A/N: Good evening, everyone! I am sorry I'm nearly two months late. The thing is, something distracted me. Like Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. Yeah, I bought it on the day of launch day and finished the story three days. I'm just chilling with the game. I love it, and it's definitely improved since first Dragon Ball Xenoverse. And then I play NBA 2k17 and NHL 17. After that, I bought Final Fantasy XV, and I'm hooked up with it. I did not finish it, because I remembered this chapter, so I went back to finish this chapter. :D
Sorry about that! But here I am! I got you nearly 25k words chapter! At least it will keep you busy.
I will not waste your time with my author's note any longer, so I will say disclaimer and let you read it right now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Franchise and Naruto Franchise, so... enjoy the chapter! :D
Chapter 114: Runaway
Age 763, December 1- Cryptology Office, Konohagakure, Land of Fire- With Bulma and Inari
Bulma slowly opened her eyes, as she regained her consciousness. Her memory started to come back to her. At this moment, her eyes were so blur, as she could not see everything clear. But after a little while, her eyes finally became clear, only to find that one of Coola's henchmen was strangling Shiho.
"Shiho!" cried Bulma. What was going on? What happened when she was unconscious? Then she remembered it was not only Shiho and her, but there was also Inari in this building. She worried that he would not be killed by the collapse. She looked down and found Inari lying on the floor, gratefully only unconscious. She could see the blood on his forehead.
She realized that it was not only him that bleed, but it was also her that bleed from her forehead. How did she know? She saw the blood on the ground beneath her. She quickly rubbed her forehead and looked down, only to find the smudge of blood on her hand off her forehead. She could not remember how Inari and she were rendered unconscious.
Last thing she remembered was when there was a massive earthquake, and then there was a roof that was about to collapse. Just as they fell, that was the last thing she remembered. Probably the collapse of the roof was what caused both to unconscious. She realized that Shiho probably protected them for a temporarily before one of Coola's henchman came in and attacked her. That was just her assumption.
"Weakling." Eight feet brute man laughed while strangling Shiho in the mid-air. "Of course, lady like you won't give me a challenge. Perhaps you should just quit being a ninja and go back to kitchen. That's only one thing women are so good at cooking… and spread their leg once in a while." Shiho, having lost her spiral glasses, widened her eyes in fear. "Don't fret. You won't have to do this, because I don't like ugly woman. You're very ugly. I'm really enjoying strangle you to death. But woman over there… on other hand…" He licked his lips out of pleasant.
Bulma was taken aback by his comment. There was a fear on her face. He was really serious about that. She simply did not want to die right here.
In her panic, she shook Inari, desperately attempted to wake him, but to no avail. "Inari! Wake up, wake up! Dammit!" Something must have hit his head too hard. So he was going to be unconscious for a while. She looked up at Shiho who struggled to break free of a brute man's large hand strangling her neck.
She knew she needed to do something. She needed to find a way to free Shiho, or they all were going to die. She reached for her pocket and sighed with relief. She still had a gun, but it was not a gun that could restore Sakura's power. In next moment, she just saw the gun she was looking for. It was lying on the floor not too far away from the brute man.
It was now or never. She could not afford to be afraid. Shiho needed her. Even if Bulma was just a regular civilian, she was not afraid of them. In the past, she had come across every danger she had faced, and she survived all of them. This should not be any different right now.
She literally watched as Shiho's life was about to draw away from her. She could not afford to linger any longer. She had to make a move right now.
NOW OR NEVER!
She hustled towards Xenonian Gun, but the brute man saw her. She worried that he was going to do something to her, but she just heard the laughter from him.
"Hey, pretty girl. What're you doing? Where're you running to? Not tell me you're thinking of run away." He scoffed, but she still ran. "Oh? I don't know what you're going to do. But I am going to stop you and knock you out again. I may use you for later to my desire and the need to my satisfaction." He extended his free palm at her and quickly fired a simple Ki ball at her.
But she quickly evaded and rolled over to reach for the Xenonian Gun, and put it into her pocket, as she picked another gun. It looked an original pistol to him. She pointed the pistol at him with the furious face of her.
He gave a smirk of his own to her. "What will something like that gun gonna do to me? In case if you didn't know, nothing ordinary of that thing is going to hurt me. Ki user like me is a bulletproof. It ain't going to hurt me."
She returned the smirk of her own as well. "Really? This is not ordinary pistol! It is…" She pulled the trigger, but instead of releasing it quickly, she held the trigger for a while to build up the energy inside the pistol. "…Enhanced-Ki laser gun!" After building a lot of energy inside that gun for a while, she finally released the trigger, as it shot out the energy wave towards the brute man.
The brute man widened his eyes in shock, staring at the energy wave heading for her, what seemed like an hour to him. But he snapped out of his shock and put his free hand on it. However, he made a mistake. After raising his free hand to protect himself, the energy wave already burned his hand.
But Bulma was confused. She had no idea that kind of Ki could burn someone's hand off. Although she recalled stealing a couple of Freeza's henchmen who tried to deliver her to Freeza, because she probably knew where the Dragon Balls were back on planet Namek. After she tricked them into thinking that they were Dragon Balls, which turned out to be giant golden orbs on the top of large Namek monster underwater, she picked a couple of laser gun which were dropped by the henchmen. They were presumably killed by the giant monster in the ocean.
There was no way a weak Ki like that could hurt Coola's henchman. It was meant to distract him. But why? Why did that weak Ki could possibly harm the brute man?
The brute man widened his eyes and stared in fear at his own burned hand. He screamed intensely, very painfully, as he violently hurled Shiho away before begin focusing on relieve the pain in his injured hand.
Shiho's body flew away, slamming against the intact pillar inside the building, as a blood flew out of her mouth before falling to the ground hard.
"SHIHO!" cried Bulma.
She tried to rush towards the lady, but she heard the loud growl behind her. She widened her eyes with a fear, slowly glancing over her shoulder. What she saw was a belly of a brute man behind her. She turned around and nervously looked up at the man who was at 8 feet height who looked like he could squash her anytime if he wanted to. She looked like a toddler in comparison to his height.
"YOU!" His eyes gave her a furious glare, along with the massive killing intent. At this moment, she knew she could not react quicker, due to her body being shook so much with the fear. She could not move at all. "YOU… YOU USED KI! YOU USED KI! THAT HURT MEEEEE! I… I changed my mind about you. You just should… DIE!" He raised his fist above his head before throwing it down towards her, ready to squash her like an ant.
Bulma yelled, as she shut her eyes. She did not want to see her being squash like that. But she felt nothing. Maybe that was what it's like to be squash like an ant? But she realized that she was still alive. She slowly opened her eyes, only to find that Shiho kicked him in the face, knocking him down to the ground.
After kicking him away, Shiho landed on the ground and groaned, as she clutched her shoulder in the pain. It was unbearable pain, but she would have to endure the pain. She was kunoichi after all, and jounin as well.
"Shiho!" Bulma cried with a worry in her tone. She knew Shiho would not last a fight against him. She looked worse right now.
"I'm sorry. Don't worry about me." Shiho groaned. She knew what she had to do right now. She would have to stall him, so Bulma could escape. She pointed at the small tunnel, where the bookstore was originally placed by. "Bulma… Take Inari and escape. There's secret passage to the tunnel that will lead you outside the Uchiha compound. Usually, it's used for an emergency passage when there's time to escape the Konoha. But in your case, you cannot die. You must take him and escape to restore Sakura back to her previous power. GO!"
Bulma hesitated at first, but she nodded. If Shiho was going to die, there's nothing to worry about it. She would bring her back to life as long as Naruto and Sasuke, and even Sakura would save the world from Coola.
While it would take a time for the brute man to fully stand up, she hurried on way to pick up Inari. Before she could leave, she glanced at Shiho for a final time. She literally witnessed that the brute man snapped her neck by just using a bear hug on her. Bulma quickly shut her eyes in disdain, but there was nothing she could do. She retreated into the tunnel along with the unconscious Inari.
Uchiha District, Konohagakure- With Sakura
Blood… Too much blood. Sakura could see too much bloods on her hands. She stared at her own blood on her hands with very frustration. She could not stop shaking so much. "Damn! Why won't it wash off?!"
Despite the rain still ongoing, but because bloods would not dissolve by a heavy rain, she tried to scrub her hands to wash the blood off using the large lake—where it would lead her to Uchiha compound a couple of miles away, and that's where she would meet Bulma over there, as directed by the Hyuuga she met earlier—but bloods never washed off.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Sakura scrubbed her hands harder and harder, but not even one spot of blood that would disappear.
"Oh, my god! Would you stop that?! You're wasting your time with your hands! It's already washed off long ago!"
"Shut up!" Sakura growled, knowing that she would not be able to wash off bloods. She clenched her fists, feeling the boil in her chest. Tears clouded her eyes, bending her head. "Because of you... If we never switched… I would never have gone through this! So… much… blood!"
Sakura did not realize that she was talking, rather than sending a mental thought to Inner Sakura. But it did not matter as seeing that there were no one around here.
"Oh? But you killed them… Bunch of Root ANBUs and bunch of Coola's men… A lot of them… That was more than enough blood to stain your entire body. So why are you crying?"
"That's…" Sakura hesitated. She seemed not able to erase the memory of the incident where Inner—who took over her body temporarily a while ago—brutally tortured Kali and murdered her in a cold blood. Not just Kali, but most of her enemies whom she murdered in a cold blood under the influence of Inner Sakura. "That's because I do the different art of killing, unlike you! I am not the type of 'shoot first, ask question later' person!" She frowned at her own hands which took Kali's life very brutal. "Shit! You really screwed up! I think I may be getting unstable emotional!"
She heard the sigh from Inner Sakura in her mind. "While we have some sort of disruption in our agreement, I think there's a couple of things we should agree on. Eliminate the enemy at any cost."
Sakura nodded. "That's true. But—"
Inner Sakura interrupted her. "At any cost… That's the keyword. Once we noted their presence as a threat, we eliminate them at any cost, right? There's no mercy. They do not deserve a mercy killing. To ensure their death for once and all, disemboweling their bodies are part of necessity."
"Wha—No! That's insane!" Sakura yelled, her face paled. She would never imagine herself as a cruelest woman, who would enjoy destroying her enemies apart!
"For instance, you face off against your next enemy. You put them down, and you turn your back on them, because you thought you have killed them. Then they ambush you. What will you do? Being a ninja is an art of deception. Remember that, Outer."
"Except that it's Coola's men we're talking about! They're not ninja, as far as I know!" Sakura said. With a sigh, she refused to put her belief aside for someone who indeed enjoyed torturing her enemies. She would rather to kill them with a quick, clean death than seeing someone suffering too much to death. She was glad that she had to distract Inner Sakura, so that way Kali would die after getting her tongue cut off. Putting a stop to bleeding from cut-off tongue and torturing her over and over again would have been horrible if she allowed Inner to continue.
She was scared of Inner. But she knew it was going to be tough if she would not switch back to Inner after five minutes would be up. She wanted to test how far she could tolerate the mysterious voice to chant kill in her head. Maybe ten minutes at best… Ten minutes for not switching, and five minutes of hearing the mysterious voice in her head.
"I don't think you're going to last more than just 10 seconds, and you will switch with me sooner. One minute left, by the way… Or it's sooner, isn't it? But whatever, I lost track of time anyways. The point is—"
"KILL! KILL! KILL!" The mysterious voice had come back and began to echo in Sakura's head, even Inner Sakura was shocked that it came back sooner than she thought, or was it already five minutes?
"Shut up!" She clenched her head, trashing her head around, even scratching her hair. "Having two voices in my head are going to make it worse!"
"SWITCH NOW!" Inner demanded, already voicing her concern about the mysterious voice. But it seemed that Sakura refused to switch. "What're you doing?! Switch with me, dammit!"
"No!" Sakura shouted, denying Inner's demand, while still clutching her head, trying her best to relieve the voice off her head. "I…" Tears leaked from her eyes again. She wanted to stop the voice in her head again and again and again. She was already tired of it. "I… I told you that I will not switch with you ever again! I'm going to do my way!"
"Are you serious?!" Inner Sakura scowled in her head. "The longer mysterious voice lingers in your head, the more likely your light will be tainted by the darkness! And do you know what happens when the darkness tainted the whole lightness? You will cease to exist and I will be freely taking over your body! With no light to protect the darkness, I will be taken over by whoever keep chanting kill in our head!"
"I don't care… I'd rather to embrace the darkness and not knowing what we have done than switching with you again and knowing what we have done." Sakura admitted. Despite what she said, she was still afraid of never seeing the light again. But she was willing to embrace the darkness if it means not switching to Inner Sakura and be trapped inside the mindscape, witnessing everything. After all, saving the world was top priority over her own lightness and darkness.
Being annoyed by two voices combined in her head, Sakura tried her other method of getting rid of them even for a temporarily. She slowly closed her eyes and cleared her head, locating two voices. She found Inner Sakura's voice that constantly yelled at her, and another one that continued to chant in her head. 'Block them out! Block their voices!' She thought. Once composing of her mind, she had quieted both voices, and she no longer heard their voices, but she knew it was not going to last longer anyways. That was the best she could do.
But she worried about the mysterious voice. She knew it would still affect her mind, as it continued to chant kill even though she could not have heard it.
She looked at her hands, and there was no longer blood on the palm of her hands. She sighed with a relief. That's good. She thought she had lost her mind a while ago after endless scrubbing with her hands. She was glad for it.
She was going to be on way to meet Bulma over there, but she found herself dodging the shuriken that recently swooped past, scratching and bleeding her cheek.
'Shuriken?!' Why was another ninja attacking her? She turned around, and her jade green eyes widened in shock.
It turned out that it was a pink-haired boy that dressed up in Root ANBU, which she assumed to be same age as her. His mask consisted of dark fox, and he drew a couple of shuriken on each of his finger from both hands, twirling them both.
Sakura scowled, having her furious eyes set on Root ANBU, which left her to anticipation. 'Root ANBU? I thought we killed them all… but how?' Then soon she realized something. 'Of course… He's one of Danzo's Elite Root ANBU. Danzo must have ordered his Elite Root ANBUs to evacuate out of their hideout. Damn! He anticipated his death beforehand in the future, and he was prepared for it! Even in your death, I can't get rid of you entirely, Danzo!'
"Today…" Pink-haired Root ANBU said, as he raised a couple of shuriken up and crossed his arms in front of his mask. "You will die!"
Civilian District, Konohagakure- With Hinata
There were not too many enemies that was raiding from where she left Sakura, but now when she reached Civilian District where it located in the center of Konohagakure, there had been many enemies which she disabled all of them with ease. There had not been a single problem for her when she's facing them. Perhaps it was her training that got her this far. Maybe she could take on Elite henchmen or at least somewhere near that power level.
However, the problem was that there's too many to deal with and it would take a while for her to eliminate the threat at the Civilian District. She also tried her best to protect the civilians while killing enemies as well.
Upon arriving the fight scene, she had a greater learning experience that it was difficult to hold back her new founded strength when Ki became natural to her. One time, while not knowing her own strength, when she took a notice of civilians who were one second away from being obliterated by one of Coola's underlings, she prevented that and she simply thrust her palm on her enemy's chest, but instead of killing blow to her chest, her hand just went through her chest, filling the blood on her hand.
She could stare in shock, and she only heard the last word from the victim, who cursed her to no end. Of course, she did not care about the enemy that she killed, but what scared her the most was that she was not aware of her own strength. In other words, she would have to be extremely careful. She had killed many enemies, but it had never been an overkill before.
At that point, she learned today that most Coola's underlings were on equivalent of Elementians' battle powers, even Kages and most powerful shinobi on this planet. Even late Uchiha Madara and late Shodai Hokage would have to put up with Coola's strongest weakling underlings for a while. Well, maybe they can beat them, but it will take more than just few seconds to beat them.
With her new powers of Ki, she was now stronger than most of Elementians with the expectation of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura (if she got her powers back anytime soon). She was not going to allow that getting to her head. After all, saving the world was her primary mission. She would leave the civilians to her comrades.
She activated her Byakugan and oversaw the entire Konohagakure to pinpoint where she could fight someone who was not completely pathetic of weakling. By using her Byakugan, her vision was in a near 360° diameter field of vision. She could see everything around her, even behind her head, but there was only one blind spot at the back of her neck above the first thoracic vertebra.
Thanks to her new founded Ki powers, it enhanced her vision and increased the kilometer of her target by 20. It was previously only 10 kilometers.
Eventually, she found Kuririn and Gohan who were on the current fight against Guure, while Paradox sat back and watch the fight between them. She also spotted her fellow Konoha Nine comrades on way there. She knew their enemies were going to be powerful and dangerous, but that would be where she would need to fight them.
She would want to mask her presence, so that no one would know where she was. It would be foolish to fly around, only to be ambushed here. She wisely performed her traditional ninja way by hopping to each roof.
But while on way over there, she thought about Sakura who parted with her. Sure… Sakura convinced that Hinata's assistance was not needed here, because she had a confident in herself that she could control Inner Sakura or whatever the voice echoed inside her head. However, she still concerned about Sakura's sanity. But it was the last thing she should be worry about, because it's herself that she needed to worry about.
For the first time in her life that she felt so close to Sakura as a friend, but she never had one before, not even Kiba. Even though Kiba was her boyfriend, but he was not in her heart… Not yet. Naruto would always have remained in her heart forever. But when she saw how much Sakura suffered so much in her lifetime just in the span of one month combined. Being Sakura's friend drove her to more determination to protect her precious people: Naruto… Hanabi… and Sakura.
She would not know what to do without them if they were being killed off. Because she blew a casket when Hanabi died and placed a blame on Sakura, which she regretted a lot. Good thing that Sakura had a gentle heart to forgive her. Not to mention that when Hanabi was nearly raped when she was pre-teen, she also lost her temper and killed the attempted rapist.
And Naruto… Well, she did not want to think about it, because it happened a lot of time to her when they were both kids. After all, she stalked him her whole life.
At that moment, her long train of thought derailed when she found herself facing an enemy. But it was not one of Coola's underlings. It was someone else. It was Root ANBU Survivor.
"As I thought, there's Root ANBU survivor after all! Are there more of you guys?" Hinata hissed, as if she treated them like Danzo. Underlings are underlings. They worked for Danzo, and she believed they should be wiped out. She heard about the cursed seal on their tongue to prevent them from revealing secret information, and since Danzo died, the cursed seal on their tongue were now gone, but she did not care. She just wanted them gone.
This Root ANBU survivor wore hooded white cloak and mask, along with the katana on the back. She could not tell whole appearance of that Root ANBU survivor, but that did not matter. That emotionless bastard was going to die right now. Yes, with her new powers. It should be easy.
At this moment, with the help of her Byakugan where she could see almost everything around her except her blind spot, she jumped back just in the nick of time before the second attacker attacked from the above and missed his swinging sword as it landed onto the ground.
She stole a glance at the attacker, who also consisted of white hooded robe and the mask. Another Root ANBU survivor. There two stood before her, staring at her like a hawk. Of course, Root ANBU survivor would carry out Danzo's order, even in his death. They were still going to kill Hinata. But no sooner than that, she would realize that Danzo also ordered Sakura's death.
But she wouldn't need to worry about that. Sakura was strong, so she could take of it though. Nor herself. They were now a piece of cake for her, especially after receiving newfound Ki powers.
Underground Tunnel- With Bulma and Inari
Bulma knew that freaking tall guy monster was coming for her right now. After all, he saw where she left, and now he knew where the escape route was. It was going to be huge problem for her, if he caught them. She needed to find a way to block them somehow.
Right now, she was carrying an unconscious Inari on her shoulder. He was light, which she was grateful for. Also, carrying a lighter which brightened the tunnel, so she could walk through the tunnel safety. Not to mention she also carried Inari's crossbow that hang around her body.
She was getting spooky when walking alone in the tunnel. She thought she just saw someone or something else, but it was just imagination. Could it be? Ghosts living in the tunnel or something?
She shook her thought off. There was no way she was seeing ghosts. It was haunting her, which gave her a bit of spooky. But more importantly, she got to find Sakura first, so she could give her powers back.
But the problem is… She was about to run out of stamina, as seeing that she had a long walk in the tunnel. How long was it? When would she see the light? When would she see the exit? She wanted to see the world again.
She felt like it had been one hour. But she did not know what time was right now. She did not bring her watch after all.
Then she felt Inari stirring on her shoulder. That would mean he finally woke up. But she could not stop. If she stopped running away, bad guy would find them for sure and possibly slaughtered them right here.
"Ugh…" Inari groaned, completely unaware of what event inquired so far. "What just happened? Where are we?" Once he came to the world of conscious, he found himself being carried by a woman on her shoulder and inside the tunnel as well. "Wait… Where are we going?"
"Running away from bad guy…" Bulma answered. With a sigh, she put Inari down on his feet. "Now you're back to your sense, I'm afraid it's going to be very dangerous path for us on our way. The guy whom we are running away is one of Coola's underling. And he…" Her face became sour, which confused Inari further.
At that moment, Inari realized something amiss. He looked around to look for something amiss. "Where is Shiho?" He recalled he was with Bulma and Shiho before the earthquake. But there was no sight of her everywhere. "Where is she?!" When he saw her sad face, realization dawned on his face. "Can't be!"
Bulma turned her back on him and frowned. "She was killed. But she protected us. She gave us an escape route and distracted our enemy, so we can escape using the tunnel. She said it would lead us near the gate."
Inari clenched his fist with the anger boiling inside him, yet scared at the same time. He was no fighter, but he hated seeing someone death. He knew there was going to be more death of them. Of course, there's Dragon Balls, but still… Death was never good thing, even if you had an advantage of bringing someone back to life.
"However, he knows where we are right now. He has seen the escape route. He's taking this route as we're speaking right now." She turned around to look into Inari's scared eyes. He was just a kid, and he was no fighter. She realized it was going to be tougher, especially there's no one to protect her. But with her experience when facing the dangerous, she was sure that she could survive this anyways. "I can't afford to die. To you, I'm just your genius scientist from Earth. I'm aware that you're not fighter, and I'm also aware that you can't protect me, nor yourself. But I want us both to ensure my protection, as I will protect you. Nothing will happen to you as long as I'm around. If you can somehow endure it with me until I give powers back to Sakura."
But not only that, in fact, Bulma found a loophole in the resurrection of Sakura's parents and other Elementians who were not killed by Coola and his men on this planet. All she needed to wish to resurrect Elementians who died on this planet between the time of Coola's arrival and the time of Coola's defeat. That is, if Naruto and others somehow managed to defeat Coola.
If something happened to Inari, she could only hope that he would forgive her for using him as her bodyguard once he's resurrected. Him being Elementian was what was most important. If he was not Elementian, she would not have asked him to be her temporarily bodyguard. Of course, she would make sure that he would not die at the same time.
It did not take longer for Inari to figure out that Bulma was the one who needed a protection the most.
He nodded. "I won't let you die, Bulma. I will watch your back, and you will watch my back." He finished it with a smile.
She returned the smile. But their smile did not last longer, because they heard their enemy singing the song as he approached them nearby slowly.
"Shit!" Bulma scowled. "We have to run!" She grabbed Inari's hand and dragged him, as they ran away from their enemy. They both could not afford to die, especially Bulma. Their new mission was to give Sakura her power back.
"You can run away, but you can't hide from me FOREVER!" The voice of a brute man echoed, as he began to cackle loudly. "HAHAHAHAHA!"
Near the Uchiha Compound- Sakura vs Root ANBU Survivor
Shurikens were thrown towards her, which she responded with her kunai deflecting a couple of shuriken away. Once she returned her attention to her enemy, which now disappeared. She was slightly shocked, but she composed herself very quick and scanned the area just for Danzo's ANBU.
'Where is he? He must be one of Danzo's Elite Root ANBU. He's in completely different league from these Root ANBUs Hinata and I fought earlier,' thought Sakura.
That had to be some explanation why she sorted of had a hard time to spot her enemy. Of course, ninja must be discretion. To kill the ninja, they must be in shadow and ambush you from there. It's the way of assassination. It must be what that Root ANBU survivor was doing right now. Sneak from behind and assassinate her.
Thankfully, every ninja had come to lesson when it's coming to deal with being cautious no matter what, when, or where, even at your own village where you can be protected. Don't trust everyone. That's the basic rule of the ninja. She had prepared herself for whenever pink-haired Root ANBU would finally reveal himself.
Always be prepared when the time would come.
She wished she still had Ki powers. If she still had one, she would not have to take extremely cautious when dealing with such a weakling.
At least she still could sense Ki. Losing her Ki never affected her ability to sense Ki. She already found Root ANBU, but she could not let herself be known that she already found him. She had to pretend that she did not find him. If she pretended not to find him, then she would surprise him and finish him off.
Suddenly, she saw a lot of cherry blossoms surrounding her. Confusion etched onto her face, and she looked around, trying to figure out why. "Sakura petals? What's going on?"
"This is the Haruno technique," said the enemy.
"Haruno technique?" She asked with a confusion. Was she supposed to be the last of the Haruno clan in this village? Was her enemy also the Haruno? Just who was he? But for some reason, she started to feel drowsy. She could not seem to keep her eyes open, as her eyes slowly closed repeatedly. "Why am I getting sleepy?"
"This is genjutsu that can knock you out unconscious." The Root ANBU survivor began. "It's deadly jutsu, because you will land in the dream of your future, or more specifically, your fate. It will show you how you will die. It's vague, though, but your death will be shown. But none of them have ever survived my genjutsu. None of them. In other words, your future death will be me killing you in your sleep. That's why I called this genjutsu 'Unmei no Jutsu'. Don't worry. You won't feel pain when you're dreaming. You will think you're dreaming, and you will never know you die. It's the least I can generous offer you."
At this point, Sakura tried to release the genjutsu but nothing would ever dispel. 'Damn! I can't release them?'
"No, Sakura. It won't work. My genjutsu also affected your chakra. It jammed your chakra, and your ability to perform jutsu. I'd not recommend you to attempt to perform any jutsu, because it's going to affect your ability, and you're going to pull a wrong jutsu in that case. Goodbye…"
At that point, Sakura could no longer controlling her body, as darkness began to take over her eyes. But just right before the darkness took over her eyes, she heard the last word. "Nee-san."
Civilian District- Hinata vs 2 Root ANBU Survivors
"This is your biggest mistake of your life." Hinata sneered, not bothering to change into her Hyuuga traditional stance. "Showing yourself in front of me, especially Ki user. You don't know what you've gotten yourself into."
"We're aware of that. We have alternative method of taking you down," said the ANBU Root survivor on the left.
"The probable chance of taking you down is 90%," said the ANBU Root survivor on the right, causing Hinata to scowl.
"You're making this up." She snorted. "Come to me and see if your assumption is correct!" She could not understand what was going on in their head. They thought they could defeat them even upon learning that she acquired her newfound Ki powers.
It was almost as if they both had no fear. They were not afraid, not even a slight one. They were fearless in front of her, when knowing that she could erase them out of their existence just in a mere second. It irritated her. She was proud of herself that she scared her enemies away. They quivered in fear before her, as she eliminated them. Never once in her life that she scared her enemies. Yet Danzo and his goons were not afraid.
It made her wonder if Danzo stripped his goons of their emotions, so they would not feel emotions. Like a true ninja. That was what ninja originally were supposed to be taught that way. Danzo adapted that old traditional into his Root Foundation.
But she knew what it was like to strip herself of her emotion. She betrayed her own emotions after losing her Mother to Danzo. She stripped herself of her emotion, except her anger. She could not control her anger, because she was angry with the fate of her Mother, angry with Father's uncaring, angry with her clan, angry with Team 7's disappearance, angry with herself, and angry with this world.
She was always angry until Sakura came back and found all emotions that belonged to Hinata. For that, she was grateful to her new friend. Now she never wanted to strip herself of her emotion again.
But just looking at them showing no emotion made her chest boiling up. 'How dare he! He transformed them into a robot-like!' If they had a fear, they would be running away and possibly lived. She already set her priority on defeating Coola and his men over these survivors. But since they were fearless and would not run away and dared to challenge her, and that gave her no choice but to kill them.
Her thought derailed as she found Root ANBU survivor appearing in front of her and swung his tanto in an arc towards her head. Her scowl face shot him a glare, before catching tanto bare-handed, but it did not hurt her. The aura of her Ki protected her, she realized.
Right now, she had nothing to fear from bunch of weaklings like these Root ANBU. Wait… Did she call them a weakling? She chuckled. It was irony. She was called a weakling by Sakura who first trained her to adapt into the Ki.
She looked up at the white-hooded Root ANBU survivor struggling against her. Her downward lip curled into an upward smirk. "Send Danzo-sama my regards!" Her voice was filled with sarcasm when she added formality to his name.
With that said, she killed him with a single palm thrust to his chest, disabling his heart. No blood, but he simply slumped onto the ground, dead. An instantons death for him.
She stared at her hand. 'This feeling… I feel more power surging through my body. It's like I'm gaining for the greater. Perhaps this is how Sakura feel right now. Only if I had this power long times ago, I would have killed Danzo the moment he met me.' She closed her eyes and smiled softly, as she held her own fist to her chest. 'But it doesn't matter. Sakura avenged you, Mother.'
While she was spacing out, last Root ANBU survivor saw this opportunity, so he took this chance. He blurred out, disappearing out of nowhere. He went behind Hinata and swung his tanto around at her back, only to go through her, because she disappeared.
He did not waste his time scanning the area. It was almost as if he knew where she went next. He immediately turned around, only to receive most painful Junken (Gentle Fist) he would ever experience. He felt his heart beginning to beat slower and slower. But there was something he needed to do first.
Darkness almost took over him, but he managed to stay awake. He could see that she kept her palm on his chest. Perfect. He chuckled, but a weak one. He slowly raised his hands and placed them both on her hand. Good thing that he removed his gloves before he could encounter Hinata.
Hinata panicked when she saw a weird green stuff surfacing on her hand. Not only that she saw the green stuff, she started to feel the pain from her hand.
She quickly jumped away from him, and dropped to her knees and clung to her right hand painfully. She did not want to stay near him, in case he infected more poison into her.
She glared at him. "What did you do to me?! What was that?!" She feared for the worst. What if he indeed did poison her? If so, when would she die?
A dark chuckle. "Unlike most Aburame here, I possessed rare insects, Rinkaichu. They are a breed of nano-sized, venomous insects. These bugs destroy their enemies' cells. Of course, you will feel excruciating pain the process. Unlike the standard kikaichu, which are able to act independently of the user, the nano-sized insects can only be transferred onto a victim's body by direct physical contact. But it can only be touched by the skin of the user. In this case, I removed my gloves, so I can transfer the rinkaichu directly into your skin.
"The rinkaichu are akin to viruses, spreading rapidly and multiplying as they thrive on living cells. There's only way for you to survive it is if you remove a certain limb of where the rinkaichu are living in right now. Heh, as I said, we had an alternative method of taking you down. You…" His head started to throb, as Hinata's powerful Junken earlier started to take an effect on him. "…are… not…" Just right before he fell apart, he said last word. "…invincible."
'Damn! This guy…' She just realized that he was Aburame. How foolish of her to think she was invincible like that! Apparently, rinkaichu did not care which kind of energy source they had. Skins were most matter to them, that's all. Maybe the senzu bean could get rid of them. But more importantly, she would need to be on way to help Gohan and Kuririn.
Underground Tunnel- With Bulma and Inari
At last! At last they found the exit! There was no light, but there was a ladder leading up to the surface above. Before they could celebrate their soon-to-be escape, they both heard the brute man continuing to sign a song like a mad man he was. There was no visible of him yet, but they had a feeling that he was nearby behind that curve wall.
Bulma lifted Inari to the ladder, which he clung to its bar. "Hurry! You go first!" He was shocked, but nonetheless, he nodded and scrambled up to the manhole cover.
In the meantime, Bulma held up her laser gun, staring at the curve wall where the enemy was approaching behind that wall.
She noticed the shadow of the enemy approaching them slowly, which allowed her to be prepared for it, as she clenched her fingers onto the trigger of a gun, but not pulling it yet. She waited patiently for either enemy to show himself or Inari opening the manhole cover.
"What's taking so long, Inari?" Bulma asked. She could see that Inari was already up at the top, but she wondered why he had not opened the manhole cover?
"I can't open it!" Inari answered her with a frustrated tone. Indeed, it was heavy. That's why he could not open it yet. He tried to figure out why, but he could not. No matter how hard he tried to push the manhole cover, it would not budge at all!
"What?!" Bulma shocked. Was the manhole cover heavy? She did not want to glance up at Inariy, as she spotted the enemy finally emerging from behind the curve wall.
She did not waste her time to pull a trigger, releasing a Ki wave towards the enemy, which he noticed and looked rather scared before immediately fleeing behind the curve wall.
"SCREW YOU, BITCH! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" The brute man screamed in rage.
Bulma stepped back with a fear look on her face. She could not do anything, except waiting for Inari to finally open the manhole cover. She still pointed her gun at the direction where the brute man was hiding behind.
She still remembered how dangerous he was, and plus, he was a pervert. If she allowed herself to be captured, it would be all over for her.
"Oh, I finally figured out!" Inari exclaimed, as he unlocked the latch from the manhole cover and managed to open it up rather quick. It was light. He realized the reason why it was heavy before, was because it was latched in. He climbed out of the manhole cover, and then looked down at Bulma with a smile. "Let's go, Bulma!"
"Thank goodness!" Bulma squealed with happiness, as she began to climb up. However, as she climbed up, the hand suddenly grabbed her foot.
"Bulma!" Inari cried, reaching his hand for her.
She looked down and widened her eyes. The brute man grinned evilly at her, attempting to pull her down, but she fought hard to break free of his hand. She tried to shook his hand harder, but no matter how struggle she tried to break free, his hand still stuck on her foot.
The brute man laughed, "Like I said, you can run from me, but you can't hide from me forever! Here I am, finding you like this. It's going to be pleasure with you, bitch."
The fear grew on her face, as she hit the panic button, trying to climb up, but his hand gripped her ankle.
"Come to me! You're mine, bitch! HAHA!" He cackled loudly.
Bulma snarled down at him. She realized no matter how many times she tried to shake him off, he refused to leave her ankle alone. She immediately fired her gun directly at his right wide eye, forcing him to remove his hand from her ankle.
"MY EYE!" The brute man screamed, clutching his hands to her right eye painfully. "YOU MADE ME BLIND IN MY RIGHT EYE! HOW DARE YOU!"
Bulma gulped. She knew he was going to kill her for once and all. Once she snapped out of her shock, she immediately scrambled up to the outside, while Inari was waiting for her.
However, it was not what she expected. Her ladder throbbed hard. "Oh, no!" She looked down, only to find that the brute man, while covering his right eye, repeatedly smashed himself into the ladder, hoping she would fall.
Refusing to be captured by the enemy, she resolved to make a way for her escape. She hurriedly climbed up. She knew that the ladder could fall any time. Inari would stretch his hand out, waiting for her to grab his hand.
'Damn! Why did they have to build this ladder to be so long?!' Bulma expressed her frustration in her thought. She was almost there.
Once again, the brute man rammed against the ladder, shaking it well. Bulma lost her grip of a ladder, as she fell towards the floor.
"BULMA!" Inari screamed. He picked up the bow from his back and set an aim at the brute man in case for the worst scenario, but he was relieved once Bulma managed to grab the bar to prevent herself from landing the floor. Unfortunately, in this situation, she lost the gun in the process. She watched as the gun plunged itself onto the floor. "Are you okay?!"
Bulma could feel the pain in her hand, but it was no big deal. She was grateful that she took a climb class, as ordered by her Father. She was not just scientist, but also an athlete back in her high school day. That's why she was popular with boys back in her high school days, because she was everything they wanted a girl to be. A hot girl with a high IQ and very athletic. She stopped being athletic after she started dating Yamucha.
Plus, she survived many dangerous worse than this one. So, this should not be any different now.
She chuckled painfully, "I'm okay, Inari." She looked down at the floor, realizing that she lost few feet away from the surface. She would have to be hurry, or the brute man would get her for sure.
She could not afford to waste any time. She must escape from this crazy man, and then find Sakura and give her Ki back.
She climbed up, but this time, it was faster because she was climbing on her both free hands without holding a gun. 'I'm not going to die young here! Not until I get a perfect boyfriend, unlike Yamucha! I should have wished for one long times ago! Damn that so-called emperor goblin!'
She almost reached the top. Inari was going to grab her hand, but she felt the ladder shaking all the sudden, which meant the brute man just rammed the ladder once again. Now it turned out more than what the ladder could handle. The lower ladder cracked and broke, causing the upper ladder to start falling off.
"BULMA!" Inari yelled, his face paled hard.
"Noo! Save me!" Bulma shook her head violently with the river of tears flowing down from her eyes. "INARI! SAVE ME!" In her panic, she immediately clung to the bar of the ladder, not wanting to die right now and right here.
Inari stretched his hand, indicating that she should grab his hand. "Jump!"
Eventually, the upper ladder would lose the balance, beginning to come down.
Bulma glared at Inari and gulped nervously. "You better grab my hand, as if you depend on your life! Here I come!"
Just right before the ladder fell, Bulma made a leap of faith towards Inari, who already stretched his hand forward. "Bulma!"
But it was not what both Inari and Bulma hoped. Because it was not enough muscle to make that huge leap, Bulma's height was just short of Inari's hand, as she began to descend. She was horrified, believing that she was going to fall to her death, so she closed her eyes to prevent being aware of her own death, only to have her wrist being grabbed.
She widened her eyes in shock, and then looked up at Inari, who somehow managed to grab her. "Inari!" She cried happily. She could see that he barely almost fell, but at least he grabbed the edge of the manhole to prevent his accident fall. His lower body was still on the surface, while his upper body was above the manhole.
With that, Inari had no problem pulling her up to the surface safety because she was too light. Therefore, it was very easy to carry her even at his age.
Bulma fell to her knees. She just wanted a moment to regain her oxygen after pulling a stunt like that. She certainly thought she was going to die for sure. If Inari did not catch her just in time, she could have died, and she would have failed her mission. Sakura would never get her Ki back, and it could have gone the different way.
However, Inari had another plan on his mind. He did not want to rest after all this just happened. Not with the enemy running amok on them. First he put the manhole cover back on. "C'mon! We don't have a time to rest! If you want to live, we gotta go! Now!"
Before she could protest, he grabbed her and ran away with her into the gate of the Uchiha Compound and made their way for the large mansion.
The manhole cover erupted up, as dark red aura of the brute man flew through it and landed in front of the manhole, shaking his body with the rage right now. "DAMN YOU! HOW DARE YOU! I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOU!" His enraged eyes already set on Bulma and Inari, who almost reached the mansion. His eyes were filled with hatred and bloodthirsty.
Inari glanced over his shoulder and widened his eyes. He saw that the brute man already was angry. He could not let the brute man running loose right now. He turned around and quickly shoot an arrow towards the brute, who caught it with an ease, and then broke it in half.
"What?!" shocked Inari. Not only that he saw it, Bulma also saw that and was shocked as well.
The brute man chuckled evilly. "You can have your gun back, bitch!" He raised the gun that Bulma previously owned up and pointed at Bulma before pulling a trigger.
A thin beam just shoot out of the gun towards Bulma, whom froze in place. But it was not because she froze in place, she could not see the wave. Just like the gun. She did not have an enough reflex to dodge.
"Move!" Very brave boy cried.
Fortunately, Inari, who already prepared this beforehand, tackled her through the door, as the beam narrowly missed her. Right after that moment, both Inari and Bulma quickly took a cover inside the house.
Sakura's Mindscape- With Sakura
"Naruto-kun!" Sakura cried, as the energy beam shot through her chest, creating a hole and spilling a lot of bloods. She had no idea what was going on… She could not see the landscape very clear. Basically, everything was too dark to her eyes right now, but herself. From what she gathered, she probably saved Naruto from his death in the future. But who killed her? Was it Coola? Or was it the enemy in the future? Was it Lightning? She was not sure.
But she could not feel the pain. She knew this was dream of her future death. But one thing she was grateful, she did not die right now, as the pink-haired ANBU Root claimed. But how?
As she wondered, she toppled the ground, facing up at the sky, though it was still dark. She could not tell what was going on. When was this? When her death would be?
"SAKURA-CHAN!" Sakura heard Naruto cried her name with the worry in his tone. She could hear his voice, but she could not see his face. He was shadowy figure to her. She felt his hands wrapping around her body, probably still in shocked seeing her dying like that. "ARGHHHHHH!" He screamed and glared up at another shadowy figure not too far away from them, probably an enemy.
'Naruto-kun…' That was all she thought. Suddenly, the darkness started to take over her eyes. 'No! No! No! I want to know what's happening next!'
Last thing she heard Naruto was "I AM GONNA KILL YOU!"
As soon as the darkness fully effulged her eyes, she immediately jolted up with a start and panted hyperventilation. Pain or no, she was still scared. But was that what she was going to see her death? Was she going to die soon? That's what she's scared of right now. Once she calmed down, she looked around, but not sure where she was. Right now, she was in someone's bedroom.
"Where am I?" Sakura got up. She carefully opened the door and strolled through the hall. She recognized this house. Usually, she was in this place because she switched with Inner Sakura. That's where Inner Sakura usually lived in. She figured out that she was in mindscape because she saw the blank space outside the window.
She widened her eyes, as realization just dawned on her face. "Oh, no! She did not!" She feared that Inner Sakura might switch with her against her will, and then she probably killed the Root ANBU survivor in cold-blooded or even worse. She clenched her fists in frustration. "Damn! I'm going to kill her!"
As she cursed Inner Sakura, she walked in the dining room and found Inner sitting on her chair, and drinking the juice and eating a simple sandwich. She widened her eyes. She did not expect meeting the alternative version of herself.
Inner Sakura was complete opposite of her. She donned a black qipao dress without a sleeve and that had a zipper and white circular on her back. She also wore black gloves, low-heel, knee-high boots, black shorts underneath a short black apron skirt, and black elbow protectors, and black sandals. Even she had black hitai-ate donned on top of her head. Basically, it was just recolored of Sakura's current attire.
Only the common color they had were their skins and hairs. Tan skins and pink hair.
Sakura frowned. "Why is everything a black?" That was the first question she blurted out. She would hate to wear every single black clothes. She liked red and pink. Maybe few black that she did not mind, like gloves and sandals. Pretty much that was it.
Inner chuckled, as she put a cup of glass down on the table next to her. "I am dark version of you, so of course, I have to wear black. Besides, I wear what you wear. I can't change my dress as I see fit. That's why you and I both have the same attire, except my dress will always be black." She took another sip of glass of cup and shrugged. "If you're naked, then I'm naked."
Sakura flushed, as her whole face reddened even more. Imaging seeing herself naked in front of her before quickly erasing imagination of her own version of naked girl herself. But she could see that Inner Sakura's clothes were damaged a bit in identical to her own clothes.
She just saw the glimpse of naked girl appearing and disappearing in a matter of second. "What was that?!"
Inner set his glass of cup down on the table, finding it rather amusing. "Oh, that's your imagination. You imagined if we were naked instead, didn't you? That's why we saw naked girl recently. Basically, everything you imagined will appear, and everything you erased your imagination will disappear here, except you and me… oh, and this house unless you decided to erase this house out of existence. You wouldn't want to make my life more miserable, right? You're too soft, after all."
"Oh, I see." Sakura simply replied. She did not know what to say. She stared at Inner Sakura who was enjoying her little juice. It was kind of awkward to talk to herself in a person.
"Agreed." Inner spoke up again, smirking smugly. "This is our first time meeting here, isn't it? It's awkward for both of us. Here I've been living here in this piece of shit, and you're living outside. Imagine if our roles are reversed. How the event will unfold, huh? It would have been different, right? Funny how we're talking to each other in the same mindscape instead of relaying from the inside to the outside."
Sakura sighed. Still no comment regarding that. Well, one, because she still felt awkward, and two, this girl was not afraid to speak out her mind. That's one of thing she wished she had that. Only one person she would speak her mind out was to Naruto.
Inner gestured to the empty chair next to the table. "You may sit if you like to. It's not like you're going to wake up anytime soon. Let's have a nice chat, shall we? And don't worry. I killed that bastard for us, and I moved myself to somewhere safe."
Sakura widened her eyes in shock. 'No! She did not!' The last thing she wanted to see a pound of blood next to her enemy! If Inner did… She clenched her fist at the thought of Inner doing such a thing!
She unclenched her fist slowly and reluctantly sat down, giving Inner a hard stare. "Don't tell me you did—"
Inner scoffed. "Oh, no… Why would I put all of my opportunity away to prove to you that I can control myself? I simply killed him cleanly. No torture or anything like that. You shall not find the unnecessary violence that covered the corpse. You will only find some bruise and scar that I gave him, and you will find his head removed from his shoulders."
"Yet you removed his head off." Sakura glared at Inner.
"I had no choice. He gave me a hard time. It was tough battle for me, but I prevailed in the end. He was too good, and I had a trouble fighting him. But one mistake move costed his life at that moment. I took an opportunity and I killed him without any second thought. Yes, I removed his head using his tanto while he was too busy choking me with his wire around my throat." Inner rubbed her throat, grimacing. "At that moment, all I could think was how I almost died, and if I died, I feared that I might let many people down, and it may result in their deaths. Surely, you'd think the same thing. You'd given no choice but to do that. Right?"
Sakura remained silent, as she continued to listen to Inner.
"Outer… While you were unconscious, I managed to switch with you without you performing the jutsu. Perhaps, it had to do anything with our life being in peril. But when I was fighting that bastard, I was not myself, and I weakened myself in order to prove myself to you. Because of that, we almost died. If I do my way, this would not have happened. I am not like you who'd give them a mercy death."
Sakura frowned. "B-But—"
"I understand…" Inner took a bite off her sandwich. "I understand that you are afraid. Afraid of how our recent action might reflected their view of us. Afraid of how they'd respond to the revelation of our Haruno traits. Afraid of what they think of us. I understand that, but it doesn't mean the shit if I can't be myself, nor you be yourself. True to myself… True to yourselves… That's what it makes us stronger. As long as we won't be true to ourselves, it will increase the chance of us being weakened, and they deduced the point of our weakness, and then they will take our weakness advantage."
Sakura shook her head. "Sorry, but I have to disagree with you! I will never accept that! If you do that, it will make me look bad, and we're no better than these monsters we're defending against!"
"Besides, did you hear what Hinata said…" Inner scowled, deciding to ask her a question. "About most relationship between Outer and Inner?"
Sakura nodded. She certainly remembered what Hinata told her about the relationship between Outer and Inner.
"Hybrid is something I could call. Half of light and dark resides in you. That's why you have split personality. Any normal people who have split personality becomes insane no matter what the reason, because they can't handle split personality. You, on other hand, can handle split personality, so that's why you don't have any problem until that incident. When you encountered that horrible scene, and because the light and dark conflicted, and thus created insanity. Disagreement between the light and dark. You probably are not aware of it, but sometimes, your Inner persona controlled you at some point. Like you rushed to Root ANBU with the intention to kill without second thought."
"She said as long as we don't agree to each other, it will conflict between us, and it will create insanity," said Sakura.
Inner nodded. "Exactly." She got up and went to grab a pitcher of juice and poured the new glass of cup. "Listen, all I want from you is that we get on the same agreement here. We can't always disagree to every single action we did. I can't have that. Not when insanity could take over us. I don't want to become a mindless person. I'm fairly sure you don't want that happened to you as well, either, right?"
Sakura shook her head, as Inner just finished pouring the glass of cup and continued to pour the juice into next empty glass of cup. "No, but still… You're asking too much for me. I don't know if I can trust you with my body. Last time I did, you scared Konohamaru, and you were even willing to kill him just to hide the Haruno secret."
Inner just finished pouring the juice into the empty glass of cup, and put away the lemonade pitcher in the fridge and handed the other glass of cup to Sakura. Then she sat down and drank a little bit of it. "You're right not to trust me at first. Anyone would be dumb enough to trust me even after what I've done recently. But it's really irritating that you're freaked out over that even at the time of situation like that." She waved her hand back and forth. "Whatever… I supposed that's you." She leaned her back and relaxed her legs on her own table, folding her arms. "But the point is, during this time of critical situation, I don't have a time to disagree with you, nor you do. Give me a chance. Give me a chance to use your body for five minute. But don't think for a second that I will not stay true to myself. Because I will be myself, but of course, I will try my best to restrain my bloodthirsty. And before you ask me, yes, I love blood. I enjoy the sight of blood. No, don't try to change me. It's who I am. It will be brutal, but will attempt to control my bloodthirsty. Whether my action will be up to your decision and alone."
Inner put off her legs from the table, and bent her body, moving herself close to Sakura, eyes-to-eyes. "Once you decided, and I do hope you will accept me as your partner. We will switch every five minutes once you trust me with your life."
Sakura considered it for a while. Whether she should trust her or not would be her responsibility, and by doing so, she must ensure she would take all the faults in the future. If she allowed Inner to switch it now, she was afraid she may have regretted her action. But if she did not, insanity may have taken over her. It was difficult decision for sure, but there's time when she had to make a quick decision.
She exhaled for a moment before looking at Inner. "Fine. But promise me that you will not try to force me again if I still don't want you out anymore after that."
Inner smirked. "Good." She eyed the cup of juice next to Sakura. "Drink it, while you're at it, because five minutes are about to be up."
Sakura widened her eyes. "What do you mean? Was it your turn to hear the voice?"
"Nope." Inner said. "When I switched it with you, the voice was gone. I fought that piece of shit for almost seven minutes. After I killed him, I moved myself to somewhere safety, and I immediately switched. So, it's been almost five minutes since we chatted. Sorry if I keep you here, but it was necessary."
Sakura smiled a bit, as she drank the lemonade juice. "Fine. Five minutes. I will observe you. But remember, five minutes. Switch it as soon as you hear the voice."
Inner grinned. "That settled it then!" She stood up and walked, as she stretched her body. "I will leave this mindscape once the voice is back. Five minutes? Hmph! I will find Bulma and I will get our power back. Then I will test power against the opponent who is unfortunate enough to be my punching bag!"
"Hey." Sakura frowned, staring at her own empty glass of cup, obviously that she downed the cup faster. "Before I got caught in one of his 'Fate' genjutsu, I thought I heard him calling me 'Nee-san'. Why did he call me a sister?"
Inner's hair shadowed her eyes. She, too, heard him calling her 'Nee-san'. In fact, she heard him muttering to her before he was going to kill her. He said something about being her twin brother, and she was shocked. She was shocked upon learning that she had a twin brother. Too many question in her mind that she wanted to ask him, and she tried to ask several questions, but he refused to answer her. It made her anger, because he kept attacking her without giving her a single answer. In her rage, she killed him, and she did not know very much about him.
Still, she felt anger that her parents never told her. She had a feeling that Hinata learned that, but never bothered to tell her. Why would they keep a secret from her regarding that?
Before Inner could answer the question, Sakura and she both heard the voice again. "Sorry… We will talk about it later." She clasped her hand. "Soru Suitchi no Jutsu!" With that, she disappeared.
Uchiha Compound- With Brute Man
The brute man kicked the door open, which ripped it apart off the doorway, revealing himself while holding Bulma's laser gun. However, there was nowhere of Bulma and Inari. There was no trace of them here, but because there was a trail of blood leading to somewhere, he knew they were hiding in some room somewhere. He could use the blood to track down Inari and Bulma.
He grinned. "You thought you're clever species, but you are not! Like I said, you will never hide from me forever. No matter where you go, even in endless space of universe, I will always find you! When I do, I will kill that little boy and then I will have that woman for myself! For my entertainment!" He threw his head back and laughed like a madman. "Since you learned that I'm vulnerable to Ki and that I cannot let Ki touch me; otherwise, I'd be burned, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about me before I send you to afterlife."
He noticed more of blood trailing to next corner, so he raised his gun up and held his grip on the handle tightly. "My name is… Well, I don't have a name, because my parents never gave me. They thought I was disgrace to their family name since my birth, so they abandoned me for no reason. They left me off in the middle of desert nowhere! Due to too high heat, I almost died, but thanks to Coola, I was saved. For what my parents did to me, I'm grateful to Coola that he destroyed my home planet for me. But because of my body, I had been given a name, and it is Giant. My name is Giant. What do you think of my name? It's fitting name for me, right? I'm too big for you, huh?!"
He reached the corner, and took a turn around the corner, pointing the gun at a blank. No Inari or Bulma. But he noticed more bloods trailing into the door which would lead to the outside.
"Because I'm vulnerable to Ki, I cannot use Ki. If I use Ki, it'd cause more pain to me. I hate pain. I don't want that, so that's why I can only use gun filled with the Ki. Thankfully, you gave it to me, and I can kill you. No problem. Because you guys are piece of cake. It's like killing two birds with one stone. And even if I'm weakling, I'll have you know that I can destroy this compound with just one blast. By giving in to the pain, I'm more willing to destroy this place if I can't find you. I know you're somewhere here! You can't hide from me forever!"
He ripped slid door apart and found himself outside the mansion. He could see that he was in the backyard. He faced the wall which embedded the Uchiha crest on it. He looked down and his eyes followed the blood to other door like four next doors. His lips slowly turned into a wicked grin. "Hehe… Now I know where you are! Are you prepared to die soon?! Wait, save for that bitch… but I'm asking you, brat!"
With Bulma and Inari
Indeed, they were about four doors away from Giant. Shirtless Inari was laying on the bed, looking very painful and suffering loss of blood on his abdomen. It was not just blood, but there was large gash on his abdomen. He was losing a lot of blood. At this rate, he was going to die if no one saved her. Bulma could not save him if there was no proper treatment to his body. Despite Bulma had a first aid prepared in case of emergency and she bandaged him up, but it could not save him. She explained to him that there was an inner blood that continued to leak. If it couldn't be stopped, he would die.
Earlier, just in nick of time, he managed to save her from the laser gun, but he did not save himself. He just happened to get caught the laser through his abdomen, which gave him a sever wound. He was close to lose conscious, but he tried his best to stay awake.
He then noticed that Bulma taped a weird device to every wall and corner in this room. "Bulma? What… are… you doing?"
Bulma picked up another device from her backpack and carefully taped the device on the center of the door. "This is explosive Ki-filled device. Unlike the paper tag which can be only activated by an automatic or manual done by a user. I took a sample of Ki and experimented the bomb. By activating it, all I need to do is to push the button and it goes BOOM. But of course, we must ensure our safety first before we can activate it. Once we retreat, I will detonate it and I will find nearby hospital."
"No…" said Inari weakly.
Bulma whirled around and widened her eyes in shock, her face full of sorrow. "This is matter of seriousness! Our life is in danger, and I can't let you be killed off! I can't let myself be killed off either! I have to do my mission, and you have to protect me! And plus you're still kid. You can't die too young! Not like this!"
Inari chuckled weakly. "Sorry…" He climbed out of the bed, despite the severe wound on his abdomen, he deliberately staggered towards the window rail. "I must protect the things that are precious to me with these two arms. That's one thing I learned from my Dad. I always have to be courage and protect things I love with my two arms."
Bulma widened her eyes in shock. She did not know what to say. What was this kid thinking? Why would a young kid like him was willing to sacrifice his life just for the sake of the village and this planet? No kid that young would be sane to volunteer to give his life for that. Was Elementian that different from Earthling? Did most Elementians have more courage than Earthlings did? She knew that Saiyans children were probably most brave species she ever met, but Elementians? She never thought even a civilian would be so brave.
"The village…" Inari groaned, as he slowly lifted the window rail up, feeling the gust of window flowing over him. "…my home… our country… Element… people… and you, even though you're stranger, but you're stranger who saved my life back on the Great Naruto Bridge. All of these things are precious to me, and I must protect them… with my two arms, even if it costs my life. ARGH!"
He hunched over and placed his hands on his abdomen, feeling the strain of it. He began to feel light head right now, thanks to loss of blood. He slowly sank down to his butt and panted heavily.
"Inari!" Bulma rushed to him and kneeled next to him, holding back her tears. "You're dying! I must find nearby hospital for you. Otherwise, you will die! Sorry, but you will not die on me. You hear me?! You're still 11, and you're not fighter! Let the ninja and fighter take care of that." Suddenly, something clicked in her head. "Or… I can find Senzu Bean. Sakura still has it. I'm sure she will look for us. If you take it, you will be healed, and your whole cut will be gone as if it was never there."
Before she could pick up the bag, her wrist was grabbed by Inari. She looked at him, very confused. No matter what she tried to convince him, he was still willing to sacrifice his life? Why?
"Bulma-san…" Inari smiled weakly, starting to look worsened right now. It was almost as if he was about to die. "Give me a detonate button and escape using the window. Make sure to run away as far as you can. I'm going to use it." She was about to open her mouth, but he did not allow her to talk, as he continued. "I know you're concerned about me. But remember, there's still Dragon Balls that you can use to retrieve me. You were thinking the alternative way to retrieve all people who weren't killed by Coola and his men, right?"
Bulma widened her eyes, and then she nodded, but chose not to say anything. All she could do was to listen to him in sorrow, as her tears started to run down on her cheeks.
"You and I both know that I'm not going to survive little longer. I will die in few minutes. By the time Sakura arrived, I'd be dead already. And… If you and I escape here together, and even if we led him into a trap, he is still faster than the bomb that set off. It'd be a waste. Hence a bait. We needed a bait, and I'm the bait. I have to distract him, and then I will set it off. He will die with his weakness. I will die along with him in this very place. Please…"
"Oh, Inari…" Bulma sobbed, constantly wiping tears off her eyes. "I am sorry. I am too reckless. If I was not reckless… it would not have…." She realized she had to live with the guilty. Maybe if she was not afraid and stop to look for Giant constantly. If Inari and she still ran into the house without stopping and glancing over his shoulder for Giant, it would not have happened like that.
But she did. She stopped and glanced around at Giant. She was too afraid. She remembered feeling her legs trembled in fear, as Giant shot the blast towards her, but she was tackled by Inari. Only the casualty was Inari's abdomen, which leaked a lot of blood. Realizing her mistake, she had to carry him long way to a certain to buy some time from the crazy brute man.
And now… he was going to die soon.
"Leave… I think he's coming soon."
Bulma sighed and gave up on convincing Inari to leave. She nodded sadly. "Yes." As she picked up the detonate button from her backpack, she gave it to him. She strapped the strap of her backpack on her back. Before she could climb out of window rail, Inari gently grabbed her wrist. She glanced down at dying Inari, and guilt started to wash over her. She realized she was going to let him die. What kind of woman who would allow 11 years old to sacrifice his life? More tears clouded her eyes now.
All Inari could was smiling at her. "When you see Sakura… please tell her… I will be okay… And… Naruto too…" Soon, his hand slowly slid off and fell, allowing Bulma to escape in silent. He could tell that she was already running away.
His lips slowly turned into a weak smile. "Naruto… You taught me to be brave. You taught me that I must find a courage. A courage to defend my town… You defended our town from Gato. Now it's my turn to defend your village from Coola and his men."
He smiled gently when he remembered his past. From when he first met Kaiza, his stepfather, to watching Naruto and Team 7 leaving Land of Waves.
Flashback Began- Land of Wave
Five years old Inari was held back by two boys, facing the third boy who held an adorable puppy, standing on a pier. "Potchi!"
The third boy had a bandage across above his nose. He glared at Inari. "Wrong! His name's Shooting Star…As of today, he's my dog!"
Inari growled, "He's not Shooting Star! He's my Potchi! Give him back! Potchi's my friend! Who's going to give him to the likes of you?!"
The boy with the bandage raised his clenched fist and scowled. "Shut up!" He glanced down at the white puppy for a brief before smirking, which gave him a pretty idea. He then tossed the puppy into the lake. He folded his arms, watching Potchi drowning.
"Potchi!" cried Inari. He gritted his teeth in panic and watched Potchi, as the puppy desperately struggled to swim.
"That's cuz you wouldn't hand him over quietly…" The boy with bandage stared at the desperate puppy in disappointment. "Now I couldn't care less about that dog!" He looked at his delinquent friends. "Hey, let him go!"
Two boys obeyed him and released Inari from their grip.
Inari glared at the boy with bandage and clenched his fists. "What have you done?! Are you trying to kill Potchi?!"
The boy with bandage did not flinch. It looked as if he did not care. He scoffed. "Heh! He's your special mutt, right? Then save him, quick."
Inari's face suddenly became pale. He stared down at the water, wondering if he could dive in to save Potchi. But he was afraid because…
"What's the matter…? Is it okay with you if he dies?!" The boy smirked.
Inari walked a little bit to the edge of the pier, watching Potchi desperately trying to find a way to survive drowning. 'Of course I'm not okay with him dying! He's my only friend! But…"
"Look. He can't even dog paddle even though he's a dog!" The boy mocked, as he stood next to Inari.
'But…' Inari shut his eyes down, his face full of sorrow. 'I'm sorry, Potchi… I can't swim…' Because he could not swim, all he could was to stare at his own puppy in horror. As long as he could not swim, he could not dive to save Potchi. Right now, he was upset with how his puppy was going to die, all because of three stupid bullies.
"Hey! If you're his owner, dive in after him!" The boy laughed, pushing him away his boot, causing Inari to stumble forward and plunged into the water. Then Inari fell in the same situation as his puppy was right now. He could not swim. He quickly flapped his arms up and down, trying to swim, but he could not. He did not know how to.
"This is bad, Akane. What if he can't swim…?" Other boy asked, looked worried.
Inari kept bobbling up and down, and he felt the water invading his air. He tried his best to breathe. "S-Save me!"
The boy with the bandage now called Akane sighed. "Leave him be."
The same boy that showed concern about Inari frowned. "B-But…"
Akane gripped the boy's jacket and glared at him, growling. "Then why don't you go save him if you like?"
"I- I don't want to die… Somebody save me…!" No matter how hard Inari tried to flap his arms, he still couldn't float, and he still could not swim. At that moment, he saw Potchi finally found a way to paddle through the water to a beach. "P-Potchi! Potchi! Potchi!"
Potchi managed to rescue himself to the beach and shook his body off to get rid of water inside his fur before fleeing.
Akane pointed over the yonder where Potchi was fleeing. "Shooting Star escaped. Get him!" Three boys ran after the puppy, leaving Inari to drown himself.
His arms started to wear out, as he finally sank under the water. He could not find the oxygen everywhere. He tried to reach out for the air, but he knew that he was under the water deeply. 'Ohhh… I can't breathe… This… is it…" His vision faded into the darkness.
Next time he knew, he opened his eyes, staring up at the sky which the sun shined across the sky. He also could see the smoke that streamed up above his view.
"Are you awake, boy?" asked the voice of a man nearby.
Inari widened his eyes and quickly got up, only to find the boy with white rope around his head sitting next to fire camp. The man was roasting fishes in the campfire.
The man had short spiky black hair and black eyes. He had a small white rope tied around his head which was tied on the right side of his head and small x-shaped scar on his chin. He wore a black T-shirt that had a white outline and a white pair of pants. He also had scars on his arms.
The man looked over his shoulder at Inari with a friendly smile. "I gave those kids a good scolding. Here, eat!"
Inari's expression was what seemed like most confusion. He stared at the man in awe. 'Is this God? Oh…' Suddenly, realization dawned on his face, and he made a face like 'o' mouth. "Did you… save me?"
The man waved his hand, indicating Inari to sit next to him. "Just eat! Start with that." 'That' was referring to fishes in the stick next to campfire.
Inari then sat next to Inari and was eating roasted fishes right now, while he made his explanation the entire story of recent event to the man.
"I see. You were betrayed by your dog, too…" The man nodded, watching Inari chowing down the fishes with a joy. "In my country, dogs are creatures that have a keen sense of loyalty… Well, you betrayed your dog's trust first, so there's nothing you can do about that."
Inari put down roasted fishes on the stick and frowned. "I was scared and couldn't move." The man smiled, but continued to listen to him. "I wanted to save him… But… I have no guts, so…" Tears started to cloud his eyes, but was halted when the man placed his hand on his head.
"That's right." The man agreed. "Of course a kid your age would be scared. But you know… boy. Just remember this."
"Huh?"
"If you're a man choose a lifestyle you won't regret…" The man smiled before laying his hand off Inari's head. "For things I truly hold dear to myself, I'll protect them until the very end with both these arms." He pumped his fist. "Even if it's tough, or sad, I'll stick it out… even if it looks like I might lose my life!"
Inari continued to stare at the man in awe. Later, he would learn that the man's name was Kaiza. That man was a fisherman who would come to this land from another country in search of his dreams. After that, Inari began to look up to Kaiza, only because he lost his real father when he was too young to remember anything. They became like father and son… They often fished together, along with Tsunami, Inari's Mom. Later, Kaiza would became the member of the family, because he married Tsunami.
Even the town saw Kaiza as a hero after what he had done for this town.
One day, the river dam had broken from the rain. If no one could stop it, then District D would be consumed. Kaiza ordered Inari to grab a rope for him, and the kid obeyed. However, the river flowed too hard, and it would be difficult for someone to swim, even with the rope to prevent the damage. Inari even showed a concern to his stepfather who was willing to save the town. Despite big risk in the river, Kaiza had a gut to dive in the dangerous current. That's because he had resolve to save the town even if it would cost his life, and he would protect them to the end with both these arms. In the end, Kaiza succeeded saving the town.
Since then, the people of this land called Kaiza a hero. And he became a father that Inari could be proud of.
However, it was around that time when Gato set his sights on this land. One night, Gato and his goons captured Kaiza and tortured him.
Later
Many people were crowded behind the fence, watching battered and bruised Kaiza on the cross with the rope tying around his both arms, his waist, and his both legs together.
"Listen up!" Gato shouted, standing in front of Kaiza, looking around at the crowd people. "This man resisted through force, the policies of the Gato corporation and disturbed the order of this nation."
Gato had puffy brown hair and wore a small pair of black glasses. He also wore a black suit with a purple tie.
He raised his hand up. "Therefore, he will now be executed!" All people in the crowd gasped in shock. He put his hand down. "I just hope that such trivial matters will never occur again."
"Dad!" Inari was the one who clung to fence and cried. He was about to witness the moment that could change his life forever.
The middle-aged man frowned down at the boy. "Stop, Inari…"
All Inari could do was to cry in silent. A stream of tears were running down his cheeks faster than normal. Because he knew he'd witness the death of his stepfather. But Kaiza simply grinned, staring at Inari.
Gato looked at the samurai with silver-haired in bandana. "Do it…"
The samurai with silver-haired nodded and drew his sword up from the sheath.
"Dad…" Inari mumbled quietly. The samurai pointed the sharp blade at Kaiza. "Dad!" yelled Inari.
But it was too late.
The blood spilled.
Inari titled his head down, his face full of cry. 'Didn't you tell me…?' Tears rapidly fell on the floor. 'That you'd… protect… me and the people of this land… with both your arms…? Dad, you liar…'
Ever since then, Inari had changed as well as Tsunami and the townspeople. He had stopped smiling. He was not happy anymore. All he could do was to grief in silent for long times. He and other townspeople had suffered long enough from Gato. They feared if they opposed Gato, they would die. There was also not enough food, because Gato and his goons took about half of them. Kids were starving, and most of them were poor.
Inari no longer believed in heroes, because there's no such as hero! He believed that they did not exist. Kaiza was the man he thought was a hero, but it turned out that it was just a lie. Kaiza died, and he was not hero.
That was his belief since the death of his stepfather.
Tazuna, his grandfather, suddenly decided to build the bridge that would connect the Land of Waves to the mainland to help restore its economic stability, which was against Gato's interest. He knew that Gato would try to kill him, but could not afford proper protection. It was because of this that Tazuna hired Team 7 under the false pretense of protecting him from bandits which was supposed to C-rank mission, thus reducing the cost. Unlike most of his fellow citizens, Tazuna was brave enough to defy Gato's interests, although he was perfectly aware of the consequence.
Age 761, June 2- Land of Wave, Tazuna's Home
Inari just arrived home. But he heard the conversation between his Grandfather and his Mother, and the team that Tazuna hired. Something about Zabuza, and about how he was not dead after all. That would mean Team 7 already fought one of Gato's hired ninjas. Then Kakashi proceeded to praise all of his students, how they had grown up, especially Naruto whom grew up the most.
That compliment excited Naruto, and he pumped his both fists, grinning smugly. "So you noticed, Kakashi-sensei! Now it's getting interesting!"
Inari decided to reveal himself before them. "It's not interesting at all…" Everyone in that room quickly looked around at the boy. He stared at them with a scowling face. He did not look impressive by the look of the ninjas that Tazuna hired. When he noticed their sensei was wounded, which gave him unable to walk for a while, he never had any hope for the town.
Naruto jabbed his finger at the kid and demanded loudly. "Who the heck are you?"
"Hey, Inari!" Tazuna called to the boy. "Where've you been?!"
Inari smiled even for a brief, he immediately ran to Tazuna and hugged him. "Welcome back… Grandpa…"
"Inari, what sort of greeting is that?!" Tsunami asked him in a scolding manner. "These are the ninjas who escorted your grandpa!"
Tazuna ruffled Inari's hat and chuckled. "It's okay, it's okay. Right, Inari?"
Inari analyzed all of them and calculated them. He still did not look impressive. They did not look strong, including the crippled jounin.
He turned around and looked up at Tsunami. "Mom, these guys will die… There's no way they can oppose Gato and win."
Naruto was irritated by Inari's cold comment. He quickly got up and raised his fists threateningly, glaring at the little boy. "Say what, you little brat!" He pointed at Inari and smirked. "Now listen up! I'm a super hero who's gonna become an awesome ninja named Hokage in the future!" He pumped his fist up and grinned, trying his best to change Inari's mind. "I don't know if it's Gato or Chocolat or whatever… I'm not worried about those guys, at all!"
Inari moved his head down, allowing his hat to shelter his eyes. "Huh, a hero." He scoffed. "That's ridiculous! There's no such thing!" He shot all of Konoha-nin a glare.
"W-What did you say?!" growled Naruto. He could go after that brat and strangled him for saying such a thing, but Sakura had to restrain him.
Inari turned his back on them, and glanced briefly at them. "If you don't want to die, you'd better hurry up and go home…" Then he walked on way to his room, but not before Grandpa called to him.
"Inari, where're you going?" asked Tazuna.
Inari opened two-way slid door, looking back at Grandpa. "The sea… I'll be looking at the sea…"
He then went to his room, as he originally planned to. He would pick up the frame of his stepfather and watched over the sea, reminiscing himself about how he first met Kaiza over and over again and how Kaiza died over and over again. That's when he cried, allowing his tear to fall on the frame.
Later, Kakashi would begin training his students on climbing the tree by just using their feet. Inari had been watching them whole times and listening to the principle of the training. Sakura was the first one to climb to the top, considering she had amazing chakra control. In the meantime, Naruto and Sasuke struggled.
He could not comprehend the mind of those ninjas. Why waste their time on such a pathetic training when knowing that they would never beat Gato and his hired goons? He had heard that Zabuza was a powerful ninja, but not only that he was a shinobi, he was silent killer. Basically, he can kill them without them knowing there's enemy lurking around. Before they knew it, Zabuza would just assassinate them.
"Whatever!" Inari decided it was a waste time to watch them training like that. There was no faith in them after all. There's no way they would win against Gato and his hired goons. All Team 7 would die, and then Gato would send his hired goons to go after Tazuna to kill him.
During the dinner time, Inari and his family would eat with Tazuna's hired ninjas. Naruto and Sasuke would compete eating. But when they asked for second helpings, they would vomit because they were eating. Sakura scolded them for that. Naruto and Sasuke claimed that it would get them stronger. Kakashi agreed, but it would not do any good for them to vomit like that.
As they finished eating dinner, Sakura would check the picture where the family of his Grandfather, his Mother and himself in the frame. However, there was upper right corner of the picture torn out. Sakura asked them about that.
Just as Tazuna was about to explain, Inari, not wanting to hear his bad past, left to his room and probably left to grief there. Tsunami would come in his room and console him.
Age 761, June 5- Tazuna's House
About a couple of days later, Sakura, Kakashi, Tazuna and Inari gathered together and sat on their chair next to the dining table, waiting for the diner to prepare for them. However, there was no sign of Naruto and Sasuke yet.
"They're late." Sakura stated obviously. "And not just Naruto, but even Sasuke too."
Ah, speak of devil, a door opened, revealing Sasuke carrying an exhausted Naruto with the blonde's arm around his shoulder, the thunderous rain behind them.
"What happened to you guys?" Tazuna asked, sitting behind the dining table. "You're really muddy and really wiped out.
Naruto looked up, grinning at Tazuna. "We both… climbed up to the top." Not only Naruto who wore out, but Sasuke also wore out as well."
"Good." Kakashi nodded, sitting on the side of dining table. "Naruto, Sasuke, you'll also start guarding Tazuna next time!" Sasuke and Naruto were surprised to hear that. But Naruto, on other hand, started to become excited.
"Got it!" Naruto cheered, starting to dancing around, but he then accidentally fell along with Sasuke on their butt. "Whoa!"
Sasuke glared at Naruto. "You idiot!" But Naruto was too exhausted to say anything. All he wanted was a meal now. They looked delicious after all.
Later, Team 7, Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari just finished eating the meals.
Tazuna smiled, as his daughter was picking up the stack of plates. "In just a teeny little bit, the bridge will be complete. It's thanks to you guys!"
"Even so, don't let your guard down…" reminded Tsunami.
Tazuna looked at them and sighed. "I've really wanted to ask you for a long time now… But why are you still here even though I lied about the mission?"
Kakashi closed his visible eye and sighed, clasping his hands. "To see what is right without doing it bespeaks an absence of courage. 'There are no weak soldiers under a valiant commander.'." He opened his eyes, his sight on the bridge builder. "They're the teachings of the previous Hokage."
Inari stared at the exhausted Naruto and remembered how Kaiza managed to save the town from the flood. He remembered how Gato's goons killed Kaiza in front of his very eyes. He began to cry.
He sniffed, his tears dropped to the table. "Why…?"
Naruto opened his eyes, noticing that Inari was crying right now. He frowned with the confusion expression. "What is it?"
Inari slammed his hands on the table and stood up, glaring at Naruto, catching everyone else's attention. "Why do you desperately work so hard until you get like that?! There's no way you'd be a match for Gato's men even if you train! No matter what cool things you say or how much effort you make… the weak always lose out… against the truly strong!"
The entire room were quick to become silent for a while.
Naruto rest his head on the table and grumbled. "Shut up. I'm not like you."
"Shut up!" Inari yelled back, a river of tears on his cheeks. "It pisses me off when I watch you! Looking at you makes me sick! Sticking your nose in even though you know nothing of this land! I'm not like you who's always acting frivolous not knowing one thing about pain!"
Naruto clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes, but did not look directly to Inari. "So you're just gonna cry all days like the lead in a tragedy? An idiot like you can just cry forever! You crybaby!"
It shocked and frightened Inari a bit. He gulped nervously. He was scared now that someone older than him speak to him like that.
"Naruto! That's a bit harsh!" Sakura, who sat next to him, scolded him. But Naruto was not in mood to receive a lecture from his crush, so he then walked away. She shocked. "Naruto…"
Inari could seem to handle Naruto's insult towards him, so he started to cry. Kakashi watched him crying.
Later
Inari was sitting outside the house. He hugged his knees to his chest, staring at the ocean. He was really sad because Naruto called him a crybaby. He could not believe that he was rude to him. He was only a kid. Why would a ninja that Tazuna took an effort to hire so rude to him? He had no idea how he would face Naruto.
Kakashi came out of the door and sighed, "Got a minute?"
Inari glanced over his shoulder at Kakashi and nodded.
Kakashi sat by Inari, gawking at the long unfinished bridge far away from there. "Naruto didn't mean any harm with what he said… He's just uncouth, so… We heard the story about your father from Tazuna. Like you, Naruto never had a father as a young child… Actually, he doesn't know either of his parents. Not only that. He didn't have a single friend."
Inari looked up at Kakashi in shock. "What?"
"However…" Kakashi continued. "I've never seen him sulk, be timid, or cry. He's always eager, wanting to be acknowledged by someone. If it's for the sake of that 'dream', he always risks his life. He's probably tired of crying."
Inari looked down and frowned, remembering his late stepfather.
"So, he knows the trule meaning of the word strong. Like your father." Kakashi said. "Naruto might understand your feelings the most."
Inari could only gaze at him in astonishment.
"What Naruto said earlier… There's no mistaking that he's told himself that over and over again." Kakashi returned his stare and gave him one of his trademark eye-smiles.
Inari now finally understood why Naruto was angry with him. Now he understood what the heroes really were.
Age 761, June 6- Tazuna's House
Next day, it was earlier morning. It would be time for Tazuna to continue working on building the bridge. Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna decided to go without Naruto, because he was too heavy sleepy, and he would not wake up anytime, so Kakashi thought it'd be best idea to leave him alone to rest for a day.
Kakashi, on other hand, had his body healed better. He was only injured because he overused the Sharingan which was not belong to him.
Later, Naruto would wake up and realized that he overslept. He panicked and asked Tsunami where the rest of his team and Tazuna were. She suggested him to rest and relax for a day.
Naruto realized that his team left him behind, so he hurried and got dressed up, so he could be on way to the bridge.
In his room, Inari heard the whole thing, but he could not help but wondering if Naruto was an idiot. But then he remembered what Kakashi told him about Naruto. He struggled to contemplate whether he should be a hero or a coward.
"Inari! Give me a hand!" Tsunami yelled all the way from the kitchen.
Inari sighed. "I'll be right there." But first things first. He had to take a leak first. After finishing leaking, he washed his hands. Suddenly, he heard the sound of plate breaking. Something was going on downstairs.
He had to hurry down the stair, and he saw Mom cowering down with her hands clenching her head. "Mom!"
Mom noticed Inari emerging from other room, and her panic kicked in. "Don't come out! Get out of here, quick!"
Inari then noticed a couple of swordsman standing in front of her. One of swordsman with the eyepatch glanced over his shoulder at the kid. "What's with you, brat?!" He then glanced at the bluish-white hair swordsman with a dark purple hat. "Zori. Shall we take him, too?"
The bluish-white hair swordsman looked at his fellow swordsman. "One hostage is fine, Waraji."
Inari cowered behind the wall and froze. 'Hostage…?!'
Waraji raised his katana and slowly removed the scabbard from it, staring at Inari. He smirked. "Then… Shall we kill him?!"
Inari gulped. He was so scared. Those guys were going to kill him! His body started to tremble with fear.
"Wait!" Tsunami's voice cried, as both swordsman glanced back at her. "If you lay a hand on that child… I'll bite off my tongue and kill myself!"
Inari widened his eyes and his face paled. Was Mother seriously going to kill herself if they decided to kill him?!
"You wanted a hostage, right?" Tsunami glared at them.
Zori chuckled, as he looked back at the child. "Thank your mom, kid."
Inari gulped, as tears ran down his cheeks. He sank slowly to his knees and bent his head down. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. All he could do was to tremble in fear, as swordsman took Tsunami and tied her hands together behind her back.
He shut his eyes and mumbled quietly. "Mom, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!" He could hear the sound of footsteps leaving the house. "I'm weak, so I can't protect you…"He sobbed on his knees. Tears rapidly dropped on his hand. "I don't want to die… I'm scared!"
The water spilled under his hand, as it fell to the ground.
'You crybaby…' Inari looked up and widened his eyes. 'So you're just gonna cry all day like the lead in a tragedy? An idiot like you can just cry forever! You crybaby!' That was the word of Naruto.
'He's probably tired of crying. So, he knows the true meaning of the word strong. Like your father.' Kakashi said that to him last night.
Inari stared at his hands and frowned, remembering the word of Kaiza to him the day they first met each other.
'For the things I truly hold dear to myself… I protect them until the end with bot these arms, even if it looks like I might lose my life!'
He rubbed his eyes with his arm, trying to wipe off tears. 'Inari…' His Mom smiled to him in his memory as she slowly faded away.
The memory of Team 7, Grandfather and Mother, and even Naruto alone appeared in his memory in three separate occasion. 'Can I…' The memory of his stepfather appeared, grinning at him. '…can I also become strong…?'
That's it! He was not going to remain a weak boy any longer! He was not going to be a coward, just as Naruto said, any longer! He was not going to cry forever!
He already made his decision, as he stood up and stared at the wall with hard eyes. "Dad!"
With that, he rushed on way to rescue his Mom, but luckily, they were not out of sights yet. It would appear that Waraji stopped to make a comment about her being beautiful made him want to cut her. They were still on wooden bridge.
"Wait!" He cried out to them, glaring at swordsmen.
"Inari!" shocked Tsunami.
"What?" Waraji scoffed. "It's just the kid from before."
"Get…" Inari hesitated at first, but his courage got best of him. "…get away from my mom!" With that, he ran towards them. He knew it was stupid of him to do that, but he did not want to lose his Mom. If anything, he would try to follow in his stepfather's footstep. He was going to protect his Mom with these arms even if it means he might lose his life.
"Man… This brat's hopeless." Waraji chuckled amusedly at this brat's recklessness. Tsunami stared at him in shock.
"Let's do it!" said Zoroi.
Tsunami panicked when both swordsman were going to draw their swords. She glanced sideways at them. She knew Inari was not going to listen to her. "If you do that, I'll bite off my tongue and—"
She trailed off when Zoroi chopped her neck, rendering her unconscious. "Shut up. Go to sleep."
Even the danger at his presence, he was going to save Mom either way. He did not want Mom to be in hand of Gato.
Once Zoroi and Waraji drew their swords, they suddenly slashed their swords, as Inari's hat blew off in the wind. Once they buckled their swords back in their scabbard, it revealed that it was the log being sliced up in the place of Inari.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu?!" Zoroi glanced around, realizing that the woman was not by them anymore. "The woman… Hmm?"
"Sorry, I was late." The newcomer voice said. They looked behind them, only to find Naruto kneeled laying an unconscious woman and the child on his shoulder. "Heroes usually appear on the scene late, so…"
Inari widened his eyes. "Naruto…!"
Naruto set Inari down on the ground and smiled proudly at him. "Inari, you did well!"
"Huh?"
"Thanks to you distracting them, I was able to save your mom." Naruto and Inari looked down at unconscious Tsunami.
Inari was upset that Gato's goons would even harm his mom. "Naruto… how did you know that those samurai were here?"
Naruto looked up at the blue sky and smiled. "In the forest, there was a boar that had been cut-up with a sword. Other than that, there were trees with lots of cuts. They headed in the direction of your house… so I got worried."
"I see." Inari thought Naruto was an idiot on Team 7, but apparently, even idiot like him was able to figure out what was going on.
"Well…" Waraji chuckled, scratching his bared chest with a finger. "If it isn't the no-good ninja that Tazuna hired…"
"Let's do it…" Zoroi said, grabbing his sword.
"Yeah…" agreed Waraji. They began charging towards Naruto.
"Here they come!" Inari warned him.
With a grin, Naruto quickly swiped the couple of shuriken from his pouch and hurled it towards both of them, but they deflected it with a ease.
"Hah! Something like that won't work!" gloated Zoroi.
Naruto stood up, turning around to them, and gave them a wide grin. "Fools."
"Prepare yourself!" shouted Waraji. But what Zoroi and he did not realize was that there were two clones crept behind them and gave them a good kick to the head, spilling the blood, rendering them both unconscious.
"W-Wow…!" Inari stared at Naruto in amazement.
Naruto could not help but to squeal with excitement. He pumped his fist forward. "It's done!"
Inari stared in disbelief at him. So there was a hope for heroes like that. Little did he knew, Naruto would become his idol. He quickly returned a big grin of his own to the blonde ninja. "Naruto, you're just like… a ninja!"
Naruto smiled. "You fool. I was a ninja to start with!"
Soon, they would laugh together, as if they were best friend to begin with. Naruto then taped both ninjas' mouth and tied them in a rope, so that way they would not escape.
All of the sudden, Naruto felt his nose itched, and he sneezed. "Achoo!" It was almost as if someone was talking about him at that time.
"You have a cold?" asked Inari.
"I'm okay." Naruto took a breath for a while before turning around to him. "Anyway… Sorry about yesterday, Inari."
"Huh?"
Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly and grinned. "Branding you a crybaby… Forget I ever said that." He patted and ruffled Inari's raven hair. "You're strong!"
Just when Naruto praised him, tears started to cloud his eyes. Then he realized he was crying again. He quickly rubbed his eyes. "Dang it! I… decided never to cry again, but… Now you'll laugh at me again and call me a crybaby."
Putting his hands in his pockets, Naruto gawked over the ocean and smiled. "What're you saying…?! It's okay… when you're happy." He folded his arms behind his head and grinned down at astonished Inari. "It's okay to cry when you're happy!"
"Naruto…" Inari finally broke out with more tears flowing on his cheeks. He truly cried happily. Naruto really did open his eyes on the part about heroes actually exist as such!
Naruto turned around. "Now then. I can leave the rest to you, right?"
Inari nodded, "Yeah…"
Naruto glanced over his shoulder at Inari. "Okay, I'm going to hop over to the bridge for a bit." He sprinted off, but he could not be more proud of himself being a hero and all. "Man, it's tough being a hero! That's for sure!"
Later- Unfinished Bridge
Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi battled Zabuza and Haku while Sakura was protecting Tazuna. Eventually, Sasuke would almost die, and Naruto would go berserk until he broke Haku's mask and recognized that man who looked like a woman. Haku asked Naruto kill him, but instead, he decided to shelter Zabuza from Kakashi killing him, which he ended up being killed instead by a chidori through his chest.
Zabuza, despite being heavily wounded, managed to fight back, but losing the battle against his enemy until Gato intervened, saying that he would never pay them anyways, even if Zabuza succeeded, and then proceeded to spit on Haku's corpse.
With Naruto's persuade, Zabuza, with his both arms disabled thanks to Kakashi's doings, borrowed Naruto's kunai and placed it between his teeth. He proceeded to kill some of Gato's men, including Gato. He killed Gato with the kunai to the chest, pushing him away into the water.
It was peaceful while it lasted until Gato's men intervened in and said that since Gato was dead, they would not get payment, so they would kill Team 7 and Tazuna instead for the revenge. They were going to charge at them until the arrow plunged into the concrete in front of Gato's men.
Kakashi, Naruto, and Tazuna looked behind them, only to find Inari, Tsunami and rests of town folks standing together far away from them on the bridge. Every and each of them carried many different types of weapon. Inari was carrying a small crossbow with a hard hat and quiver on his back.
"Enemies who come any closer to the island…" Giichi said, carrying a weapon. "With all the might of all the island's people… will not be allowed to live!"
"Yeah!" The crowd behind Giichi raised their weapons up, shouting.
It took a while for Inari to convince old man Giichi and rests of town folks to rally against Gato and his men, but it worked out well. He wanted to help Naruto and other ninjas to win against Gato and his men. If they would rally against them and drive them away, they all would be free of Gato's tyranny.
"Inari!" Naruto was delighted to see that Inari actually decided to become a hero for once!
Inari grinned. "Heroes always arrive on the scene late!" Tsunami looked down at him with big proud smile.
"Inari… You guys…" Tazuna smiled, as his tears started to cloud his eyes. He could be more than happier for those people to finally show up, including Inari and Tsunami. After all, he was only one who was enough to be brave to build the bridge and hired the ninjas. Now he was happy that he was not only one who stood up to Gato.
"Okay, I'm gonna help out, too! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto said, as he crossed his fingers, producing only four shadow clones. He could produce many more than just four shadow clones, but because his chakra was too low, he was able to produce only four.
Gato's men became frightened when Inari and town folks decided to rally, but even more frightened when Naruto produced clones.
'I can do that even with my scarce Chakra…' Kakashi thought while kneeling. 'At least, it will bluff…' He also crossed his fingers and called out a name. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Unlike Naruto, he was able to produce about 30 shadow clones in pale comparison to Naruto's four shadow clones. "Kakashi Verison!"
Gato's men were taken aback by Kakashi's multiple shadow clones.
"So… are you ready to fight?" Kakashi shot them a threatening glare.
"No, we're not!" Gato's men had an enough of that, and they panicked before running away back on their boat again. They scrambled together and raced for their boat, but some fell, and some managed to climb down on their boat. The very first person to arrive the boat immediately drove the boat away.
Inari cheered, "We've done it!" They celebrated the death of Gato, but not only that, they also celebrated their freedom for long times since Kaiza's death.
But because Zabuza took too many cut and stab on his body from Gato's men, he was going to die, but first, he asked Kakashi to carry him to Haku, so he could see his face one last time before his death. Kakashi did… He picked him up and began carrying him.
Suddenly, there was a snow.
"Huh? Snow…" Town folks were shocked at the sight of snow here.
"Snow at this time of the year?" It was not supposed to snow during June. They were not sure what was going on with the snow, but perhaps Mother's Nature was happy with the defeat of Gato?
Kakashi gently placed Zabuza next to Haku's corpse and left him to say farewell to his partner one final time before his death.
"This guy…" Naruto started to cry. "He was born in a village where it snowed a lot."
Kakashi nodded, frowning. "I see…" That must explain why it was suddenly snow here. He realized that Haku was probably crying, thus causing the snow here. 'He was a boy as pure as snow… You'd be able to go, Zabuza. The two of you… together.'
Zabuza, at last, collapsed, but at least he would be able to go together with Haku.
Aftermath of the fight on the bridge, despite Zabuza being their enemies, all Team 7 decided to honor him by burying him on the ridge above the Land of Wave with his big sword as his tombstone.
Even after the death of Gato, Team 7 still remained there two more weeks to overlook the complete of the bridge. But that was not only reason why they still remained there. Sasuke needed a heal. He almost died on the bridge. Naruto was recovered faster thanks to the Kyuubi. Kakashi was wounded a little, so he recovered well. Sakura did not fight even once, because all she did was to watch behind Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke. Sasuke was only one that did not heal faster, so it took a while to heal him completely.
Two Weeks Later
The whole bridge was completed. The Land of Waves finally connected to the nation country. Tazuna's goal was achieved.
Right now, Team 7 stood next to the bridge, facing Tazuna, Inari, Tsunami and rests of town folks in the crowd, which they would leave for Konohagakure very soon.
"Thanks to you the bridge was safely completed, but we will miss you very much." Tazuna said that with a proud smile.
Tsunami nodded, smiling. "Take care."
Kakashi gave them an eye-smiles. "Thank you for everything."
"Now, now!" Naruto grinned. "We'll come back for a visit again, Tazuna!"
Inari was getting emotional, but he tried to hold back crying. "For sure…?"
"Huh?" As Tazuna patted his hair, Naruto was starting to get emotional. His tears were going to come out of his eyes. "Inari… You're gonna miss us, aren't you? It's all right to cry. Go ahead and cry!"
"I won't cry!" Inari laughed, but despite him saying that, river of tears still streamed down from his eyes. "It's all right if you cry, Naruto!"
"Oh, is that so?" Naruto smirked. Oh, both boys tried too hard not to cry. They even had their nose run! He was about to cry by just staring at Inari, so he turned around. "See ya!"
"Oh…!" Inari wanted to keep Naruto here, but he knew Naruto could not because he was a ninja. So his tears finally outburst.
However, not only Inari, Naruto also cried with a river of tears from his cheeks. Sakura noticed that he was crying, but all she could do was to mental facepalm. 'You're so stubborn!'
With that, they began their trip back to Konoha, as Inari and others were watching them leaving.
"That boy changed Inari's mind… and Inari changed the minds of the village people." Tazuna said. "That boy created a bridge linking us to hope, a bridge called courage. So a linking bridge…"
"Speaking of bridges, we need to name this bridge, don't we?" Giichi reminded the bridge builder.
Tazuna nodded. "That's true. In that case, I have a perfect name for this bridge."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"The Naruto Great Bridge? How's that?"
Tsunami giggled. "That's a good name."
"What? Are you sure that name's okay?" Giichi stared at him doubtfully.
"This name is to wish that this bridge will never collapse…And someday, it'll be the name of a very famous bridge… A name heard around the world." Tazuna smiled, looking down at Inari who already wiped tears off his eyes. "That's truly what I hope."
Inari would always remember Naruto forever. But not just Naruto, he would remember Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura forever as well. He could hope that he would debt to Naruto one day if he had a chance to.
And… if he wanted to make a good impression on Naruto the next time Naruto returned, he would have to work on his crossbow ability, and he would be expert on crossbow one day. That way villagers and he could defend against any bandits. Now he wanted to be like Naruto one day.
Flashback Ended
Too bad Inari would not be able to make a good impression on Naruto since he was going to die anyways. A blood of his abdomen leaking to the ground, as the pound of blood expanded beneath his sitting position by the window above. It hurt really badly.
He tried to move his left arm, but he realized that it just became numb right now. Eventually, it would take over his whole body to numb before he would pass away. He had to wait patiently for Giant to enter, and then he would detonate.
He would die happily, knowing that he could protect Bulma from being killed, and that he could allow her to restore Sakura Ki what rightfully her was. His eyes started to become groggily. His head started to bob up and down until he heard the noise, which gave him a rude awakening.
The door barged open, revealing Giant entering the room, sporting a devil grin at the wounded kid. "Ah, poor you, looks like you bit the bullet right in the guts! Oh, wait! That was not bullet, wasn't it? Either way, you're near your death, but I take a pleasure in slaying a harmless person like you! But where the hell is that woman? I want to bang her before I kill her myself! Right now, I'm pointing your friend's gun at your head. Start talking." He stated obviously, as he pointed the gun at Inari's head.
Inari slowly opened his eyes, taking a notice of Giant's gun pointed right at his head. He chuckled weakly. "You should have destroyed this building when you had a chance. Bulma and I would have died right along with it. Why didn't you?"
"Because it's so fun!" Giant erupted with a cackle maniacally. "It's like hide-and-seek game, isn't it?! Since I found you, you're basically out!"
Inari's mouth slowly crept into a smile. "You are going to regret it by not blowing this place up when Bulma was with me in it."
Giant stopped cackling like a crazy and smirked at the injured boy. "Oh, why is that?"
"This." Inari showed up the handle of the explosive button in his hand before go ahead and pressing the button to begin the sequence, as he dropped the explosive stick to the ground, drifting away from him under the bed.
At first, Giant laughed. "Pathetic! Do you think a mere explosive device like that could explode me to millions of pieces—Huh?" His face became confusion when he noticed the glowing blue devices around in this room. "What the-?!" His face paled as soon as he realized it. He was taken aback and took a step back. "I-I-Impossible! How is this p-possible?! They're filled with the Ki?! Ki is everywhere!"
"This…" Inari chuckled weakly, as his life began to take away from him. He still winced with his mostly wounded abdomen. "…is what I mean… You had a chance, and you blew it right under your nose. Irony, you think you're as big as your name was, yet you exposed your own weakness right off the bat. You're not so giant anymore. You're now small due to your fear of Ki."
'Now here goes… Dad… Grandpa… and Mom…' Inari thought, as death await him. At any moment, death was going to claim him, and it was going to send him to see his family again. He could not wait. It had been a while since he lasted seen Kaiza. Only one thing he could think of was Naruto. 'I want to thank you, Naruto. Now I pay my debt to you. I made it up to you by sacrificing my life. I know I'm not a ninja. I know I'm only a kid. But I have to do something, right? This is only way I can do the least for you. Thanks to you, you opened my eyes… because of you, I found a courage. But that's your courage. It was the courage that you gave me. I always had your courage since you left us. Now it's time for me to return that courage to you. At last, I owed you… Naruto-san.'
He saw Naruto giving him a thumb up with a big grin in his imagination. "I promise I will come back to visit you."
'Naruto-san…' Inari held back his sob, as tears started to form on his eyes before breaking into a river of waterfall down on his cheeks, dripping onto the ground, with a big grin. 'I'm sure you will…'
"NO! NO! NO!" Giant clutched his head, shaking it violently. A bright blue shined through his eyes, forcing him to shield his eyes. "NO! NO! TO THINK I'M KILLED BY PATHETIC WEAKLING LIKE YOU!"
"Goodbye…" Inari chuckled weakly, creating an imagination of Kuririn, Gohan, Bulma, Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and… most important of all, Naruto… "…everyone…" Not just them, rests of ninjas were in his imagination. And at last, another imagination was Tazuna, Tsunami… and Kaiza… his precious family who died. At that moment, his lips turned slowly into a soft smile.
Entire explosive-filled Ki devices set off, as it exploded with the bright blue Ki sphere, engulfing Inari and Giant. The bed in this room quickly dissolved from the explosion. Not to mention that the entire Uchiha compound were engulfed by an explosion of dome.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Aftermath of the explosion, there was a large flame which turned into a widespread, covering the entire Uchiha compound, with the black smoke streaming out into the sky, where it could be viewed by an entire village, even outside of the village to some extent.
Bulma, who had seen the explosion during the live afar away in the forest, stared in shock at the widespread fire. She casted her glance downward and slowly sank to her knees, tears running down her cheeks, and slamming her fists on the ground. "I-Inari… I am… so sorry. If it's not for me… you…" Her body was shaking so hard that she cried.
She imagined what would happen if she was not trembling with fear when Giant broke the manhole cover by just jumping through it. Only if she went on with running away, then Inari would be still alive right now.
Perhaps next time she would run away without constantly glancing over her shoulder. That's the way her escort would not die because of her.
She could not forgive herself for that. She doubted Naruto and Sakura would forgive her if she allowed Inari to die.
"You bitch!" A familiar voice yelled angrily, causing her eyes to wide and turning around, only to find the severe wounded brute man with the scar across his right eye and he lost his right arm, stump leaking a blood from it. Not just that, there was a rip of the shirt and some hole in the pant. His skins were also burned off, which turned them into a black. "I would have banged you right now, but I don't think I can tolerate your little game anymore! Right now, I'm pissed off as hell!"
Bulma could not believe it! But how?! She thought he was exposed to his weakness. She thought his weakness was making a contact with the Ki?! If so, then how did he survive? Or was it not enough radiation mixed to kill him off?
He stood too close to her, towering over her, as she looked up at him and gulped, her body shook so much. She froze so much that she could not think straight, despite very dangerous man in her presence.
Before she realized it, Giant gave her a backhand punch right on the side of her cheek, knocking her down. She clutched her jaws in whimper. That must have hurt her really badly. She could swear that her jaws almost broke. Not just she felt her jaws nearly broke, she saw the smudge of a blood on her hand after wiping her mouth. It was hers.
Now she was scared. She wished she would never come with Gohan and Kuririn in the first place. Her life was so miserable right now, and at any moment, he was going to kill her.
He bent down to grab her throat and lifted her up above him, trying to choke out of her life, as she struggled to break free of him.
At this moment, she could not breathe. She tried to wave her arms around in attempt to land some hit on him, but it did not flinch him at all. She grabbed his wrist, struggling to get them off her throat, but failed to do so. But all she could do was to cling to his wrist, while he particularly was squeezing her throat in attempt to extract her life.
"You know…" Giant growled at her. "That little invention of yours… That hurt me really badly. It even torn my right arm off, but that was not enough to kill me! You need more than that amount of Ki to kill me. If you're going to kill me, you'd better produce sufficient amount of Ki to kill me! But you…!"
By just looking at her, that made him furious so much. He squeezed her neck tightly, causing her to choke and about to pass out. "I lost my right arm! I expected myself to be dead, but I survived… WITHOUT MY RIGHT ARM!" He roared right at her face, but she did not flinch because she was going to lose consciousness at any moment. "HOW DARE YOU ALLOWING ME TO LIVE?!"
'Help… I can't die… not yet…' Bulma's tears fell off. She could not breathe anymore. She could not find an oxygen anywhere, because her throat was being squeezed too hard. 'Sakura… where are you?'
"You have done it! You've royally pissed me off!" Giant scowled.
"SO AM I!" The new voice interrupted before kicking Giant right in the cheek, knocking him through several trees.
Bulma landed on the grass, rubbing her neck, panting hyperventilation, gathering oxygen back in her system. To think she was almost killed right here. Wondering who rescued her this time, she looked up and her pained expression quickly became happy. "Sakura!"
Sakura was not happy that someone would put a harm to her close friend, but she was happy to see Bulma alive well. But right now, she did not have a time to chit-chat with her.
"Bulma!" Sakura whirled around to look down at stunned Bulma. "Give me my power back! Hurry before he comes back!"
Bulma stared at her quizzically. "Huh?"
"The gun you were working on… Return the Ki what was rightfully mine! Hurry!" Sakura demanded.
Bulma formed a mouth like 'oh'. Now she remembered what her original mission was. The fact that she almost forgot about the mission was because she was too busy thinking about her life at that moment. But she could not help but to notice Sakura's sudden change of attitude. She figured that it was not Sakura, but Inner taking over her right now.
"Right." Wasting no time, she pulled her gun and switched to different mode, pointing it at Sakura. "Let's hope it won't nearly kill you when it is returned to you."
"WHO AMBUSHED ME?!" The voice of Giant screamed outrageously. He stood up, glaring at them. "Oh, another bitch who dared to oppose me?! Hmph, you're too young to be banged like that, so I shall exterminate you right now!" He charged towards her with the energy sphere in his hand, preparing to kill both of them right now and here, although he felt the damage done to him because of using Ki right now.
"SHOOT ME! HURRY, BULMA!" Sakura looked panic. She had to spread her arms out, so that way Bulma could shoot directly towards her chest.
With that, Bulma immediately obeyed her and pulled a trigger, shooting out the bubble-like towards her, entrapping her inside the sphere of a bubble. She looked surprise. Did she do wrong? She stared at Sakura with the concern on her look, but not before the bubble was absorbed into the body of Sakura.
"DIE, BITCH!" Giant shouted before throwing the dark red energy of sphere making a curve way for them before it landed beneath both of their bodies, causing a huge explosion.
BOOOOOOM!
It destroyed a good chunk of forest, and Sakura and Bulma were nowhere to be seen. Giant slowly laughed, but later, it would become more maniac. "HEHEHEHE! I VAPORIZED THEM! I WON! HOW'S THAT FOR YOU, BITCHES?!"
Unknown to him, Sakura landed on the ground with Bulma somewhere not too far away from them, but it was enough to mask her presence away from psychopath sexist.
Bulma was relieved that she was alive, but looking at Sakura. That would mean Sakura got her power back.
"Bulma…" Sakura said, watching Giant continuously laughing like a maniac. She could not help but to feel that someone was with Bulma before. "Was someone with you before?"
Bulma's excitement quickly dispelled, as her face turned into a sour unhappiness. "Yes. It was Inari. He…" Tears formed on her eyes. She could not forget what just happened recently. She still could not forgive herself for allowing Inari to die. Inari's death was all on her.
Judging by Bulma's upset look, Sakura realized it would mean one thing. She clenched her fists and bared her teeth, as anger started to boil inside her chest.
How could that bastard do that to the child?! He killed the child! The child from her first C-Rank mission turned into a S-Rank mission! The same child that respected Naruto well! The same child who used to believe that there were no such as heroes until Naruto encouraged him to be more courage. And now… he died!
Ever since she met Inari again, she spent some time with him and told a story about herself and Naruto, and how big hero Naruto had become. Basically, she was like big sister to Inari. Now that monster just killed him!
Bulma widened her eyes. She could see the dark aura radiating from her body. At that moment, she realized it. "You're Inner."
Sakura scowled, clenching her fist. "HOW DARE HE! I can feel the anger from Outer, and I feel the same way she is right now. Inari…" She could feel a little tear on her eyes. Her feelings were Outer's feelings. What she felt right now was the same thing Outer felt right now.
She powered up her dark aura, as it spiked higher and higher. Suddenly, Giant stopped laughing maniacally and whirled around, staring in shock at anger Sakura.
"What?! You're still alive?! How did you-?!" His voice stopped, as his face became fearful, staring at the dark aura that emitted from Sakura. "What's that extraordinary power I'm feeling?!"
The more she stared at him, the more she thought of Inari being killed by Giant, thus making her pissed off more in the process.
"YOU KILLED HIM!" cried Sakura.
Giant was perplexed by the pink-haired girl's comment, but then he realized what she was talking about. He smirked sadistically. "Yeah, that child, right? It was nothing more than a hilarious death he took upon himself. It is pathetic, isn't it?"
Sakura shot him an intense glare, which made him took a step back nervously. "Pathetic?! I am going to enjoy killing you!" Her angry lips twisted into a smirk darkly.
She powered herself up before launching herself, creating a crater, towards him. He jumped back right before Sakura punched the ground, shaking the ground, and creating another crater.
'What's this power he's wielding?!' thought Giant, shocked. With a quick thought, he formed another dark red energy of sphere and hurled down towards her, but she vanished, causing the energy ball to explode upon landing the ground.
Boom!
"What?! Where is she?!" He turned his head around frantically, scanning the forest for enraged pink-haired girl.
"Above you!"
"What?!" Giant quickly looked up, only to find nothing but an air. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He should not be scared, but he did not know why. Perhaps it was dark aura that emitted from her body? He never felt something like that!
He could swear he just saw Sakura behind him. He quickly turned around and fired the blast, but instead of Sakura, there was nothing behind him. He saw her from another angle, and he found nothing. She kept appearing around him in every angle, making him nervously badly.
"Stop it! Stop playing with my mind!" He looked around with the panic in his eyes.
"Well, then…" the voice said, her dark laughter sent a shiver into his spine.
Before he knew it, his left arm was being picked up by the dangerous pink-haired girl. "What?!" He widened his eyes, as his eyes locked into her enraged eyes.
"What did you do to him? How did you kill him?! Did you do like this to him?!" Sakura grabbed the kunai from her pouch and raised it up, wrapping her returned Ki power around the kunai before slicing up Giant's left arm, removing it from his shoulder. A large amount of blood squirted from another stump arm, pouring them down towards the ground. She threw his arm away, laughing like it was no big deal. "Like that?! Did you cut his arm up, so he can die by loss of blood?! Or…"
"No! Stop it! Stop it!" Giant sobbed like a woman. Sakura grinned darkly, very pleasure that Giant was beginning to sound like a woman.
"You're crying like a woman." Sakura snorted. "You know, it's the irony, considering that you're sexist! You remind me of someone I fought back on Earth, but you're far worse than him! Now… Did you kill him like this?"
She placed her hand on the center of Giant's chest, blasting him through his chest, putting a hole in his chest. A blood spewed out of his mouth, as his pupils dilating with horror. However, he did not die. He was still alive.
"Hmm, you're still alive?" Sakura shocked. "Unbelievably! What are you?! Well, the more fun, the merrier anyways." She shrugged, but she loved seeing him suffer too much. She was not kidding when she said she was going to enjoy killing him. He deserved it anyways. No one could kill her friends and get away with it!
"Kill me!" Giant begged. It was enough. Too much of pain done to him, and he could not stand the pain. He may have had high pain tolerance, but because he lost both of his arms, he had no goal in his life anymore. That's why he wanted to die. As long as he was armless, there was no purpose in his life any longer.
"Oh," Sakura chuckled, "I intended to, but I don't know how to kill you. If you tell me how you kill Inari, then I will kill you the same way you did to him. Well?"
Giant was taken aback and he gulped. "I…" That's not what he had in his mind. He did not want to have his body completely wiped. "There's only one way to kill me is to behead me." He diverted his pupil away from her. "I beheaded him." Normally, he would say he was pleasure with killing people, but this time, he was not. One, because he lied to her, and two, because he was afraid of her now.
"Nice try!" Sakura shook her head. "I know lie when I see one. Well, in this case, I'm not going to behead you until you give me an answer. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying different way of kill until you give me an answer. You're my playthings now!"
His body violently reeled upward by a powerful uppercut punch. His shut eyes slowly opened, as he glanced up, only to notice that Sakura appeared above him, throwing his clasped hands together down, knocking him back down to the ground with Double-Ax Handle.
"Or did your Double-Ax Handle kill him?!" Sakura screamed before powering up the dark aura and rocketed down towards the bruised and battered Giant, stomping down on his stomach, doubling him over. "Or you destroyed his stomach, so he could not breathe anymore?!" He landed on the ground next to his painful enemy.
Bulma having witnessed the whole thing that just happened really scared her. What was going on with Sakura? She knew it was Inner but still… Was Inner like that? If she recalled correctly, she spoke with Sakura about her secret life, Sakura told her all about Inner's personality. Basically, Inner was the opposite of Sakura. But she doubted that Inner was cruel like that, or was Sakura wrong after all?
She could tell that Sakura was going to make it worse, and she feared that Sakura might regretted it sooner or later. She cannot have allowed that to happen.
"What's next?" Sakura smiled wickedly at the bruised and battered brute man. "I'm running out of idea. Give me an idea with something way to kill you, unless you're willing to tell me how you killed Inari."
Bulma widened her eyes and feared for the worse. Before it could make any worse more than it already was, Bulma, not wanting to go near her, cupped her mouth and yelled just to get Sakura's attention. "Sakura!"
"What?!" Sakura snapped, glaring at Bulma. "Can't you see I'm playing with him?!"
"Stop it! All of those kills were not how this man killed Inari! In fact, it was Inari who sacrificed his life on one of my invention, explosive-filled Ki, along with this man, but unfortunately, Inari is the only one who died in an explosion." Once she finished explaining, she immediately realized that she blurted it out to her. She slapped her mouth and widened her eyes. "Oh, crap!"
Sakura's pink hair shadowed her eyes, and chuckled darkly. "That's how you killed Inari, huh? Thank you, Bulma." She raised her hand aimed at the prone Giant on the forest floor, charging up the black energy sphere. "You should thank my friend here. You wanted to die, right? Because Inari lost his entire body, you're going to lose yours too. It's only fair that you deserved the same fate Inari suffered. You killed my friend!" She hissed at him on the last sentence.
"NOOO!" Giant screamed. He never wanted to lose his body. If he lost his body, he did not know what would happen to him in the afterlife. He believed in the afterlife, but he had a fear and that was when he might lost his body if he was obliterated, then he probably would not have existed at all. As if he was never born or something like that.
She fired dark energy wave at Giant in a close-range, obliterating his entire body completely, which prompted herself to laugh maniacally. "HAHAHAHAHA!"
Bulma's body was shaking with anxious, slightly scared that Sakura might turned on her anytime soon.
Sakura was laughing until she recalled her deal with the Outer, and her face suddenly paled. "Oh, shit!"
To be continued…
A/N: All right, everyone! I am finished now! Finally! I know it took two months but here it is! Tell me if you're enjoying this story or not. On the bright side, Sakura got her powers back, which will set her up to fight Guure and Paradox in later chapters.
Sakura got her powers back, but what will she do? Why did Inner say "Oh, shit?!" What about her deal that she made with Outer? What was the deal? Did Inner Sakura go way out of the control? And the better question is, what fate awaits Hinata, having received the poison that spread her arms? Find out next time on the chapter of Team Z!
Clone Jerry: Are you insane?! No sane person would lock themselves in a room for full two months! Come out! (knocks, knocks, knocks, knocks, knocks) Seriously?!
Me: Shut up! I am a girl! No way I'm going to let you see me again! Not until I am back to my old self! (mumble quietly) Blasted that author!
Clone Jerry: Ehh... The thing is... you have been missing out a lot in two months. We found a way to revert you to male. (Jerry goes silent...) Jenny?
Me: (Suddenly opens the door and grin at Clone Jerry) Really?!
Clone Jerry: (Smirks) No, not really! I lied! (Before I can do anything, he grabs my arm and drag me away from my room)
Me: WHAT?! How could you?! Lying to your creator like that?!
Clone Jerry: You ain't no creator of mine! Dr. Briefs is!
Me: (Pouts) Aw, no fair! (I see Vegeta smirking and folding his arms at me. I scowl at him.) What are you looking at me?!
Vegeta: You really act like a woman now! How pathetic!
Me: How dare you say that to me?! You will regret saying that! Again, I ain't no woman! I'm man!
Clone Jerry: Actually, I did say we found a way to revert you back to your male self, but it was half lie. No, we did not exactly find a way to revert you to your male self. However, I think since you're the author, you have a power to cross different universe. We could cross over to Thedarkpokemaster's universe and threaten him to change you back to your male self? Sounds good?
Me: Great idea! Sounds good! Let's go there!
Clone Jerry: Not now. We need to finish Coola Saga first. And besides... every author always have their barrier around the universe in case of an author that cross over to their universe without a permission. I will figure out a way to break their walls, and then we will go.
Me: Aww! Fine... Whatever... I will go back to my room and lock myself until then.
Vegeta: No, woman! You will serve us! Who is going to cook for us? You're only woman, so make me a sandwich!
Clone Jerry: I second that!
Me: ARGH! I am hungry too, so I'm going to make myself a sandwich! (Suddenly realizes) Wait... I'm no woman and... (turns to Vegeta) Are you a Saiyan? Aren't we supposed to cook a meat for you?
Vegeta: Oh, that's right. Well, on second thought, MAKE ME A MEAT SANDWICH! GO WOMAN NOW!
ME: ARGH! I AM NO WOMAN!
Chapter 115 Preview:
The were wolf rapidly lunged his claws at Tenzo at high speed rate, while an ANBU cat mask user parried every single lunge attack with his ninjato.
'What's this?' The ANBU in the mask that resembled a cat was taken aback by the silhouette of giant werewolf looming over him, but he knew it was just a silhouette of the werewolf. 'It feels like he's trying to intimidate me with his aura.'
He quickly weaved through the hand signs. "Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu! (Wood Style: Giant Forest Jutsu)"
He raised his left arm that aimed towards his enemy, as it slowly morphed into many branches and at the same time, they changed the ends into sharp stakes, turn them into countless, sharp, spear-like piercing weapons.
A hand clasped his mouth around and another hand wrapped around his body, holding him. He shifted, trying to get out of it, but he could not. He diverted his pupil, realizing that it was Raid behind him. How did the werewolf ambush him? Since when the werewolf had gone so quiet? Had he become a ninja now?
But just as Zahoor turned around, he was met with a leg to the face, bashing against the wall, which cracked it a little bit.
He looked up at the man on the roof, but he could not see the face because the sunlight was behind him. He wondered who that man was until he saw the Sharingan eyes staring down at him and his head titled around, which gave Tenzo a chance to get a clear look.
He widened his eyes. "Fayre…?"
A/N: That's the end of chapter preview. What do you think of preview? Is it good or I need a improvement on that? I am planning to edit all chapters with chapter preview so that way you can get good idea what would happen next chapter. Kinda of way to hype you guys up. If not, then I will not do chapter preview again. :)