Disclaimer: Naruto not mine! No hurt me! I cry! WEEEEEEEEEEEEP! RarrWRARARAAAAArR!
This chapter is shorter than the last, sorry about that, but then again, this one is up so quickly, you can't complain, right? Man, fastest update ever. I started this one on Saturday and finished Monday morning. I made myself sick writing this chap, so you homies best represent. Yarrr, me hearties. Enjoy the ShikaTem goodness, first I ever attempted. Sorry if she seems OOC, I'm not really a good judge of that. I don't know if she's completely in character or not.
Approaching the 100 review mark, I suppose. I can't wait. (What, 85 is close to 100, isn't it?)
Hey, I let slip another of the Akatsuki's leader's titles. Now he has two definite appelations: Sunset and Kurohigure (Black Twilight).
Dragon Man 180: About the Tsuchikage, she was applauding for a few reasons. She was impressed by the performance of such a young child, for one. She also most likely felt that her nephew Buradi was a bit too sure of himself and needed to be taken down a peg. About Uzumaki Naruto Rendan Mark 2, it was originally going to be a regular one, but I had already done that in chapter 12, so I made the new one. The Mark 2 part is sort of an inside joke. In one of my presentations in Japanese 101, I described my dream home: The Across Mobile Fortress Mk. 2 (I was on a bit of an Excel Saga bender at the time).
Night-Owl123, cougard , TimeShifter, LittleShadow, and wyldcat: Glad the prospective number of chapters impressed you. I only hope that people enjoy it for that long. FEAR MY DARK POWER! I'll update whenever I can, but occaisionally, there will be delays when college catches up to me.
Dorklotus: Oh, I am so going to 'pun'-ish you for that. Scratch that. Nyurr, eat him. (Nyurr: Nyurr...) Thanks for the compliments, though. (Nyurr: BURP!) Oops.
crazy-antman: About Tsuchikage being only a little older than her nephew, just assume that her parents were quite...um...active later in life.
TVO: Giving me orders? Humans should know their place. EAT YOU!(slaps self). Sorry, don't mind me. I have many personalities. Oh, don't worry, there'll be more fluffiness in a few chapters. Sorry, but this combat needs doing. If I had to guess, you'll get some NaruHina moments in Chapters 19-24 and points after. I love NaruHina too, but in the middle of a tournament there's not much room for romance. You shall have your romance in time, but till then, behold the fighting!
... : Thanks for the complement on my fight scenes. They're one of the first things I work out. Most of the details appear as I write. For example, I practically made up this fight as I went along. Hehehe, I'm so bad.
AnimeGoddessS: Excellent, I shall hold off on the eating of you (spits you out).With regard to Shadow Hearts, I'd write fiction on that too if I could. This story may eventually have some minor Shadow Hearts elements. (for example, I may have an appearance by the four masks.) I can't say any more than that.
ayuka-chan: I'm not sure if I'm still taking OC's. A lot are already decided. Feel free to send me ideas. I may be able to wangle them in eventually.
Sorry for the length of this intro note. It and the outro note combined take up nearly two pages.
Chapter 14: Temari's Worries : Temari vs. Discorujia
"Begin!"
At Yashiko's words, Temari wasted little time.
"Ninpo: Kamaitachi!" Sweeping her great fan before her, she sent out a powerful blast of slashing air.
Discorujia took refuge behind a pillar. Smiling, she adjusted her amplifier. She darted out, mouth open. She sang a single pure note, which, amplified by her mechanism, came out as a large lance of vibrating sound waves.
Temari used her fan to kick up a wind, which she rode over the attack.
"Interesting."
"Like it? Utakyousha no jutsu, the Song Lance technique. Using this lovely device, my voice can become a deadly weapon."
"Not bad," Temari admitted. "But I'm still not impressed."
She whipped her fan behind her. Throwing her arms wide, she sent several of her smaller fans flying into the air. With a deft wave of her large fan, she sent the others flying about.
"Ijou Kama no jutsu!" Spinning about, the small fans surrounded Discorujia at a distance. The Sound-nin sang out several more Song Lances, but none found their mark. Temari performed a few seals, then used her fan again. The smaller fans began rotating rapidly, wind forming a sort of shell around them. Without warning, they began rapidly shooting cutting disks of wind at their target. Discorujia dodged and ducked, desperately dodging the rapid attacks. Several were able to strike her, cutting her arms, legs, side, and face.
Discorujia's face contracted into a grimace of rage. "My face! You bitch...chew on this! Daiutashindou!" Opening her mouth wider than before, she sang out, this time it sounded like multiple notes at once. An immense blast of sound shot straight for Temari. Temari was able to duck out of the way of the deadly core of the blast, but the outside of it caught and flung her heavily away.
"Damn," Kankurou muttered. Gaara said nothing, but his neutral expression took one step closer to 'angry'. Nyurr simply sneezed.
"What's she doing?" Nameless muttered. "She's not keeping her cool. If she doesn't control herself, she won't be able to handle an enemy like Temari."
Nhaki said nothing, simply watching the proceedings, his fingertips pressed together.
Kabuto smirked knowingly, adjusting his glasses. "Don't worry. Discorujia's just letting off some steam. She'll pull it together. I have confidence in those I help train."
Temari stood, glaring daggers at the smirking woman across from her.
"Had enough?"
"I'm just getting started," Temari growled, unleashing another Kamaitachi. Discorujia was unable to find cover and was thrown back herself, gaining a few new cuts. However, she was relatively undamaged because of her great distance from Temari.
Discorujia performed a number of seals. She whispered a few words, than let out a low tone. Her body seemed to ripple with sound waves. She flickered, then seemed to be moving in many directions at once, accompanied by rippling afterimages. They streaked toward Temari, zigzagging toward her front side.
The Sand-nin simply smiled. "Bad move." She blasted another huge gust of wind at the images, disrupting them. But there was no sign of Discorujia. "Shit!"
Temari rushed forward, but was still slashed by Discorujia, who had attacked from behind. Discorujia wiped off the blade on her curved kunai. The two shinobi now stood a mere fifteen feet from one another.
"Rrggh. Interesting. Genjutsu?" Temari growled as she felt her bloody wound.
"You got it. The sound waves I emit mess with the brains of those that hear them, totally mixing up their vision. It's useful in a pinch, but I can't use it too often, or it'll hurt me too." Discorujia leaned on a pile of rubble.
With a quick wave of her fan, Temari brought back her smaller fans. She rose a bloody hand before her face. With one deft movement, she wiped the blood on her fan.
Nameless sighed. "Uh oh."
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
"Not that thing again?" moaned Shikamaru. "That damn weasel'll practically demolish this place."
But what appeared was not the weasel that Shikamaru had seen when he and Temari had fought against the Sound-nin Tayuya. Instead, a pair of smaller weasels appeared, necks wrapped in bright red scarves.
"Akateikiatsu Mai! 'sic em!" Temari pointed at the Sound shinobi. Squeaking, the two weasels split up and streaked towards Discorujia, red scarves flying out behind them. The woman stood still, singing under her breath, her hands lazily running through seals. They began running around in rapid circles around her, kicking up a cloud of dust. Discorujia coughed and choked, but did not stop singing. She found her feet leaving the ground as the weasels began to waver, their bodies seemingly becoming wind, scarves fluttering madly. The wind formed a great cyclone, with Discorujia at the center. She rose higher and higher in the red wind, buffeted and slashed by the gusts.
Temari raised her fan high. She eyed her opponents position in the whirlwind. Smiling, she brought her fan down sharply.
"Fuuton: Setsudanki no jutsu!" An immense vertical blade of wind formed, streaking straight for the center of the tornado.
"That's game."
Suddenly, the air around Discorujia exploded, a wave of sound blasted outward. The weasel summons were blown away, while Temari was knocked to her knees. Those who were farther away simply got minor headaches. Discorujia crashed to the ground.
Her head splitting, Temari clutched her head. "The hell was that?"
"Sonic redirection," Discorujia responded. "I blasted myself out of the way." Despite her light tone, Discorujia was breathing quite heavily. She looked in worse shape than Temari.
"Looks like it hurt you more than it did me."
"Shut up, you."
"I'm starting to get tired of you," Temari gritted.
"Likewise. I think I'll finish this."
"About time," Nameless nodded. He blinked his grey and red eyes. "I think she's gonna use it now."
Nhaki shrugged. "All the same to me."
"You're very good. I would have to say that you are definitely stronger and possess more chakra than me," Discorujia leaped back to put more distance between her and Temari. "But combat is not simply decided by strength."
The songstress pulled out one of Kabuto's stat cards. On it were Temari's stats. "I know you. I know your family. I know your greatest fear, your greatest weakness."
Temari narrowed her eyes. "You just trying to scare me or something?"
"You, like every person, possess a great fear. The fear of death," Discorujia adjusted her amplifier. "The death of your family, your friends, those important to you. Or perhaps your own death, caused by someone you have long feared."
Gaara tensed, his face darkening further.
Discorujia swept her arms out wide. "Allow me to put the fear of death back in you!"
"Here it comes," Nameless clapped his hands. "I love this one."
"Aikaifu, the Elegy of Fear."
Discorujia began to sing, a soft haunting melody that rose in a crescendo.
"Oh no you don't!" Temari charged straight in, then stopped, a bemused expression on her face.
Everything around her had seemed to disappear and grow dark.
"Where are you?"
"I'm right here."
That voice was not Discorujia's. It was deep, amused, and male. Temari spun, but saw nothing.
"Don't play games with me, asshole."
The blackness stretched and bent, giving way to a vision of the interior of a building, a castle. All the color seemed drained out of the setting. It's paper walls were torn and slashed as if by something large. A door in front of her was ajar. She approached cautiously, slid the door open, then entered.
A ghastly scene awaited her. The walls of this room were practically painted in blood, which stood out in stark contrast from the drab scenery. There were bodies as well. Familiar bodies. She saw people she knew, childhood friends and mentors, bodies torn asunder. Her eyes fell on one body. Eyes wide as saucers, she rushed up to it.
"K-Kankurou?" she gasped. She shook her younger brother. "Come on, snap out of it!"
Kankurou's purple facepaint was mixed with his own blood. His eyes were wide and staring, his torso opened by several long deep slashes. Temari was now kneeling in the puppeteer's blood.
Next to Kankurou's bodied was the crushed corpse of a young woman, just a year younger than Temari herself.
"Tsubeko..."
Temari turned to another figure. "You? What are you-? Get up! You...can't be dead. I just saw you...I..."
Nara Shikamaru lay near Kankurou, his body crushed and broken. His face was locked in a horrible grimace. Temari raised her hands, staring at the red that now stained them.
"NO!" she screamed, standing up, an expression of absolute horror on her face. Her heel bumped another body. "Gaara..."
The youngest of the Sand siblings lay in a pool of his own blood. His body was torn open, as though something had ripped out from the inside.
"This isn't happening, this isn't happening..."
It was too much for Temari, she clutched her head, trying to block out the faces of the dead around her.
Tsubeko. Shikamaru. Kankurou. Gaara.
Everyone...
"Why...?" tears leaked down her face. She tried to stop herself. She was Temari of the desert. She was strong, she was not supposed to be weak like this.
"Why?" she asked again.
"Because it's fun."
That voice again. Temari's eyes widened even more. She turned slowly. There, in the shadows, surrounded by blood and bodies, she saw it.
Shukaku.
It was Shukaku, as Temari envisioned him. He resembled nothing so much as a nine-foot tall version of Gaara's 'perfect' form that he had used during the Chuunin exam. The demon's sandy body was covered in blood, staining him a deep red. Shukaku rumbled out of the shadows, a crimson grin on his face.
"Oooh, I see somebody I want to kill."
Temari wanted to run, but her body had seized up and refused to move. All she could do was watch as the heavy sand tanuki approached her. He held a claw over her, letting the blood drip down onto Temari's head.
drip
Temari shuddered as Shukaku scraped a nail across her face.
"Now I get to kill you. Just like I killed all the others," the demon laughed madly.
"No," Temari whispered desperately.
Shukaku's arm lengthened, then reached out to envelop Temari. She was held fast, only her face exposed.
"Helpless, pitiful, weak," Shukaku crooned.
"I'm not...weak..." Temari snarled, face contorted.
"You couldn't save them."
Shukaku tightened his grip and Temari screamed.
"Now, you join them!" he laughed.
I'm sorry, everyone, she thought.
Then all went black. The last thing she heard was the horrible laughter of the sand demon.
Naruto gripped the railing. "What the hell's happening?" Naruto hopped up and down.
Shikamaru, on the other hand, was silent, though his hands gripped the railing with more force than did Naruto. He watched Temari stand there, screaming.
"It looks like she's being attacked by a very strong genjutsu," Edo muttered distastefully, shaking his head. "Looks like some kind of psychological torture."
Kankurou furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth. "Aw, man, she's in trouble."
Gaara was breathing heavily now. Nyurr glanced at him, then tucked his ears back and hissed.
Temari stopped screaming. She tottered.
"About time," growled Discorujia, ending her song. With a flick of her wrist, she flung a kunai at her enemy. The blade caught Temari in the side, knocking her to the ground.
She then drew a pair of long curved knives. "I'll finish her for good."
Spinning the blades, she flung them venomously at the slumped figure of Temari.
"NO!"
A geyser of sand spewed up from the arena floor, knocking the knives away. The sand fell to earth, revealing a very angry Gaara. Nyurr stood on his shoulder, fur extended, spitting.
"Don't touch my sister," Gaara hissed.
"Nyurr!" Nyurr agreed.
Temari stirred. "...Gaara."
Gaara glanced down. "Are you all right?"
Temari attempted to answer, but could not.
Gaara looked up again, his gaze boring into Discorujia. "You hurt my sister."
Sand began to writhe at Discorujia's feet. The sand rose and Discorujia blanched.
"Gaara!" came a shout. "Wait-ACK!"
Naruto dusted himself off from his twenty foot fall and ran up to the very protective little brother.
"Don't do it," he told him calmly. "She's not worth it."
"But-"
"Leave it to me. After all, I'm the one fighting her next round."
Gaara stared at Naruto, then nodded.
"I'll be counting on you."
Without waiting for a response, Gaara commanded the sand to pick up his sister. Then, using shunshin no jutsu, he transported them up to the competitor's waiting area.
"He left me behind," Naruto grumbled, hustling towards the stairs, dragging Temari's fan behind him.
There was silence, broken only by the voice of Kaiu Yashiko.
"Temari is disqualified due to outside interference! Winner: Sakebu Discorujia."
The reaction to the ending of the second match was far more subdued than the last. Still, there was a fair amount of applause.
Kankurou leapt from his seat and hustled towards the waiting area. He tapped Sakura on the shoulder as he passed.
"Come on."
"Huh?"
Kankurou rolled his eyes. "C'mon kid, you saw my sister, she needs healing. Are you a medic-nin or aren't you? Let's go."
Nodding, Sakura followed him. "Right."
Temari lay in the waiting area, shivering.
Shikamaru looked at the tears on her face.
Man, I thought she had special emotional training or something like that. That technique sure did a number on her. Guess she's more human than she seems. No one deserves to suffer like that.
Naruto burst in, dragging the fan. "How is she?"
"I don't know."
"...nnh..." Temari stirred.
"She's awake," Edo observed.
"Gaa...ra? You're alive?" Temari looked around, noticing Naruto and Shikamaru as well. She smiled wanly. "Where's...Kankurou?"
"Right here," the puppeteer announced, entering quickly, Sakura right behind.
Sakura clucked her tongue, kneeling down, her hands glowing with healing chakra.
"You're all alive...good."
Kankurou rubbed the back of his head. "We were worried about you, sis."
Temari sat up, she seemed slightly stronger now, thanks to Sakura's ministrations.
"It is now time for the third match! Shosuro Tetsu vs. Nara Shikamaru."
Shikamaru glanced up at his foe, who was already making for the stairs.
"Great, my turn," he sighed.
"Hey, kid."
Shikamaru turned to Temari. "Hmmm?"
Without warning, Temari wrapped him in a fierce hug.
"Don't you dare die on me," she said in a voice that nearly threatened to crack. "Any of you." She added quickly, attempting to regain her dignity.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. His neck hurt. Then he gave a small smile. "All right."
She let him go, then lowered herself, cursing. She closed her eyes, breathing steadily.
"I'll be back in a bit."
Shikamaru made his way down the stairs at the doorway, he stopped and let Discorujia pass. His eyes blazed as he looked at her.
"If Naruto doesn't get you, I will," he told her simply. He walked down the steps and into the arena.
Shikamaru shook his head. "Man, why did I say something like that? How troublesome."
Making his way to his side of the battlefield, Shikamaru stood calmly. He ignored the glowering Rain-nin across from him and instead watched the clouds.
"How troublesome," he repeated.
Next Chapter: Iron Monk's Game : Tetsu vs. Shikamaru
I liked writing this chapter, which may be a bad sign. Every time I mention how I don't like a chapter, the readers seem to like it. If I say I like a chapter...oh deary me. I'm tired.
New technique translations right here.
Discorujia (Utakyousha no jutsu: Song lance)
Temari (Ijou Kama no jutsu: Surrounding Sickles)
Discorujia (Daiutashindou: Great Song vibration)
Temari (Akateikiatsu Mai: Red Cyclone Dance)
Temari (Fuuton: Setsudanki no jutsu: Wind Element: Guillotine Technique)
Discorujia (Aikaifu: Elegy of Fear)
The best way to describe Discorujia's Aikaifu is to say that it attacks the opponents psyche, like a much much weaker version of Itachi's Tsukiyomi. However, Aikajibou lasts only as long as the user continues to sing. It is also easier to resist, and hardly causes any lasting damage. Plus, you don't need Sharingan, just a specially mangled throat.
So there you have it. Naruto vs. Discorujia in Chapter 17: Fox's Requiem. Hope I handled Temari's loss properly. That's the thing I'm most worried about with this chapter, keeping Temari IC. (Hides self in demonic shell) You can't hurt me now.
Just so you know, Tsubeko is an OC, not from the anime. So don't be confused when you read that part. You just haven't met her yet.
Thought I might mention, I'm giving characters theme songs in this fic. Only got a few so far, but whatever. Everyone will have one or two themes. These are just my early ideas.
Kankurou: We like to party - Vengaboys (Watch the True Naruto Style series of Flash movies to get this one.)
Gaara: Save Me - KMFDM
Edo: Fields of Innocence - Evanescence
and
Numb - Linkin Park
Hinata: 1000 Words (English)- Jade from Sweetbox
Shikamaru: Lazy - NOFX
Once again, reviews are desired, but puns will net you 'pun'-ishment. (ie. being eaten by Nyurr for a first offence.) DarkLotus has already been devoured. Will you be next? p.s. to those who know me personally: don't just tell me face-to-face if you like my story (though that is nice). Leave reviews! This means you, Akemi, Alan, Chris, Trevor, and Satan. (Satan: Awwwww, man...)
