Well, again the update took me slightly longer then I have anticipated. Sorry bout that, but I had last exam (well, not exactly an exam, but…) this Tuesday and it required quite some studying. But it's all behind me now and during my breaks I sat down to writing, actually managing to finish not one, but two N:NG chapters! And since recently the updates were slow, I figured I'll make a double update.

A bonus reason was that this chapter (meaning 109) kinda shared the fate of the previous: the events presented in it were supposed to be divided into two chappies, but I figured the major scene in it would be too boring to take so much space, so I've shortened it, leaving only essential stuff in it. This, naturally resulted, in the scene feeling rush again, but this is the last time I'm doing it (the last time in Takai's story, that much is certain). Besides, even with that operation, the flashback still has five or four chapters to finish (and that without counting the double update!), so I figured it's best to speed it up a bit. Hope you'll endure it this one, last time.

Also I wanna thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter and I hope you'll do the same with this two (I didn't announce the multiply update earlier, coz I had no idea inspiration will strike me this hard XD): meaning 109 and 110. It'd mean a lot.

A word from our beta

Hello to all out there in the fan-fic universe. I decided as well to start on a little fictional project of mine as well. It would be awesome if you take a scrutinizing look at my pilot chapter of Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid. I plan on finishing out the piece, but fortuitously, I had been loaded with work and my organizations, along with setting up arrangements to study abroad this summer (so, in short, my plate is kind of full for the moment). I will plan on updating, but need not worry for the moment. But for now, any and all critiques and criticism will be allowable, because I would like for my story to be enjoyable, even though a type of story has been done before…but I will make it better.

I think that is all I have to say. I hope that you are enjoying the progression of this fic as well as I am.

—DHO

And one, last thing before starting the newest, double update: I wanna invite you all to give my original stories on FictionPress a try. If you like this piece, then most likely you'll enjoy them as well.

Chapter #109: The One Who Crawls In the Dark – Takai's Story part III

Title Page: cemetery: Takai is standing on a huge, stone cross, his back turned towards the 'audience' and is gazing at the full moon

Kitsune stretched himself while yawning. If there was one thing that he hated, it was certainly waking up in the middle of the night. He threw off his sheet and put on his slippers, heading to the kitchen to get a glass of milk. As he walked down the stairs, he noticed light shining in the hallway leading to the door. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly headed in the right direction, trying to stay as quiet as he only could. As he looked over the corner, he saw his father reading some scroll. But what surprised him even more was the figure of the late-night visitor.

"The design is rather unusual, Hagane-san," the man announced, scanning the scroll carefully. "Are you sure this is what you want? We could easily re-create your old chain…"

But at those words Kusari shook his head in disagreement, interrupting the blacksmith: "Thanks for the advice, but my last weapon proved to not be strong enough, and thus, I need some improvements. While I understand the weapon itself will not win a fight for me, I believe this design will be more suitable for the battles ahead…"

"I see," the head of the Debano, a man with long, black hair nodded, wrapping the scroll. "I'll get to it first thing in the morning. I think the most you'll have to wait will be a week. You can come by to pick it up by then…" At hearing this Kusari bowed slightly and saying a quick 'good night' disappeared in the shadows of Konoha streets.

---Five years ago in Hidden Sand---

Darkness filled the empty hallways, suppressing the dim light that came from the burning torches to the maximum. The cracking sound of the burning fire was the only noise that traveled between those black walls, echoing to the furthest reaches of the dungeon. That is also the main reason when a creaking sound of an opening door entered the darkness, the only prisoner in this forsaken outpost lifted up his head.

He was a man around forty years and his hair was blonde, though now long, messy and extremely dirty. His skin turned pale due to the lack of sun exposure and his eyes, once sky blue now became blanker. Yet as the man gazed into the darkness that could not cover anything from him anymore, a figure emerged, to his surprise a figure of a young boy. His surprise grew as he realized he knew this boy, though never did he truly meet him.

"Well, this is most unexpected," he said with a smirk, while the boy came close. "You're one of the last I'd expect to come and see me… much less the guards letting you in of all people." And with that he stared deep into the blood-red eyes of the eight-year-old, who froze a few meters away from the cell bars. The boy scanned the surroundings, noticing tens of seals all around, assuring that no-one could break out of this prison, unless he or she was freed.

"Why have you come?" the man asked, apparently annoyed. In a flash Takai snapped out of his amazement and directed his gaze at the man again, his face showing confusion mixed with fear. He gulped loudly, before words finally managed to escape his mouth with a slightly trembling voice: "I… I'm sorry to disturb you, b-but…"

"Disturb me?" the man burst out laughing at the words. He calmed down after a moment and then spoke up, giving the boy a devilish smile: "I'm a prisoner, boy. The only guests I've been having the past eight years were either the Kazekage or interrogation officers… well, I don't count the guards that give me food, 'coz they're not much of talkers. It's not like I have anything to do. But even in this dump I hate to waste time, so either speak up or get the hell out. I'm not much of a social type, at least not anymore…"

"Well, I came," began Takai, still unsure, yet doing his best to keep his voice from trembling. "I came here, because I heard… you're the one that… gave birth to me. Me, Tarakudo and Honemaru," he managed to announce, making the man rise his eyebrow slightly. "And I want to know… why?"

"Why?" the man repeated, obviously surprised and amused. "Are you really that defective to not realize the simplest of things? You were supposed to be a perfect weapon! The re-creation of the Kaguya clan! Well, at least that was our aim, but sadly you turned out to be just a second failure in our work. Or more specifically, my companions marked you as one. But they were blind, 'coz I know the truth: out of all three subjects, the one that's the biggest success is most certainly you!"

"What do you mean?" Takai demanded, somehow fury surpassing every, other emotion, leaving merely a small space for curiosity. "You played with life! You played God! And yet you talk about this like it's nothing more then child's play! Do you even realize what sort of hell you brought upon me? Upon all three of us? We're not just tools, dammit! We're living beings!"

"That you are," agreed the man, still smiling evilly. "But you should remember that you're living because of us. We're the ones that brought you into this world, like it or not. Your entire body is nothing more then re-created cells of a long lost blood. Even your skeleton is artificial… but then that last part is your own doing. I gotta hand it to you: your body certainly has the most incredible survival instinct in existence. To come up with an… anti-virus like that. We sure did a great work with you, even if it was by pure chance…"

"What do you mean?"

"Face it, Takai…'coz that is the name I gave you… there's no better shinobi than you. Even at your age, should you feel like it, you can't be beaten! Kaguya's bloodline limit evolved beyond our own imagination within you. To put it simple: there is no way you can be killed. And since shinobi fight to the death…Well, even you should be able to complete that sentence. That alone makes you strong… possibly you could even beat the Kazekage himself if you'd like…"

"Beat Kazekage-sama?" Takai repeated, once more horrified. "What are you talking about? Something like that cannot be done!"

But at those words the man only burst out laughing again: "You're still too naïve… maybe someday you'll learn. But that doesn't matter. What you should understand however, is that you're superior. Superior to any shinobi. While your abilities will most certain label you as a monster, you should not worry about things as minor as that. You out best everyone. They're not gonna love you, that much is certain and if that is so, then make them fear you! It's an advice I give you as a father…"

"Father?" the boy instantly shot back, narrowing his eyes. "You call yourself a father? What you just said proves exactly otherwise! You don't care about me, Tarakudo or Honemaru! What you want is for us to become weapons, to become what you DESIGNED us for! Well, I have news for you: we're not puppets and I most certainly ain't! I found friends who accept me the way I am! They don't fear me! It's easy to make everyone be afraid of you, but I'm not gonna take that path! I'll earn everyone's respect!"

"You're still too young," the man replied with a smirk as he sat down and propped himself against the cold wall of his cell. "You don't understand the way this world works. It's in your nature. You were made to kill, not love. And it's also human nature to isolate all those, who are different. Like it or not, you don't have any choice in the matter…"

"You're wrong!" screamed Takai as he felt water gathering in his eyes, while Tarakudo's words echoed anew in his mind. "You both are! People are not like that!"

At this point the prisoner laughed again and with a grim face, he turned towards him: "Then let me ask you this: if they're really not as I describe them, how would you explain me being here? My only crime was giving life to the three of you… doing something no one has done since the time your precious Kazekage was born…"

The boy had no answer for this question. A loud sniff escaped his nose before he headed back to the exit, leaving the man smiling evilly under his nose: "Sooner or later you'll learn, Takai. You will see how little of a choice you actually have. Quite frankly, I don't think you really have a choice… and you'll be back, that much I'm sure off…"

Few days later, Suna Ninja Academy:

Waiting is never fun, much less when it's waiting for a class you dislike. And Suna history with Kazuchiro was certainly such a class. Takai sat in his seat with his chin propped against the desk. He stared blankly at the blackboard while the rest of the kids kept on chatting happily. The crimson-eyed boy gazed to his left, where Karame was entertaining several girls, Torune and Hari included, with making instant origami. He saw the kunoichi-to-be applaud as he went from giraffe, to a turtle, to changing that into a scorpion, all in mere seconds.

If Takai had more experience in life, he'd figure out that the sudden sorrow he felt deep down was jealousy: "I wonder if anyone would ever applaud me" he thought sadly and turned away to his right, where Dekai sat. The other boy took his eyes of his sword, which he was polishing, and gazed back at his new friend. After a few moments of silence, the swordsman finally spoke up: "Is something bothering you? You seem slightly… strange, even for you… no offense."

"It's nothing," Takai assured him, though did so in the most unconvincing way possible. Dekai observed his friend closely for a moment longer, even when the latter turned away, yet decided it's best to not push the topic further. Unaware to them both, Sabure, who sat a row before them, threw a quick look over her shoulder at the crimson-eyed student and then looked away, glancing over to the floor.

"Tou-kun is late," noticed Hari, slightly worried as she gazed at the clock, making Karame stop halfway through switching his paper hedgehog into a salamander. His eyes settled on the girl and then traveled towards Takai, who sat beside him. He turned again, speaking up while finishing his work: "What are you worried about? Touba is the best student in our class and a Kazekage-sama's son at that. Certainly, from time to time, he may have more important things to do than attend classes… and besides, he's your cousin, so it's kinda inappropriate for you to have a crush on him…"

"What the hell?" the blonde snapped, drilling her sight through the mummy. "Who has a crush on that redhead? I dare you to repeat that, you asshole!" she yelled, while Karame simply formed a paper rhinocerus, seemingly ignoring his friend.

In the meantime Torune giggled slightly, before speaking up: "If what he said wasn't true, why did you react like that?" she teased, making the other girl boil inside.

"Tarakudo!" a sudden yell interrupted all the conversations as it echoed through the classroom. The boy in question simply went to the window and gazed outside, spotting a boy his age with short, blonde hair, wearing a baggy, white and black outfit. The bandaged boy only let out a sigh and shook his head, while opening the window: "And again…" he murmured before jumping down.

Takai observed the whole situation, completely confused. He turned towards Dekai, but a quick shrug from the swordsman assured him he knew nothing of it either, thus the crimson-eyed boy stood up and walked towards the window, to observe the scene better.

"Don't you ever quit?" Tarakudo asked, actually showing boredom in his voice, while the blonde had his eyes settled on him, fury burning within. "You should've learned by now that there's no way you can beat me. One of those days I might snap and end up killing you…"

But the other boy's replied was immediate and full of anger, making Takai all the more confused: "You think there's anything you can do to me that would make my life worse then it already is? You took everything away from me! EVERYTHING! And I'm not gonna rest until you'll die by my hands!" And with that he charged forward, throwing a kunai at his opponent.

---the challenge is thrown… and the conclusion? ---

And so this chapter ends. To be honest I hesitated about putting Kusari's scene in it (mostly 'coz I was afraid it'd be sorta a spoiler), but then figured that you guys would probably figure out that I'm not gonna leave the guy on ice and that he'll get his chain back for the final exam. Plus I assure you that the changes that will be made are quite drastic.

Plus Kusari ended up as the most popular character in the recent contest, so it's only fair to keep my promise and give him some screen time when I can. And I hope that I've managed to make your curiosity about his new weapon bloom (I really am evil XD).

Oh yeah and should you wonder: naturally it's not like in normal circumstances Takai could just visit a prisoner that is put in a dungeon like that. So why was he allowed? Well, I never planned to clear that up in the story itself ('coz I do believe that writing a story where the readers got everything given to them on a silver platter is bad story-telling), so I'll just leave it that several events that took or will take place in the flashback will be the only hint you'll get from me (it's kinda like Kishimoto never revealed why Sasori, being able to dodge Chiyo's last attack, didn't do so)… it's the same I did earlier, not saying straight how Ibuki was freed or why Naruto let his students go ahead during the Tanken Estate assault.

Thanks for reading, but don't go anywhere, 'coz the next chapter is already on its way!