Hey you guys! I hoped to finish this by the end of the weekend, but that certainly blew in my face as all sorts of… distractions began arising all around. Furthermore, although I had high hopes, I didn't manage to complete chapter 117 yet, so the double update will have to wait for later (but I do aim to make an update in a week's time since quite much of 117 is already done). Sorry to let you down, but I guess with the semester ending, my time will just keep on getting more and more limited. Hopefully summer vacation in two months will allow me to catch-up a bit.
I wish to thank all of you who sacrificed their time and left a comment under previous updates, especially those who wrote reviews for both chappies. I really can't thank you enough. I do hope you'll find this chapter worth waiting for, as it is a little late.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: As some of you might have noticed, another anniversary is coming up (boy, that one year sure passed by fast this time). Three, whole years. Certainly this calls for some sort of celebration and while I had one in mind, I've decided to save it for later (not because I don't want to do it, but because it'd be pointless to use it now). This, naturally, left me thinking how to celebrate this anniversary and I must admit I'm disappointed in myself, coz for a guy who has more story ideas then he'll ever manage to write, I'm pretty clueless as to what I should do to make the anniversary special.
Thus I'm asking you what sort of celebration (meaning an extra) you would like to see for a three-year anniversary. It's on a pretty short notice and all, but as long as it'll be manageable, I'll do my best to cope with it. A piece of warning though: things that will be done in the story itself (meaning revealing who Takaru's father is, how Sasuke returned to Konoha etc.) you just have to wait for. Also, you may call an omake in "NNG: Side Stories". Dunno what sort of ideas you'll give, but hopefully I'll be able to fulfill at least a few.
A word from our beta: Greetings to all. Given my current state of affairs, after I finish up with the next chapter of my tale, I won't be working on Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid until after June 22, 2008. I'll be going abroad for five weeks, so I will barely be by a computer during that time. If Shang does have new updates, then I'm sorry to say that I probably cannot beta within that time frame.
But in any case, I'll turn it over to Shang…
And with that, I believe the only thing left for me to do is to invite you to read the newly written chapter of "Naruto: Next Generation"! Hope you'll enjoy it!
Chapter #116: Kai vs. Takai
Title Page: Kai is sitting on a golden throne with a crown on his head, with gold hanging all over his body, holding tight to the scepter and all sorts of treasure scattered around in the room
"First match: Haisha Kai from Konoha against Takai from Suna," Lee announced loudly as the two participants stood before each other, ready to engage the opponent at any second. Silence filled the wide stadium, broken a moment later by the Leaf's Green Beast's call: "BEGIN!"
In a flash the sand-nin charged forward, grabbing his scythe, ready to swing it at any moment. As the distance between the two disappeared, the blade cut the air horizontally with a whistling sound, but the blonde managed to jump into the sky in time, making the assault go below his feet. While still in mid-air, Kai threw his right leg to the left, aiming to hit the crimson-eyed boy in the face, yet the Suna genin was faster and ducked under the attack.
As the kick went over his head, Takai twisted his wrist, stopping the scythe in its tracks and thrust it up, hitting the blonde dead-center in the stomach with the handle, blasting the leaf-nin back. As his opponent flew defenseless back, the artificial shinobi stood up straight and again charged at his adversary, swinging his weapon in an attempt to cut the clone user in half.
Acting solely on instinct, Kai threw his right leg forward again, hitting the incoming weapon in the stick. The moment his kick connected, he used the momentum to change direction and putting his body into a spin, with his back turned towards his opponent, he thrust his left leg back, aiming to land a blow on Takai's face. The sand-nin however managed to bend his head to the left, dodging the assault in the last second.
The blonde wasn't finished though and instantly threw his left fist over his right shoulder, again going for the artificial shinobi's face, this time forcing the scythe user to bend back in order to avoid the attack. As another assault got dodged, Kai quickly threw his right hand to the sky and in one smooth motion, brought it down, making his fist connect with Takai's chest, leaving the sand-nin gasping for air at that instant.
With his fist still pushing hard against the crimson-eyed boy's stomach, the blonde used the momentum again to flip his body, launching a drop kick to his opponent's face, once his own body located itself above Takai. Having no way to dodge, the sand-nin quickly blocked the assault with his free hand, raising his scythe to pierce through the leaf-nin, now hanging above.
Seeing this, Kai took advantage of the palm Takai used to block his kick, and shifting the weight of his body to his foot, he pulled himself out of the weapon's course and bouncing of the sand-nin's hand, he somersaulted a few times, before landing safely on the ground, his eyes set on the artificial shinobi, who spun on his feet to face his opponent. Their faces seemed emotionless, but the fires in their eyes shown perfectly that neither was willing to just left the other win easily.
Again letting his instinct take over, Kai crossed his fingers as his mouth opened.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" the blonde called as a legion of his copies popped out of thin air, covering the arena with white smoke due to the amount of clones arriving. Once his vision cleared again, Takai only traveled around with his sight, noting he was surrounded by identical Leaf-nin, each reaching for a kunai, ready to attack.
"Is this supposed to scare me?" the artificial shinobi asked calmly, gazing out front, where he figured the original was. "One, two, twenty, one hundred, a thousand… you'll always equal zero in the end. It doesn't matter what you do, I cannot be killed. And if I cannot be killed, how can I get scared?"
"There are many types of fear," Kai's voice echoed through the stadium, making it impossible to locate the speaker among the clones. "Even if you are not afraid for yourself, you still can be scared someone you care about gets hurt… that something you treasure gets stolen. Even being immortal doesn't rid you from fear…"
"That is where you're wrong," the crimson-eyed boy corrected him with an emotionless voice, his face indifferent. "Truly, you cannot imagine what my life is like. In this world, there is absolutely nothing that I'd find precious. For what's the point of valuing something, when you know it'll eventually be taken away from you? This is why the victor will be me: regardless to everything, I have nothing to lose, while you are limited by fear…" And at this point the clones charged at him from all directions.
"A man who has nothing left," Hizoku thought to himself as his eyes set on Takai. "For a person like that, fear truly has little meaning. I may not like him… no, I definitely don't like him, but even above all I said about him… ironically, in the end, he's just like me…"
Kunai sunk deep into the sand-nin's palm as it came at the artificial shinobi's head, while the crimson-eyed boy swung his scythe with his other hand, making its tip scourge the ground, lifting up dust right before in cut through the clone, thus initiating a puff, followed by a blast of white smoke. Takai then went into a spin, thrusting his weapon forward, ending the existence of more bunshin that were not fast enough to jump back.
As the sand-nin was slowing down, one of the blondes went for the attack and with his head near the ground, the scythe cut the air just above him, while he pushed his knife up, piercing right through Takai's heart. A sizzling sound filled the crimson-eyed boy's ears as the explosive tag tied to the kunai burnt, going off a moment later, sending the Suna genin to the sky, while the clone puffed.
In a flash another blonde appeared under Takai, kicking the artificial shinobi into the sky, while several more clones followed, each punching the scythe user further up. Finally, as the sand-nin reached the top point of his flight, the last bunshin came from above, delivering a powerful drop-kick into the crimson-eyed boy's head, sending the immortal crashing to the ground: "Haisha Kai Kyokudo Rendan!"
"Oh come on, that's just a freaking rip-off!" Naruto snapped at the sight. Lee merely sweat-dropped, for he was too shocked to react as Takai came towards the ground. Before his head hit the surface however, the sand-nin struck the blade of his scythe into it and as the handle of the weapon bent. He used that moment to blast himself in a different direction, cutting right through the nearest clone, which was too surprised to move out of the way in time.
Instantly the artificial shinobi spun on his foot, cutting another bunshin's head and paid no attention to several kunai that sunk into his back at the same moment. Bending back, he avoided a knife thrust by another clone that went for his head, while Takai threw his left fist to the side, striking the attacker straight in the face. His scythe kept on whistling in the air, accompanied by explosions of white smoke, indicating more of Kai's doppelgangers disappearing.
As he charged forward, the clone out front thrust his kunai at him, but the Suna genin ignored the assault, completely oblivious to the blade that cut his right cheek. He rammed the blonde, going through instantly as a loud 'puff' filled his ears. Covered by smoke, he jumped to the air, somersaulting in the process, and as his figure came out of the white cloud, he cut another Kai in half as his scythe came down.
In a flash he threw his scythe back, making the handle hit a clone that came from behind in the stomach and as the weapon went through the white cloud, Takai propped its end on the ground and used the momentum to throw himself up. Once his feet left the ground, he flipped in the air and placing his body parallel to the surface, he delivered a kick into another bunshin. Still not letting go of the handle, he thrust his legs forward and somersaulting on the spot, a kick connected with the blonde that came from the front in the attempt to hit the sand-nin.
The artificial genin hung on his scythe a moment longer before landing back on the ground, as the clones began surrounding him. With a wild battle cry all the blondes charged forward with their kunai ready, but Takai did not seem to make anything of it as he just swung his scythe in every direction, ignoring the pain of a myriad of cuts that began appearing all over his body with every bunshin he missed to destroy before it reached him.
Puffs filled the air in a vicious symphony as white smoke began wrapping around the arena, covering the battle from everyone's view. As the bombardment of explosions finally quieted down, the fog started to fade away, clearing the battlefield, only to reveal the two genin standing in front of each other, almost like their gazes could kill.
"Dammit, he destroyed them all," Kai cursed in his mind, his eyes settled on the scythe user as the last of his clones disappeared in the cloud of white smoke. "And it doesn't seem like he's affected by this at all! Shit, if this keeps up, I'm gonna have to use Naruto-sensei's technique, but…" At this point he cut his trail of thought, glancing at the stands in search of the Kyuubi vessel.
"Done already?" Takai asked calmly as if nothing happened, most of the wounds inflicted upon him healed completely, like they were never there. The blonde's eye twitched from annoyance as his sight returned to the artificial shinobi.
"Of course not!" the clone user confidently announced by putting a wide smirk on his face, albeit a forced one. "You haven't seen anything yet! I'm going to become Hokage someday, and how will it look if I get defeated here? And above that, I simply refuse to lose to the likes of you, even if it kills me!"
"Kai-kun…" a quiet call escaped Mikka's mouth before she covered it, while Senkou didn't seem to flinch at all this.
He merely spoke up calmly, gaining everyone's attention.
"This certainly does not look good. I was hoping Kai actually did improve, but it'd appear the opponent is way too powerful for him to handle. I guess it's too much to ask for someone who was Dead Last not long ago to go up against a monster such as that Takai guy…"
"You never change, do you?" Ibuki cut in with a playful smirk as she turned towards the masked genin. "Regardless to how you feel, you always keep that badass attitude on the outside. It's the same as the time we first met. Wouldn't it be easier to just admit that you're worried? But even so, there's no need for that. Kai may seem like an idiot… no, he is an idiot. But when he gets into a fight, he becomes a completely different person. If you think the result of this match is already obvious… then you're sorely mistaken."
"Damn, it doesn't matter that his attacks connect," Kusari noted, narrowing his eyes. "They just don't have any effect. How can you beat a guy who cannot be hurt in any way?" he asked, turning towards his teammates with a slight worry showing on his face as he noticed grim expressions covering his companions.
"You can't," Takaru finally replied, his eyes settled on the fight below. "And that is exactly what makes that Takai guy a monster," he added, making Tarakudo to burst out laughing. As the leaf-nins gazed upon him, he glanced back with satisfaction showing on his face, as little as it was uncovered.
"Of course he is! Takai cannot be classified as human! He's way above that! There's absolutely no chance for that blonde to win against him, because no one can be victorious when fighting Takai!" he announced, which made Aoru lower her sight as she looked away. Sabure merely let out a growl of sorts, but her mask covered her face completely, not letting anyone see her expression at that point.
"That Kage Bunshin of yours…" the artificial shinobi began as his hand reached towards his backpack, while white chakra began escaping his body. "It's becoming a little tiresome to deal with. It's almost like fighting an entire army. A useful trick, however not one you should be putting your confidence in. You see, you're not the only one who can have a legion do his biddings!" And with that he threw his hand forward, making several skulls fly into the air.
In a fraction of a second calcium heads froze in mid-flight, while chakra began accumulating underneath. In a flash Kai found himself surrounded with skeleton beasts, all in shapes that can be called anything but human. He looked around; trying to take into account all the opponents he has just gained: above soared a bat-like creature with a long beak, filled with fangs, and a scorpion's tail floating behind its small body.
To his left stood three beasts, the first being of medium size and crouching on all fours, with its back covered in sharp spikes and legs ended with massive claws. Right next to the 'hedgehog' was a monkey-like creature with its upper hands longer then the ones allowing it to stand, thus making it possible for the palms to rest on the ground without forcing the animal to bend over. Its massive skeleton giving the impression of its wielder to be insanely strong, even though now composed of nothing more than bones.
The final of the trio was a snake-like being, completely rid of any form of legs; however, at the upper end of the long tail, the beast had three heads instead of one, each of the faces possessing powerful jaws with a nose hidden beneath a wide horn.
To Kai's right were two more monsters, one that could be easily describe as a huge beetle with an armor-like body and huge pincers growing from the front of its mouth. Eight, thin legs were thrown to the sides from the torso as the creature let out a snapping sound a few times, every moment its body moved.
The bug's partner was a tiger-like beast with four long fangs growing out of its mouth and three tails whipping the air from its back. The creature seemed ready to jump at the blonde at any time to sink its claws into the boy's body.
And out front stood Takai with a monster of four arms, each ended with a scythe-like blade and a long serpentine tail growing from the bottom of its chest. Its skull, being an irregular cross between a snake and a wildcat, had sharp fangs growing out of its mouth as the beast made a hissing sound when its forked tongue shot out in the open.
Terrified by the sight, be it from the amount of opponents he has just gained or demon-like shapes that suddenly surrounded him, Kai took a single step back, while Takai spoke up again, his voice still as emotionless as it gets: "Now, let us see how well you'll do against my army…"
--the awakening of an undead legion… what will become of Kai? --
And that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done reading. Below there's a jutsu encyclopedia, though the technique used in this chapter… well, there's not much to write about it XD:
Haisha Kai Kyokudo Rendan (Haisha Kai's Extreme Combo) – basically it's just a somewhat improved version of Naruto's Combo.
And this truly completes this chapter. Hope you liked it and that you'll leave me a review before leaving. Until next time, hopefully.