Though it had only been a brief instant that Infinity had laid dormant, the attack had still physically reached me. And so even though it was an instant, I felt the full force of the kick from a Kage level Shinobi.
Agony explodes across my front.
'FUCK!' I want to roar in pain. Instead I spit blood as I'm sent flying.
It had been a hair of a second that the kick had touched me.
And still.
Searing and debilitating pain was now ravaging my nerves across my chest.
The brutish bastard had landed a full kick against my torso.
'Such explosive power'
A moment longer and the force would have killed me…
'I'm lucky to still be conscious'
Lucky?
No…
I feel it now.
My natural application of Infinity is bracing the wound.
Like some kind of natural stasis.
My understanding of Limitless has grown now. As my eyes observe the world I feel a knot deep within me unloosen.
…my chest is stinging. Something's probably broken.
But it doesn't matter.
I begin to push more Cursed Energy into Infinity.
My descent slows. Twisting through the air, I'm on my feet, one arm instinctively hovering in front of me.
It only takes me a second to see that I've been knocked away a considerable distance.
My eyes immediately focus on the two figures approaching me at a frightening speed.
The one who kicked me is leading the charge.
But they'd both be on my ass in a moment.
However that small sliver of time is enough to come to a realization as to the nature of my attackers.
Even though I've only met one of them in my life, the look of their Chakra, it's nature, was akin to only one person I knew.
"Jinchuriki huh?!" I try to yell out, but it definitely comes off more as a sad cry, "too scared to fight me one on-"
There's a rolling fist of lava in my face in the next heartbeat.
It seems one of them was indeed capable of moving far faster.
…or they were both still toying with me. After all…
These were tailed beast holders, their power was far above mine…
I focus back on the fight.
'Lava?' is my first wonder, but then I'm drawn to the energy that my first attacker is emitting.
Cursed Energy? But that's-
The fist suddenly lurches closer, his hand drifting a few feet through Infinity.
"What the fuck-"
"Dodge. Now"
I don't bother telling my four eyed passenger to go stuff it. Whatever he may be thinking, just ain't possible.
I'm fucking screwed here, and I know it.
Even as I dump tons of cursed energy into Infinity, I feel my reserves wavering.
'The Jinchuriki' I take a good look at my opponent.
'Roshi. The Four Tails'
Why the fuck is he here? And the other? Fuck! That's probably Han!
No.
I can't defend against these two, especially since it seems Roshi's slowly slipping through my fuckin' ultimate defense.
Han, which is likely the other attacker, must be hanging back, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
So dodging, weaving, evading… that's not an option.
If I can't run…
Then it's time to go on the offensive.
My energy pulses.
"Oh?"
The voice of Sukuna is amused, yet curious.
He better be.
The words fall naturally from my mouth. I'm not sure why I used those specific words, they just felt… right.
"Maximum Output!"
I see my attacker's gaze twist to where my open palm was pointed.
"BLUE!"
The sphere of roiling azure energy exploded into existence only a few meters from our entangled forms, but the epicenter of the singularity began to warp space and time instantly.
The strength of its pull was incredible.
But I wasn't done yet.
I swept my arm across, my control of the destructive all consuming orb being held on by only a hair's width of concentration.
"DIE!" I couldn't help but scream, blood, sweat and pain boiling up from my soul at the singular word.
Roshi disengaged immediately, the red head instantly clearing as much space between us as possible.
But my eyes wouldn't lose track of him.
'You can't run'
I could still control the position of the singularity, so I sent it hurtling after him.
The orb sucked up rocks, trees, grass, even the earth itself, as it cleaved through reality towards its commanded destination.
Roshi is forced to flee.
And as I focus on my attack, another presence makes itself known.
His armored form had steam expelling from its gaps.
…and his hands had just finished completing a set of hand signs on his approach to me.
I never heard the words, but I certainly got to witness the technique front and center.
The blast of energy almost toppled me over, Infinity sucking up a tenth of my reserves of Cursed Energy to keep maintaining itself against the violent attack.
Pushed to the brink, I hit him with the latest trick up my sleeve.
Fuck this guy.
He's trying to kill me.
So I'll try and kill him too.
I quickly snap an arm up so I can point a finger at his fuckin' heart.
"Dismantle"
A few things happen in the next second.
Roshi has his armor sliced open, his skin shredded by the invisible slash. He's sent flying as soon as the force of the desperately super charged attack touches him.
But the expenditure of energy is too great.
Blue instantly fails, the singularity collapsing upon itself into nothingness as its existence is no longer being fed by Cursed Energy.
And Infinity…
I take an exhausted step to my right, turning my body to try and face the approaching-
Something thumps against my body.
I look down.
There's a magma coated fist sticking out of my chest.
Oh.
Maybe that's why my torso feels so warm.
Why's it hard to breathe?
How'd he-
The last thing I hear before it all goes dark are Roshi's words to me.
"Rot in hell, King of Curses"
Roshi pulls his magma coated arm from the boy after a second. The heat from his lava would have cooked the youth's insides almost instantly.
The corpse fell forward.
Roshi took a second to stare at his kill, confirming it in his mind before his thoughts turned elsewhere.
"Han?" he called out, turning to look in the direction his comrade had been thrown by the Cursed Technique.
The Kid had certainly been a Sorcerer, albeit untrained.
Though he certainly possessed a dangerous technique, some kind of space time manipulation….
Had he not been a Vessel to the King of Curses, Roshi reasoned he would likely have killed him anyway. One day.
As a Ninja from a foreign village, it was almost likely that they'd cross paths one day.
The Jinchurki made his rationalizations for murder quite quickly, the death of the enemy swiftly leaving his mind in all thoughts and considerations.
"Don't tell me he hurt you that badly Han?" Roshi called out again, taking a step towards the woods.
He only stopped as a voice sprung into existence.
"Domain Amplification? That's all!? Ha… Ha! HAHA! HAHAHAHA!"
A mocking laugh bubbled out from behind Roshi, not even a few feet from him.
From where the Corpse-
He turned around.
Slowly.
"So simple…"
After all, Roshi had sensed the moment the boy's heart had stopped. So he had turned away from his target, ready to go and locate his injured ally.
And yet there he was, standing on both feet and brushing the dirt from his shoulders.
Roshi immediately noticed that the hole he'd punched through the youth's chest was completely healed. The only evidence the attack had ever landed was the fact that a gaping hole still existed in the young Leaf Ninja's attire.
But the body was standing.
…and speaking to him.
It was looking at him.
"But I suppose that's to be expected of a Cursed Vessel"
…his voice had changed. The gashes under his eyes split open, revealing-
The image of a four eyed beast consumed his mind for a moment.
'He's-'
Roshi's gaze met with four crimson eyes, each pinprick of glowing light striking into his mind with a glowing malevolence.
"I would have let you live, Son Goku"
The youth's body rolled its shoulders, a violent smile curving across his face.
"After all, I promised you I'd hunt you down in order" the possessed Sorcerer laughed loudly and madly.
The laughter ceased as quickly as it burst forth.
"But you tried to kill my Student, Monkey"
The world stilled.
"Allow me to show you a real technique"
In the following silence, the soft touch of fingers echoed out.
The boy stood there, his hands steepled before him in the likeness of a prayer.
In that instance, Roshi's mind could only draw one emotion.
Fear.
On instinct, the Jinchuriki stepped back.
But the words that followed him were inescapable.
"Domain Expansion"
The world lurched as cursed energy exploded outward.
Roshi was engulfed by a dominating presence, the tailed beast within him roaring in fear. But the Jinchuriki was transfixed.
From behind Ryo's body grew a great yet terrible effigy.
A gruesome temple, adorned with skulls and markings of death. It was a cold and twisted structure, a horror to gaze upon in its totality.
Roshi didn't hear Han call out to him.
He didn't see anything, besides four red eyes that dug into his soul with their horrid intention.
The last thing Roshi heard was what he presumed to be the title of this deathly thing before him.
"Malevolent Shrine"
Gaara of the Sand flinched.
Surprised at his sudden and unbidden reaction, the youth's attention drew away from the waves of the desert he was traversing.
He delved inward, touching the cage nestled tightly in his soul.
'The Beast has felt something?'
That feeling had certainly come from the tailed beast sealed within him.
"Gaara?"
The youth looked up toward his teacher.
"What is wrong?"
Gaara was quiet for a moment, taking a second to process what his Jinchuriki was feeling.
It only took him a second.
"Baki-sensei. A Tailed Beast has died"
"Oy. You feel that too?"
Sitting casually atop the misty peak of a quiet mountain, the container of the Hachibi frowned at both the question of his companion…
And at what he'd just sensed.
"Sure do, but aint got a clue" the man adjusted his goggles, staring intently off into the distance.
"Never felt something like that before"
"I have. Bee. The Yonbi is no more"
"Huh? But why would we feel a sealing-"
"Bee"
The man stiffened at the harshness Gyuki had addressed him with.
"Do not misunderstand. That was not a sealing we sensed. My kin will not reform. Son Goku is dead, not sealed."
That burst of strange energy, vanishing out into the world… that was the energy released from the tailed beast the instant it was destroyed.
'Not sealed…dead"
"Mister Four is no more, hey" the man quietly hummed, "how's that possible…."
The Eight Tailed Beast was silent.
"Bee. We need to leave here. Now"
"And go where, yo"
"Rain country. As fast as you can, B. We must find out what has happened"
"Fine. Fine" the Jinchuriki stood, his eyes glancing down at the cliff face he had climbed.
His Village was there.
…his brother was there.
Ai would understand.
"What's in Rain?"
"...an old acquaintance"
Bee halted only a second before leaping off the peak of the mountain.
"A friend?" he was surprised.
How could a tailed beast, a creature which lived thousands of years, have an old acquaintance that the beast knew lived in a current Shinobi Village.
Bee had to ask.
"Your friend got a name?"
"Tengen"
Ryomen Sukuna parted his hands, the manifestation of his Domain slowly unfolding itself as he inspected his kill.
He couldn't help but cackle with joy as realized it was indeed true.
The Four Tails and its Container were gone.
But the Chakra beast had been completely banished, meaning it would never reform.
The disgusting seal was indefinitely destroyed.
'Hagoromo, you sniveling whelp. I'll tear your kingdom apart piece by piece'
The King of Curses spread his arms wide and laughed.
"These eyes are magnificent!" he roared with joy, bringing a hand to his face as the full power of Ryo's eyesight was deciphered by his mind.
Twisting the limb as he observed it, Sukuna deepened his understanding of Cursed Energy.
'How fascinating' he thought to himself, turning his cold eyes out to the world around him.
As soon as the Yonbi had been destroyed, Cursed Energy had exploded outward. Everything within four Kilometers had instantly been saturated by the ethereal blast.
Sukuna observed the Energy seeping into the world around him.
The dirt, the trees, the insects and even the Brat's allies, nothing was spared.
In that instant, Ryomen Sukuna realized that even he himself had been struck by a large chunk of the Yonbi's death knell, the portion of the blast instantly being absorbed by his body.
The King of Curses frowned.
'Damn. That'll give the brat a leg up'
He looked back to the world.
'And these eyes… it should have been impossible to awaken them…' his frown deepened as he considered his Vessel.
From the moment fate allowed their paths to cross, Sukuna had been carefully observing his Container. Because Ryomen Sukuna knew that the Brat should have been killed the moment he made contact with the Sage's Seal.
His cage…
But the moment he had passed into the Brat's body, the youth should have died.
To survive was impossible.
Nothing that lacked a Core could harness Cursed Energy. Especially a being that was protected by Chakra.
Sukuna cursed the Sage for a brief second, turning his mind immediately back to his ponderings regarding the youth's survival.
Because as soon as he had successfully seized the Brat's body for the first time… the youth had instantly developed a Core.
That was impossible.
The Core begins to develop the moment a Soul comes into existence.
Thus the Brat was far too old to develop an Inherent Technique, let alone ever becoming a Sorcerer.
But the Impossible had happened.
Sukuna had felt it only a second before the Brat had fought for control of the body. He hadn't even felt the Soul of his newly obtained vessel awaken before the Brat was already struggling with him.
Sukuna knew the Brat was a fighter.
Mean spirited and disgustingly moral… but he loved battle. Craved it, even.
The boy had become addicted to fighting at the farthest limit of his capability.
Sukuna could understand that hunger.
His frown relaxed.
At that moment, at the sudden realization that he had come to, Sukuna re-evaluated his plan.
Leaving Ryo's body so soon would become more problematic the longer he waited. But even though the seal was slowly knotting their souls together, there still wasn't a suitable host.
The King of Curses still fully intended to kill the Brat as soon as he switched vessels.
…but an opportunity had yet to present itself.
And he couldn't just jump to one of the Ninja's.
He needed a Sorcerer in order to kill the Brat.
Preferably one with a useful Technique.
Sukuna assumed that only a Sorcerer, or one capable of utilizing Cursed Energy could get through Infinity let alone put a stop to the boy's usage of his ingrained technique.
The Brat was becoming problematic.
…at a commensurate rate.
His 'Blue' was nothing to dismiss so simply. That Maximum technique also significantly increased the lethality of 'Blue'...
If one was struck dead on by an application of the technique and completely absorbed by it….
'Not even Reversed Cursed Energy would work. It's instant death'
The King of Curses brushed a hand through his hair, taking an honest moment to ponder his vessel's capability.
Sukuna had taken the boy's wroth and declaration for a future battle between the two of them with only a minor droplet of interest.
But now?
Sukuna acknowledged the potential of his vessel.
He could only imagine what Reverse Cursed Energy would do to Limitless…
'The Brat is even using Cleave at range…. He's not beholden to the Binding Vow then…' the King of Curses gazed upon the destruction Malevolent Shrine had wrought.
For a hundred meters, the land was barren.
Nothing.
Devoid of life or detail.
The Cursed Energy from the Yonbi's death had sunk deep into this dead stretch of land.
A disk of ground where all that had once existed there had been viciously wiped clean.
With the Brat's gaze, the Four Eyed Demon had shredded the world with an atomic precision.
Nothing escaped his sight now, there was-
Sukuna felt his heart skip a beat as a voice casually spoke out to him, not even a few feet away from his back.
He hadn't sensed the man's approach.
"Ha. These two really bit off more than they could chew then… I take it you killed The Four Tails?"
Perhaps it was because the eyes still didn't belong to Ryomen Sukuna, or perhaps it was because the binding oath between the King of Curses and his vessel had finally kicked in.
After all, Sukuna had eliminated the being that had dealt the killing blow on the Brat, thus the youth was soon going to reclaim control of the body they shared.
But he violently rounded on the being that had snuck up on him.
The Brat's eyes told him everything.
'Extremely little Chakra. No Cursed Energy…?'
Four eyes narrowed at the black haired man that casually stood before him.
'Just like the other Ninja from the Brat's village… a Heavenly Pact. But the Sage sealed away Curses… how are the Pacts still forming?.'
Keen eyes regarded Sukuna with the veneer of a person at ease.
The two pronged dagger that sat on the man's shoulder told the Dishonoured one otherwise.
The Brat's eyes told him that the weapon was charged with an unusual combination of Cursed Energy and Chakra.
It took the King of Curses a second, but because of its presence alone, its nature was obvious.
'One of the Sage's tools'
But the man didn't spring forth to attack him.
He was waiting…
Cold eyes watched the King of Curses idly.
And that's when Sukuna realized this black haired swordsman was waiting for him to switch out with his Vessel.
'This creature has correctly assumed I've made a pact with the brat. He let the Tailed Beasts test me...'
Especially while Sukuna was still bound to the limitations of his vessel, this was not someone to be idly trifled with.
The King of Curses glared.
"You kill the brat, and I'll devour you, ant"
The man shrugged, "if that's what you want, why warn me? In fact, why not just kill me now?"
The King of Curses said nothing.
With a savage smile, the man looked down upon Ryomen Sukuna with a murderous intent.
Tapping his strange blade against his shoulder, the man made an honest admission.
"You know, I considered doing this the first time I saw you. I know enough about the Time Before the Sage, so I recognized you immediately"
Sukuna's mind jumped, pulling a memory of the Brat walking through the streets of his village, escorting a convoy of Merchants into Konoha.
…the man had been there.
"I could have killed you then, but I didn't. Wanna know why?"
"I don't care" Sukuna growled, "strike first, you moron, or you'll regret it"
The man laughed.
"You can't use your technique now, you prideful bastard. Besides-"
He smiled chillingly. There was no joy in the expression.
"-I'm not here to kill you yet. Maybe once you're worth the price"
The blade ceased tapping.
"Because when the other villages find out about you, Ryomen Sukuna… once they all find out about Sorcerers? Once they realize what the tailed beasts are?" the man's grin now seemed genuine.
"They'll kill you" he stated simply, idly scratching an itch on his head, "and obviously, they'll pay me to do it"
Before he could speak any further, Ryomen felt his body lurch.
'No. Not now'
…he was losing control.
"After all, if you have actually managed to kill the Four Tails" the man glanced around, "which it certainly seems like you have, my guess is more than a few pests are going to start popping up"
The blade vanished from the man's shoulder.
'He's dangerously fast,' Sukuna noted.
"And when they do, all the Sorcerers will come out from their dark little corners, ready to deal with the threat. Their times of peace will be at an end…. And for them, they'll see that it's all your fault"
The man smiled.
Sukuna said nothing for a few seconds.
Then he laughed.
"Insects don't scare me. Even a little whelp with Oldblood like you"
His heart skipped a beat.
The brat was waking up.
And the King of Curses only managed one last promise to the black haired man.
"I will bury you in your own blood, fool"
I barely catch myself from falling.
As control of my body returns to me, my eyes slowly open as I steadily hold my ground. I feel so fuckin' dizzy I might puke.
I tightly shut my eyes.
Memories take me.
My final moments are playing before my shut gaze.
'He punched through me-'
Suddenly, a great amount of Cursed Energy pulses within me.
I gag and my body convulses. My shaky legs give out, sending me to the ground on my knees.
"Oh…. fuck" I hiss in pain, curling in on my self as the energy settles within me…. Before slowly dissipating.
I take a few ragged breaths and carefully open my eyes.
And what I see before me is…
…is…
There's nothing.
I slowly stand up.
"What… is this?"
I'm turning my head now, gazing in each and every direction as far as my recovering gaze permits.
The world had been destroyed.
And even as my true vision returns, I still fail to grasp what has happened. Cursed Energy has seeped into every crevice of the land beyond me.
Even past the clearly limited destruction, way into the distance, I can see the Negative Energy slowly merging with the environment.
My brain fails to find an answer.
So I look elsewhere.
"Sukuna!? What the fuck just happened!?"
A mouth opens up on my face.
He doesn't speak to my mind, like he did during the battle with Roshi and Han, preferring to make a grotesque appearance on my features.
"Hmmm? You think I know?"
"Fuck off!" I roar, "I know you did this! Stop screwing with me!"
The face laughs at me.
"How I did it doesn't matter, Brat, I dealt with your killer!" he laughed some more, "and how weak you were! One little fist was all it took!"
The face cackled as I raged and swore at him.
'This is getting me nowhere'
Settling down, I take a few deep breaths, slowly analyzing everything before me and what Sukuna has said.
"You killed the Jinchuriki?"
Sukuna's mouth scoffed, "that abomination won't be returning, let alone its vessel"
'He completely destroyed it? Was that possible?'
…Sukuna was a braggart, but not because he was the kind of person who couldn't claim to have done as he says.
"You wouldn't happen to know why two Jinchuriki decided to try and kill me?"
"Try?" he laughed.
I sigh, "can you just stop being a dick for two seconds and just help me understand, Sensei?"
He's silent for a few moments.
No laughing.
No snarky comments.
After a few more seconds of blissful silence, his dark tone answered me.
"The beasts came for me, not you. They were told of my Reincarnation and pointed in my direction. Their vessels were just along for the ride"
…that sudden piece of information came completely from left field.
Firstly, who the fuck outside the village even knew I was host to the four eyed bastard?
'Considering the Jinchuriki that attacked me it's probably Iwa…'
A spy.
It's the only possibility I can think of.
Someone in Konoha, high up enough to know what's going on with me and Sukuna, has been letting secrets slip.
Damn.
Gonna have to tell the Old Man that. And Kakashi.
Secondly, what the hell is the relationship between the Tailed Beasts and Sukuna? Why-
'Kakashi. Sasuke. Tazuna-'
My mind slowly returns to the reality of my situation.
'Naruto'
I'm on a Shinobi mission with my team.
People have died.
I've killed them…
My team is missing.
And I'm standing in the middle of nowhere, while they could be-
The Yonbi's death blast might have struck them!
My eyes swivel, my senses pushing outward until I reach something I know is them.
It's the Kyuubi I sensed first. Beyond that, I counted the presence of 3 more beings.
'They're alive. But not moving'
I took off running as fast as I could in their direction.
'Fuck!'
This could be bad.
This could be really bad.
How would it affect them? A sudden influx of Cursed Energy pulled directly into their beings…
I had no idea.
And the fear of that simple understanding fueled my desperate sprint.
I was closer now, outside of the destroyed circle of the world and nearly upon them all.
At this range I cleary make out Kakashi, Sasuke and Tazuna's unconscious bodies. I notice none of them are covered in any Ice. Seems Haku's technique must inevitably fade. However my attention immediately shifts onto the only one of them still moving.
Naruto is curled in on himself, his body twitching erratically.
'...he's coated in Cursed Energy…'
I stop just before him.
Just looking at him and the veil of power surrounding him, I can tell he absorbed a very sizeable chunk of Cursed Energy. Yet while the others were rendered unconscious, he was awake.
'And feeling every bit of the assimilation'
"Naruto" I crouch down to him, close enough to lay a hand on his shoulder, "Can you hear me?"
"It hurts"
His pained voice stings something at the back of my heart.
"Stay with me you dork" I try to tease, but my voice falls flat.
I hold his shoulder steady, "it's gonna be alright"
Naruto gasps quietly, before his body stills completely.
Before my very eyes I see the core of Cursed Energy blossom within Naruto's figure.
The dark swirling energy coils alongside the youth's Chakra.
And then it settles down.
And Naruto manages to speak.
"Ryo"
He slowly rolls over, a hand clutching a spot somewhere near his stomach as his other hand.
Then he goes quiet for a minute.
"What?" I worryingly ask, the silence itching against my nerves.
He looks confusedly at me, his eyebrows scrunching up.
"I think…. That the Nine Tails might not be dead"
I blink at that, utterly shocked by what my friend has likely concluded for himself.
"And why is that?" I ask.
After all, I needed to be sure.
And low and behold:
"'Because I think the fox is sealed in me, ya know"
Before I say anything further, I glance over at Kakashi's unconscious figure.
I sigh.
'I'm not going to get a better opportunity' I frown internally,
And Naruto-
My friend needed to know about the burden he now carried.
It had only been a day since Sasuke had awoken.
Turns out while whatever the fuck had happened, the Uchiha had been knocked out for the entire rest of the trip to Wave.
A trip that Kakashi had been partly unconscious for.
No one expected Tazuna to be the first to awaken.
He'd given Ryo, Naruto and the Uzumaki's clones directions.
The clones that had carried both their Sensei and Sasuke.
Kakashi had awoken once they'd met up with one of Tazuna's fisherman friends, someone who was willing to provide them passage to Wave.
Sasuke still hadn't gotten the details of what fully happened.
He knew they'd…
Well, he knew that Ryo alone, had engaged Zabuza Momochi and a cadre of presumed Missing-Nin.
Ryo had then killed each and every person he came across, until they'd all suddenly been hit by an Ice ability of some kind.
But after that, while stuck in the frosty grip of the enemy Shinobi's ability, Sasuke couldn't tell much.
It had been so damn cold.
Evidently, something extremely serious had happened while he had been down for the count.
The moment Sasuke had awoken, Naruto had been there.
His blonde teammate preceded to fill him in on what had happened in the last 24 hours, as well as answer each and every one of Sasuke's initially panicked queries.
Everyone was alive.
The enemy was defeated.
Everything was fine.
Sasuke hadn't let Naruto see his sigh of relief.
On the onset of that battle, Sasuke had felt…. Useless.
He'd been completely blindsided by an ability, and of no use to Ryo's incredible battle techniques.
'I'm being outpaced'
Still.
Even though he'd been a waste of fuckin oxygen, everyone was fine.
Sasuke's teeth had been quietly grinding against one another as he followed Naruto through what turned out to be Tazuna's house.
Or at least, this home belonged to the daughter of the bridge builder, and Tazuna had put in a good word for us.
As Naruto stepped out of sight of the living room, Sasuke got his look at the only two other occupants.
Kakashi-sensei was glaring a hole through Ryo's skull.
His teacher still addressed him and the blonde.
"Sasuke. Naruto. Sit down"
The Uchiha complied immediately.
Kakashi was pissed.
"Sasuke" their Sensei looked directly at him, "Naruto is the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox"
Sasuke's eyes darted over to his blonde teammate.
'The Nine Tails… is that what Father meant….'
But Kakashi wasn't done.
"And Ryo" the Hatake Clan head leveled his glare back on the bored and lazy looking pinkhead, "is the Vessel of some ancient Demon, for all we know. A Demon that is so impervious to Yin Techniques that to use them against Ryo means sure death"
Kakashi's look darkened as he glanced back to the Uchiha.
"An effect you witnessed during the battle, Sasuke"
He did witness it.
That one Ninja on the floor.
'Ryo… no, the Demon, turned that man into a smear…'
"This information is being divulged to you fully, Genin Sasuke, because I cannot ignore the circumstances any longer. For your own safety and ours, you must know. You will treat the information you have just been given as an S-Class Secret. Should you divulge this information, the punishment is death"
Kakashi leaned forward slightly, looking clearly and calmly into Sasuke's gaze.
"Ya got that?"
Sasuke nodded.
And Kakashi relaxed. Somewhat.
Their Sensei had immediately returned to glaring at Ryo.
"Your turn"
Sasuke was surprised for only a moment, his eyes turning to his teammate as the youth spoke up.
"So, uh, Sasuke, while you were asleep…" Ryo sighed, "the Demon got out. The reason it got out was because Iwagakure's Jinchuriki ambushed us"
The Uchiha nearly let his jaw drop.
"WHAT? Why?! Why here!? WHY US?!"
Ryo held up two hands in a calming gesture.
"Fucked' if I know-"
Sasuke didn't miss how Kakashi's eye twitched at that.
"But long story short, there was a fight…. And I'm basically indirectly-"
"Some would say directly" Kakashi but in.
"Basically indirectly responsible-" Ryo corrected, glaring back at his teacher for a moment, "-for the death of the Four Tails"
Sasuke looked at Kakashi.
His voice was full of an incredulous quiet surprise.
"Is that even possible? I thought a Tailed Beast lived forever?"
Kakashi acknowledged his students' look with a shrug.
"It seems times change"
Sasuke was floored.
"What the fuck is going on?" He stood up.
"Sasuke" Kakashi tried to intercede him, but the Uchiha had enough.
"Tailed Beasts? Fucking Demons?! We're Genin!"
His anger was slowly mixing with his disappointment in himself.
"This is Insane! What can we do against enemies that strong?!"
All the negative emotions were bubbling up. Sasuke's fists were balled up.
"We need training! We need-"
A glowing blue fire exploded around his fists.
The Uchiha and everyone else in the room were instantly transfixed on Sasuke's fists.
"What…" was all he managed.
"Oh, uh… yeah. As I told Kakashi here earlier… well there's really no other way to put this, Sasuke"
Ryo tried to give a charming smile.
"But congratulations, you're now a Sorcerer! Just like me!"
Both the smile and words failed to reach Sasuke's brain.
AN: Started to expand abit on the AU. I'm trying to create a sort of merger between the world of JJK and Naruto, something with some deep lore and interesting twists and turns.
While also trying to justify it all through as many cool fights as I can.
Writing interesting match ups and combat for this story is my only intention.
I'm still working on the Mortal Son, I'm just being a perfectionist little shit.
Love you all,
Freedom.