"Cyyyyyyynthiaaaaaaa…"
Cynthia muttered something that vaguely sounded like "Edward, shut the freaking Hell up, I'm sleepin'."
"Cyyyyyyynthiaaaaaaa… Wake up!"
Cynthia sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her hands and ankles were tied together, but when she moved them, the sand in the rope killed her organic one.
"I have disabled your automail arm from all function. My name is Seikei Mitsukai, and I am your new master."
"What?" Cynthia spat. "Me, work for you. You're insane."
Seikei, in a fit of rage, kicked Cynthia's jaw to the side. Cynthia turned slowly to face forwards once more, wiping blood from her lips with her shoulder. Seikei calmed herself.
"Be quiet and listen. You are what Gaara and I call 'bait.'"
"Gaara!" Cynthia looked around frantically. "Where? I'm gonna kill that bastard…"
"You will lure Edward and his friends here. But it's not like you have any choice."
Cynthia glared at her. "Hmph."
Seikei unveiled a small silver chip from her hand. "This chip will take all the good energy you have and turn it bad, for the moment. It will only last four days because my power is not exactly at its fullest. You will be the one to kill Edward, Naruto, Sakura and anyone else who comes with them. Sasuke included."
"Sasuke…" Cynthia muttered dreamily. "No… Never…" She screamed when she felt the cold chip in the back of her neck. In an instant, it fused into her skin, and hungrily began to work. Cynthia fainted.
"So you already inserted the chip." Gaara said, walking from the shadows.
"Yes, Gaara. Just tell her what you want to happen." Seikei bowed and turned. "I'm sure your goals are private, Gaara."
Seikei left. Gaara knelt by the unconscious Cynthia and took some sand from his gourd. He drew a circle of sand around the chip on her neck and muttered, "A little curse, just for you. This will increase your strength by a hundredfold. I want to make sure you literally crush Sasuke Uchiha. This circle will remain as long as Seikei's control chip. This will also give you a little of my power, enabling the sand in my gourd to protect you from injury as well. Now, here is what I want you to do."
Cynthia opened her eyes. Her entire eyes; the whites, irises, everything; was blacker than the deepest depths of the ocean. She stood up and easily broke the bonds on her ankles and wrists.
"Master Gaara." She said quietly. "Master Gaara!"
"Good. You're awake." Seikei walked from the shadows. "Gaara told you what to do. Now go do it."
"No, I cannot, Seikei. I have to wait for them to get here." Cynthia spun around on her heel. "Besides, why should I listen to you anyway?"
"WHAT?" Seikei shrieked. "Didn't Gaara say anything about listening to ME too?"
"Nope." Cynthia smirked and toyed with a strand of hair. That was when Seikei noticed the ring of sand around her chip.
She cursed to herself silently. Master Gaara didn't tell her to obey me!
Cynthia crossed her arms behind her head. "All I gotta do is wait for Edward and his cronies to come looking for me. Then all it takes is a slice of fangs… Oh, yeah. SEIKEI! You are MY servant now. Obey me or else!"
"Erk… Yes, Mistress Cynthia."
Shik
A kunai cut through the air towards Seikei. Seikei sidestepped quickly, and the kunai thudded into the bit of sand that flashed up to protect Cynthia.
"YOU!"
The shriek wasn't hard to recognize. The shrill, annoying voice or Naruto could be recognized anywhere. Edward and his friends ran up, Edward most likely about to kill the first thing he saw. Naruto pointed at Seikei. "I know you from somewhere! You live in the Hidden Sand village!"
"Really." Seikei said in her usual monotone voice. She turned. "Mistress Cynthia, permission to dispose of the fox?"
"Permission granted." Cynthia replied as the wall of sand receded, dropping to kunai to dig into the wooden floor. She turned her head just enough to glare at Naruto, her mouth turned up in an insane grin. Her eyes shifted to Sasuke.
"Ah. My prey. Obviously, you think you've come to save me."
Sasuke glared at her. "You… YOU!" He pointed an accusing finger at Seikei. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? TELL ME, DAMMIT!"
"It was Master Gaara's orders." Seikei replied. "It will only last a few days. Until then I will train to make it permanent."
"You're out of your mind!"
"No, I am quite sane."
Cynthia plucked the kunai from the floor. With great force and speed, she threw it at Sasuke. Sasuke, unable to avoid it, moved to the side, where it skimmed his shoulder.
So much for being a "him."
There was a puff of smoke as Sasuke clamped a hand over the scrape. Instead of Sasuke, Shikyo was glared at them with full anger.
"Ah. Transformation."
Naruto sighed and turned back to Atra. "Your caught us…"
"But there are three of you."
Edward stared at her with blank eyes. "Really." In a puff of smoke, Kakashi appeared. "It was hard to be so close to the ground."
Somewhere, far away in the woods, Edward sneezed and felt anger inside him.
"You're Naruto's sensei." Cynthia said. "Why are you leading such a weak band? The infamous Jounin Kakashi should we off with his stronger soldiers."
"Well, I wouldn't call myself infamous…"
Cynthia waved her hand, and Seikei snapped. The kunai Cynthia threw flew back to Cynthia, where she caught it with ease. "Then I will have such satisfaction killing you!"
She ran at Kakashi, but remember, Kakashi is a Jounin, an elite ninja. And he didn't get that way over night. Kakashi grabbed her wrist and spun her around, pointing her own kunai at the back of her neck, which reminded him of the time he did the same to Naruto.
"I'm not intimidated by foolish brats like you." He said. Then he noticed the control chip on the back of her neck… And the ring of sand around it. "Or should I say, cursed brats."
"What the Hell are you talking about?" Cynthia growled. She pushed back against Kakashi, making him stumble.
This will increase your strength a hundredfold.
She remembered Gaara's words, smirking. "As you can see, I'm not weak, nor am I cursed. Besides being a deadly Lalaurana, I am also the world's one and only heir to Lalaurana's school for indiscriminate grappling. Which means I've had YEARS of training." She pushed her hand back, also pushing his. "To me, you're merely an obstacle to my true objective. A single thorn in my foot."
In a single movement, her other hand flew up and knocked away Kakashi's, spinning around and kicking him back a fair distance. "Maybe I'm not all fancy moves and crap like you ninjas, but martial artists are still DAMN WELL STRONG!"
Shikyo glared at her, twitching from pain with the skim on her shoulder. Blood began to stain her jacket and run down her side.
Who do you think I am?
Shikyo's glare deepened. Some little academy student? I'm A Genin now! She untied the head protector from her knee, recalling an old vow.
"Class! We're going to have an exam today on creative transformation. Imagine what you want to look like in your head, and when you're called up, try to transform into what you thought. Those who transform correctly will graduate. You're lucky, last year the Genin had to make clones. This is much easier." Iruka instructed. "Let's start with you, Dali!"
Dali walked up and made a hand sign. "Hehe…" He smirked, just as a cloud of smoke appeared."
"Good, Deli! Interesting choice. Kiraa?" Iruka handed Dali his headband.
Dali had turned into a lovely girl who was named Itsumo. Itsumo glared at him from her seat, but Dali just waved shyly.
Dali sat down and detransformed. Kiraa stood up and made her way front.
"Transform!" She said in her quiet voice. Poof. Kiraa turned into Iruka.
"I'm flattered." Iruka handed her a headband. "Atra?"
Atra smiled. "I've had mine picked out for a while! Look!"
Atra turned into a very fat and very short Iruka.
"…I don't even have to explain. YOU FAIL! Shikyo?"
Shikyo stood up, amid gasps. She shot those who gasped a glare, warning them. No one expected Shikyo to graduate, after all the evil jutsu she's practiced and created.
Shikyo made a hand sign. Transform! She thought.
A shadow was cast over the students. Shikyo was now the legendary nine-tailed fox. To turn oneself into an animal was an advanced form of jutsu, but however…
"Shikyo! The nine-tailed fox is forbidden, even to speak of! YOU FAIL!"
Shikyo turned back to normal. She glared at Iruka and pulled out a kunai twirling it through its handle. Iruka stepped back, but was surprised when Shikyo jammed the kunai into the soft skin below her right knee.
"I swear to God by my very own blood, that when I get one of those damn head protectors I'll only wear it over this scar in me knee until the right time comes. And that's when SHIKYO KUSUBANA becomes a JOUNIN!" She hissed. "Just you wait and see! I'll graduate! I swear to God!"
Shikyo tied the protector around over her forehead. Atra looked over. "Shikyo! Don't you remember what you said? Last year? You would…"
"Put on my head protector when I become a Jounin. Atra. This is more important than becoming a Jounin." She made several hand signs. "Tiger, bear, wolf, squirrel, fox…"
"That's…" Atra gasped. "Klong no jutsu…"That's more dangerous than the Death Bell no jutsu! But Shikyo, she's our…"
"She's not our friend anymore, Atra!"
Ayeka was still with the others. Shikyo and Atra had sneaked away from the group and ran off on their own accord. It was pure luck that they found Cynthia.
"Aargh, where could those two be?" Sakura muttered. "They ran off! That is so like younger Genin!"
"They probably found Cynthia…" Edward muttered. "Yo, Ayeka? Is there any way to find where they are?"
"Well, Iruka Sensei always said that I was really good with hearing. If Shikyo uses a jutsu I could hear it from far away."
"How so?" Sasuke asked. "Most jutsus are silent."
"Not Shikyo's." Ayeka sighed. "Shikyo's full name is Shikyo Kusubana, which means Death Flower. Her middle name is 'bell.' Shikyo took that to her advantage and made jutsus branching from it."
"It took me a while… Okay, like, a day… To create my own jutsu." Naruto crossed his arms behind his head. "How advanced are Shikyo's jutsus?"
"Very advanced, for such a low level Genin, anyway. Shikyo had completed a total of three jutsus regarding bells; The Death Bell no jutsu, the Bell of Eternal Sleep, and Klong no jutsu."
"Klong?"
"It's not an abbreviation. That's the actual name. Shikyo… It… It's terrible. Terrible. It's dangerous to both the user and victim… I don't want to talk about it." Ayeka pulled out a small, thick book. "I swiped this from Shikyo's room. From all I've read, it's a recording of all her techniques, jutsus, special skills and thoughts on being a ninja. There's also some personal information at the back."
Sasuke took the book. "Are you sure we.…"
Naruto swiped it. "If you're going to worry about privacy…" He flipped to the back. "I don't recall ever seeing 'Shikyo Kusubana' in the academy rosters. I do remember Shikyo, but there's no mention of Kusubana…" At the back there was a page made so one could fill out personal information. "Let's see here…"
Current age: 15
Gender: Female
Hobbies: Making jutsus, martial arts
Likes: Daydreaming, Sasuke Uchiha
Dislikes: Atra Souji
Naruto's eyes widened when he read the last one: Name. He dropped the book and jumped into the trees, more determined than ever to find Shikyo.
Sasuke picked it up. "What? Naruto!" He looked down at the page.
Name: Uzumaki Shikyo
"I can see why he would run off like that." Sasuke muttered. He flipped back to the front of the book. "So what is this Klong no jutsu…"
"Klong no Jutsu has been successfully completed." He read. "I have only tried it once and it worked perfectly. No one knows this, but I admire the nine-trailed fox. Not for what he has done, but for his strength and power. I want strength just like it. The Klong no jutsu, like two of my more practiced jutsus, uses bells, but not as much as the others. A bell made of chakra will bong one hundred times. In that time…"
His pupils shrank.
"Yes…" Sakura urged.
"The nine-tailed fox spirit of Naruto Uzumaki will be divided in two, and the scar on my knee will become the seal for that half. I will be drained of over 99 percentof all my chakra when the bell rings for its last time. I will allow half of the demon to take over me until that time. My husband must never know of this. The day he knows of this I must burn this diary…"
"Holy crap! Husband?"
Sakura and Sasuke both glared at Ayeka. Ayeka, sheepishly, pulled out some papers from her pocket. "Marriage papers and legal documents…"
Sasuke and Sakura scanned them. "It's legal, completely legal." Ayeka said. "When Naruto was sealed away, the Kusubana family made an agreement with the Hokage. Should Naruto ever need access, he would be able to tap into the enormous fortune that Shikyo inherited. But the only way for him to have access was marriage. So he was to marry the first daughter of the Kusubana family, who was Shikyo. Naruto Uzumaki and Shikyo Kusubana have been legally married for fifteen years."
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Sasuke asked.
"I, um, just found out. I found these papers in Shikyo's backpack. She left it behind when she and Atra ran off!"
Sakura turned. "Edward! You're with the military, right? Is this legal? Can children as young as one be married?"
"It's totally legal."
"But in her likes, she says she likes Sasuke…" Sakura went on.
"As long as Naruto doesn't know, Shikyo can go out with anyone she wants. And if she wants to get married, she'll tell him and they divorce. Because Shikyo's family is dead, the only remains of that deal are their marriage."
"Oh… I see." Sakura looked at the ground, slightly pissed. Inner Sakura: No WAY! Sasuke is SO mine! Go kill yourself, Shikyo!
Meanwhile, Sasuke was thinking, I never noticed Shikyo before… Because she is so damn HOT! Oh my God, do you ever shut up? Hell no. You should totally ask her out. Ahem. I am Sasuke Uchiha. Asking girls out isn't my style. It's MY style. Let me out once in a while! You're too talkative. Sakura lets out her inner self every once in a while. I'm not Sakura, am I? So? … Shut up. Oh, you should totally ask Sakura out too! Okay, I know that makes even YOU want to puke. Hey, you're the guy who controls the body. You know, we've got to stop talking to each other like this. Well said.
Cynthia smirked and looked at Shikyo. "What's up, little girl? Going to test one of your jutsus on me?"
"Oh, it's more than that you ugly bitch." Shikyo replied.
"Shikyo's gonna kill you!" Atra teased. "Kill you, kill you…"
Cynthia's foot slammed into Atra's gut. She held a knife to his throat. "Kakashi! Kill Shikyo or Atra dies!"
Kakashi froze. "Where…" His mind flashed. First she charged him, like Naruto. And now she was threatening to kill someone if he didn't kill another. Just like that one day when Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura officially became Genin…
Cynthia's knife slipped along Atra's throat, making him squeak with fear and surprise. "Do it!"
Shikyo finally finished concentrating her chakra. And it happened.
The bell was blue, and vaguely looked like fog. It didn't bong yet. It waited. Shikyo screamed and looked at Cynthia. "You're going down…"
First came the tails. Then the eyes. Then the sleek fur. And then, the massive, fearsome body.
Cynthia laughed as the bell bonged. "A fox, huh. Just like Naruto."
Cynthia quickly morphed into a Lalaurana. And there, it was a clash of creatures. Cynthia tore away with her teeth, and Shikyo focused on chakra attacks. Already ten bongs.
Naruto jumped through the trees. Uzumaki Shikyo. "Who is she?" He screamed. "A sister, a cousin… ANYTHING!"
He came to a tall, red building. There was an inhuman roar… Yeah.
He jumped through and window to see Cynthia battling…
A nine-tailed fox.
Fifty rings. Shikyo was anxious to finish this, but just half of the fox wasn't enough. She had a long gash on her shoulder that she was afraid to see when the turned back to normal…
Kakashi grabbed Atra. "Come on, let's get out of here!"
"But Shikyo…"
"Shikyo will be fine! Come on!"
And finally.
One hundred.
With a shriek, Shikyo returned to normal, drained of 99 percent of all her chakra. Cynthia fastened her teeth into her shoulder. She screamed when Cynthia let go, taking a lot of her skin with her…
Naruto darted in and picked her up, running away.
Cynthia turned back into a human. Gaara came up behind her. "You did pretty good."
"Master Gaara, I don't understand. Why didn't your sand protect me when I was a demon?"
Gaara put a hand on her shoulder. Cynthia flinched slightly at his touch. "Let's just discuss this later. We need to prepare for their return."