Welcome to the second part of the anniversary double update! Hope you enjoyed the previous chapter and that you'll like this one at least as much. So, without further delay, here's another chapter of NNG:
Chapter #118: The Oath
Title Page: Kai dressed as Hamlet is performing the famous monolog, holding a skull in the air
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu! Come forward, Gamabunta!" Kai yelled from the bottom of his lungs as an explosion of white smoke covered his body. A moment later, the air cleared, revealing a toad with red skin and two daggers strapped to its belt… the size of a shoe: "What the…? It didn't work? Who the hell is that pipsqueak?"
"Gamashi, nice to meet ya," the frog replied happily, turning towards its master. "So, watcha want from me, dude?" it asked, giving the boy wide, 'puppy' eyes. The blonde merely sweat dropped at the scene and then kicked the amphibian out of the way, while reaching for his kunai. A second later a loud 'clang' echoed in the arena as Takai's scythe got blocked by the knife, inches away from the leaf-nin's head.
"In the end he's still incapable of performing summoning," Naruto summed up, his face froze in shock. With all his might, Kai pushed his opponent's blade back, creating an opening to strike, but in stead of the heart, he went for an eye. In a flash the knife penetrated Takai's right pupil, releasing incredible pain throughout the sand-nin's body, while the boy's head shot back.
Blinded by fury, the artificial shinobi swung his scythe at Kai, who immediately jumped back into safety, leaving wounded Takai to himself. With one, rough motion, the sand-nin jerked the kunai out of his eye, making his blood spray the ground. Be it annoyance or anger, the blonde couldn't really tell, but certainly the instant his opponent glared at him with his single eye, he could tell killer intend exploding from the crimson pupil.
"Takai-kun!" Aoru almost shrieked at the sight, completely shocked.
"That's right!" Mikka widen her eyes at realization. "His regeneration skills are incredible, but still he can only use his body's natural healing abilities. Cut deep enough, even if the wound will heal, the eye will remain useless without medical treatment. That's his weak spot! He can be blinded, just like anyone!"
"Looks like there are some wounds that doesn't heal," the Leaf gennin noticed as blood kept on escaping Takai's right eye, which was now an ever deeper crimson then the other boy's actual pupil. To his surprise however, the sand-nin's expression quickly changed, turning into something different… almost… amusement.
"This is new," he announced calmly with his usual, emotionless tone, rubbing his wounded eye with his hand. "I've never suffered the after effects of getting hurt. Seems like it will keep on burning. I never imagined it'll be like this. But, regardless, it's nothing a good medic-nin couldn't fix. I always carry a spare, just in case. This is nothing more, then a minor set back. Even with this, the result will still be the same," and with that he reached for his backpack again, quickly picking out a new skull, which this time turned out to be something of a panther with long fangs growing out of its mouth.
"I like that guy," Funbo announced with a smirk, but most of the gennin seemed to ignore his comment, not taking their eyes off the battle below. Kumiko even narrowed hers as quick analysis bloomed in her head: "He really did wounded him. He can be wounded! In the end, he's still human, only much more scary then most. Who knows, maybe Kai can really win?"
With a wild roar, the skeleton cat jumped forward, coming to a sliding stop to Kai's left. In a flash it leapt at the blonde with its claws extended, but the leaf-nin reacted instantly, reaching for his holster and picking out two kunai, one for each hand, he blocked the assault with the knives. As the beast froze on its back legs, trapping its target in place, Takai sprung into action, appearing behind his opponent in immediately, his weapon already in motion.
With a horizontal swing, his scythe ripped the air, aiming to cut the blonde in half. Having no, other way to dodge, Kai bended back, placing his upper body parallel to the ground, while his right leg shot to the sky. As the blade whistled before his face, his foot smashed the panther's skull, making the beast tilt back, but somersaulting in mid-air, the skeleton managed to land safely on its feet, its head surprisingly unharmed.
Acting on instinct, the blonde propped his hands on the ground and splitting his legs, put his body into a spin, aiming a kick into his adversary's chest. Instantly the artificial shinobi jumped up, making the assault go below, but seeing this, Kai rose his other leg up and kept on spinning, having another kick go for the sand-nin.
Incapable on dodging in mid-air, Takai blocked the attack with the handle of his scythe, forcing the blonde to come to a stop. In a flash, the crimson-eyed boy blasted his opponent's leg away and twisting his weapon, he brought it down in the attempt to pierce Kai from above, but the Leaf gennin saw that coming and quickly flipped back, making the blade hit the ground he was propping himself on a moment earlier.
As Kai kept on flipping, the panther rejoined the battle, running right after the blonde, ready to pierce him with its claws. Coming to a sliding stop, the leaf-nin threw the kunai he still held in his hands, each aimed at the beast's skull, yet the monster managed to dodge the assault by strafing to its left from the first knife and ducking under the second in the process.
With the beast still closing in, the blonde reached for his holster again, readying another kunai. With his eyes set on the skeleton, Kai jumped to the right, prepared to throw the knife at point blank range, but before he could do so, Takai meddled once more, cutting from below. Left with no option, the leaf-nin blocked the assault with his own weapon, making a clear path for the calcium cat to attack.
Spotting the monster charging from the back, Kai forced his opponent's blade to the ground and still pushing his knife against it, he used the hand he held his kunai with to prop on the surface, lifting his body up, keeping Takai's scythe immobilized. The maneuver allowed him to avoid the panther, but left him open for a counter, which the sand-nin gladly used, freeing his weapon from the grip of his left hand and delivering a powerful punch to his adversary's chest, leaving the blonde flying back, out of breath.
In a flash the skeleton's claws sunk into the ground, allowing the beast to spin in place and resume its assault, while Kai managed to land safely on his feet, his kunai still within his grip. With a burst determination, the blonde charged forward, dragging his knife behind, ready to engage the monster blocking his way to Takai.
Suddenly something jumped from the panther's right, landing on the beast's head. In a flash Gamashi reached for his daggers and in a blink of an eye struck his blades into the skull, shattering it to pieces, making the skeleton disintegrate before Kai, allowing the blonde to run right through the place it stood merely a moment later.
"Good job, toady! I'll handle the rest!" the leaf-nin called out without slowing down: "That eye… he's blind from the right!" and with that thought he ran to his left, passing inches away from his opponent, with a swing to the scythe user's head. Before his attack connected however, Takai performed a single hand seal, making bone spikes shot from the ground.
Allowing his instincts to kick in, the blonde jumped back, avoiding certain death, yet some of the spikes still managed to cut his body, piercing the flesh and releasing blood. Kai landed on his feet, but as the pain from newly inflicted wounds kicked in, the boy's legs collapsed, making him fall to the ground face first. His breath became faster as he propped his hand on the surface, lifting himself up, while his body shook uncontrollably.
"Why?" the artificial shinobi demanded, seeing Kai slowly rising back to his feet. "What reason can you have to get up? Isn't it obvious you cannot win? You are inferior to me in every aspect. There's no way you can emerge victorious…"
"And yet, I will!" the blonde shot back, panting as his eyes settled on the sand-nin once more. "I won't lose to you! Not to you! I heard what you did during eliminations and I simply refuse to lose to someone, who kills his best friend and makes nothing of it! You hear me? Even if it kills me, I'm not gonna let you win! It's an oath I made to myself with Hizoku as my witness! I won't back out! You want to win? You'll have to kill me!"
"You will not lose to me because of that?" Takai asked, somewhat amused by the statement. "And what could you possibly know about Touba and myself? Regardless to what you say, you never suffered true hell… true pain… you are in no position to judge me! Friends? Comrades? Teammates? It's nothing more then a joke! We're shinobi! We cannot trust anyone! I've learned the hard way that since day in till day out, we're meant to fight only for ourselves! I recall you said you wish to become Hokage to protect all the people of your village… make them take back what they said about you being a failure. That's a fool's dream! It doesn't matter what you do. Even if you were to change yourself completely, to others you'll still be who you were. You know why? Because people are too self-centered to admit they were wrong! Getting strong for others… I once thought it's a good path. That was stupid and naïve. One becomes stronger only for themselves and when it comes to friends and companions… I have no use of such things!" and with that he reached for his backpack again.
At hearing those words, Aoru's grip on the rail tightened as she felt tears trying to make their way to her eyes. Her face froze for a moment, before she lowered it and without turning, she spoke up: "Torune, to him… what are we really? Are we really that insignificant? Just now… he refused to count us as anything to him. I… ever since the day we met for the first time, I felt that he was special… that he was someone who I could become strong for… but after hearing what he just said… would he really think anything of it?"
The blonde kunoichi opened her mouth to reply, but before she could do so, another voice sounded in their ears, making them turn towards Honemaru, who was now standing behind them and was also the one to speak: "That's a possibility… but you shouldn't let that get to you. I recall Touba once saying Takai is a very complex person. He was constantly betrayed and hurt. Knowing this, do you really suppose it's easy for him to open up?" the two girls stared at their teammate, almost as they were mesmerized by the bone user, who continued, oblivious to their expressions: "But whether others choose to accept it or not, he's still human; he feels and holds onto that human mentality. Even he… no, him most of all… cannot detest his humanity. And humans are not build to live by themselves. I doubt he'll ever admit it, but the fact that we are here, cheering him on, means more to him then you could imagine. But, just watch… what he's about to do will prove my point better then any words," and with that he pointed back to the arena, making everyone's attention shift back to the battle below.
Takai finally picked out the skull he was looking for and began releasing chakra, forming a skeleton beneath it, which proven to be human, to Kai's horror. Seeing this, Tarakudo narrowed his exposed eye, as a single thought run through his head: "That skull… isn't it the first he…?"
With the ghostly warrior complete, the crimson-eyed boy retreated his hand, grabbing the handle of his scythe with it: "You haven't disappointed me one bit. I want you in my collection. But for now that'll have to wait. However, in respect to your fighting spirit, a piece of warning: playtime's over. Starting now… I unleash hell," and with that announcement, he prepared himself to charged forward, while the skeleton still stared blankly out front, its eyes settled on the blonde gennin: "Lets get him... Touba!"
--the resurrection of Suna's champion… what will become of Kai?--
And so this concludes the special, double update. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll be so kind as to leave me a review before leaving. I'm somewhat curious if I managed to surprise you guys with bringing Touba back. The whole scene was planned from the very beginning of the fic and in a way I couldn't wait to finally write it XD. Hope you liked that twist.
KONOHA: Kumiko Murasakki, Ibuki Tanken, Takaru Gekido, Kusari Hagane, Kai Haisha (fight in progress)
KONOHA: Mikka Igaku, Tsume Inuzuka, Kokoro Benda, Senkou Hatake, Galu Kobushi
KONOHA: Rei Konpaku, Kogane Rikoteki, Toku Amagasa, Kitsune Debano, Hanamaru Gusoku
KONOHA: Taki Hamano, Hitomi Hyuuga, Akira Manako, Funbo Tanken, Horohoro
SUNA: Aoru, Torune, Honemaru, Takai (fight in progress), Tarakudo
SUNA: Hari, Sabaku no Sabure, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
KUSA: Tobane Hokku, Nezumi Kanraku, Taka Kuchibashi, Tokame Kyohaku, Hizoku Wanabi
AME: Youji Kasano, Karei Nokogiri, Ryo Eshaku, Tsuino Furikuzu, Nazaa Hebereke
BAKUFU/TAKI: Kawa Azarashi, Miaka Tora, Tetsu Abura, Shita Makko
TSUKI: Teela Juusei, Tenka, Kumo Chishio, Nobu Chishio, Tasuki Kihako
KANE: Naginata, Reiji Ono, Futatsu, Hogosha, Sentou (absent, went back to Kane for recovery)
KUMORI: Saiken Tenma (the mysterious, headgear gennin, currently somewhere in the Leaf)
And that's that for now. Once more I wish to thank you all for sticking around so long and hope that you'll like what's still in stored. Take care and until next time!