SailorStar9: Nya? Chapter 32 goes up and no review!
Disclaimers: I own nothing, well except the pairing.
Chiyo: Konoha no Shiroi Kiba! Prepare to die!
Kakashi: HOW THE HELL'D YOU GET IN HERE? *STAB* SPLEEN!
Chapter 33: Respectable Penalty - Tie-Breaker!
On the bench...
"You've gathered here from different parts of the country." Mikami addressed the team. "How long will you last with the world as your opponent? Honestly, that's an unknown to me too. But during this short period, you have grown. I'm sure you know what to do. This extended game will decide everything. Get your act together."
"This is for Soda too." Tsubasa declared. "So we must win today and make it to tomorrow's finals."
On the field...
Pierre, let's fight it out. Misaki charged towards Pierre.
Misaki, come on. Pierre accepted the challenge. Let's finish this once and for all.
"Okay, here I come." Misaki fought it out with Pierre.
Looks like the Goddess of Victory is on my side. Napoleon smirked, stealing the ball.
I'll stop you. Wakashimazu swore, jumping to block Napoleon's shot.
"Are you okay, Wakashimazu?" Tsubasa asked the injured keeper.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Wakashimazu assured. "How can we lose now?"
"Okay." Tsubasa nodded. "We must win this, no matter what."
The match restarted, with Pierre possessing the ball and dodging past Ryo.
On the bench...
"Wakabayashi." Mikami looked over at his student, Wakashimazu having punched out the forward's shot, the player's leg landing on his injured arm.
"Please let Wakashimazu play to the end." Genzo requested.
On the field...
"Take that!" the forward reclaimed the ball and readied his shot.
"I won't let you!" Misugi blocked the shot with a header.
"Damn!" Napoleon renewed his attack.
"Get up, Wakashimazu!" Misugi barked, having blocked off the shot. "You're the only one who can guard the goal."
"Tsubasa, go!" Misugi encouraged, Wakashimazu having cleared the next shot.
Okay. Tsubasa caught the ball and charged forth. "Go!" he fired a centering pass.
Good, now for a header. Misaki closed in for the pass.
"Not a chance!" Pierre cut in. "Damn!" he cursed, Misaki having knocked the ball back to the incoming Hyuuga.
Pierre jumped, just as Hyuuga fired his shot and kicked the ball off course.
The whistle sounded, signaling the end of the extended game.
On the bench...
"Thanks." Wakashimazu took the bottle Sawada handed over.
"Wakashimazu." Mikami voiced. "Well? You wanna switch?"
"I worked so hard to come this far." Wakashimazu replied. "I will guard the goal until the end."
On the field...
"France goes first." the referee declared, having tossed a coin to decide which side will start the Penalty Kick Tie-Breaker.
"We've come this far." Tsubasa told the team. "We must win. Wakashimazu."
"Yeah." Wakashimazu nodded and headed to his post. "I will finish this game, no matter what."
As the captain of the French team, I must make the first kick. Pierre took the first shot.
This side! Wakashimazu jumped to block the shot when the ball changed its course and flew into the net. Damn. I saw the ball, but it went the other way.
Tsubasa, I'm going. Hyuuga looked over at the team captain.
Yeah. Tsubasa nodded and Hyuuga took his position.
Tsubasa, my goal has always been to surpass you. Hyuuga mused. Practicing the 'Tiger Shot' in the storm. But now, I'm the responsible for being the #9 player. And my goal is to become the best striker in the world. This PK... this is my first step into the world. "Go!" he fired his shot, sending the ball flying into the net.
"I must get the ball this time." Wakashimazu swore, the French team taking their next turn, but still missing the shot and allowing France their second goal.
It's my turn. Matsuyama tied his headband around his forehead. Fujisawa, you... where in France are you looking at me now? The National High Semi-Final, I wanted to tell you how I felt, after winning the game and before you left for France. But... I lost... Fujisawa, I'm in France now. I must win this game and then go see you. So... he fired his shot, sending the ball into the net.
Damn! Wakashimazu cursed, unable to prevent France from scoring their third goal. Wakabayashi, I don't want you to see me like this.
I've been in France for 5 years now. Misaki took the spot. Because I wanted to go back to Japan, I didn't join any soccer team. I joined the Japanese team, without ever joining a soccer team. It was a dream to play against French player, Pierre. That's what I thought. But, I found an answer in this game. And it's what I've been doubting all this time. I've decided. So I want to fight for Japan. With that, he fired his shot, sending the ball flying into the net.
Are you going to kick right, too? Wakashimazu wondered as French's fourth player stepped forward. Damn! They're going after my right hand. If I don't catch it, I must block it.
"This is a successful min game." Napoleon noted, Wakashimazu having jumped in the wrong direction and allowing France to score their fourth goal. "We're gonna win for sure, Pierre. No reason, because I'm the last one up."
I still can't forget my surprise of being invited to the game as a coach. Misugi took the stage and fired his shot, sending the ball into the net as the goalkeeper jumped in the opposite direction.
Wakabayashi, you have always been ahead of me. Wakashimazu mused. I've been so hard with you as my #1 enemy. But my opponents now, are the French striker ahead of me and myself.
If I make this goal, I'll be the hero of France. Napoleon stepped forward. It must work. "Take that!" he fired his shot.
"I must block it, even if it costs me my arm." Wakashimazu promised. "I'll show you!" he punched the shot out.
"Huh?" Napoleon gaped. "What? No way... why did he?"
Tsubasa, my right hand is finished. Wakashimazu noted. We're counting on you now.
Wakashimazu, you've fought so hard with your hand injury. Tsubasa mused as the goalkeeper walked off. I won't let it go to waste. There's nothing worst than injury to a player. I've realized that through the last couple of weeks. My shoulder injury tested my strength. I was left behind in the Europe game. I gave up coming here. But everyone's been... I'm here because of you guys. The number you gave me, #10. Right then and there, I decided that I must win this world competition. That determined, he sent the ball straight into the net and winning the PK match and the team the ticket to the finals.
Omake
NarOto!
Uzumaki Naruto was sitting on the old wooden swing near the Shinobi Academy. Classes had been dismissed hours earlier, and everyone else had gone home ages ago to be with their families.
To celebrate.
Naruto had just failed the Genin Exam for the third time running.
"I really thought I was going to make it this time," he whispered, scuffing at the dirt with the toe of his sandal. "Stupid bunshin! It's not fair - why did they have to pick my worst technique?"
"And then they said…" and he paused for a moment, because he had sworn that he would never let them make him cry again. "They said I shouldn't even be here! They were happy I failed!"
Naruto barely caught himself from falling off the swing, when another voice made him realize with a start that he was no longer simply talking to himself, blowing off steam.
He was no longer alone in the isolated schoolyard; miles from home, with twilight falling.
"It's painful, isn't it?" the tall man quietly asked. "Being different, I mean. And being hated for it."
"What do you know about it?" Naruto scowled, having long since learned from painful experience that sympathetic strangers were not to be trusted.
"We have much in common, you and I," the strange man replied, taking a graceful seat on the lawn and toying idly with the grass and sand at his feet. "I, too, have known the bitter scorn of this village. Growing up alone and unwanted…"
Naruto's breath caught in his throat, coupled with a curse at his own foolish naïvete.
"Yes, it's true," his eyes flashed briefly at Naruto, and then back into the distance, beyond the Academy. "I was an orphan as well. The Sandaime said that he would look after me-"
"J-Jiji said-?" Naruto haltingly interrupted.
"Yes, but the villagers still reviled me. I only wanted to grow stronger, to be the Hokage-"
"Like me!" Naruto shouted, any pretense at indifference cast aside by this seeming karmic revelation. "That's what I keep saying, too! I want to be Hokage, so those bastards will finally have to acknowledge me!""
"Of course you do," the man gave a small nod and a sad smile. "And that is precisely why I have come to you now. What if I said that there is still a way for you to become a genin?"
That night, Naruto stole the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage Tower. And he never looked back once.
Locked inside the Shishienjin, the Four Violet Flames Battle Encampment, Sarutobi Hiruzen fell easily to Orochimaru's Kusanagi blade. He had aged so much in the months following Naruto's disappearance, it could hardly even be called a battle.
The Sound Four released the technique, and Orochimaru looked out across Konohagakure no Sato, where both of his jinchuuriki were laying waste to the village.
"Boys will be boys," he laughed, as he set off at an easy gait to intercept them.
There was no rush; and he had to let them have a little fun, after all. They had earned it.
But he had promised to make Naruto the Godaime Hokage -just as he had made Gaara the Godaime Kazekage- and that promise would be meaningless if there were nothing left of the village but a smoking ruin.
"Two down; three to go," he smirked, already making plans for the remaining hidden villages.
He'd be damned if any more children would be forced to grow up like he had.
SailorStar9: If a sympathetic Orochimaru approached Naruto that day at the Academy instead of Mizuki, how might things have turned out differently?
I think that there are a lot of ways that Orochimaru could be a more sympathetic character - and have more in common with Naruto than is initially apparent:
he was an orphan;
Sarutobi may have cast himself as a substitute father/grandfather figure, who then failed the boy when he was most needed;
he may have been treated like a pariah in the village (for his ophidian features and the sacrifices demanded by his summons/Kyuubi);
he wanted to get stronger and learn a lot of jutsu;
he wanted to be Hokage;
he has been forced to fight his best friend/'rival'/teammate;
he was nearly killed in a fight with an Uchiha;
he has a 'teammate' who is an accomplished med-nin (by which I mean Kabuto/Sakura);
the obvious Sannin/Team 7 analogies;
he never fell for Tsunade's genjutsu;
he has an unhealthy obsession with Uchiha Sasuke;
he is one of the only two people to ever 'kiss' Sasuke (it does apply to both - and how creepy is that?);
he has hidden skills/talents/abilities;
he is proficient with a clone technique, and uses them to an annoying extent in battle (that is, in the opinion of his enemies);
Minato had a major impact on his life (displacing him as Yondaime/using him as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki);
Sandaime had a major negative impact on his life (choosing Minato/revealing the secret of the Kyuubi sealing);
Danzo was keeping an eye on him (or vice versa, in Orochimaru's case);
he has an interest in fuuinjutsu (a very personal interest, in Naruto's case);
he has the ability to 'change' other people (using Cursed Seals, in Orochimaru's case);
he tried to develop a radical new technique (risking great physical harm in the process);
probably immortal;
he shrugs off damage that would kill other people, and comes back without a scratch;
he wore a 'mask' (ugh);
he has been known to take the form of a woman on occasion;
people are sometimes horrified and disgusted by the things he can swallow (What? I just mean the Earth scroll from the Chuunin Exams/ramen);
the part Gaara played in the Sand-Sound Invasion had a major impact on his life;
people complain about his taste in clothes;
there's something 'different' about him, on the inside; this can manifest physically, when he is in a fight;
he is not alone, inside his head;
he was wanted by Akatsuki…