AURA
by Random Writer 46
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Whew... Too tired to put up an Author's note... Sorry guys, I still need some time to recover completely from Writer's Block...
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Chapter 10: -ACTIVATE-
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Sasuke ducked as another kunai flew over his shoulder. He had engaged one of the Mist shinobi in battle, and the pair were now duking it out, no holds barred. The one particular shinobi he had decided to battle had chosen another weapon to bring to the battlefield, a type that Sasuke had rarely ever seen before.
It was a kind of harpoon used by fishermen, except tailored specfically to be used as a weapon, much like how a scythe could be changed from a simple harvesting tool into a weapon. There was a another enemy that also used the same, and Sakura was at the moment fighting with him. Kurenai had the other two shinobi to herself, something that Sasuke thought was inherently unfair. He wanted to fight with them, to test how far he had gotten.
He dodged another flurry of kunai, this time enhanced by chakra, as well as what seemed to be a Suiton version of his Goukakyuu. This was a little tougher than he had expected, but not by much.
"You too easy... Break out stronger moves." Rasped the Mist-nin in front of him. It was true. He didn't even seem to be trying his best. Maybe he was trying to gauge him before engaging him in real battle? Whatever the case was, the Mist-nin was right. It was time to stop playing around. "Show what Konoha-nin like. Fight real!"
With that, he suddenly seemed to gain an increased amount of speed. Dashing through to Sasuke as quick as a greased eel, he slammed the blunt side of the harpoon into Sasuke's side. The black-haired avenger gasped, and bounced back, holding his injured area.
"If you want to know what a Leaf-nin fights like... Then I'll show you!" Sasuke roared.
He hadn't been slacking off either.
Charging towards the demon brother with equal, if not even more speed, he slammed his palm into his face. The Mist-nin hit the ground with a hard thump, dropping his harpoon. Sasuke quickly picked it up, and grasped onto it. He wasn't exactly familiar with how it worked, but he supposed it could be used like any other polearm.
The black-haired nukenin however had already regained his footing.
"Not bad! Exactly what expected of Leaf-nin!" He cried with glee, and started making seals for another Suiton jutsu. "SUITON: TEPPODAMA!" (Water Release: Gunshot)
Sasuke dodged the bullet-like water shot that came out of the shinobi's mouth. It flew backwards, slamming into the structures that Tazuna's workers had spent so much of their time working on, yet Sasuke wasn't one to care. It was the perfect opportunity for him...
With careful aiming, he threw the harpoon as hard as possible towards the Mist-nin, and charged.
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Sakura panted to herself as she stooped to catch her breath. In her hands were shuriken, as she knew better than to engage the nukenin in front of herself in close combat. Not with that large polearm-like weapon that he was carrying.
From the start of the battle, she had been starting to lose. The nukenin had been chuunin-level for a reason, and that reason was because he was a bit better than the average genin. She herself was not that strong of a genin, lending to her disadvantage. Also, while she didn't specialize in anything, he was exactly where he needed to be to unleash his full potential.
The bridge.
From the start, he had been bombarding her with simple Suiton jutsu. Most of them had been weak and slow enough for her to dodge, but the goal of the enemy seemed to be simply wearing her down with quantity over quality, and she was loathe to admit it, but it was working. She was the one amongst them with the lowest chakra and stamina after all.
But there was something that Kurenai-sensei had taught her. Something that would be able to help her out in this battle.
"Magen: Jubaku Satsu!" She whispered to herself, and melted away into thin air.
The Mist-nin stopped in his tracks as roots suddenly started growing out of the ground and bound his feet.
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'Dammit...!' Naruto thought to himself as he bounded through the forest towards where he remembered the bridge to be. 'If I don't get there soon Kakashi-sensei's goikng to kill me...!'
In his haste, he didn't notice the dead boar that lay at the bottom of the forest, cut and rotting.
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Inari sniffed as he looked at the kunai in his hand. It was of a strange variety, not the kind that he had seen those other ninja using. It was made of a strange material... White like marble, and tough like steel. Tied one the end without the blade was a strip of white cloth.
As he touched it, he couldn't help but feel something within him. Every groove, every notch... It just sank into his mind and wouldn't leave. He felt like this was something that belonged in his hand. As he held it, even swung it around a little bit, he felt a connection with this weapon. A connection like he'd never had with anything before.
It was kind of scary, becoming so attached to something that shed blood. It was also, for some reason, comforting. It was something that he could use to protect, something that he could use to defend. Something that he could use to save.
Suddenly, he heard his mother's screams coming from the kitchen, and nearly dropped it.
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"HOAAAAAHHHH!" The nukenin screamed as he slammed the side of the harpoon onto Sasuke's head, slamming him onto the ground.
Sasuke gasped as he was struck again in the side by the harpoon. Throwing the large polearm back to the nukenin had been an immensely bad idea. He had suddenly gained massive speed after a jutsu, and seemed to be leaving afterimages of himself where he went. The black-haired avenger was starting to get beat down, and didn't have the chance to fight back.
Suddenly, he felt somebody lift him up by the collar, and there he was, staring into the eyes of the nukenin.
"It's been interesting... Leaf-nin." Rasped the demonic brother, his eyes glowing with maddened frenzy. "It's time to part, however. See you in hell."
Sasuke wondered to himself as he was thrown high up into the air... Was it just him, or did that guy just speak perfect Japanese?
However, that thought was instantly blown out of his mind when he saw the harpoon being launched at him.
It was too fast, there was no time to react.
He was going to die.
As the polearm neared him, he saw a lot of things. His life flashed before his eyes. The training periods he had with his aniki, every time he forgot his promise. The massacre of the Uchiha, and the death of his parents. His training at the academy, and all of his weakling teammates.
He saw his graduation, and the first time that he met Kurenai.
He saw his bell test, with only one bell.
He saw the end of the exam, Kurenai-sensei's proud face.
He saw Sakura's crying face after a particularly bad C-mission.
He saw the faces of his comrades, the ones that were working alongside him on this mission.
He saw kindness, something he realized had been around him all that time.
He saw companionship, something that he had discarded for so long.
But most importantly, he saw red.
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It was over for her. Her Genjutsu had been broken.
She stood, proud and diminishing in front of her opponent. He stood, wielding that same large harpoon over her head. Within a few seconds, she knew what would happen. The harpoon would come down, bisecting her from head to foot, and there was nothing she could do. Her legs had both been injured by the Mist-nin's Suiton jutsu, and it was hard even for her to move at civilian speed.
"You fought well... But don't worry. Thanks for entertaining me. Your death will be quick."
She closed her eyes, and waited for the final blow to come.
However, it didn't.
When she opened her eyes again, there stood the same nukenin she had been fighting, except his expression was strange. He seemed to be looking at something sticking out of his stomach, and Sakura saw what it was. A large harpoon, the same type that he was wielding in his hands.
"So... Gensanro... lost..." He gurgled, before hitting the floor with a thump.
Sakura gave a small scream.
Behind him stood Sasuke. Except instead of the black-eyed Sasuke Sakura was used to, this Sasuke had red eyes. He was breathing hard, and there were bruises and scratches all over his body including a rather bad one down his left arm, but he was alive. And off in the distance the body of another demon brother could be seen cooling on the bridge.
"Are... you alright, Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura nodded, mutely, disbelieving.
And then, something miraculous happened.
Sasuke smiled.
"Good." He said, even though it was obvious that it was hard for him. "S--Strange... Both of them... spoke proper Japanese... right before they died..."
And with that, he hit the floor with a thud, his eyes closing for possibly the last time ever.
Sakura ran to his side without question, and began applying first-aid.
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"Inari! Run!" Tsunami cried. The two thugs held her down tightly. "If you two kill him, then I'll kill myself! You two need a hostage, right? So don't you touch him!"
"Hmmm... We've got quite the tough one here, eh?" One of the thugs, the one in the lead grinned. He turned towards Inari, who was sitting, cradling his cheek where the had kicked him. "Alright then kid, thank your mother here. It's thanks to her that you're going to live today. Go on! Get out of here!"
Inari stood up, shakily. But his mind was already made up.
There would be no running away today.
He gripped the handle of the kunai behind him, and launched it.
And then all he could see was white.
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If anyone was standing outside of the Tazuna household at the moment, they would've heard the sounds of waves hitting the shore, the shrieks of seagulls high above, in the sky, and maybe the whoosing of wind.
Except the sea was calm, the seagulls had already migrated, and there was no breeze today.
And then came a pillar of light, so bright that everything was enveloped. It shot up from the Tazuna household, and parted the clouds that it came across like an ascending angel. The clouds swirled around the pillar, as if they didn't feel worthy to touch it, and soon the pillar was gone.
The Holy Shark has been revived..