Credits
Artwork: jessejzette - The 7 Generations of Hokage - Find jessejzette on deviant art.
A NEW WORLD – OVERCOMING THE PRINCIPLES
Yesterday, Naruto's Tent
The tent, evacuated save for the four powerful warriors, had become the epicentre of destiny. This was the point where a plan was made. A plan that only these four geniuses could have formulated. A plan to defeat Carmen.
"While Lara's plan may work to nullify regulation, there are still the other battle principles we must overcome" Clyde pointed out, "It won't be easy".
"I'm working on something, a new attack" Naruto explained. "That may be enough to defeat Carmen, but I would have to hit her in very specific circumstances. She would have to be off the ground".
"Not possible" Lara declared. "Not with her foundation. We would have to be a lot stronger to break it. We will have to think of another method".
It was at that point that everything became clear in Sarada's head.
It was at that point where the plan finally came together.
"I think I may have an idea" she said.
The Outer Wall of the Imperial Palace
Four warriors whose plan is built solely on their own potential, attempt to execute that very plan.
Naruto is the next to attack, rushing towards Carmen by casually evading each incoming scatter attack that she fires. He is now confident in the knowledge that he will always be able to reach her if he tries, and while melee attacks may seem suicidal against a warrior such as Carmen, they are actually his salvation.
He grabs Carmen by her shoulders and drives his knee into her torso as hard as he can. Naturally, this barely hurts her at all. That's fine, it's all within expectations. Shouting, he drives his knee into her again. It is only on the third attempt that this knee strike is caught by Carmen.
About to counter-attack, Carmen is interrupted as Lara teleports to Naruto's side and lands two quick punches to the same section of her torso, allowing Naruto just enough time to escape. Following up immediately, she teleports to the other side of Carmen. Again, she throws punches at the same height, angling them slightly for maximum impact. The only remarkable element to the strikes is the power put behind them, not designed to maximise pain but physical impact.
"Still Lara, even you, why do you refuse to give in?" Carmen asks.
Lara ignores the question instantly, dismissing it not only as stupid, but also as a distraction tactic. Lara teleports to Carmen's front once again, grabbing hold of the now-free Naruto and teleporting him to safety.
Practically no time passes as Lara disappears with Naruto and returns with Clyde.
Clyde uses his power of 'golden darkness' to form a set of chains. With a flick of his wrist he casts the chains forward, wrapping Carmen's arms to the side of her body in a way that reduces her mobility even further.
This presents the perfect opportunity for a well-placed attack. Sarada uses her comet form to approach Carmen from behind, returning to her human form just a half-meter away from her almighty opponent. Her rinnegan quickly scans the exact condition of Carmen and based upon that she makes the decision that best aligns with her plan, attack the leg. A single attack is all she will likely have time for, but even that counts. So, she drops to her knee and throws a solar punch to the inner thigh.
"Don't you get it, foolish one, that isn't going to work" Carmen curses.
In a tremendous show of strength, Carmen effortlessly breaks free of the 'golden darkness' chains Clyde put on her. The power she uses to do this so tremendous that even Naruto looks on and marvels at it. The aristocrat concentrates 'golden air' on her hand and flicks a single finger over her shoulder, blasting Sarada back away from her.
But Sarada won't give up.
'It won't work huh?' the 9th Hokage asks rhetorically.
Sarada once more closes the distance, this time leaping up into the air and spinning to position herself upside-down. The rinnegan works it's wonders once again and she instantly weighs up the current situation with her plan. This time she slams her foot down into Carmen's shoulder, rocking the ground with the impact.
The impact is strong but barely any damage is dealt to the former teacher of the two generals. While this is a worry to all the shinobi and captains watching from behind, it does not seem to concern the four attacking warriors. Right now, it would appear that nothing could worry them, all four are the picture of absolute focus and concentration.
Carmen reaches towards the shoulder she received the strike from but catches nothing, save for a glimpse of Lara. She realises now that Lara truly is a huge difference maker in this fight. Ironically, the one who has always refused to work well with others has been granted a power that makes her the perfect controller for a team battle. Now that Lara is working with the other three, the space of this battlefield is completely theirs to control.
In the instant of Sarada's attack, Lara teleported away with Clyde, returned and grabbed Sarada. That was before she made yet another snap decision. She moved to Carmen's front with Sarada.
The 9th Hokage's rinnegan makes another scan. All part of the plan. She uses her power of 'creation' to make a massive steel hammer. Not an expert of heavy weapons by any means, Sarada is however, a highly adaptable shinobi. She leaps backward slightly and uses the distance between herself and Carmen to swing the hammer with as large an arc as possible. Once more, she strikes at Carmen's legs.
Carmen groans in pain. "Just give up!" she bellows.
The aristocrat should know by now that she is not dealing with people that give up.
Carmen uses her powers to manipulate the 'air' around them, pulling Sarada back to her and grabbing her by the scruff of the neck. She pushes Sarada a short way away and then pulls her back, slamming their heads together in a devastating collision. Carmen feels that this rattles Sarada, that it likely made those brilliant eyes roll back in their sockets, so she pushes her away and prepares to do it again.
Sarada recovers just in time to call for help. "Lara, right side, hip!".
That help won't arrive in time, but Sarada doesn't consider herself, only the task at hand. She prepares another solar punch with her right hand and slams it into the left side of her attacking opponent, landing the attack at the same time as Carmen lands the headbutt.
Lara obeys the instruction she was given, moving to Carmen's right side and attacking her left hip with three consecutive elbows. Each strike is imbued with her frustrations at their previous defeat, each strike is more bone-crunching than the last. It is after the third that Carmen recovers from the solar punch and tries to attack. It is naturally at this point that Lara decides to teleport both herself and Sarada away.
Finally, there is nobody around Carmen, Naruto's patience pays off. A hundred clones, each with tailed-beast bombs at the ready all launch them towards Carmen at once. An earthquake, a series of devastating explosions all detonate at once. While the attacks aren't concentrated the blow is felt for miles around, even going so far as to shake a few of the shinobi and the captains.
'These attacks aren't very efficient compared to when I use 'life'. There only strength is strength in numbers' Naruto admits to himself. 'But they do serve their purpose'.
Using one of the tailed-beast bombs to disguise his approach, Clyde is the next to put himself next to Carmen for an attack. His attack is yet another melee power-strike, a powerful horizontal kick, rocking Carmen's entire body. Following this, with Lara's continued support the two of them land a continuous flurry of similar attacks from each and every direction.
With Sarada back at his side, Naruto begins to use 'life' to heal his student.
"Are you certain this is going to work" he asks. "We don't have the energy to keep this up all day?".
"Trust me, any second now, all you need is her to be off the ground, right?".
"The higher in the air you can get her the better, but if this keeps up…".
"Naruto, with the rinnegan I can see what others cannot. Her roots may run deep but they are fragile. Even the strongest materials can be weak in certain directions. There may be only one such direction in the case of her roots" Sarada explains. "But if she keeps getting hit, if we keep striking her with such a strong blunt force, the roots won't hold. Her foundation will shatter. Any second now, that chance will come".
Naruto looks to Sarada for confirmation.
"One powerful blow applied at the exact right angle. And she will fly".
Naruto accepts this with a nod. "Alright, let's do this!".
"… the look you all gave me when I came up with this plan, I could tell that none of you believed me" Sarada says. "I may be wrong, Boruto has strong visual prowess and never mentioned he saw this. Do you think I was wrong, Naruto?".
Naruto grabs her by the collar angrily. "Don't even make me answer that" he shouts as he pushes her backward. "Just go out there and prove that you are right about it. About this, about Boruto, about everything".
Sarada nods.
This is it!
All or nothing!
"Lara, Clyde, it's time!".
Lara brings the two of them back, putting the four of them in a line with one another once again. The four representatives of the most tenuous alliance ever formed, begin to walk forward, matching each other step for step.
"Haven't you learnt anything?" Carmen shouts at them. "Why do you keep going? Don't you realise that you can't win here?".
Sarada prepares another imitation of the Indra Arrow, masking it with 'creation' and once more creating the strongest attack that she can. Everything depends on her plan succeeding, and that success or failure will all happen in the next few seconds.
"Time to fly" Sarada declares.
The four of them continue to walk in time with one another, closing the distance between themselves and their adversary very slowly. Now they are depending on Lara's timing and senses. So, Lara waits, step after step, a painful agonising watch for both Carmen and the members of the alliance waiting behind them. Lara continues to wait, she waits until finally the power of the imitation Indra Arrow stabilises.
And then, without even turning her head, Lara asks, "Which side?".
Sarada's rinnegan checks one last time before she gives the all-important answer.
"Right in front of her".
Lara stretches her hand out, touches Sarada's shoulder and concentrates. 'Here we go'.
Lara teleports herself and Sarada forward, leaving the 9th Hokage exactly where she requested, face-to-face with Carmen.
'Straight in front of me? Just as before? You really aren't taking me seriously at all!'.
With these thoughts, Carmen's rage reaches a crescendo. After all that she has endured since these pocket-worlders came here, this is what has pushed her over the edge. After beating them time and time again, they would dare disrespect her with such a telegraphed obvious attack.
In Carmen's frustration, she puts both hands forward and fires a concentrated attack.
Just as expected!
Sarada drops her right shoulder, falls down close to the ground, and avoids the concentrated attack.
Yesterday, Naruto's Tent
The three others all looked at Sarada as she explained her analysis of what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future.
"She was frustrated during our last fight" the Uchiha explained. "She made mistakes because of it. We need to wait until the roots have been weakened again. We need to wait until her frustration peaks again. That will be the ideal point".
"Ideal for what?".
"Ideal for shattering her foundation".
The Outer Wall of the Imperial Palace
The attack having missed, Carmen realises straight away that she just made a mistake. She crosses her arms to protect herself against the impending attack.
The imitation Indra Arrow focused on Sarada's fist is deadly. And Sarada stakes her entire theory on its power as she uncurls her knees and drives it toward the cross of Carmen's arms.
'This is the weakness I saw with my rinnegan. A weakness that Boruto missed. I must be right. I must be right!'.
As limbs crash against one another, so do 'golden air', 'creation' and lightning. In a moment that shakes the ground, Sarada's punch proves successful.
It worked!
Carmen is separated from her roots and driven into the air.
Sarada's plan is a success.
Sarada takes in a deep breath of air and shouts as loudly as she can to signal the start of their final attack.
"She's up!".
Naruto looks back over his shoulder. "Dad! Tobirama! NOW!".
The 2nd and 4th Hokage both run out from the enormous group they are hidden within, surprising captains and shinobi alike. They ignore cries of how dangerous the situation is and pleas not to get in the way as they press on towards the battle.
Both Hokage reach their hands back and pray that their skills don't let them down as they throw dozens of marked kunai into the space before them. Tobirama covers the entire area on the ground in front of him while Minato litters the sky with a dozen marks. Their teleportation area is virtually omni-present.
'You people are too stupid and emotional' Carmen says in her head. 'There is no way that I will let two weak people like them get involved in this fight'.
As Minato and Tobirama continue their run towards the battle, Carmen strengthens her resolve to counter their interference. She practices one of her battle principles and launches a series of scatter shots towards them. If scatter shots were to hit two individuals so weak as Tobirama and Minato they may prove fatal, but these two Hokage are masters of evasion.
Both the 2nd and 4th Hokage teleport back into the group they started in, their run merely a distracting deception.
Lara teleports to Clyde's side. "Are you ready?".
"Together, general".
Lara grabs Clyde and teleports the two of them to the space directly in front of the airborne Carmen.
Meanwhile, Carmen is distracted by Naruto.
Naruto holds his hand out before him, perfectly stationary, and concentrates.
His family all realise, this is the new technique!
First, he creates a rasengan. A perfectly, ordinary rasengan with nothing special about it, perhaps the calmest he has ever created. Next, he adds 'life' to his rasengan, seemingly the same as usual. Right now, this is a 'life' rasengan. Or is it?
Much to the surprise of all the onlookers, Naruto seems to be struggling. He is slightly altering the rasengan. It is at this point where the surroundings come into play.
From the grass.
From the people.
Even from Carmen.
Thin strands of 'life' gravitate towards the rasengan.
Every few seconds a loud bang sounds as the rasengan seems to detonate, but through pure concentration Naruto manages to maintain it.
In the centre of this rasengan, of this swirling ball of energy, is nothing but a void. Naruto's technique is the opposite to that of Carmen, Lara and Mirai. He is not funnelling all his energy into the centre of his technique, he is pulling it away from a gravitational centre. His determination, his power is what keeps this vacuum present at the centre of his rasengan. It is a vacuum that causes all 'life' energy in the area funnel towards it.
It is the 'life' gathering rasengan!
'What the hell is that?' Carmen wonders. 'I've never seen 'life' used that way before. No, it doesn't matter, all that matters is that I stop it. I have to ignore the two in front of me and…'.
Carmen's decision to ignore the two in front of her, is a grave mistake.
Clyde coats his open palm in 'golden darkness'.
Lara coats hers in 'golden light'.
Then, the two of them slap their hands together.
Just as they did before.
The 'light' and 'darkness' intermingle with each other, the scatter and revolve around one another. They brighten and darken the entire world one after another at an alarming rate. They change so fast that it's difficult to tell where anything is for those without extraordinary senses.
Unfortunately for Carmen, her senses may be extraordinary, but there is a problem with them. A problem Lara and Clyde know all too well.
'Lara's idea is perfect; Carmen's senses have been rebalanced. Her sight is weak, but she can see. If we stress her eyes using this collision of energy, then…'.
'It will stun her' Lara recalls. 'Her brain won't be able to handle this, she will have to focus on rebalancing her senses. And when her focus is divided...'.
'I've lost my regulation' Carmen realises as she rebalances her senses, 'My divine energy is draining'.
Lara's plan has been a success. Now not only have they gotten around her foundation battle principle, but they have beaten her regulation as well.
As Carmen regains her sensory balance, the first thing she sees is Naruto with his brand-new technique ready to attack with. Down on the ground there he appears so small, but she knows that these circumstances are do or die for both of them, and that Naruto now poses the greatest threat that she has experienced.
Naruto, at this point, begins to run forward.
'Regulation doesn't matter, all that matters is that attack doesn't hit me' she concludes as she abandons yet another of her principles. 'This may kill him, but I have to stop the rest of them here. I'm sorry but you brought this on yourself'.
While she continues to fall, Carmen reaches her hand out and once again fires a concentrated attack towards Naruto.
Lara sees the concentrated attack fly beneath her feet and towards the most crucial element of their attack. She knows that this cannot be allowed to hit, no matter what.
Lara grabs Clyde, teleports to Sarada and teleports them both back into the curving path of the concentrated attack.
Clyde rushes to the front of the trio and uses his concentrated defence to protect himself as the blow strikes against him. He wanted to sacrifice himself, but he realises that Carmen is still funnelling energy into the attack, and that she is using it to push him backwards towards the oncoming Naruto.
Ignoring the incoming concentrated attack, Naruto leaps into the air, and falls towards one of the marked kunai.
Sarada and Lara both reach their hands out and use Clyde as a barrier against the deadly energy. Together the three of them push forward against the mighty attack with all the energy in their body.
And just in time, the three of them manage to stop it.
The concentrated attack has been blocked!
As Naruto falls towards his chosen marked kunai, both Minato and Tobirama perk up slightly, all of their conditions have been met.
Tobirama teleports to the kunai that Naruto is falling towards.
Minato teleports to one of the kunai just a few meters above the falling Carmen.
As Naruto falls, he touches hands with Tobirama who sends the 7th Hokage into the air to his father.
Carmen stares in horror as she realises what has happened. Naruto is right above her with his new attack in hand. They are both falling towards the ground at an equal rate, there is absolutely no way that she can get away from him. This has all gone exactly according to the pocket-worlders plan.
Naruto looks down to his opponent.
'Your scatter attack has been dodged'.
'Your regulation has been shattered'.
'Your foundation has been broken'.
'Your concentrated attack has been blocked'.
Carmen activates her concentrated defence, coating herself in an armour of 'golden air'.
'He won't defeat me' she tells herself desperately, 'There is no way someone on a level lower than my own could break through this defence'.
Three mighty warriors below all disagree.
Sarada.
Clyde.
Lara.
Together all three of them shout out for Naruto to complete the last part of their master plan.
"Naruto, do it!".
Naruto obliges, 'And your concentrated defence… will be overcome…'.
Naruto slams his arm downward, clashing the 'life' gathering rasengan against Carmen's impenetrable concentrated defence.
Seconds pass, though for those below it feels like hours with all the uncertainty. They all feel the greatest outpour of divine energy they have ever felt as the two most powerful warriors for miles around throw everything into the single collision. Even with her regulation shattered, Carmen's divine energy is as tremendous as her resolve to not let the four of them pass. Naruto's power also reflects his unshakable resolve to get past, to defeat Furst, to free the village.
A battle of power and will!
Neither of them has any doubt in themselves!
That is until the breaking point is reached and Naruto feels his arm jerk downward. The breaking point is reached, and Carmen feels a powerful source of divine energy thrust through her own and hit her squarely in the chest.
The concentrated defence is broken.
Naruto pushes his arm forward, detonating the 'life' gathering rasengan and sending Carmen crashing down into the ground.
'Boruto, Hashirama, I admit that there are some battles where you have to play it safe'.
'There are some battles when you can't trust anyone'.
'However, none of this would have been possible without them'.
'This was a battle that truly needed all four of us to win'.
'Today, we have proven you wrong'.
Naruto lands gently next to Carmen, hanging his head with exhaustion. Then, after five seconds, he finds the energy to raise it once more and look at his fallen adversary.
Their eyes meet.
Carmen looks him in the eye, matching Naruto's determination with her own. While she can see almost nothing, even through the haze that is her vision she can see his determination. This is more than an exchange of glances, this is a conversation between two warriors, a conversation that has transcended words.
Carmen gasps as she catches a glimpse of something familiar. For just a second, that same look. That look she once saw in the eyes of Akashi Endou. The look of a man who will not stay down.
She relents. There is no point going on. So, Carmen closes her eyes and lets the back of her head hit the floor.
As she concedes, Naruto uses the little remaining energy in his body to raise his fist in the air. A symbol to the thousands who came for the four of them in good faith.
A symbol of victory.
"We've won!" he shouts in an outpour of emotion, matched only by those behind him.
At the third attempt, the four of them have defeated an opponent stronger than themselves. They have proved that what seemed impossible yesterday is possible for the four of them. There is no stopping them now. They believe!
About two minutes pass before people start to funnel through the opening in the outer wall. This is what they have been praying for. On the other side of this wall is where destiny awaits, where Furst Jonas waits. Three people across, groups pass through the wall and run into the enormous indoor area that is the imperial palace. Each determined that they must go a long way into the gigantic building to be sure that Carmen won't come after them.
"Everyone head on through, don't look back" Sarada instructs them.
"Go through, don't worry about those we left behind. They will be safe with the team we left behind" Elliot says.
At the middle of the group, passing through the crack in the wall, Peterson tries to assure Mirai of the situation. "Nobody will come across them anyway. This world is so much bigger than yours, encounters like that don't happen here".
Lara leans against the wall to recover her energy. Supervising her many subordinates as they pass into the palace. She listens to the things they are saying, comparing them to what she overheard days before. All of their discussions are relatively uninteresting to her, but that one sentence from Peterson to Mirai reminds her of the encounter she had yesterday.
'Encounters like that don't happen here' she repeats in her head. 'Except maybe because of fate. That thief, she changed my destiny'.
As the group continue to pile through, it leaves only the four warriors who defeated Carmen to see them through.
"So, Lara" Sarada begins, "Ewe did it. How does it feel?".
"If you're expecting me to say it feels great and hug you, you can get lost" the lead general snaps, "You're still just a pocket-worlder to me".
"Oh yeah?".
With a sigh, Lara concedes. "I suppose you're a pocket-worlder who happens to be my ally. At least for now. But one day I will come to challenge you again, I will be stronger than you, then we will see just what sort of person I really am".
"We'll look forward to that, but it can wait until after we have killed Jonas" Naruto says, "After that, I can't wait to challenge you again, Lara".
"Whatever…".
The last of the subordinates pass through the wall, leaving just the four of them.
"You guys go ahead, I would like a word alone with Lara" Clyde says.
With a nod, Naruto and Sarada agree, both heading through the wall and leaving just Lara and Clyde on the outside. They have become two beings who cannot exist without one another, north and south, black and white, Ying and Yang. Working together is something that neither of them ever thought would be possible, working together to defeat Carmen is a miracle. It seems that forever their destiny will depend on each other.
"Don't expect me to start acting differently Clyde" Lara snaps, not even waiting for his statement. "I'm not like you. I'm not going to give heroic speeches or help the elderly or anything like that"
"You may do, eventually" Clyde begins, only to laugh when he sees Lara's face change. "I'm only kidding, it's not in your character. But once you start connecting with people, it changes you as a person. It makes you consider someone other than just yourself when you act".
"… maybe it does" Lara admits, "But in the past even when it was just you I connected with, all I cared about was defeating you".
"No, all you cared about was killing me, because you only had that one connection in the world, so you focused on it" Clyde explains. "The circumstances we were raised in made you resent me, and your solitude made you magnify that emotion a thousand times over. But you're not alone anymore, so you won't feel that way ever again Lara. I promise you that".
"You promise me? Why do you think that I would care about your promises?".
Clyde laughs. "You're the leader of the military, that means you have to care about what your subordinates say. Right, General?".
Lara smiles slightly, "I suppose so".
Clyde just looks at her. He has never seen it before. Lara's smile was so genuine that it moved him. Her entire life has been spent trying her best to be his antithesis. Anger, hatred, misery, these are the emotions that she built her entire life around. Smiling innocently was a sign of weakness to her, something that she would never do, that nobody could make her do. Clyde will forever hold pride in his heart for what may be his greatest accomplishment as a leader, he managed to make Lara smile. She smiled not out of anger, accomplishment or revenge, but out of joy.
"You two…" a weak voice calls to them, "Come here".
It is Carmen.
Both generals approach their teacher, whom they believed to be unconscious before hearing her voice. They walk tentatively after assessing her condition and being absolutely certain that she will not attack them or oppose them in any way.
"Do you realise what you're getting into now?" she asks, "Consider how difficult it was to defeat me. It will be far harder to defeat Furst, it's practically impossible for you".
Clyde doesn't know how to feel about his teacher as he looks at her now. She is broken, desperately trying to reason with the two of them. She still firmly believes that she should enforce the will of their last emperor, of the old man, Akashi Endou. He almost pities her for how obsessed she has become with the opinions of another person. In a way, she is a slave to her own nostalgia. However, even now she is doing what she considers to be best, that is a determination worthy of anyone's respect.
"I realise that it will be difficult, but there are ways to get stronger" Clyde declares, "There are ways to improve yourself, because of that, I think we have a chance".
"Clyde's right" Lara backs him up. "Of your battle principles, we have each mastered one so far. We have a long way to go yet".
"I could train further with that manual. I could get a divine ability. Lara could find her own manual" Clyde lists the possibilities.
"Furst is just the beginning" Lara declares. "I will make him look weak by the time I'm done".
Carmen opens her eyes and looks at the blurry figures of her two student. The feeling she got earlier when she looked at Naruto was special, the 7th Hokage had the same feel about him as the last emperor, a man who exists as the pure manifestation of conviction. The feeling looking at these two is different, but not bad by any means. They each have their own determination, unique from any other she has felt. To her, what makes this conviction more potent than any, is not its depth, but the fact that it comes from her own two students.
"You're both idiots" she snorts.
Lara and Clyde turn their back and walk towards the opening in the imperial palace.
"… I'm proud of you".
Both generals stop without turning around. They acknowledge the pride of their teacher and walk onwards. Moving just a few steps closer to their destinies.
Carmen is alone, or she thinks.
But then the tip-tap of familiar footsteps approaches her, bringing with it the smell of a man she has known for years.
An old-looking gentleman approaches and sits by her.
"So, you're here" she sighs. "You saw him, didn't you? Why didn't you stop him?".
"You know my situation Carmen, I can't afford to attract that much attention right now" the old gentleman replies, "But I did see him. So much potential. He reminds me of my brother. What do you think, can they do it?".
"Of course, not" Carmen groans as she closes her eyes and rests. "Do you?".
"They probably can't defeat Furst today" he admits. "But tomorrow anything is possible".
That doesn't allay Carmen's fears.
"Then let's just hope they live to see tomorrow".
Author Note
That is the end of part 6. I really hope that everyone enjoyed it and that it's given you enough reason to read part 7.
There will of course be a delay as I plan out everything that is going to happen in part 7.
Once I have done that, I will start to write for you again.
I must apologize retrospectively for the inconsistent rate at which I've released parts for part 6.
It's fallen short of what I have achieved in the past and I will try to improve for part 7.
That's just about everything I have to say for now.
I hope you have enjoyed Part 6 - A New World and look forward to writing again soon.
See you soon,
Cbehrills