Naruto: *walking happily through Psychic King space, suddenly trips* Huh?
What the hell is this??!!?? *pointing down at the ground, where a large
root looking thing has appeared*
Sasuke: *walking next to him* I don't know, but they're showing up everywhere... *moves to the left as the root grows quickly, wrapping itself around what seems to be a collection of roots growing in front of what the Naruto characters know as the portal to Psychic King's room*
Tenmar: *hacking at the mass of roots viciously* Damn it! Where is Psychic King-sama? She left the story off in a place like THAT, and now she's been gone for over a week!!
Uzu: *nodding, and joining in the fight against the roots* I know! She SAID she was tired, but there's no way she could have slept for almost two weeks, right? She NEVER takes this long to update!
Sakura: *shrugging, and ogling Sasuke* Maybe she's dead or something...
Psychic King: *VERY faintly from the other side of the mess of roots* I heard that, Sakura-chan!
Naruto: *joining Uzu and Tenmar in fighting off the roots* I think she's trapped in her room 'cause of these roots...
Iruka: *Almost trips over a new root, but Kakashi grabs him and moves him out of the way* Whoa, that was close... *looks adoringly up at Kakashi*
Kakashi: *still holding Iruka tight* What the hell was that? Iruka could have been hurt!
Tenmar: *nodding; screams towards the portal to Psychic King's room* You hear that? You almost got Iruka hurt with these things? Why don't you do something about it?
Psychic King: *faintly calls something*
Sakura: *Straining her ears* what was that? Something about wiring blocks?
Naruto: *shaking his head* No... She said 'Writer's block' I'm sure of it.
Tenmar: *eyes widening* This may be a serious problem, then...
Kakashi: *nodding and pointing to a pile of discarded characters off to the side, shriveled and dieing* That's what happened to the last story she started writing, when she got writer's block!
Naruto: *looking over* What??? How come I never noticed them before?
Sakura: *rolling eyes* Really! You are such an idiot, aren't you? *shaking head* Anyway, if she gets writer's block that can't happen to us, because we're not really hers, right? So it's not like it matters.
Uzu: *grabbing Sakura by the collar and lifting her off the ground* Say that again, little girl!
Tenmar: *grabbing Uzu's hand and pulling him off Sakura* Don't! She wasn't thinking. Right now we've got to worry about how to remove those roots before we become like those guys!
Kakashi: *nodding* Tell us what to do! Iruka and I will help!
Naruto: Me and Sasuke, too, damn it! I'm not letting MY kids fade away and get all pathetic!
Sakura: *looking at the ground* I'm really sorry... I forgot that you weren't-
Uzu: *cutting Sakura off and hugging Naruto* Daddy! You're going to save us!
Sasuke: *glares at Uzu*
Sakura: *looking annoyed at being cut off* Really!
Tenmar: *smiling at Sakura* Now, now, he doesn't really mean anything by it, you know.
Ganten: *appearing from the darkness* Uh... guys, if we're going to save ourselves we gotta do it now...
Uzu: *lets go of Naruto* You're right! Lets get to work!
Entire cast of Embrace of Solitude: *nods and rushes forward to hack at the plants*
Psychic King: *from inside bedroom* Writer's block sucks... *thinks for a moment* wait... I feel a bit of inspiration coming on... *rolls up sleeves* ALRIGHT! Time to get back to writing!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Embrace of Solitude
Chapter 19
"I wouldn't have it any other way, asshole." Naruto replied to Kentaar's with a smile
The tall man grinned as Naruto's words reached him, signaling the start of their fight. Resisting the urge to use his special 'gift' right away Kentaar settled for dodging as twelve Naruto clones rushed at him from different angles. "You've learned a few new tricks, eh?" Kentaar grinned as they attacked him from every angle imaginable, kicking, punching and even biting. Kentaar gracefully jumped to a branch higher in the trees, one by one knocking the clones down until one the original remained.
"I won't loose to you!" Naruto practically screamed, once again forming the seal to call upon his clones. The fact that not even one of the clones managed to get even close to landing a blow was NOT going to detour the blonde this time. He needed to do something until he could come up with an adequate plan, anyway.
Kentaar clicked his tong in disappointment, "I'll admit it was a clever trick, but how many times do you intend to use it? Even if it's you, my beloved brother, I'll get bored if you continue on this way. Don't you know any other tricks?"
"Shut up!" The clones called in unison, each a little wilder looking than before. Naruto's eyes widened as an idea struck him. As soon as all of his clones had been knocked away once again by Kentaar he performed the seal once again; creating only two clones this time. Placing more chakara into the clones than normal he sent the first off to attack Kentaar. Hopefully that extra amount of chakara would be enough to keep the clone around after a few hits from Kentaar. That should be enough time for what Naruto was planning.
Kentaar watched in amusement as Naruto sent only one clone towards him. "You think this'll be enough to stop me, brother?" Laughing darkly he dodged the clone's first attack, a kick towards his stomach followed by a punch at the groin. He knocked the clone quickly and harshly to the ground and turned towards Naruto, not even watching to see if it would disappear like the others. "Stop sending these weakling clones against me, unless that's all you've got-" His words were cut off as a blow landed firmly in the back of his neck.
Turning Kentaar saw the clone behind him, grinning. "Not done yet, bastard." The clone mocked, grinning proudly.
Kentaar turned darkly towards the clone, whipping a trickle of spittle from the corner of his mouth. "So he's making you stronger, now? But that trick won't work twice. I won't be taken by surprise again."
The clone stuck out its tong, smacking his butt in a mocking fashion. "You want a piece of this? Come and get me!"
Kentaar rolled his eyes, hoping as he did so that these clones were not an accurate representation of his brother's true strength. He would be very disappointed if this was the best struggle Naruto could offer him. Of course, any struggle would be futile, but at least he liked to see him attempt to fight, it would be dull otherwise. Knocking down the clone again he looked over to see Naruto sitting cross legged on the ground, holding his hand against his head. This time he waited for the tell tale popping sound and the small poof of smoke before turning his full attention to the blonde. "I've played with your little clone long enough, brother. As much as I hate to stop you from planning, I fear I AM getting bored, so unless you..."
Kentaar's words trailed off as Naruto's second clone rushed at him. "My turn!"
Kentaar rolled his eyes, glancing over at the real Naruto. Before the clone could even properly attack Kentaar quickly and viciously pummeled it to the ground, knocking it at least five times as hard as he had knocked any of the others, causing it to disappear with an enormous poof sound. "I'm through playing, little boy. If you're not coming to me, I'll have to go to you."
Naruto jumped to his feet grinning as Kentaar approached. "I got it!" Performing an almost identical looking seal he yelled out, "Advanced Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Come get me fox-boy, if you dare!" Tenmar watched with a wry smile as the doppelganger disappeared up the tree.
"I should warn you..." Tenmar said, moving slowly towards the tree, "running away from me is probably the stupidest move you could've made." Iruka watched in wonder as Tenmar leapt swiftly up the tree and disappeared. He could still hear his voice calling out to the Kakashi look- alike, though, taunting the man, "You've never fought a fox before have you? My eyes are a thousand times sharper than those of a wolf. Hunting small game; rats, field mice, rabbits; we've perfected the art of finding small, worthless, camouflaged creatures such as yourself. With me like this..." Iruka winced as Tenmar sent out a blood-curdling howl. "You don't stand a chance of hiding. In fact... I already know exactly where you are. You can read my surface thoughts, the images that are lying on the top of my mind, right? That's a trick of your trade, isn't it?" Tenmar paused, but no answer returned to him. "Ah, yes... I see you know I'm telling the truth, don't you? You're shaking like a leaf in the wind. How about I help put you out of my misery?"
There was a startled yelping noise, followed by the thudding sound of a body falling through the trees. The next thing Iruka knew, the doppelganger came crashing to the ground in front of him, there were over twenty crude looking throwing stars stuck into him. Jumping to his feet, the doppelganger yanked them out of his body, a grey oozing substance poured out of his body. Iruka also noticed that the clone was starting to loose it's Kakashi form, the face was becoming a bit misshapen and the hair was starting to... shrink; that was the only word Iruka could think to describe it. With a shriek of pain and rage the creature launched itself at Iruka, throwing the knives before it.
Iruka flinched back, grabbing the half dead fox and pushing it as much behind him as his drugged limbs could manage. "Damn it!" He cursed, wishing that he wasn't drugged, as it was he couldn't see strait enough to block any of the kunai. He closed his eyes, not wanting the last thing he saw to be Kakashi (even a deformed Kakashi) sending him the killing blow. That was why he heard rather than felt the thumping sound of the throwing weapons connecting with flesh. He opened his eyes a little, realizing that the impending certain doom of his death had been postponed; the knives aimed at him had been stopped somehow and Tenmar was standing above him.
"What's with that face?" Tenmar's foxish appearance started to fade and Iruka could see the blonde smiling, blue eyes shining. "Did you really think that I'd let him hurt you? Not when I could save you, I couldn't live with myself after that." The happy face turned dark again and Iruka noticed that Tenmar was now holding the Kakashi clone by the neck, feet dangling a good foot above the ground. He shook the man roughly, causing him to make strangled choking sounds and claw at Tenmar's hand.
Iruka watched as the creature, which could no longer be compared with Kakashi as its hair had almost completely disappeared into the now blue- hued skin, transformed its hands into long sharp knife looking weapons and began to rip and tear at Tenmar's hands and arms desperately. Iruka winced as a chunk of Tenmar's flesh fell with a plop onto the pool of grey and red blood forming underneath the two. Tenmar's face was what Iruka couldn't move his eyes from, however. Now that the fox features were gone he looked like a normal man, blue eyes, long blonde hair, now flying free from the typical pony tail and in his blue eyes was the most determined look Iruka had ever seen. There was no anger, no pain, just pure determination.
Tenmar ignored the throbbing pain in his arms, ignored the stabbing pain in his chest from the throwing stars the doppelganger had attempted to throw at Iruka, ignored the doppelganger's shrieks as he squeezed the life from it; he had only one goal. If he could kill it, if he could squeeze its head off than Iruka would be safe, Aidan would be safe. He would protect those important to him, like his father would have. Like his father was still doing now; whatever it took.
Using the last of his strength, Tenmar released the creature with one hand, tightening his grip with the other, and grabbed at the creature's head. Forcing his fingers into the soft sockets of its eyes he pulled up, using his other hand to yank down. In one fluid motion the creatures head popped off with a disgusting sound of tearing. Tenmar looked at his hands in surprise as one was still closed around what remained of the creatures body, from the other hand dangled the head. "Ha..." Tenmar let out a half sigh, half laugh as he turned to face Iruka; weak smile in place. "I did it."
Iruka's face went from a relieved smile to an anguished look of desperation. He now knew how Tenmar had stopped the kunai the doppelganger had aimed at him. "You idiot!" Iruka screamed, as Tenmar stumbled towards him covered completely in his own blood. "You shielded us with your own body?"
Tenmar grinned weakly collapsing in a heap next to Iruka. "I said I'd protect you." He whispered, wrapping his arms as best he could around the shocked teacher's waist, but the pain was too intense. He eventually settled for laying face down in the other man's lap.
"Don't throw your life away to protect someone like me." Iruka said, tears forming in his eyes. He felt Tenmar whisper something back, but it was muffled against his leg. Mustering some energy he managed to twist Tenmar's body around so the blonde was staring up at him.
Tenmar reached a blood soaked hand up and touched Iruka's cheek. "Don't cry, Iruka... I protected you and Aidan." He paused, drawing in a labored breath. "Protecting people I love... I could die happy now." His hand dropped and Iruka's eyes widened, tears now flowing freely down his face.
"Do you think I can be happy, knowing that you've died for me?" Iruka replied, sobbing, but there was no reply.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Are you sure you're done running?" "I want to get this over with, damn it... I wonder how Naruto's doing."
Rin grinned as he easily picked up Sasuke's thoughts. His powers were back full force. "Worried about your boy friend?" Rin taunted, reading how the dark haired boy's anger flared. It was amazingly ironic, Rin knew, that the very aspect that made him admire Gin (that being the deep love he felt for the shaman) was the very thing fueling his anger against the dark haired boy before him, for Sasuke felt the same deep feelings for the blonde idiot that Gin felt for the shaman. It didn't make sense, why did he resent Sasuke's feelings and admire Gin's...?
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We both have things we'd rather be doing right now, I'm sure. Why don't we skip the pre-fight banter and jump strait to beating the crap out of each other so at least ONE of us can get to those things."
Rin shrugged, nodding. "Fine, pretty boy. Not my normal style, but I can fight you either wa-" He words cut off abruptly as Sasuke jumped strait at him, aiming a kick at his chest, which Rin dodged. The punch towards his neck was less expected and he barely managed to read the move before it happened. If he had moved even a moment later he would probably have spent the next few hours spitting up blood. This Sasuke kid wasn't planning his moves ahead at all. Interesting...
Sasuke grinned as the man responded a little slower to the second attack than he had to the first. Obviously this guy had an amazing ability to see through any attack that had been given more than a moment's consideration, in fact... Sasuke had some ideas about who this guy probably was... "You're from the Dokushin clan, aren't you?"
Rin's eyes narrowed, how had this boy heard of his clan? "I am all that remains of that clan." He replied as he picked Sasuke's brain for what he knew of the clan. Apparently not much more than the name and the fact that they held a mind reading power beyond that of a normal ninja, but without any techniques. Interesting.
Sasuke's mind registered shock. What the hell? How had HIS clan been wiped out? It couldn't have been... An image of his brother immediately crossed Sasuke's mind... It couldn't have been...
Rin shook his head. "There were too many humans there that day for me to remember any specific face; it wasn't an act with any intent. The villagers just got sick of us knowing their dirty little secrets." The last words were practically spit out, and Sasuke recognized the rage, the look in Rin's eyes, the hatred.
"Liar." Sasuke said, leaning back against a tree and thinking. "You remember every single one of them, don't you?" Sasuke leaned his head back sighing. "This just complicated things quite a bit." He said, sinking down to the ground. "You see, as the last of each of our clans, I can't bring myself to kill you. If we fight now I'll have a significant disadvantage because I can't be surprising AND hold back my blows, but if I don't hold back my blows I could kill you." Sasuke sighed again. This was Naruto's fault, he was sure of it. Making him actually care about someone being the last of his clan... But the fact still remained, he felt a sort of kinship to the boy.
Rin also sighed, leaning back against a tree some distance away. "Shit." Now that the dark haired boy's will to fight was gone so was his... The worst part was, Sasuke was neither pitying him nor acting repulsed by him, even though he obviously knew that his mind was being read, he simply... accepted him. "You're right, this must be Naruto's fault." Rin said, picking up Sasuke's blaming thoughts. He wasn't quite sure why, but somehow Sasuke felt that knowing Naruto was causing this problem for himself, and in causing this problem for Sasuke it was likewise causing Rin problems.
Rin jumped to his feet, someone was approaching, fast from Kentaar's encampment. The thoughts sounded like... Inuko? There was another person approaching from the north. "I think we just solved our problem." Rin said, dusting off his rear. "One of my comrades is approaching from the west, one of yours from the north."
Sasuke nodded, "So we just switch fighting partners?"
Rin shrugged, "Sounds like the only choice we've got if we want to be in this battle."
"You're pretty casual about telling me one of your teammates is approaching." Sasuke said, warily.
"I'm not here for the company." Rin said, face dark.
Sasuke nodded, understanding. "Ah, revenge. Good luck with that." Turning towards the North, he made a mental note not to care if this one was the last of its species even; he was going to kill it.
Rin nodded, "Yeah, you too..."
Sasuke nodded at Ganten as he landed next to the dark haired boy. Ganten raised an eyebrow. "What's going on here?" He said, glaring at Sasuke as he did so, this was not quite the scene he was hoping to come in on.
"I can't kill this guy and I can't catch him by surprise unless I plan on killing him." Sasuke said, shrugging slightly. "I was hoping that you could take care of him and I'll take his partner."
"Why can't you kill him?" Ganten asked.
"I don't want to." Sasuke replied, glaring. "I don't really want YOU to kill him either, but do what you have to."
Ganten made a dark face at Sasuke. "I'd do that without YOU telling me to, bastard." "You're not my fucking mother yet."
Rin, smirked as he read Ganten's thoughts. This guy would be a better partner, after all.
"Oh, yeah..." Sasuke said, returning his gaze towards the North. "He can read minds."
"Lazy bastard." Ganten shot at Sasuke, while he rounded on the enemy. "I don't know what daddy sees in you."
"I don't understand it, either." Rin said, grinning at Ganten.
Ganten's face took on an annoyed look as he remembered his opponent. So now he was supposed to fight someone that could read his mind perfectly. "Why me? I don't even take a shit without thinking about it first, now I've gotta fight someone that'll know immediately what I'm gonna do as soon as I think of it. And worse yet, SASUKE doesn't want me to kill him... Bastard." Suddenly a howling sound reached his ears. IT was different from the wolves, who were still going crazy at the moon, damn wolves... This was different, it was... Uzu... "SHIT!"
Sasuke turned his head slightly to stare at the other boy. "What's wrong with YOU?"
Ganten ignored the comment, turning to Rin and jumping quickly at him without thinking. "Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible, that was Uzu..."
Rin nodded, dodging away from the boy, he was picking up all sorts of unpleasant mental images from Ganten about what the howl implied. Apparently Uzu was the last person anyone wanted loosing himself to his 'animalistic' side.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Uzu held tight to the arm his fist was closed around. "That's a pretty clever trick you have there, a cloak that blends perfectly with the shadows... But it doesn't do a thing against someone like me."
Keitai struggled as the grip on his arm tightened. "What are you talking about? My scent is perfectly hidden, my movements make no sound. Not even a wolf could find me... How did you know where I was?"
Uzu smirked, pulling the man closer, nose to nose. "I have been to hell and back, I have lived in shadow. You war a shadow cloak and hide your body and think you can understand what darkness is?" As Uzu talked his eyes slowly started shifting from their normal green to deep blood red, Keitai struggled against the red head's grip.
Uzu opened his mouth and Keitai noticed that his teeth now looked sharper, and... Was his mouth getting longer? Uzu lowered his mouth swiftly, tearing his teeth through the soft, if not slightly bony flesh of Keitai's shoulder. Tearing his way up the shoulder he finally released the man as he stood, watching the man drop to the floor in stunned shock. "Nothing to say? Well, you're gonna wish you'd never talked about my mother, bastard." Uzu took a small step forward, grinning crazily. "What, aren't you gonna run? You better do it now before I loose my control completely."
"Wh-what?" Keitai asked, terror in his eyes. Never before had he felt such terror. The worst he'd seen Kentaar-sama do was nothing compared to the promised threats that lye in this boy's eyes.
"Run..." Uzu whispered, red eyes now glowing. His tong sneaked out and licked up a trickle of Keitai's blood that was running down his chin.
Keitai, at a complete loss for thought, did what he was instructed, fleeing into the seeming protection of the darkness. He ran without looking back, knowing that when he was caught Uzu's game, namely his own life, would be over.
Uzu grinned as he watched the man run. Throwing back his head he howled long and loud, now he was ready to start hunting HIS style... It had been a long time.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Advanced Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Kentaar's smile grew as ten clones appeared around his brother, each a little different, each a little more transformed than the next, and in the center stood Naruto, power seeping from his body, nine red lines of raw chakara whirling around his body like his nine pretty tails.
"I'm impressed, but one does have to wonder... How much of that power can you control while you're in that form?" Kentaar asked, drawing up more of his power. "After all, you WERE stronger than I am, but now the tables have certainly turned. If you transform completely, however, I'm certain you could beat me."
"This'll be more than enough for YOU." Naruto growled, stepping forward. The clones moved quickly around their enemy. A low growl escaped Naruto's lips and he glanced sideways to where Sakura lay and then towards the areas of the forest Sasuke and Uzu had disappeared to. The problem in Naruto's mind now was not if he COULD defeat Kentaar, but rather if he could do it without loosing too much control. The next step in his transformation would unleash enough raw power to kill Sakura, anything beyond that and he was looking at causing earthquakes that could cause major damage in Konoha, he didn't want to think about what it could do to his family fighting in the forest... Or to Sasuke.
Naruto returned his eyes to Kentaar, noting with approval ten pairs of red eyes glowing at him from various spots around the other man. There was a chorus of growling and then- Naruto threw back his head and roared, rushing along with his duplicates towards his brother, he WOULD protect them all!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Naruto: *slicing through the last of the Writer's block roots* DONE! *collapses to the ground with everyone else*
Psychic King: *stepping through the now open portal* Hey guys! Miss me?
Sakura: *panting* NO! You're so much trouble, geeze!
Psychic King: *grinning* Well, thanks for helping me out, there...
Sasuke: *glaring* We didn't do it for you, we did it for THEM! *points to Naruto's children*
Psychic King: *ignoring everyone's agreeing comments* I KNEW you'd all find a way to get to me! And as a reward! I have a new chapter for you all!!!!!
Sakura: *groans*
Psychic King: *looks to the audience and bows* Sorry that it took so long to update! I really was having a hard time with writer's block... but it's passing! The fact that next week is spring break is REALLY helping that fact, I think... I'm truly sorry! I promise to have the next chapter out fast, really! I know this chapter may not be what some people were hoping for, but as I had to literally FORCE myself to sit down and ONLY think about writing, even though I had the block, I think it's as good as I could hope for it to be... Hey, at least I finished off one complete fight, and before anyone gets vicious in their reviews, no, Tenmar ain't dead yet! And I have two more fights almost completely fishined as well, plus I know where the others are headed, so all that's really left to do is write them! (Sounds simpler that it is, though, I assure you!!!!!!) I will put my best effort forward and get this chapter out ASAP!!!!!!! *hand on hips, standing tall* Or my name's not really 'Psychic King'!!!!
Sakura: Ano... It's NOT really Psychic King...
Psychic King: *ignoring her and laughing proudly* Next chapter's gonna rock!!!!!!!!!! Oh, yeah, and uh... sorry about the chapter title... It took all my creativity to push out the chapter, so the title has to be like this... Also, as a result of my writers block there are aspects of this chapter that I am not overly thrilled with, of course, there are aspects of this chapter that I think are totally awesome, so I'm posting it anyway... *waves to the readers* Bye everyone! Don't forget to read next chapter (and leave a review if you want!!! I'd appreciate it!).
Sasuke: *walking next to him* I don't know, but they're showing up everywhere... *moves to the left as the root grows quickly, wrapping itself around what seems to be a collection of roots growing in front of what the Naruto characters know as the portal to Psychic King's room*
Tenmar: *hacking at the mass of roots viciously* Damn it! Where is Psychic King-sama? She left the story off in a place like THAT, and now she's been gone for over a week!!
Uzu: *nodding, and joining in the fight against the roots* I know! She SAID she was tired, but there's no way she could have slept for almost two weeks, right? She NEVER takes this long to update!
Sakura: *shrugging, and ogling Sasuke* Maybe she's dead or something...
Psychic King: *VERY faintly from the other side of the mess of roots* I heard that, Sakura-chan!
Naruto: *joining Uzu and Tenmar in fighting off the roots* I think she's trapped in her room 'cause of these roots...
Iruka: *Almost trips over a new root, but Kakashi grabs him and moves him out of the way* Whoa, that was close... *looks adoringly up at Kakashi*
Kakashi: *still holding Iruka tight* What the hell was that? Iruka could have been hurt!
Tenmar: *nodding; screams towards the portal to Psychic King's room* You hear that? You almost got Iruka hurt with these things? Why don't you do something about it?
Psychic King: *faintly calls something*
Sakura: *Straining her ears* what was that? Something about wiring blocks?
Naruto: *shaking his head* No... She said 'Writer's block' I'm sure of it.
Tenmar: *eyes widening* This may be a serious problem, then...
Kakashi: *nodding and pointing to a pile of discarded characters off to the side, shriveled and dieing* That's what happened to the last story she started writing, when she got writer's block!
Naruto: *looking over* What??? How come I never noticed them before?
Sakura: *rolling eyes* Really! You are such an idiot, aren't you? *shaking head* Anyway, if she gets writer's block that can't happen to us, because we're not really hers, right? So it's not like it matters.
Uzu: *grabbing Sakura by the collar and lifting her off the ground* Say that again, little girl!
Tenmar: *grabbing Uzu's hand and pulling him off Sakura* Don't! She wasn't thinking. Right now we've got to worry about how to remove those roots before we become like those guys!
Kakashi: *nodding* Tell us what to do! Iruka and I will help!
Naruto: Me and Sasuke, too, damn it! I'm not letting MY kids fade away and get all pathetic!
Sakura: *looking at the ground* I'm really sorry... I forgot that you weren't-
Uzu: *cutting Sakura off and hugging Naruto* Daddy! You're going to save us!
Sasuke: *glares at Uzu*
Sakura: *looking annoyed at being cut off* Really!
Tenmar: *smiling at Sakura* Now, now, he doesn't really mean anything by it, you know.
Ganten: *appearing from the darkness* Uh... guys, if we're going to save ourselves we gotta do it now...
Uzu: *lets go of Naruto* You're right! Lets get to work!
Entire cast of Embrace of Solitude: *nods and rushes forward to hack at the plants*
Psychic King: *from inside bedroom* Writer's block sucks... *thinks for a moment* wait... I feel a bit of inspiration coming on... *rolls up sleeves* ALRIGHT! Time to get back to writing!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Embrace of Solitude
Chapter 19
"I wouldn't have it any other way, asshole." Naruto replied to Kentaar's with a smile
The tall man grinned as Naruto's words reached him, signaling the start of their fight. Resisting the urge to use his special 'gift' right away Kentaar settled for dodging as twelve Naruto clones rushed at him from different angles. "You've learned a few new tricks, eh?" Kentaar grinned as they attacked him from every angle imaginable, kicking, punching and even biting. Kentaar gracefully jumped to a branch higher in the trees, one by one knocking the clones down until one the original remained.
"I won't loose to you!" Naruto practically screamed, once again forming the seal to call upon his clones. The fact that not even one of the clones managed to get even close to landing a blow was NOT going to detour the blonde this time. He needed to do something until he could come up with an adequate plan, anyway.
Kentaar clicked his tong in disappointment, "I'll admit it was a clever trick, but how many times do you intend to use it? Even if it's you, my beloved brother, I'll get bored if you continue on this way. Don't you know any other tricks?"
"Shut up!" The clones called in unison, each a little wilder looking than before. Naruto's eyes widened as an idea struck him. As soon as all of his clones had been knocked away once again by Kentaar he performed the seal once again; creating only two clones this time. Placing more chakara into the clones than normal he sent the first off to attack Kentaar. Hopefully that extra amount of chakara would be enough to keep the clone around after a few hits from Kentaar. That should be enough time for what Naruto was planning.
Kentaar watched in amusement as Naruto sent only one clone towards him. "You think this'll be enough to stop me, brother?" Laughing darkly he dodged the clone's first attack, a kick towards his stomach followed by a punch at the groin. He knocked the clone quickly and harshly to the ground and turned towards Naruto, not even watching to see if it would disappear like the others. "Stop sending these weakling clones against me, unless that's all you've got-" His words were cut off as a blow landed firmly in the back of his neck.
Turning Kentaar saw the clone behind him, grinning. "Not done yet, bastard." The clone mocked, grinning proudly.
Kentaar turned darkly towards the clone, whipping a trickle of spittle from the corner of his mouth. "So he's making you stronger, now? But that trick won't work twice. I won't be taken by surprise again."
The clone stuck out its tong, smacking his butt in a mocking fashion. "You want a piece of this? Come and get me!"
Kentaar rolled his eyes, hoping as he did so that these clones were not an accurate representation of his brother's true strength. He would be very disappointed if this was the best struggle Naruto could offer him. Of course, any struggle would be futile, but at least he liked to see him attempt to fight, it would be dull otherwise. Knocking down the clone again he looked over to see Naruto sitting cross legged on the ground, holding his hand against his head. This time he waited for the tell tale popping sound and the small poof of smoke before turning his full attention to the blonde. "I've played with your little clone long enough, brother. As much as I hate to stop you from planning, I fear I AM getting bored, so unless you..."
Kentaar's words trailed off as Naruto's second clone rushed at him. "My turn!"
Kentaar rolled his eyes, glancing over at the real Naruto. Before the clone could even properly attack Kentaar quickly and viciously pummeled it to the ground, knocking it at least five times as hard as he had knocked any of the others, causing it to disappear with an enormous poof sound. "I'm through playing, little boy. If you're not coming to me, I'll have to go to you."
Naruto jumped to his feet grinning as Kentaar approached. "I got it!" Performing an almost identical looking seal he yelled out, "Advanced Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Come get me fox-boy, if you dare!" Tenmar watched with a wry smile as the doppelganger disappeared up the tree.
"I should warn you..." Tenmar said, moving slowly towards the tree, "running away from me is probably the stupidest move you could've made." Iruka watched in wonder as Tenmar leapt swiftly up the tree and disappeared. He could still hear his voice calling out to the Kakashi look- alike, though, taunting the man, "You've never fought a fox before have you? My eyes are a thousand times sharper than those of a wolf. Hunting small game; rats, field mice, rabbits; we've perfected the art of finding small, worthless, camouflaged creatures such as yourself. With me like this..." Iruka winced as Tenmar sent out a blood-curdling howl. "You don't stand a chance of hiding. In fact... I already know exactly where you are. You can read my surface thoughts, the images that are lying on the top of my mind, right? That's a trick of your trade, isn't it?" Tenmar paused, but no answer returned to him. "Ah, yes... I see you know I'm telling the truth, don't you? You're shaking like a leaf in the wind. How about I help put you out of my misery?"
There was a startled yelping noise, followed by the thudding sound of a body falling through the trees. The next thing Iruka knew, the doppelganger came crashing to the ground in front of him, there were over twenty crude looking throwing stars stuck into him. Jumping to his feet, the doppelganger yanked them out of his body, a grey oozing substance poured out of his body. Iruka also noticed that the clone was starting to loose it's Kakashi form, the face was becoming a bit misshapen and the hair was starting to... shrink; that was the only word Iruka could think to describe it. With a shriek of pain and rage the creature launched itself at Iruka, throwing the knives before it.
Iruka flinched back, grabbing the half dead fox and pushing it as much behind him as his drugged limbs could manage. "Damn it!" He cursed, wishing that he wasn't drugged, as it was he couldn't see strait enough to block any of the kunai. He closed his eyes, not wanting the last thing he saw to be Kakashi (even a deformed Kakashi) sending him the killing blow. That was why he heard rather than felt the thumping sound of the throwing weapons connecting with flesh. He opened his eyes a little, realizing that the impending certain doom of his death had been postponed; the knives aimed at him had been stopped somehow and Tenmar was standing above him.
"What's with that face?" Tenmar's foxish appearance started to fade and Iruka could see the blonde smiling, blue eyes shining. "Did you really think that I'd let him hurt you? Not when I could save you, I couldn't live with myself after that." The happy face turned dark again and Iruka noticed that Tenmar was now holding the Kakashi clone by the neck, feet dangling a good foot above the ground. He shook the man roughly, causing him to make strangled choking sounds and claw at Tenmar's hand.
Iruka watched as the creature, which could no longer be compared with Kakashi as its hair had almost completely disappeared into the now blue- hued skin, transformed its hands into long sharp knife looking weapons and began to rip and tear at Tenmar's hands and arms desperately. Iruka winced as a chunk of Tenmar's flesh fell with a plop onto the pool of grey and red blood forming underneath the two. Tenmar's face was what Iruka couldn't move his eyes from, however. Now that the fox features were gone he looked like a normal man, blue eyes, long blonde hair, now flying free from the typical pony tail and in his blue eyes was the most determined look Iruka had ever seen. There was no anger, no pain, just pure determination.
Tenmar ignored the throbbing pain in his arms, ignored the stabbing pain in his chest from the throwing stars the doppelganger had attempted to throw at Iruka, ignored the doppelganger's shrieks as he squeezed the life from it; he had only one goal. If he could kill it, if he could squeeze its head off than Iruka would be safe, Aidan would be safe. He would protect those important to him, like his father would have. Like his father was still doing now; whatever it took.
Using the last of his strength, Tenmar released the creature with one hand, tightening his grip with the other, and grabbed at the creature's head. Forcing his fingers into the soft sockets of its eyes he pulled up, using his other hand to yank down. In one fluid motion the creatures head popped off with a disgusting sound of tearing. Tenmar looked at his hands in surprise as one was still closed around what remained of the creatures body, from the other hand dangled the head. "Ha..." Tenmar let out a half sigh, half laugh as he turned to face Iruka; weak smile in place. "I did it."
Iruka's face went from a relieved smile to an anguished look of desperation. He now knew how Tenmar had stopped the kunai the doppelganger had aimed at him. "You idiot!" Iruka screamed, as Tenmar stumbled towards him covered completely in his own blood. "You shielded us with your own body?"
Tenmar grinned weakly collapsing in a heap next to Iruka. "I said I'd protect you." He whispered, wrapping his arms as best he could around the shocked teacher's waist, but the pain was too intense. He eventually settled for laying face down in the other man's lap.
"Don't throw your life away to protect someone like me." Iruka said, tears forming in his eyes. He felt Tenmar whisper something back, but it was muffled against his leg. Mustering some energy he managed to twist Tenmar's body around so the blonde was staring up at him.
Tenmar reached a blood soaked hand up and touched Iruka's cheek. "Don't cry, Iruka... I protected you and Aidan." He paused, drawing in a labored breath. "Protecting people I love... I could die happy now." His hand dropped and Iruka's eyes widened, tears now flowing freely down his face.
"Do you think I can be happy, knowing that you've died for me?" Iruka replied, sobbing, but there was no reply.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Are you sure you're done running?" "I want to get this over with, damn it... I wonder how Naruto's doing."
Rin grinned as he easily picked up Sasuke's thoughts. His powers were back full force. "Worried about your boy friend?" Rin taunted, reading how the dark haired boy's anger flared. It was amazingly ironic, Rin knew, that the very aspect that made him admire Gin (that being the deep love he felt for the shaman) was the very thing fueling his anger against the dark haired boy before him, for Sasuke felt the same deep feelings for the blonde idiot that Gin felt for the shaman. It didn't make sense, why did he resent Sasuke's feelings and admire Gin's...?
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We both have things we'd rather be doing right now, I'm sure. Why don't we skip the pre-fight banter and jump strait to beating the crap out of each other so at least ONE of us can get to those things."
Rin shrugged, nodding. "Fine, pretty boy. Not my normal style, but I can fight you either wa-" He words cut off abruptly as Sasuke jumped strait at him, aiming a kick at his chest, which Rin dodged. The punch towards his neck was less expected and he barely managed to read the move before it happened. If he had moved even a moment later he would probably have spent the next few hours spitting up blood. This Sasuke kid wasn't planning his moves ahead at all. Interesting...
Sasuke grinned as the man responded a little slower to the second attack than he had to the first. Obviously this guy had an amazing ability to see through any attack that had been given more than a moment's consideration, in fact... Sasuke had some ideas about who this guy probably was... "You're from the Dokushin clan, aren't you?"
Rin's eyes narrowed, how had this boy heard of his clan? "I am all that remains of that clan." He replied as he picked Sasuke's brain for what he knew of the clan. Apparently not much more than the name and the fact that they held a mind reading power beyond that of a normal ninja, but without any techniques. Interesting.
Sasuke's mind registered shock. What the hell? How had HIS clan been wiped out? It couldn't have been... An image of his brother immediately crossed Sasuke's mind... It couldn't have been...
Rin shook his head. "There were too many humans there that day for me to remember any specific face; it wasn't an act with any intent. The villagers just got sick of us knowing their dirty little secrets." The last words were practically spit out, and Sasuke recognized the rage, the look in Rin's eyes, the hatred.
"Liar." Sasuke said, leaning back against a tree and thinking. "You remember every single one of them, don't you?" Sasuke leaned his head back sighing. "This just complicated things quite a bit." He said, sinking down to the ground. "You see, as the last of each of our clans, I can't bring myself to kill you. If we fight now I'll have a significant disadvantage because I can't be surprising AND hold back my blows, but if I don't hold back my blows I could kill you." Sasuke sighed again. This was Naruto's fault, he was sure of it. Making him actually care about someone being the last of his clan... But the fact still remained, he felt a sort of kinship to the boy.
Rin also sighed, leaning back against a tree some distance away. "Shit." Now that the dark haired boy's will to fight was gone so was his... The worst part was, Sasuke was neither pitying him nor acting repulsed by him, even though he obviously knew that his mind was being read, he simply... accepted him. "You're right, this must be Naruto's fault." Rin said, picking up Sasuke's blaming thoughts. He wasn't quite sure why, but somehow Sasuke felt that knowing Naruto was causing this problem for himself, and in causing this problem for Sasuke it was likewise causing Rin problems.
Rin jumped to his feet, someone was approaching, fast from Kentaar's encampment. The thoughts sounded like... Inuko? There was another person approaching from the north. "I think we just solved our problem." Rin said, dusting off his rear. "One of my comrades is approaching from the west, one of yours from the north."
Sasuke nodded, "So we just switch fighting partners?"
Rin shrugged, "Sounds like the only choice we've got if we want to be in this battle."
"You're pretty casual about telling me one of your teammates is approaching." Sasuke said, warily.
"I'm not here for the company." Rin said, face dark.
Sasuke nodded, understanding. "Ah, revenge. Good luck with that." Turning towards the North, he made a mental note not to care if this one was the last of its species even; he was going to kill it.
Rin nodded, "Yeah, you too..."
Sasuke nodded at Ganten as he landed next to the dark haired boy. Ganten raised an eyebrow. "What's going on here?" He said, glaring at Sasuke as he did so, this was not quite the scene he was hoping to come in on.
"I can't kill this guy and I can't catch him by surprise unless I plan on killing him." Sasuke said, shrugging slightly. "I was hoping that you could take care of him and I'll take his partner."
"Why can't you kill him?" Ganten asked.
"I don't want to." Sasuke replied, glaring. "I don't really want YOU to kill him either, but do what you have to."
Ganten made a dark face at Sasuke. "I'd do that without YOU telling me to, bastard." "You're not my fucking mother yet."
Rin, smirked as he read Ganten's thoughts. This guy would be a better partner, after all.
"Oh, yeah..." Sasuke said, returning his gaze towards the North. "He can read minds."
"Lazy bastard." Ganten shot at Sasuke, while he rounded on the enemy. "I don't know what daddy sees in you."
"I don't understand it, either." Rin said, grinning at Ganten.
Ganten's face took on an annoyed look as he remembered his opponent. So now he was supposed to fight someone that could read his mind perfectly. "Why me? I don't even take a shit without thinking about it first, now I've gotta fight someone that'll know immediately what I'm gonna do as soon as I think of it. And worse yet, SASUKE doesn't want me to kill him... Bastard." Suddenly a howling sound reached his ears. IT was different from the wolves, who were still going crazy at the moon, damn wolves... This was different, it was... Uzu... "SHIT!"
Sasuke turned his head slightly to stare at the other boy. "What's wrong with YOU?"
Ganten ignored the comment, turning to Rin and jumping quickly at him without thinking. "Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible, that was Uzu..."
Rin nodded, dodging away from the boy, he was picking up all sorts of unpleasant mental images from Ganten about what the howl implied. Apparently Uzu was the last person anyone wanted loosing himself to his 'animalistic' side.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Uzu held tight to the arm his fist was closed around. "That's a pretty clever trick you have there, a cloak that blends perfectly with the shadows... But it doesn't do a thing against someone like me."
Keitai struggled as the grip on his arm tightened. "What are you talking about? My scent is perfectly hidden, my movements make no sound. Not even a wolf could find me... How did you know where I was?"
Uzu smirked, pulling the man closer, nose to nose. "I have been to hell and back, I have lived in shadow. You war a shadow cloak and hide your body and think you can understand what darkness is?" As Uzu talked his eyes slowly started shifting from their normal green to deep blood red, Keitai struggled against the red head's grip.
Uzu opened his mouth and Keitai noticed that his teeth now looked sharper, and... Was his mouth getting longer? Uzu lowered his mouth swiftly, tearing his teeth through the soft, if not slightly bony flesh of Keitai's shoulder. Tearing his way up the shoulder he finally released the man as he stood, watching the man drop to the floor in stunned shock. "Nothing to say? Well, you're gonna wish you'd never talked about my mother, bastard." Uzu took a small step forward, grinning crazily. "What, aren't you gonna run? You better do it now before I loose my control completely."
"Wh-what?" Keitai asked, terror in his eyes. Never before had he felt such terror. The worst he'd seen Kentaar-sama do was nothing compared to the promised threats that lye in this boy's eyes.
"Run..." Uzu whispered, red eyes now glowing. His tong sneaked out and licked up a trickle of Keitai's blood that was running down his chin.
Keitai, at a complete loss for thought, did what he was instructed, fleeing into the seeming protection of the darkness. He ran without looking back, knowing that when he was caught Uzu's game, namely his own life, would be over.
Uzu grinned as he watched the man run. Throwing back his head he howled long and loud, now he was ready to start hunting HIS style... It had been a long time.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Advanced Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Kentaar's smile grew as ten clones appeared around his brother, each a little different, each a little more transformed than the next, and in the center stood Naruto, power seeping from his body, nine red lines of raw chakara whirling around his body like his nine pretty tails.
"I'm impressed, but one does have to wonder... How much of that power can you control while you're in that form?" Kentaar asked, drawing up more of his power. "After all, you WERE stronger than I am, but now the tables have certainly turned. If you transform completely, however, I'm certain you could beat me."
"This'll be more than enough for YOU." Naruto growled, stepping forward. The clones moved quickly around their enemy. A low growl escaped Naruto's lips and he glanced sideways to where Sakura lay and then towards the areas of the forest Sasuke and Uzu had disappeared to. The problem in Naruto's mind now was not if he COULD defeat Kentaar, but rather if he could do it without loosing too much control. The next step in his transformation would unleash enough raw power to kill Sakura, anything beyond that and he was looking at causing earthquakes that could cause major damage in Konoha, he didn't want to think about what it could do to his family fighting in the forest... Or to Sasuke.
Naruto returned his eyes to Kentaar, noting with approval ten pairs of red eyes glowing at him from various spots around the other man. There was a chorus of growling and then- Naruto threw back his head and roared, rushing along with his duplicates towards his brother, he WOULD protect them all!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Naruto: *slicing through the last of the Writer's block roots* DONE! *collapses to the ground with everyone else*
Psychic King: *stepping through the now open portal* Hey guys! Miss me?
Sakura: *panting* NO! You're so much trouble, geeze!
Psychic King: *grinning* Well, thanks for helping me out, there...
Sasuke: *glaring* We didn't do it for you, we did it for THEM! *points to Naruto's children*
Psychic King: *ignoring everyone's agreeing comments* I KNEW you'd all find a way to get to me! And as a reward! I have a new chapter for you all!!!!!
Sakura: *groans*
Psychic King: *looks to the audience and bows* Sorry that it took so long to update! I really was having a hard time with writer's block... but it's passing! The fact that next week is spring break is REALLY helping that fact, I think... I'm truly sorry! I promise to have the next chapter out fast, really! I know this chapter may not be what some people were hoping for, but as I had to literally FORCE myself to sit down and ONLY think about writing, even though I had the block, I think it's as good as I could hope for it to be... Hey, at least I finished off one complete fight, and before anyone gets vicious in their reviews, no, Tenmar ain't dead yet! And I have two more fights almost completely fishined as well, plus I know where the others are headed, so all that's really left to do is write them! (Sounds simpler that it is, though, I assure you!!!!!!) I will put my best effort forward and get this chapter out ASAP!!!!!!! *hand on hips, standing tall* Or my name's not really 'Psychic King'!!!!
Sakura: Ano... It's NOT really Psychic King...
Psychic King: *ignoring her and laughing proudly* Next chapter's gonna rock!!!!!!!!!! Oh, yeah, and uh... sorry about the chapter title... It took all my creativity to push out the chapter, so the title has to be like this... Also, as a result of my writers block there are aspects of this chapter that I am not overly thrilled with, of course, there are aspects of this chapter that I think are totally awesome, so I'm posting it anyway... *waves to the readers* Bye everyone! Don't forget to read next chapter (and leave a review if you want!!! I'd appreciate it!).