A blur of white came to view. The flashing colors. They were all so bright, so vivid. When will they ever stop? So much light… so much burning light… where am I? Shino thought in his semi-conscious state. Where am I, where have I gone to? Am I… still alive?
The blurs of white began to fade, revealing shapes at a slow pace. Shapes of trees, shrubs, rocks, clouds. Color began to spill on them, sad, gray, whiteness, dark, green leaves, the shadowed, soiled ground. Shino couldn't tell if he was standing or lying down. If he was awake or asleep. If we was dead or alive.
Something cold pelted his face. Another one. Another. The outside world came back to view. And yes, he was lying down. Yes, he was awake. And yes, he was alive. Slowly and strain fully, he began to pick himself up. He fixed his glasses. Dirt and soil caked his black hair. His overcoat was stained with dust marks. The coldness continued to strike his body. Rain, he realized. Heavy rain.
Where had Taiyou gone? Did he leave? Did he think I was dead? It didn't matter now. Something still clouded Shino's mind. He couldn't tell what. He felt for something solid. Something for him to hold, to guide himself with, until he felt better. Hopefully a lot better. The damp and dark wood felt slimy to his hand. The smell of wet tree filled his nose immediately.
The sun was no where to be seen. Dark, pillaring clouds were etched upon the sky, spreading their bounty onto the forest. The trees canopies nestled in union, swaying slowly to the right, then back to the left. The clammy touch of wet bark would not leave Shino's hand. He finally had to build up all his confidence to take a step towards the world he had forgotten. The world he soon realized lay right in front of him.
It took him a shorter time to take another step, then another, and then finally he made his way to a pace. Then a walk. His mind was still somewhat clouded, probably under a genjutsu or something.
The rain continued to splatter on his clothes. Heavy rain that shook the leaves of the trees were the only sound Shino could hear for miles. His chest was pounding for some reason, his mind totally exhausted.
He continued his walk across the forest, the new spring grass itching through his shoes. Shino didn't care. "Finally awake, now are we?" a voice called to him. It took a while for Shino to realize someone was talking to him. He looked up, and found a still but swaying figure in his path. The black robes trickled with the wind, swaying slowly just like the trees' canopies. The white hair was the only thing that stood out in the storm, loud clashes of thunder clawed at Shino's attention.
"No answer, huh?" the voice called to him again. The noise of thunder brought Shino's mind closer back to Earth. He soon realized who was talking to him. The figure of Akiha Taiyou stood out clearly. His Sun Town headband still glimmering even in the darkest storm. In his hand lay something bright. The colors of it shifted wildly, uncontrollably, but still somehow maintaining its shape. The sphere shape. Shino let out a low moan. He still wasn't ready to talk yet. That bright light… what has it done to me?
"I said, answer me!" Taiyou yelled at him, swinging the arm with the spherical light at him. The spectrums of light were released from the large sphere as it made its way through the rain-splattered forest. Got to… act fast…! Shino demanded his body. It slowly obeyed. With a loud bang, he stopped the multi-colored light attack in his left claw, closed to a claw shape. Bugs spread from his wrist and enveloped the large ball of light, and swallowed it completely into darkness.
Taiyou scowled. "I guess you still can fight against the symptoms of my Magirawashii Ranpu (Note: Magirawashii Ranpu means Dizzy Lights). Well, try to stop this attack!" Taiyou hit the ground with his right widely spread palm, giving off a hollow echoing sound. Vines thrusted from beneath the ground, its path of destruction leading right to Shino's unshifted position in the forest. The attack was inches away when another loud crash of thunder awoke Shino from his long, conscious sleep. He tilted his head up in surprise, and let out a huge swarm of bugs to protect him at the last second.
I'm back to normal, Shino realized. Shino's eyes narrowed. "Insect Funnel." A tornado of bugs emerged from both sleeves, blocking Taiyou's view of Shino, spreading through the whole forest like a blanket of clawing darkness.
"Screw it; I'm going all out on this asshole." Taiyou declared, shifting his position. "Ranpu no Senshu! (Light Bow)" A sphere of white light came from his hand, and strung up and down to for a bow like structure. A large arrow of light positioned itself in the middle, and with seemingly the greatest pressure, fired. It seemed to divide the whole forest in two; its great light forming a wall of brightness cutting its way through the forest, cutting everything in its path in two. Shino shifted, disappearing. The great line of light finally simmered down, leaving long steam flowing through the air, a long cut in the ground and a piece of the forest missing, burned away with intense light.
Shino's figure emerged from the shrubs, a hand full of twisting and stretching bugs covering his right hand, his body soaring through the air as any ninja should be. Taiyou immediately detected his attack, and shimmered out of the way. He appeared suddenly from above Shino as the pause after his failed attack came. He fired another arrow at where Shino was placed, a smaller range this time than the last. It had missed barely, leaving a wide, burned hole in the position as steam streaked from it.
A race of insects came from the towering forest, all from different directions. They clouded Taiyou's sight greatly, forcing him to go up in the air and jump from branch to branch. He won't make it, Shino decided, his body hidden in the darkened shrubs that were too, being pelted by the showering rainfall. Taiyou's figure disappeared, but a small line of light came from deep within the forest.
As the group of insects lined back into Shino's body, the lines of light continued. They grew thicker, and longer, burning the ground with impact. Soon, Shino realized he was in trouble, but didn't rush himself. "Destruction Bugs" he declared. A set of insects made their way to the source of light, then exploded with a loud bang. The light disappeared.
Something hit Shino from behind suddenly. It was thick and damp. He turned to see what it was. A log? It was just a small one, like the ones used for replacement techniques. Then longer ones came. Increasingly long. They branched from a distance and stretched many yards across the shrubby forest. They all made attempts at Shino, but all failing. Taiyou raced from the middle log at amazing speed, one hand full of spectrums of light ready for attacking. He tried to attack Shino physically with that hand, but Shino was too fast.
"Dagger of Bugs!" Shino cried out, stabbing a long, dagger shaped weapon made of insects through Taiyou's unsuspecting chest. Taiyou's eyes widened and let out a low moan. He coughed, and spilled blood on the wet ground. He let out his last dispersed moan as he collapsed to the ground. Shino sighed loudly, and waited for the rain to stop. It never did. But he knew that this was the end. Taiyou was no longer referred to this world. He had succeeded his part in the mission…
Deep back in the forest, a group of persons in long, black robes and hints of red clouds gathered and discussed. A girl's face with purple, dangling hair tied into a ponytail opened her violet purple eyes of wisdom slowly. "Taiyou is dead," she declared. Her eyes were dying back to their original garnet color, an effect from ending her technique.
"Good, then phase one is complete," a hidden, shallow voice said from the other side of the group. He seemed to stand out above the rest of them.
"Oh yeah," the purple haired girl began again. "Uchiha Sasuke is looking for you. He has a grudge to settle."
"Let that be. It does not concern you. Now, let the next phase of our plan begin." He nodded to a shady character beside him. The character was on one knee and nodded. A second later he flashed out of the area.
"You're planning on killing him, aren't you… that Uchiha Sasuke kid?" the garnet eyed girl asked, shrugging with a chilling smirk.
"Only if he gets in our way, yes… we'll have to. But… does it matter either way?" the character replied, fixing his eyes onto the girl, his eyes narrowing.