Chapter 19: The Haunted Uchiha House
"I'll give it to you Iruka." Asuma looked up at the nearly completed framework of Iruka's plane currently being rebuilt. The frame itself was reinforced and there was thick, armored steel panels behind it covering the engine and internal machinery for an extra layer of defense. Over that was a thick layer of fire resistant covering to keep things from burning to an extent. "You really can do a lot of work in a short period of time..." Asuma looked around the hanger, finding the floodlights and other equipment suggesting that Iruka was here, but there was no Iruka. "Iruka?"
Iruka's hand reach out from under the plane, clinching one of the steel beams that made up the frame and pulled himself out from beneath it, he was covered in oil stains and had a wrench in hand. "Hello Asuma."
"You know, you look really cute like that." Asuma knelt down next to him and smiled, thinking it would be better not to have a lit cigarette around an oil covered Iruka.
Iruka blushed and refrained from rubbing his head, instead he pushed himself back underneath the frame and continued working on some concealed part.
"How do you know so much about this stuff? There aren't many people who can rebuild a plane."
"I was an Engineer through out High school and college, don't you remember?"
"Oh yeah." Asuma nodded "Uh...what kind of Engineer?"
"A few things, technical, electrical, networking, general, I'm sure there were more but I forgot."
"You do all of that?" Asuma sat down, putting his back against the frame "Why?"
"I don't know, I was always interested in how things worked." Iruka tossed the tool aside, peeking his hand out and feeling along the ground for a flood light nearby. "Gai helped me out with the engine, he knows more about it then me."
Asuma shook his head, Iruka was always being modest, "Need help?"
"Yeah, I'm glad you asked. There's still some new equipment I need to put in the cockpit...Oh, that reminds me!"
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"Kakashi!"
Kakashi sighed in annoyment, he was tempted to act as if didn't hear him since he knew it was coming eventually. Every month or so Gai challenged him to some kind of match up in an attempt to gain superiority over him or whatever the motive was, he wasn't sure why Gai did it. Which was odd since Gai's motives were usually clear. Kakashi pushed his hands in his pocket and turned around, Gai was standing there, his fist clinched tightly and a quite determined look upon his face. "This again?"
"Kakashi, I challenge you to a test of strength!" Gai said.
"Well, I might as well get this over with now." Kakashi knew Gai would just be more persistent if he put it off. "What do you want to do this time?"
Shikamaru waded casually through the sea of people traveling busily around Konoha, on a particularly nice day. The sky was clear and devoid of any clouds, the sun shined brightly over head, it was cold with a frequent warn breeze, the last in the season before winter, a great day for sleeping outside. Which he would have been doing right now if he didn't need to look for Lee, who could be anywhere in a city this big and prone to becoming frequently lost due to curiosity. His best chance to find Lee was to ask someone who usually knew his whereabouts, that person happened to be directly ahead of him standing in front of Kakashi.
"Hey Gai." Shikamaru stopped along side of the two, resting his hands behind his head. That's when he noticed he was interrupting something. "Uh...?"
Gai glanced over at Shikamaru and then up toward the sky "We'll have a race."
"Race?" This would be over faster then Kakashi had thought, he was much faster then Gai. "Fine, were are we running too?"
"No not a foot race." Gai corrected, nudging his head toward his car.
Kakashi's chance's of winning just reduced substantially, not that he minded, it would be over that much quicker. "Whatever, let's just do this already."
"How childish." Shikamaru shook his head. "Have either of you seen Lee, he's been acting kinda strange since yesterday and I was worried about him."
Gai pointed over Shikamaru's shoulder "He's right there."
Shikamaru turned around and found himself face to face with Lee's chest, since Lee was taller then him, and something was different about him. Hmm...He had the unusual bright smile, same hair, same green body suit and bright orange weights on his wrist and ankles, what was it?...Oh, it was the fact he had a pile of dirt in his attentively outstretched hand. "Lee? Uh...Why are you holding dirt."
"This isn't just dirt, look at it." Lee poked at it with his free finger "It's high grade, perfectly moisturized soil."
"Yeah but why are you holding it?" Shikamaru looked around questioningly, this was just too much, Lee had lost his mind. "Are you ok?"
Lee nodded happily, "Remember Neji's letter? Well I spent all of last night researching it--"
"Is that what you were doing?" Shikamaru remembered last night quite clearly, Lee really did seem like he'd lost his mind even past his normal standards. After a round on trying to get over the awe of Gai's computer and the internet, Lee had tried to work the thing figuring that he's seen Gai do it so he could. Apparently he couldn't, and nearly broke it trying until Gai finally woke up at 4 in the morning and stopped Lee from taking out 5 hours of frustration on the machine. "Oh."
"Well I'm going to try the technique."
"And what is the technique."
"There is an acorn planted here, I have to hold it like this until it sprouts."
"Like that? Is it really possible?" Shikamaru inquired. "Isn't your arm hurting?"
Lee smiled. "My arm is tired and in horrible pain...Hey! Are they about to race?"
Shikamaru turned around, watching Gai and Kakashi getting ready. "Yes."
Lee grabbed Shikamaru's arm with his free hand "Let's go to the finish line."
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"Thanks Iruka." Naruto rubbed his full stomach gratefully as he emerged from the kitchen to where Sasuke was sitting in the living room. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck from behind the couch. "You have the biggest most creepy house I have ever seen, I still haven't finished looking around. Did you know you have tunnels under your house?"
"Be careful in the basement Naruto, you know the power is still out." Sasuke warned "If you get lost I won't come looking for you so if you die it wont be my fault."
"Yeah yeah." Naruto waved off the comment discardingly "You know this place is really creepy, everything is call old and dusty."
"Do you really want to even take the time to do this Iruka?" Sasuke asked. "It's a lot of work, and you don't have to be bothered with it."
"Of course, and Naruto is right about the creepy thing." Iruka walked into the living room and opened the door to the dining room where Asuma was mixing paint. "This place really needs a lot of work." He sounded happy when he talked about it, apparently Iruka was the type that liked these kinds of jobs, or just helping out, probably both. "We're going to start upstairs so just avoid...Where is Naruto?"
Sasuke looked up "Oh great, he's in the basement again. He's going to get hurt down there."
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"Thanks Grandpa." Konohamaru turned abruptly from the table he and his grandfather had been sitting at in the elegant dinning room in a particular wing of the white house. Konohamaru always got dizzy when he looked up in here, and the echo in the empty room only made the feeling worse. "I'll be back later."
Sarutobi sat his chin on his cuffed hands and looked at Konohamaru carefully, wondering how far did he think he was going to get. "Konohamaru, aren't you forgetting something?"
Apparently 7 steps, new record.
Konohamaru shook his head "Nope, I got my scarf, I'm good." He said, moving more quickly toward the door at the end of the room. He was abruptly hit in the back of the head with something hard when he tried. "Oww!" Konohamaru rubbed the back of his head and turned around to see the familiar bottle of medicine laying on top of his scarf. "Awww!"
Sarutobi rose from his seat and stood over Konohamaru. "Take you medicine."
"I don't even feel bad anymore." Konohamaru wined "And this stuff taste horrible." He was replied with a water bottle slamming into his forehead, definitely a yes.
"Most things that are good for you do." Sarutobi stood over Konohamaru to make sure that he was taking it, watching him put the small capsule in his mouth. "Drink the water." He said firmly. Konohamaru scowled and opened the bottle, drinking the content hastily before tossing the empty container aside. That would appear to be the end of it but Sarutobi knew his grandson well "Open your mouth." he folded his arms and watched Konohamaru open his mouth, completely empty... "Lift up your tongue."
Konohamaru rolled his eyes and lifted his tongue where the pill was perched beneath.
"Swallow it."
Konohamaru, with no choice, swallowed the bitter medicine. "Happy now?"
Sarutobi rubbed Konohamaru's head and smirked "Very, now get out of here."
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"Are you done with this little game of yours?" Zabuza leaned against a wall in a space between two buildings not small enough to be considered an alley two miles away from the race's starting point. "Since you lost anyway."
"Glad your in a good mood today." Kakashi placed his hands on Zabuza's shoulder and pressed his forehead against Zabuza's "Besides, he's a former professional racer, I didn't expect to win."
Zabuza rolled his eyes "No wonder you lost, thinking weak like that."
Kakashi smiled "You act like you could have done a better job."
Zabuza snorted "Of course I could have, since I am better at this sort of thing then you."
"Really? What sort of thing would that be?" Kakashi asked as if he didn't know what Zabuza was talking about. "I don't remember you ever beating me at anything."
"I've beaten you every time we fought." Zabuza said "If we would have finished then--"
"Yeah right Zabuza, the last time we fought I had you pined to the ground."
"There's no point in auguring over this, we can settle it right now." Zabuza said impishly "If you think you can beat me then try it, don't say anything if you get your ass kicked."
Kakashi pulled down his mask, brushing his lips against Zabuza's neck "We'll see about that."
"And don't try to tempt me this time." Zabuza said firmly "This is not a sex thing."
"This time? I didn't do anything." Kakashi's smile widened "That was all your fault, I just did this." Kakashi shoved Zabuza's back forcefully against the wall and pressed his chest against Zabuza's, it honestly wasn't meant as a sex thing at the time, but it was now.
Zabuza took a deep breath, feeling his blood starting to pump from his racing heart. Things always happened to him when Kakashi did this, ever since the first time they fought "I hate you, you know that right?" He replyed softly.
"Thin line between love and hate." Kakashi slowly reached up, slipping his finger under the top of the bandages surrounding Zabuza's nose and mouth, pulling them down with soft touches. Kakashi placed his hand on Zabuza's cheek, leaning forward...Zabuza opened his mouth softly and closed his eyes, Kakashi was close enough that he could feel his breath across his skin. But Kakashi stopped, so near that Zabuza could practically feel the kiss.
"Kakashi."
"You know." Kakashi whispered, staring into Zabuza's eyes "I never make the first move, you should know that by now. "
Zabuza leaned forward lightly, so close that it could be passed for contact "Neither do I, if you want me, come and get me." He smirked.
"I much rather prefer this...so close that you can practically taste what's about to come." Kakashi waited, waiting for one of them to give in and admit defeat...he was almost sure it would be himself."
'He never acted like that when I challenged him with something.' Gai watched the small exchange from the hood of his car, somewhat amused. 'Ever...every time he just get's annoyed with me, but Zabuza...hmm... interesting.'
Shikamaru waved a hand in front of the man's eyes, "Gai." He called out, shaking him lightly.
"Oh, huh?"
Shikamaru glanced at Gai, who was still watching, and then Kakashi and Zabuza whom he was watching. It didn't take him long to figure out this even though it was something that wasn't readily obvious. "Gai?"
"What is it?"
Shikamaru was about to say something but he stopped and thought better of it, he just shook his head "Nevermind."
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"Sasuke." Naruto called out, holding on to the wall in the basement with a flashlight in hand "Sasuke!"
"I swear this is the last time I'm coming down here to find you." Sasuke growled, stomping down the stairs into the darkness of the level below the house.
"I'm not lost...this time." Naruto called out, turning the flashlight on to the Uchiha and then back towards his source "Oh, and watch that--"
"Uuhhfff!"
"...wall."
Sasuke rubbed his head before steeping to the side and continuing, this time being more careful since their were so many halls and corridors that lead beyond the house's reach, he just ran into a split for one of them. "What is it Naruto? I don't need to be down here in the dark."
"Do you have any secret passages in your house?" Naruto asked.
"No, why?"
Naruto shined the light on to a spot on the wall, and then kicked it lightly. It didn't sound like concrete... "What's this then?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto, then knelt down to the wall and knocked on it to confirm. "I don't know...it could be for piping."
"That's what I thought, but look." Naruto pointed the light up to the ceiling where pipes hung above them. "So what's in here?"
"Hmm...Only one way to find out." Sasuke drew his arm back and punched the wall, his fist smashed right through it, it happening to be dry. With mild curiosity Sasuke ripped through the fake wall and widened the hole, tossing aside the dry wall to open a narrow stairwell. Naruto didn't hesitate, he slid inside flashlight first. "Wait a minute Naruto, you don't just jump into something like this, It could be dangerous down there."
"Only one way to find out right?" Naruto called back, moving quickly down the stone staircase, with Sasuke having no choice but to follow. "What do you think is down here, it looked like someone was trying to hide it."
"Knowing my family it could be anything, and this household has been in the same spot for 2500 years. And this passage looks fairly old...it could cave in for all we know."
"This is exciting huh?" Naruto smiled and ran ahead anxiously, so fast that he ran into another wall. It was stacked with weakly placed bricks, ones which he crashed through and fell face first into a pile of. "Aaaahhhhha!"
Sasuke shook his head, reaching forward in the darkness until he felt Naruto's waist, and then he pulled him out of the heap, flashlight and all. "Are you alright?"
"Oww.." Naruto rubbed his head lightly. "Yeah."
"You can't run head first into something like this, I told you it was dangerous."
"How was I suppose to know the wall would break!" Naruto shouted back, trudging over the rubble with flashlight in hand. "Hey wait... Look."
Sasuke's eyes followed the flashlight as it rolled over the room ahead of them. It was filled with...dolls, thousands and thousands of them, a few of them headless or missing body parts but all arranged neatly on shelves surrounding them. "Ok...creepy."
"I don't get it." Naruto's voice was a little bit more unsure of his course of action now, looking around at all of the dolls who's eyes seemed to be focused on him...this was so creepy. "Why would somebody put up two fake walls to block off this?"
"Naruto...come here and take a look at this..."
Naruto turn toward the Uchiha and walked in his direction. "What is it?"
Sasuke held up two dolls in particular, one of them with an orange shirt baring the Konoha symbol and a pair of black pants that had rather exact resemblance to Naruto, and the other with a blue shirt and black pants that looked just like Sasuke. "What am I suppose to say about something like this?...Are you just trying to screw with me?"
"Are you serious! No way." Naruto took the one that looked like him...there was a small creaking sound that echoed through out the darkness right after he did... "The hell with this!" Naruto tossed it aside and made a mad dash toward the exit.
"Naruto..." Sasuke looked around at the dolls, all of them who's eyes seem to follow him when he moved, and that sound that didn't have a source...'Maybe I should just--' "Hey! Don't leave me down here! You have the flashlight!" Sasuke ran after him.
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The next day, Konohamaru finally managed to sneak away and make it to Itachi and Kisame's usual safe house. He the door was unusually unlocked, which could never be a good thing. '...'
He found Kisame in the kitchen and immediately latched on to his leg "Boss! Your not dead!"
"The hell?" Kisame looked back in mild surprise, though he heard someone coming and figured it was him, since Konohamaru was the only one who could walk in to his house like that and get away with it. "You have to leave...and what are you talking about Dead?"
"I haven't seen you in 3 days, not after you kidnapped that guy and got on TV." Konohamaru looked up at Kisame, at first wondering what he was doing but another more important question arose "What...did you mean when you said that."
Kisame turned back to what he was doing, standing in front of a rather large pot on the stove. "Said what?"
"On TV, right before you shot that guy...wait, did you kill him?"
Kisame smirked "No, scared the hell out of him, but no. Oh man, that was some of my best work.--Are you talking about what I said to Orochimaru?"
"No." Konohamaru shook his head "Before that."
"Your thinking too hard, what I said was self-explanatory." He replied discardingly.
Konohamaru shrugged, he didn't bother to pry deeper since it would only serve to annoy Kisame. "Oh yeah, before I forget!" Konohamaru smiled and reach in to his collar of scarf, pulling out a small box. "Happy birthday."
'Eh? What?' Kisame looked down at Konohamaru "How did you find out?"
"Itachi told me."
'Itachi, what the hell did you do that for?' Kisame sighed to himself.
"I know you don't want to make a big deal out of it or anything like that, and neither do I but still... What's wrong with you?" Konohamaru noticed something different about Kisame.
"This little red bitch in my chest, that's what's wrong with me."
Konohamaru laughed.
Kisame wanted to kick himself, he felt like he was going soft when he took the small box and looked over it carefully. If it was from anyone else "Aw Damnit, you can stay...at lest until tonight."
"Tonight? What's going on Tonight?"
"If you have to ask that then you don't know me very well." Kisame looked at him.
"Oh." Konohamaru shrugged, "Aren't you gonna open it?"
"Later." Kisame turned back to what he was doing, trying not to think too much and just focus on what he was doing.
"So whatcha making? Your not poisoning somebody again are you?" The look Konohamaru gave him almost made Kisame laugh.
"Technically yes, but I'm going to use it for something else before a put the poison in." Kisame snickered impishly, just thinking of the uses.
"It smells really good..." Konohamaru lifted his nose into the air and inhaled the sent. "It smells like...Is that Chocolate?"
"Yeah."
"Oohhhh! Can I have some?"
Kisame rolled his eyes, he shouldn't have said yes and he knew it, he'd never get Konohamaru out of his hair if he did. But he couldn't resist, especially if he'd gone through all the trouble of getting him a gift. "Fine, just don't ask for anymore."
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It was a very interesting thing to watch, and that's what Shikamaru did, he didn't ask questions, he just watched in slight amusement. Lee, getting a chance to rest his arm during sleeping, woke up with a yawn and a light stretch of his free hand, he was always very aware of the soil still in his other hand even after sleeping. Faithfully Lee outstretched his hand and checked over the dirt, then with another yawn he got out of bed, Shikamaru still laying there observing. Usually Shikamaru didn't get up this early, but this was just so fun to watch.
Lee attempted to put on his usual bodysuit, though it was nearly impossible with one hand. "Need any help?" Shikamaru asked with clear amusement, the expressions and position Lee had while trying to get dressed were priceless. Shikamaru even laughed out loud on countless occasions.
"No." Lee called back stubbornly, falling to the ground with himself tangled up with in the green clothing.
"Aren't you putting it on the wrong way?" Shikamaru leaned over the side of the bed and looked down at the fallen Lee.
"Uh...Ok, help me."
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Sasuke moan lightly, rolling over in the large bed and expecting to put his arm around his favorite blond only to find the other side of the bed was empty. He opened his eyes and looked around, yes, Naruto was gone, and at 8 in the morning, a time when he would usually be sleeping. "Naruto?" Sasuke pushed himself up and took a more defining look around, 'Not again.' He sighed and forced himself to get up.
After putting on some clothing, Sasuke proceeded downstairs just in time to see Iruka arriving. "Hello Sasuke." Iruka said cheerfully, carrying more paint "I didn't mean to wake you up."
"You didn't, I was looking for Naruto, have you seen him?" Sasuke asked.
"Just a minute ago, he went downstairs."
"Great, I keep telling him it's dangerous down there!" Sasuke shook his head in disapproval before walking toward the open door to the basement.
"What's with him?" Asuma came from behind Iruka and sat down two more cans of paint.
"I'm not sure, but it's probably nothing but the usual." Iruka discarded the last actions of Sasuke as normal. "I'll start in here, you take the living room."
Asuma nodded "Alright."
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Nearly running blindly into everything, Sasuke found his way to the same path from yesterday and proceeded down the stairwell until he saw the rays of a flashlight. "Naruto, what are you doing down here?"
Naruto glanced back, revealing a small bandage on his head from when he'd ran into the wall yesterday. "I-I heard something down here."
Sasuke noticed a hint of fear in Naruto's voice "Your not scared are you."
"I'm telling you, this place is hunted." Naruto looked around with the flashlight again, feeling a fear worse then before. It was way too quite, and those doll's eyes... "We should just put the wall back up and get the hell out of here,"
"Don't be an idiot Naruto." Sasuke told him "Sure it's...creepy, but If this crap is making you that nervous then why don't we just box them all and put them up." Sasuke took another look around, just behind the shelves of dolls he could see a few boxes "See, there are some."
"Are you stupid!" Naruto shouted "This place just screams horror movie, Look at those eyes...they're watching us..."
Sasuke laughed.
"Fine, but don't say anything if you end up dead tomorrow."
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"So what's with them?" Asuma dipped the roller into a tray of white paint and streamed it neatly across the kitchen walls.
"Oh, Naruto thinks the house is hunted." Iruka smiled "It's actually really funny."
"Hn."
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"What happened to you two?" Kakashi looked at with an obvious smile on his face, seeing Iruka and Asuma covered head to toe with white paint. Zabuza seemed indifferent but still lightly interested.
"He started it." Iruka pointed an accusing finger at Asuma.
"I did not." Asuma protested, moving carefully across the floor as though not to track paint "You threw it at me first."
"No way." Iruka followed behind him, heading upstairs to get cleaned up.
Kakashi shook his head and laughed lightly "At lest this place looks a lot better..." He said, watching Zabuza walk over to the couch and sit down, folding his arms and closing his eyes. It made him wonder what Zabuza would be doing right now if he wasn't here with him...what did Zabuza usually do when he wasn't with Kakashi? "Zabuza."
"What?"
"I've been wondering something." Kakashi sat down next to him, mainly to keep him from evading the question like he so often did. "About you and Orochimaru, if you were in the Mist country and he was in Sound, then how did you two mange to become enemies?"
"..." Zabuza, as always, was reluctant to discuss anything about himself, even with Kakashi. "Why do you keep asking me things like that?"
"Why don't you ever tell me anything." Kakashi looked him the eyes "You know you can trust me if that's it."
Zabuza grunted.
Still with out an answer, Kakashi sighed. He wanted to know Zabuza just as he said before, he wanted to know why Zabuza was so persistent in getting Orochimaru. "Zabuza, your going to have to tell me eventually."
Zabuza silently stood up and walked away.
"Zabuza...Is it really that bad, that you can't tell me?"
"..."
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"Did you have a good birthday?" Konohamaru asked.
Kisame laid back on the couch, closing his eyes "You could say that...why am I having this discussion with you? Why are you here again?"
Konohamaru leaned over the back of the couch and looked down at Kisame "I don't know..."
Kisame opened one eye, he could tell by the way Konohamaru said it that he really did know why and he actually had a purpose. "Ok, What do you want, stop stalling and spit it out already."
"Ok, Ok." Konohamaru paused for a moment. "It's about Orochimaru."
Kisame physically grimaced at the sound of that name coming from Konohamaru, it must have been serous. "What?"
"Well...I don't know but ever since he poisoned me I been having these weird dreams. In every one I keep going back to when I got captured and all of it happens all over again..." Konohamaru looked away from Kisame almost as if he was embarrassed. "Why dose that keep happening? No...how do I make it stop?"
Kisame was silent for a moment "Your thinking too much, you keep worrying about that guy. If you stop worrying about if he's going to do something to you then you'll stop having those nightmares."
"But how can I?" Konohamaru asked, his voice becoming a little bit more excited. "He tortured me, he said he was going to come after me! What can I do against someone like him, he kicked my ass, I don't stand a chance against him! If both of my parents were killed by him then how-- "
"Calm down kid." Kisame opened both eyes, locking them with Konohamaru's. "I almost forgot how young you are, your the president's only living relative, you think he's going to let Orochimaru do something to you?" Kisame paused "...Do you think I'm going to let Orochimaru do something to you? Stop worrying about it."
"...I'm thousands of miles away from him and he's still making my life a living hell."
"Only because your letting him, just forget about the son of a bitch already."
"But you don't understand..." Konohamaru turned away from Kisame completely, avoiding eye contact with Kisame. "I know he is going to come after me again for sure, you should have heard him..."
Kisame sat up, he got it now. "Your scared he's going to torture you again..."
"I don't think I can take anymore, I almost told him what he wanted to know...I can stand it again, if he captures me again then I don't think I can make it."
"What could you possibility tell him that would be important?"
"I...know a lot off things." Konohamaru held his head down "I learned about somethings, I always used to see if could spy on my Grandfather when I was younger, or if I could get into restricted areas with out anyone noticing. And I learned a lot from by parents, I heard them talking with Ebisu a lot..." Konohamaru did know things...rather important things about Konoha, especially military wise. "Orochimaru knows I know it, he knows how to get it out of me."
Which meant Orochimaru was going to come back for Konohamaru for sure, since he was the easiest way to obtain that information, Kisame just realized that. "Listen to me Konohamaru, I'm not going to let him touch you, so stop. worrying. about. it."
"...You promise?"
"Yes. Now go somewhere and let me sleep." Kisame hadn't got much of it last night, and it was well worth it.
"Kisame...could you give me some training later."
"Yeah, sure kid."
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Kakashi shoved his hands in his pocket, looking up at Iruka's back. Iruka was standing on a box, painting the edge of the hallway wall with a small smile, humming lightly. "Wanna help?"
"Maybe later." Kakashi replied, just content to watch Iruka who was still covered in paint over most of his body. It made him wonder how many layers of paint Iruka and Asuma threw at each other. 'Must have been fun.' Kakashi could easily say he missed how doing little things like this with him made Iruka so happy. "Where's Asuma?"
"Painting the master bed room, I think he just wants to see the house since the Uchiha massacre."
"Uchiha Massacre, is that what it's being called now?'
"I think so, the news changed it so much." Iruka gave a light shrug and continued painting "I think I should have been a painter instead, It's easy, fun, a lot less stressful." Doing jobs like this was always somewhat calming for Iruka, probably why he did so much.
"Well, I'm glad to see your happy." The sight of Iruka smiling always made him smile... "Iruka, can you do something for me, I promise it's not life threatening."
"Sure Kakashi." Iruka jumped off the box he was using to increase his height and turned to face Kakashi. "What is it?"
"Well...I need you to..."
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"That's a very unique challenge Lee." Gai admitted, wishing he'd thought of something like that for himself. "Even if it doesn't work, this will definitely make you a lot stronger."
Lee was laying stomach down on the floor of Gai's kitchen, his arm still outstretched and holding the soil in his palm "I hope so Gai-sensei, this is really hard."
"The harder the challenge, the better it will be when you complete it. Do your best" Gai gave him a thumbs up, which made Lee smile and nod.
"Yes Gai-sensei!"
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"Sasuke!"
Naruto's voice was the first thing to rang through the house the next morning, Sasuke looked up from his breakfast and Iruka was suddenly distracted from nailing down a floorboard, nearly hitting his finger. The two of them ran downstairs into the dark basement, following the sound of his voice into the formerly hidden path.
"Ha ha, this was really funny Sasuke." Naruto said in a startled voice, pointing the flashlight around at the shelves and shelves full of dolls that had been packaged in the boxes that were now sitting in the center of the room, scorched and burned thoroughly. "Good joke...tell me this was a joke."
"Naruto, I haven't been down here since we boxed this stuff up yesterday." Sasuke said.
"Iruka!" Naruto asked desperately. "Asuma!"
"I haven't been down here, ever. And Asuma's been with me." Iruka walked forward into the darkness with a curious interest, he could be heard, kneeling down in front of something. "I do have to admit this place is very creepy."
"This place is haunted!" Naruto turned face and ran toward the door as fast as he could, only to be grabbed held by Sasuke.
"Calm down Naruto, this place is not haunted." Sasuke said firmly.
Naruto shook his head frantically, "I'm getting the hell out of here!"
"Look Naruto if your that scared I'll prove it to you." Sasuke looked up, trying to think of something that would disprove Naruto's thought of his house being haunted. "I'll...spend the night down here and catch whoever keeps doing this."
Iruka stood up "Hey guys, look at this." He held up two dolls in the particular, ones that looked just like Naruto and Sasuke only with different clothing then before. The one similar to Naruto had on and orange jacket with a black shirt and orange pants, which Naruto was wearing now, and the one similar to Sasuke's had on a blue shirt and white shorts, which Sasuke was wearing. One very defining feature was the bandage on the doll that looked like Naruto, he had the same bandage on his head.
Naruto and Sasuke were silent, allowing another sound to be heard clearly, one similar to steel buckling. "...I could use some company."
The blond shook his head frantically "Iruka." Naruto turned and ran out of the room "Keep Sasuke company."
! - ! - !
! - ! - !
"So the house is haunted?" Konohamaru asked?
Asuma sat down on the stairs, checking to see if the paint on the wall was dry before he leaned against it "Or so Naruto says."
"A house can't be haunted." Gai leaned against the wall, running his hand through his hair "Even if it was, what dose he expect Lee and Shikamaru to do?"
"I'm not sure, but this is really amusing to watch."
! - ! - !
Iruka opened the door softly, proceeding inside with even softer steps, followed by an annoyed Zabuza. He lead them someplace inside of the abandoned hanger Iruka was currently attempting to fix his half destroyed jet inside of. This room was kind of cramped, the ceiling ran with pipes, the walls were lined with even thicker ones, all connected to various machines and gages."What's the point of this?" Zabuza uttered half under his breath, he was clearly annoyed.
Iruka looked around the small room, filled with dormant machinery that hadn't be running ever since the storm cut out all of the power. There were so many pipes and gages that it almost made Zabuza curious as to their purpose. "You know, I understand why you don't want to say anything about yourself."
"Oh really." Zabuza found that hard to believe "Why then?"
Iruka ran his hand over one of the machines "I don't know everything that's happened so it's hard to say exactly... But It must have been hard for you when you were younger, to give you that much anger and hate. That's a lot of stuff to carry around."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm sure a lot of it is because doing a lot of talking with people is probably really annoying to you, but just think about it." Iruka reached above his head and turned a nozzle, causing the sound of pressure being release to come from the pipe it was connected to. These must have been somehow connected to the equipment he was using to fix his plane. "Something really horrible must have happened to you when you were a child, I'm sure that you didn't have any parents, and being alone is painful enough..."
"Why do you care so much about what happened to me?" Zabuza snorted "People who try and get into my head are really annoying."
"I'm sorry about that." Iruka flipped a switch on a panel mounted to the wall, a motor somewhere in the room started up. "It's just that I'm sure something really bad had to happen to you to make you kill100 of your classmates for no reason. People think your a sociopath, you know there's no cure for that."
"What other people think doesn't concern me." He replied, he lifted his arms carelessly behind his head and trailed behind the other man lazily.
Iruka walked over to a nozzle and turned the handle, making orange lights shine through out the room. He seemed to know what he was doing. "Well if it's any consolation, I don't think your a sociopath. Your too smart for that, the way you killed people just doesn't add up to a crazy person. A few other things, but not crazy." Iruka glanced back at Zabuza. "You don't even seem like the type of person just to senselessly kill people, or at lest... not any more. Something else must have happened... what?"
Zabuza shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I'm not some open book, stop trying to read me."
Iruka smiled and rubbed the back of his head nervously "Well, I'm sorry if I was annoying you... It's just that... I'm just sorry for everything that's happened to you."
"How do you know something happened to me, I could just be just that type of person."
"Nah." Iruka pressed a button, and every orange light became green, followed by more and more sounds of machinery starting up. "I person like you isn't born this way, something makes you this way..." Iruka glanced back at him curiously. "What happened to you?"
"Why are you so persistent in trying to get into my head? You wouldn't like what's inside." Zabuza folded his arms. "Why would you care anyway?"
"I'm not sure, maybe it's because you remind me of Kakashi." Iruka picked up a rather heavy looking gas canister out of the corner and walked over to a machine in the center of the room with it on his shoulder, a generator. "That maybe it, well your my friend now and I want to...hmmm...What drove you to do something like what you did?"
"...Greed mostly." Zabuza said "I couldn't stand being weak or weak people, I wanted power. And the first thing that came to my mind was how 78 years ago, there was a hostile takeover of the Mist country. Mizukage was killed, someone else took over and held control of the country for 25 years until a resistance force assassinated him. If a poorly planed and organized job like that could succeed, how much better of a job could I do."
"Greed huh?" Iruka sighed disappointedly, "What about before you killed your classmates, what happened before then?"
"Stop prying, I don't need someone digging through my life." Zabuza's voice was much more forceful "It's really annoying." Zabuza wasn't the type of person someone wanted to annoy, and he asserted that clearly.
Iruka was didn't reply, leaving only the sound of the machines operating in the small room to fill the quiet. "..."
"..."
There was a long silence between them, it echoed through out the other sounds of machinery. Iruka simply went back to doing what he had been doing, while Zabuza watched.
"...I used to have nightmares back in high school." Iruka said "It was about something that happened to me when I was younger, I couldn't walk into rooms like this for years, I couldn't even go into my own basement." Iruka paused and looked up thoughtful, " ...I stupidly dropped my key in a vent that led down to a boiler room, so I went down to find it. It was a room just like this." Iruka looked around with a hint of dismay when he remembered this.
Zabuza waited and listened as he'd been doing since his arrival, wondering why Iruka was telling him something like this.
"So I came down and started looking for it, it was right here." Iruka took a few steps forward and knelt down on the concrete floor indicatingly. "And I remember that just when I found it I felt someone grab me by the neck and pull me up. The next thing I know I was... well, getting my ass kicked. It was all done from behind, I never saw their faces..." Iruka walked over to the wall on his left "Someone slammed my head into the wall right here, then picked me up and threw me..." Iruka walked back across the narrow path to the machine he was standing at before "And I landed on my stomach right here."
Iruka knelt down in front of it. "Then someone grabbed me by the neck and started slamming my head into the ground. It all happened so fast... I remember that I begged and pleaded for them to stop, and I'm almost sure I asked why this was happening or who was doing it. I couldn't understand why this was happening. Hell, I could barely understand what was happening" Iruka sighed and rubbed his head "Well I ended up laying on the ground, I couldn't move at all. I was bleeding from everywhere, a few of my ribs were broken, and my leg felt like it was..." Iruka paused for a moment, looking up longingly "...And while I was laying there half dead, I couldn't think of anything else but... why didn't I fight back? Why didn't I fight back. Why didn't I fight back..."
There was a silence again as Iruka repeated those words to himself, listen to them become softer with every repartition...
"...You didn't fight back... because you couldn't." Zabuza spoke quietly, staring down at the ground with his own thought. "You couldn't fight back, they were stronger then you and in larger numbers... They were faster, they hit harder, you couldn't fight back, they didn't even give you a chance to fight back... I couldn't fight back"
Iruka looked up directly into Zabuza's eyes, listening to the man repeat those words over and over each time more faintly then the previous. "Tell me... what happened?"
"...My father used to be an ambassador to Konoha, a diplomat, a well like one in Konoha. When I was a very young child, I don't remember the age about 4 or 5...Orochimaru took my father because of who he was, my mother and me included. He was trying to get information out of my father since he was about to go to war with the Leaf country, my father wouldn't give any. So first he tortured my mother in front of both of to get him to talk, it didn't work so... he killed her. It still didn't work, so Orochimaru moved on to me... I remembered everything he did to me... And after 12 hours I begged my father just to tell them or help me, to do something. I couldn't even fight him."
"And he didn't?"
"No, he just said that he couldn't betray Konoha, because it would be treason against the Leaf and the Mist countries. That was all he cared about, he didn't really give I damn what Orochimaru did to me or my mother so long as he kept those secrets. That's what solders do, they discard their emotions and become nothing but tools, he could throw his own life for that but I had nothing to do with it. It was good for me by some manner of luck where ever Orochimaru had been keeping me was attacked by Konoha and I escaped. I left him there, he didn't care about me or my mother, I didn't care about him."
'And that's were all of the anger and hate came from... A person like Zabuza, it made him feel weak not being able to do anything, not being able to save himself and just getting out by luck. But mad enough not to help his father, just to leave him there to die... I guess it would.' Iruka knew that helpless feeling well, especially when it came to Orochimaru, no, rather Kabuto, he felt weak for not being able to stop him. He was never able to stop him... 'So he realized how weak he was and he wanted power, that made him greedy...' "Is that why your going after Orochimaru?"
Zabuza snorted "No."...Then he realized he'd just told Iruka everything he wanted to know, and he didn't even think about it. 'How the hell did he get that out of me?'
Iruka just shook his head "I'm sure your not going to tell me that... well, if it helps any, I'm sorry for what happened to you."
Zabuza curiously looked at Iruka, who even he could tell was genuinely sorry for what happened to him. How could one person be so apathetic to someone like him? The one called Zabuza the devil because all of the things he'd done. To some one he really didn't even know. "Your really a solider?"
Iruka smiled with that same friendly smile he always had."I can't believe it either."
Well, this wasn't so bad, he could get used to staying around these people who always seem to attract trouble... "I get it now, I know why Kakashi likes you so much."
Iruka blushed and looked away "Heh Heh... H-he talks about me?"
"Yes."
! - ! - !
! - ! - !
"Holy Crap!" Lee shot upright, still careful of the soil in his hand. "Hey! Hey you guys wake up!"
It was the middle of the night, and the 4 of them were in the basement of the Uchiha house in the formerly secret passage that once lay there. Naruto was on the ground, clinching a sleeping Sasuke tightly, and Shikamaru had his head on Lee's chest which was thrown off abruptly by Lee's sudden uprising. "Oww, Lee?" Shikamaru placed his hand on the ground behind and sat up, rubbing the back of his head lightly. "What?"
"Ok, stop playing around." Lee said. "Who put all of this stuff back? It's not funny"
Everyone looked around as Lee washed the flashlight over the walls at the shelves of dolls now set back up after being taken down again upon Lee and Shikamaru's arrival. "I know it wasn't Shikamaru." Lee said "He was with me."
"It wasn't Naruto..." Sasuke looked down at a very paranoid Naruto, "He's too scared to touch the things."
"Hey! I'm not scared!"
"Besides, he was nearly strangling me the whole time, he couldn't have done this."
There was a loud creaking sound, as if steel was buckling...
More silence...
Shikamaru took the flashlight from Lee and looked around for himself... "Uhh...Look."
The four of them each got up curiously, walking slowly toward the wall opposite of the door... 4 dolls lay, the one of Sasuke and Naruto, but now also ones of Lee and Shikamaru. The four of them looked at each other. "Go back to hell!" Naruto turned and tried to run again, but Sasuke grabbed him and pulled him back. "Stop doing that!"
"If anyone is playing a joke." Shikamaru warned "They should tell me right now." His voice was shaking, partially from the growing, though he hated to admit it, fear caused not only by the dolls but that constant buckling sound that seemed to come every time some thing creepy happened, and the cold breeze that just brushed against his face like a breath. His arm was starting to hurt, and he felt his Chakra stirring, which seemed to happen every time he got excited or afraid after he was exposed to those chemicals during the storm. And was even worse after he was injected with more substances after being captured. "Lee..."
Lee didn't move "Yes..."
Shikamaru clinched his right arm and grunted in pain, pain that was spreading through out his whole body and made his Chakra flare. Something really strange happened then. "Did the lights just come back on?"
"No." Sasuke said, still keeping his eyes on the dolls as if they were about to move.
"Then why can I see?"
"Shikamaru?"
"I can see everything." Shikamaru could see everything that was covered in darkness, which was everything. This was defiantly an sure sign that Shikamaru's body wasn't handling the chemicals in his new environment well, every time a stimulus such as fear or invoking chakra for instance... "I may just be dreaming or something but...turn around and tell me if you see something with red eyes."
Naruto, Lee and Sasuke gave each other a sideways look, then slowly...very slowly, they turned around.
Naruto
"AHaaaaaaa!" Naruto yelled.
Though they couldn't see much of it, there was a pair of glowing red eyes staring at them, and it called Naruto's name particularly. Lee lifted the flashlight toward it, allowing them to get a glimpse of a black mass of tentacles in a spiked ball like shape. In a blur it shot upward and disappeared into the ceiling, and all of the dolls with it.
"I was right doesn't seem to be big enough to cover this." Naruto elbowed Sasuke in the side, mad that he hadn't listened to him before.
"I think we have more pressing problems!" Shikamaru shifted his eyes around, following the creature through the darkness when no one else could "Like this thing."
Naruto
Something wrapped around Naruto's neck and pulled him upward forcefully, before he could get an inch off the ground, Lee drove his fist into the black tentacle hard enough to force it to let go. Naruto fell to the ground with a loud thump "Aww, that felt pretty real to me."
"Naruto, are you ok?" Sasuke ran towards the sound of his voice, though had the senses to stop before ran over Naruto.
"Yeah, I'm ok."
"We have to get out of here, we can't defend against this thing with this little space." Shikamaru said.
Naruto...I've been waiting for you
"Whaaaaaa!" Naruto flinched and fell to the ground from a hard impact to the back of his head "What is this thing?"
"Get out of here now!" Shikamaru shouted, "It's after you Naruto, go!" Being the only one who could see, Shikamaru pushed Naruto forward, prompting him to leave. "Sasuke, get him out of here." Shikamaru tossed the flashlight over to Sasuke.
I wont let you go, I've waited too long...
Naruto flinched and jumped back just as another tentacle reached out for him in the darkness, Shikamaru abruptly tossed a Kunai at it, which was knocked back at him. The whole demon itself came down on Naruto with a speed hard to keep track of, luckily Lee came from the side with a sharp kick into the sea of wavering appendages. The demon was knocked backwards into the wall hard enough to leave an imprint. "Get out of here! I'll hold it off." Shikamaru said.
"I'll be back!" Naruto called back, heading upstairs followed by Sasuke and Lee.
The demon tried to go after him, but Shikamaru jumped in front of the door "Shadow Bind No Jutsu!" He halted the strange creature in it's tracks, freezing it in mid-air about a foot in front of his face... "Your after Naruto...why?"
...You'll make a good appetizer
Shikamaru felt the demon pushing against his Jutsu, hard, he could barely hold it. "You, your after Naruto...and you look just like the one Neji described. Nightmare..." Shikamaru realized what he was fighting against, which made him push back. "Your not dead yet?"
Nightmare wasn't just being held by Shikamaru's jutsu, somehow Shikamaru was pushing down on him from all sides just by using the darkness, the more he pushed to hold it, the more the new found force did, he was controlling darkness and barely knew it. "Foolish Human, you don't know whom you speak too."
"I think I do." Shikamaru thrust his hands outward, causing a sudden impact to slam into Nightmare, hard enough to knock it into the back wall. It was like instinct, this pain in his arm was connecting him to the shadows resulting from the reaction, the reaction was also allowing him to control it. Maybe these reactions weren't so bad... "You got your ass handed to you by Naruto in the past, your still weak and it's been 2000 years after the fight. So now you want to go after the reincarnation, it won't be that easy."
Nightmare's body expanded outward, the hundreds of black tendrils grew longer and thicker, high in number until the point where the growth smash Shikamaru against and wall and pushed him through. "You dare challenge me boy?"
"Yes I do!" Shikamaru shouted in obvious pain, Nightmare was wrapping itself around his body, constricting him hard enough to snap something inwardly. The shadows swelled up, in turn wrapping around the tentacles and prying them off of him caused by a strong will and Shikamaru's strength, though his strength was only enough to loosen them. 'It's...happening again...this pain it's what's doing this.'
! - ! - !
"Get up!" Naruto shouted into Gai and Asuma's ears. Gai nearly fell out of his chair and Asuma shot up onto his feet.
"Naruto? What is it?" Asuma rubbed his head and yawned lightly, "It's 2 in the--" the ground below them jumped abruptly, followed by a cry of pain. "Was that...! Shikamaru!"
Gai recognized that voice also. "What's going on?"
"Turn's out the house really was haunted." Naruto drew a pair of handguns from the waistband of his pants, checking the clips. "A monster is in the basement, Shikamaru is holding it off right now."
"Your kidding me." Asuma rubbed his head, this had to be Naruto's imagination.
"Wish he was." Sasuke move hastily down the stairs, his riffle and bullet proof vest from when he join the S.W.A.T team. He tossed a flashlight over to Naruto, who caught it and nodded a small thanks.
Lee, unequipped though still holding the soil in his hand, followed behind him. "Naruto, move now."
Naruto looked up at him curiously, but took to steps unquestioningly to the side just in time before for a black tentacle tore through the floor and lashed out for him. It swept across the ground into his legs and knocked him off his feet, but Naruto easily flipped backwards and caught himself, then he opened fire, managing to strike the black mass with a bullet. It abruptly pulled back.
"How did you know that?" Naruto asked, looking down on the ground nervously.
"I'm a ninja, remember?" Lee placed his hand on the door leading to the basement and got ready to open "Sasuke, Ready?" He asked, Sasuke nodded, and with the que he abruptly opened the door only to have countless black Tentacles burst outward and throw Shikamaru at them. Lee managed to catch him with his free hand and jump away from the door,
"This can't be really happening," Asuma patted himself in the search for some type of weapon, he had none. But he did find a cell phone. "I'll tell Iruka to stop by my house...You find Kakashi, I don't think anyone else will believe a demon is attacking a house."
! - ! - !
! - ! - !
The expanding tentacles finally pushed Shikamaru, Lee, Naruto, and Sasuke out of the front door. Shikamaru landed on his feet and slid back a few feet from relinquished momentum "Now that we're out of that small space, I can fight this thing."
"It's pitch black out here, I still can't see anything." Naruto grabbed on to a poll and pulled himself off the ground, he was right, he couldn't even see Nightmare.
Sasuke picked up his fallen riffle, sliding his flashlight into a holder over the barrel "Flashlight dobe, use it." The white light shined into the doorway on to a mass of slithering black, snake like tentacles spewing outward toward them persistently. 'What the hell is that thing, and why is it going after Naruto?' Five or so of the thick tentacles shot directly outward toward him, and he countered with a rain of bullets. First he aimed at the highest one, each bullet drawing out a small spray of blood as it tore through the skin, after about 5 or so it fell lifelessly to the ground from blood loss or damage he didn't care which. Sasuke turned his fire on to the one directly in front of him, but it was too close, he had to jump back.
Naruto dived to the side, one of the appendages just barely scraping across his cheek, he turned the two guns toward that particular attacker and pulled the trigger twice, it only took two shots to kill off one of them. Though his type of guns gave him a slight advantage because of that, it was traded off because of the sheer number of the tentacles coming for him. Hundreds of the large creatures all after him. He landed roughly on his side and immediately his legs were gabbed by four of the snake like parts "There's way too many of them!" Naruto aimed carefully down at that tentacles and attacked furiously, though careful not to shot himself. It seemed like every time he killed one, 2 more took it's place, he couldn't get away. In seconds his whole lower body was completely covered and he was being pulled in. "Whoaaaa--"
He received some much needed when Gai, with high powered riffle, hit Nightmare with six well placed shots in to the appendages that bound him, then grabbed Naruto by the collar and pulled him out of their grip.
"I'll try to hold it back." Shikamaru called out, holding his hands outward and with a strained look as if he was holding some invisible force. He was using the dark, which had gained some type of physical substance when it came under his control, to push against it though it was pushing back even harder. With an audible grunt Shikamaru drew his right fist back and thrust it forward at the air more as a testing measure, in turn an invisible impact struck Nightmare across it's front side hard enough to knock it back into the house. 'Damnit...' Though this type of power did have a cost, every time he used it the pain in his arm grew. An allergic reaction should not be invoked for use as a weapon!
Lee landed next to Shikamaru from some unknown previous place "Shikamaru, are you alright?"
"Fine, I assume you need one of these." Shikamaru reached into the holder on the waistband of his pants and drew one of the few Kunais there. He tossed it over to Lee. "It's weak in the center so aim their if you can." Though killing off it's appendages did do damage, they would have to kill off a substantial amount to weaken Nightmare.
"Aim, I'll never hit it from this distance." Lee took a step back, then his body shot forward in a blur of green. Carefully cuffing the seed surrounded by soil in his left hand placed behind his back, he ran into the sea of Nightmare's expanding body, hacking and slashing through the tentacles with the blade and blocking with his arm on occasion. It took all of his speed and senses to reach the center of Nightmare unscathed, he only had time to dive the metal into the defenseless inner part of it's body.
Damned fools, I'll devour all of you.
Lee was suddenly entangled in Nightmare, each second the pressure coming more unbearable. "!" He tore himself from it's grip and jumped upward, his body shifting and turning around the bases of thousands of tentacles and somehow managing to get free before it was too late.
"Asuma!" Iruka was moving so fast that he had to slide to a stop, Zabuza following behind. "What's going on? You told me to bring these but..." Iruka handed him his usual weapons, a pair of Mac 11 submachine guns. "What's happening."
"Don't you see it?" Asuma pointed forward to the front door of the Uchiha Mansion along with the windows.
Iruka heard something though he couldn't see it, it was pitch black, of course he couldn't see it "I can't see anything."
A flashlight swept over Nightmare, making the squirming tentacles visible for a split second. "See it now?"
"What the hell is that thing!" Zabuza took a step back in surprise.
"Don't know, but it's after Naruto." Asuma loaded a clip in to the weapon and joined into the attack.
"Great..." Iruka sighed and went after Asuma.
"The strangest things really do happen around these people." Zabuza reached on to his back and retrieved the sawed off shotgun he'd used before in the hospital, with his usual quickness he pulled some ammunition from the side pack attached to his waist and loaded it into the chamber. He caught another glimpse of the creature through another sweep of a flashlight. 'I need something bigger.' He opened the left side of his side pack and drew a metal box half filled with C4 among other chemicals, then he charged head first into the mass. Simply enough it was easy for him, a weapon like a shotgun hit more then one of the tentacles and was powerful enough to kill groups off in a single shot...
"You see it don't you?" Naruto backed away with heavy breaths, nearly falling over from the fatigue of fighting off countless black creatures that seemed to move on their own. Kakashi pulled down his mask from his other eye, staring at Nightmare for a moment.
"Yes." Kakashi nodded, at the moment wishing he had something more then a handgun though he didn't have time to go and get some of his more heavy artillery. Note: When someone says demon, go for the big guns first. Kakashi wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulders and jumped upward, himself landing one of the unseen tentacles sweeping along the ground toward Naruto. He flipped backwards as the appendages lashed upward in attempt to grab a hold of him and fired a few shot from the air, managing to take out three or four of them. "Pay more attention."
Kakashi let go of Naruto, who was immediately joined by Sasuke, covered mostly in blood. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked.
"Don't worry about me, it you this thing is after." Sasuke told him, still firing.
You mortals thing you can stop me, your just wood for the fire.
"Watch it." Shikamaru warned "This demon takes over people's bodies and sends them to hell."
"Seriously?" Lee kicked away one of the tentacles and sliced through another, fighting more defensively. "Oh man..."
"You two, get down now." Zabuza abruptly grabbed Lee and Shikamaru by the head and pushed them down, an explosion followed, sending rush of flames shooting outward just a few inches above them. His bomb gave enough light to see everything in a 500 feet radius clearly, especially Nightmare, through the flames the group saw everyone of the thousands and thousands of black tentacles shrink and draw back to the original size of 3 feet. Along with a shockwave, Nightmare was thrown from the house in to the center of the road.
"Hey don't blow up my house!" Sasuke shouted angrily.
"I got the damn thing out didn't I?" Zabuza snorted indifferently.
...All of a sudden another light became visible... "Zabuza, is that another bomb?" Kakashi asked.
"No..." Zabuza shook his head...it was blinding at first, after Konoha being dark for the better part of three weeks subsequent to the storm no one knew what it was. That was, until the streetlights illuminated, mixed with the red of traffic lights. "That's the power coming back on."
Everyone could see Nightmare clearly now, still a black mass of tentacles only much smaller then before, it was quite large by scale through. "What are you waiting for, who cares what it is just shoot the damn thing." Zabuza shouted, reloading. For his comment Nightmare came after him first, driving into his chest while wiping him with the tentacles and knocking him backward through the wall of Sasuke's house.
You think you can kill me? If SDI couldn't what make you weaklings think you can? Death is waiting for you
"We'll see about that." Shikamaru jumped above Nightmare, fighting the urge to scream in pain as shadows from every source around them, then surrounded Nightmare, holding it in an oppressive black haze. He was crushing it, a little more pressure and something on Nightmare would burst open for sure. Just by looking they could tell it was a powerful technique.
"That is really creepy Shikamaru." Now that there was light, Naruto fearlessly advanced toward Nightmare, reloading as he did so. He had to strike now while Nightmare was incapacitated.
"Just attack!" Shikamaru fell downward, clinching his searing arm tightly. He forced himself to keep holding, if he could keep it still just a few seconds more...
Nightmare broke free and charged through the air into Naruto, the impact was forceful enough to send Naruto flying through the air, but he wasn't going to let Naruto get away that easily. Nightmare started to rotate, drawing in strong winds and sucking Naruto's body into the vacuum. Luckily Iruka and Asuma dived in and pulled him away before he could be devoured by the demon, Asuma lifted the submachine gun, sending a torrent of bullets into the vacuum. Nightmare was thrown of it's spin and forced painfully to the ground.
Nightmare immediately shot back up into the air, it's tentacles extending toward the falling Shikamaru who could no longer hold the demon about to devour him. "!" Lee came to his rescue in a distortment of green blur, kicking Nightmare out of his path and catching Shikamaru with is free hand. "I didn't think you'd make it in time." Shikamaru joked, still clinching his arm. "Using that reaction to fight this demon wasn't such a good idea, I didn't think it would hurt this much."
"You shouldn't fight anymore then." Lee carried Shikamaru aside a good distance away from the range of the fight. "But what every you where doing, it was working, look." Lee pointed to Nightmare, who had crashed into the Uchiha house next to Zabuza, apparently the all of the gunshot wounds and the strong pressure Shikamaru had applied slowed Nightmare down, a lot. It was weakening. It was even turning red from internal breathing caused by Shikamaru. "We can handle it from here."
Nightmare gave another rotation, smashing apart the debris that surrounded it. "You humans will burn in hell for this, YOU WILL DIE NOW!" From Nightmare's body an orb of a strange black substance even larger the demon itself blasted outward towards Naruto. It was going so fast that he didn't have time to attempt avoid it, it slammed into him and engulfed his body whole.
"Naruto!" Sasuke ran to the trapped Naruto, only to be forced to stop in his tracks when a smaller ball with protruding razors scrapped across his forehead. He looked toward the source, Nightmare was spinning around furiously, throwing off a rain of the small projectiles. Sasuke crouched down under another and started shooting down the balls in his own defense, there were too many of them...
"Damnit, we can't even get at it." Gai stumbled back next to Kakashi, who was having no trouble taking care of the projectiles while Gai was..."Wait... if the power is back on...Kakashi, cover me." Gai moved behind Kakashi, who questionlessly defended him from all attack and knowing he had a point to this, he better had. Gai placed the riffle on Kakashi's shoulder and aimed upward. "If I hit it just right..." Accuracy wasn't one of Gai's strong points, Kakashi was better suited to take this shot only Gai wouldn't have been able to defend him from attack as well...Gai closed one eye and fired a single round upward into the sky.
The bullet went right through a single power line above them severing one end of a cord and sending it swinging downward, with all of Gai's luck it wasn't hit by one of the projectiles and had a path right into Nightmare. Electricity tore into it's body, streaming over the waving black tendrils in blue streaks and sparks. It effectively halted Nightmare's attack.
All of a sudden, the black substance trapping Naruto was abruptly pulled toward Nightmare. Iruka moved into it's path and pushed it back with the help of Sasuke, though they could barely hold it. "If you want Naruto, you'll have to go through me!" Sasuke shouted.
"Hey, Sasuke, Iruka." Naruto's voice rang out muffled and strained from the other side... "I...gotta plain...move out of the way."
"Naruto? Are you sure?" Iruka inquired, it seemed stupid though that wasn't surprising since Naruto didn't always have the best plains.
"Yeah, I got it."
Iruka and Sasuke looked at each other, then nodded in silent agreement and finally let go. Sending the black substance and Naruto rocketing toward Nightmare... With a few gunshots Naruto burst out from the top of the orb, his body flipping in mid-air so that he was facing the demon, "Eat this monster !" Yelling loudly he emptied the rest of the duel handguns into an unsuspecting Nightmare. The Demon fell backwards to the ground, the black tentacles being coated with red from profuse bleeding. Naruto landed just in front of it, trying to finish it off only to realize that he had run out of ammunition. "Awww, not now!" Naruto shouted, backing away as Nightmare rose weakly into the air.
"Naruto!" Sasuke tossed his riffle over to Naruto who obviously couldn't get away fast enough, Naruto caught it and fired defensively. Nightmare moved around too fast for Naruto to hit...
"Be still damnit!" Naruto shouted, still edging away as best he could. Nightmare started spinning again, this time filly able to pull his body in to the vacuum while throwing out more of the projectiles as before. The rapidly moving tendrils forcefully slammed into Naruto, throwing his body through the air, before he could get too far, Nightmare reached out for him and wrapped the appendages around his arms, legs and neck to pull him back.
Your mine...
"Not yet he isn't." Asuma rammed through the outstretched tentacles with his whole right while firing the two automatic weapons in to the center of Nightmare's body, forcing the creature to let go of Naruto. "Zabuza, now!"
Zabuza came from behind, diving into the sea of red and black that was Nightmare and thrusting a blue stick about the size of a grenade into it, managing to shooting his way out just in time before the bomb exploded. Instead of the usual flames a thick cloud of white burst, covering Nightmare's body with an unknown, powdery substance.
Is that the best you humans can do?
"No." Asuma took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it on to Nightmare. "This is."
Nightmare's body erupted in flames and then an earth shaking explosion. It was localized and only traveled a few feet, but the shockwave was enough to knock everyone but an expecting Asuma and Zabuza off of their feet, as well as shatter every window in a 500 feet radius. In a flood, outpouring blood streamed out of the demon's body as it hit the ground, bleeding from every pore.
"What was that!" Gai , shaking his head to stop the ringing, sprang to his feet with a mild surprise.
"Is it dead?" Naruto lifted his head curiously, which made him aware of the blood coming from the back of his head "That thing hits really hard."
Sasuke walked over Naruto, helping him up. "You ok?"
Naruto nodded and held the back of his head "Yeah...why was that thing after me?"
"It wasn't after you." Shikamaru looked down at his arm, thankfully feeling the pain dulling away as it did before...It was a big strain to use that, he still wasn't sure how it happened but what he had lost in the use of his arm he gained in control of the shadows, the darkness was so easily used it was like an arm or a leg. The more he used it, the worse the pain got and the less he could use his right arm but the more easily he could manipulate the darkness. 'Hmm...' "Your the descendent of the Umizuki Naruto in my time...no not descendant, he died too young for that. Your the reincarnation of him."
"No way, I'm nothing like that guy." Naruto said discardingly.
"Your exactly like that guy." Lee agreed "Just like him, I thought you where him when I first got here."
"Infact, all of you a reincarnations." Shikamaru said. "...It gives me a bad feeling that history is repeating itself."
Gai looked up abruptly "Naruto! Move!"
Naruto looked back, to find himself coming face to face with Nightmare driving in to his face, he didn't even have time to flinch ...Nightmare was suddenly knocked back by a bullet driving into it's side, Iruka followed, ramming his shoulder into Nightmare and lifting the gun again, then firing feverously into the fallen demon. Nightmare hit the ground again.
Humans...this is not over.
Nightmare's body curled into itself and disappeared...
"...Iruka that was so cool!" Naruto ran over to Iruka and hugged him tightly. "You came out of nowhere and Bam!"
"Is anyone else worried that that thing is not dead?" Asuma asked, looking around nervously "It could still be here."
"It's gone." Shikamaru told him "If it stayed it would die for sure, it's too weak."
