Chapter 13- Tears of the Seraphim, Part 2
Chapter 13- Tears of the Seraphim, Part 2
Anko reclined on the top of her desk, binging on her usual boxes of dango, though not with her usual gusto. If anything, her frown deepened with every bite.
Her current stick finished, she hurdled it like a senbon at the wall, where it stuck unerringly at the end of a line of similarly-thrown skewers, the series almost perfectly tracing out the leaf insignia of Konoha. She had long lost count of how many sticks she had eaten, her mind in mixture of turmoil, mostly worry for her little brother.
With a sigh, she sat upright and opened her next box. (Her fifteenth, to be precise, though she didn't know that.)
"Why do I get the feeling this day is only going to get even shittier?" she muttered to herself as she downed yet another stick.
With pinpoint accuracy, she completed the Konoha symbol with the last stick she had devoured. Even then, she continued digging into her favorite comfort food.
She was trying to determine whether or not she was having a bad day. First, she had awoken to the worst hangover that she had ever had in a long time- hangovers to Anko as what Butsumetsu was to the average citizen. Naruto was in the Forest of Death and worrying her sick; Iruka had yet to stop by and say 'hi', which he had been doing more often ever since she began taking care of the lovable blond idiot.
Anko paused her thinking as she threw the last empty box of her favorite treats onto the pile in the corner of her office.
And to top off her troubles, she had just run out of dango.
For a second, she wondered if she should curse the gods for her awful luck, but that might be kind of a taboo thing to do. The gods had a weird sense of humor when it came to stuff like that, and more than likely, they would get their kicks by piling it on. Better not to jinx her already bad day.
But she couldn't help but wonder how her day could get worse.
That was when her office door slammed open, revealing a panting chunin that looked as if he had been running for several miles without chakra to aid him.
I jinxed it! she thought to herself with a hint of despair, straightening up to at least look intimidating.
"What do you want?" Anko wondered if she didn't put enough killer intent into the words since the man didn't flinch.
"Mitarashi-san, our men discovered something disturbing," he answered in a huff.
Oh, Kami-sama, she rolled her eyes. I can already sense the headache coming on. Where the hell did I put that aspirin?
"What happened?" she curtly spoke, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
"Well…" he took his sweet time to answer, only frustrating the jounin even more than she was already. "We found the bodies of three Kusa genin near the fence at Training Area 44."
Every ounce of blood in Anko's body suddenly went cold.
"When we found them," the chuunin continued, "we guessed that they had been dead for over a day, but what really caught our attention was that…" He faltered.
"SPIT IT OUT, DAMN IT!" Anko yelled as she jumped off her desk, scaring her subordinate. Though, she couldn't help it as worry seeped from her eyes and voice.
"T-t-their faces were ripped off after they were killed!" he cringed, expecting her anger to get worse for stuttering.
When the jounin-powered punch never came, he looked back at her, finding her seemingly shocked. Her eyes scanned over the floor, trying to figure out what she should do. She covered her mouth as she paced for a second.
She didn't even have to look at the bodies to recognize the handiwork that had been done on the genin team. It was disturbingly familiar, and the more she thought about it, the more her skin crawled. Her ex-sensei didn't really have the balls to step foot back into Konoha, not after the fact that he was now the most wanted criminal in the Konoha bingo book. But the evidence was as plain as daylight.
The unnamed chuunin watched his superior carefully. Mitarashi Anko was one of the most unpredictable people on the planet, and to see her nervously moving about the room, and stopping once in while to mutter a curse, was an extremely foreign thing to the village. For a second, he wondered if she was going to turn around and beat the living daylights out him for interrupting her day.
After another minute, Anko finally conceded to the truth, letting a bit of sweat slide down her grimacing face. The yellow-bellied (and eyed) bastard was back.
Her eyes then widened as she remembered Naruto was in the Forest of Death.
Oh, God… no, Naruto! When she looked up, there was a slight fear in her eyes, as if something precious to her was being threatened.
"You," she pointed at the unnamed chuunin; she didn't care at this point about her rep, Naruto was in the deepest danger possible. "Go find Iruka Umino, then report your findings to the Hokage! And move as if a fire is under your ass, or I'll kill you if I see you again!"
He didn't need to be told twice. If Anko said she would kill you, it meant you did what she told you to, otherwise she wouldn't have any qualms in fulfilling her threat.
Without a second thought, he scurried like a rat out of the room that was running for its life from a snake.
The next second, Anko burst out of the door as fast as possible. Once she was out of the building, she willed her jounin-trained muscles to get her to the forest with as much speed as she could muster.
Please… if you're up there, please keep him safe, she prayed for her little brother's safety.
Orochimaru was back in town, and Naruto's life was about to become Hell on Earth if they were to meet, even if it were by accident.
-0-
When he grabbed the silvery flower from Haku's hand, he had closed his eyes. Suddenly the sensation of holding onto a rope, dangling from the end while it was quickly being cut, took over. No matter how much he tried he couldn't open his eyes, and see where he was.
At that moment, the sound of a rope snapping from strain echoed, and then the feeling of falling rushed over him. Air rushed past him as he fell head-first downwards to wherever he was going. He couldn't scream; it was as if his mouth had locked shut. His eyes wouldn't open, and not a single muscle would respond to his commands as he fell. The only feeling he could sense was the onrush of air, whipping around his hair and making him hold his breath.
The deeper he fell, the more of himself he lost. Every painful memory he had entered his mind, even the ones he had thought had forgotten. He couldn't understand why, but now he felt sorrowful, and yet, a burning desire entered him that seemed to eclipse everything else. He felt an onrush of a powerful sensation as this warm, dark sentiment began to fill him. He couldn't describe it; it was a mixture of pleasure and pain, and it felt so foreign to his body, as if it wasn't his to feel.
Only a couple of words escaped Naruto's lips, in the form of a small whisper that was lost into the air, "What's happening to me?"
-0-
"You've really done it this time," were the biting words that came from a redhead that stared loathingly at a dark-haired boy with stormy eyes.
Haku just stared sadly back at the Kyuubi in her human form. "Naruto-kun simply chose for himself."
"Then why didn't he choose me?!" she shot back. "I could have given him everything he ever wanted! But no, HE HAS TO GO WITH YOU, PRETTY BOY!"
As she yelled, an angry bloodlust filled the air. Kyuubi began to become more feral looking as more of her wrath began to pour out in the now beautiful antechamber. But even with her display of a drop of her power, she couldn't even make Haku flinch. Instead he shook his head, looking even sadder than before.
He then kindly smiled, pissing off the demon before him even more to the point that a red haze began to surround her; the sign that she was on the verge of hitting the one-tailed form.
"What is the price of your power?" he finally asked.
In one instant, the raw power that was beginning to saturate into the room had suddenly disappeared. Kyuubi looked away in embarrassment while wearing an angry scowl.
"Power has a price," continued Haku, only making Kyuubi's scowl deepen. "To gain is to lose; and to lose is to gain. What is the price that Naruto would have to pay should he choose you?"
Reluctantly and slowly, she answered, the words coming out as if she had eaten something utterly loathsome. "The price for my power is…" she stopped for a second to clench her teeth "…his humanity."
She began to visibly grind her teeth as she stared at Haku. In Naruto's mind, the brat before her was equal, yet she couldn't understand why. She was supposed to be the greatest, the one who fought countless times, yet never lost. But now here she was, brought down so very low, all because of that blond hairless rat.
"Who are you?" she asked past clenched teeth. Her hands tightened into fists as killer intent leaked into the air once more.
Haku's smile became a sad frown, and for the next couple seconds, he began to stare into the liquid that the two were standing on, seemingly trying to gather his thoughts.
"ANSWER ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU, DAMN IT!" Kyuubi's wrathful voice echoed.
"I am only a representation of the Kyoukagan," Haku whispered, continuing to stare downwards. "I am Haku, but at the same time, I am the portrayal of the cost of such power."
Hearing that, Kyuubi's angry scowl quickly transformed into a devious smile. "Really?" If it was possible, her smile had become even more evil-looking than before. "That does explain so much."
She slowly, seductively, began to walk back to her cage, seemingly satisfied for the moment.
The queen of the foxes stopped for a second as another thought had suddenly hit her. Haku watched as she continued to stare into her cage, looking as if she was contemplating the words she would use next.
"I wonder what would scare him more," her voice gently echoed in the large room. "Myself, and the power that I could give him, or you, at least when he learns the cost of the Kyoukagan."
"I can only guess," Haku quietly voiced.
The redhead then disappeared between the bars, and slowly sunk back into the darkness, all the while casting an eerie, crimson glow as she moved deeper into the recesses of Naruto's mind.
-0-
Shizuka stared wide-eyed at Naruto, watching as the chakra danced chaotically around him. Every time the wind touched her, the sensation of cold steel rubbing against her skin returned. It was the silver chakra that was saturated into the air; the sheer amount was monstrous.
The leaves in the trees rustled in anticipation, as if they were in the front seats to a climatic game that was about to reach its peak. Nearby birds and animals cried out in fear, running somewhere safe, away from the battle that was about to unfold.
Another blast of wind quickly washed over the area, catching Shizuka off balance and making her stumble for a bit. When she regained her footing, she was caught off guard when she accidentally looked into Naruto's silvery eyes, seeing her fear-filled, shattered reflection for a brief second in his mirrored irises.
For a second, she wondered if that was truly her. She feared nothing, but yet, there was a feeling of dread that was slowly creeping into her being. That was something she had thought she had smashed out of her soul so long ago, but clearly there were still lingering sentiments of that forgotten part of her mind.
Narrowing her eyes, she squashed the fear rising in her chest. This was just power in a manifested form. There was nothing to be afraid of. Still, she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes once more.
Surprise returned as she saw laid eyes upon Naruto's face. He's changing more!
The now defined whisker marks had started to take a silver tint, now looking as if someone had taken sandpaper to painted metal; his hair began to pale, until finally it looked as if he had a head full of metallic silver strands. Suddenly, the onrush of chakra receded into its master, taking the seemingly demonic wind with it. Around Naruto, the air still seemed to distort from the raw power he was emanating.
"What… are you?" Shizuka whispered with a sneer.
Naruto clenched and unclenched his hands. He then slowly raised his right hand to his face, watching as the air around it became distorted.
His body felt as cold as ice. He wanted to shiver, but the sensation never came; his breath was as cold as his body. The chakra moved in chaotic patterns just under his skin, waiting to be unleashed in some devastating attack.
The sun-kissed boy then did something that was completely uncharacteristic of his self: he smirked. Even though he felt so cold, this feeling… it was addictive. It made him want to draw upon more, and more, until every last drop in this new well of power was drained dry.
"I wonder what ability of the Kyoukagan this is?" he quietly mused to himself.
He then frowned as he remembered something that he had said just a couple minutes ago. It had something to do with his friends, about wanting to protect them, or some other crap like that, but he couldn't remember. What friends did he have? With this new power, he didn't need anything else.
Every sense in his body went on high alert as he felt another being nearby. When he looked around, the only person he could find was Shizuka. He could see her hand was slowly inching towards her butterfly knife, and that she had taken a defensive stance.
He couldn't understand why, but he wanted to feel her blood in between his fingers.
Shizuka flinched as a deadly killer intent suddenly flooded the area. Sweat began to bead her brow as it increased with every second that ticked by, adding to what seemed like a ton of weight to her shoulders. Her breath became more ragged as she fought, trying her hardest merely to stay standing upright.
I… I never felt such an intense bloodlust in my entire life, she frantically thought as she wobbled.
Finally, she fell to one of her knees, and instinctively held a hand to her mouth as she felt her breakfast reviving itself. Just before she could vomit, the killer intent lifted as fast as it came on.
"I don't need to see you puke," Naruto told her, a hint of sadistic amusement tinting his voice. "I'd probably get sick just from watching you."
His voice sent a chill up her spine. She couldn't help but be reminded of the cold edge of a blood-stained sword, poised at the throat and ready to deal the final blow. And she could imagine the person holding the sword as well, a sadistic killer covered from head to toe in scarlet wearing a smile.
She almost had to force her head up when she looked up at him, panting and sweating from the intense bloodlust. When her eyes met his visage, he had the most disturbing grin painted to his face. It was his eyes that made her nervous, though. Like she had seen before, they looked as if they belonged more to a psychotic demon that had been unexpectedly unleashed onto the world, rather than the formerly sarcastic blond that held them now.
This isn't the same person I was fighting a second ago. She wiped the perspiration that had collected away from her forehead, and stood up, pulling her balisong out and flipping it through her fingers. What happened? What ability of the Kyoukagan is this?
Naruto continued to smile disturbingly. He laughed quietly to himself as he watched her knife, glinting in what little sunlight seeped through the canopy of the forest. The thought was amusing to him. She was going to try and fight back. It was almost pathetic.
"Don't die too soon on me," Naruto sarcastically told her, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides in anticipation. "I need a guinea pig to test my new powers on."
"Funny," she kept an emotionless mask on, but just underneath was a thin layer of nervousness that she was trying her best to conceal, "I was just about to tell you the same thing."
The silver-eyed youth grinned evilly as he sensed that small hint of tension radiating off of her. Remembering his past battle with her and how she had seemed so confident back then, it made him want to show her just how weak she was.
"Are you scared?" Naruto asked, leaning slightly forward with a knowing smile. "I thought you were afraid of nothing."
"Why would I be scared?" she answered quickly, narrowing her eyes and smirking in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Sasuke, which made Naruto's hand twitch at the want to rip her lips off of her face even more. "I'm not afraid; I'm just… excited. This is going to be the biggest battle I've ever fought."
She was so much like his bastard of a teammate that he felt as if it was his turn to want to vomit.
"I know somebody who said the same thing, and then got his ass handed to him royally," he chuckled to her.
He took a fighting stance, one that Shizuka wasn't familiar with. For Naruto, it was high time to unveil the Wraith Fist and it was also time to knock down the annoying redhead a couple- no, maybe thirty or so- pegs. This was the last time she was going to piss him off.
"Well then," he told her, "let's get it on."
Shizuka blinked once, and then he appeared two inches across from her face, his right fist poised to deliver an extremely hard uppercut.
-0-
Orochimaru smirked as he watched Sasuke running at him, angrily roaring as his Sharingan flared in his eyes.
Sakura…
As the Uchiha ran forward, he remembered the sight of her body lying on the ground, not moving, just barely able to breathe, and her neck bleeding from some strange wound. It only added to his anger. Sakura had become one of his few precious people, and now there was a chance that he was going to lose her. And it all was because of the stupid snake-in-the-grass before him.
His first move was to pull out a set of shuriken, attached to some thin wire barely noticeable to the naked eye. He launched them at the former Sannin, forcing his target to jump out of the way. Before his opponent could land on the ground, Sasuke twitched his fingers, his metal stars turning on a ryou, to target the vulnerable ninja. All he got from Orochimaru was a brief surprised look, and then another snake-ish smirk.
It was only with the Sharingan that Sasuke was able to see the snake pull out a kunai so fast that his hand was a blur. The next second, the thin wires on his shuriken were severed with a blurrily fast arm, severing his control over the weapons.
Just as he touched ground, Orochimaru looked up to see that Sasuke had followed after, all the while going through the hand seals for his signature Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique. He snorted in amusement as the fireball came crashing down on him.
The ebony-haired boy landed on the ground, and with his Sharingan, he saw only a scorched a mound made of mud, much to his chagrin: an Earth Clone, obviously. Narrowing his spinning crimson eyes, he drew a kunai by the ring at the end of the handle, twirling it on his finger. He couldn't place where his target was, and it was making him jumpy.
Before he could begin to wonder where the genuine article had gone to, the corner of his eyes picked up a minute amount of movement. On instinct, he ducked under the high-speed punch that his enemy had delivered, but he didn't predict the knee that went into his stomach.
Orochimaru was about to bring down his elbow onto the boy's back, but Sasuke flicked the wrist that held the kunai, cutting into his thigh and making his opponent jump backwards with a hiss.
Sasuke stared at Orochimaru, clutching his stomach as the traitor moved towards him, and just as he came within punching distance, the snake-eyed man put on a burst of speed that left nothing but a cloud of dust in his wake. Not expecting such a thing, Sasuke was thrown into a tree, creating a dent in the trunk with a shower of splinters and a brief jet of blood from his mouth.
As Sasuke wiped the blood from his chin, Orochimaru put on another burst of speed that turned his body into only a blurred outline. The next instant, Sasuke took several punches that were so fast that his body didn't have time to feel pain as he was catapulted through the other side of the tree.
For the next several seconds, Sasuke laid on the ground on his back, the stabbing pain in his lungs a clear indication of more than one broken rib. With a groan, he rolled over and once again spat out the blood collected in his mouth. His face was battered, blood leaking from out of his nose and mouth; one of his eyes was already showings signs of swelling, and it felt like someone had repeatedly hit his stomach with a mace. He just plain hurt.
"How pathetic," Orochimaru muttered to himself as he watched Sasuke slowly stand, not making an attempt to cover the disappointment that came out of his mouth. "Even Sakura-chan put up a better fight."
"Just…" Sasuke snarled, glaring past his bloodied face with enough force that even Itachi might have raised an eyebrow in pride. "Just shut the hell up!"
That comment made Orochimaru smirk in mocking amusement. "Oh, so you have a special connection to Sakura-chan? How cute. Maybe you two could come to me together, but that's if you live."
"I said," Sasuke said past clenched teeth, the spinning Sharingan in his eyes adding as much intimidation as he could possibly mix in, "SHUT UP!"
"Why?" continued the snake. "You're so weak. Your teammate Sakura lasted much longer than you have."
Orochimaru then grinned as he thought of a way to get Sasuke's goat.
For added effect, he rubbed his chin, making the Uchiha across from him narrow his eyes. "I bet even Naruto-kun would have put up a better fight. Maybe I should look for him instead…"
He never got to finish his comment as Sasuke suddenly began pelting fireballs from his hands. Orochimaru quickly weaved through them, almost rolling his eyes as they missed him so easily, but he had never expected the shuriken hiding the flames, complete with more thin wire.
Before he could react, Sasuke moved his fingers, the wires wrapping around Orochimaru's ankles and legs. As the snake began to realize his predicament, Sasuke yanked hard on the wires. Orochimaru was pulled off balance, and with what anger coursed through his body, Sasuke began to spin his enemy in the air. When he felt that he had enough momentum, he let go of the wires, launching the traitor Sannin off the clearing and right into his trap.
Orochimaru looked down as he fell, his eyes widening at the wire trap meant to cut him to shreds. With surprise as his prey's ingenuity, and even some faint desperation, he dug his fingers into the side of the tree, carving a trail of gouge marks on the bark. As his speed began to slow, Sasuke jumped after and landed heel first into his target's stomach, increasing the speed once more.
The Uchiha clung to the tree as he watched with grim satisfaction at the sight of Orochimaru getting cut up into pieces by the sharp wire. But it was quickly turned into aggravation as he watched the clone dissolve into mud.
Even as his brain was still analyzing what just happened, Orochimaru's own heel went into the back of his head, making him fall right into his own trap.
"Nice try, Sasuke-kun!" Orochimaru yelled as he occupied the spot the boy had formerly been.
At the last second, Sasuke implemented 'Plan B', and performed a Replacement that would have made any jounin's head spin. In his place was a large ball made entirely out of exploding tags about the size of a man's head, but what made the Sannin utter a curse was the fact that one of those tags was rapidly sizzling.
Several stories above his trap, Sasuke was running for his life. That was a lot of explosive power he had left behind, and there was no way in hell he was to sticking around for something that big.
Just as he was about to get in the minimum safe distance, a huge explosion tore through the area, complete with a shockwave that picked Sasuke up off his feet and hurled him into the air. He tumbled about for several more feet before rolling into a tree, upside down with his feet above him.
After ungracefully correcting himself with a thump, the Uchiha rubbed the side of his face as he realized that he may have added too much oomph to his creation. There had been enough power behind that haphazard bomb to level several close-together buildings at once.
Realizing that this was probably the end of the battle, Sasuke was about to sigh in relief, but it caught in his throat as a figure walked through the flames several feet in front of him, complete with amused smile.
"I was being nice earlier," Orochimaru told him, still wearing that sickening grin. "But after that little stunt, I think I'll make this a little bit more difficult for you."
Cursing under his breath, Sasuke used the tree he had rolled onto for support as he willed his sore legs to stand him up.
Dammit, my trap didn't work, he thought to himself as he tried to think of another plan. What is this freak made of?
The next second, Orochimaru came at him, running at high speeds and turning into a blur.
-0-
Naruto snorted in aggravation as the Shizuka he had given the uppercut dissolved into light; the signature of a genjutsu.
He had forgotten that she had control over his senses, meaning she still had control of the battlefield. It didn't take a Nara to know this spat between them wasn't going to be short.
The now silver-haired boy ducked as another clone of the girl shot out of the ground, her knife's edge reaching greedily for his jugular vein. It did not even come close, as with his newfound speed, Naruto was behind the fake and dispelling it with a punch before it could even register his movement. Four more appeared out of the trunks of the trees, gunning for him at high speeds.
Naruto held up a hand and shifted a foot to brace himself, his chakra pooling into his hand. As the fakes came close enough, he unleashed the unstable chakra in a single burst, an invisible shockwave of pure chakra lashing out to annihilate them all at once.
In the shadows, Shizuka herself watched carefully, sending out more illusionary clones. Her gifted mind studied Naruto's movements, noting how much faster whatever this new power of the Kyoukagan had made him. He was easily three times as fast as before already, and slowly increasing by the looks of it.
She glared, sending out another volley of clones, this time double the number as before.
Again, she watched him carefully. Not only had his speed gained a large boost, his strength had jumped almost monstrously as well. As seen by the fact that he caught her clone's knife barehanded and broke it. Her eyes narrowed even further as she watched the small cut he had taken heal almost immediately.
In her head, she counted down what abilities she had seen so far: increased speed and strength, and almost instantaneous healing.
She allowed her eyes to widen as Naruto collected chakra in his hands again. He quickly swept out his arms, creating two crescent-shaped, high-speed, silver chakra blades that effectively cut one clone cleanly in half, and decapitated the other next to it.
That was another ability she had forgotten to add: raw chakra manipulation of the highest degree. This new, unidentifiable chakra could be manipulated in ways she had never seen before, such as concussive shockwaves that were highly damaging, and also long range attacks such as the crescent-shaped blades.
Finding that there was nothing else to study, Shizuka touched the ground.
Around Naruto, all the clones he was fighting suddenly disappeared. Before he could ask what happened, the ground beneath him began to shake. Like a scene out of a horror movie, zombie-like humans crawled out of the ground, in the likeliness of fallen genin that had failed to past the exam and ended died.
Naruto stared emotionlessly at the gruesome scene, even as all the dead finished coming out of the ground; armed to the teeth with weapons. It was an illusion, albeit, a very powerful one, but this shouldn't be hard to get past. He just needed to find the illusionist herself.
With the weakness of the Kyoukagan removed, he allowed the shards to fall out of his eyes like snow, revealing the Hyakurai once more.
Behind a tree, Shizuka flinched as lightning began to dance off Naruto in a vibrant display. Out of his hands, it danced and cut into the ground. It raced up his body, crackling as it reentered him.
"Where are you?" Naruto sing-songed, smiling devilishly as he began to search for his target.
Her answer to his question was to order the zombies to attack the boy.
"Not going to answer, are we?" he muttered to himself in aggravation.
With quickened reflexes, he ducked under a sword strike and delivered a bolt of lightning that cut through the dead being. Another came at him with a spear, but he jumped up and landed on the tip, delivering a hard kick to the head that made it launch like a soccer ball. He jumped into the air again as a particularly dangerous dead genin came from behind him with a war-hammer, smashing the anything that got in his way. Using a shuriken he launched into the back of the angry zombie, Naruto sent out a lightning bolt to incinerate it. Debris of zombie parts went flying everywhere.
Then before he even made contact with the ground, he yanked out a double fistful of senbon and sent them pelting into everything. As the illusions came at him with seemingly hungry cries, he charged up his bioelectricity, and then jumped back into the air by using a zombie as a jumping platform. Using the senbon as lighting rods, he created a massive area of destruction with a thunderclap that was sure to be heard all over the forest.
He smirked as he landed, the illusion disappearing as Shizuka fell from behind a tree holding her sensitive ears.
"Oh, did that hurt?" Naruto asked sarcastically.
She glared at him, but then dodge-rolled out of the way as another silver chakra blade shot out at her. Just as she turned invisible, he sent out a kunai with electricity ready to follow it, striking the nearest tree to her with a lightning bolt. The massive plant split with another fantastic shower of splinters. Her invisibility flashed on and off as she fell to her knees, covering her ears once more.
Just as she jumped up to counter, a blast of chakra sent Shizuka rocketing through a tree. As she skidded across the ground, a couple of senbon stabbed into her shoulder.
"SHIT!" she shouted as she quickly pulled them out, but just before she could drop them, a streak lightning struck her from across the clearing. The fiery-haired girl was sent flying through the air with the force of an anvil, and cratered the ground when she made contact with the dirt.
Naruto slowly walked into the area of destruction, finding Shizuka in the middle of a crater, seemingly unconscious. Blood came out of one side of her mouth and more dripped out of her ears.
"What a loser," he sneered as he came up on her limp body- had he been normal, he might have noted that he sounded too much Sasuke in that instance.
As he came next to her, his body suddenly felt like it had been pierced in every joint by hundreds of thin spikes. Now, he couldn't move. Angrily clenching his teeth, he looked down to see a smirking Shizuka touching his foot with only her index finger.
"I'm not…" she attempted to say as she stood, only to hold herself up by the knees as vertigo hit her. "I'm not out yet."
When she could finally stand up fully, Shizuka flashed through a rapid series of hand seals, a green glow suffusing over her hands. With the healing chakra, she covered her ears and quickly began to heal them, and moved on to her body, repairing whatever shrapnel, stab, gouge, and whatever other wounds she had managed to incur. She worked slowly, however; it was obvious healing wasn't her specialty.
"B-Bitch!" Naruto cursed past clenched teeth; he couldn't move his jaw through the illusion.
"Loser, huh?" she told him, taking her sweet time to walk up to him. "Looks like you're the stupid one here. You just had to fall for such an obvious trap."
It happened faster in a split-second. Shizuka stopped her boasting as the clone went up in smoke. Before she could register what had just happened, Naruto popped out of the ground directly below her, delivering a sledgehammer uppercut. He wasn't done though; while in the air above Shizuka, Naruto grabbed her braid, and then swung her over his head. She hit the dirt with such force that she cracked the ground.
Shizuka had only one more second to look up into the air, her eyes widening at the sight of one last clone crashing down on her with an axe-kick, powered by the lightning the copy had concentrated into its foot. Once it made contact with the prone girl, an explosion rocked the area, sending the real Naruto flying backwards from the attack.
Unfortunately for the blond, he went headfirst into the ground, hitting a stone that happened to be in the way. Pain exploded throughout his head.
He looked up, watching as the sky started to become dark around the edges of his eyes. His body was going numb, and he couldn't move a muscle in his body.
"Damn," he quietly said to himself, wearing a grimace despite his growing unconsciousness. "And I was just having fun too."
The moment Naruto closed his eyes, the onrush of chakra suddenly stopped, and his body quickly began to warm up as the cool chakra was replaced with the natural blue type. The silver strands of hair that decorated his head quickly darkened to their original blond color; his whisker marks also became their original size and color.
After another minute of silence, Naruto stirred. When he opened his eyes, they were the joyous crystal-blue that he was well-known for, along with his silvery pupils and white sclera.
At first, his entire body felt numb, but after stirring, Naruto shot up and screamed bloody murder.
"IT HURTS LIKE HELL!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
It felt like his chakra coils were being ripped out of his body; that was the only way he could describe it. He fell back to the ground, hugging his chest as he breathed laboriously. After what felt like an eternity, the pain ebbed away, leaving only a dull, throbbing headache that didn't hurt nearly as bad as the rest of his body.
Slowly, he tried to stand, but every second another cutting pain struck. He fell to his knees as he became nauseous. Unable to take it any longer, Naruto doubled over and threw-up.
Opening his eyes, they then widened as he found that his vomit was silvery. Naruto became spooked at the sight of it, frightened at what his Kyoukagan might be doing to his body.
With even more caution, he slowly tried to stand again. He wobbled as he stood fully upright, but felt nothing impeding his movements. Although his headache felt like it was ripping his brain apart, it paled in comparison to the spasms of pain that had racked his body mere seconds ago.
As he was trying to alleviate his increasing headache, the smell of burning skin struck his nose. Forgetting about his problems for the moment, he immediately pinpointed the source of the atrocious odor. His mouth dropped as his eyes fell upon the unconscious form of Shizuka, fresh burn marks adorning her body.
Naruto turned to his environment. His eyes widened as he took in the shear amount of destruction surrounding him. Nearby trees that were barely standing were split or splintered, craters marred the earth around him, and the area itself looked as if it had been subjugated to an intense battle.
"What… happened?" he said, slowly standing with one hand on his goose-egg.
After Haku and Kyuubi, it felt like he had fallen asleep. He remembered a dream of falling down an abyss, falling without end. With each passing second in the infinite darkness, he felt more of his self torn away.
It was strange to suddenly wake up and be in an environment that he wasn't familiar with, almost like waking up while in the middle of an a movie. Naruto didn't have any clue of how Shizuka had been beaten, or how come his body was suddenly in such good condition… Other than the occasional extreme spasms of pain, that is.
Ugk, he was getting nowhere with this, better to think about it later. The headache was making thinking really difficult anyway.
Standing up, slowly as to avoid yet another spasm, he walked over to Shizuka, noting at as he did the lack of tint to his vision. He frowned, realizing she still had possession of his precious eyewear.
Naruto stared down at her lifeless form. As much as he hated her, he didn't want to leave her just lying there. It wasn't his nature. Even if she was the most dangerous opponent he had ever encountered, he couldn't let her stay there in an undignified manner.
With a sigh, Naruto willed his pained body to pick up the, if only for the moment, quiet girl. It caught him off guard how light she was. In his arms, he also found her to be a surprisingly bony. She felt as fragile as porcelain; though, he wouldn't have thought so after the two battles that he fought with her.
As he breathed with difficulty, Naruto walked over to a nearby tree. Once he got close enough, he sat her down and propped her against the tree.
Remembering that Komoriuta girl was still in possession of his goggles, Naruto dug into one of her cargo pant's many pockets, finding them quickly.
"Ah, man," Naruto muttered to himself as he took in his the sight of his goggles.
He grimaced as he stared at the broken pieces that once kept his even more precious doujutsu hidden from the world. One of lens was looked on the verge of falling apart from all the cracks in it, and the other had been completely shattered.
It looked as if the cat was finally going to come out of the bag.
With an aggravated groan, he fully stood. Careful not to destroy them any more than they were, Naruto warily put the trashed goggles in a pocket on the inside of his jacket. He hoped that somebody in the village would be able to save them.
Sasuke and Sakura were about to get the truth of his Limit that they had fervently sought after in the Land of Waves. And it annoyed him to high-hell.
Another jolt of pain making him grip his aching side, he meandered out of the clearing before anyone else could attack him.
-0-
The fist Sasuke's face had taken could only be described as a cannonball that had been shot out of a cannon over a hundred feet long. He skipped across the ground like a stone on water until he finally hit a tree at the other end of the clearing.
Falling down to his knees, Sasuke vomited up blood yet again and then looked for Orochimaru. Staring at his enemy's original position, he found the snake-man had disappeared without a trace.
Before the Uchiha react, Orochimaru appeared out of the ground below. With one punch to the stomach, the Uchiha was sent into the air. Amidst the pain, Sasuke felt someone take a hold of his shirt, and looked in horror as the Sannin's hand had stretched to an ungodly length. He was then whipped around in the air, painfully landing on the ground. As he tried digging his fingers into the ground, he was thrown into the air into the side of a tree. He almost cried out in pain, but before he could try to grip anything, he was sent into a large rock.
Landing on the ground from the last attack he had taken, Sasuke pushed past the pain and quickly pulled out a shuriken and the strongest wire he could muster. As he was thrown into the air once more, he activated his Sharingan and swung the throwing-star, spinning it around the arm attached to his shirt. One of the points dug into the arm, and then Sasuke pulled as hard as he could on the wire, cutting into the arm.
"You little bastard," Orochimaru muttered to himself as he let go of Sasuke, though he showed more amusement than pain.
Still having a grasp on the arm, Sasuke pulled the string to his mouth as he landed on the ground and flashed a set of hand seals.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" Sasuke screamed past the wire in his mouth.
Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise as a massive stream fire began at Sasuke's position, but then traveled down the wire and his arm, aiming straight for his body.
"Not bad," Orochimaru said, raising an impressed eyebrow as he was engulfed in flames.
The clone dissolved into yet another puddle of mud, but Sasuke tracked the movement with his doujutsu to find that Orochimaru had gone airborne. Faster than even a chuunin could track, Sasuke pulled out two kunai with wire, and sent them at the pale bastard before he could escape. His eyes guiding his movements, Sasuke maneuvered the kunai around Orochimaru's wrist as he landed on a tree branch. As the man moved to cut the attachments, Sasuke sent another wave of fire down the wire. Orochimaru jumped out of the way in time as he got loose, sparing himself severe burns.
With a growl, Sasuke began to run with chakra up the side of the tree that the predator had settled on. Seeing the oncoming boy, Orochimaru hurled a fan of shuriken at him.
Sasuke went through a short series of hand seals as he caught sight of the weapons.
"Fire Release: Ember Shot!"
Small fireballs launched from out of the palm of his hands, catching the shuriken in mid-flight and even sending a few back to attack Orochimaru himself. A grunt of acknowledgement for the boy's tactics, Orochimaru leaped from the tree, but Sasuke's rapid blasts followed, a small trail of destruction following in the ex-Sannin's wake.
Orochimaru moved with unnatural speeds through the trees, more like he was swimming between the branches like a snake. When the fireballs finally ran out, he ran down the side of a tree, towards the landing Sasuke. The moment he came close enough, he sent another hammer punch into the genin, but was actually surprised as a log replaced the boy.
He growled as he jumped backwards, watching as Sasuke smashed the ground he formerly stood on with a high-speed dive. The Uchiha spun and loosed a fan of kunai, but Orochimaru drew one of his own and deflected the projectiles.
In a moment of desperation, Sasuke daringly jumped at the distracted Sannin with an angry roar. Actually catching the snake-master off guard with such a bold and reckless move, Sasuke sent the man down tumbling down. After rolling on the ground, Orochimaru practically hissed as he returned his gaze to his enemy.
Before the snake could make a comeback, Sasuke sent more shuriken with wire out, completely missing the older man.
Orochimaru smirked. "What a joke…" He was cut off as Sasuke pulled on the string, tying him to the tree and cutting into his skin with the near-invisible wire.
This is the last of my chakra, tension ran even through Sasuke's thoughts as he went over the necessary hand seals. I'm going to pour all of it into this attack! I can end this!
His muscles tensed as all of the remaining chakra he had surged into his hands. The entire area in front of him caught fire in an instant, and the fire streamed down the wire so fast that Orochimaru didn't have enough time to inch towards his kunai pouch. The fire hit with such force that the tree trunk the Sannin was bound to instantly vaporized into ash. Bereft of its base, the remaining tree above came crashing down. Bird went screaming into the air in panicked flight.
After a moment, the smoke cleared, and Sasuke studied the area Orochimaru had been caught in. Sasuke couldn't find a single body part of the man and smirked, thinking he had vaporized him along with the tree.
"I won," Sasuke told himself. Turning around, he held a hand to his sore arm and spoke one last time as he walked away, "That was for Sakura."
Sasuke stopped dead with wide eyes as serpent-like laughter rung through the clearing. "Don't think you're victorious for even a second."
Slowly, the Uchiha turned around, watching with horror as Orochimaru melted out of the ground, his body unmarred in any way. He took a step back in caution as Orochimaru smiled in such a manner that his skin felt like it was peeling off of his bones.
"As entertaining as Sakura's fight with me was, it pales in comparison to the one we shared," he said in a silky voice, taking a step forward. "I must admit, I initially had my doubts about you. But as the battle pressed on, you stepped it up; both impressive and admirable. You'll make a nice recipient for my gift."
Hearing that, Sasuke's eyes widened even more. "Shit," he muttered, readying to bolt. Already knowing what the snake freak was hinting at, Sasuke spun the other way and took off as fast as his legs could carry him.
Orochimaru shook his head. Escape was futile; a genin of any level could never hope to outrun an S-class shinobi. He disappeared in a blur, chasing down his game.
I have to grab Sakura and get out of here! Sasuke yelled in panic within his mind. He held a hand to his own neck, not wanting to feel the sensation of one of those freakish seals being put on him like Sakura had. He refused to be branded in any way.
He smiled as he came within sight of Sakura's unconscious form; so far, everything would be okay. At that moment, Orochimaru blurred into existence, standing in between his precious teammate and freedom. Sasuke skidded to a stop and looked at the monster with shock.
"You can't run from me," he told the ebony-haired boy.
Just as Sasuke balanced on the heel of his foot to spin around and dash away, Orochimaru's fingers wrapped around his throat. It had happened faster than he could track; the snake had extended his arm once more, preventing escape or retaliation. Slowly and agonizingly, Orochimaru pulled his prey in.
Out of desperation, Sasuke dug his heels into the ground, trying his best to get away. He attempted to pry the fingers off of his throat, but the harder he tried to escape the tighter Orochimaru would grip him. Finally, when he had gotten close enough, Orochimaru hoisted him into the air, making Sasuke clench his teeth as he stared eye to eye, looking into to eyes that practically belonged to Death itself.
"Soon," Orochimaru hissed, pleased in his capture of what he thought to be the perfect body for his quest, "Sakura and you will come to me, seeking the power that both of desire so much. And I… I, being a generous man, will give it to you."
Sasuke watched in horror as Orochimaru's fangs lengthened and, with a hiss not unlike a snake ready to bite, dug his teeth into his shoulder. White-hot pain suddenly screamed throughout his entire body, and all Sasuke could do was to scream.
As Orochimaru dropped him, the world around him seemed to slow down. In the split-seconds during his fall to the ground, he could feel his body going numb. He wondered if he was dying; truly, he wouldn't have doubted it. He wanted to cry, both for himself and Sakura. Were they going to die?
His head turned as he fell, and as he did, he caught sight of Naruto. If he could, he would have smiled. He had obviously beaten that bitch, and still was able to find him. But, unfortunately, he had come just a second too late.
The blond had watched everything in utter shock. The fingers that held onto a nearby tree for support dug into the bark, his shock clear to all as he watched his teammate fall. He looked on with shock as he watched Sasuke fall to the ground. And his eyes…
Just as he fell unconscious, Sasuke caught a brief glimpse of mirrors surrounded by a circle of the clearest blue.
Kill Joy no Jutsu! (A.K.A. Author's Note): I finally got past that damn writer's block! I swear… this chapter was actually a challenge to write. I scrapped the Shizuka/Naruto fight at least three times because I overpowered one character or the other. On the other hand, the Sasuke/Orochimaru scenes were a breeze, which rather surprised me.
Next up is the fight we've been waiting for! Even I have been antsy to write the next chapter ever since I posted this story. It's the Orochimaru/Naruto fight! I do warn you, though, don't expect anything on the scale of the Four-Tailed Naruto/Orochimaru fight. It's still way too early for such a large scale fight, but I promise a fast-paced, high octane battle that will please. Also, we'll steep just a little bit more into the Kyoukagan's final ability.
Speaking of which, the later half of the story will revolve somewhat around the final ability of the Kyoukagan. Chapter Fifteen, which is still a while away, should hint at what the full ability is. That's right, there's still an air of mystery surrounding the final ability of the Kyoukagan.
I'll be thoroughly enjoying the upcoming chapters, as the Chuunin Exam Arc is one of my absolute favorite scenes to write.
If any of you haven't noticed, I've changed Shizukesa's name to Shizuka; if I can remember correctly, it means 'Peaceful', and is supposedly a popular name for girls in Japan. I don't know; I'd have to ask my beta reader again. If you go back to the other chapters, I went over and switched out her name. I really didn't want to do it, but my beta has been pushing me for a while to change her name.
I understand that some of you don't like Shizuka, but in the upcoming chapters, she'll become a bit more likable. I would also like to remind some of you that she does in fact play a pivotal role in this story.
Also, I would highly suggest you, if you hadn't anyway, go back and read the last chapter, in particular, the scene between Jiraiya and Sarutobi. I had it changed. Jiraiya is still Naruto's grandfather, but Tsunade isn't his grandmother anymore. I did this for a reason; and now I hint at something else, though, the circumstances (if you can guess what they are) are by far more interesting.
As a side-note, the winners of the poles competitions are Naruto: the Mist Leaf (Now called Naruto: Quicksilver) and Naruto: Bleached. I've already posted Quicksilver, which uses Kushina as the Yondaime Mizukage as the basis of the plot; this story has already received mostly positive reviews, and I myself already have high hopes for this one. Naruto: Bleached will take a while to post, but even as I'm typing this, I've already got a pretty decent storyline coming together on this one.
Eventually, I do hope to write a Naruto/Fullmetal Alchemist crossover, as well as Claymore fan-fic or even a D. Gray-Man fic. But these can wait until I have the time, and after I've completed what I've already got on the plate. Four stories are the most I can handle at one time.
That reminds me. The next chapter of Memories of the Nevermore is almost completed. After what seems like an eternity, I finally got over the nasty writer's block and picked up the pen once more. The next chapter is already shaping up to be an awesome one.
Anyways, nothing new to go over in the Original Techniques and Limits. And unfortunately, the final Kyoukagan ability doesn't have enough info for me to go over quite yet.
