DYNAMIC UPDATTO: man, it's been a while since I did those, but finally I'm capable of writing that ridiculous phrase again as I officially update all my "on-going" stories here (meaning the NNG you're reading now, LoL and "Those…"). Have fun!
Well, this certainly took me longer to finish then I'd expect. I can blame it on both lack of time as well as the feel of uniqueness of this chapter (you'll probably know once you read). I must admit that I made changes within as I went on, coz originally the content of this installment was supposed to be divided into two chappies. I shortened some things and squeezed that into one (it still came out a tad longer then usual), so sorry if a feeling of rush appears as you read.
As usual I wish to thank everyone who sacrificed their time to review, though I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of comments. More on that in the next paragraph, but I do wish to make sure you guys know I really do appreciate your opinion.
IMPORTANT: this is a note to all you, dear readers; somewhat of a favor I'd like to ask. Now, I know a lot of you read the tale and don't review (or normally don't for whatever reason). I can accept that, BUT with as little free time as I'm recently experiencing and quite a load of problems on my head (which I won't bore you with) I REALLY need to know that I'm not writing this story for myself (mostly, coz there are reviewers). So the favor I'm asking you is that, even if you normally don't review, at least THIS ONCE leave a comment so that I'd have the general idea how many people are actually interested in the story, coz if the response will be minimal, it is highly possible this tale will be again put on hold, deemed "not worthy of sacrificing my precious, free time at the moment"!
And with that said, here's the latest, still fresh update of NNG:
Chapter #133: Inside and Beyond
Title Page:Kusari is sitting on a bike in a fitting, black outfit with a lot of chains decorating his body; one going from his nose to his ear, another from one nipple to another behind his back,third is used as a wristband, fourth is tied around his neck etc.
"Thank you for coming so quickly, Yume-san" Iruka greeted a thirteen-year-old girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail, who wore a black and white outfit, that suddenly appeared before him. He gazed into her sky-blue eyes as he pointed towards the closet: "He's in there…"
"Yes… I know" responded the kunoichi, making the chuunin hesitated for a moment before nod: "Right… well, I'll just leave the two of you to your own business" he announced, this time making the female nod her head as she walked over to the door, awaiting for the scar-faced man to disappear behind the corner and then knocked softly on the wooden entrance.
"Kokoro-kun?" she asked politely, opening the door and entering the dark space, Immediately she noticed the blond eight-year-old, sitting in the corner, holding tight to his legs and rocking his body back and forth. He didn't even bother to glance at the kunoichi as he spoke like there was no-one there: "I can't make them stop, neesan… the voices just won't stop…" he proclaimed, grabbing his head. "They're everywhere… screaming in my head… and I can't make them stop!" he cried, his body taken over by a shiver.
"I know" she assured her brother, sitting next to him to wrap her arm around him. In an instant the boy clenched to her, burring his face in her chest, to which the kunoichi hesitated for a moment before embracing him. "I know" she repeated, stroking his head. "The awakening of our bloodline is never a pleasant experience. But it'll be alright. I'll protect you. I promise."
"I just want them to stop" Kokoro whispered again, sobbing softly. The girl kept stroking his head gently as she replied: "They will… soon you'll be able to control them. I'll make sure of that. I just want you to make me one, single promise" she asked, making her brother gaze at her eyes a bit confused. "Once you learn to control them, you will also listen…"
The boy froze for a moment, his skin turning a bit pale. Letting those voices in? Definitely not a solution he wanted. He stared at Yume with a plea in his gaze and just as he was about to reply, a warm smile appeared on her face, stopping his words before they even managed to leave his throat. Confused even more, another voice rang in his mind. A soft one. Possibly one that he needed to hear from the start.
And with a weak nod, he spoke, still in a whisper: "I promise…"
-Flashback end-
"In my mind, eh?" Horamaru asked with a smirk as he looked around once more. The other blond merely nodded at the question: "Yup. I would imagine this place is either some distant memory of yours or an image of a place that means something to you… I can't really tell since my abilities in here are a tad limited. I haven't mastered the jutsu yet…"
"Then I don't get it; why use a technique that doesn't provide you with an adventage?"
"Oh, I'm afraid you misunderstand" Kokoro replied, curiously scanning the surroundings. "This is your mind; your dominium. I can't control what's gonna happen… however I do have control over where we can go. Anything you keep in here… memories, hopes, fears… I can unleash them, regardless to how deep they're buried. I'd imagine you understood by now that fighting me is not a duel but a mental struggle. And so I'm gonna give you this one chance to give up and save yourself some very unpleasant experience."
"Go to hell!" Horamaru snapped, swinging his arms, but as the strings went into motion, the telepath performed a quick seal, making the surroundings change with the boy himself disappeared. The sand-nin now found himself on top of a tower in Suna; a small circle engulfed in a rail, while a man clad in black propping against on one end and five kids sitting on the opposite side.
"Now it's your turn to introduce yourselves" announced the man with purple markings, stopping his gaze at the redhead girl with a gourd on her back: "I have nothing to say" she proclaimed, giving her instructor a cold stare, albeit that didn't even made him flinch. Kankuro ignored the kunoichi's behavior for most part, shifting towards the other female.
"I'm Hari and that's all I'll be saying, since most of you know everything there is to know me already anyway" she stated, crossing her arms, to which the puppeeter's eye twitch as his sight moved on to the boy with a giant sword: "My name's Dekai and as for the rest of the questions… I really don't know the answer myself, so lets leave it at that…"
As those words sounded, the man gazed at the boy covered in bandages with a hopefully eye, making the young gennin look around nervously: "Well, my name's Karame. I like origami and art. There's nothing that I'd dislike that comes to my mind at this time, but I guess I feel uneasy whenever people don't get along" with that he quickly glanced to the final member of their cell with a single drop of sweat running down his face behind the bandages. "And as for dreams… I wish to make Suna understand that real worth is always hidden beneath…"
Kankuro nodded to the boy with approval, shifting his attention to the last in the bunch: "Horamaru. What I like and dislike shouldn't concern you, as well as my plans for the future, but know that whoever stands in my way of achieving those will be considered an enemy and dealt accordingly."
"If that is so, wouldn't it be helpful for us to know what those plans are?" the puppeteer pressed, making the blond narrow his eyes from annoyance: "I'd imagine my goals are commonly known in the entire village… I'm gonna kill the three monsters that took away my family!"
At this point Kankuro went on to explaining the upcoming test, but Horamaru stopped listening: "What, you wanna bore me to death? What is this anyway, recalling my graduation day? Either attack or let my rip you to pieces! I have no interest in the past!"
"And yet it's the past that shaped you" Kokoro's voice echoed through the area, making the string user's face twist in annoyance as the scenery changed again, this time to a narrow alley near the Academy with a boy whose face was covered in bandages about to walk out of it: "I remember this" Horamaru noticed, quickly glancing over his shoulder where he spotted himself, six years of age, landing in the pass between buildings.
"Tarakudo!" the blond called out, making the other boy stop and turn on his foot. He scanned the one that called his name for a moment before responding in a calm, almost bored, voice: "What the hell do you want?"
"I've come to kill you!" the boy snapped, unleashing a barrage of kunai and shuriken at his target. The bandaged kid easily dodged the projectiles though, immediately charging forward upon avoiding the last one. Horamaru took a step back at this, shocked by the development, but quickly recovered, tossing a smoke bomb under his own feet.
As his opponent's figure got covered, Tarakudo slowed down a bit while the air got filled with a whistle. Acting on instinct, he strafed right and giving chakra to his feet, stuck to the wall, running in the direction of the could from which more weapons flew, aimed at every inch of the alley.
But as the blades came, the bandaged boy kept on dodging, having the projectiles zoom pass him, striking the walls and ground. With the next knife going for his head, Tarakudo grabbed the kunai by the handle and jumped straight into the smoke, spinning in the air. With a thrust of his leg, he delivered a kick to the blonde's stomach, sending the future string user to the floor.
In a flash the bandaged boy pinned his adversary's right hand with his foot, while using the left arm to press against his chest. Without as much as a moment of hesitation he brought the knife down, its tip aimed between his victim's eyes, only to stop less then a millimeter away from its target.
"You're… Horamaru, right?" the boy asked suddenly, confusing his opponent. The blond quickly recovered though and took on a tough tone once again: "What's it to you?" he shoot back, making his captor smirk behind bandages.
"You cannot beat me at this, pathetic level" Tarakudo stated simply, retreating the blade and releasing him from his grip. "You have a long way ahead of you. But this could be fun" he announced, tossing the kunai aside and walking away.
"We're not done!" yelled Horamaru, fury completely taken over reason.
"For now we are" the bandaged boy replied without stopping nor turning. "Killing you at this time would be pointless. You don't deserve to die by my hand. Not yet at least. Get stronger and then, perhaps, I'll grace you with that honor…"
"If you let me live, eventually I'll kill you."
"Possibly" came a response. "And that is preciously the reason I'm letting you live" he announced, to which the older Horamaru snapped and swung his arm, unleashing the strings, yet those went right straight through Tarakudo's back, like he was a ghost.
"Get the fuck out here and face me like a man!" the blond roared to the sky as the surroundings began changing again, soon placing him in a dark space, occupied only by a single mirror. "This is not a memory" he noted instantly, calming down a bit. Quickly he scanned the area, but finding nothing, he walked over to the single object present.
His eyes widen at the sight of the reflection. Reflection that was not his, but Tarakudo's. Shocked, the string user took a step back as the bandaged teen chuckled, settling his gaze on the blond: "What's wrong, brother? Scared?"
"Don't call me that" Horamaru shoot back, regaining some of his posture.
"Why shouldn't he?" came a new voice from the shadows, one that was all too familiar and as he turned in the direction it came from, Takai walked out of the darkness, standing before his fellow sand-nin. "We are the sons of your father, much like yourself…"
"No!" the blond yelled, pointing his finger at the scythe wielder. "You're monsters! Freaks born from my father's sick obsession! You ain't even human! You're all disgrace to nature and life itself. You're the ones that took away my parents and as I promised, I'll kill you for that!"
"You may say that" another voice rang, coming from his back. Horamaru didn't had to turn to know who this one belonged to. It was Honemaru: "But even so, you cannot dismiss the fact that we're the closest thing to family you have" he announced with a calm, while the blond lowered his head.
"Go to hell!" he exploded, punching the mirror, The glass instantly broke into pieces, the shards cutting his fist. But he didn't care. With rage in his cry he flipped his arms to all sides, making the strings dance, for the first time going out of control. Thin wires ripped both Takai and the bone user, making them fade away, back into the darkness.
Some of the strings whipped their master, leaving long, bloody cuts all over his body, but he didn't care. With his breath quickened, the blond dropped to his knees. Not from pain or exhaustion. At least not from their literal sense.
"You belong with us" Tarakudo announced, his face reflected in tens of shards now filling the ground of the sphere as his laughter echoed through the dome. Horamaru managed a loud 'shut up' before unleashing his strings again, aiming to break the shards even further, adding cuts to his own form.
But regardless to how many he broke, Tarakudo remained, now multiplied, his laughter mocking the blond to the point of driving him crazy… even more then he already was. And then a new voice appeared: "You won't hold on much longer."
"What have you done?" the string user demanded as Kokoro emerged from the shadows. The leaf-nin had a strange, saddened expression on his face, a fact that confused the older blond, yet his opponent's voice was calm when he replied: "I didn't do anything, per say… I merely allowed things you buried deep to surface. Anything else is your own doing. Even us being in this place…"
"You lie."
"I'd think that by now you figured out there's no way for me to trick you in his… place" the rookie gennin responded, carefully choosing the last word. "This is your world. I'm just a guide" he added as Horamaru lowered his head.
"What now?" he finally asked, seemingly calming down.
"We leave… this match is over" Kokoro announced as the scenery began to shattering, leaving blank space behind the darkness. But as the universe was about to crumble, the Suna ninja glared at the telepath again, his voice cold and stoic: "You got in the way of my goal. Make no mistake that it'll cost you your life. I'm not like Karame or those freaks. You've just got yourself an enemy… and your head will be mine" and with those words, light blinded them both…
"Hijutsu: Ishindenshin!" Kokoro called out, thrusting his hands forward, making the form of his opponent get trapped between the fingers. Immediately Horamaru's knees broke beneath him, forcing the sand-nin to collapse to the ground. Silence filled the arena as both fighters remained motionless, the telepath huffing heavily, while the string user laid face-first on the floor.
Lee appeared out of nowhere, quickly examining the fallen combatant and with a somewhat unsure voice, he announced, pointing at the fellow Leaf shinobi with his hand: "Winner: Benda Kokoro!"
"What just happened?" Kai asked confused, glancing at Galu, but the green-haired teen didn't reply. Also Ibuki, who gazed curiously at Senkou, got no answer, yet she could sworn she saw she son of Hokage smirk behind his mask. Mikka only let out a sigh of relief while Tsume placed her hands behind her head: "Like it could've ended any, other way…"
"This is so unfair" Tarakudo spat, placing his leg against the rail. "That brat stole my chance of facing Horamaru. I'm gonna rip his skin clean off in the second round" he proclaimed, allowing a hint of anger to sound in his voice.
"Assuming you'll advance yourself" noted Torune with a stoic face, to which her teammate merely send her a stare like she was talking nonsense. Takai on the other hand felt the need to dig a bit deeper: "Are you sure the anger you're feeling is because you lost a chance to fight him… or maybe it's just because he lost?"
"That's one and the same, dumbass" was all the bandaged teen said before somersaulting over the rail and to the arena. But the scythe wielder lowered his head at his behavior, giving his companion a worried look: "No… they're not…"
"My turn" Tsuino said to himself, watching after Tarakudo. His eyes then went to the honorary lounge, settling upon Genmei, Hidden Rain's leader. "I'll make you proud, dad. And I'll win, even if I'll have to use THAT jutsu…"
-one premonition after another… who'll come on top?-
And this concluded Kokoro vs. Horamaru. Hope you enjoyed it, especially since I realize the match was different then most fights I presented to you thus far. I do hope that those who appreciate the plot of the tale liked it. Also, I'd like to ask that you review at least this once (in reference to the "important note" from the start of the update), as a favor to me if nothing more.
And here are the usual lists:
Konoha #7 (Naruto): Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3 (Shikamaru): Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4 (Hinata): Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha (Shino): Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1 (Temari): Aoru, Torune, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2 (Kankuro): Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
Kusa (none): Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Ame (unknown): Kasano Youji, Nokogiri Karei, Eshaku Ryo, Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Tsuki (Hinami Hoshiru): Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Chishio Kumo, Kihako Tasuki
Kane (unknown): Futatsu
Fight 6: Furikuzu Tsuino (11) vs. Tarakudo (12)
Fight 7: Manako Akira (13) vs. Dekai (14)
Fight 8: Hyuuga Hitomi (15) vs. Tenka (16)
Fight 9: Hokku Tobane (17) vs. Sabaku no Sabure (18)
Fight 10: Murasakki Kumiko (19) vs. Debano Kitsune (20)
Fight 11: Junsei Teela (21) vs. Kanraku Nezumi (22)
Fight 12: Horohoro (23) vs. Hagane Kusari (24)
Fight 13: Aoru (25) vs. Hamano Taki (26)
Fight 14: Torune (27) vs. Hari (28)
Fight 15: Amagasa Toku (29) vs. Kyohaku Tokame (30)
Fight 16: Kobushi Galu (31) vs. Karame (32)
Fight 17: Takai vs. Wanabi Hizoku
Fight 18: Tanken Funbo vs. Gekido Takaru
Fight 19: Benda Kokoro vs. ?
Well, for now it's done. My other, next generation fics will be coming shortly as well, so if you're a reader of any, expect a new installment soon. Thanks for tuning in!