Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Lies I Told Myself
Key
S.S: Sick Shit (not suitable for the weak-minded or squeamish)
thinking
"talking"
thoughts progressing into speech"
'substitute for italics' (in certain places, like emphasizing something)
/telepathy/
:scene change: (more for my reference than anything else)
POV (automatically Naruto's if left unspecified)
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Summary: I was a cold, callous individual. I was sarcastic and witty, not a pleasant person to be around. I cut you down with biting words every chance I got and smiled so frighteningly that I made children cry. I was, simply put, an asshole. I never cared what you thought of me. And one day I got bored, so very bored, so I decided to snap.
A/N: I'm glad to be getting such positive reviews on this story. And to the person who noticed that I was modeling Naruto with elements of Kurotsuchi Mayuri, good eye! You should also see the more prominent elements of another Bleach mad scientist. Also, Naruto is gradually becoming a sarcastic son of a bitch ain't he? If you don't think so, you soon will.
-
Belief in the future
Begets misfortune
Can you truly
Believe?
Take this damned heart
Eat
It
Raw
Knaji
-
Chapter Seven: I Walk Among The Waters
:On The Road To Wave Country:
We'd been on this mission for only an hour and were being attacked by missing-nin from Amegakure. Sigh.
"Demon Brothers, B-class, rely on usage of poison chain gauntlets to paralyze and murder their victims." I read off nonchalantly from my book as I duck under a swipe from their claws. Momoiro was 'protecting' Drinky, honestly, if they wanted him dead, she would stand no chance. Karasu was 'assisting' me; i.e. getting in the way.
Kakashi was hiding in the trees, probably waiting to see how we'd fare. I was willing to bet that if he waited long enough Momoiro, Karasu and Drinky would be dead before he could blink.
Sigh.
And now Karasu had made some idiotic, cocky move and gotten himself knocked out. I pocket my Bingo book and step out into the fray, releasing Noriko's newly repaired body from a nearly invisible seal inked into my shoulder. It was completely unrecognizable as her now, as I'd removed any facial features (the Sharingan eyes were back in preservation for another, more living experiment) and the entirety of the bodily organs, replacing them with hollow air filled pockets beneath a black mask full of special-paralyzing toxins for the brains signals to the limbs so that the victim inhaling it could still feel pain but not move. It worked wonders for interrogation.
And I loved designing things, the mask was a work of art if I did say so myself. A very pretty design of gold dust, quite expensive, but the hidden seals carved into the mask served their purpose. Mind you I can't tell you what they do, lest that compromise the secrecy, but I'm sure you're perceptive enough to figure it out given enough time.
I attach my chakra strings to my puppet and send it at the Demon Brothers, having them disabled them in a matter of moments. Honestly, you would think missing-nin would have more intellect than what they possess, to be brought down by a mere Genin.
I reseal Noriko and withdraw a long senbon needle, plunging it deep into the first brother's thigh, he screams in pain behind his mask.
Should've went for the kidney, but oh well.
"Might I ask who you work for Demon-san?" I ask ever so politely. Always had to be polite. The brother sends a scathing glare towards me, not answering my question. I send a bit of chakra into the needle, making numerous thread-thin barbs sprout from the sides of the metal, he screams louder but the sound is muffled by his breathing mask. "Who do you work for...?"
I let a bit of my tenant's killer intent leak off into my own, smiling as the acrid stench of urine wafts into the air.
Weak.
"Demon-san?" I ask again, twisting the needle to sever muscle, nerves and precious tissue and allowing the criminal to scream again. It would leave very a nasty scar if he didn't answer me quickly. I could hear Momoiro's frightened gasp in the background, as well as Kakashi returning from his hiding place. "I shall give you ten seconds to answer. Ichi...Ni...San..."
I continue counting, twisting and pulling the needle out somewhat with each number that I pass.
"Shichi...Hachi....Kyuu...Jyuu." I finish, yanking the senbon needle from his leg and inadvertently severing his femoral artery. I listen with a slight smile as he attempts not to scream, being unable to thrash around. "Well Demon-san?" I ask as Momoiro retches somewhere behind me and I hear Kakashi stepping up beside my crouched form as the criminal stays stubbornly silent, despite the blood pouring profusely from his leg. I lay a hand on it, filling it with molten chakra to cauterize the wound. This time he does scream, quite loudly in fact.
"Oh well."
I unsheathe and raise my sword to decapitate him when the other brother cries out, falling perfectly into my trap as Kakashi grabs my blade to stop me from swinging it down.
Oh ye of little faith, false sensei.
"Gatou! We work for Gatou! He owns a shipping company near Wave Country! We were ordered to kill the bridge builder!"
"Ah, is that all Demon-san? Do you know why you were ordered to kill him?"
The man shakes his head and my tenant confirms his truthfulness before I shoot a kunai straight into his jugular, quicker than Kakashi can react and the bounty slowly asphyxiates on his own blood.
Quite gruesome.
"Hm...So messy...Excuse me if you will, sensei." I murmur as I go about removing his head from his body and placing it into a sack, I could turn it in at a Bansho on the return trip. I discreetly remove the brain from the head, sucking it into a seal on my palm and wrapping cold chakra around it to preserve it until I could place it in cryo-stasis in my lab.
I listen with half an ear as Kakashi attempts to reprimand me for killing the man, but I notice him killing the other ninja discreetly with a kunai.
Hypocrite.
"Maa, maa, Kakashi-sensei. It was needed." I reply to his scolding as I remove the other ninja's head as well, removing his brain and finishing up the same way before sealing the sacks into a scroll and beginning to walk down the road.
Momoiro was still retching and Drinky had urinated all over himself.
How...disgustingly weak.
-
Sakura
I...I couldn't see how Naruto could kill someone so easily. He was a genin like the rest of us right? No one should be able to kill someone like that. He didn't even bat an eyelash while torturing that guy, or even when he watched that other man drown in his own blood.
H-He'd even smiled a bit while he was cutting off their heads...Kami, just thinking back about it made me wanna barf again.
Naruto was a monster.
A cold, unfeeling monster.
That was the only explanation.
-
Kakashi
Naruto...he wasn't a normal genin. A normal genin wouldn't have killed those men so easily (or been able to for that matter), nor would they have been able to read a Bingo book in the midst of battle, never mind taking the heads for the bounties. It was...disturbing. Hokage-sama would have to hear about this.
And I'd have to keep a closer eye on him.
-
I was quite ecstatic. I had the brains of two superb ninja, skill wise anyway. Given more time, they probably could've made it to A rank in the Bingo Book.
Oh well.
We were crossing the sea now; Karasu had awoken sometime in the middle of the ride and was sitting huffily on the back end of the small vessel. Momoiro was busy being silently sick on the side of the boat; Kakashi had decided we would continue the mission, despite the rank moving up significantly with us having fought Chunin. Drinky was frowning and so was I, having to sit next to him.
He still reeked of urine.
I realized something though, as I tinkered with my arm's Living Chakra chain and the unlocking mechanisms I placed into the new sections in my legs.
It would be quite difficult to get any proper field experience with my teammates around.
I was well aware that Sarutobi had informed Kakashi of any abilities that I'd shown him, which I admit are few. A smart ninja kept his most powerful secrets to himself, but I was also aware that Momoiro and Karasu had no knowledge of what I could do outside from my kunai accuracy and interrogation/torture techniques.
I wanted to keep it that way.
But alas, nothing has been working out the way I like recently.
-
Sakura
Kakashi-sensei's cry of 'Get Down!' startled me more than when Naruto pinned that rabbit to a tree earlier. I managed to push Tazuna-san to the ground just as a huge sword came flying out of the mist right where our heads were five seconds ago.
"Sensei?!" I cry out as a bone-chilling laugh rings out from the mist and a heavy clunking makes itself known to my ears as a man with a half bandaged face and torso appears, standing on the hilt of the sword embedded in the tree. I gasp, choking, as an oppressive force rushes over me and fills me with pure fear. It's all I can do not to wet myself.
I manage to look up and see Sasuke throwing up, Kakashi was unfazed and I could feel the same pressure coming off of him, but when I looked to Naruto he didn't seemed fazed either and I could feel something dangerous coming off of him in waves. It felt like the man and Kakashi except worse, but the only thing he'd done was catch a dragonfly.
And it was balancing calmly on his fingertip as if it hadn't a care in the world. Normally anything sane would have fled in the face of such killer intent, but I didn't care about that insect right now.
"N-N-Naruto," I start, my teeth chattering in fear as he looks toward me, blinking slightly as the dragonfly takes flight when he moves his hand.
"Hai, Momoiro-san?"
"D-d-don't y-y-you f-feel t-th-that?"
He gives me a quizzical look before enlightenment dawns on his face.
"Oh, why of course Momoiro-san."" he murmurs before raising his voice as he looks towards the man on the sword. "It feels like a cool spring breeze washing over me, don't you think so Momochi Zabuza-san?"
The man growls down at him before jumping down and freeing his sword, I see it coming towards me but I can't move. I get lucky as my jelly legs collapse and I sink to the ground, the blade missing my head by inches. I feel wetness between my legs and know that I've finally soiled myself; I turn crimson, embarrassed.
I scramble back out of the range of attack as Kakashi-sensei jumps in to engage Zabuza in combat, I watch Sasuke move around to protect Tazuna-san as I shakily get to my feet and Naruto motions to me.
"Draw a kunai, Momoiro-san. Don't be foolish and think that you will not need one, you never know what you will have to do to protect your village."
I didn't notice it right then, but he had said "your" not "our", when I thought about it later it was too late to say anything. I pull a kunai from my pouch with shaking hands, not wanting to think of what I might have to do, and join Sasuke and Naruto in protecting Tazuna-san.
-
Kakashi was engaging Zabuza in what looked to be a pointless fight. Yes, Kakashi was a jounin of Konoha, yes, he became an ANBU captain at eleven, yes, he knew over a thousand jutsu, but you forgot one thing:
Zabuza was significantly more experienced, he had at least ten more years on the jounin.
And that is why we were in the situation that we were in now, our sensei trapped in a water bubble, the fool, I was still wondering why he could breathe. It didn't agree with the laws of physics, of course, Dai didn't either.
Zabuza couldn't take his hand from the jutsu, lest it disappate, so he did what any decent shinobi with knowledge of how the Samehada works would've done (he 'was' one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū after all) and created a vacuum with his chakra to leech our teacher's chakra out into nature. It was quite the sight, quite beautiful in fact, well, until Kakashi collapsed, looking quite dead. 1
"Well, well, now you don't have anyone to protect you, little Konoha genin. So what will you do?" he asks, stepping away from Kakashi's prone body and bathing us in killer intent once more. I yawn inwardly while idly entertaining the idea of letting Kakashi drown before remembering that it could take months to get another sensei, so I discreetly turn him over with chakra strings. "Guess you'll be the next ones to die."
He lunges towards us as Karasu stabs himself in the leg, I recognize his distraction for what it is and use it to pull Momoiro and Drinky out of the range of attack as he rises back up quickly and tries to slash Zabuza across the chest. He doesn't succeed however, as Zabuza quickly reverses his Zanbatou to block and then slam it into Karasu's exposed torso.
Luckily, (I didn't want to have to find 'another' teammate) Karasu had the foresight to use a Kawarimi and has appeared a few feet before Kakashi, hefting him up. I curse him for his stupidity as Zabuza throws his sword towards him as though it were a boomerang, Karasu ducks, but not fast enough as the sword cleaves off his free right arm at the antecubital joint. The scream of pain and subsequent blood flow was enough to make me frown. 2
"Momochi Zabuza-san..." I sigh, the man looking at me after catching his sword once more. He doesn't even bother to attack, just looks at me with a bored expression on his face. Obviously he didn't think me a threat.
Foolish.
I stand up, putting our client and my useless female teammate behind me as Karasu manages to cauterize his wound with a fire jutsu. "You should not have done that. While I am not a fan of his attitude, Karasu-san is my teammate. You've harmed him and thus managed to greatly hinder his effectiveness in future battles, I cannot stand for that. Thus, for the removal of his arm, I deem your life forfeit."
I inwardly sigh, I 'really' didn't want to take action, but my teammates were so unfailingly weak.
They were pathetic.
I draw my katana just in time to block a strike from his Zanbatou and he attempts to cut my head in two.
"Oh ho ho, good gaki, but let's see you dodge this!"
He pulls a aikuchi wakizashi from a hidden sheath in the bandages around, it had to be a terribly thin sheath for it to be nearly invisible underneath the covering. I have no time to react as he stabs me in the side of the head with the wakizashi, laughing.
I start laughing too as my body's outer chakra shell breaks down to reveal Noriko hidden underneath. It was ever so slightly difficult to control her from my current position and state but I managed to push Zabuza into a point where he had to be rescued by the lackey I'd sensed earlier lest he was killed.
"Kiri Oinin-san." I state quietly, using Noriko's mouth as a medium for my ventriloquism and waiting until the woman turns towards me. "You are interesting. Be wary please."
It wouldn't due to lose such a heavy container of Living Chakra.
I smile; shifting back into my original form from that of the dragonfly as she disappears, accidentally crushing Drinky's discarded hat which I had been resting on, and walk up to my team.
Momoiro is attempting to bandage Karasu's stump of an arm without looking at it too closely. I notice from his slight winces of pain that she's pulling them too tightly and move to assist, numbing and cutting away the blackened skin with a kunai to re-heal it properly before having Noriko hoist Kakashi upon her back for the trip back to Drinky's home. Karasu makes a point of ignoring me after I heal his arm and I am content with that, I didn't want to waste what little Living Chakra I had with me making a new arm for him anyway.
::Tazuna's House::
Kakashi was currently resting in a bed, hopefully regaining his lost chakra while my teammates and I were downstairs eating. I could barely contain my disgust for the excrement that passed for food here. I realized they were poor, but honestly. Unseasoned fish, bread cooked in ashes (with what tasted like sawdust for a filler), and black beans with gravel still among them does not a meal make. I almost broke a tooth eating the beans, managing to choke down the dry bread with a little water before standing up and taking my dishes to the sink.
"I thank you, for your wonderful meal Tsunami-san, if you'll excuse me?"
She must not have caught my sarcasm because she smiles and nods, thanking me and apologizing for the quality.
I walk outside; heading towards a nearby clearing to the sound of my tenant's chuckling.
"Be silent tenant."
::Clearing::
I sit down with my legs crossed, unsealing Noriko once more to finish up some modifications to the seals on her mask. I lift it off, revealing the poison mechanisms inside.
"Poor Noriko-san, if only you'd listened to me. You had such a pretty face too." I murmur as I begin searing another seal into the matrix. "Do you know how much it pained me to peel it away?"
I work a few more seals into the mask, half-focused as I stare off into the distance at an approaching figure.
"Such a pretty face...Kiri Oinin-san..."
I feel her confusion through her signature as she walks up to me, dressed in a simple pink kimono.
"Kiri?" she asks me, sitting down before me as though I were not her enemy. "I have no ties to Kiri; I have lived as a medicine peddler in this village since my mother died. It's not good money, since everyone is poor, but I enjoy helping."
"You fool no one Kiri Oinin-san, I recognize your signature. I told you to be wary, not idiotic." I reply, not lowering my guard as I continue to carve seals into the mask. I watch as a butterfly lands on the girl's outstretched finger and smile as it changes into a myriad of snakes to surround her. "Although I suppose I could just take you now. My tenant tells me that you have quite the interesting bloodline. A very useful bloodline."
"Oh really?" I hear a slightly deeper voice whisper into my ear as I feel the pinprick of a senbon at my throat. "And just how do you intend to do that?"
The girl in front of me melts into water, Mizu Bunshin then. I sigh and replace the mask onto Noriko's faceless frame before shifting into a tick to get free.
"You are good Kiri Oinin-san." I tell her as I pull Noriko to her feet and walk away using chakra strings. "But I am better."
I watch as the now confused girl gasps, blood spraying from a shallow cut on her breast where my sword has left its mark. She would live...and I would figure out why her mental presence projected itself differently to my tenant in those last few moments.
I couldn't help but smile.
-
Kakashi awoke this morning and was forced to use some crutches Momoiro fashioned for him from some old wood lying around. He was still determined to train us however, so off we went into the forest to learn tree-walking. My disgust knew no bounds here as I sniffed and channeled chakra to my feet easily, using the bare minimum to adhere myself to the bark.
Once again, it was about the nature of the chakra and not the amount, chakra was naturally in nature and once you've expelled it from your body it wants to do nothing more except bond back with itself. If you force it, you get results like Karasu's, blowing yourself away from the tree, if you do not let it meld long enough, then you fall, like Momoiro. I was tempted to simply act as though I were failing this exercise but I had more important things to do, so I placed my foot upon the tall pine tree and began to walk at a quick pace. I didn't stop until there was a loud clicking sound from down below and the smell of blood, perhaps we'd been attacked? I let go of the thin hold, thanking the tree as I freefall through the branches and back towards earth, reinforcing my legs with chakra as I land from the nearly thirty foot drop and come up from my crouch with my sword in hand.
"What happened?" I ask, keeping my senses open as I stand on guard, watching Kakashi for any signs of fatigue as I gazed around the clearing with a wary eye. He motions for me to stay silent, Momoiro and Karasu doing the same as the sound of clicking reaches my ears again. I frown, remembering that particular pattern, but why was Syujin here?
I don't have time to ponder as the odd man comes out of the woods, the wooden beetle he's riding in clicking rhythmically as it was when I first met him two years ago.
::Flashback::
"Hey gaki-sama!" the yellow skinned man calls out to me in greeting as I head back towards the village proper from the forest.
"Hello Jii-san, did you need something?" I ask, turning to face him, my sword held carefully towards him.
"Not really, I've just been taking notice of those little things you have with you. The lady puppet for instance, do you want to know how to make her more effective?" he murmurs lowly, coming up beside me so quickly that I almost lose track of him. He smelled like turpentine and death.
"That...would be appreciated Jii-san." I reply before looking at him more fully. His head of extensive dark blue hair was jolting up high above his head and contrasted terribly with his sallow butter-like complexion, long fingernails curved over and over into spirals so tight that I wondered how he could hold his hands up and much less grasp anything without breaking them or wincing in pain. He had the face of a commoner; the only things that truly stood out were that he possessed strange eyes with red half-moon pupils while his face was riddled with scars, almost as though someone had tried to cut the top three layers of it away. The upper part of his body was severely emaciated, covered in thin white cloth looped with three thick, heavy looking chains that appeared to secure him into the wooden beetle puppet that he was riding inside. The beetle was the oddest thing, it was sanded smooth so that nothing was visible, not even the seals that I later learned were carved into it. "What will you ask of me in return?"
The odd man smiles, revealing extremely sharpened teeth with what looked to be orange wax painted over the tips.
"It's so I don't bite my tongue." he tells me, noticing the direction of my gaze, his voice was high and choppy, almost like a eunuch."I want nothing at the moment, just that you be a good student."
I nod, still not sheathing my sword as I direct him in front of me, stating directions as he walks.
"You're cautious gaki, I like that." he'd finally turned and said to me after we got to the clearing, his teeth glinting in the dying sunlight as we enter my laboratory.
::End Flashback::
Curse you, Syujin.
"Who are you?" I hear Kakashi ask gruffly, attempting to be intimidating. Sigh, may as well diffuse the situation now before they stupidly attack him. It wouldn't due to have them attack this man, I was quite sure he could and would still solidly hand my ass to me even after all this time.
"Hello Syujin-san." I mutter, inclining my head towards him and bringing my sword to rest at my breast as I maintain my crouch, ready to attack at a moment's oddity. "Did you need something? Or are you simply...visiting?"
I watch from my peripheral vision as Momoiro relaxes upon seeing that I know the man.
Foolish.
At least Kakashi and Karasu had 'some' intelligence.
Syujin laughs, his tower of hair leaning as he tilts his head back despite the heavy weight of the chains.
"I've come to collect your debt to me, gaki-sama."
I narrow my eyes at him as he forces his way into my mind.
/Extract the Ichibi and his host's Living Chakra when you come across them, make the body into a puppet like myself, exactly like myself. Do this one task for me and I will let you have free reign over this body to do with it what you will./
I start, almost dropping my weapon at the mere prospect. The secrets contained in his body were nothing short of amazing, considering the little bit that he took the time to teach me.
"You'd better not be lying Syujin-san."
He smiles, not a nice one either.
"You know I never lie gaki-sama, your tenant tells you as such, I know."
I nod, lowering my weapon to my side as I walk up to him, Kakashi and Karasu tensing behind me. I ignore them and grasp Syujin's thin hand in my own, making a point of burning a binding seal into his chakra make-up.
"I'm holding you to that Syujin-san." I state, listening to his laughter as he fades from sight a moment later.
"Naruto."
I turn to face Kakashi, a calm look pasted onto my features.
"Yes sensei?" I reply, putting a subtle note of subordination into my voice. We will talk about this later if you please.
"No more visits from family on missions." You're definitely explaining later.
"Of course Kakashi-sensei." If by explain you mean lie, then by all means, yes I will.
Notes of the Footed Kind
1 . Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū- Seven Swordsmen of the Mist; Hoshigaki Kisame, Zabuza Momochi and Kurosuki Raiga are currently the only known members of this group. The whereabouts of the former and the latter are currently unknown.
2 . Antecubital joint- for you non-science folk, that's your elbow.
-
Anaki: Okay, I've hit a dead end here, so I'm gonna go ahead and post it! Like a note!
RC16: A Post-it Note?
Anaki: Yes!
RC16: -sigh- I need a drink.
Anaki: -blinks- Why?
RC16: 'Cause you're an idiot, that's why.
Anaki: -sniffles-
RC16: Oh don't start...
Anaki: -cries-
RC16: GODDAMNIT!
RC17: Um...review?