Yes, an update... frankly, I was not aiming to return to this tale, but as history goes, whenever I do put this story on hold, I get tons of PMs (and some reviews over the course) to "update soon" etc. Ironically, when I do ask for reviews during publishing, I get butt-kiss... sorta x_x
Seriously though, I am currently involved in several, writing projects to which end I have little time to spare on less popular stories, NNG included, so unless I get a clear message that you guys want this tale to continue, I will put it on hold again.
With that said, here's the Easter chapter of NNG:
Chapter #138: On the Edge of a Blade
Title Page: Kitsune is working in the forge with his shirt off and body covered in soot, while he prepares a katana
Akira's head dropped to the ground as the rest of his body followed, tumbling at Dekai's feet. The swordsman gazed at the carnage calmly, closing his eyes a moment later: "I did not wish to go this far, but still... it is over" he proclaimed as a hollow 'thud' reached his ears.
But just as his words echo in the arena, roots suddenly shot out from the ground, wrapping their tentacles around the sand-nin. In a blink of an eye the thick plants circle his legs and bind his arms, immobilizing the young shinobi before he has any time to react.
The masked ninja tightened his grip on the weapon as his gaze shifted to a nearby tree or, more specifically, a branch on top of which an all too familiar, Leaf gennin stood. Dekai had no reason to even look at the body he just chopped up; he knew it already faded into thin air.
"From the time you countered my attacks in the Void I knew you could see through my genjutsu" the blind gennin announced simply, readying his tanto. "That is, unless I had you think you've broken through every illusion I've set up."
"I see" the masked ninja nodded approvingly. "You set up two genjutsu barrier; once I broke through the first, you made the phantom react to my tornado to make me think he was the real body. You even had it bleed upon attack. Clever indeed, but one thing you seem to be forgetting" he proclaimed, making Horohoro narrow his eyes at the comment, sensing something was coming: "I've survived this fight as long as I did due to perfect control of my senses... the instant my sword went through that phantom, I knew there was no resistance... the blade went too easily... and so, I knew it had to be fake" he announced, making another burst of wind explode from his weapon.
In a flash another tornado erupted from the blade, pushing the sand-nin upwards. The binds broke, vanishing in the air, as the swordsman flew at Akira, swinging the massive weapon at the illusionist, forcing the latter to block with his tanto. As the metal collided with a 'clang', the force of the flight pushed the blind shinobi back, making him plummet towards the ground.
Before his back smashed the surface though, his knife suddenly waved, turning into liquid, which quickly wrapped around Dekai's right hand and neck, covering his left eye in the process. Akira's body itself exploded into a cloud of violet smoke upon contact, obscuring his opponent's view entirely, while the latter felt his arm grow heavy.
"Another illusion" he cursed, tightening his teeth. "How much more did he set up, dammit?"
"This would be the last one" came a response, making the Suna gennin's eyes widen in surprise as his surrounding changed before he even noticed. In an instant he found himself at the bottom of a pit, made of skulls soaked in blood. Thin, metal spikes rose from the walls, allowing the crimson liquid to drip from the tips, right to the puddle that covered the floor.
The masked ninja shivered at the sight, the sight alone making his tremble, if ever so slightly; sure this was a place nightmares are born. Before long Akira also appeared, walking calmly from behind as dark abominations climbed down the walls on all fours, toxic saliva dripping from their fanged mouths.
"This is supposed to scare me?" Dekai asked, managing to make his voice sound strong. "This isn't real. Even the biggest idiot can tell this is nothing more then genjutsu" he added, preparing his sword to attack.
"Yes, I would imagine so" the blind gennin nodded simply. The next instant chains erupted from the ground and metal that covered the masked shinobi, clasping on his wrists and keens as the leaf-nin went on: "But an interesting thing about human body is that it reacts on two levels – conscious and subconscious. These two work independently of each other and often provide colliding urges. You see, at times it doesn't matter whether you're consciously aware of the situation; your subconscious takes over, making your body act the way you wouldn't allow it to. For example, when attack high, your first instinct is to duck and more often then not, you follow that urge. This is preciously what genjutsu aims at: to use subconscious of the enemy to the user's advantage."
"Cut the bull!" the swordsman snapped as he felt his wrists burning. The sensation made him let got of the massive blade, allowing the weapon to sunk into the ground.
"You must understand that, to some extend, it doesn't matter whether you know it's illusion or not" Akira stated as the monsters surrounded its pray. "By inflicting the right message to your subconscious, your nervous system will be no wiser and the pain will be just as real" he concluded, while the demons lunged forward, literally tearing the masked teen apart.
Dekai allowed himself a cry of pain before his body fell to the ground, the dreadful pit already gone as the two fighters returned to the stadium. Rid of consciousness, the Suna shinobi could not hear the blind boy's final words, despite the latter standing no more then few feet away: "And the fact is immense pain can force the mind to shut down or blackout, if you will. That is how the nervous system works – if it overloads, it takes the brain with it" he concluded as sweat began covering his face.
"Winner: Manako Akira!" Lee announced as the crowd burst into cheer. The young illusionist dropped to his knee, the strain of the technique finally catching up to him as he panted heavily.
The next moment Horohoro, Taki and Hitomi appeared beside him, with the other boy helping his teammate to stand up. The medics rushed towards the fallen sand-nin, yet Hitomi stopped them in their tracks, her voice calm: "There's no need for your assistance, he's just knocked out... he didn't even take any, physical damage. Dependable on how strong he is, this Dekai fellow should come to in a while..." and as she spoke those words, Sabure popped next to the swordsman in a blast of sand.
The redhead gazed at Akira without a word, forming a seal in the process. In an instant the duo got wrapped with sand again, teleporting them back to the platform above. The blue-haired teen glanced after the kunoichi and then turned to his own companions: "We should head back too... good luck, Hitomi" he added, taking the blind gennin towards the stairs.
"Yeah, you go girl!" Taki cheered as a goodbye, leaving the young Hyuuga to herself.
"Oooo-kay" Kai began, looking around nervously. "So, anyone wish to clue me in on what the heck happened? A moment ago that sword guy was on the offensive and the next he's down for the count! What the hell?"
"It's genjutsu" Kumiko explained simply, narrowing his eyes. "A style that's beyond your comprehension really. All you need to know is that Akira used illusion to induce a shock powerful enough to knock out that sand-nin on a psychological level. In some ways this can be considered an attack even more devastating then physical damage."
"That's my Kumiko-chan!" Kusari announced, aiming to wrap his arm around the girl. "Smart as usual" he added, while the kunoichi ducked under the embrace. Seeing this, Takaru sweat dropped as he gazed at the chain master: "Can't you ever behave?"
Little the son of Tsunade didn't know was that all the while his teammate was actually paying very close attention to the duo of female shinobi, who stood away from most of the participants. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Teela nodding to her comrade, right before the later jumped over the rail to join Hitomi down bellow.
"I see Shino's subordinates do have skill" Shikamaru stated, playing with his toothpick. "Kinda makes you wonder how far they can get, eh?" he raised an eyebrow, turning to Hinata. The woman didn't reply, in stead carefully watching her cousin await her opponent in the middle of the arena.
"Man, this sucks!" Tsume whined, placing her hands behind her head. "Since it was genjutsu, we couldn't really enjoy the fight! I'm still clueless as to what Akira did to that sand-nin exactly" she admitted, making Uramaru bark loudly with agreement.
"How come this was not the problem when Kokoro used some mind trick to beat his opponent?" Kogane asked suspiciously, eying the dog kunoichi, but as a snore reached her ears, her face fallen, while she spun around, grabbing Rei by the collar: "Wake the hell up!"
"Quick, Senkou-kun, put on your pants!" the sleeping girl cried out, snapped from her dream. Noticing she was back in real life and had all of the rookies gaze at her, most specifically the silver-haired boy, she rubbed her eyes, asking in her normal, stoic voice: "Kitsune's turn already?"
"No, actually, there's still some time to his match" Hanamaru replied, stuffing his face with more chips.
"Oh" the lazy kunoichi nodded, asleep again before her head even returned to the upward position. Kogane's eye twitched at the scene, yet she decided to give up on her teammate. Meanwhile Ibuki felt the need to tease her fellow rookie a bit:
"Someone has a girlfriend" she joked, elbowing Senkou slightly.
"Shut up" the mask gennin shoot back, shrinking in his seat.
The whole ordeal went unseen by most spectators, especially a certain group of moon-nin, sitting merely a few rows away from the young, Konoha ninja. The three boys were anxiously awaiting the upcoming match, granted none choose to show it:
"So, Tenka is actually gonna fight a Hyuuga" Tasuki noted, crossing his arms as he watched the battlefield from the stands. "Life is filled with irony, is it not?" he asked, turning to the Chishio twins, who sat right beside him.
"I suppose that having her advance to this stage, while the three of us failed is an irony too" Nobu replied with a smirk, annoying the boy. His brother however carried a worried expression: "Well, regardless, this match will be tough for her... and with her feelings towards those with a bloodline... that Hyuuga girl may very well end up dead..."
"Will Hitomi be okay?" Taki asked, turning towards her teammates, yet none seemed to take the upcoming battle seriously. Without any trace of emotion, Funbo shrugged, not taking his eyes off the two kunoichi below: "You're actually asking such a question? The whole thing shouldn't take longer then a minute" he added confidently.
"Eight match: Hyuuga Hitomi from Konoha against Tenka of Tsuki!" Lee called out loudly, ignoring the fact that neither of the fighters gave an indication they were ready. As both stood simply before another, he felt a chill run down his spine, making him instinctually jump away as the next word left his lips: "BEGIN!"
-a fated showdown?-
And that concludes it... yeah, Akira survived. Considering I didn't trick many people with Karame getting killed during eliminations, I doubt you believed I'd actually kill Akira off this early, especially since he is one of my personal favorites. I'm not above killing a major character for the good of the story mind you (heck, there will be deaths of main characters throughout the course of this story, including those you know from the manga itself), but I do not intend to follow in Kishimoto's footsteps in that regard and I will showcase the more important ones before riding the tale of their presence, so rest assured that if you like one of the protagonists, you do get to know him/her well before their final appearance.
As a reminder, I put up the rooster of teams and match-up of the final exam and I'd like to let you know that, in the spirit of upcoming holidays, I also decided to update NNG Side Stories, putting up a chapter many of you asked for before NNG was put on hold, meaning the inside of Kusari!
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, Karame
Kusa (none): Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Tsuki (Hinami Hoshiru): Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Chishio Kumo, Kihako Tasuki
Kane (unknown): Futatsu
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. Tarakudo
Fight 20: Manako Akira vs. ?
Well, that would be it. What happens to this story next is totally up to you, so all I want to say is HAPPY EASTER everyone and I'll read you if I read you.