Kaaru: Yo guys! It's summer vacation! (At least it is where I live) Hahahaha!
Mitsuki: Ahh...here comes the blistering heat...
Kaaru: You complain too much, at least there's no school for two months.
Mitsuki: I highly doubt you'll do something productive in the next two months.
Kaaru: I'm hurt, of course I will!
Mitsuki: Mmmkay, if you say so.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
:: Parties & Reunions ::
Past a dark and wet corridor was a large room which contained a huge jail for Kyuubi no Kitsune. This jail was located inside Naruto, said boy could enter the place whenever he wanted, but it would leave his body temporarily vulnerable. But it was not the time to be talking about that.
Kyuubi had been busy lately, she had been tampering with Naruto's memories; more specifically, his sealed memories. You see, Kyuubi had gotten attached to Hinata over the years. The wise bijuu pitied the girl, she knew what it felt like to have your heart broken, so she decided to help the kind ex-Hyuuga; and who better to help the girl than the great nine-tailed beast?
Ask any Yamanaka and they'll tell you that playing with someone's mind can be dangerous for both the owner of the mind as well as the one invading it. It takes skill, knowledge and extreme care to safely tamper with a person's mind. Fortunately for Kyuubi, she was already an inhabitant of Naruto's mind, that meant that she didn't need to break through Naruto's mental barriers but going through his memories was risky, because if she made even a slight mistake, it could severely affect Naruto. If Kyuubi did something wrong while trying to unlock his sealed memories, it could give temporary to permanent Naruto brain damage. But she was the greatest bijuu after all, she could easily manage to do it without any complications and side effects.
Orochimaru's jutsu was a powerful one, it could not be undone so easily, Kyuubi realized this when she finally managed to analyze the seal. It could not be erased immediately, it needed to be worn down quite considerably for it to be broken completely. Kyuubi had used her dark chakra in an attempt to weaken the seal, this caused Naruto to have the flashback. Kyuubi was delighted to have caused the flashback and tried to do it again, but found that the seal wasn't affected anymore. She quickly deduced that it would take more than coaxing and weakening the seal with her chakra, she needed a trigger for the flashbacks. She needed Hinata. If the girl were to trigger enough flashbacks, Kyuubi could break the seal.
Chuckling, Kyuubi praised herself for being such a genius -it seems that Bijuu had a thing for self-glorification- and began to formulate a plan on how to communicate with the Byakugan-wielder.
Kaaru felt the anxiety, he felt the curious glances from Naruto, Shino and Sakura and he most certainly felt the killing intent from inside the room; it looks like Keitaro was angry about something at the moment.
"Errmm...Jiro-san? Can we go to the kitchen and get a drink of water? I'm parched." Kaaru tried to prolong the time.
Jiro merely poised his fist to knock on the door, "I shall get you a glass of water later, after you and your companions are in Keitaro-sama's study. I'm sure the king wants you to see him as fast as possible Kaaru-sama."
Kaaru gulped and tried to stop his clammy hands from shaking. "Ahh...thank you Jiro-san..."
Finally, the elderly servant knocked on the wooden door, "Keitaro-ouji-sama, you have visitors."
The killing intent suddenly intensified for a moment before it slowly faded away, "Come in." a voice from inside said.
Jiro opened the door and stepped inside, Kaaru sighed and finally walked in too, after a few seconds, the younger ninjas followed soon after.
Keitaro, an eighteen-year old young man with short dark hair and sun-kissed skin turned to them and gasped. "Y-you!" he pointed at Kaaru.
"It's nice to see you again otouto..." Kaaru greeted awkwardly, "Though I must say, pointing is rude." he teased, that made him feel slightly better.
Keitaro's face turned red from anger, "So you finally decided to show your face to me!" he slammed his hands on his desk, the killing intent returned and doubled in intensity. "I heard from dad that you became a Konoha shinobi, and that you saved our former home, but couldn't you have sent me a notice that you were there? Couldn't you even friggin' write to me?"
Kaaru remained calm even though his heart was thumping so fast in his chest. God only knows why it hasn't jumped out of his chest by now. Naruto, Shino and Sakura just looked at the scene before them with interested looks.
"Being a jounin, I am very busy with missions and such." Kaaru reasoned out.
Keitaro's anger flared even more, "Oh really?"
"Really."
"Ohhhh reeeaaaally?"
"Really."
"Well I don't give a flying fu-"
"Keitaro-sama, please observe appropriate language."
"..."
Kaaru put on a desparate and pleading face, "Otouto, please. This isn't the time, we have something very important to attend to. Please." His acting could put Yamanaka Ino to shame!
Keitaro snorted, "Oh so seeing me again isn't more important?" he retorted.
"Of course it is otouto!" Kaaru cried out, "But both of us fully understand our duties."
"Quit the acting aniki." Keitaro narrowed his eyes, "In case you've forgetten, you're not the only one who can easily read if someone's faking or not. I'm a Hyujiko too."
'Damn.' Kaaru cursed, 'And I thought I was doing pretty well.'
"I'm not listening to a word you say...unless you beat me in battle." Keitaro exclaimed.
'Ohohoho~ Taro-chan is still so predictable.' Mitsuki chuckled.
"I knew it would come to this." Kaaru said, "I accept your challenge!"
Keitaro smirked, "Good. Jiro-san, please escort him to the private training area."
Jiro bowed, "As you wish Keitaro-sama. I presume that the king and queen, as well as Miyako-sama will witness the battle?"
Keitaro nodded and walked off.
"This should be interesting." Naruto said eager to see the two brothers fight against each other.
Royal Training Area
The training area was behind the castle, at the bottom of the hill. It was covered by numerous trees so it stayed hidden from sight. When Kaaru and his team arrived, they found Keitaro, Daichi, Haruki and Miyako were seated on the elevated chairs beside the training area.
Kaaru, Naruto Sakura and Shino couldn't help but notice how Miyako looked stunningly beautiful. She had long black hair that fell in waves, porcelain skin and enchanting green eyes.
"Miyako...beautiful night child. How fitting." Sakura said quietly but loud enough for Naruto and Shino to hear.
The older Hyujiko turned to face the royal family and bowed, "Daichi-sama, Haruki-sama, Miyako-hime." The three nodded in return.
Daichi cleared his throat, "We will now start the battle, please refrain from damaging the area too much." he chuckled and gave the signal.
Keitaro took the initiative, he pulled out two strange looking gauntlets and slipped it into his hands.
'It must be one of his mechanical contraptions.' Kaaru thought.
"SEISHINGAN!" both of them yelled in unison. Their irises instantly bled into purple and a silver moon appeared on their left temple.
For a while, they just stared at each other's eyes. The training area was deathly silent besides the rustling of winds. The spectators looked confused at the sudden pause.
"They're having a mental battle!" Sakura realized, "Both of them are trying to get into the other's mind!"
(Mindscape)
Kaaru had managed to reach Keitaro's mind first, so the younger Hyujiko didn't have time to break into Kaaru's mind because he was too busy strengthening his own mental barrier.
The older of the two concentrated on finding a weak spot but it was to no avail. Keitaro had managed to fortify his barrier and left no openings for Kaaru. 'Well if there's no weak spot, I'll just have to weaken it myself.' Kaaru thought.
He concentrated on the middle of the barrier and tried to bend it with his mind. When nothing happened, he tried again but the barrier refused to give. Kaaru then gathered his focus and willpower to try and pierce through it again.
'Concentrate. Build up and release, then build it up again and release...'
After trying several times, he became aware that he was wasting time, energy and chakra on trying to weaken Keitaro's barrier, it was too strong. Kaaru sighed and retreated back into his own mind, then he turned off his doujutsu.
Keitaro also noticed that their kekkei genkai would be of no use in this battle and shut if off.
"It looks like you've been training to get an impenetrable mind." Kaaru commented.
Keitaro smirked and nodded, "That's not the only thing I've been training on." he then raised both of his hands and pointed it Kaaru, senbons suddenly shot out from a secret compartment in the gauntlets and headed towards his brother.
Kaaru used his speed and jumped away from the needles' trajectory. They harmlessly embedded themselves into a tree. Kaaru saw a smirk on Keitaro's face and he went on high alert, what could Keitaro be planning? "Senbon Spray: Blind." Keitaro said.
His unspoken question was answered when the senbons released a blinding light and temporarily blinded him. Kaaru silently cursed as he was forced to rely on his sense of hearing. He heard a sudden movement to his left and his hand shot out and grabbed hold onto cool metal. Kaaru's eyebrow knitted in confusion and realized that he was clutching Keitaro's metal gauntlet in his hand. "Say goodbye to your little weapon otouto." Kaaru said and molded chakra into his hand, but before he could gather enough chakra, an electric shock traveled through his arm and numbed it. Kaaru quickly let go off Keitaro's forearm and sent his younger brother flying away by kicking his stomach.
'Okay, I've created some distance.' Kaaru thought and opened his eyes, he was pleased to find that his vision had returned to him. "It's my turn now." he said to his younger brother and formed a few hand signs. "Suiton: Mizu no Tatsumaki (Tornado of Water)!" a jet of spiraling water shot out of Kaaru's mouth and headed towards Keitaro.
"REPEL!" Keitaro exclaimed as he held both of his hands in front of his body. An invisible force reflected Kaaru's jutsu and it backfired on the water-user.
Kaaru saw the impending vortex of water and launched into the air, "Mizu shuriken!" Kaaru unleashed his signature attack and hurled hundreds of shurikens made of water at his otouto.
"That will have no affect on me. REPEL!" Keitaro once again reflected the jutsu back at him.
Kaaru released the jutsu and let the water fall harmlessly onto the ground, they created huge puddles of water. 'I have an idea.' Kaaru thought as he eyed the puddles.
Keitaro took notice of Kaaru eyeing the puddles and decided to use it against him, multiple senbons shot out and landed inside the puddles of water. As Kaaru was only a few feet away from landing into one, Keitaro activated his senbons, "Senbon Spray: Electrify."
Kaaru's ninja reflexes allowed him to use a quick substitution jutsu and this provided him the cover of the foliage.
Keitaro looked around and tried to figure out where Kaaru was. His ear twitched at the sound of a rustle in a tree and sent another spray of senbons at it. He heard a thump and smirked. But it was quickly swiped off his face when Kaaru's katana, Aoi Tori, suddenly came from above and pierced Keitaro's royal robe, pinning him down. Then he saw Kaaru coming down from the sky, his feet poised to stomp on his chest. Keitaro moved his forearms over his chest and clenched his teeth as they took the impact from Kaaru's drop, even with his gauntlets on he could still feel the pain.
Knowing that staying in contact with the gauntlets were dangerous, Kaaru quickly grabbed his katana and created some distance between them. When Keitaro gathered his bearings, he rushed at Kaaru with his fist cocked back. "Steel Knuckle!" he shouted.
Kaaru smirked, his younger brother had forgotten that there were still puddles on the ground. He manipulated the water and used it to fling himself into the air, causing Keitaro to drive his fist into another tree instead of him. Kaaru saw his chance and decided that using close-combat kenjutsu would be best for their battle, "Aoi Tori no Hiko! (Flight of Blue Bird MU)". A duplicate katana appeared in Kaaru's other hand, both of the weapons glinted in the sunlight. Kaaru executed several graceful flips and when he got near Keitaro, he did multiple slashes so fast that the two katanas were only a blue blur. He finished with kick to Keitaro's back and used the momentum to execute a backflip to put distance between them again.
Keitaro spat the blood pooling in his mouth and ripped his arm out of the tree bark, "Heh, you've managed to rough me up quite a bit." he said; there were many thin, angry red cuts on his body. They weren't too deep but it still caused pain, which would hinder Keitaro's movement. "Time to get serious. Compact Chakra Sphere!".
Glowing balls of chakra shot out from Keitaro's gauntlets and flew toward Kaaru too fast for him to register, they detonate when they got near him. "Augh!" he shouted as he was thrown into a tree by the explosion's force. Kaaru got up and wobbled a bit, but he was given no time to do anything else when another wave of spheres came flying at him. He acted quickly and hid behind the tree he crashed into, using it to shield him from the explosion. He quickly found out that the chakra sphere's purpose was not to blow the target to bits, rather it would simply throw him away. The only way chakra bombs could hurt was if he crashed into something because of the impact of the explosion.
He pieced together the his observations as he evaded the bombs as best he could. Keitaro relied on long-ranged attacks, he was vulnerable when in close range, but he makes it difficult to get close enough. Mid-range and far-range ninjutsu won't work due to his ability to repel them. The water puddles have already been absored into the ground, so he couldn't use them to his advantage. It became clear to Kaaru that he would have to use genjutsu to render Keitaro immobile long enough to beat him. 'I have the perfect genjutsu. I'll have to thank Kakashi for this one.'
The bushes provided him the cover he needed, after performing a set of required hand signs, Kaaru whispered "Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu. (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)"
A gust of wind passed and a circle of leaves spun around Keitaro. The younger Hyujiko watched them spin around him suspiciously and readied himself for an attack, but the leaves shortly fell to the ground when the died down.
"I recognize that jutsu!" Sakura whispered to Naruto, who nodded, eyes still glued to the battle.
Keitaro flung three kunai knives at one of the tree tops and heard the sickening sound of metal piercing flesh. Not long after he threw the kunai, Kaaru's motionless body fell from the branch and sprawled out onto the dirt, Keitaro's kunais lodged deep inside his brother's chest, forehead and thigh. The younger of the two gave out a strangled cry and felt like emptying the contents of his stomach; he had never actually experienced seeing someone mortally injured.
"Aniki!" Keitaro cried out and ran to his brother's still form, "I...I'm so sorry! I d-didn't mean to!" he tried to awaken his fallen relative. "Damn it! Wake up!" he yelled desparately.
A second later, Keitaro felt cold steel ghosting above his jugular vein, "Got you." Kaaru simply said and dispelled his genjutsu, his imaginary duplicate faded out of existence.
"Winner, Hyujiko Kaaru!" Daichi announced.
"You've gotten a lot stronger otouto." Kaaru complimented and put away his katana, he offered Keitaro a hand.
Keitaro took the hand and hoisted himself up, "Thanks, I worked hard. I see that you haven't been slacking off aniki." he praised his older brother, "Now then, you wanted to talk about an important matter?"
Kaaru and the team nodded.
"Very well then." Keitaro said, "Let's go to my study and discuss this. Jiro-san, please prepare some tea."
"Hai." Jiro bowed and did as he was told.
"Aaaah!" Hinata once again gave a startled shriek as another scary scene unfolded from the movie Tenten insisted on buying. Who knew dead, ectoplasmic Uchihas were still able to able to give the greatest death glare in the five great nations?
Ino huddled close to her side, hugging a pillow to her chest so that she could bury her face in it and muffle a scream. Kei was on Hinata's other side, her wide eyes were glued to the television screen and her trembling fingers reached to get some popcorn. Tenten was seated on Ino's other side, she looked at the priceless faces of the unfortunate chuunins who were avoiding being possessed by the Uchiha spirits, there was a sadistic gleam in the weapon mistress eyes; she was enjoying every minute of the movie characters' misfortunes. Anko's insanity was apparently contagious.
When the credits started rolling, Hinata's throat was raw from screaming, Ino's pillow was at the brink of bursting, bits of popcorn had fallen all over Sakura and Tenten was laughing hysterically.
"I'll get a broom." Kei said and dusted iodized salt from her oversized white shirt.
Hinata fiddled with the hem of her lavender night gown, "I-I think I'm won't be able to s-sleep tonight." she sighed.
Ino sprang up from the couch and stretched, making her blue pajama top ride up a little and show her bellybutton. "That was awesome! Too bad Forehead's out on a mission."
Tenten also stood up and waved her arms around wildly, making the grains of salt from the popcorn fall from her black tank top. "I know right! I knew I picked the right movie!"
Hinata sighed and decided to help Kei clean up, the image of ghostly ectoplasmic vomitus still fresh in her mind. 'I can see that a lot of people are twisted these days.' she sighed once again.
Time flew by unnoticed by the four teenage kunoichi who were so absorbed in exchanging girl talk which they had been deprived of for days. FInally, the girls noticed how late was and decided to watch Love Jutsu IV and just set the television to turn off by itself when the movie ended. Before the movie even reached the climax, the group of kunoichi had already fallen asleep sans Hinata.
Whenever she was close to falling into unconsciousness, she would remember a horrifying scene from the horror film earlier. Hinata sighed and decided to go out to the garden, which she had deemed as her sanctuary.
As she tiptoed past her slumbering friends as silently as possible, she saw Ino shift and groan. Hinata froze and prepared an excuse if ever the blond questioned her.
"Uhh..mmhmm...Shikamaru~" Ino moaned in her sleep, squeezing a pillow in her tight embrace. Hinata swore sweatdropped when she saw some drool there.
After making sure Ino was sound asleep, she exited through the kitchen door into the backyard. She leaned against a sakura tree and found the strong trunk comfortable.
The ex-heiress lifted her pale eyes to the sky, wherein she sought for solace. The midnight sky was like a curtain of darkness but within the darkness, the full moon suspended high up in the black and velvet sky with a panoply of twinkling diamonds strewn over the dark expanse of space. Hinata couldn't help but admire how the beautiful moon illuminated the night with its pale, luminous glow; it was breathtaking and enchanting as always.
Hinata envied the moon, no matter how trivial it sounded. The moon had a quiet elegance, it was mysterious yet comforting, silent yet unyielding to the dark night. It did its best to offer light to the world, it did not matter if the sun shined brighter than it, the moon was contented in shining quietly because it knew that its light was still important.
With the fleeting thought of trying to imitate the qualities of the heavenly body, unconsciousness finally tugged on the corners of Hinata's mind and she fell into a deep slumber underneath the night sky.
Kaaru was very much disappointed that he could not think of anyone who could be behind the strange disappearances, even after hearing Keitaro's information. It became clear to Kaaru that the strange whirlpools which caused the disappearances weren't normal, he was certain that someone was using a jutsu or a machine to sink ships and boats and pull it below the watery depths. But why? He had to speak with Shino about the Kikaichu bug he placed on the captain, they needed to know where the captain's location was to solve the mystery.
"Shino," Kaaru turned to face the young Aburame, "Can you still detect your Kikaichu's chakra?"
Shino pushed his glasses up his nose, "It's faint, but I can manage to track it down."
Kaaru nodded, "Good, we're following it tomorrow morning. Be prepared and be sure to get sufficient rest." he ordered.
"Hai!" the three chorused.
"Finally, we some action!" Naruto cheered before heading to the room offered to him. Sakura, Kaaru and Shino did the same.
"Alpha-sama, it looks like we cannot extract all of the civilian's dormant chakra." Charlie broke the news to their apparent leader.
"Hmm...how much can you extract?" Alpha said in an ominous voice that made Charlie shiver.
"We can extract 70% percent from a child and 60% from an adult." Charlie informed him.
"I see...so I presume because of this, they'll remain alive?"
"Yes Alpha-sama."
"Oh, that won't be a problem then." Alpha chuckled darkly, "As long as we harness enough pure dormant chakra, my plan will come to fruition."
"What of the prisoners?"
"Hmm...we shall release them once the need to change location arises."
"Understood Alpha-sama."
"Oh, one more thing." Alpha said, "Tell Delta tend to the prisons, I wouldn't like the smell of something decaying in here."
"As you wish."
Another chapter finished! Please Review~
I found time to reread "To Prove Ourselves" and found that it...sucks, in my opinion. The characters were too strong, the fight scenes were too short, the character development was way too fast-paced, several scenes were sappy and corny and I kinda gave them strong, random jutsus that they only used ONCE. I'm ashamed of it...sigh. Hopefully, RMH won't be that bad...I'll do my best! Wewt!
Please don't forget to review~