A/N: To those of you who have waited so patiently, I extend my sincerest apologies and thanks. Today marks the rebirth of this story, an event in which I take pride, considering the effort required to earn free time in this place. I hope you all can still enjoy it after waiting this long.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Fatal Memory
A brilliant flash of red, followed by a crackling, splitting pain as the ground rushed up to collide with her head. She was unsure as to why she had lost her balance or why she was unable to regain it, but there was no way that she could have fought it—even had she been at her greatest level of strength, she realized, so overwhelming and compelling was the red power. Under its will, she could only lie helpless in the depths of her own mind and watch her body fall, shutting down around her.
She was awakened what seemed like only moments later as a warm, slightly ticklish feeling spread through her. The feeling began at her wound and flooded into and through her, suffusing her with vitality. No longer did she feel pain, and the loss of blood did not cause her any faintness. Immediately she knew that she was being healed through medical ninjutsu, but who would come to heal her was a complete mystery; Orochimaru's medical specialists would all have fled the building by now, and the Cloud wouldn't know where she was at this point. So who would it be? She had a suspicion, but if it was true, then...
Ayaka opened her eyes to stare into the dark, dirty determined, and very unhappy face of Haruno Sakura. Her suspicions confirmed, she allowed herself to show a little emotion, and let her head droop in both exasperation and humility. She did not have to try to move to know that the other girl had utilized special medicine to paralyze her arms and legs. Sakura had caught her, and she was now at the medic's complete mercy.
The situation was ironic, but Sakura did not seem to care to discuss irony. Her face held no malice, despite her obvious anger, and Ayaka could see that she was not taking any pleasure in the role reversal, either. That was something that the plant user could appreciate. Most tended to become feverishly happy when they had a chance to pay back one who violated them, and Ayaka had not enjoyed wiping those smiles away. Though, in this situation, retaliation would be impossible...
"Tell me what you saw," demanded Sakura firmly. Ayaka's eyes blinked as she was pulled out of her thoughts.
"You don't intend to kill me?" she asked quietly, ignoring the demand.
"You're not in a position to ask me questions," Sakura said, her face showing no change. Then she reiterated, "Tell me what you saw."
"Aburame Shino told me that you would heal me," Ayaka mused. "I told him that you would sooner help me commit ritual suicide. Yet he has proven to be right, once again. Or is it that the 'role' that the dark one wishes me to play was conceived by you and your group, rather than by himself?"
This time Sakura was caught off guard. "Dark one?" she asked. "What do mean, 'role'? Tell me who you're talking about... is it Orochimaru or...?"
"The one who traveled with your group," Ayaka clarified. "He was the one who killed Kouhei-sempai."
"Uchiha Sasuke," Sakura said, identifying the dark one by name. "You saw him here? Where did he go? Was he acting differently from when you saw him with us? Did he..." her sentence cut off as she looked over her shoulder at the black-haired corpse behind her.
"I encountered him after my fight against your Aburame comrade," Ayaka confirmed. "He was able to know the outcome of that battle within an instant of seeing me. He told me to survive and return to my clan—a command for which I cannot determine any sensible reason, considering the nature of the giver. I thought perhaps that he might have been speaking on behalf of Aburame or Uzumaki, since they are of a more forgiving nature, but it does not make sense for a prisoner to aid his warden, either."
Sakura turned her head back forward to look at her again, perplexed. Sasuke had told this Cloud nin to escape and go home? Was that part of Orochimaru's agenda? It hardly seemed likely for the Snake Sennin to feel the need to keep such insignificant pawns alive. Did Sasuke have his own side plans?
"None of us thought of that, except maybe Shino, since he let you go," the medic said. "Did he tell you anything else?"
"He told me that Hikaru is dead," Ayaka said simply. Her emerald gaze held very little regret.
"I'm sorry," Sakura offered, more for the sake of protocol than Ayaka's grief. "What happened next?"
"I believed that he was going to find one of the stronger shinobi within the facility. I had pollen traces on both Hiroto and Orochimaru, and followed the nearest one down to this level. Eventually, I found the entrance to this chamber, and heard voices within. They spoke of a transfer, a change of containers, some matter which I did not comprehend..."
"Orochimaru's body transfer," Sakura clarified. "He is an old shinobi who dreams of being immortal, but his "immortality" requires him to steal the bodies of other people every three years." She fixedated intently on Ayaka, wanting to hear the complete truth. "Did they do the transfer here?"
Ayaka's green eyes closed, their owner beginning to tire of this complicated matter. "I am unsure of what I saw," she said. "I felt an intense buildup of chakra within this room, and then something from outside made the earth shake. Distracted, I could barely determine anything of what actually went on. I thought that I could hear someone within the room screaming and felt a large chakra flare, but I could not confirm it."
Sakura's face fell, exasperation and anger beginning to show through. "So that's all that you saw? You blacked out after that?"
Ayaka opened her eyes and shook her head. "No. When the tremor was over and the chakra flare and noise had stopped, I entered the chamber to see what had happened. I saw the room as it is now for a few brief seconds—the corpse and the tunnel behind it—but then something red flashed at me, and I fell here and lost consciousness."
"Something red..." Sakura thought aloud. "Could it have been his eyes?"
"The eyes of the dark one?" Ayaka questioned. "Possibly; although, I did not see the shuriken pattern of his pupils. When did they obtain that shape, and the sense of power that accompanied it? Does he gain power through killing powerful ones like Kouhei-sempai? That may be the reason why Orochimaru's corpse lies there behind you."
Sakura's expression was immediately attentive again. "Shuriken? He never had eyes like that when he was with us. But then, he left us as soon as he'd beaten your leader. What in the world...?"
Then something dawned on her. The entire team had been bewildered by the fact that Sasuke had saved their lives and then fled them. It had been a huge contradiction; to preserve the ones who had kept him prisoner, when they would all die anyway once his body had been given to the sinister Orochimaru. However, if his eyes had changed and he had become more powerful—if he had gained the great and terrible power that his older brother gained before him—then it might not have been necessary to do the body transfer at all. If that were the case, then Orochimaru's mind may have died with the body.
If that were the case, and Sasuke had not killed the others back in the forest...
"He isn't the dark one that killed your leader, not anymore," Sakura said. "Whether the body transfer succeeded or not, a new mind is walking in the body of Uchiha Sasuke. We need to find out what kind of mind it is, or we might risk letting thousands of people die."
"Then you are going to pursue him?" Ayaka asked, her voice rising in bewilderment. "You cannot! The power that accumulated in this room... you will be detected before you even realize that you are following the correct trail, and if you fight, you will be destroyed in an instant..."
Another blast sent chunks of the ceiling crashing down around them, giving her pause. It seemed to Ayaka to be closer than the last one had been.
"And you are going to come with me. Would you rather stay down here?" Sakura questioned. She pricked the plant user with a needle, injecting the antidote to the paralyzing agent. She did not fear any retaliation; it was obvious that even though she was healed, Ayaka was stripped almost completely of any weapons. It was also clear, from her easy cooperation, that she had no intention of being delayed from escaping.
"Admittedly not," she replied. "The dark one also spoke of some type of weapon belonging to Orochimaru's enemies. If my intuition is correct, then that is the source of the tremors."
"Then let's not waste any more time," Sakura said. "I sent Gamakichi and Gamatatsu ahead to make sure the tunnel was clear. Since they haven't come back yet, I think we can assume there isn't anything blocking the way. You should be able to move by now." She stood up and offered her former prisoner a hand up.
Ayaka found that she was right; the tingling feeling had stopped, and her limbs obeyed her once again even if they were tired. She took the hand and rose up to her own feet. Though the pink-haired medic might have despised her, it was clear that they had similar goals now; neither one wanted to remain in this collapsing hole in the ground any longer, and Ayaka did want to find out what the dark one had meant by "her role."
"Let us hope that the earthquakes have not placed any new obstruction since your allies' departure," she said.
Sakura looked boldly into the black depths of the tunnel, and pulled her glove more tightly onto her hand.
"If there is one," she said, "It won't hold us up for very long."
OoOoOoOoOoO
"Damn, those crazy quakes are getting worse and worse!" Kiba yelled over the noise, shielding the two children he carried with his body against the falling debris. Their little arms clung to him desperately, begging nonverbally to protect them. Kiba heard their pleas and answered with all the strength he could, even though that strength was leaking away through his wounds.
Shino's insects formed a protective barrier over Neji and the others that they had rescued on their way out. They now totaled nine; three shinobi, three adults, one teenage boy, and the two children—a boy and girl—that were now under Kiba's personal protection. They had left the prison level a short while ago, thanks to Shino's guidance, but the tremors had produced a number of obstructions on the rock-lined path, making progress slower than they had anticipated. This delay made the non-combatants visibly nervous, and their near-panic was spreading onto Kiba. Only Neji and Shino remained cool-headed, and Neji was not in any condition to take effective action. They could only count on Shino to lead them out of danger.
The present tremor died out, and the children quieted some. One of the adult men gave a gasp of relief, and the mother of the young boy sobbed heavily as she gave thanks for their continued life. Kiba, however, was in no less of a hurry.
"Come on, Shino!" he urged. "This one's over with, let's move!"
Shino wordlessly sent his bugs to work on clearing the rubble that had fallen around them, turning to face his anxious comrade. "The tremors are indeed getting larger as you thought, Kiba. As a result, they are producing greater obstructions. This one will take a few minutes to clear away with what is left of my hive."
Neji immediately detected a spike in Kiba's anger and chakra level. "Kiba!" he yelled, "Don't try to clear it yourself. You'll only...!"
"To hell with that!" Kiba barked back, setting down the two children and bringing his hands into claws. "The 'few minutes' that you need won't be half over by the time the next quake comes around! I'm not letting us or these people die down here!"
He hurled himself forward in a violent spinning motion, attacking the blockage despite the pain of his injuries. His clawed hands struck the fallen earth, grinding it to dust in seconds. Dirt flew backwards around the rest of the party, and Shino redirected his insects to keep any of it from flying into them. When the dust cleared, Kiba lay panting in the middle of the cleared path, bleeding freshly from the knife wound in his back.
"Damn him," Neji said to himself, too exhausted to reprimand his teammate. "Now I will have to carry him, and our progress might be slower yet with another injured person..."
"My insects can carry one person," Shino offered.
"No," Neji said, "You need your kikai bugs to protect us from debris and to clear the way ahead. I will have to..."
But even as he spoke, two small bodies rushed past Neji towards the ailing Kiba. They reached him quickly and used four small hands to pull him up onto his knees in a kneeling position. One of them took Kiba's canteen out of his pack and held it up to Kiba's mouth, making him drink the water that was left.
"I can walk," he said, taking a quick swig and replacing the canteen in its place. He stepped forward, seemingly unaffected by his aggravated injury...
...and fell after taking only three steps. The two children caught him just before he impacted the ground, straining their tiny muscles to keep him from damaging himself any more. They didn't want the nice man who had saved them to die down here.
The teenage boy and one of the adults, a tall, well-built man in his late thirties, stepped forward. "We'll carry him," said the older man. Together, they went and relieved the two children, each one supporting one of Kiba's arms over his shoulders, and began to walk forward. The rest of the party followed.
Even as he went with them, Neji looked on in astonishment. A few days ago, Kiba had made an enemy out of one woman for the death of a child that was not his fault. Now, he was determined to the point of killing himself to never let it happen again, and these people recognized him as a hero. He let a smile creep onto his face, despite the seriousness of the situation. It was good to see the younger ones develop this way. Perhaps he would put in a good word to the jounin exam proctors for Kiba when they made it home.
Those pleasant thoughts scattered as a loud crash was heard and the next tremor started. Neji brought his good arm up and expelled as much chakra as he could from his palm, blasting the initial debris over the party's heads. The Hakke Kushou gave the two children time to find cover while Shino's bugs deployed back into their shield formation.
The insects made it not a moment too soon, either; this tremor, while not the largest that they had felt, brought the heaviest rain of debris that they had seen yet. Thousands of pounds of dirt and rock fell in four large waves, and not even the kikai bugs could prevent a few small stones and streams of coarse dust from falling onto them. Neji and the civilians ducked and covered their heads while Shino worked tirelessly to preserve them all. The hellish ordeal seemed to go on forever, and both the children and the adults cried out in terror.
Eventually, however, the terrible rain ceased, leaving only dust and... was that sunlight? Neji opened his eyes to find that the passage had brightened considerably, and several of his companions, including Shino, were staring straight up. His own gaze shifted the same direction, confirming his suspicions; the dirt ceilings and floors for some distance in front of them had been severely weakened by the previous tremors, and had now entirely collapsed. Several tons of dirt lay in heaps on all sides of them, and the blue sky was directly over their heads.
"Kiba's haste saved us from being trapped behind this," Shino said, looking behind Neji and the others to the mass of rubble there. Indeed, the trail behind them was completely caved in, and the long strip of sky did not extend far in that direction.
"Thank heavens," the civilian woman said, gathering her child into her arms. Her teary eyes regarded the sleeping Kiba with admiration.
"That boy is a real hero," said a young, thin man to her left. The others all nodded in agreement. Neji was simultaneously proud of his friend and happy that he had not heard those words. When he was healthy, should he hear of this, he might let it go to his head.
"Let's get out of here," he said. "We may not have another chance like this."
Shino nodded in assent, and took hold of the mother and child, leaping up with them to the top of the crater. Neji, though hurt, managed to jump out with the little girl. Shino's insects carried out the remaining three people in turns. Within two minutes, they all stood a safe distance from the lip of the crater, panting in exhaustion and drinking water to cool themselves in the sudden hot weather.
Neji made certain that everyone was safe, and then put what little chakra he had left into his Byakugan, using his superior vision to look out across the Grave. He was searching for any sign of whatever it was that was causing those tremors; having been subjected to so many of them, all of roughly the same duration, he knew that it was no natural occurrence. The many craters that he saw confirmed that theory. Something had been punching into the desert soil repeatedly and with great force.
"Wow," exclaimed the teenager, looking around. "What could've made all those holes?"
Neji was about to answer that he didn't know, but he was interrupted by a sudden intensity in the desert sun above. Squinting, he looked up to see what was happening.
His jaw almost dropped at the sight of the giant beam of multicolored light that fell from the sky and struck the ground just a couple of miles away. It was so bright that it nearly blinded him, and he had to shut off his Byakugan against the pain. The civilians cried out in surprise and horror, watching the earth erupt underneath that incredible force.
The noise awakened Kiba, who sat bolt upright and snapped his hand to his weapon pouch. "What the hell was that?!"
Neji's face was grim as he answered, "Something that makes me hope that I will see my cousin again."
OoOoOoOoOoO
"So," Haruka asked, walking up the black shade nearest her, "Why do you look like this? I know it's cute for couples to dress alike these days, but I think you've taken it a little too far in this case."
The shade—who was really Hinata—made little show of being ecstatic about being referred to as a couple with Naruto before they were officially dating. Instead, she retreated a few steps and seemed to shrink inside her black covering. The result was a black shade that looked to be a comical combination of cute and evil—something which amused Haruka greatly. This was almost as fun as whipping the crap out of Keisuke!
Speaking of whom...
"Hey, sukebe-Keisuke, come here. I want to show..."
"Haruka!" Keisuke yelled suddenly, "Look behind you!"
Haruka turned just in time to see the wave of chakra hurtling towards her, but not fast enough to do anything about it except raise her arms in front of her body in defense. Luckily for her, the wave was not intended to hurt her; all it wanted was the strange ring on her finger, which it grabbed and yanked away easily as it retreated up into the ceiling.
"Huh?" she said, looking up at where it had gone. "Hey, that was mine!"
The ring disappeared into a hole in the roof of the arena that had not been there a few moments ago. Had it been an illusory wall? Haruka focused her Byakugan to try to see up inside, but all she saw was dark.
"Whoa, what is that up there? Can you see anyone, Hinata?"
"Naruto?" Keisuke asked, looking over at the shades. Certainly enough, the illusion of blackness had vanished, and he could see and understand him and Hinata clearly. He smiled; this was the first time he'd seen the "kids" that he liked so well with his own eyes. "Good to see you, kid."
"Hey, niichan," Naruto said, winking. "You can see us now? Where'd you get the eyes?"
"A gift from our most gracious host," the once-blind man replied, giving off a sign of momentary disgust. "It feels really good to be away from him. Somehow it feels like I'll never have to deal with him again, but it's probably me just being ecstatic over my freedom... Is there anyone up there, Haruka, Hinata?"
"No," Hinata answered, shaking her head.
"Damn it, I can't see them!" Haruka said. "They took my ring, damn it! They're probably the ones who were screwing with us with their shadow-form illusion crap..."
"Actually, Haruka," yelled a voice from the hole, "This ring belongs to me..."
The darkness covering the insides of the hole compressed, seeming to form into the outline of a man. It fell down towards them, causing Keisuke, Naruto, and Hinata to leap back in defensive instinct. Haruka stood her ground, angered at the voice; she was almost certain that she knew who it was, and she was determined to repay her debt to him. He landed gracefully in the dirt, where he let the darkness flow away to reveal his true form.
"...as did the illusion," Hiroto finished. He stood tall and smiling with unfathomable evil, burning with unmeasurable rage, with the ring on his uninjured hand, the other hand oozing blood over a black scroll held in it. The blood made the yellow scripture on the paper blaze brightly, and the blazing energy seemed to be spreading like electric current from the scroll through his body. His silver eyes crackled with that wild yellow energy.
"You look a little worse for wear, Kin-abandoner," Haruka spat. "It looks like the results of your bargain didn't agree with you."
"Oh, so the mighty Sadist of Konoha is reduced to name-calling?" Hiroto chuckled to himself as he regarded her, shaking his head. "And you've brought the Great Father, our clan's single greatest benefactor and single greatest disappointment, along with you. It's a shame how, in the end, he could not see the greatness of his son's ambition... isn't it, Haka no Keisuke?"
Keisuke took a step back, eyes bulging wide in shock. "What...? What do you know of your ancestors, kidnapper? You who weren't there, how do you know anything? Do you mean to tell me that your precious Byakugan can see into dreams, too?"
Haruka's anger faded a moment when she heard him speak, and she, Naruto, and Hinata all shifted their gaze to him. His dreams? Was that what he had been dreaming about, when he had been lying on Kabuto's operating table? Was that what had had him screaming in illusory pain, real agony in a false world? Haruka's rage increased tenfold; to make his own ancestor relive the pain of his terrible past, along with all of the physical agony that he had endured, was unforgivable.
Naruto regarded the scene with wonder and confusion. It was obvious that Keisuke had been through a lot, but he did not know exactly what, other than the fact that he had obtained a set of eyes and a whole lot of scars. He looked to Hinata, and could see that she was just about as confused as he was. He would have to ask Keisuke or Haruka about it later.
It occurred to him then, however, that none of them was really focused on the fight that was obviously about to start. He pushed chakra through the Reiude connection that he had with Hinata, giving her a nudge to get her attention. She looked at him, and he mouthed "get ready" as he went into a ready fighting position. She nodded back, and began maneuvering quietly around behind Hiroto, hoping not to be noticed while the evil Hyuuga was focused on Keisuke.
"Of course I cannot enter minds," Hiroto said, answering Keisuke's question. "Only the Sharingan which Orochimaru covets has the power to do that. But I do have sources, O Great Father." He brought the hand with the sapphire ring up to his face, gazing at it with an appreciative gaze. "You made a mistake when you threw this away... no, I do not refer to the fact that your sadistic lover would be without a wedding band, but to the fact that you gave your past a chance to come back to haunt you."
He lowered the ring hand back to his side and smiled with unmistakable triumph at Keisuke. The yellow power flowing from the scroll flashed across his chest and began to tickle the ring. Green mottling began to form where the sparks touched the gem.
"You see, like a few other demons," Hiroto explained, "Your mother's spirit was tied to a special aritfact. This ring which, if you will remember, she left with your father was one of them. Within its confines she hid there even after the villagers came to try to drive her out. Safe there, she continued to afflict your father until he summoned the Rokubi and destroyed your home. Ah, what a glorious experience she describes in that... but I'll get to that shortly.
"But after that, it was you who held the ring, and she did not dare reveal her presence to you, for her plan was not yet ready to be implemented; you were not a fitting servant for the purpose that she had outlined. She could only lay in wait and gift your child with his incredible eyes... yes, it was her, for even after you threw the ring away, her power allowed her to call out to wandering souls, convincing a wandering monk that she was the voice of a deity, leading him to find the ring and take it back to the temple as a holy artifact. It was there that she called out to your son—who should be called the true Great Father—much in the same fashion that she called to me."
"Called to you?" Keisuke interrupted. "If she had called to anyone, I should have been able to hear it. I am tied to her by blood, and my chakra has the same taint..."
"Ah, but you do not seek the suffering of souls as she does, Father," Hiroto pointed out. "You reject the practice of tormenting mortals, and therefore the 'taint' to your chakra is not prominent. The closest that you ever come to it is when you fight and kill to survive, and even then you take no pleasure in it. No, the human blood in you dominates your being, and so you cannot fully make use of the talents that accompany demon heritage. Your mother's calls went unheard by you."
Keisuke grimaced as he realized that this was the reason why he had been unable to find his mother during the years when he had searched for her. At first, he had been enraged, had wanted to murder her, and he had felt somewhat like he knew where he was going... but as he had gone further and found nothing, he had grown more complacent, and his small sense of direction had dissipated. That entire process had just been thoroughly explained by someone who was hundreds of years his junior.
"But to continue," Hiroto went on, "Nearly five years ago was when I first heard her calling me. Long ago, the Hyuuga had rebelled against her domination, rejecting their worship of her and casting the ring back into the Grave with a seal upon it, so that she could not manifest herself physically. That was when the Clan allied themselves with Konoha, yet another story that I need not tell. You understand enough.
"So I heard her calling and took a leave of absence from my guard duties to go to find her. What do you think she said to me when I found her, Great Father? I heard the Great Mother say that the Hyuuga had failed in their divine purpose, that she was terribly displeased. She told me that I was to help her bring about retribution. I was instructed to find the one who could restore her to material being. Being up-to-date on current events, I did have knowledge of one who had that kind of knowledge..."
"Orochimaru," Naruto said, glaring at him angrily. "And it didn't hurt that you could use Keisuke-niichan to get what you needed, right?"
Hiroto's smile grew darker and wider. The mottling of the ring due to the yellow sparks had turned the sapphire entirely emerald, and was beginning to turn it yellow.
"Very good, demon brat," he said. "But we digress. The Great Mother promised that, when I had completed this task, she would bring punishment to the Clan that had caused both me and herself such disappointment and anger. Of course, it was an offer that I felt I could not refuse. And now that I have the power to bring her back, there is nothing that will save the Hyuuga... most especially not you, our blind, futile father."
Hinata chose that moment to charge from almost directly behind him. She came within ten meters in less than a second, her open palm ready to strike with the speed and precision of a viper.
"Don't think I did not see you, whelp!" Hiroto said, whipping around and hurling a wave of pure chakra her direction. It was a blast that made Neji's Hakke Kushou look like a child's fake magic trick.
"Hinata!" Naruto yelled, and rushed for her. Unfortunately, he rushed without looking, and another gigantic wave blew him off his feet.
"Where the hell is he getting that power?" he said, climbing back up after a lengthy skid.
The ring's gem was shining with the yellow power, and Hiroto began to laugh as his preparations were complete. He rolled up the black scroll and, grasping it in both hands, formed a single hand seal over it. Power flared from both scroll and ring as Hiroto poured his chakra into the technique. Yellow sparks mingled with the black power that had formed the illusion of shades around Naruto and Hinata—the power of the Great Mother, used from within the ring—swirled around his form.
"Your world is about to end, Haruka, Father! Experience the wrath of the demon you were created to feed!"
Keisuke finally snapped himself back to his senses. He could not let that terror be released on the world! He couldn't let his descendants, the children that he had only just begun to get to know, be destroyed before his eyes! With his teeth bared, he wrapped his Ghostly Arms around him to form the Seal of Conflagration and charged, literally burning with determination. Flames whipped around him in the wind as he approached the mass of black and yellow.
"Too late," Hiroto sneered.
The electric yellow power stabbed out at Keisuke from the swirling aura, hitting him full in the face. Screaming in pain and clasping his head in his hands, he staggered backwards and fell onto his back. It was not long before blood began to leak from underneath his hands.
"Oh, gods, Keisuke!" Haruka ran to his side, carefully avoiding the dancing yellow-and-black plumes. She knelt beside him to inspect the damage.
"Niichan, are you okay?" Naruto asked, leaping over to join them. Hinata followed shortly after.
From first glance, the damage seemed to be very little; besides the blood from his head, only a few old cuts had been reopened, and a few new scrapes were showing here and there. His hair was singed in a couple of places, and it stood up in others, but nobody was worried about his hairstyle at the moment.
The real injury became apparent when Haruka pried his hands away from his face. Naruto nearly choked on his own bile, so nauseating was the sight. Keisuke's new eyes had exploded in their sockets, leaving a terrible, gooey, bloody mess.
"Damn it all," Keisuke said, struggling to stand. "I should have buried that ring fifty feet under. I should have crushed it when I saw it today. Now my ignorance may have killed you all."
"The hell it has!" Haruka exclaimed, her anger spiking again. "For what he did to you, I'll kill him first..."
"Don't," Keisuke said, grasping her firmly by the arm. "Look carefully at her power, Haruka. You'll be vaporized if you attack her recklessly, and if you aren't, she'll eat your soul slowly while the rest of us watch. She's a sadist that makes you look like a kid with a magnifying glass frying insects."
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" Haruka growled, her eyes burning through the evil power.
"Suffer, mortal," called a voice through their minds, startling them. "Suffer, so I may feed!"
"Keisuke-san, was that...?" Hinata asked, beginning to show signs of fear under the terrible evil pressure.
"Yes," Keisuke answered grimly, "That's the voice of my bitch of a mother. If you're weak in spirit, she'll become too strong for even the strongest shinobi alive to defeat. If we want to survive, we need to take her as a team and stay motivated at all costs."
The dark power finally stopped swirling, compressing itself into Hiroto's body. A black, humanoid mass, surrounded by an aura of yellow and possessing eyes of molten silver, stared across the arena at them. Its sinister presence radiated a sense of dread through all of their hearts.
The demon of Keisuke's past had manifested in the present.
OoOoOo DYNAMIC ENTRY!! End Chapter 22 oOoOoO
Next Chapter: Once more blind, Keisuke faces the demon of his memories. How will he, Naruto, and the Hyuuga survive this deadly clash? What will be Neji, Shino, and Kiba's next course of action? And what of Sakura, who follows the mystery of the wayward Sasuke? Has he changed his outlook on life, and resisted Orochimaru's body transfer? If not, can Sakura and Ayaka, new and uneasy allies, overcome the Snake Sannin in his new body? I will tell you... but you will need the next chapter. wink
Good to be back, everyone.