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)
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: Yes, yes, I know the last chapter was kinda shallow and short but I had to leave ya'll at that cliffhanger. It's been planned like that. Also, I am now re-employed! Yay! Also, I've quit college because I hated it, so I'll be updating a lot more in between looking for full-time work, joy for you all, yay! And, if you're really desperate to know when the next update'll be, check my profile. The most recent news will be on my blog, to which there is a link in aforementioned profile.
Also, to ChronoMitsurugi: This chapter is gonna be long as fuck (without rambling on and on I hope)! Enjoy!
WARNING: See beginning A/N: chapter before last. I really hate repeating myself.
Well Then
It Appears
I
Was
Mistaken
You
Were
My Death
However
I Am The
True Immortal
Knaji
:::
Chapter Sixteen: Skin of a Serpent: Stage Two
::Forest of Death::
Sasuke
I watch as Sakura slumps over, crazy murmurs and ear-splitting screams coming from her mouth while her body changes into something that is most decidely not female if the anatomy classes I took are right.
It's actually kind of gross watching my female teammate be mutilated like this, especially since where ever the crawling seals on her touched, her body parts burst apart like a bloated piglet sitting out in the scorching sun for one too many days and these new, thicker male appendages took their place.
My opponent had stopped fighting and was watching intently, though I knew if I were to try and attack, that she/he/it would rebuff my attack and more than likely kill me. Likewise I was unable to help Sakura. I was more or less frozen in fear, and I didn't know if whatever was happening to her was because of our opponent or because of something our disturbing deceased teammate did with his blood while he was alive. I hadn't missed the fact that her legs were covered in it, well...they were before they had bust open like a microwaved hamster.
Either way, I had no desire to transform into something or someone else today so helping her was out.
Sorry Sakura. May you rest in peace.
The seals had reached her throat now, her screams dying off into agonized animalistic whimpers, and I wonder if what's happening to her is almost done. It seemed like it at least. I hoped it was. It was reforming her face now, I almost lose it when I saw the familiar whisker marked cheeks as her face popped off like a ruptured balloon.
Leaving a naked Uzumaki Naruto flexing the right and left arms of his new body amidst the ruined form of Haruno Sakura.
I felt disconnected from my body even as I leaned over to retch.
Naruto
Well, unfortunately she did not survive the process. I admit I did not think it would be so...messy. Yes,...messy was a sufficient description of what had taken place here. I could still see through her memories what had taken place during the imprinting and rebirth.
Honestly, it was quite entertaining. I would be filing this away in my mind for further examination.
Tenant? Are you there?
It nods in affirmation.
Oh good, I would have hated for that to go horribly awr-
Yes I know I assured you-
Sigh. Well it will work from now on, it is not like I 'wanted' to be decapitated. It is a highly unpleasant process you kn-
Yes, at least we are alive now.
I snap back to reality as my tenant flares its chakra in irritation, growling at the invader to my personal space. Karasu was still heaving up any meals he may have indulged in today, while the soon-to-be-an-experiment snake summoner was suddenly in my face, studying me.
"You are interesting. I would say I regret killing you if not for this little trick. However did you do it I wonder?" he hissed simply in question, making as if to reach forward and grab my chin. I immediately call on the power of my tenant, pushing the chakra into my arms and grabbing the man about the neck, his eyes barely have time to widen in shock as I clench my hands together, snapping it with little effort.
Only to grimace in frustration as I am covered in an explosion of mud from head to toe. A clone.
I hear a hissing laugh next to my ear.
"I am just as hard to kill as you Kyuubi child, ssstay alive for me, you are highly interesting..." he states once more before giving a casual, dismissing glance at Karasu, he then sinks into the ground, his chakra signature finally disappearing.
I sigh, he would be such a pain to deal with later. And I needed to "revive" Momoiro. And clean up. I was filthy.
Luckily for my rapidly thinning patience, I had all of her memories and a suitable subject with which to revitalize her.
"Come along Karasu-san," I utter, standing up and walking over to him. I pat him on the shoulder, and he flinches away.
"W-w-what are you? Why do you have all this power?" he asks, his voice small, if not frightened.
How idiosyncratic I found it that his arrogance had failed him for the moment.
I do not bother to respond as divest my former body of its clothes, scrolls, and useful weapons before lighting it on fire. The smell of burning flesh permeates the air. All of the modifications had transferred over to my new body, thus I had no use for the sack of flesh covered bones that I used to inhabit.
I would need to study the mimeograph seal in more depth. I had no idea that the transfer would be this complete. I had thought that I would have to re-do each and every one of my modifications. That I would lose certain aspects of myself or those of my tenant.
I had perfected a way to cheat death. Wholly and indefinitely.
Of course there were consequences. I knew that now. I would always know. But back then I was foolish, there were still aspects of the idiotic child in me that had not been fully squashed. And I would pay for it years down the line.
However, I digress.
As I destroyed my former self, there was an urge I could not ignore, no matter how odd. I pick up my severed head, heading for the river. Karasu would follow soon, after he came back to his senses.
He arrived just as the large pot of water I had put over the fire begins to boil, I step out of the surprisingly lukewarm river and dry off, paying no heed to my nudity while I attempt to scrub the bloodstains from the collar of my shirt. So irritating. Smelling of blood would attract animals.
Karasu manages to come to a conclusion regarding my 'power' as he put it. He, somewhat wisely in my personal opinion, deigns not to say anything. I assume that he will keep this to himself, if only so as not to be seen as weak.
I don my damp clothing before picking up my former head and beginning to cut the skin and hair away from the skull as carefully as possible, wanting to leave it as intact as I can. I pluck six teeth from the skull before tossing it into the river, perhaps a certain unlucky snake will eat it and choke.
I quickly sew the eyes shut, crushing the eyeballs that had fallen to the ground underfoot, and skewer the lips through with small toothpick like slivers gained from a nearby tree with my knife. The head is tossed into the pot, while I unseal the limp form of the Kiri Oinin.
I do not bother to wake her yet, instead quickly creating a vacuum and inscribing the necessary seals throughout the clearing. Karasu watches me, a curious yet wary expression warring for dominance on his features. No doubt he was wondering what I was doing. He would see soon enough.
I return to the woman's body, using my tenant's chakra to forcefully alter a bit of her DNA for eye color to green and dyeing her hair pink before cutting it short so it would not be such a hindrance, although I admit I was tempted to render her completely bald. Yes, it turns out that Momoiro was in fact a natural brunette, how quaint. I carefully break a few of the bones of her face, shaping and healing it to look like that of my deceased teammate, before stepping back to look at my progress. Her breasts were a mite too large to be those of Momoiro's, but it was such a minor detail that I did not think anyone would truly notice. As for the rest of the woman, she was a bit taller but that could be explained away as well as shortening her bones would be detrimental to the changes I had planned in the long run. Nevermind the fact that she would remain short, and it would begin to look supsicious that an adolescent had not grown an inch in several years.
Although I admit, if I felt like it, I could alter her further with Living Chakra. However, I had plans for what I had with me.
I reach over to the prone form, burning away a mole that resides on the former Oinin's face before smiling to myself.
This truly looked like Momoiro.
My genius knows no bounds.
I do a quick memory transfer, utilizing a little known jutsu that destroyed the mind and rebuilt it to the user's specifications. I push out all of the Oinin's knowledge with the exception of that of her bloodline (which I am unfortunately forced to "lock down" until I can have this new Momoiro "killed" on a dangerous mission) and any other useful shinobi things she may know, before replacing it with all of Momoiro's memories. Childhood, shinobi lifestyle, etc. It was all very boring and I was quite delighted to remove it from my psyche.
I wake her up, watching as she bursts into tears as what had taken place not two hours, fifty-seven minutes, and eight...no, nine seconds prior springs forth in her mind. I truly did not care about her feelings to be honest, there were already numerous measures in place to assure that she nor Karasu could tell anyone.
"Do be silent Momoiro-san, you are hurting my ears you know?"
I ignore her shocked look as I go to fish the head from the pot of water, tossing some rocks into the fire to heat up.
Next in line was the Ichibi's container.
How fun.
::::
Sakura
I didn't know how I was alive.
He had eaten at my body like a parasite, burning through everything that was me and taking over.
I remember my head popping open as if it were a watermelon thrown to the ground and then suddenly I was seeing the world through his eyes and I was him and no one else.
And then I was me again, almost.
I felt strange. My balance was terrible and I felt too big for my body, I kept tripping over everything and everything was shorter than it was a few hours ago.
I look over to my creepy teammate as he finishes what looks to be a necklace of teeth with a small human head in the center and shiver.
...The head's hair was the same color as his.
Freaky.
He graces me with a smile that would seem kind on anyone else's face.
On him it just looks psychotic.
"Something the matter...Momoiro-san?"
Yes, very the matter, you did something to my body. You used me for your own gain and I thought I was dead, was you, was...was...I don't know.
But of course I can't tell him that. What if he killed me? Or used me for one of these experiments he talks about? Oh Kami-sama, what if that lady-puppet of his used to be a person? I don't want to be a puppet...
"N-no, everything's f-fin-AAAGH!"
I flail wildy, tripping over another tree branch, and brace myself for a meeting with the ground...only to have Sasuke catch me.
I resist the urge to blush as he sets me to rights without another word. This was the first time he'd touched me voluntarily outside of a spar. I watch him glare at Naruto as his grin widens.
Sigh.
I knew he cared.
:::
Sasuke
I've decided I don't want to learn anything my freak of a teammate has to teach me.
Not anymore.
He was too insane, too self-serving for me to want to learn anything from him.
He didn't care about us, I don't think he cared about anyone except that purple-haired woman, and I only say that because I saw him smile around her. A real smile, at least, it seemed to be real. You can never tell with Naruto.
I knew if I kept antagonizing him, bothering him, that I could end up like Sakura.
I allow myself to glance her way, remembering who she really was just a few hours before.
The Mist Oinin that we had fought during the Wave mission, Naruto had planned this since then, he must have. There was no other way.
He had been planning to kill Sakura since the Wave mission, and no one knew it.
Actually, now that I think about it, Sakura and I still don't know how Kakashi-sensei ended up hospitalized. We just know he got beaten very badly in a spar. I know that every time sensei's name is mentioned, a fleeting smirk goes across Naruto's face as if he had something to do with it.
Though, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he did.
I look over, watching as his eyes glaze over again, like they always do.
I needed to stay away from him.
He was dangerous. Even more dangerous than that woman-thing we just fought.
Shit, coming back from the dead?
Insane.
:::
Karasu looked...wary, yes, that's the word. He also stunk of fear, I wonder if he was shaken from the events of earlier.
Hm, more than likely, oh well, he'll live.
I had more important things on my plate at this time, no time to deal with a foolish little boy vying for vengeance.
It was laughable really.
Notes of The Footed Kind
1. Null
2. Void
Anaki: Got a new job!
RC16: That was quick.
Anaki: Not quick enough.
RC16: Yeah but at least you found something so quit bitching.
Anaki: Blah blah blah blah blah...
RC16: Ugh, shut up.
Anaki: ...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
RC16: Shut up! -throws a frog in your mouth-
Anaki: -eats it- Mmm, tastes like a ribbity chicken.
RC16: Gross dudette.
RC17: Very. -turns green- Ew...Please review darlings...while I go vomit