Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto.

Wings of the White Angel

Chapter 19: Pride's ultimate potential

He heard a noise…a baby's crying…

("Why a baby?") His eyes tried to force themselves open, but they wouldn't. ("What is this? Where am I? Last thing I remembered, there was a burning pain in my chest. And then I passed out. Where am I?") Kin tried to stand, but nothing happened.

"Look at his hair…it's practically golden. Such an amazing boy…" The voice was warm and familiar to Kin's ears. It was someone he wanted to see right now.

("Mother…help me…I promised nothing would happen, but I don't think I will be able to keep up that promise…Pride is so strong.") Kin suddenly could open his eyes, and he found himself knee deep in a mass of black sand. "What is this?" A bright light flashed to life behind him. Spinning around as well as he could, considering the restricting sand, Kin managed to see that some kind of light was behind him. "Who's there?"

"So it is true…I wondered where you had gone…"

("What's going on?") Kin had gone silent. ("What in the hell is going on?")

"Still, I will pull you out for now…I will let you return to the wheel again." Something curled around his waist and lifted him high into the air, depositing him onto solid ground. A flat service of solid white marble. "There…welcome back to the path."

Now that he could move, Kin turned around. And his heart stopped.

The being before him was beyond majestic…it was awe-inspiring. It was a huge Chinese dragon, covered in glimmering white scales. "Who…what are you?"

The dragon rumbled, the sound seeming to resemble laughter. "You don't know me? I'm sorry to hear that…I am the guardian of the White Gate." Behind it, a huge white metal gate came into view.

"This is the wheel of body and soul…" Kin felt a surreal peace as he realized he stood in the section of his heart that represented the power he was best at. Speed… "Why am I here?"

"Because you are sinking into the depths of a place that I cannot protect you from, Kin." The dragon's nose pointed out behind them, at an endless black expanse that stretched as far as the eye could see. "There is some kind of horrid creature out there, and it has taken you from me twice now and dragged you out into the sands. It was luck I managed to pull you out in time, before you became sucked into the morass of darkness."

"That's the Black Destruction Desert…so the demon was the one who did it. I can't stop it from using my body like a puppet, can I?" Kin hated this. All of his work to reach the Radiant Paradise was fading because of some lousy demon that needed a fix of power. "Isn't there anything I can do?"

"You are dying…you understand that? The poison in your system is deadly…too deadly…" The dragon sighed, the sound shaking the platform. "I am unsure whether or not I can do anything for you."

Kin sighed and brushed some of the remaining black sand off of his clothes. "This is troublesome…but I think I have the answer. I'll burn it out."

"Burn the poison?"

"Yeah…" Kin grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'll sweat it right out of my system…by using the technique I'm best at."

("He intends to use the White Wind Angel to run so fast that his body will burn away the poison with the chakra output? Is he stupid…that won't work…") The dragon sweat-dropped and continued to float in the air above. ("However…") "Good luck. I trust in your power. I trust in your knowledge of your own body, for I am but the guardian of a clan. I do not know how the body of your clan truly works…no one can."

Kin gave the dragon a thumbs-up. "I'll be fine." He turned to face the huge white gate. ("Father…give me the strength to show them…to show them just a single step towards paradise.") "Fuuton; Shirakaze Tenshi no Jutsu!"

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Pride appeared right behind her, a sword pressed against her throat roughly. "Don't move, or you will die Aiko-chan." She knew it was a replication, but she was too injured to dispel it without risking death.

The real Pride walked towards Ayumi. "You're first, because I don't feel like…"

"No…not her…" Kai tried to move. Then he went silent as Pride's hand was suddenly around his throat, squeezing.

"You wish to die? Stupid…I won't let you die until I've tortured you…" The Sin sneered. "Now scream nice and loud for me…" He squeezed and Kai began to make pained gasping noises as he tried to gather air.

Kai tried to reach into the power he had used before, but it was long gone. ("Where did it go? Where is my…")

Pride coldly squeezed harder. "One by one…one by…"

"Fuuton; Shirakaze Tenshi no Jutsu!" Everyone in the area froze at those words. "Pride…put him down."

"Or you'll what?" The Sin turned slowly to face Kin, whose body was surrounded by wisps of white silk. "Speed won't work against my full power…weren't you listening before?"

Kin's lips lifted slightly. "Sorry…I was unconscious. Care to repeat it for me?"

"No matter what you…" Pride frowned as Kai disappeared from his hand. ("Bastard…I still can't move faster than him.")

Kai coughed rapidly to try and clear his air-ways. Kin, who was standing next to him in the same spot he had been before, cracked his knuckles. "Let's go!" Then he disappeared.

Aiko could feel the scene with her ears. ("He believes he can win…he won't accept the possibility of being overwhelmed…he's…") She smiled and started to stand, ignoring the pain of her wounds. "What kind of teacher would I be if I lay down and died while my student fought?"

Yurei stood up, the blade of Shadow Goddess reformed. "Same here…we're in this together."

Kai stumbled to his feet. "It will take everything we have to beat this guy. And everything we have will include teamwork this time…true teamwork…" He gathered his chakra. ("A combo is teamwork in effort, but this will be teamwork in heart…we'll win…I know we will.")

Kin appeared to Pride's side, his kick launching full speed towards the Sin's right cheek.

Pride felt the building aura of hope from his opponents…and then he was moving. Kin was suddenly fifty feet in the air, electricity arching along his skin. Aiko was thrown right into Yurei, and both of them were then swallowed in a bolt of lightning. Kai dodged the first shot of lightning, but the next ten struck each of his limbs twice, and then his chest twice. Letting out one weak cry, he collapsed face-first to the ground.

Ayumi stood up and drew a kunai. ("I can't let them die without at least trying…")

Pride started to count. ("Ten seconds…")

Kin was violently kicked straight into the ground from his fifty foot height, leaving behind a giant crater with him at the bottom center of it. Yurei was next, as a sword stabbed right into his left and right thighs. Grunting, he collapsed.

Aiko rolled and came up just in time to sense Pride in front of her. "You…" Then she was flying away as lightning shot from his hands right into her. Her motion was stopped as lightning rained down onto her body, forcing her to the earth as well.

Kai's eyes started to glow silver again. ("I have to…") He grew cold at what he saw. ("No matter what I do…he'll hit….") Then six swords were stabbed into six non-vital points on his body. Lightning arched along the shadow blades and into his internal organs, leaving him unconscious and smoking at the mouth.

("Twenty…") Pride still had yet to seem like he had moved at all. ("I don't even need to fight…my replications will take them all…")

Kin was about to stand, but was forced down as lightning crashed down into him over and over again.

Aiko stumbled up, her vest smoking. "Niji Bunshin no Jutsu!" Six more of her appeared and all of them disappeared. Milliseconds later seven bursts of colored smoke filled the sky, and then the real Aiko was slammed backfirst into a wall.

Yurei groaned and tried to stand up… ("I…Kin was right…we can…") Then he was flying again, more lightning pounding through him. By the time he reached the ground he was unconscious.

Aiko realized that both Yurei and Kai were out of the fight. ("I…I'll do it!") Her hands started to move. Then a fist rocketed into her stomach and blew the wind and focus out of her. "You can't beat me Aiko-chan…I'm just as strong as Kakashi when he was a Jounin…you cannot win. How can you beat me?" Then sharp pain shot up her neck as his other fist landed a hook into her side. "I promised Kane I wouldn't kill you…but you've pissed me off. How could you raise such little nuisances?" A sword stabbed into her gut. "For your insolence, I give you the gift of a swift death." Then she stopped moving, her body finally pulling her to unconscious.

("Thirty.") Pride popped his neck. "You're all that is left, girl. I'll leave you alive to go let Kakashi know that in just a few short years he'll be next. Every year I have grown more powerful…by the time I'm of a man's age I'll be stronger than Death." His lips lifted slightly. "And honestly…I'll hate that. I cannot stop myself from training, and yet every Jounin I encounter is easily beaten. Those I cannot defeat will soon be my lesser, and my power will continue to grow. I'm only fourteen and I am nearly the best there is." His yellow eyes locked onto Ayumi's. "They will all suffer before they die…I would advise you to leave before that happens."

Ayumi started to tremble. ("Kakashi-sama…please come and save the day, just like I always know you can. Please…") Her hands started to shake, but she still held her kunai.

"Your resolve is strangely impressive…most surrender and accept fate when they see my full power…but you don't." Pride's words were as cold as his face, which was frigid. "Disappear, before I decide that you don't deserve to live."

Ayumi shook her head slowly. "N...no. I have to…do my job. I am a medical ninja…"

Pride formed a shadow katana. "Your window of opportunity to run just closed." A cut appeared on her left cheek. "For your stupid thoughts, I'll cut you apart very slowly. Entertain me…girl." Another cut appeared on her arm. Then the cuts multiplied rapidly. By the time a minute had passed she had over two hundred of them, and each one was barely bleeding. She felt weak, but she didn't fall. "Why do you continue? Have you not realized that this fight is done? I've beaten your team."

Kai's still-smoking body twitched and started to rise, but then collapsed face-first into the ground. "They challenged the strongest group in the world, and have paid the price."

Yurei's hand clutched Shadow Goddess tighter, but then the grip relaxed. "They each had such potential, but no real understanding of the world."

Aiko slowly stood up, her knees trembling in pain.

Pride glanced over at the Jounin. "You should be dead…which is surprising…" He smiled slightly as he fully looked at her. "Oh…how funny…"

Aiko didn't move or respond. She simply stood there.

"She's unconscious…but so willing to try and kill me that even in that state she will stand up." Pride's sword pointed at her. "It pisses me off to think you were thought to be anything more than a child. Even as you grew older, Kakashi sheltered you for the longest time…he took you in and raised you to be a ninja. He felt sorry for the fact that your eyes were useless, and taught you a forbidden technique called Light Eyes. It let you experience the world through sight, if at least in a form meant for combat. Then you met Kane…" His hand started to shake slowly. "Because of you I had to kill my mentor…because you had filled his once cold heart with thoughts of love and of friendship. If he had been smart he wouldn't have injured himself sealing the demon, and then perhaps he might have been able to beat me. Instead though I was left with nothing…nothing at all."

Aiko's body started to fall slowly.

"Because of you he died…because of you I had to kill him!" Pride appeared in front of her falling body, sword positioned so she would fall right onto it. "Burn, scream…cry, weep…I will make it all happen before you are given death…"

Ayumi started to move. "Don't hurt Aiko-sama! Don't!"

Pride locked onto the falling body and the white eyes that he hated so much. "Let my punishment begin, weak woman." Suddenly Aiko disappeared. "What's this? He stands up after such a punishing amount of lightning? Perhaps poison would have worked better…" The Sin turned to look at Kin, who had Aiko under one arm. His body was still surrounded by strands of white silk. "Lie down and die, so that I can appease my master."

Kin set Aiko down gently, his eyes closed. Stepping forward a few feet, his eyes opened. The irises were still blue and green. "I…I heard it all…" Tears started to appear along the edges of his eyes. "Is that what you truly think? That love is nothing but a detriment to a fighter's heart?"

"You say it is otherwise?" Pride slid the blade of his sword along the earth, leaving a small trail of sparks. "Heart is weakness…it is known among the best of the best."

"You believe that you have the right to enforce such a belief on other people?" Kin roared and appeared in front of Pride, but was easily sent away with a kick to the jaw. Rolling back a few feet, he came up with the white wisps of silk gone. The White Angel had dispelled. "How can you do this? How can you involve these villagers in this fight? How can torture and hurt and kill…how?"

"Easily…because the weak deserve to fuel the strong's wishes, nothing else." Pride looked up at the full moon. "It's life. Welcome to what the world really is. In this place, there is no justice other than an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." He tilted his head down, eyes glimmering in the night. "The Shadow Moon style is something that has always been near my heart because it reminds me to never let my emotions get in the way of what must be done."

"You don't even care that you kill Aiko-sensei's fiancé, do you?" Kin charged again, and this time didn't even see the blow that bounced him backwards twenty feet.

"What do you know about caring?" Pride's foot started to dig into the ground. "Every day of my life while I lived in the hidden village of sand, my father lived with the fact that assassins were after him. He took my family to every part of the world, to so many countries…"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kin stumbled to his feet, blood running down his right cheek from a cut.

"I had four siblings…" Pride growled low in his throat. "They all died, each one in a different country! They wouldn't leave my family alone!" His fist clenched the sword hilt so tightly that it actually started to crack. "The assassins chased us down to Konoha…where they killed my father when I was only eight." His eyes reflected a moment of dark anger. "I killed each one of them without mercy…and then lived a sad and lonely life for two years…no family…no friends…no nothing! No home, no food, not even a scrap of kindness!"

"In Konoha?" Kin wouldn't believe that. Konoha was different than the other countries…it would have…

"Then I met Kane…he took me in…taught me the Shadow Moon…" Pride's hand clenched tighter, and the hilt of the sword started to crack. "He was my new father…I loved him! And then one day we drifted apart…when he thought me for dead. I was left for dead on a mission…and Death revived me. He showed me things that no one ever could…and he taught me that love is nothing but bullshit taught to children so that they won't kill those who anger them."

The weapon shattered from the force of his clenched fist. "I learned about Kane's engagement to her…and my heart burned. Despite what I knew, I couldn't stop feeling pain in my heart!" Then his eyes narrowed. "Why couldn't I stop the pain in my heart? Why, even now, can I not stop the pain from hurting me? Can you tell me that, fool? Can you explain why I feel emotional pain even now?" His voice grew quiet. "I had so much power, but I never knew what to do with it because of foolish attachments. Now though…I will crush my emotions by killing those who brought them on. Kakashi, for introducing Aiko to the life of the ninja…Aiko, for daring to love Kane…and you, for daring to try and instill hope into these idiots. They all might have lived…"

Kin couldn't stop the tears from flowing now… "The pain in your heart…you couldn't understand what it was…could you?" He trembled as memories flooded to him. "You tried so hard to get rid of it that it became your only driving force, right? You could never figure out what the problem was, but it had to be removed through any means possible?"

Pride growled darkly. "You think you understand? Do you think you know at all what my life has been? You, in your comfy home with your mother and father…always knowing that if something happened ANBU or someone would protect you…think you understand my life?" He started to laugh. "Tragedy is not something you can proxy. Don't try to understand me at all, because you and I are…"

"My father was killed by my uncle because of the Black Destruction Desert…" Kin snarled, something deep within his chest burning to life. "I loved them both so much…yet one killed the other…I spent every day after that trying to understand why people would kill each other for power. It obsessed me to the point of driving me insane…and I nearly went to the Desert for answers and a way to kill him. But then I figured it out…I figured out the truth of it all…"

He punched the ground, and the earth around him shook. "Power isn't important! Purpose is the answer! And with that I figured out what to do…I would, no matter what it cost me, find the Radiant Paradise and blow the dark sands of the Desert away. I'm no child…so don't talk to me like you're special at all! Everyone has scars in their life…if they didn't then they'd be a shallow bastard. I…I…I…" That burning feeling came alive within him. Chakra started to flow around him rapidly, creating a glowing aura of white. "I understand your pain. The pain was always your conscience, telling you what you were doing was wrong. But you didn't listen at all, did you? You just kept diving deeper and deeper into darkness, and the pain grew stronger and stronger…and you started a cycle that brought you to this point."

Ayumi stared at Kin through new eyes…he had always seemed like nothing more than the boy who had the demon within his body, but now she saw that he was a person just as much as the rest of them.

Pride spat onto the dirt. "You think that? Then you are truly a heart-filled weakling." He formed two shadow katana. "I will kill you, and carve the jewel out of your chest."

Kin was looking at the ground, not even listening. ("Father…I will find the answer without turning into him…I will!") His hands snapped up and started to form the seals for the White Wind Angel technique. "I will not sacrifice my heart and humanity for power…I won't!" The chakra aura flushed brighter. Kin opened his mouth and yelled as loud as he could.

Pride started to move…and then froze. ("What…")

Kin's hair shimmered and turned bright gold. The white aura started to turn golden… "I will protect them my own way…I won't sacrifice my heart!" His irises shimmered to gold. "All of them fought for what they believed, and that was the purpose of heart!" The night around them disappeared, replaced by the glow of golden chakra coming from Kin. "And if there is one thing that won't happen, it will be you winning!"

Pride snarled in anger. "You little shit! Who do you think you are talking to?"

"Kagayaki Rakuen!" The aura exploded, and then formed into a sheath of energy around Kin's body. "I'm talking to the first target of the Radiant Paradise…in over ten generations…" Kin's golden hair framed his face, and his eyes burned with a strange power… "I'm talking to Pride, the Sin."

To be continued…