Hey, I'm back! Take that news anyway you wish. So, here I am with an extra long chapter of Mistakes In Blood, my longest chapter yet for any of my stories by far. So, hooray for anyone who likes this story. And at the end, you'll find a rant about me complaining about some shit. Also, this chapter was beta'd by Lykaos, so thank him while you're at it.
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Disclaimer: Due to the fact that I can't remember where I was with this, I'll cut this short and just say I don't own anything I write about.
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Chapter 11: The Concept of Trust
"So…" began Tsukune, unsure how to start as both he and Naruto walked along a lonesome dirt path to the boy's dormitories. In the skies above the two, the last vestiges of the sun could be seen by the light purple and pink streaks in the clouds. The slightly shorter brunette traveled a few steps behind his taller blonde companion; the latter of the two sighing for what he knew was to come. "What exactly did you do to Saizou back there?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto answered wistfully, hoping that his… friend, yeah, that seems like an appropriate term, would let him leave it at that. Naruto really didn't want to deal with this right now, or ever, for that matter. Hell, if it were his choice, only Mizore would know about his past. But, as it was, two other people did know. As much as he liked Zetsu and tolerated Konjyoyaki, he did wish that they didn't know as much as they probably did.
However, Naruto's hopes would not be answered at the moment, as Tsukune did, in fact, push the issue, wanting to know about the, in his opinion, mysterious and slightly anti-social blonde that he considered as his friend. "Come on, you know what I'm talking about! That blue wispy thing you hit him with! What was that? Come to think of it, what are you exactly? You know what all our friends are, but no one knows about you."
Now, as Naruto was listening to this, he was wondering why Tsukune wasn't bringing up what had happened when he had… changed from using too much of Kyuubi's chakra. Surely he hadn't forgotten that, right? Was he trying to be polite by respecting at least some of his privacy? Then again, here he was, running this impromptu interrogation. That's when it came back to him, and he felt like smacking himself for not remembering.
'Idiot, that's right! He was knocked unconscious before that even happened. Then he changed and I had to beat some sense back into him. Fuck, how do I forget that?' Naruto's eyes had glazed over as he thought back on that particular event, and, unbeknownst to him, his pace had slowed significantly, up to the point where Tsukune eventually bumped into him.
Apparently, running into him had not been enough to retrieve Naruto from his seemingly deep train of thought. Seeing this, Tsukune walked to the front of the blonde, who had now stopped walking completely, instead just staring of into space. So, seeing no other option, Tsukune began to wave his hand in front of the blonde's face. When that didn't work, he also started to call his friend's name.
"Umm, Naruto-san? Hey, you okay?" Naruto shook his head as he heard someone call his name, banishing his thoughts. He blinked a few times only to see a hand waving in front of his eyes. He watched in for a few moments before in finally began to get on his nerves. With that, he quickly slapped it down out of his line of sight.
"What the hell?" asked Naruto in irritation, a slight growl in his voice.
"Oh, Naruto-san, you're all right," said Tsukune, slightly relieved as he let out a sigh. Seeing Naruto's slightly perplexed look, he elaborated. "You kinda' spaced out there. I wasn't sure if there was anything wrong." This was said as he scratched his neck in embarrassment, giving a short, dry chuckle afterwards.
"Well, as you can see, your concern was uncalled for." That being said, Naruto began his trek towards the dorms once again, albeit, at a much slower pace. Tsukune was right beside him, though he decided to keep quiet for the time being, so as to give the blonde a chance to cool down.
As the two walked, Naruto thought about what the consequences of actually telling his companion about himself would be. On one side of the spectrum, the boy really hadn't done anything to earn his trust. Then again, he hadn't really done anything to break it, either. Also, Tsukune didn't seem to be the kind of guy that would go around telling other people about him. There was also the added benefit that telling him may get him of Naruto's ass for a while. With that last thought in mind, Naruto made a decision.
"So, you really want to know what I am?" he asked out of the blue. Tsukune, taken momentarily off guard by the sudden question, stopped walking. Just a few minutes ago, Naruto was refusing with all his might to tell him anything. Now he was asking if he wanted to know? He shook himself from his stupor and jogged back up to his place next to the blonde.
"Y-you're really going to tell me?" Tsukune asked, incredulous.
Naruto nodded in all seriousness. "On one condition," he said. At this point, Tsukune's curiosity increased, wondering what Naruto would make him do in exchange for this information. "You can't tell anyone what you saw here today or what I'm about to tell you, not even your friends."
"They're your friends too, you know," Tsukune cut in, receiving a look from the blonde.
"It's nice of you to think so, but that's not really the point. I'll tell them when I think they're ready to know, or when I can't keep it from them any longer. Until then, I hope I don't see you betray my trust in you by telling anyone."
Tsukune nodded. If he could help it, no one else would find out. Naruto couldn't help but be slightly pleased by the resolve he saw in the boy's eyes. Maybe he could be trusted with the whole truth at some point. But not until later.
"Okay, now, the easiest way I can think of doing this is by just coming out and saying it. I am what you would call a shinobi." There was silence after what Naruto had said. The blonde turned to look at Tsukune, wondering why he wasn't saying anything. The boy had a quizzical look on his face, as if he didn't understand. "What's with the look?" he asked.
"Nothing, it's just that I thought shinobi were supposed to wear all black or something. And they have those throwing stars and knives. And no offense, but I've never seen you be particularly stealthy." Naruto fixed Tsukune with a blank look.
"Really?" he asked, almost not believing it. Sure, some of the things he said were true, but why would he actually show off some of those things that were true? "Why would I openly give myself away? And that whole thing about wearing all black is just a bad stereotype. Very few ninja I actually know actually do that. As for kunai and shurikan," he paused here to pull his hidden kunai out, "I have those."
"You're still not that good at staying hidden, though," Tsukune pointed out.
Naruto grumbled a bit before responding. "Well, I can be stealthy." To prove his point, Naruto approached one of the dead trees on the outskirts of the path. Channeling chakra into his feet, he placed one on the tree and felt it stick. He followed up by placing the other one on the tree and began to walk up it. When he was on the underside of a branch, he looked down to Tsukune to see the boy had a shocked look on his face. This just caused Naruto to grin. He did a back flip off the tree and landed right in front of the shocked boy. "Believe me now?"
"Uhh, yeah." There was silence again as the two began walking towards the dorms again. It was a peaceful silence, Naruto contemplated. In fact, he felt a little better after telling Tsukune a bit about himself. "Hey, does anyone else know?" the boy suddenly asked.
"Well, yes, actually. Mizore-chan knows as well as Zetsu-san. I suppose you can talk to them about it, but make sure no one else is listening." 'Of course, Konjyoyaki knows too, but I don't want to explain why that is.' It was then that Naruto noticed the path to his training ground, and decided that a little training should be done. He needed to make sure that he never lost control when using the Kyuubi's chakra again. "Hey, Tsukune," the boy turned towards him, "you go on ahead, I need to do something."
"Sure. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," said Tsukune, unsure of both Naruto's departure and reason, but he wasn't about to stop him. With that, the brunette went on his way to the dorms by himself. Naruto watched him go before disappearing into deep forest by himself, unperturbed by the strange and seemingly unexplained sounds that sounded at random, uncaring for the fact that night would soon fall, casting parts of it into pitch blackness, and happy to get away from all the problems in his life, if only for a few hours.
/
It was sometime later, and a few rays of golden sunlight were just beginning to crest over the horizon, casting away the moon and the pitch-black darkness of the woods. Long, deep shadows riddled the ground, both inside and out side the tree line.
Deep inside the woods was quiet, unnaturally so, especially considering the fact that the woods housed more than its fair share of vicious and dangerous beasts. Instead, these beasts were confined to more near the edges, almost as if afraid. Then again, could animals truly fear? Perhaps it was just their survival and self-preservation instincts telling them to stay away from a large spot in the center of the forest. But that begs the question, what would cause so many of these deadly beasts to run?
Suddenly, a rather large swarm or birds, their feathers black and their eyes a beady red, burst from near the center of the mass of trees, just as a foul energy burst from the spot they were coming from. They squawked loudly as they felt the power seemingly chase them. Even when the power seemed to stop, several yards from where the closest animal was, forming a large dome if visible, the birds kept flapping their wings, not stopping and not looking back, just wanting to get as far away as possible.
Deep within the woods, from the epicenter of where the power was emanating, was a familiar blonde. His normally spiky hair clung to his forehead with sweat. His shirt, tie, and blazer were hung on a tree branch so they wouldn't get dirty. The blonde himself was covered in a reddish-orange energy, the source of the dreadful feelings that permeated through the forest. His teeth were visibly both longer and sharper, and so were his nails.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, revealing red irises and slit pupils. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he started to move around until lowering in a stance. In the blink of an eye he was gone and a tree was heavily splintered from the punch it received. A few more kicks and it fell. Satisfied, a terrifying smirk forming on his face as a result, he began to release his control of the energy.
"I'm getting better with controlling this power," he began, a bit of excitement leaking into his voice. However, the blonde quickly sobered up, any trace of glee or excitement leaving him instantly in that moment. "But I still have a long way to go, even though I'm close to mastering this stage. I can call this power up on a whim and, for the most part, remain in control, but it's taken me months to get to this point." Now the blonde was becoming frustrated, the realization that he had only really taken baby steps in his training having hit him unmercifully. "And there's still such a way to go. I haven't even attempted to activate that cloak Kyuubi told me about. Damnit!"
The red, oppressive energy once again enveloping him completely. White-hot anger coursed through his veins, searing nerves and setting his synapses aflame. His eyes once again took on their menacing red and slit form. His nails lengthened, turning as hard as diamonds and transforming his hands into claws more than anything else.
The power turned deadly as it began to swirl around the boy, scorching the ground and setting a few trees on fire from the sheer intensity of its heat. His teeth, too, began to grow and sharpen into a fine tip. The marks on his face became more visible as they thickened and darkened. The boy's thoughts soon took an even more morbid light as guilt and regret took root deep within his very being.
"It's your fault, you know." The sudden intrusive voice surprised the boy, if only slightly. It was familiar, but, at the same time, he couldn't seem to place a face with it. He didn't really care what was going on, but continued to listen to the voice, even as he kept a hold on the dark power. "You couldn't save either of them, no matter how seemingly important to you they were. You let them be taken. You're the only one to blame."
The voice continued to prod him, preying on his negative feelings and long thought dead and buried memories. The traumatic moments from which he had moved on from back from another lifetime ago came back to the surface of his mind. Focused on then ever increasing whirlwind of dark thoughts, the boy was left unawares as the flames grew bigger and bigger, turning his section of the forest into a blazing inferno, much like his inner thoughts, and setting the night aglow.
"You allowed Sasuke to become lost to the world, let him be eaten form the inside out by his own darkness. You saw the signs and did nothing to try to quell his feelings. Not once did you ask him what was troubling him, nor did you try aid him with his internal turmoil. Instead you chose to be lazy and self-serving, keeping him around only so you wouldn't succumb to the feelings of loneliness you truly felt in the village. You deluded yourself into thinking he was your friend and clung desperately to that hope."
The more this voice spoke, the more the fires raged, and the more the blonde lost his sense of self. Was it true? Did he really use his best friend as a puppet to serve his own means, only to get lost in the illusion himself? Had he only really tried to retrieve him because in the deepest corners of his mind, he still realized the boy was of some use, even if he was an unstable wreak?
"You never truly cared for him or the other person you thought you held close to your heart. You're a sociopath in the deepest sense of the word, playing with other people's thoughts and feelings, using them to your advantage. You did the same thing with your beloved Haku. You cared only for her power and potential, twisting her love for you so she would become your perfect tool, greater than Sasuke could ever be. As long as you had her at your disposal, you could live without the Uchiha."
The boy was now holding his head, claws unintentionally digging into his scalp as he tried in vain to block the voice out of his head. His gums were bleeding from him grinding his teeth so hard together. He didn't want to hear anymore. It wasn't true… or at least he didn't think so. He could feel the voice smiling at his thoughts.
"And then, you allowed her to be taken away as well. You were confident that she could handle most things on her own, even if she had had trouble in the past with such things. You were too ignorant, too proud to admit that you were wrong in trusting so much in her capabilities. That's why your anger exploded when you found out she had been killed. So much time, so much energy spent shaping her to your will, only to finally realize you had been so arrogant that you sentenced your little pet project to death."
Although he didn't want to admit it, it was an entirely plausible explanation. But, was he really that much of a cold hearted bastard. However there was no use debating it, as the seeds of doubt had been planted into his heart, and the voice didn't want the blonde uprooting them. It only needed one final push.
"Face the facts. The truth is, you pushed and pushed, blind and uncaring to any of the pain you inflicted. Those who care for you only end up being hurt and tossed aside if they fail to meet you standards. You did it once and you'll do it again. I can only wonder how you'll deal with poor Mizore-chan when the time comes for her to prove her worth in your unattainable standards."
At that moment, all of the boy's doubts and insecurities shattered just like the ground beneath his feet as the pressure around him increased and the power around him grew more volatile. It was at that moment that the voice realized that it made a mistake. Naruto's voice came out low; it resembled more of a growl than an actual voice. "I don'tknow who you are. I don't care where you are. And I sure as hell don't give a fuck about what you think. You may have had me believing you up to a certain point, but it's obvious now that you're full of bullshit. I'll never let anything happen to Mizore-chan or any of my other friends. I will return Sasuke to his former self and I will utterly destroy the bastard who killed Haku. And you're not gonna' make me believe otherwise."
The already impossible power suddenly skyrocketed, as even more twisted red power exploded from Naruto, giving off more of a sense of fierce determination than anything else. It joined the other power, twisting together and launching into the sky, forming a glowing red pillar that set fire to even more dead trees and scaring any animal in the woods, as well as a few students who were awoken by the sudden burst of power.
However, the pillar quickly rained back down to earth and into Naruto, causing a large vacuum to form, sucking in all air from a mile around. Without oxygen to sustain itself, the inferno just seemed to vanish, keeping the school and many animals out of danger. A pressure wave suddenly exploded, leveling quite a few trees and awakening anyone who may have still been asleep.
In the epicenter of the explosion was a deep crater, at least ten feet with a radius of over a hundred, filled with cracked and scorched earth and the remains of blackened trees and ash. In the middle stood Naruto. Okay, really, he was crouching, all of the red chakra condensed to form a shell around him. His hair whipped in the non-existent wind as a single crimson tail flailed behind him along with long twin ears made up of the same energy. His pendant whipped about in the same way, its sterling silver a sharp contrast to everything
Somehow, Naruto was aware of everything. The whole world was in amazing clarity. He could see things in the distance with a crispness that had never been there before when using Kyuubi's chakra. He heard the power whipping about him. The blonde smiled a fanged smile as he began to move around. He was faster than he had been, stronger too.
He soon relinquished his hold on the power and let it dissipate into nothingness. He lay there panting for a bit, before getting up and returning to his dorm. He had worked out most, if not all of his aggression, and now knew that things could be much worse. He could deal with the situation now and knew that, in time, it would change for the better. But for now, he had to get some sleep. He had a big day tomarrow, after all.
/
"Damn, I can't believe I torched my clothes," said Naruto as he walked to the Student Council building. He walked alone on the relatively abandoned path, other students milling around the ends of it. He continued to gripe, assured no one could here him, and if they could, he didn't particularly care. "I mean, sure, I know I could have probably done more to protect them, but how was I supposed to know that Kyuubi's chakra would burn everything because that damn voice kept distracting me. Hell, I almost burned the whole forest down. I guess I'm lucky I bought several extra uniforms."
Naruto himself found it strange that he was able to think about things like this, considering all that was going on in his life. He felt a sense of calm for a reason he didn't know why. It was nice, seeing as he hadn't felt like this for a while. If he had to guess, it would be because the voice had somehow helped him realize himself. His inner musings were broken as someone else approached him on the, otherwise empty, dirt path.
"Hey, Naruto-san!" the blonde turned his head towards the source of the voice, only to see a familiar brunette coming towards him, jogging to catch up. Naruto slowed his pace to give the other boy an easier time. In a matter of seconds, Naruto was met with a good-natured smile and a warm greeting. "Good morning Naruto-san. Fancy meeting you here."
Naruto gave a nod at the boy's greeting, as the two began to walk towards a similar destination, though neither one knew that yet. "Nice to see you too, Tsukune-san. So, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm heading to a meeting with the student council. For some reason, everyone in my class thought I was the best choice and elected me. I'm a little nervous, actually. What about you?"
Naruto was actually a little surprised that the other boy had been voted a class representative, and truthfully a little glad that he wouldn't be the only one he knew that had to go through this. He would never let Tsukune know that, though. "I'm in the same boat as you, actually. Some jackass decided to nominate me, and, for some reason, everyone else thought that it was a brilliant idea. Now I'm stuck going to these meetings until this damn festival."
"That's great!" said Tsukune, his smile becoming slightly bigger.
"No it's not, this sucks! I never wanted this, and I can tell you probably didn't either."
"No, that's not what I meant, Naruto-san," answered Tsukune. "All I was saying was that I'd at least know someone here. Isn't that at least a little bit on the bright side?"
Naruto gave a grunt to show his answer, effectively ending all conversation for the moment as the two continued on their journey. It didn't matter, seeing as they were here anyway.
/
The duo walked into the room and were instantly greeted by an intimidating figure. Okay, only his height was intimidating, being taller than Konjyoyaki by maybe an inch or two. Everything else about the boy was normal. Brown hair that had a bit of fringe covering his eyebrows, calm hazel eyes framed by a pair of glasses, and a pleasant welcoming smile on his slightly angular face, with a clean uniform, this person generated feelings of professionalism, authority, and great kindness. Both stopped in their tracks, surprised.
The other boy's smile grew slightly, causing his eyes to crinkle at the edges, as he extended a hand in front of him. He spoke in a comforting voice, putting Tsukune slightly at ease. It did nothing to help Naruto. "Hello, you two must be the new council members we were told about. Allow me to introduce myself. "I'm Kageshiro Hokuto. What might your names be?"
A bit hesitantly, Tsukune grasped the boy's hand and shook. Letting out an awkward chuckle, he answered the question. "Nice to meet you, Hokuto-san. I'm Aono Tsukune, and this is my friend…" he waited for Naruto to introduce himself, but Hokuto called his attention to his friend's current state.
"Hey, is he sick or something?" he asked with concern in his voice. Tsukune turned to the blonde next to him and got a shock. The boy who he had never seen show any facial expression besides annoyance, anger, and sometimes a small amount of joy, was a stark white. There was a cold sweat building up on his face, and the brunette thought he could see the boy trembling a bit.
In his head, Naruto himself was wondering just what was going on. 'What the hell? H… He looks just like him. What's going on Kyuubi?'
'Relax kid. They may look alike, but they're not one in the same. I can feel a great difference in their energy frequencies, even if I don't know the exact makeup of them. Besides, he's dead, remember. If he weren't, you'd be. You wouldn't be immortal if he didn't die.' (1)
Naruto realized that Kyuubi was right. It was just a coincidence. He shook himself from his funk just as Tsukune place a hand on his shoulder and shook him a bit. "Naruto? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine, it's nothing," he answered. He then turned to the taller brunette and extended his own hand, ignoring the concerned looks. "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you." The concern on Hokuto's face was replaced with another happy smile as Naruto introduced himself.
"A pleasure to meet the both of you. Now, come this way please so we can get this meeting started." With that, the two were lead by the much taller boy. Both followed cautiously, both for different reasons. Tsukune was just scared, and that kept him from asking Naruto about his actions, or lack thereof, from just a moment ago. On the other hand, while Naruto had agreed that it was a coincidence, that the two just looked alike, he wasn't prepared to leave it at that. No, he was still cautious, and he doubted that that would change anytime soon.
/
The meeting had gone by rather smoothly. The boys were introduced by the committee leader, Hokuto, and were quickly accepted by most everyone there. As soon as the meeting started, Hokuto made a speech about something that shocked Naruto and Tsukune both. Anti-thesis.
The bespectacled boy announced them as a threat to the coexistence between humans and monsters. However, he quickly turned that around, saying that he wasn't afraid of a bunch of bullies like them, and would fight back, though not physically. No, instead he would make sure the whole festival that was coming up would help promote peaceful relations between relations.
This brought about many rounds of applause from the people in the room. Those close to the two told them about how benevolent their leader was and how they all looked up to him. Naruto saw all of Tsukune's inhibitions about trusting the boy were vanishing rapidly.
Naruto actually had to give the gut some credit. He knew how to convince people. However, he wasn't just ready to fall behind the boy.
The meeting was dismissed shortly after, and everyone was informed that, for the sake of education, all the other meetings would take place during club time instead of at the beginning of the day. Everyone left after that as Hokuto retreated to his office under the pretense to continue planning.
Oh, yes, Hokuto was planning. Okay, it was more scheming, actually. Scheming sounds more evil and mysterious, wouldn't you agree? Terminology aside, Hokuto was using foresight so he could royally screw over and generally do other not very nice things to people who didn't really deserve it.
At that point in time a rather familiar figure entered the office. When Hokuto saw the person, his normally cheerful and comforting smile was replaced by a wicked and malevolent sneer devoid of any warmth. If one who thought they knew him where to see him at this moment, they would write it off as a trick of the light, or think this person was an imposter, before promptly falling dead to the floor.
"Hello, Kiria. You're right on time." The blonde looked up from his book, a small smirk of his own on his face.
"Yes, well, I was eager to here what your new charges thought of you."
Hokuto sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his desk as he intertwined his fingers. "I'll admit, it could have gone just a bit better."
"How so?"
"Well, both of them seemed hesitant to trust me, but, after a little speech, Aono-kun seemed to trust me just as much as anyone else. Naruto-kun, on the other hand…" Hokuto paused as a smirk settled on his face, "he acted as if he saw a ghost. I doubt he'll ever really trust me. In fact, with all that's going on, it makes me wonder if our friend knows him."
Kiria smirked some more himself. "Uzumaki-kun's trust is not required for our plan to work like Aono-kun's is. As long as we keep the pressure up, he will hopefully follow orders. Speaking of which, I should probably go see him now." With that, Kiria headed for the door. "Oh, and one more thing. Since you mentioned him, when are we going to take out our little shadow?"
Hokuto feigned ignorance. "Whatever do you mean, Kiria?"
"You're friend is a lot like you, in more ways than one, and for good reason. I don't doubt he will try to betray us. So, it is logical that we would strike first."
"Oh, are you implying that I can't be trusted?" there was silence for a moment, before both friends started to laugh.
"Only to most people."
"Right. Either way, he still has use. Besides, as far as we know, he could be counting on us attacking him. For know, we'll leave him be, let him do as he wishes, as long as he doesn't interfere too much. Now, don't you have a charge to go and see?" and with and nod and a parting chuckle, Kiria left the office, leaving Hokuto to his thoughts.
/
Naruto and Tsukune were walking down the path back to the school. As they walked, they chatted about the meeting that just took place. "Wow, isn't Hokuto-san amazing? He shows no fear when faced with danger. And at the same time, he's so nice," said Tsukune, effectively taken by Hokuto's charm.
"Yeah, he sure is something," was the response Naruto gave, not really agreeing about what Tsukune was saying. However, he decided to keep his opinion to himself for the moment. First off. He had no proof of anything, and he did see subtle differences between the two. Besides, no one needed to know about that part of his past. Hell, he doubted anyone but him, Kyuubi, and Hidan knew.
He was shaken from his thoughts when he felt something eerily familiar. He found that happening a lot lately, but this time his thoughts were broken by a certain energy signature. He stopped in his tracks as he fully realized who it was. He had been dreading this.
"Hey, Tsukune." The boy turned to him, curious. "You go on ahead. There's something I need to take care of." Naruto could see that the brunette was about to protest, or at least question him, but seeing the stern look on the blonde's face, Tsukune decided against it.
"Well, okay. Just don't take too long." With that, the boy continued on. When Naruto was sufficiently sure that he was out of earshot, he turned to the tree line.
"What do you want, Kiria?" the shorter blonde appeared from the forest, book in hand, and a smirk on his face.
/
The blonde walked through the campus, searching for the one individual he needed to accomplish his part of the mission. As he looked, he couldn't seem to ignore the increasing pit in his gut. What he needed to do made him sick, mostly because it was similar in action to what the voice had made him out to be. Now, who was he looking for exactly?
"I asked what you wanted," said Naruto in a menacing growl, holding the shorter blonde up against a tree in anger. He hated the boy for what he was making him do, and even if he doubted he could beat him in a fight, Naruto would sure as hell try. After all, he did have a new trick up his sleeve.
Kiria seemed unaffected by the change in position and gave his signature chuckle. "You're a curious one, Uzumaki-kun. You no doubt know why I'm here, so what's the point in asking?" he chuckled some more. When he opened his perpendicular-slit eyes again, they lacked the mirth that his grin did, turning cold and calculating. "And I would suggest setting me down before we proceed any further, unless you want to get hurt."
Naruto hesitated a bit, contemplating how dire the consequences would be if he were to throw a punch right now. Eventually, he decided against it, figuring it wasn't worth the pain or effort, and complied with Kiria's request. As soon as his feet reached solid earth, Kiria gave an approving grin, showing off his sharpened canine teeth a bit more.
"Good, you can follow orders rather nicely." He dusted off his clothes and straightened out the wrinkles in his jacket Naruto caused from where he held him up. Once that was done, Kiria continued. "Now that we're a bit more civilized, we can start to get done to business."
Naruto growled some more, letting some of Kyuubi's chakra leak into his system, just enough to cause his eyes to go teeth to elongate a bit and his eyes to gain their distinctive red, slit form. His voice also deepened a bit as he accessed the power. He doubted it would do much, but he wanted to try at least some form of intimidation. "Cut the bullshit Kiria! Just tell me what you want me to do so I can get this over with. If you remember correctly, I'm not here by choice, you forced this on me."
Kiria's grin became a bit more sour at this, but he refused to let it disappear completely. "Okay, so you could stand to learn some manners. Ahh well, one step at a time. Also, your intimidation tactics don't work on me, so I suggest you stop it." Naruto let his grip on the energy slip, as it receded back to its source. The grin was back up now, if only slightly more diminished than originally. "Good, now for your target." Kiria fished around in one of his pockets for a second before producing a photo and handing it to him. "I believe you know them quite well."
Naruto took one look at the picture and instantly blanched in shock. This only lasted momentarily, however, as he soon clenched both his fists and jaw in aggravation. The picture fell to the ground limply, discarded, as the taller blonde once again pinned the other to the tree, pieces of bark flying from the force with which he was slammed up against the rough surface. "What kind of shit are you trying to pull?" shouted Naruto, getting right up into his face.
For a moment, Kiria's grin vanished completely. Naruto didn't have time to think about this, as, with a series of twists and flips, he reversed their positions, holding Naruto up against the tree with one hand grasping his neck. Naruto gasped for air as the grip lightened a bit, letting a small amount of oxygen into his lungs. Naruto glared at the boy, hands still to his neck, trying to pry the hybrid's hand off him. Kiria was grinning again.
"Please don't test my patience again, Uzumaki-kun, and consider yourself to be lucky that I'm being so lenient, both with your punishment and assignment. Now, as I was saying, I don't want you to hurt the girl or anything like that. I want you to isolate her and lead her to a certain spot for pick-up by another one of my agents. Then, I want you to alert her friends to the problem and lead them to the drop off point. One person in particular is needed to be alerted to the situation."
Kiria, at this point, produced a folded up piece of paper and slipped it into the captive blonde's breast pocket. Naruto just growled some more as Kiria continued to refuse to let up his grip.
"Now, this isn't a test for the girl, hell, it's barely a test for you. It is a test for the subject on the paper I just gave you." With that, Kiria released Naruto, allowing him to fall on the ground. "I'm sure you won't fail us. I shouldn't have to remind you of the consequences if you betray us. Good luck." He said the last bit with a smile and a wave, and then was off. Just as Naruto was getting to his feet, Kiria felt the need to call out one last thing behind his back as he left. "Oh, and I heard you joined the student committee. Congratulations! Maybe our organization can use this to our advantage." And with that, he was gone.
"Cheeky bastard." Naruto collected himself and the photo he had discarded earlier. It depicted a familiar pink-haired girl. He growled a final time as he folded the picture of Akashiya Moka and put it in his pocket, taking out the paper given to him by Kiria after. As he read it, he couldn't keep the scowl from his face. However, seeing no other option, he set out to find Moka, hoping he would think of something for when the time came.
Meanwhile, a little ways away, Kiria was thinking out loud to himself. "Hmm, maybe I should have told him that Midou-kun doesn't always follow orders like he should." He paused in his musings before letting out a chuckle. "Nah, that would have made this less interesting, and that would be no good, now would it?" Kiria just kept on laughing.
So, as you can see, Naruto was feeling rather stressed. He had no idea were his mark was, he had no idea who was going to pick her up, and he had no idea what was going to happen to her as soon as he left. The last one caused him to just feel even worse about himself.
It was strange, really. Before, he wouldn't have cared as much if this had happened. Sure, Mizore was friends with the girl, but he doubted they were incredibly close. The purple-haired girl tended to try to keep to herself, after all. And, yeah, he still would have felt low, but not anywhere near as low as something you might find after scraping the wall of a deep-sea trench.
Then, it came to him. Tsukune was close to Moka. He had seen them together and knew that they had something for each other, even if they didn't admit it outright. And, while he wasn't overly fond of the boy, he felt he had formed some sort of kinship with him.
Of course, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he could see a bit of himself in Tsukune. Not in any aspects like physical of mental or anything like that. It was more of a similarity in priorities. Both of them would die to protect those important to them. Really, if anything happened to Moka, he would be like that damned cloaked man. He could only imagine Tsukune would have a similar, if less volatile, reaction to him when he found out Haku was dead.
Mentally, Naruto now knew what to do. However, he still needed to find Moka before he could set his own plan into motion, so he redoubled his efforts in doing that. However, one last thought came to mind before he devoted all of his attention to finding the pink-haired girl. Really, he himself had a partial liking to the girl. She was sweet, if not sometimes ignorant, and when he first met her, quickly tried to get to know him. He was the one who pushed her away. He was potentially harming a girl who had never done anything wrong to him.
Naruto gave a deep growl, as he swore that as soon as he ripped the cloaked man asunder, Kiria and any of his superiors or equals were next. Then again, did he really want to devote his life to revenge? Seriously, if he killed or maimed anyone and everyone who made him do something against his will, even his ethics, the world, both his and this one, would be missing quite a few people. He decided that he would deal with the cloaked man first before he thought of any future revenge.
Just as he decided this, he caught sight of his query. She was walking with Yukari and Kurumu, laughing about something he didn't quite care about. Whatever it was, he was just glad that neither Tsukune nor Mizore were there. It just would have made his current situation more difficult and add some unwanted awkwardness. Besides, they would have suspected something right away. So, steeling his resolve and counting what few blessings he had, he approached.
"Hey," he said casually, causing three heads to turn. As soon as they saw him, both Kurumu and Yukari regarded him with slight trepidation. They may have gotten to know the boy a bit, but that didn't mean they really trusted him. They were still scared about what had happened with Kuyou. Moka, however, gave him her customary smile and friendly greeting.
"Hello, Naruto-san. Do you need something?" the blonde sighed. Her lack of caution of any kind showed just how vulnerable she was at times. It made him feel as if he was taking advantage of her. But, to her, she felt that she had nothing to fear. She trusted him, and he knew it. It didn't help him any.
He began to fidget slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by anyone there, before he got himself under control. "Yes, actually." He took a deep breath, before, with a few simple words, he sealed both his and his friend's fate. "Hey, Moka-san, could we perhaps… talk? There's something important that needs to be discussed."
Moka looked at him quizzically, and, just as Kurumu was about to say something, her smile returned and she agreed with the same enthusiasm she regarded the world with. "Sure. What is it?" and before anything else could happen, Naruto started to lead her away, leaving behind two curious friends wondering just what was going on.
"Should we follow them?" asked Yukari.
"You know it. We may share some friends, but I don't trust that guy." And with that, they were off.
/
"So, what did you want to talk about, Naruto-san?" the blonde was quiet for a little while, waiting to get a little closer to his destination before doing anything. Moka, however, thought that he just wasn't listening. "Naruto-san?" taking a deep sigh, Naruto finally spoke.
"Listen to me, Moka-san. I consider you a friend, so I thought that you should know." The girl regarded him curiously as he continued. "You're in danger, Moka-san. You, Tsukune, and maybe everyone else."
"Wha… what do you mean?"
"Look, I don't have time to explain everything, but you need to trust me." reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out the items he had received from Kiria and handed them to the girl. "Take these."
The girl looked over them. As she did, she felt a distinctive sinking feeling as she came to the realization that something bad was going to happen. "Wha…?" she started before Naruto cut her off.
"Listen, I hate doing this, but I don't have a choice. Right now, there's a guy watching us. Any moment now, he's going to jump out and attack me. He will then take you to a safe house of sorts where I am suppose to bring Tsukune after he hears you were kidnapped. However, that's going to take some time, and I don't know what will happen while you're alone. I need you to stay strong. I promise that I will rescue you."
Moka was scared now; he could see it in her green eyes, the same ones that were sparkling with tears. He was about to say something, anything to calm her nerves and keep her from bolting. However, before he could say anything, he heard a scream, and then all he saw were stars.
/
In the trees, Yukari and Kurumu were following the two, trying to make out what they were saying. "Can you hear anything they're saying?" Kurumu whispered to the young witch.
"No, I think they're whispering."
"Crap, we need to get closer." Before they could act on anything, they saw a man appear behind Naruto. He was tall and muscular with a tan. His light blonde hair was cut short to the scalp and they could just barely make out some facial scarring in him. They heard Moka scream before he knocked the other blonde in the back of the head, knocking him out. He then grabbed Moka and took off running.
Just as they were about to follow, they noticed Naruto shake off his temporary blackout and stand up. With a puff of smoke, an exact copy of him was there, before it took off back to campus. The original went after the kidnapper.
After a slight deliberation of what to do, the girls came to a decision. "That copy he made probably went to go and tell the others what happened," said Kurumu. "We should probably follow the other one." Yukari gave a nod and they began to follow.
/
Naruto got up with a grunt. He had a splitting headache and, bringing his hand up to his skull, he found blood. Kyuubi quickly seared the wound closed and worked to heal any internal damage that may have been caused by the hit. "Fucker hit me good. Damn, let's hurry up. Kage bunshin no jutsu." With a quick puff of smoke, a clone was by his side, and, with a mental order, went to find Tsukune and, hopefully, some other friends.
He himself went in the direction of the guy who blindsided him, in the same direction that the piece of paper said to go. Right away he set a fast pace, making it difficult for his shadows to keep up with him. As he ran, he shed his blazer. It would only get in the way and it would serve for a marker for the others.
He rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt and unsealed his wakizashi, the strong rope coiling around him as the hilt settled in his hand. He was being serious about this, and would be damned if he left Moka unattended for long with the Anti-thesis agent.
Before he knew it, he was at the entrance of a beaten down warehouse. It looked abandoned and devoid of any life. He paused at the sight of it, waiting to get back any energy he lost. When he felt comfortable, he proceeded forward, only to be stopped by a voice.
"Wait up… you!" he turned around to see both the succubus and witch jogging up to him before coming to a stop, panting. Naruto narrowed his eyes. They shouldn't be here yet.
"Why are you here?" he asked harshly.
"We saw what happened… and are here to help."
Growling a bit, Naruto turned back to the warehouse. "So you were following us?" the silence was all the answer he needed as he sighed. "Fine, come on. The others will be here shortly and some help is better than none." And with that, the three entered the rusted door leading into the weathered building.
/
The clubroom was rather empty, the only people there being Mizore, Tsukune and Gin. Predictably, the latter was rather upset and annoyed by the fact that most of his underlings were absent. Granted, club still didn't start for a few more minutes, but people usually showed up early. The other two were just worried about their friends.
"Do you think they're in trouble?" asked Mizore suddenly, breaking the foreboding silence. Both boys turned to her. "I mean, Naruto-kun just naturally seems to find trouble, and I wouldn't be surprised if they started attacking our friends to get to us."
"Come on, don't you think you're stretching the truth a bit?" said Gin. "I mean, sure, I hear the blonde Tsukune here have made some enemies, but really, they should be able to handle themselves."
Tsukune, however, knew that Naruto was the only one who could probably take care of himself if worse came to worse. Not to say that his other friends couldn't protect themselves, but they had limits under that of Naruto's; of course, he didn't know a thing about Zetsu and his capabilities, but he wasn't betting his friends' well being on them. But, even if the shinobi was with the others, he wasn't sure if he could protect them. Besides, he was the only one who could remove Moka's rosary.
The brunette stood up, causing the other two to look at him. "I'm not sure about that. I haven't seen Naruto since this morning when that meeting let out and he told me to go on without him. Maybe something bad happened to him and someone attacked the others. I don't want to risk leaving them for dead if they are in trouble." With that, Tsukune started for the door, Mizore following him.
"Please! I mean, even if they were in trouble, wouldn't one of them get away and come find us?" asked Gin. Just as Tsukune was about to answer, the door burst open to reveal Naruto. From the looks of it, he had just run a long distance.
"N-Naruto?" asked Tsukune, shocked at the boy's state and the fact that he had almost been hit by the door. Gin finally stood up at this point, wondering what was going on.
"No, time to talk," he said. "Moka's been captured by Anti-thesis." Tsukune felt his heart drop at that moment. It couldn't be true, could it? Had he really caused an attack on his friends? He almost didn't hear what else the blonde had to say. "They're headed north. The real me is already in pursuit, but you need to hurry up."
"Wait what do you mean by real-…" began Gin, but he was cut off as the blonde disappeared into a puff of smoke, causing everyone's jaw to drop. "Did he just blow up?" shouted Gin, freaked out by the sudden explosion.
"No time for that," said Mizore, quickly overcoming her shock. "If what he says is true, both he and Moka are in trouble. We need to go help." The other two quickly agreed and ran after the purple-haired girl.
/
The large metal door opened with an ear-splitting screech. Rust flaked from the hinges as Naruto continued to push open the door until he could fit in through the crack. As he stepped inside the building, the only light from inside the dark building seemed to be coming from the holes in the ceiling. He looked around a bit until he spotted Moka in the center of the room, tied to a chair.
As the blonde approached her, she seemed uninjured for the most part. She was, however, clearly scared. She looked up as she heard him approaching, fearful. She relaxed a bit when she saw it was him.
"Naruto-san, what's going on? This isn't funny." The blonde put a finger to his lips, trying to quiet the girl.
As he started to untie her, he tried to keep her calm. "As I said, I'll explain after. But first I need to get you out of here and make sure these people never hurt you again." However, as he was working on a knot, he never expected a fist to slam into his side, causing him to roll away with a grunt and a crack.
"Naruto-san!" Moka yelled, tears forming in her eyes as she saw her friend injured. He may have been somehow responsible for this, but he was rescuing her. She didn't want to see him die.
Naruto coughed up some blood as he gingerly held his side, hissing when he put too much pressure on his wound. 'Shit, he broke most of the ribs on my left side. Fuck that hurt.' The blonde wearily looked over in the direction he was recently standing in. where he stood before was now an unknown man. He had short-cropped, platinum blonde hair, almost silver in colour. He had coal black eyes and a scar on his face. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a frown on his face.
"Kiria told me that you were just gonna' bring the girl to the drop-off point and then get the boy over here. And now, here you are, alone and trying to free the girl. What the hell is wrong with you?"
Naruto stood, wiping the blood from his face as Kyuubi finished healing him. "Screw Kiria and your whole organization. I've had enough of your bullshit, and I'm getting out, even if I have to kill all of you." With that, the whiskered boy held up his sword, preparing for the other to charge at him.
He just shook his head, a slight smile on his face. "Fool, you can't leave Anti-thesis. You're even more of an idiot to think you can take us all on. However, since you seem so eager to piss us all off, and have already gone against us, I'll help you get out. Prepare to die!"
However, before anything could happen, the boy had to jump back, or else risk getting hit by a large metal pan, which fell to the floor with a clang. Both blondes turned towards the entrance of the warehouse, where they saw a small girl in a witch hat and a busty blue-haired girl in a yellow sweater. Naruto gave a slight frown of confusion at seeing the two.
"Why are you here already? Where are the others?"
Kurumu directed her gaze to Naruto and gave her own frown. "We were following you, and for good reason apparently. We'll talk about this later, but for now, we need to save Moka." With that, she allowed her true form to show, revealing leathery wings and a tail, complete with long and sharp nails.
The blue haired girl jumped up into the air and flew at the kidnapper at high speeds. However, another person jumped her a few inches from her mark, sending her tumbling to the ground. The boy gave a sneer. "You guys take care of the girls. I'll get the traitor."
From the shadows of the warehouse, several more people emerged. With a chorus of, "Yes, Midou-sama," they went after Yukari and Kurumu. Seeing this, Naruto made a few clones to go help the two girls before turning to his opponent.
He didn't have much time to think as he was once again punched across the room and into a wall, the boy having quickly bound across the room. The boy kept up the assault, running after him. Naruto had little time to think as he skidded across the floor, seeing the other boy refuse to let him get away.
He quickly rolled out of the way as a foot came down where he was a few milliseconds ago, despite how his body protested such action. Making use of the missed hit, he made a wild slash with his blade, being rewarded with a grunt of pain as he made a gash in his opponents calf. Pushing his new advantage, he rolled to his feet and settled into a crouch.
The now named Midou regarded him with contempt, Naruto having put a dent in his mobility. However, that wouldn't stop him as he continued to attack, even though he had a slight limp now, reducing his speed.
Naruto ducked under a punch and sent an elbow up into Midou's sternum, before rolling away as he sent an elbow of his own down to where he just was, sending some debris flying. As the blue-eyed boy got behind his opponent, he wasn't expecting the boy to use his new position to do a front flip, sending his heel into Naruto's jaw and bringing him off the ground a few inches.
Midou then proceeded to perform a spin kick, sending Naruto's airborne form across the room. As he landed, he thought of how bad this was going. He may have been able to draw blood, but he couldn't get enough time to make his symbol and actually ingest the blood. He also didn't have enough time to build up a Rasengan, and he doubted clones would give him enough time to perform the hand seals of any other good jutsu.
He idly looked over and gave a slight smile. He still had a clone left and had managed to help the girls take out two of the attackers, leaving only three more. At least something was going well. Now he could only hope Tsukune and the others would show up soon.
As he rose to his feet, he could hear Midou calling out to him. "Enough of this bullshit. Up until now, I've been going easy on you. Not any more." He looked as the by started to transform. The change was generally restricted to his right side, as his arm became larger and got encased in a sort of reddish shell, his fingers forming points like those on a gauntlet. His head also started to change, forming a sort of horizontal crest on the right side of his head. His eyes became wide and bloodshot as he finished, flexing his new arm.
Now, ant normal person would have believed that they were, at that moment, screwed, but not Naruto. No, instead he gave a light chuckle, despite the respectable amount of youkai Midou was emitting. The chuckle turned into a laugh, a rather loud one, causing everyone in the building to look at him. This gave his clone enough time to dispatch to more henchmen before the last one took it out and confronted the two girls once again.
Moka gave him a worried glance, wondering if something was wrong with him, while Midou just growled. "You think this is a joke? I'll show you the true might of us hybrids, purebred scum!" with that crazed declaration, Midou charged, pulling back his fist before swinging. He stared, wide-eyed along with Moka, to see Naruto stopping his mutated fist with his own hand.
"Idiot," Naruto said. He looked up to show a fanged grin, coupled with bloody eyes with slits. The hand he used to stop Midou's fist was bleeding, but other than that, it wouldn't budge, no matter how hard the boy pushed. He couldn't even get the other blond to let go of him.
"What's going on? What are you?" Midou was a little scarred, but he wasn't going to give up, not yet.
Naruto chuckled a bit more. "You know, for a long time, I wondered that myself. Am I good or bad? Am I really a monster like my village says I am? Did I ever deserve life? I don't know. However, I'm not a purebred, I can assure you that much. I can also assure you that you won't win this fight."
A red energy stared to kick up around Naruto's feet, swirling faster and faster, causing a wind to whip around the two. Naruto's pendant swung around as the wind became more violent. The energy slowly crept up his body, before covering him in red.
"You know, I have been wanting to test this power in an actual fight ever since I mastered it. I guess I should thank you for the opportunity." With that, a single tail of crimson energy sprouted from the cloak. There was a sizzling sound as steam rose from where Naruto held Midou's fist, causing the boy to look worried. He swung at the other blonde, only to have his fist burn as he made contact, and have him yelp in pain.
As the girls finished their final opponent, they looked to Naruto with Moka, and came to a fearful realization. 'This is the same power he used when he fought Kuyou. But he seems more… in control. I hope he doesn't turn against us this time.'
Naruto sent a punch into Midou's gut, causing him to lurch foreword, before throwing a cross into his face. With a final kick to the chest, he released Midou's fist, sending him flying.
As Naruto slowly approached, he noticed the burn marks on the boy from anywhere he had touched him. This gave him a sort of sick satisfaction as he continued to approach. As much as his friends wanted to stop him from going too far, they also didn't want to get in his way. Midou just looked fearful as Naruto stood above him, before straddling his chest and raining blows down on the boy, causing screams of pain.
Before long, the vestiges of another tail began to form. Naruto felt more exhilarated, though he noticed that he was becoming only somewhat aware of his surroundings. His eyes widened in realization as he released the power and got off the boy. He was badly burned, but still conscious and breathing, though obviously in pain. Naruto didn't even give him a second glance as he approached Moka. Everyone calmed down a bit as soon as the power vanished and watched as Naruto cut the rope holding the pink-haired girl in place.
Naruto kept his eye on Midou as Kurumu and Yukari came to Moka's side and asked about her well-being. As soon as that was over with, they all turned to the blond. "Okay, now how did this all happen? We want answers."
Naruto gave a small growl, but before he could make a remark on this not being the time or place, the doors burst open. Shocked, everyone turned to the source as a shout rang through the room. "Moka-san! Naruto-san! Are you okay!" everyone turned to see Tsukune at the door, along with Mizore and Gin. When Midou saw him, and noticed that no one was watching him now, he knew this was his chance to complete his job.
He rose to his feet, and before anyone noticed, he charged at the larger group. Anger overwhelmed him, clouding his vision. The blonde had made a fool of him, of his superiors, of everything he stood for! He would pay!
Naruto turned as he heard someone approaching, only to see Midou. He couldn't do much else, not even yell, as his fist came crashing into his face. There was a gut wrenching tearing sound, along with some splatters. Before anyone really knew what happened, Naruto's body fell to the floor with a wet smack, blood leaking all around him, as his head flew across the room over to the door, stopping right at Mizore's feet.
/
Yeah, I'll leave you there. So, once again, sorry for the late update, but I had other things to take care of. But hey, look on the bright side; schools almost out, giving me more time to devote to my stories.
So, I'm thinking I'll update this again one more time, before moving on to the next chapter of Natural Biotic and then Rosario+Kitsune. You don't like it, too damn bad.
1: Kind of complicated, but Hokuto reminds Naruto of the old leader of Yugakure. Really, you only need to read the first three chapters of Bloody Prayer to fully understand, but it shouldn't take you more than an hour if you decide to do that.
Now, for a rant. So, I recently found out that Naruto Shippuden is now airing on Disney DX. Has been for a while now. Having already seen most of it, I decided to do a little comparison and found that it is actually bearable, though they edit some stuff out, as you can imagine. Then earlier this week, I see Dragonball Z showing on Nickelodeon. It is the original one, and they also cut stuff out, but it is also good. My question is, are you proud of yourself Cartoon Network? You let two of the most popular series go to competitors because you refused to skip the filler. Granted, one of the series is already over, but that's beside the point. Oh how you disappoint me, Cartoon Network.
Also, while watching that Dragonball Z, I saw a preview for a Nickelodeon original series that is being made intro a movie. Avatar: The Last Airbender is being made into a live-action movie directed by M. Knight Shamalyan. Now, I liked the cartoon series, and now their butchering its good name. What the hell? This just disappoints me. Well, I've run out of steam, so let's end this chapter.
What will happen in the battle now that Naruto is down and out? How will his friends react to his 'death'? Will Anti-thesis finally fall? Stay tuned. Also, this chapter is over NINE-THOUSAND! Yeah, I couldn't resist doing that. This chapter is actually 11,092 words long! Yeah, don't expect anything else like this for a while.