowly rose out of his sweat-drenched bed, letting it air out all of the horror he experienced. Shakily, he made his way to the bathroom, dodging any form of shadows caused by the light as to not relive the abyss he fell in mere seconds ago. The feeling of carpet under his feet was unbearable. He wanted to vomit. He was a foreigner in his own room.
Eventually, he opened the door to the bathroom. Looking at the mirror, he realized how much of a mess he really was. His hair, jet black to the point of resembling a rotten corpse was severely unkempt - most likely due to the fact that he was twisting and turning in his nightmares. Noticeable bags hung under them as if he never slept a day in his life and his face was puffy and red. It was to the point that the beauty spot under his right eye was covered by his currently unsightly appearance. Even his sapphire eyes looked like a gem had lost all of its luster. Satou sighed, women and mothers always said that he was a handsome kid but he wondered whether they would say the same thing now. Well, there was no use in thinking in hypotheticals, class started in thirty minutes so he needed to look presentable.
"Brother, wake up! Breakfast!" "Hm? Himari?" The corpse-haired boy wondered upon the voice heard from downstairs. "I thought underclassmen started class an hour before, did they cancel?" No matter, the voice of his lovely sister gave him strength to move on with the day. It was like if a gallon of water dropped on a starving plant. Resolve fluttering in his heart, Satou grabbed a toothbrush and got to work with a smirk. Appearance is the first impression after all.
Slabbing on a black jacket and red shirt with the Konoha insignia on the back of it along with dark pants, Satou would also make sure to straighten his hair so as to not look like someone who ran out of a shinobi asylum.
After eating a delightful breakfast of steamed buns and miso soup made by his lovely younger sister, the young boy rushed out of their house. It had been a long time since he and his sister arrived in Konohagakure no Sato: the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The aftermath of the Invasion of Takigakure was a blur to him, his mind purposefully forgetting the cascading inferno it was that day. If it weren't for that woman, the Tsukishima siblings would have been dead. The woman also gave the two a stable house to live in since they were eight, which made the young preteen indebted to her...
As Satou strolled around the luscious verdant parks of Konoha, an action figure of Naruto Uzumaki swiftly rolled in his direction, rubbing against his shoe. He seemed to be adorning his Hokage robes, with a distinct smirk on his face. "Who's this for?" The brunet inquired in his thoughts before hearing a yelp of sorrow.
"WAAH! Where's my SuperUzumaki Action Figure?!" A young boy pouted, "tears" streaming down his face. wondered whether they were actual tears or merely a way to get an adult's attention. The older boy gave a deadpan expression in response, wondering whether those "tears" were just to get an adult's attention. Satou's attention was more towards that "SuperUzumaki" action figure he was talking about. "It's always interesting to see how a Hero can turn into a legend, four centuries after he died." He pondered for a moment. Nevertheless, the corpse-haired boy grasped the action figure and walked over to the crying boy. Satou was a guy who couldn't stand when someone wasn't happy, even at the expense of himself.
"Hey, don't cry! I got your action figure right here," Handing the kid his action figure, he flashed a bright smile at him, his eyes practically gleaming with sparkles.
"Hm, what's your name?"
"T-T-Tetsuya…" The kid sniffled, globs of snot running down his nose to Satou's germaphobic displeasure, but he wouldn't show his disgust for now.
"Tetsuya, do you have any parents-" SLAP! His words were cut off by a shadow of a hand that smited across his face like a bullet. The blow forced him to tumble like a tumbleweed to the ground, falling face first. Satou reeled sickeningly, a bruise festering on his cheek akin to an unsightly sunburn. Blood swirled in his mouth as he turned towards the one who slapped him,
"Tetsuya! What the hell did I tell you about talking to a stranger, never mind someone as worthless as him?!" A voice boomed in irritative anger, but the voice resembled that of a woman. Satou struggled to glance up at the vote, so he immediately replied with words,
"At least buy me dinner first!" Satou quipped sarcastically, not knowing who he was talking to until he saw a distinct Flak Jacket on the woman. "A Jounin?!" He thought. Swallowing mounds of saliva fused with blood...the boy knew he screwed up.
It made sense; it had to. The preteen was an Academy Student, which meant that very few in the village could do severe damage as that slap did to him moments ago. Satou's legs couldn't move to run, and he couldn't breathe enough to talk his way out of this. "I'm used to this anyways…" All he could do is brace himself for the pain the Jounin would unleash on him. She started to charge up a chakra-enhanced punch on her fist as he shut his eyes for the incoming problem.
A halt, the preteen opened his eyes in confusion. What was even more confusing was Tetsuya grabbing the Jounin's fist with even more tears welling up in his eyes,
"Stop it, Mom! This guy found my SuperUzumaki and gave it to me!" Tetsuya proceeded to wiggle the crudely-made action figure of Naruto Uzumaki before continuing,
"He can't be evil if he helps people find their missing stuff, right Mom?" The kid looked at his Mom with teary eyes. She clenched her teeth in mental anguish before lowering her fist,
"If you're not evil, then you must be good right?" Tetsuya said. Before Satou could say anything however - the Jounin pulled the kid away before parting with these words,
"You should know your place, Irregular." Surprisingly, her words were devoid of malice, as if saying an agreed upon truth. Irregular: the small minority of people in the world who lack the genetics and or talent to properly use chakra. With nearly every job in the shinobi world requiring one to use some semblance of chakra for better efficiency, being an Irregular is equivalent to being handicapped. Surrounded by people with unique traits and prodigies that are born powerful, the moment that normality is questioned when someone is not as fortunate as others is how that person becomes an Irregular in the Ninja World. In a world where abnormality was the status quo, being normal was no longer normal. And just like everything else in humanity, when something is perceived as different, it will be demonized and discriminated against. That was the curse of Irregulars.
Satou slowly picked himself up and dusted off all of the dirt on his body. The Jounin left without saying another word, even with Tetsuya's heartbreaking protests. Quietly, the young Tsukishima wrapped a bandage around the cheek wound as blood was threatening to spurt from it. Soon, people gathered around the Irregular, watching him like a creature rather than a human. Some giggled, some looked in disgust, and others looked on with neutral expressions as if it was a normal occurrence in Konoha.
Not saying a single word, Satou lowered his head and left the park.
"This world is rotten."
The walk to the Academy was incredibly silent, with the occasional sound of shoes meeting grass and concrete. Within a few minutes, Satou arrived to the Ninja Academy of Konohagakure, showing the luscious green trees surrounding the Academy, creating a bordering circle around it. The young Tsukishima never truly realized how grandiose the Academy was, housing two buildings colored bright silver. The middle building was vertically straight in shape, having many vertical windows and the red Konoha Insignia on top. Usually, this was where the school held most shinobi courses for the semesters. Satou smirked at the sight of that building, despite not having any potent chakra, he excelled Academically in the concepts of shinobi techniques...now execution was the main issue.
The second building only held bad memories, being a training ground and a makeshift arena at the same time. Satou's memories of engaging in forced Kumite against his peers and failing each time in even the simplest of Shurikenjutsu replayed through his mind as he shamefully lowered his head. "I guess I really am an Irregular…" He sighed before turning to the staircase, jogging upwards before stopping once hearing a small quip from behind him.
"Hey, failure, why are you still going to the Academy?" A teen around the same age as Satou smirked maliciously, licking his lips in a rather graphic manner; he looked at the walking irregular as if he was a disgusting subhuman. The malicious preteen looked as volatile as he was on the inside with a gaudy red shirt, camouflage pants, and vibrant medium-length blond hair, a staple appearance for his clansmen.
"Daisuke...don't be such a degenerate by engaging with someone like him." A young girl around the same age as him with a much kinder expression yet retaining that aura of superiority present with the blond boy whipped her long blond hair around. Her emerald eyes pierced towards the two boys, instantly showing that she possessed power - insurmountable power. The blond boy grunted for a moment before shooting back at her.
"Tch. I'm your older brother, don't ever tell me what to do!" Satou sighed once again, his inquisitive yet cynical sapphire eyes studying the two from a distance like learning from a revolutionary duo.
"Daisuke Akamine and Hikari Akamine from the prestigious Akamine Clan of Light… Those two never stopped intriguing me, both talented in Shinobi Arts yet still act like bickering siblings. I wonder what it would feel like if I was born in the same clan as them." The irregular thought pensively as he picked up his pace, fusing chakra into the soles of his feet to increase his regular speed to take a haste stride to the Academy. Despite not having potent chakra, heightening velocity rate via chakra was extremely easy to perform, being another technique taught nowadays in the Ninja Academy as well as the Reinforcement Technique.
"Hmph, does he think he can ignore us? I guess he still doesn't know the reason why I left his sorry ass!" As Daisuke began to match Satou's speed, his scowling face would be soon faced with a violent whiplash of pulling from his hair. His emerald eyes flickered towards the origin of the force...being his sister with a miffed expression. Despite Daisuke being the older sibling by a year, Hikari always had an aura of maturity surrounding her and wouldn't mind taking the more senior sibling role. With a sharp sigh, the blonde gripped the brother's hair with far more force,
"...I seriously hope you don't plan on starting a fight and getting suspended from school again. I know your brain can't fathom following the rules, but I'll know you'll listen to ?" Her voice was sickeningly sweet, like how an adult would scold a child. Daisuke gulped as he remained silent in fear,
"RIGHT?!"
Satou strolled through the crowded hall and blanked out, thinking of the events that transpired before his eyes. Concentrated in thought and oblivious to his surroundings -a bad habit of his- his body collided against another thing, sturdy it was. Yelping for a moment from sheer pain, the Irregular thought it was just some object, but was soon proven wrong as he looked up to the figure around the same height as him.
"Oh, sorry." Satou instinctively said out of politeness, stepping back a few steps. He looked up to the imposing figure, and his face turned pale. "Wha-" If the irregular's chakra was a drop of water, the chakra - the sheer aura emanating from this boy was akin to a waterfall. This pressure...would kill him if he was near the figure for too long. Instinctively, he ran to class and stood in front of the sliding door. He didn't need to see his face, as the figure's dark brown hair and crimson-red highlights spelled everything out. The person sneered for a moment before entering the door a few moments later.
The young Tsukishima opened the sliding door with a variety of faces, once observing the classroom and chattering with friends, The students looked at Satou silently and continued back to their conversations. "Irregular!", The boy calmly turned his head and saw a chicken feather-covered by Daisuke and Hikari.
"Did...you run into a...chicken farm?" Satou asked, utterly bewildered.
"You really thought you would escape me, didn't you!" Ignoring his question, Daisuke rushed towards him with a fist, but thankfully, the bell rang.
"...Fine… you win this time..." The blonde sat back down into his seat and grumbled grumpily for a few moments before receiving an elbow to the gut by Hikari. Seething in pain, he cursed unintelligently as the class teacher walked in with the same brown-haired boy with crimson highlights, immediately alerting Satou due to the high levels of chakra emanating from the boy.
"Don't mind this student, he's only here to observe the class's daily regiment." Raising an eyebrow to the reason, Satou had no reason to object. When class ended the corpse-haired boy remembered all the discouragement and all the things that he went through in all his years in the Academy. Particularly with that boy, the red dye was unforgettable and the emotionless stare was irritating. The corpse-haired boy grit his teeth but was interrupted by a voice.
"Hey, Satou. You okay?" Snapped out of his mind, the boy turned his eyes to see a girl with scarlet-hair and alabaster skin. Her eyes were a very dark shade of violet but were glimmering with life. She wore cloth-like chainmail underneath her small jacket and shorts and wore a small necklace with a scroll hanging from it. The young Tsukishima didn't admit it, but she was very pretty, especially compared to all of the other girls in the Academy.
Satou blinked his eyes, pretty surprised at the reason why a girl like her would interact with an irregular, yet nevertheless, he tried to be polite. "Hm? Ah, sorry, may I ask for your name?"
"I'm Asami! Asami Yamamoto! I've been in your class for like… forever!" She gave a light chuckle.
"Ah, you're the one that would always talk about Fuinjutsu, correct?"
"Yep!" The scarlet-haired girl, chuckled while rubbing her head sheepishly.
"So why'd you come here?"
"You looked down, so I came over. I hope you're doing ok."
"Well, thanks for that. I'm feeling better already," Satou said with a chuckle before reverting to his neutral expression, "But, it's dangerous associating yourself with an irregular like me. You'll make enemies all around the village, so it's not the best decision for you and your family. You're better off distancing yourself from me." Turning his head away from her, he'd start packing up for the next class. He could afford not paying attention in this class since it was The Theory of Jutsu which he had a perfect score in, however, the next class was Applications of Chakra which was infinitely more difficult due to his deficiency.
"...I-I don't think irregulars are dangerous..." She mumbled, alas it fell on deaf ears, she instead opted to just follow him to his next class.
"...Why is he coming back to the Academy? Didn't he already drop out of class to be homeschooled?" Satou asked while they descended the stairs.
"If you're talking about the guy that observed the class, that's Tensei Uchiha. You know, the son of the heroes that survived the Destruction Era: Boruto and Sarada Uzumaki."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know who he is, but he dropped out of school so he shouldn't be eligible to return back to this graduating class per Academy rules." The young Tsukishima replied, opening the door to the next classroom.
"Well...a lot of rules can be broken when you're treated as the messiah of the new generation and the son of heroes. Plus, he's also a member of the Generation of Miracles, he just joined not too long ago."
"What?!" Satou shouted in sheer shock instantly, completely confused at the situation and forgetting that the classroom was quiet before his instinctive shout. A Generation of Miracles member AND a prodigal Academy Student? This was too much.
Looking around, he realized that every single eye in the classroom was looking at him. A light blush of embarrassment came across his face so he cleared his throat and slumped back into his seat, completely distraught by the information he got. Is that truly how the world worked? Those who were not prodigies have to train their hardest to get even half of the strength of natural-born prodigies yet those who were born strong didn't have to train as much, if at all. They were simply strong, an unreachable goal for the talentless to marvel at. It was the cruel reality of the world...yet even still, an analyst like Satou hated it. Why can't the weak grow to be as strong as the natural-born prodigies?
During Satou's internal warfare, Asami peered at the clock and realized that she still had time before class started. So she quickly went up to Satou's seat and whispered to him,
"I heard he qualified high enough for earlier graduation but he stayed with our class for some odd reason." Satou looked shocked and stayed silent, only just nodding to the girl as a sign of thanks. Asami smiled at Satou then rushed down the stairs. As Asami went down the stairs, she bumped into a familiar face, being Tensei in the flesh. Her eyes instinctively widened, her face turning red at the admittedly, good-looking boy in front of her. "Sorry about that. Guess I should watch where I'm walking." The brown-haired boy excused himself first.
"...It's...ok," Asami mumbled, her choice of words being jumbled up at the sight of the Uchiha prodigy before rushing out of the classroom in a frenzy. Tensei shrugged in response after staring at the door with a confused expression on his face but eventually made his way to the row behind the pensive irregular who was still in deep thought. A cursory glance at the Uchiha in front of him was all it took to set Satou off. He could not fully understand why Tensei annoyed him so much; perhaps he saw the Uchiha as the epitome of his disdain of the Ninja World, or maybe he was just jealous of his power.
"Why does he have to exist…" Satou pondered in vexation, not realizing that his docile expression morphed into a rather wrathful face.
As perceptive as he was, Tensei noticed this and responded with a quip "What? You have a problem Irregular?"
"Sure as hell I do…" The irregular curled his fists in anger, his fingernails diving deeper and deeper into his skin, threatening to draw blood from his palm. He wanted to drive his fist into Tensei's cheek and slam it around. Adrenaline coursed through his body, beckoning him to raise his fist and beat the Uchiha into a bloody pulp. Electricity coursed through his spine, it was fine! Even an irregular like him could land a solid punch against the prodigy. Without another thought, he fist rose.
DING!
Students poured into the classroom from the reverberating sound of the Academy bell, commencing the new period. Tensei raised an eyebrow at the sight of Satou's telegraphed lifted fist, giving a scoff at the irregular, as if non-verbally communicating to the Tsukishima that no matter what he tried to pull off, Tensei was always a step ahead. Satou, defeated, slumped to his seat in meekness. What he was even trying to do? Raising a fist against Tensei Uchiha, the son of Boruto and Sarada Uzumaki was a death sentence. Satou had to face it. At his current state, the boy who sat in front of him could permanently cripple him. "The Vanguard of the Generation of Miracles -an organization of the most talented prospects of the current generation all across the Ninja World, eh?" The corpse-haired boy mused. It was so damn irritating! Lost in wrathful thought, his pencil snapped from the sheer force of his iron grip, creating a somewhat loud sound around the classroom.
A familiar blond who was seated to the side of Satou looked at the brunet with derision, as if the person he was viewing was some sort of mongrel. "What's wrong Irregular? Did you have a little accident there?" Usually, Satou would simply shrug off and ignore Daisuke's antics, but due to being in a dour mood, he scowled at the Akamine and quickly went into his bag to grab another pen.
"Y'know Irregular, why do you try so damn hard to be something you're not? You don't hail from any clan, you fail at any chakra-based test you do. The whole village hates you and wishes that you were dead - I'm one of the same," Daisuke cruelly listed off every single one of the corpse-haired boy's issues as Satou simply stared at him blankly.
"Indulge me in your worthless existence: you're probably better off just falling off the face of the earth and living a mundane life away from society, so why, just why do you want to be a ninja so much?" Half of Daisuke was mocking, but the other half - the hidden half - wanted to know why Satou, his former friend, wanted to be something when all the odds were stacked against him.
"Ah, what a boring question," The corpse-haired boy spoke aloofly, peering away from Daisuke as a confused expression came on the blond.
"Is that not what makes someone human, to pursue futility?"
When the bell finally rang, Tensei got up from his back-row seat, hands behind his head. He took a glance at Satou then continued down the stairs. Daisuke who was heading up the stairs tried to wave at Tensei, "Hey, Uchiha! I heard that strong people should stay with each other so they can learn a lot of things from together. So, you wanna hang out sometime after school?" He suggested with a gleaming smile. In response, he received an emotionless glare from the young Uchiha which made him fume in response once he left. "Bitch! You think you're the shit just because you're decently strong and you can shrug off my invitation like that?! You're going to regret ever casually shrugging me off when I've been nothing but kind to you." Daisuke fumed before muttering off unintelligibly as always.
Continuing, he headed up the stairs towards a feasting Satou. "Move aside Irregular. Your commoner food has no place here." Daisuke gloated as he swiped Satou's lunch from his desk onto the ground. Satou then looked at Daisuke in a blank stare. The stare wasn't just blank, it was soulless as if peering into the spirit of Daisuke Akamine. The Akamine was frightened but he quickly covered that up by an awkward chuckle.
"Bastard, the only reason why you're worth a shit in this Academy is that you covered up how much of a coward you are when you betrayed me and begged for the Senpais to spare you last year. Don't think your sudden boost of popularity has made you anything less than a mistake of the human race." His words were sharp and analytical, but he wasn't done yet, he needed Daisuke to know who truly was in control of the situation. A devious smirk came on the Irregular's face as he stood up and strolled towards the Akamine, staring him straight in the eye with his soulless expression.
"You're so easy to read Daisuke. You want me to fight Tensei right?"
"How did you-"
"Irrelevant," Satou cut him off, "I've been observing the structure of the Academy for years, including you. It's obvious that you resent Tensei Uchiha for being stronger than you, so you thought that befriending him would cull your hatred. That didn't work, Tensei doesn't talk to anyone. So your next option is to cut him down and take his spot as the Generation of Miracles. You didn't want to risk losing your popularity and influence if you fought Tensei and lost, so you want to use the weakest person in the Academy: the Irregular who everyone in Konoha hates, me. You want to use me to test how strong he really is…"
A pause.
"H-h-how did you realize my plan? You're just an Irregular, don't act c-cocky, you're just-" Daisuke was at a loss for words, he didn't know how to respond. Satou easily outsmarted him and uncovered his plan, and now, the Irregular he hated so much and betrayed was controlling the situation so masterfully.
"Don't worry Daisuke, even someone like me can understand your plight. As bad of terms we're on, you are my former friend after all." Satou nodded, revealing a genuine pure smile on his face. "I'll spar Tensei. After all, this aligns directly with my plans…" The Irregular said aloofly, his bright smile turning into a half smile tinted with sorrow. "Himari and Chiaki won't need to suffer anymore. I'll take on their burdens."
Just after Satou thought that he spotted the Uchiha in question who was currently sipping on leftover Ichiraku Ramen - a famous restaurant that stood the test of time even after the Destruction Era - a few feet away from him. It seemed that the popular boy was able to get away from the mounds of girls who wanted to ask him out and the boys who wanted to be friends with him. The young Tsukishima, swallowing his irritation at Tensei, walked towards him with flaring resolve and pointed his finger at the determination at the young Uchiha. Tensei simply stared at him with meer disregard, looking at the boy as if he was some sort of ant that stumbled into his lunch.
"This is amusing, what does the Irregular want to do with me? Shouldn't you know your place already?"
"I want you to take my words into consideration, Tensei Uchiha." Satou proceeded to bow towards the brown-haired Uchiha with all his might before rising up again and pointing at him with sheer determination.
"Can you spar with me?"
Word quickly spread throughout the Academy of the soon upcoming battle and students rushed to the Academy stadium to watch.
As all the students loaded the arena, the once quiet peace was filled with the voices of hundreds of students. All of the classes from the Academy arrived there as all of the girls and boys cheered, "GO TENSEI! BEAT HIS ASS! " They roared. Satou stood in agitation as the crowd of people cheered his rival. His eyes twitched at the sight of the arrogant boy. As the crowd cheered on the stands, Tensei thought to himself, "This pathetic clown really wants to challenge me?" But in the back of his mind, he was intrigued at his opponents guts to challenge him and gave a quiet chuckle. But Satou, his mind was filled with worry, as body trembled, and his hands sweat. Accepting there was no way back from this, he looked at his opponent with readiness and prepared for the ensuing chaos. This was a spar after all, not a real fight, right?
And so...The Fire rose…
Picking up the arena dust from sheer force of his feet pushing off the ground, Satou lunged towards the enemy in front of him without another word.
"There's only 5 meters of distance between us! With a few steps, I can close the space!" Mid dash, he brandished five shurikens with great speed before throwing them without a motion wasted at his opponent. The motion was fluid and appeared to be a blur to observers. Despite being an Irregular, Satou's physical capabilities were at least passable. As the shuriken rushed over to Tensei, a small smirk was etched on his expression whilst weaving two hand seals in a blur before placing his hand on the ground in front of him.
"Wood Release: Cutting!" A seemingly impenetrable wall of wood spikes erected a few inches in front of Tensei, shielding the Uchiha from the onslaught of shuriken. The rotating projectile simply stabbed into the wood's surface before being suspended there, uselessly.
Instantly, a wave of confused analyzation washed over the Tsukishima, "Wood Release?" He thought, stopping dead in his tracks. A Kekkei Genkai possessed only by the Senju Clan was being utilized by an...Uchiha? Assuming that the Wood was made by Earth Release, it would have some sort of weakness towards Lightning, and lucky for Satou…
"Stop hiding behind your defense! Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
Suddenly, lightning bolts full of pure voltage burst out of Satou's hands, racing towards the spikes of wood before crashing into it at high speeds. The shuriken, due to being metal, extended the reach of the lightning bolts and in a mere second, the spikes were broken in two, as burnt wood chips and electricity proliferated the area. It wouldn't stop there, Tensei was then surrounded by several jolts of lightning, wrapped in the veil of electricity. A satisfied smirk appeared on the Tsukishima's visage before advancing towards the binded Uchiha, only a few feet of distance being between them, "Give up Tensei, you're wrapped in my jutsu. I can increase the potency of the electricity to make even a prodigy like you knocked out completely cold."
"Is that so, Satou?"
"Huh-" There was no time to react. Before Satou could realize it, a kunai was at the back of his neck. Where Tensei originally was, binded by the electricity, he was no longer there, in fact, he was behind the Tsukishima. "What?! How'd he get behind me so quickly?! That wasn't a Body Flicker!" "Give up loser." Tensei sneered before he heard a chuckle coming from...Satou?
BOOM! There was a puff of smoke, before Tensei realized his kunai was in front of a log. "Substitution?!" He thought before he turned around, facing the Irregular, standing on the other side of the arena, hastily weaved many hand seals in great succession, "Lightning Release: Lightning Hound!" Two large-sized hounds were made out of the lightning as they rushed towards Tensei at lightning-fast speed. As the beasts neared Tensei, he put his hand to the right of his body and swirled a large amount of chakra in his hand before slamming it into the two beasts. "Wind Release: Rasengan!"
Everyone watched in awe as the two forces collided, creating an explosion of chakra that threatened to swallow the arena whole. Spiralling chakra swelled throughout the arena, swiping up dust and pushed the students slightly back from the battle area. Due to the talent and power of the average shinobi being slightly increasing per generation for the past centuries, a technique such as Rasengan was commonly used...but for an Academy Student to utilize such a difficult technique and then infusing it with a nature transformation...that was truly a testament to Tensei's strength.
Satou peered at the incoming explosion, that thanks to his own bad luck was infused with his own lightning release. Not being a Wind Release user, there was no way to counteract the explosion. During his train of thought, Tensei found it as an opportunity to get a sneak attack. Satou instinctively launched 3 kunai from his hand, sensing that his chakra was getting low. Strangely, 1 of them "luckily" hit Tensei, piercing into his leg. The white smoke stood in contrast to the stormy explosion. POOF!, the figure disappeared into thin air as the Tsukishima looked around frantically trying to keep his enemy in front of him. However, it was too late. By the time he looked to his front again. Tensei had already hit him. The Tsukishima, having no way to dodge, took the rotating Rasengan and propelled him to the ground at ridiculous speeds.
Writhing in agony, blood spurted out of Satou's mouth whilst he was tumbling and rolling to the ground. The pain was excruciating, nothing that he had felt before. If the Rasengan was comparable to a punch, it felt like a punch was rotating around one's innards instead of striking it, causing internal damage. He struggled to get up as he clutched his stomach in pain while he wiped on his mouth. His vision was disorientating, his mouth was bleeding due to him biting his lip due to the sheer force of the blow. His ribs felt that they were twisted the wrong way. It was even hard to breathe, if the corpse-haired could manage to gasp air without being caught off guard. Nevertheless, he managed to get into a subpar fighting stance, facing Tensei despite the pain. It was as if his soul compelled his body to not give in. But, his plan was already complete.
Dozens of steel wires planted from his sleeves fell into the grip of his hands and fingers. In a sudden movement of pulling back, all of the kunai and Shuriken he threw -which were currently behind Tensei- flew through the air in a blurry maelstrom of shrapnel, attempting to strike the Uchiha from the back. Unfortunately, Satou's efforts were all for naught, as Tensei's senses easily picked up on the metal racing behind him.
"Now you have my full attention. I underestimated you a little too much then. Now… perhaps I should think of you as a legitimate threat." Tensei said with a smug grin on his face. The brunet smirked back towards the Uchiha, "This is where I finally get serious Tensei!" He said in determination, using his last bits of chakra to perform chakra infusion towards the wires. EVEN if it was a futile effort, he wanted to give everything he got!
"Lightning Release: Chakra Flow!" The Tsukishima roared, sparks of lightning igniting the wires and subsequently flowing through the connected Ninja Tools mid-trajectory as they continued to race at high speeds towards Tensei. Yet, even in the face of certain loss, the Uchiha didn't even bother to move; moreso, there was no need to. "Is that your true power, loser?" A grin emerged from Tensei's visage as the wires neared to his back. Suddenly, a crimson aura of chakra circulated around, as if his chakra was transmuting to literal flames, superheating the arena and generating heat waves. If the wires weren't infused with lightning, the chakra would've melted it. Easily.
"What the hell is Tensei tryna do? Burn down the whole goddamn arena? At least hold back a little, especially when you're fighting against an irregular like Satou!" Daisuke sneered from the stands, sweat dripping down his forehead due to the sheer heat of Tensei's chakra that extended to the stands.
"N-no Daisuke, I think he is holding back…" His sister who sat near him, Hikari replied in utter disbelief, marveling at the Uchiha's power.
"Well, that's my brother for ya" Another girl's voice said, seated behind and upwards from Daisuke. Turning his head to face the voice, a disgruntled expression soon formed on Daisuke's face. She bore a similar resemblance to her brother, Tensei Uchiha with a light tan porcelain cute face devoid of blemishes and a black ponytail hairstyle. Along with a black shirt, stygian leggings, and a crimson skirt, it was quite evident that she was Tensei's younger sister.
"Tsukihi…"
"Tch. What is that thing? His chakra feels so different…" Satou thought in confusion; his wires melted from the sheer heat of the crimson flames that emerged from the opponent, threatening to swallow him whole. "This is bad, this is bad… This is so damn bad!" Sweat dripped down the Irregular's brow , his throat grew parched as if he could taste the heat of the flames. He had little to no chakra left and no more weapons were in his Ninja Pouches. The maelstrom of shrapnel he unleashed towards the prodigy was his trump card and the boy destroyed it.
As always, he was outclassed...
"What's wrong Satou? I thought you said you would beat me!?" A nasty sneer grew on the prodigy's expression. The onslaught of flames surrounding him covered his body, leaving nothing but a black specter of himself visible with a white smile. Step by step, Tensei inched closer to the cowering Satou; the flames that were once many meters away from him were now a foot away from incinerating the Tsukishima. He tried to back up, but he was soon faced with the cold touch of the wall that was behind him. Suddenly, the flames surrounding Tensei transmuted into a fiery ribcage with a skeletal arm hovering above it, filled with the roaring flames.
"Shinku no Yoroi..." Tensei muttered, before cocking back the fiery chakra fist, aiming for Satou's chest. Without hesitation, the fist rushed towards the boy in a blur, split streams of wind enveloping. Satou watched in a triple threat of fear, anticipation, and paralyzation.
There was nothing he could do. Fate declared that the prodigy in front of him would defeat him at this point. Yet even still, the boy immediately outstretched his hand to block the arm that would surely spell defeat.
He didn't understand why he outstretched his hand. Perhaps he feared pain? Maybe he wanted to reject Tensei to the very end? Nevertheless, he did it without realizing his actions. Steeling himself to embrace the pain of his hand being crushed by the fist by shutting his eyes, it never arrived. The sizzling touch of the fist seemed to touch Satou, but only for an instant. Slowly opening his eyes, still waiting for the fateful pain, but yet again, it never came.
"What the hell?! What did you do to my-" Satou didn't pay attention to Tensei's drivel, slowly realizing why the pain never came. The ribcage and fist's flames were smoldering and waning as if they were snuffled out by a rushing wave. It was a pure negation of the imminent fate that was about to occur upon Satou Tsukishima. A small smile formed on the boy's expression, not questioning the sudden turn of events that happened.
And in that instant,
"LIGHTNING RELEASE: THUNDERCLAP ARROW!" With all of his might, Satou cocked back his arm before instantly throwing "air" outwards as the air transformed into a gigantic beam -in the shape of an arrow- of pure lightning chakra, threatening to swallow Tensei whole. Satou's ace jutsu, a B-rank technique that would surely incinerate all of his tenketsu as a drawback fired towards the prodigy.
The air shook. The arena rumbled as blue light gleamed outwards, blinding those who were on the arena stands. That was it. Satou's chakra was totally exhausted, sheer willpower being the only thing that kept him awake to defeat the boy that stood before him. If the maelstrom of wires was his trump card, this was the apex of Satou's strength.
Tensei was a prodigy, however, even those blessed with gifts have their limits. The roaring lightning crashed into the Uchiha at the blink of an eye, pushing him into the other side of the arena while picking up dust and smoke alongside it, when the arrow beam finished its course, all that was left in the other side of the arena was a storm of smoke. Sweat dripped down Satou's body, his sapphire eyes looking towards the carnage he unleashed. The arena tiles were chipped and burnt due to the trajectory of the lightning arrow, and the stands still sparked with lightning. The audience was so silent that a pen dropping would surely cause a disturbance. It seemed that the Tsukishima had won, but before Satou could relish in his win,
"Goddamn, I actually felt that one." The smoke cleared, revealing a crimson cubicle barrier that was many meters large, enveloping the other side of the arena. In the center of the barrier held Tensei Uchiha, unscathed with a three-tomoe Sharingan swirling. His arrogant smirk was also present, making Satou more and more enraged.
"How are you still conscious? You got hit directly by my Lightning jutsu, you should be knocked out cold!" Satou attested, getting more and more frustrated. It didn't make sense! All of his strategies have failed so it was natural to get annoyed at the face of defeat; Tensei had proved to be an unbeatable opponent the more the battle went on.
"You know, I was surprised that a failure like you would be able to break through my armor. I don't know what kind of jutsu that was, but knowing you, it was probably a fluke."
"Hk!" Satou flinched physically at what Tensei said, knowing full well that the negation of the man's armor was certainly true. He was lucky even to be standing for so long.
"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Failures will always remain failures." The Uchiha prodigy sighed with cruel finality, chakra surging throughout his body.
Forming three more hand seals in succession, Tensei's crimson eyes flared and swirled in a violent storm. "Uchiha Flame Formation!" Fiery chakra surrounded the two shinobi, making a red circle on the arena floor. The tiles now cracking from the sheer force of the young Uchiha's chakra suddenly broke apart from the eruption of chakra upward. "This is where our childish fight ends, Tsukishima." Tensei then clasped his hands together in the form of the dragon and the barrier solidified.
"What is this jutsu?" The Tsukishima furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure. The heat of the flames was surprisingly non-perturbing, at most, it felt like he was in a sizzling hot kitchen with the windows closed, a far cry to the blistering heat he endured a few moments before. Though, Satou was not that gullible to think that his opponent would simply let him rest in a battle, so he attempted to pull out one of his remaining shuriken in his ninja pouch. His body ached, but he still wasn't out of steam yet! Then, he looked at his hand, and suddenly, searing pain insured.
"W-W-WHY IS IT MELTING?!" His eyes flickered in agony as his nose grew runny. The Irregular buckled and shortly fell from the burning torture that his nerves endured, twisting and turning in his suffering. The shock wasn't helping, that's for sure. His hand completely melted off in a gooey mixture of crimson. The barrier liquefied it from its sheer heat, that was the only conclusion Satou could arrive at. Though, he couldn't think straight, as all the thoughts that raced in his mind was pain, pain, and pain.
His vision grew red and blurry, barely able to focus on the Uchiha that was in front of him, staring at the fallen boy with a blank look. The blurry figure of the Uchiha came closer as Satou dissolved slowly into a crimson mess. From legs, to the brain, the barrier slowly melted the boy into a cruel liquefaction of his body. Satou couldn't react, his body was already shut down from the sheer pain of losing his hand, slowly accepting his fate with a tinge of regret…
"Ya know it's sad to see a person lose grip of reality and fall into a world of dreams. But, I can see why they would." The young Uchiha slowly touched the scar on his right eye, before moving closer to the black-haired boy on the arena floor. Closing his eyes, Tensei's eyes returned to their dark brown counterparts. "Seems like it was a success. This fight was dragging on for a little too long. Putting that genjutsu on was troublesome, but it worked." The brown-haired teen sighed, his tannish complexion being revealed now that the sun began to gleam radiantly on the arena's center. In the midst of the sun revealing Tensei clearly, it soon became clear that the Tsukishima's body was intact, in fact, his body had no traces of burns. Satou simply lied on the tattered and smashed tile grounds before the prodigy, in deep unconsciousness. In an instant, he was subdued by the Uchiha, as if he was some ant caught in the lion's den.
But still…
The crowd went wild, spare for a few oddballs (Daisuke). Disregarding the painful lesson that was taught today, the spectators cheered, roared, and rallied for the Tensei's landslide of a victory. The cheers grew increasingly louder and louder until the area rumbled as if there was an earthquake occuring at his very moment. Tensei's response? A simple shrug and the quick hair swipe of his brown hair. Before the young Uchiha exited the arena, a caped figure gripped his arm with enough intensity to shatter it he was a normal person.
"Th-That's the Hokage!", a random student yelled. The arena went quiet as Tensei looked at the leader of the village. The Hokage had short black hair, and had an orange-colored kimono. Her eyes were piercing jet black and while her figure was elegant, her strength and aura bore a monstrous undertone.
"You could've gone easier on him you know." A female voice said.
Tensei scoffed, "I was going easy on him Risako, I guess he couldn't handle it."
Risako's grip tightened around the young Uchiha's arm, but the boy remained unphased. "One, don't call me Risako. You will call me Lord Twelfth. And two, release the genjutsu you put on that boy over there." Risako then pointed towards the unconscious boy on the opposite side of the arena.
"It's not like you can't break him out. After all, it's one of the weaker genjutsus that I know." Tensei's eyes widened as Risako's grip tightened and her voice became louder.
"Now."
"Ok, ok, jeez." Tensei forcefully pulled his arm out of the Hokage's grip and clasped his hands together in the form of the ram. The Uchiha's eyes took on the bright red light once more, and removed the genjutsu from the unconscious Tsukishima.
"What were you thinking, using the power of your Eye of Hypnotism on an Irregular of all things? I saw the type of illusion you used on him, you made him imagine that his whole body melted to death; that can shatter the minds of people and leave them bedridden for the rest of their lives...I have seen it firsthand...I know he's an Irregular, but he is also an Academy Student. Do not tarnish your parent's legacy by using your power irresponsibly." Risako curtly explained before a seething Tensei grit his teeth and bawled his fists,
"What do you know about my parents, Hokage?! I was simply doing god's work! That thing standing there like a neanderthal does not deserve to live; he challenged ME, Tensei Uchiha: the Vanguard of the Generation of Miracles to a battle. He's lucky he only got violated in his mind. He's an irregular, thus meaning that he is a blight on society and must be purged at all costs. His weakness...the way he uses chakra so defectively...is revolting!" Tensei spat, leaving Risako speechless. "After all, I only value the lives of humans…"
"...I do not tolerate insubordination Tensei, if you still do not want to realize the error of your actions, then I will have to report you to your father." The Hokage said with steel in her voice.
"Go ahead, he can't do anything to me anyway." Tensei replied with an equal amount of confidence, "I'm necessary for his plans."
Before walking off, the Uchiha would look at to the catatonic Satou, his blood boiling at the sight of the powerless boy,
"How disgusting."
A/N
4 reviews, 6 favorites, and 6 follows in the first few days...not bad...not bad at all. Thank you to everyone who's had the chance to read the story, you guys are amazing!
Regarding the reviews, yeah Ganesha is the god of success, wisdom, and the remover of obstacles in hindu mythology; the masked man's Mangekyou Sharingan ability is heavily concerned with these aspects so I'm curious to hear your theories on how Ganesha works ^-^
To clarify, Shinobi Legend takes four hundred years after the Fourth Great Ninja War so this leaves a lot of time for the current world to have progressed from the canon world, essentially being an AU at this point. If you're wondering how this current world isn't as advanced as the world we currently live in, then it's because of the Destruction Era that occurred shortly after Naruto would die, annihilating all traces of advanced technology as well as committing genocide a good chunk of the population. Only now is the current world having technology comparable to the canon world. It's shrouded in mystery so I don't want to reveal much besides that.
Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Please review, share the fanfic, follow, and favorite if you liked it. As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.