Naruto Fanfic
Chapter 4
Fear of the Dark Part 2
Silence consumed everything around the five characters as they stood on the outskirts of the forest. Not a gust disturbed the grass; not a bird in the sky. Everything seemed to fear what was going on in that instant. The two strong characters, Narshe and Nijiru, were glaring each other down. One being trained in the form of ninjutsu, while the other seemed to have…other ideas intended for the party of four; something highly destructive. The older kid had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen.
Suddenly the silence was broken; Narshe received his weapon again, holding onto the blade with two fingers as the serrated edge came inches from splitting his head in half. Nijiru thought he could attack the boy with his own blade, but he was wrong. He completely miscalculated the full weight of the blade that was within his grasp, attacking slower than he estimated. Narshe knew that the silver-like kid underestimated something, and was already a step ahead, his cloak billowing in the sudden zephyr that picked up, revealing his other weapon: the scythe that was strapped to his back. His other hand had the shaft in grasp and quickly swung it in a large arc towards Nijiru's head in an upward motion.
Unable to keep hold of his ground with the weapon in hand, Nijiru released the assassin blade and quickly jumped into the trees to avoid being decapitated. Even though he could turn his body metallic, it would have had no effect against such blades and strength. Wide-eyed and panting, he looked down at the fighter, still holding onto the assassin blade with his two fingers while the scythe was up in the air, blade pointing to the sky. Slowly he turned his attention to the being in the trees again, his left eye shifting from the soft emerald green hue that was all around him to a darker red color. Nijiru didn't think that he was in over his head i that /i much, but the stare that he got from Narshe proved otherwise.
He was completely terrified now.
"Quite interesting…I never knew a single being could be so damn strong. More than insane; you aren't even human!" Nijiru was starting to lose his cool that he usually had when Narshe never changed expressions, just idly staring into the direction of the anomaly that was Nijiru. "Talk god damnit! AHHH!"
He jumped out of the trees and ran straight at the kid that was severely pissing him off. Narshe's expression never changed; he just gently tossed the blade he had in his fingers up into the air, gripped the shaft of his scythe with his other hand, and suddenly found himself unable to move.
Looking around, Narshe realized that there was a metallic fluid around his arms and legs, coming from the person charging at him. Maniacally smiling, Nijiru got so close to his face that he was able to feel the cold aura of the metal that was Nijiru's body.
"Die, mortal! Atm…os…"
Just before Nijiru was about to use his Bloodline Limit, a pain like none other shot through his spine, making his face contort in severe pain. With his grip loosening, Narshe was able to free himself of the steel grip that the ninja had on him. Backing away slowly, he watched what was happening to the boy. He was convulsing; his body shaking so hard that it was hard for him to even stand. Unable to get himself under control, he pushed a button that was in his hand. A few seconds later, two ninja garbed in black attire with Hunter-nin masks appeared to both sides of the boy, picking him up.
"We didn't think it would come at him so fast. I guess him getting riled up like that made his blood unstable."
"You are lucky, boy-called-Narshe. He would have decimated you, your team, and everything within a five hundred meter radius. Until we meet again."
The two ninja that spoke suddenly disappeared, taking Nijiru with them. Narshe was confused more than anything. What kind of power could do that kind of damage to a radius that big? He wasn't able to ponder on that idea too much before Neji, Ten Ten, and Naruto broke his train of thought by speaking to him. Unable to hear them, he looked towards the three of them. Naruto was posed with a kunai in hand, ready to attack whenever he had found the chance; Neji already had his Byakugan ready and was standing in his Jyuuken stance; and Ten Ten had two scrolls in hand. All looked ready to kill at a drop of a hat.
"I'm sorry. I didn't catch what you said," Narshe said, looking to them three, relaxing and putting away his weapons, as did the rest of them.
"I said, What the hell was that all about? That person looked like he wanted everything destroyed, including himself," Neji spoke up, relaxing also. They seemed to be out of any imminent danger. That is, for the time being.
Silent, even Narshe didn't know the answer to that one. 'I wish I knew that. What really boggles me is what kind of power that kid has. It wasn't something that I ever encountered with Bartou's men. It was more…evil, and chaotic,' he thought to himself, examining his surroundings again. Everything was as it was before their uninvited guest arrived.
"I know not, but it seems to be related to our mission, so we will probably find the answer to that one sooner than we expect," spoke Narshe, trying to sound as confident as possible. Even now, he doubted the success of the mission.
Naruto, though, was still just as paranoid, and stayed as he was until Ten Ten, Neji, and Narshe started to leave without him.
"O-oi! Don't leave me behind!" There was a hint of fear in his voice, unable to understand what he had just witnessed in that small battle that happened right before him. It was like a completely new level of strength he had never witnessed before. He didn't think people so young could ever be so strong, but that theory kept on being proven wrong.
Narshe looked back at Naruto, and smiled softly.
"Don't lose your cool now. We've barely started the mission, and you are already surprised and frightened? I thought you were better than that," Narshe spoke, rather coldly, to the kitsune kid. Even Neji and Ten Ten recoiled from the ice that shot from his lips. Naruto turned a pale color and looked like he was about to pass out, but then recomposed himself and stammered out a retort.
"W-w-what are you t-t-talking about? I'm perfectly fine! Ready to take on anything!" His voice, though, didn't sound as confident as he spoke, and everyone realized it. But no one bothered to say anything back, because inside themselves, they all started to doubt that this mission was just reconnaissance.
As they walked along the plains, the silence between the four of them was almost unbearable. Each one was thinking of how they were going to go about with their mission, when suddenly, a scroll fell from the sky and knocked Narshe upside the head. Thankfully, it was one of the smaller ones. Otherwise, it would have knocked him out. Bending down, he picked up the paper and undid the seal on it. Reading through the content quickly, he nodded his head once and tossed it to Neji, who read what was on it. Eyes widening, he sealed it back up and held it out, where Narshe used his assassin blade to cut it to pieces. Then Neji used a fire jutsu and burned up what little of the paper was left. Ten Ten and Naruto looked at them strangely.
"It was a mission update. They want us to cancel the mission and return to the Village," Neji said, malice somewhat thick in his voice.
"Like hell we are going back! We've already come this far! Might as well finish what we have started," spoke Naruto. He wasn't happy with what he just heard. Even if this mission was something that was far more than he could have ever imagined, it wasn't like him to just quit a mission whenever it got too dangerous.
Images of the battles with Zabuza and Haku, Gaara of the Desert, and with Orochimaru went through his mind. Every single one of them was missions that were way above what he could ever do under normal circumstances. It seemed to him that this mission was just like them others; just as, if not more, dangerous and highly unlikely that they would come back unscathed.
Neji, Ten Ten, and Narshe were silent under the little kitsune's protest, feeling the same way about it.
"I agree. We accepted the mission knowing the dangers of an A-ranked mission. We can't just fall back," Neji spoke, a bit of mirth in his voice and a weak smile on his visage. Ten Ten nodded her head in agreement.
"We will get into severe trouble by disobeying direct orders from the Hokage, but I have a feeling that if we don't do something about this fortress, something terrible will happen," the older kid spoke, rubbing the side of his cheek with the scar. His face was still concealed behind the hood of his cloak, so nobody really took notice to what he was really doing.
"Then let's go, before they discover early on that we are going on in the mission still."
Neji nodded to his three other teammates, who in turn did the same thing, and all of them kept going north, towards the fortress that was being built.
Darkness was falling as they were getting closer and closer to their mission objective. Neji decided, then, that they should wait until the fall of darkness before they proceeded any further. And as Narshe had pointed out, being veiled in darkness almost doubled the success of their mission, while halving the danger involved, if they kept quiet. All eyes landed on the fox-kid.
"What?"
Exasperated sighs came out of everyone but Naruto.
Finding a good place to set up a small camp until nightfall, Narshe proceeded to pull out a small tent from his cloak, getting stares from all three of his teammates. After pitching it up, he looked over at them and laughed.
"What, you didn't think that this was going to be a mission that was going to be done in a day or so?"
Neji blanched, Ten Ten flushed slightly, and Naruto was slightly out of it with his response. Finally getting back to reality, all of them started getting things prepared for tonight. Narshe, though, had different plans.
"I'll be by the lake if anyone needs me."
Leaving no room for a reponse, he disappeared from the small camp, jumping along the tree branches, thoughts ran through his mind. The kid from before came to his mind first. What kind of person was he? Was he even human? How was he able to turn metallic like that? Questions like that ran through his mind as he reached the lake. Stopping at the edge of it, he formed chakra at the soles of his feet and started walking on the surface. It was almost like he did it in an off-hand manner because he was still thinking of how it was that Nijiru was what he was.
Sitting down on top of the water, he went into a mental meditation. When it came to problems like this, he always cleared his mind of any uncertainties. Those kind of thoughts are what cause people to fail their missions. Taking in a few breaths, he cleared his mind completely, only thinking of the success of his mission.
After a few minutes of silence, he pulled his hood back to reveal his face. His hair fell back, the tip of the braid going through the surface of the water. Smiling softly, he picked up the long braid in his hand and started to play with the tip a little bit, now wet from going into the water.
A small gasp was heard. Looking around, Narshe caught the sight of someone moving around in the trees. Narrowing his eyes some, he could not tell exactly who it was, but by focusing his chakra into his eyesight, he was able to sharpen his vision and at least see the silhouette of a figure about one hundred feet away. Softly smiling, he bent his head downward in meditation again.
Far off in the distance stood Ten Ten, flushed more than usual, and most certainly not because she was running. Going to the lake, she expected Narshe to be there. But what she i didn't /i expect was him to have pulled back his hood and have hair as long as he did. 'Such beauty. I didn't think that could exist in a man, especially one like that,' she thought to herself, completely forgetting why she had gone to the lake to talk to him in the first place.
Going back to camp, Neji and Naruto spotted someone and prepared to do battle, but only saw Ten Ten and relaxed.
"It seems that Narshe is meditating before the real mission begins," Ten Ten said to Neji.
"As we all should, really. A clear mind is something that is needed in this kind of situation."
As Neji and Ten Ten were talking to each other, Naruto was off practicing some more. He needed to keep himself in practice, especially with a mission like this. Plus, as it was now, he was more of a liability than anything else, but he would have never admitted to that. Practicing his throwing skills and b Rasengan /b , he made sure to be more than just excess baggage for this.
Once the moon was high in the sky, everyone broke down everything and made the land as it was from before they went there and started towards the dim yellow and red light that was on the horizon.
"There it is. The fortress of Bartou. From here on out, we will split up and scour the area for any information at all pertaining to Bartou," Neji spoke, looking at all of his teammates, who were all concentrating on the task at hand, especially Narshe and Naruto. Everyone just nodded their head and split up, taking different routes.
Narshe took the North gate, Neji took the South gate, Ten Ten to the East, and Naruto to the West. Each one was able to infiltrate the base by jumping over the gates and land on the roofs silently. Using their sharp hearing, and many other methods of reconnaissance, they proceeded to gather information.
But Narshe had another idea on his mind; he wasn't particularly looking for information, but for a i man /i . He knew Bartou was here, and so was that sickly boy named Nijiru. He just had to look for them. His life depended on searching for that man.
After a little bit of time, Narshe decided to break into the main building. Jumping through one of the top floor's windows, he silently moved about on the floor, making sure that his weight was distributed evenly and gently. One false move and he could give away his position. Walking in the hallways, he had the pummel of his assassin blade in his left hand that was under his cloak. Passing by a soldier garbed in plate mail with a katana strapped to his side, neither said anything to the other, but the soldier turned back to see the cloaked man disappeared from sight. Shaking himself, he mumbled that he needed to get some sleep and that he was seeing things.
Narshe had ducked into a room whenever the soldier looked back, and found himself in a very important-looking room. Scrolls and parchment were scattered all over the floor and desks that littered the room. Chairs were overturned and everything seemed to be in complete disarray. Someone was in the room, and he knew. Walking slowly, he went to one of the desks and opened up a scroll, reading what was on it in the thin candlelight.
Suddenly there was a kunai to his neck.
"What are you doing here?"
"Miss…if you don't value your life, I suggest you put that little knife away."
The person that was already in the room blanched and looked behind her head to see the absceen curve of Narshe's assassin blade right at the spine of her neck, ready to decapitate at a moment's notice. 'When did he…' she thought, suddenly sweating and putting away the kunai.
"Now…now that things are settled, why are you here, Anko?" There wasn't much mirth in his voice. He was more annoyed than anything else.
"A…eto…I was told by the Hokage to take up this mission whenever she got wind of a kid by the name of Nijiru being stationed here. YOU, though, should have gotten the notice to go back-"
"Yes we did, but we got rid of the evidence quite easily, so there was no proof that she did. Plus, I HAD to come here. It is imperative that I complete this mission-"
"And jeopardize your teammates? Because that is what you are doing! Jeez…what was Neji thinking in continuing?"
Narshe looked up and Anko and walked forward, his face coming extremely close to hers, pulled his hood back, and grinned wildly at her.
"Exactly what he felt. Exactly what we all felt. Something is amiss here, and we all wanted to know what it was. Plus it is more than just a mission for me; this is destiny," Narshe said, smiling gently to her and brought up his hand, using his index finger to pull her chin up slightly. "Is there a problem with striving for one's goals?" There was a hint of strength that flashed in his eyes. Anko flushed at seeing such a powerful face staring right back at her. For a second, her entire body quivered in anticipation.
Narshe saw the opportunity and placed his finger on her lips, winking at her. "Keep this a secret from Tsunade-san, ne?"
Anko could not help but nod her head and lean in more, pushing her body against Narshe's in a hot embrace of lips. She just couldn't help herself. The boy was just too much for her to hold herself back much more. Narshe himself was a little surprised by the come-on, but ever since he had come into the village, the first time he saw her, he felt electricity shoot through his body. There was something about her that caught his attention. And he couldn't just get it out of his head either.
Embracing in the passionate kiss, Narshe sighed deeply, completely overcome with a feeling that he wasn't familiar with at all. It was as if his body was reacting all on its own, unable to listen to what the brain was trying to convey to it. He didn't mind at all, though. New experiences where what he was all about; especially ones that dealt with his own feelings and emotions.
After a minute or so, Anko almost had to pull herself off of the boy, breaking away from the kiss and flushing quite a deep color of red. Narshe's face was just as flushed, his eyes wide with the new experience that he just went through. 'Oh my, oh my…and a great kisser to boot. He will definitely be a keeper. I'll have to keep Shizune from him…' Anko thought, while getting a grip on herself. They were still in the middle of a mission. They don't need to endanger their lives because of an ignited passion…though that does kind of make it hard to concentrate.
Narshe recomposed himself also and put away his blade, adjusting himself accordingly. After a second or two of getting himself under control, he looked back over at Anko, who was analyzing some documents that were scattered on the desk.
"What have you got there?"
She looked over to the boy and tossed him the scroll that held the itinerary of what was going to happen to the base once it is completed. From what it looked like, there was a war that was going to start again with the Village of Konoha. Narshe's eyes widened. It was signed by the head person in the Village of Cloud. He couldn't believe that his own village was still going after that ideal that Bartou introduced to them all. Making a fist, his hand crushed the scroll, completely splitting it in half. Anko looked at the boy and couldn't believe what she saw. The anger that was written on his face was seldom ever seen, even among ninjas vying for revenge.
"Bartou…will…PAY!" He screamed out the last word and ran out the door, before Anko even knew what was going to happen. Pale, she took to hiding outside.
"It seems that he really did go berserk. So Tsunade was right…"
Anko thought back to what was told to her before she came to the fortress.
"There is a reason I called you here. It seems that I've underestimated this mission. I completely forgot about who was there. I need you to give them a message from me to come back and go there yourself and gather information."
"Demo….nande?"
"Sorotobi-sensei told me, long ago, about his subordinate that he picked up, Narshe, had quite a temper when it came to Bartou, or about his Village. It is rare to see such loyalty to a Village, even when he himself isn't a part of it. That is why I need you to stop them if you can. If he goes berserk, he might just end up killing the very person we need to get the information from."
"Souka…and it wouldn't be good for the source of information to be killed because of years of hatred. Especially when his information can be of extreme use to us. Wakata."
"Oh! One more thing. Keep a close eye on him. I have a feeling that none of them will listen to the new request. If he does go berserk, I want you to stop him if he goes too far and tried to kill Bartou. This is a Super A-rank mission. Will you accept?"
"Of course! I'll handle everything from here on out."
But Anko didn't believe that the kid would react in such a rash manner. It looked as if he was seriously going to kill the man if he found him. Even if she did keep an eye on him, it isn't like she would be able to do much in keep him in check. He had bested her in terms of speed and unpredictability, something she was very good at. That kid most definitely had what it takes to be the next Hokage, if he ever accepted. But he was still far too unpredictable. Plus he had problems of his own.
For now, all she could do was watch from the shadows at what he was going to do.
Narshe was running down the hallways, trying to find the main hall at the base of the building. Along the way, he ran into a few soldiers and pushed them aside. The men looked at the strange figure with weird looks and tried to chase after him, but by the time they oriented themselves from being pushed out of the way, he was long gone. Getting down the stairs, he landed on the floor and literally went through it, going through three floors, before landing on the main one, going through that, and landing on solid cement, causing a small crater to form.
"Ite….that hurt," Narshe said, picking himself up from the ground, looking into the barrels of a hundred rifles pointing at him. He had landed right in the middle of room, where they were listening to orders being told to them. "Oh? People want to fight? Then let us dance, shall we?"
Suddenly, he was gone from where he was. Out of nowhere, people were falling like flies in poison. Rifles were being cut to shreds, and people were being torn apart.
"Stop this foolishness!"
The sound of one man echoed in the room quite profoundly.
Narshe stopped right behind a man, the blade of his scythe centimeters from a man's neck, his rifle already cut to pieces. The person passed out from the blade distance and fell to the floor. The expression that was on the kid's face turned from toying fun to pure hate and malice, his eyes narrowing into slits.
"You…so…you really are here…Bartou."
The man that stood above everyone else on a raised pedestal winced at the poison that emanated from the kid.
"And who might you be, kid, to know of my name?"
Before anyone knew it, the kid was already upon Bartou, the blade of his scythe inches away from the body of the man that had killed his master.
"Oh…you know me…You just like to play stupid sometimes," Narshe said, his words pure hate.
The man looked at the face of the kid and smiled a smile that made him look like he wasn't worried anymore about the events that were going on.
"Oh, I remember you, Narshe. It has been quite a while, though, hasn't it? I thought you would have died out there, quietly, but it seems that I can't exactly wish for that. Well, as long as you are here, it will give my new subordinate a new playtoy. Nijiru!" Bartou called out the boy that Narshe encountered before. Once summoned, the kid appeared out of nowhere, right beside Narshe, holding a katana blade to his throat.
"Now…if you don't mind, get that weapon out of my face," Bartou said, anger rising in his voice.
Seeing that he was in a stalemate, Narshe backed down and lowered his blade, but still kept it in his steel-splitting grip. Nijiru, then, proceeded to lower his blade from the neck of the older boy. The rest of the soldiers that weren't wounded, or were still able to get up did so and awaited orders. Both kids looked at each other, malice in one's eyes while hate was etched into the other's.
Bartou saw the friction, and stepped back. "Men! Get to your positions outside, now! Nijiru, I want you to finish taking out the trash. I've got a meeting with Orochimaru in an hour."
Nijiru didn't say anything…he just held up his katana in his hands. Narshe looked from Nijiru to Bartou and back again. "So…it seems that I still have to go through your dogs before I have to get to you, eh? Don't have a problem with that. I'll finish this off quickly."
Without room for fail, he dashed forward, towards the metallic person, bringing his scythe down upon the head of the boy. It was blocked, though, by the blade that he was wielding. Pushing down harder, Narshe was winning in the battle of strength, the tip of his blade slowly coming down upon the head of his victim. Nijiru noticed this and quickly decided that he needed to back away a little before he got split in half. Jumping out of the way, the blade went into the ground like a hot knife through warm butter.
The expression that Narshe normally bore was that of calm determination. Now he wore the face of a maniac, wanting more than anything else to have Bartou dead for his transgressions. Seeing this display of such raw emotions, Nijiru was confused at why he was doing what he was. Getting angered by this, he started to morph himself a little, another katana-like blade forming in his other hand from his own metallic body. Witnessing such a morph, Narshe was a little confused at how the boy was able to do such a thing. But keeping that thought out of his mind, he proceeded to attack head-on.
The pace was so high that it was extremely hard for even the two boys going against each other to keep up with the other. Jumping back, Narshe was already starting to run out of breath. He could feel his chakra reserves draining from keeping at such a pace. Nijiru, though, barely broke a sweat through the whole ordeal, but he was barely able to keep up with such a pace for long periods of time.
"It seems…that I really do…need to remove them…to fight you," Narshe panted, pushing the blade of the scythe down into the ground with the shaft in the air for easy grasp. Then he started to remove his cloak, pushing it over his head and onto the ground. When it landed, though, it broke the ground and made a tremor. Nijiru's eyes started to widen in disbelief. Then he removed his right armlet, followed by the bracers on his legs, all making the same imprints when they landed. By this time, fear and disbelief was written all over his face as he witnessed an impossibility among humans. And he thought he was a strange one.
"There. That is much better. Now I can move around without expending so much of my chakra," spoke Narshe. Now that he was able to move around without so much effort, it was going to be easy for him to take the kid out, or easier. "Now, let the real fight commence…"
In a flash, the scythe was picked up, and Nijiru was knocked across the head by the lower shaft end. The kid flew through the air and went through the multiple walls that were behind the pedestal. Smiling, Narshe walked through the debris, and found the body of the kid sprawled out on the ground outside. Noticing that he was in danger, Nijiru quickly got up and started to morph again. This time, though, he turned his arms into actual swords itself. Jumping into the air, he started to swing his arms around, trying to cut at the berserk kid. He was able to block all attacks coming at him easily, but found that the blades were much sharper than he thought when he felt his hand get cut, rather badly, on the back side.
Jumping back, Narshe didn't expect such an attack. Going for the offensive again, he suddenly found that he couldn't move the right side of his body, namely, his arm. Grasping the shaft of his blade with his left hand, he made sure to block the next attack that was coming. Smashing the kid's head quickly, Narshe found out that he needed treatment quickly before the poison had spread through his whole body, and not just his right arm.
"Looks like I'll have to postpone our battle until later Nijiru…and Bartou…" he spoke to the other, running inside and getting his equipment. He was already starting to feel the effects of the poison running through his blood. Putting the pieces of armor back onto his personage, he started for one of the gates. By now, the entire base was on alert, but none bothered to attack the kid that was retreating. 'It seems that I'm beaten for now, but it looks like he is letting me off the hook…for now. Bastard…' he thought to himself.
Suddenly, Anko appeared in front of him and picked him up and jumped off into the forest again, where Neji, Ten Ten, and Naruto were waiting. Since he knew he weighed so much, he used up all of his chakra in making himself as light as possible, which helped out Anko very much.
"The mission was a success. We figured out what was going on. And it isn't good. I'm surprised that all of you actually made it out without much trouble. Well…except for him. But this was expected," Anko said, patting Narshe on the forhead, her eyes suddenly widening at the fever that she felt. "Why didn't you tell me that you had a fever?"
Narshe just looked at her with a wry smile and giggled. "It would have worried everyone. It is already hard enough for me to concentrate on my chakra. We need to get back to the village before I lose complete consciousness. Then it would be impossible to move me with just you four…" Suddenly he went into a coughing fit.
"We need to get out of here, and fast! Move out!"
Anko commanded Neji, Ten Ten, and Naruto, who all complied without much word, except for a worried look by the girl and a sour expression from the fox boy. They all started for a small town nearby. They were too far away to be able to get back to Konoha Village within a day. And they all knew that he could not hold consciousness for that long, especially when it affected him as quickly as it did.
Narshe was already panting heavily from the poison and the high fever that he had. Looking up at Anko, he gave her a wry smile. "Sorry for doing that. I lost my temper there a little bit," he whispered to her, coughing a little.
"Don't overexert yourself. We will get a doctor for you really soon. Just hold on," she said, holding onto him tighter as they went towards the edge of the Country of Fire.
Narshe just nodded as he closed his eyes. He had never felt a pain like which he was going through now. It was unbearable. Thinking back on when he and Nijiru were fighting, he really started to ponder what type of metal he was made out of, or more like, what he makes himself into.
The last thing he remembered before blacking out, though was being stripped down, suddenly feeling much lighter than ever before. Then there were a lot of voices talking about something. Unable to fathom what they were saying, he finally ignored the sound and fell into a very deep and very long slumber.
