AN: Hey everyone I'm back with another update! I want to take a moment of your time and thank you for your reviews and also try to respond to a couple reviews again.
Uniquebooks: Haha I can feel your enthusiasm, thanks for your support! But my walls are filled with egg yolk now. "For those of you who don't get this, just an inside joke."
Sandford9687: It's not that I was trying to make Izaya have a handicap for the exams or anything, rather, I wanted to portray that even if he was an experimental subject of Orochimaru with a unique body, he isn't invincible and can get hurt or killed like others. His unique body helps increase his chances of survival but he's also human. He can still make mistakes, get hurt, or be swayed by emotions.
Ok, returning to the story :)
Chapter 17
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji just sat there in the bush. Jaws dropped and eyes wide. Shikamaru was the first to recover from his shock and said in a nervous tone, "Oi. Ino. Choji. We will never piss this guy off. Absolutely. Never. Ever. Got that?"
Ino and Choji nodded their heads in agreement as fast as they could, "Mn Mn."
Up in the treetops Tenten was completely covered in cold sweat while Neji had an incredibly complicated look on his face. She swallowed her saliva before saying with a nervous tone, "Hey. Neji. If you had to fight him, how would you do it?"
He furrowed his brow without answering for a good minute before saying, "If by fight you mean spar, then I would gladly fight with him anytime, anywhere. If you mean fight to the death like the one we just witnessed, then with my current strength, I don't even want to entertain the idea. No matter what I thought of him before I never imagined him as a Taijutsu type. In fact, even now I don't see him as a Taijutsu type shinobi, however, watching him fight against those three ninja almost felt like I was watching Guy-sensei in action himself."
"Mn. I agree. What the hell was with that last move he just used? It felt so similar to Guy-sensei's special Eight Inner Gates Technique." Tenten commented.
"Mn. You're right. If my guess is correct then they are similar techniques. He did say that the name of that technique was the Eight Extreme Fists Taijutsu skill. When I used my Byakugan earlier to observe his technique I noticed that his Eight Extreme Fists is somewhat similar to Guy-sensei's Eight Inner Gates. Although I've seen it with my Byakugan, I still don't really know how he accomplished such power. To explain what I did see I'll need to first talk about our bodies.
In our bodies there are 8 major gates with many meridians spread throughout. Our meridians create a channel for our chakra to flow through our body. Think of those channels as rivers and the 8 gates as dams. The gates hold a large reservoir of chakra like a dam holds water. The channels let chakra flow into our body at a steady and constant pace like a river lets water flow in a natural stream. River's are not bottomless, nor are they infinitely wide. The same goes for our meridian channels. Our channels are not infinitely deep nor are they infinitely wide.
What happens when you flood a river with too much water? It starts rising and eventually floods the land. What if you flood your meridian channels with too much chakra? The chakra flows out of the meridians into your cells, tissues, bones, and muscles. It grants the user exponential strength and power allowing them to move beyond the limits of normal beings. That's what happens when you unleash the gates. For a limited time you gain more power with the more gates you open, the drawback being the more burden you put on your body. His Eight Extreme Fists did the opposite. Instead of fully opening the gate he closed it off completely."
"Eh? What? Then how did that help increase his power?" Tenten asked.
"Mn. I'm not too sure. I only know that he closed the 8th gate completely. The 8th gate is one that surrounds our hearts. If you open that gate you put too much burden on the heart with the excess energy that flows into it and therefore you would undoubtedly die. He, however, closed that gate instead. When you close the gate it isn't as dangerous. The reason is because there is already energy stored there and your heart can deal with the normal amount of energy in that gate. It's only a problem if you keep the gate closed for too long since the energy will either eventually dissipate or it'll over agitate the area since there's nowhere else the energy can flow. Before I could observe more of the technique I had to turn off my Byakugan since the golden light released from his technique hurt even my eyes. One thing is for certain though, that technique incurs harm and risk to the body just like Guy-sensei's Eight Inner Gates. The bones in his entire right arm are completely shattered." Neji said.
"What?! Why would he even use that technique then? He could of just dodged those Sound ninja's attacks." Tenten replied in confusion.
"Oi! If he moved, Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto would have been hit and could have died. He risked shattering his entire right arm for our teammate down there you know." Neji lectured.
"AH! I know I know. I'm just saying since I don't know what kind of relationship he has with those 4." Tenten replied.
"Well, he must of known the consequences of using such a technique. Besides, it doesn't seem like it's the end for him. With my Byakugan I can tell that his body is already starting the process of healing his right arm."
"Eh? Already? What is he, a monster or something?" Tenten remarked. Neji smirked, "Heh. I agree, he's definitely a monster amongst the Genin candidates if not the most monstrous of us all. However, what shinobi aspiring to become strong doesn't have their own secrets and special abilities. That Taijutsu skill he used must have been one of his trump cards and his body's regeneration speed is probably another hidden secret of his. I'm willing to bet he has even more skills hidden up his sleeves. "
Huff...Huff...Huff…I continued to pant as I attempted to catch my breath. "Oi, how long are you guys gonna stay hiding in the shadows." I said.
After I said that Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Neji, and Tenten all made their way over. Sakura finally picked up the earth scroll and said in a worried tone, "Izaya-kun, are you alright?"
Neji said in an indifferent tone, "His right arm is completely shattered."
"AH!" Everyone else said in alarm.
Neji then turned towards me and said, " I'm honestly impressed that you didn't pass out. The amount of pain should be unbearable."
"Heh." I merely smirked. Just at that moment Sasuke woke up with large amounts of sinister and dark, powerful chakra flowing out of him. "Heh-Hehehe-Hahahaha!" He laughed as the cursed mark started to spread over his entire body.
"Shit! The Curse Mark is influencing his mind!" I cursed out loud. I can't believe I forgot to monitor his situation I mentally scolded myself.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said in joy before stopping herself when she noticed the strange behavior he was exhibiting. "Wh-What the heck is going on?" Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji exclaimed in unison. Neji was also shocked and said, "Such power! Is this the strength of the Uchiha?"
Damn. The Mark is influencing its own will on Sasuke. He's gonna go crazy lusting for blood and battle. In the past, Sakura managed to stop him, but after I influenced so many events already I can't leave it to chance. "Everyone! Stay away from Sasuke! I'll deal with it!" I finished yelling right as Sasuke looked at me with his Sharingan and body completely covered in the Curse Mark pattern.
He dashed and appeared right before me as he kicked straight at my chin with his left leg. I did a backflip to avoid his strike as he gave chase and raised his right foot to kick me. I quickly countered by raising my own right foot and blocked his foot, then I stepped down on top of his feet forcing it down in place on the ground. He struck out with his right fist but I used my left elbow to block it and then I quickly transitioned my elbow block into a palm strike that grabbed his right wrist and pulled him off his center of balance. I used that chance to expertly pull back my left hand and thrust out my left palm, striking Sasuke in the chest and forcing him to fly through the air.
I coughed a few times as I spit out blood from all the physical movement after just sustaining internal injuries from earlier. Sasuke rolled his body a few times in the air and did a backflip to help reduce his speed before landing on his feet back on the ground. He gave me a sinister glare and began to gather chakra to his hands and mouth.
Shit! I exclaimed in my head. It's just one fight onto the next and I barely have any chakra left. Forget it, I'll have to use my Flying Thunder God technique at some point sooner or later and it's the least flashy of the others. Plus, it's the only technique that can help me salvage this situation I'm in with the pitiful amount of chakra I have left.
Sasuke weaved the hand signs of Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Hare, Tiger and said, "Fire Style Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" At the same time that Sasuke finished weaving his hand signs I jumped back and threw my Flying Thunder God kunai. I then used my left hand and smeared the blood flowing down my right arm onto it. I hope this temporary seal works I mentally crossed my fingers. I performed the hand signs of Hare, Snake, Horse, Ram, Bird, Dog, and Rat with my one bloody hand and said, "Sealing Jutsu Minor Evil Suppression Seal!"
The blood on my left hand lit up in a light green color and just as the balls of fire arrived in front of me my special kunai flew past Sasuke's side. I immediately activated the Flying Thunder God Jutsu and instantly arrived behind Sasuke catching my special kunai between my teeth. Before anyone could react I placed my glowing left palm over the top of the Curse Seal Mark on Sasuke's shoulder. A loud Zing! sound was heard before all the green colored light on my palm flowed into the Curse Mark. Within the next 5 seconds the marks that spread across Sasuke's entire body flowed back into the seal on his shoulder with a new ring of fire pattern around it acting as a temporary lock on the Curse Mark. As soon as I finished placing down the seal I felt my vision go dark as I lost consciousness.
Everything happened so fast that no one even had time to react. Neji and Lee wanted to step in and help when they noticed the balls of fire closing in on Izaya, but before they even had the chance they saw Izaya appear behind Sasuke like a ghost and soon after that it was all over. "Wha-What just happened?" Ino said as she stared bewilderedly. Even Neji and Lee didn't know how to react. They just stood there for a moment trying to process what they saw. In fact, they weren't even sure if what they saw was even right in the first place.
"Did Izaya-kun use Genjutsu just now?" Lee asked. Neji finally snapped out of his stupor and closed his eyes for a moment before saying, "I don't know. That doesn't matter right now anyways. His injuries need to be attended to."
Everyone then walked over to where Izaya's body lay on the ground. His chest rising and falling a bit quicker than normal. "Byakugan!" Neji took a look at Izaya's condition for a moment before deactivating his Dojutsu.
"H-How is he?" Sakura asked.
"He's exhausted his chakra and has sustained internal injuries. His right arm is completely shattered...I don't know what sort of technique he practices, but his body seems to be repairing itself at a rapid pace. It seems he might have a slight fever due to his over exhaustion of his mental and physical energies. He'll probably recover after some rest. His circumstance is too unique for me to make any kind of proper diagnosis or prognosis." Neji said with a sigh.
He was able to fight Sasuke and defeat him even in the state that he was in? And how did he move so quickly? Just how strong is this guy? What is his true strength? Neji mentally questioned.
"Ugh." Sasuke groaned. He woke back up at this moment.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted as she slowly helped him sit up. Sasuke clutched his head as he felt a pounding headache. "What happened…" He turned to look around and saw Izaya unconscious on the ground. He widened his eyes as the memory of him feeling tremendous power flowing through his body and also extreme rage and bloodlust. He recalled the scene of him attacking Izaya and trying to kill him before Izaya touched his shoulder causing him to feel a cool and soothing feeling flow through him erasing his anger and rage.
He placed his hand over the place where the Cursed Mark was and looked. There were 3 black tomoe patterns with a ring of flame patterns surrounding it. "Did Izaya stop me?" Sasuke softly asked.
"Mn." Sakura nodded with tears in her eyes. She gave Sasuke a hug and started to cry while also telling him what happened while he was unconscious. A few hours later and everyone had settled their business. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji left after making sure everyone was okay. Naruto had already regained consciousness and was informed of the situation. And Neji, Tenten, and Lee had left after confirming that Izaya was recovering with his fever going away.
Splash!
"Oi! Naruto, be careful! You almost got Izaya wet." Sakura reprimanded.
"Ah? Oops. Nay Nay, was he really the one who saved us from that Oro...Ummm...what was his name again?" Naruto asked.
"Haaa…" Sakura let out a long sigh. "For the last time, yes. And his name was Orochimaru! Anyways, we owe him a debt so stop fooling around already."
Sasuke just continued grilling the fish that they caught by the river as he continued to ponder silently to himself.
"Ugh…" I groaned as I finally woke up.
"Eh? Izaya-kun?" Sakura and Naruto walked over. Sasuke also looked over from where he was seated.
"Hm?" I said in confusion as I looked around. "Uh? Sakura? Naruto? Sasuke? Where are we? How long have I been out?" I rubbed my pounding head.
"Slow down Izaya-kun. You still need some rest." Sakura said.
"How long have I been out? This is important." I asked again.
"2 days." Sasuke said.
"Ah!" I quickly got up. "Are you sure! It's been 2 days?" I asked hurriedly.
"Eh?" Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto looked at me bewildered. "Uh, yeah, it's been 2 days-dattebayo." Naruto said.
"Crap!" I cursed. "I appreciate you guys looking after me but I really need to leave. If I've been out for 2 days that means I've been gone from my teammates for 3 days! Gotta go before they do something stupid. See you guys later! Oh, and I'm glad you're all doing alright now." I said quickly as I jumped back through the forest away from their sight before activating my Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
"Ehhhhhhh? What was that about-dattebayo?" Naruto said in confusion.
"We didn't get to properly thank him either." Sakura mumbled. Sasuke just stared at the forest where Izaya had disappeared into before saying, "Oi. We'll have a chance to thank him later. First, we need to focus on the most pressing problem for our team. That Orochimaru guy destroyed our heaven scroll. Izaya gave us the earth scroll from those Sound ninja bastards. That means we still need to find a heaven scroll and we only have less than 2 days left."
Deep in the forest sat two young shinobi on a large tree branch. One was staring off into the distance while the other was fiddling with a senbon needle. "Maro. Today's the 3rd day...What if...What if big brother doesn't…" Haku teared up as he couldn't and didn't want to finish his sentence.
Kimimaro only clenched his fist and said, "Izaya said that he will be back in 3 days. If he doesn't return by the end of today, I'll go kill Orochimaru myself. I don't care if he's one of the so called legendary sannin. I'll bring him to the grave with me!" Before they could say anything else they heard a familiar sounding voice, "Is your brother here that easy to get rid of?"
"UH?" Both Kimimaro and Haku turned to see me walk out from the large treetops shadow behind Haku.