Orochimaru's Hotel
"How was the outing?" Orochimaru asks as I climb in through the same window I left by. "Successful I assume?"
"It was." I toss Sasuke a scroll. "I took the liberty of getting our stuff since I was at our hotel anyways. That scroll has all of yours in it. Fair warning, I just threw everything into a big pile so be careful when you open it."
"Thank you for the warning." Sasuke suspiciously eyes his scroll. "If my things explode out of this when I unseal it I'm going to hurt you."
"Huh." I pause for a moment. "I wonder if I can do that? Like rig up a shrapnel explosion that activates once it's unsealed."
"It could be done with a few seals." Orochimaru says. He's in his scientist mode, there's a mad glint to his eyes. "A two stage seal, an explosive and a storage. The storage would hold the shrapnel and the explosion would generate a concussive force to fling the shrapnel. It's possible to intertwine them together so that it's a seal array instead of two separate seals. Upon activation it would unseal the shrapnel an instant before the explosion. By making it into an array it would only be one activation instead of two instances of activation."
Holy shit. I just gave Orochimaru an idea to make a grenade. That was a huge fuck up.
Orochimaru sighs. "Too bad it's unrealistic to mass produce seals. Imagine my shinobi running around with a weapon like that! Making enough explosive seals is difficult enough the way it is. There are just so few competent seal users in the world."
I could totally do that. It would be so easy for me to mass produce seals. I could just hold something crazy like fifty brushes with my chakra strings and then move them all in unison. Ta-da, fifty explosive tags. Plus let's be realistic, I use way more than fifty strings all the time. I could probably make a hundred or more all in one go.
No one can ever know that. I would be hunted down by every damn village in existence. Who wouldn't want someone capable of making insane amounts of any seal they know? I would skyrocket up the totem pole of valuable assets to kidnap and force to work for you. Hell I bet even Danzo would change his standing order to kill me to capture just on that one fact alone.
"Alvarcus? You there?" Sasuke asks me with just a tinge of concern.
"Hm? Oh yes, I just got lost in thought." I rub my chin idly and look wistfully off into the distance. "I was picturing me using that seal in varying ridiculous ways but then I realized something very important."
"And that would be?" Orochimaru presses me for an answer. "It's just so interesting to see your mind at work!"
"It would be a bit redundant. I mean I can already make copious amounts of practically any element I want, including fire. Why waste time with a seal when I could just... oh I don't know... send a fire dragon screaming at my enemies?"
"So... you don't want to learn seals to set off insane chain explosions?" Sasuke asks with hope in his eyes.
"Nope. That was never my goal for learning seals." I easily supply an answer to that. "I like fire, not explosions. Well, I do like explosions but fire is so much better. I suppose I could go for a happy medium and make a fire bomb. A fire explosion! Now that's an idea!"
"Again it would be impractical." Orochimaru crushes that dream before it can really take off. "Out of curiosity, if you didn't want to learn seals to blow things up, what did you want to learn them for? I assumed you were going to focus more on that part of the art."
"Really? Why?" I ask.
Both Sasuke and Orochimaru blandly stare at me.
"Okay, point made. I would have a field day with a crap ton of explosive tags." I can totally make that happen too. Perhaps I should one day. Maybe I could use it as a source of income? Make a bunch then have Shirokumo ship them to vendors for me? Can he do that? "Back on topic now. So you both thought I wanted to make stuff go boom. Well I hate to disappoint but that's very far off from what I want to do with seals."
"Yes?" Orochimaru eagerly prods me to continue. "Why seals if not to enhance your combat potential? There is no way you'll be able to use seals in combat without decades of training, it's something that even Jiraya rarely does. Even The Fourth Hokage cheated a bit when placing his Hirashin markers. It's much easier to place a seal you already know how to make and the Fourth was intimately familiar with that one in particular. He devoted most of his life to creating it."
"You're both going to think I'm crazy, but I want the Sword of Totsuka."
"Impossible." Orochimaru immediately cuts in. "I've searched for even the faintest whisper of that legendary blade for most of my life. I've heard nothing about it in all that time. No rumors. No whisper. No trace."
"Kinda figured that." I sheepishly rub the back of my neck. "So if I can't find it, I figure I'll just make it myself. I mean all of the Legendary Weapons of the world had to have come from somewhere, right? So that means someone made it. If they can do it then why can't I? So that's why I want to study seals, the main function of the Sword of Totsuka is sealing away the entities it cuts in a drunken genjutsu induced stupor. That being said I have no idea how to even go about doing that... so I turned to the basics. Gotta start somewhere and storage seals are as simple as it's going to get."
"Yep." Sasuke says in exasperation. "You're right, I do think you're crazy. You want to recreate a legendary sword that hasn't been seen in lifetimes?"
I don't know about that. I'm pretty sure Itachi has seen it, since he owns it right now.
Speaking of Itachi, I bet you're wondering why I don't just take it off of him when he dies. Well for starters I need to start looking into saving him – I think he had a lung disease. Or was it stomach? Some major organ I know that much – because he'd be a great ally. Plus there's the whole 'how the hell do I get a weapon that Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo of all things is holding?' That's not even the biggest reason. If by some miracle that cannon isn't shot to hell then Itachi will end up facing off against an Edo Tensi of Nagato that he beat by sealing him away with the Sword of Totsuka.
Now picture this, Itachi goes to pull out the sword and it's not there. Then Nagato of all people will be free to rampage over all of the Allied Shinobi Forces or whatever they're going to be called. I really don't want that to happen, so Itachi needs to keep the sword.
But when – if! If the Fourth Shinobi War happens then I need an easy way to seal away a lot of Edo Tensi bodies. Well, the Sword of Totsuka would be amazingly convenient to have in that situation. I could run around and with one slash the Edo Tensi is sealed away.
So I'm going to try and make one. Or at least something like it. That's why I'm starting it so early, while I still have two and a half years to use Orochimaru because as much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to need his help with this.
"Brilliant." Orochimaru grins in science fueled lunacy. "Absolutely brilliant! You want to make it! How have I never considered doing so myself? I've always wanted to acquire the original blade but to make one? Simply brilliant! You truly are my child!"
I viciously squash the urge to shiver at Orochimaru's praise. "So, do you have any idea how to start? I'm pretty sure you know more about the sword than I do."
"None at all!" Orochimaru gleefully says. "That's what makes it so exciting! Oh I do have an idea!"
Thank Kami. Honestly I have no idea how to even begin this.
"I'll leave it all to you." Oh fuck me! I have no idea what I'm doing Orochimaru! "This will be your project, if you can pull off a feat like this then I will pronounce you a seal master! I'm not even sure the Fourth could do this so you have your work cut out for you."
"Yay. This is so fantastic." I dryly say to my Kage. "I'm still going to bounce some conceptual ideas off of you. And I'm going to need some serious help with genjutsu Sasuke so I'll be bugging you about that eventually."
"Whatever. Just ask me when you get to that part. If you get there." Sasuke agrees. Sort of.
"And on that note, I will retire for the night." Orochimaru rises up and walks off to one of the bedrooms. "He wants to make the Sword of Totsuka! Kukukuku, he's even more ambitious than I was at his age! I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!"
"I'm going to turn in too." I say to Sasuke and break off towards another bedroom. "I've had a long and very trying day."
"Was seeing the hammock again really that difficult? You know that I could have burned it for you."
I glare at Sasuke. "I meant the whole getting my head cut off thing. Even if I act like it's painless it's still excruciatingly painful. But thanks so much for reminding me of that. Now there's no way I'm getting any peaceful sleep."
"Oh. Sorry." He quietly says.
"Yeah yeah I know you didn't do it on purpose. Just let me sleep and tomorrow we can go back to Sound and put this whole Chunin Exams cluster fuck behind us."
"You can say that again." Sasuke groans. "It's so annoying to go by code names."
"Yeah imagine having to type it all out, always making sure that you're using the right name in the right spot, then getting the bright idea to change one of them halfway through. It makes proof reading a bitch!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I... actually don't know. That was pretty weird. Stupid fourth wall."
"Go sleep. I've had enough crazy for one day."
The Next Morning
"Can we finally leave now?" I eagerly ask Orochimaru and Sasuke. "As cool as I look, I really don't enjoy being wrapped up like a mummy all damn day. I would kill to be able to shed all these damn bandages."
"I can arrange that." Orochimaru playfully smirks at me. "I'm sure I can spare an experiment or a dozen for you. Or perhaps the Kusa shinobi on the other side of the door?"
"Well I suppose I could but then we'd have to fight our way out. I'd rather not." Sometimes it's better to just go along with Orochimaru's unique madness. "Although it certainly would leave a lasting impression."
"You... You know that I can hear you right?" A shaky voice says from the other side of the closed door.
Orochimaru lights up at the voice and swings the door wide open. "Fumia! Oh how have you been? How's the wife? The kids?"
"I'm not married." He starts to escort us out of the hotel and presumably the village.
"Shame." Orochimaru tries to comfort him. "It's difficult growing up as a bastard child. I feel sorry for your children."
"I don't have kids."
"One day you will Fumia, even with the accident. I still have hope for you."
"It's Fumio." Fumio pauses and turns drastically pale. "Wait, what accident?"
"Whoops." Orochimaru grins evilly. "Forget I said anything. And on a completely unrelated note, Midori remind me to use Vial 12-B."
"Didn't we use that one last time?" I'll play along with Orochimaru on this. Partly to keep my cover but mostly because it is funny to watch this Fumio squirm. "That was the one that caused those rashes. Perhaps Vial 7-H? It's a new strain that's still untested."
Orochimaru is delighted that I'm playing along if his wide smile is anything to go by. "Yes, yes. But I don't really want to use that one, the mess is just terrible!"
"Wait a moment." I cut in. "The 7's cause fur growth right? How is that a mess?"
"The subjects have this nasty habit of shedding everywhere." Orochimaru states matter of factly. "Then they explode. I'm still not sure how that's happening."
"Ah. Then how about Vial 17-A? That one is brand new."
"Hm." Orochimaru turns his yellow eyes onto the terrified Fumio. "It would be interesting to see a human with neon pink skin."
"Oh thank Kami we're at the gate." Fumio sighs in relief. "Just go. Don't even worry about the paperwork I'll do all of it myself. Please just go and leave me alone."
"Fumia-chan you're so nice, never forget that."
"Please just go."
On the Way Back to Sound
"Did you two really have to traumatize that poor shinobi? He couldn't have been more than a chunin." Sasuke groans out. "I can't go anywhere with you two."
"Well I was bored and it was fun." I sass back to him. "I'm more curious as to where the Sound Four are. Or is it Sound Three now?"
"Oh them." Orochimaru dismisses them with a wave. "I sent them back on the first night. Both of you are more than enough to protect me."
I snort and Sasuke scoffs. "Like you really need protecting."
Orochimaru raises an eyebrow at me in question.
"Uh hello! You're Orochimaru-sama! One of the Legendary Sannin? The person who has killed two Kages? S-rank threat and founder of Otogakure? Why would someone pick a fight with you?"
"Yet it seems to be happening more and more lately." Orochimaru mutters to himself. "Believe me, I have plenty of enemies that are very skillful themselves. For some strange reason S-rank shinobi attract other S-rank shinobi."
Yeah and for some even stranger reason I seem to be attracting the Akatsuki.
~Speaking of the Akatsuki...~
You better fucking not right now.
~Well it might not be them. How big are their ranks again?~
You're sensing someone and it might be the Akatsuki? Nine. There are nine of them. Maybe eight. Depends on when they get Deidara into the group.
~Oh good, so it's not them.~
Thank Kami. Wait, so that means that we have more than nine people tailing us?
~They're not tailing us, in fact they have us surrounded already.~
"Fuck me." The words escape my lips with vehemence and rage. "Can't I get a fucking break?"
"What's going on now?" Sasuke asks as he grasps the hilt of his sword and starts scanning our surroundings for threats.
"So you finally sensed them, did you?" Orochimaru smirks at me. "We'll have to work on your range, I felt them minutes ago."
"Yeah well good for you. Now what the fuck are we going to do? Keep running toward Sound or stand and fight?"
The sound of a thousand birds chirping fills the air and in a split second a very familiar person is right behind Orochimaru with the full intention of ramming the ball of lightning through his heart.
A green beast, no The Green Beast appears behind me with a fist reared back and a determined expression. Gai has every intention of punching my head clean off my shoulders.
In a swirl of leaves the slowest of the trio of assassins appears behind Sasuke with a pair of glowing blue trench knives.
Konoha has made it's move, they're trying to assassinate Orochimaru and whoever he is with.
A pale hand darts to my shoulder and clamps down hard. In the next moment I'm standing meters away from where I was and I'm spun around to observe our attackers. Orochimaru pulled me along in his own shunshin.
"Assassin team fall back and regroup with the others." Kakashi orders Gai and Asuma.
The trio vanish into leaves, no doubt using shunshin to speed away to Tsunade.
"Are you damaged?" Orochimaru growls out in a low tone, one full of pure rage.
I quickly pat myself down. "Nope. All good. Everything is here."
"Good." Orochimaru steps forward towards where the trio left. "I will not lose you. Now if you'll excuse me I have some people to rip into tiny shreds!"
"Of course." I'm making sure Sasuke and I stay far out of his way. It's not hard to guess who will be waiting to fight Orochimaru. Who can challenge a Sannin except for another Sannin? "Wait a moment. Where's... No. That can't be right."
Sasuke isn't where I expected him to be, he's not on Orochimaru's other side. He's still standing in the same spot that we were attacked in, but just a half step to the right. But he's not moving. His masked head is pointed uncomprehendingly at the ground, as if he can't – won't – believe something. I don't need to look at the ground to know what it is he's starring at.
It's his arm.
Sasuke's arm as been severed at the shoulder, no doubt by Asuma's knives. All he has left is a bleeding stump.
"Now you see why I'm so furious." Orochimaru says in a voice that only promises pain and suffering. "They hurt my next body, and they wanted to hurt my child. I will not stand for such insolence!"
Orochimaru... saved me? He picked me over his precious next body?
"You will use whatever means necessary to survive. Nothing is off limits. Use your full strength, your full power, to return to me. Everything else comes second." Orochimaru spares the stock still Sasuke a glace. "Even him."
He leaps away from me to go try and kill those who attacked us.
"Hold on!" I yell to Sasuke as I force the realization that Orochimaru actually cares about me out of my head. "Just hang in there!"
A green blur, much slower and smaller than the one before, bursts out of the treeline and is hauling ass towards the stunned Sasuke.
"NO!" I snarl out with scalding fury and slam into Lee. "I will not let you hurt him more!"
"Midori-chan, I am so sorr-"
I don't wait for him to finish. I lift up my leg and using every bit of my strength possible I aim a kick at his knee.
CRACK
"ARGH!" Lee crumples to the ground in agony with his leg bent backwards. I broke his knee. He won't be moving anytime soon.
"I'm almost there!" I shout to Sasuke who has finally torn his gaze away from his severed limb to stare at me blankly.
"Lee!" Tenten shouts from off to my left as she hurls multiple kunai at me. "You bitch!"
I don't waste time trying to dodge. Several of them miss, but a handful stab into me. I completely ignore it, Sasuke needs me. Something as simple as having kunai in me won't even slow me down.
Neji leaps between me and Sasuke, intent on avenging his downed teammate while preventing me from getting to Sasuke.
Kiba, Shino and Hinata are quickly making their way towards the frozen Sasuke. At this rate they'll reach him before I do. If that happens he's dead.
Choji and Ino are hanging back from the other two teams, obviously playing a supporting role since they're down a member. Choji looks pissed while Ino is a scared pale. She's starring at me and Sasuke in horror.
"I will not lose him!" I roar at the Konoha gennin, I scream at my friends who don't know what they're doing.
All actions from the Konoha shinobi halt in the next moment. It isn't because of my words, it isn't because of the serious killing intent I'm pumping out, it isn't because Orochimaru showed back up triumphant over the others. No, they all stop because they heard a familiar noise.
It's a sickening noise, one that is forever seared into their minds. It's the sound of flesh tearing, but this is more specific than that. This is the sound of a heart being pushed out of someone's back. It's a noise that is unique to their lost friend Alvarcus.
SQUELCH
I pushed out every Jiongu monster I could spare. I've kept my fire heart to myself for two reasons. One, it's the element I'm the best with and two, I may need to cauterize Sasuke's arm.
I lash out with dozens of chakra strings, arcing them well over the heads of everyone present and they all latch onto Sasuke himself and his severed arm. With a not so soft yank I pull him through the air to me.
"It's okay." I catch him and quickly lay him down on the ground. "I got ya. Don't worry."
"Al... Alvarcus?" Sasuke whispers out in disbelief. "My arm is... is it gone?"
"Did he say... did he say Alvarcus?" Someone says but I don't care enough to figure out who did it.
"Jiongu!" I roar to my monsters. "I need to save him. No one gets within ten meters of me. If they do put them down."
My four monster leap into action, each and every one of them standing at exactly ten meters away from me. They're daring the Konoha shinobi to come closer. They're looking forward to showing the fool what happens if they do.
"Hang in there Sasuke. We don't know if it's gone forever yet. Just hold on." What can I do? I'm no medic nin. I can't do a damn thing to help him. At best I can burn the wound closed so he stops losing blood and then get some spiders to wrap it with medical grade silk. I don't think I've ever been this powerless before.
"Sasuke? He said Sasuke?" Another voice says in confusion.
~Host, I have an idea. It's-
"Will it work?" I demand."I don't care what it is. Will it work?"
~It should.~
"Do it." I order.
The Jiongu worms it's way out of the scar on my neck and slowly reaches towards Sasuke's severed limb. Once it grabs it, the Jiongu pulls the limb back to Sasuke. It's holding it next to where it was cut off from. Then the Jiongu digs into both the flesh of the severed limb and the stump.
"AHH!" Sasuke screams in pain as the Jiongu sews Sasuke's arm back on.
It's worming through the flesh, bobbing up and down as it goes about the tedious task of reattaching the arm. Over and over and over again it weaves the two parts back into one whole all while Sasuke is screaming bloody murder and thrashing about like an animal going through death throws. Finally after what feels like days of waiting the black threads tighten one last time and Sasuke's arm spasms back to life.
"That..." Sasuke huffs out between huge gulping breaths. "That was hell."
He stands up onto his feet and experimentally moves his arm around. His fingers curl and extend, he's testing every limit he can.
~He should not do anything to strenuous with his arm for at least a week. After that he should be back at 100%.~
"Sasuke you good?" I ask him. "Everything feel right? I don't know exactly what the Jiongu did but it says to take it easy for a week."
"I'm okay." His voice floods with relief. "I'm okay. I thought it was gone forever. The pain was unbelievable. Is that what it always feels like?"
"Ask me again later once we're safe. We've got to get out of here." I urge him. "Orochimaru wants us to get back to Sound." Or at the very least me. Still currently processing that.
"We're not letting that fucking happen!" Kiba shouts at us. "You fucking assholes! This whole time!"
"You didn't tell us?" Tenten yells. "We were together for hours on end! Hours! We were ready to kill you just now! We almost did!"
"You couldn't kill us if you tried your hardest and you had a decade to prepare." I viciously say. I need to make a rift between me and the Konoha shinobi. I need to drive a wedge between us so that they never try to seek me out again.
"Wait a minute." Hinata turns towards the cowering Ino. "Ino did you know? You said you got into his head."
"I... uh..." Ino stutters out floundering for an excuse.
"You did know!?" Hinata shouts at her. "Why didn't you tell any of us? We can help them! We can bring them back!"
"Because we don't want to go back." I hiss out. "You want to know why she didn't say anything? It isn't out of some misguided hope that she can bring us back herself."
"Alvarcus-" Ino starts to say but I cut her off.
"You all think you're shinobi?" I condescendingly say to my friends with a sneer hidden behind my mask. "You're all still pampered children. The world is a fucked up place, it's a world where people die by the dozens each day and no one bats an eye. It's a place where the weak are the playthings of the strong. I refuse to be someone's toy, someone's plaything. I will be the one dictating who does what, I will be the one to say who goes where, I will be the one with the power."
"You're wrong!" Neji shouts at me. I must have touched a nerve is the stoic Hyuuga himself is shouting. "Power and strength are not the be all and end all of our world. There's more to it than that."
"What about us?" Choji asks. "Don't we mean anything to you? You ran out on all of us. You left us all behind without a second thought."
Sasuke scoffs as he keeps moving his arm around. "Don't act like we were friends. None of you sought us out for anything remotely recreational. No one here invited us over for dinner. No one asked us to hang out. No one asked to spar with us. No one ever cared about us. We were never friends."
"Well then what about the invasion!" Kiba demands. "We all helped each other then!"
"No." I coldly say. "You were all just along the way."
"So the only reason you saved me was because I was in your path?" Shino asks in his monotonous voice. "I was saved on a whim?"
"Yeah." I confirm with anger in my voice. "And none of you are any better. Actually I'd say you're all worse."
"How can you say that about us?" Tenten actually sounds hurt by my words.
"How? HOW? WHERE THE HELL WERE ALL OF YOU WHEN MY PARENTS WERE KILLED!?" Everyone is stunned into silence at my outburst. "You all were fucking steps behind me when I left that booth. Steps. Not one of you followed me. You all just stood there and watched as I leaped out while screaming about my kaa-san. Do you know what I would have done if one of you were shouting about your fucking parent while bolting towards someone screaming? I would have cut down every damn person in your way."
"So that's why none of you are shinobi. None of you are worthy of your headbands. Shinobi are protectors, we are weapons, we are pillars of strength. We defend and protect what matters to us with our lives. And when the most important thing in the world to me was threatened what did you all do? Did you step up and help me protect what's important? No. All of you stepped aside and abandoned me."
"That is why I left. If no one else will help me protect what I cherish so dearly then I will do it myself. I will become so strong that no one will dare to hurt me or anyone I care about again. I'm done depending on others. I'm done hoping that my 'friends' will come save me. I'm done with Konoha."
I'm an asshole. No, I'm more than that. I've ascended past being a common asshole to something new, I'm officially one of the worst people on this planet. What kind of a person says something like that?
"Alvarcus just tell them the truth!" Ino shouts out in panic. She's freaking out because I'm severing all ties to my home. She's worried sick for me. Her eyes are darting between Sasuke and me, she's breathing quickly even though she hasn't done anything strenuous and she's nervous as all hell. "You don't mean that! You would never mean that!"
"Fine. You want the truth?" I recall my monsters.
They slowly stomp back towards me and assimilate into my back with four gut-wrenching squelches. Except they're not fully withdrawn into me. Each mask is extended out on it's own limb made of black threads.
I take a deep breath to steady myself. "The only way I will go back to Konoha is if someone drags me back kicking and screaming. Combination Jutsu: Dance of the Dragons!"
Every single person here – except for me – goes wide eyed and slack jawed. They're aren't shocked into this look because of my bold proclamation but by the jutsu I just used. If you recall I got a very helpful scroll from Orochimaru for my birthday, it was one that explained how each dragon bullet jutsu worked. I thought it needed a little more shock and awe factor to it.
The Konoha gennin are facing down not one, but five elemental dragons. Each dragon is the pure embodiment of it's element and each one is capable of killing in the faintest of touches. And to top off the pure overwhelming force being thrown at them, each dragon isn't moving in a straight line. No that would be to easy, instead all five of them are weaving around each other in a dizzying display of contortions. It's like a synchronized dance.
"Sasuke that's our cue to leave. That stunt took way more chakra than I expected." That move is killer on the chakra cost. Well it is technically five high level jutsus used at the same time so that's to be expected.
We both turn our backs on the Konoha gennin to leave for Otogakure and Orochimaru. For the second time.
"KAITEN!" Neji roars and a dome of chakra so potent I can feel it from where I'm at surges to life around him. He's directly in the path of my jutsu, he plans on taking the hit to save everyone else.
The two techniques crash together. It's his unbreakable defense vs all of the elements' rage. Lightning, fire, water, earth and wind are being scattered. Trees are being cut in two, boulders are being shattered, the ground is being terraformed. It'll never be the same here again, Neji's Kaiten is flinging my attacks everywhere. Given they're much less potent after coming in contact with the Kaiten but it is still enough to cause serious irreparable damage.
"Don't worry about me! I can stop this!" Neji shouts as he's spinning faster and faster. "Stop them! Don't let them leave again!"
"I'm actually impressed." I say to Sasuke as I'm looking over my shoulder at Neji's display. "I didn't think anyone had the balls to stand in the way of that. Too bad he's going to be worthless after blocking it, he's bleeding off chakra."
"How are we supposed to fight someone who can do that?" Ino whispers to herself.
"Fuck if I know!" Kiba vaults over the spinning dome of chakra and with his furry companion starts sprinting straight at Sasuke and me. "But we have to! We made a promise to each other to get them both back! If they won't listen to reason then they'll listen to force!"
Both man and beast go limp. Their bodies lose all rigidity like someone flipped a switch and cut off the power to a light bulb. Each of them crumple to the ground in an undignified heap and roll a meter before coming to a stop in a pile of tangled limbs.
"They made the mistake of looking into my eyes." Sasuke says and I spare him a quick glance. He's no longer wearing his mask, he has it pinned to his belt. His eyes aren't the usual black, they're a vibrant crimson with three tomoe spinning around.
"How could you?" Hinata asks in mixed emotions. She's mad yet sad at the same time. It's like she is mad that Kiba was defeated so easily and sad that it was Sasuke, one of his friends, who did it so casually and with such little effort.
"Don't strain yourself Sasuke. I don't know how durable that arm of yours is right now. I've never put someone else back together before and it's possible that the Jiongu is slowly draining your chakra. It needs chakra to survive and right now it's latched onto you."
"I will keep tabs on my chakra levels." Sasuke promises me.
"Eight Trigrams!" Hinata's voice overpowers ours. She's standing behind me. Interesting, that means that she left a clone back by Shino since she's also over there. Or perhaps it's Shino's clone that looks like Hinata? That would be one hell of a team move, no one would expect that clone of Hinata to explode into a swarm of chakra devouring insects.
"One Palm!" She thrusts her open hand forward. She's planning on incapacitating me first. I wonder if she sees me as the bigger threat? I wouldn't blame her I did send elemental dragons at her barely thirty seconds ago.
"That's not going to work." I idly say, I'm not even attempting to dodge. "Hate to remind you but I don't have a chakra system."
~RRRAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!~
The next thing I know I'm laying on my back while staring up at the blue sky. When did this happen?
~It hurts! Host it hurts so much! Don't let it happen again! Please!~
"Alvarcus!" Hinata shouts in horror. She's staring at me and her open hand in pure terror. "I didn't know! I didn't mean to! I'm so sorr- URK!"
In a burst of unrivaled speed Sasuke moved inbetween us. He didn't settle for just that, he's also bent over slightly with his left hand gripping the sheath to his sword and his right hand on the hilt. But the sword is partially drawn, there's a fair bit of gleaming metal extending out of the sheath. He slammed the butt of the hilt into Hinata's gut without fully drawing it.
Hinata collapses on the ground while wheezing for air, trying and failing to catch her breath.
"You better be able to get up Alvarcus." Sasuke turns to the rest of the Konoha gennin facing us down. "I can't carry you back to Sound and fight off all of them."
"What..." I shakily push myself to my feet. Or I try to, I'm missing everything from my left elbow down. My hand is gone, completely gone. "Huh? How'd that happen?"
Sasuke swiftly draws his blade and switches to his left hand. Then he smacks five kunai out of the air courtesy of Tenten.
"Jiongu plus Gentle Fist equals boom." He swats another pair of kunai out of the air. "Not sure how that happened but don't let it happen again."
"I exploded?" What the fuck? That can happen?
"Fucking get over it already!" Sasuke shouts. "You've taken worse hits! Get up and help me! I can't do this all damn day and your stupid Jiongu is draining my chakra way faster than I thought it would!"
I successfully get up onto my feet without using my left arm. Cuz... it's gone. "Jiongu can you just like extend out of me and make a hand? Really can't fight like this. Well I could but I don't want to."
~Okay. But never let that happen again. Please. Never again. It hurt so much!~
"I won't." I promise as black threads pour out of my elbow and form into a black hand. It's like I'm wearing the world's creepiest glove.
I take in my surroundings. Lee is still down where I left him, staring at me in equal parts confusion and fear. Neji is in his self made crater struggling to remain conscious because his stunt forced him into chakra exhaustion. Kiba and Akamaru are in a heap of tangled limbs while snoozing peacefully. Hinata is still fighting to take even the smallest of breaths while crying over her accidentally explosive actions.
But what confuses me is everyone else.
Choji and Ino have barely moved since the beginning of our fight. Ino I understand, she knows things here that no one else does. She knows that out of everyone here I am the person who is most loyal to Konoha. She knows that everything I've said is a lie.
But Choji? He should be trying to pulverize Sasuke and I. But he hasn't done anything at all, simply standing next to Ino and Shino the entire time. It doesn't make sense.
And Tenten is constantly hurling sharp pointy objects at Sasuke but something is off about it. I know for a fact that she can throw way more kunai than she is right now. It's just enough to keep Sasuke moving, to keep him busy. To keep him distracted.
Shino is waiting patently. He's completely calm and collected even though Sasuke and I have taken apart the rest of his team. He's observing us coolly, just watching. He hasn't even sent any of his...
"Oh Shino you bastard. You've got us both bugged don't you?" Sure enough my chakra levels are lower than they should be.
"How unfortunate." Shino calmly says. "I was hoping my actions would go unnoticed until you both collapsed."
"I just thought it was the Jiongu taking my chakra to keep my arm attached." Sasuke grumbles as he swats down even more kunai from Tenten. "How many freaking kunai do you have girl!"
"Plenty." She grins deviously at him.
"Fire Release: Grand Fire-"
"Sasuke you idiot!" I swat his hands to force him to stop the jutsu. "You're being drained of chakra and you want to use a jutsu? Moron."
"Then you do something!" He smacks me back. "You've been useless since Hinata touched you!"
"Fuck you I put your damn arm back, took out Lee who is probably the most dangerous one here -next to us of course- sent out five elemental dragons that Neji barely managed to stop and you say I've done nothing!"
"Be useful!" He swats down even more kunai. "Like making her stop throwing stuff at me!"
"Fine!" I fly through hand signs and a bead of blood manifests on my thumb. "Summoning Jutsu: Keji!"
A thick could of smoke that extends five meters off the ground bursts onto the battlefield. A stiff wind quickly blows it away to reveal a spider, a very unique and recognizable spider. It has a tiny body, it's only the size of Shirokumo if I'm being generous. But what really stands out about this spider is it's legs. Each of it's sixteen legs is the color of cast iron and they're the reason the cloud of smoke was so tall. It's a cellar spider, a daddy long leg spider, and it's standing five meters tall.
"Yay!" Keji shouts in pure joy. His voice is scruffy and undignified like he's a troublemaker. "I'm out of that damn place! See ya suckers! FREEDOM!"
The tall spider gallops away on his lengthy limbs right over me and disappears into the trees, never to be seen again.
"Dude." Sasuke and everyone else is staring at me with a baffled expression. "Was he supposed to run away?"
"Just forget that happened." I sigh. "I'm still experimenting with my contract. Sometimes you get a bad one. It happens."
"That was sad." Tenten says while spinning a kunai on her finger.
"Yep." I agree wholeheartedly. "That means I'll have to stop you myself."
"Oh." A tinge of fear gleams in Tenten's wide eyes. "Shit."
A sinister grin worms it's way onto my face. "Since you enjoy throwing a fuck ton of kunai, let's see how you handle dodging a fuck ton of fists! Earth Release: Ten Thousand Fists!"
An uncountable number of stone fists burst out of the ground and swarm towards all of the Konoha gennin. Only Sasuke, me, and everyone who has already been defeated don't have at least twenty fists going after them.
Tenten manages to dodge the first three, but fails to dodge the rest. Tens upon tens of stone fists slam into her, each leaving behind a large bruise. Over and over they connect, eventually they're simply too much for her to bear and one of them clocks her in the temple. She's rewarded with unconsciousness.
Shino fared much better than Tenten, he only took two hits before collapsing. Unlike Tenten though it wasn't due to my jutsu that he collapsed. Instead it was Sasuke who managed to defeat him. Sasuke used my flashy jutsu as a distraction to easily trap Shino into his own personal genjutsu.
Ino and Choji are the only two left standing after that attack. It wasn't that Ino and Choji are exceptional at dodging but that Choji is built like a brick house. He shoved Ino behind him and endured the full brunt of the fists I sent his way. He took each and every one of them without so much as a grunt or wince of pain. It was a battle of stone vs flesh and flesh won.
Except they're still defeated. I know each and every person here. I know exactly what they are capable of and how they will react to certain situations. I was planning on Choji choosing to protect his teammate and who wouldn't in his situation? By shoving Ino right behind him he placed each of them very close together. It's exactly what I need for my trap to work.
Sixteen loud earth breaking thuds shake the ground.
"Alvarcus-sama, I apologize for my unbecoming conduct. I assure you I am quite the dapper gentleman, but I needed to sell the idea that I was an insignificant threat." Keji says in a smooth and regal voice, it's the exact opposite of how he spoke before. "Please do not let that stain our interactions."
Keji is a very unique spider. He's not like the weavers that can make anything with their silks. He's not able to go anywhere and find any spider like Shirokumo. He's not as threatening as Arachne. Keji was born with a mutation. He has double the legs of other spiders, usually that would make him an outcast. It would cause him to be shunned and be seen as a weakness.
Keji made it into his greatest strength. That's because Keji is a trapper. His exoskeleton is harder than any metal and he uses that to his advantage by turning himself into a cage. That is how he catches his prey, he traps them with his own nearly unbreakable body and waits until they've exhausted themselves trying to escape.
And he's caught both Ino and Choji.
"Of course of course!" I assure my summon. "No need to worry I know that your actions will always be in my best interests. Even if I don't quite understand them at the time. And there's no need for the sama suffix. I welcome you to call me by name."
"Then I insist that you do the sa-"
"Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Choji shouts and punches at his prison with his full strength.
THUD
"OWOWOWOW! What the hell are you made of?" Choji rubs his red fist.
One of the sixteen bars, Keji's legs, yanks out of the ground and smacks Choji across the face before spearing back into place. It wasn't a hard hit, merely a disciplining slap.
"It is unbecoming of one to interrupt a conversation." Keji reprimands his captive. "Do not do it again or I will use more extreme force."
"Okay!" Choji squeaks out. Huh, I never knew such a big guy could make a noise that high pitched.
"Now what was I saying? Oh yes yes I remember! I insist that you do the same Alvarcus."
"You have the weirdest summons I've ever seen." Sasuke says from off to my left.
"I know!" I grin childishly but no one can see it. I really should take off this mask now that everyone knows who I am. "They're perfect!"
"Oh please there is no need to be so generous!" Keji bashfully says. "I know that I am far from perfection."
"And that's that." I dust off my hands. "Us 1, everyone else 0. Now just to make sure those two can't actually do anything."
"How are you going to do that? You've already got them trapped." Sasuke asks.
"Just watch." I reach into my black and green coat and pull out a small scroll. I quickly unfurl it and pump chakra into it to spit out its contents. In a small puff of smoke my sash of Dokuso's teeth daggers appears.
"Really?" Sasuke drones out in disappointment. "You put those in a seal? Why didn't you wear the damn things?"
"Oh shut up." I sass him as I pull out the blue handle, the paralytic. "I got these to deal with Hiro. They don't really serve another purpose. At best they're going to be reserve weapons, I'll only pull them out when I need them. I really doubt I'll even use all of them, I mean it'd have to be a very specific scenario to make me want to use them. I'm more of the 'spit large amounts of fire at you' kind of guy."
"I know I've said this before but it bears repeating. You've got to get over your fire obsession."
"That's never going to happen. Now then, down to business."
I walk over to the closest person first, Hinata.
"Alva -wheeze- rcus. Don't." She pleads to me. Her eyes are full of hope. She wants me to drop the dagger and go back with everyone to live happily ever after. I can't.
I lightly cut her on the back of her hand. "Don't worry, it's just a paralytic. It's the same thing I used against Hiro. Non-lethal. You'll be fine in a few hours, less if Tsunade survives Orochimaru."
I move onto the next person, in this case it's a pair. Kiba and Akamaru. "Uh Sasuke how long is the genjutsu going to last?"
"Until someone pulls them out of it. You can skip them. Same with Shino." He explains to me while scanning the treeline for other threats.
"Moving on then." That makes Neji next.
Neji is laying on his back in a crater. His eyes are half open and it's a struggle each moment for him to stay awake. His chakra exhaustion pushed him into this state. "Just come back."
"I've burned that bridge. I can't go back." I drag the dagger across the back of his hand.
Next is Lee, he's right behind Neji. Lee is one of the more lucid of everyone here since he wasn't knocked out or has any impairing wounds. Except for his hyperextended leg. "Why? I don't understand. Hiding from us. Those things you said. Attacking us. Wanting to go back to Orochimaru. I just don't understand. It's like you've lost all hope."
"You know Lee, in a way you're right." He holds out his hand for me to cut. There's no doubt in my mind that he's letting me do this. Just because his leg is out of commission doesn't mean his arms are.
That leaves only Ino and Choji. Shino is trapped in Sasuke's genjutsu and Tenten is already unconscious so there's no need to tag either of them.
I approach Keji.
"I won't forget this. I won't forget that you beat me. That you beat us." Choji says. "This doesn't mean that I'm giving up on bringing you both back. All that you've accomplished today is showing us all how much we need to improve to bring you both back. So next time we meet you better be ready, because it'll be us who wins. It'll be us bringing you home. Remember that."
Choji thrusts his arm at me with a fire in his eyes. He has every intention of following through with his vow.
I cut the back of his hand and in a loud tone I say, "I look forward to it. Become as strong as you possibly can. Find your limits and exceed them, it's the only hope you have of besting Sasuke and I. Because I promise you that we will not go easily. You'll have to earn it, and if you manage that I will go back to Konoha with you all."
I'm manipulating them. Every single person that I've cut is only paralyzed. They can still see, feel, taste, touch, and most importantly hear. Each one of them heard my promise, my own vow that if they can defeat me I will return. I'm pushing them to become stronger, I'm pushing them to become better.
I'm preparing them for the horrors to come.
"Alvarcus."
"Ino."
"Why? All you had to do-"
"Because it was necessary. Konoha will never welcome me home, you have to realize that. The day that you all drag me back there will be the day I am tossed in jail with the world's best seal master personally designing my chakra suppressors. I'll be lucky if they allow visitors. Hell I'll be lucky if I can see the sun."
Her eyes start to water, she's on the verge of tears. "But what if you-"
"It won't matter. The damage is already done, people formed their opinions. Only chains wait for me in Konoha. I will still honor my promise. Should you all best me, I will return and face my fate. I just want to make sure you are all aware of how hard I will fight. There's more riding on it that you all realize because my defeat means my loss of freedom. So if you all want me back you'll need to be incredible."
"We don't have to fight!" Ino pleads as her tears finally stream down her face. "Just tell them what you're-"
I swiftly dart my hand inbetween Keji's legs and cuts the back of Ino's hand. She falls to the ground.
Keji's legs bend out of my way and I catch her before she hits it. Her eyes are so full of pain. It's not her pain, it's my pain. She's empathizing with me as the only one here who knows the full story. She's watching me purposefully tear a canyon between me and my friends. She's watching me specifically avoid going back to Konoha. Going home. And it's truly hurting her.
"Ino," I whisper just loud enough for her to hear. "don't tell them. Please. They can't know. They need something to push them to improve. If it's me, then I'm okay with that. So please, don't tell them. Tsunade is always open to talk to, even Shizune is a wonderful listener. I know from personal experience. Talk to them, not our friends. They need this as much as I do."
I gently lower her to the ground.
"Why did you catch her?" Sasuke says in a cold tone. There's and edge there, one that promises pain. "You let everyone else fall." His eyes narrow. "Why her?"
"Dude." I casually reply. "Like I'm going to let a lady fall down in the dirt. I would have caught Hinata to if she wasn't already down. I choose to be an asshole, I'm not always one. Not to mention what you might do to me if I did let her fall."
"Good." Sasuke's edgy tone is gone, he's back to his normal self.
~Host, he feels threatened by you.~
Pfft yeah right! Why would he – oh. OH.
~Yes, he thinks you want to mate with the female.~
OI! Not cool! Don't say things like that!
~But you do. You remember that I am your body now, I know exactly what goes on with it. For instance hormonal surges and physical reactions.~
She's hot! That's not my fault! I can't help it if I find her hot!
~We share the same dreams.~
I have the hormonal body of a teenager going through puberty with an adult mind! No shit I'm going to think up of some stuff like that!
~They're quite... explicit.~
Not the God damn time for this! Look you've got me so flustered I'm not even translating right now! When was the last time I said God and not Kami? You know what just shut up for a bit.
"Keji can you stick around for a while?" I gesture to everyone laying on the ground. "Sure they're defeated but I don't want to leave them unguarded. Who knows when the others will be done and come get them."
"I shall stay." Keji does a deep bow. Like DEEP. A good four meters deep. "To show such compassion to your enemies, you are a gentleman of significant renown!"
"Uh... sure. Whatever." There, now I don't have to worry about wildlife or bandits hurting them while the Sannin wrap things up. Just to make things easier on my summon I extend out hundreds of chakra strings and connect them to everyone. I gently maneuver them to be all next to each other instead of strew about the field.
"Sasuke we should be going now."
I start walking away towards Sound. There's no sound of Sasuke falling in step next to me.
"Sasuke?" I question over my shoulder. "You coming? I can carry you if that's it, between your genjutsu, the Jiongu sustaining itself to hold your arm in place and Shino's beetles you've use up a lot of your chakra."
"No, that's not it." Sasuke is looking over at Hinata. "Orochimaru said he wanted a Byakugan. Well, we have a pair right here. Better yet we could bring her with us then maybe he'd use her and-"
"Sasuke," I sadly say. "you and I both know he doesn't want the Byakugan for that. Even if we bring her back there's no way he'd pick her over you. I'm sorry, but you know I'm right."
"... I know. I just wish it wasn't true." Sasuke says dejectedly.
"Hey, it's not like we're going to let that happen. I plan on him being dead long before he does the switch."
Sasuke cracks a smile. "You're damn right about that."
CRACK
A white blur explodes through a tree before slamming into the ground. The blur rolls for a bit, tumbling over and over before it rights itself and lands on it's feet, skidding back a good three meters before stopping.
"Orochimaru-sama?" Sasuke and I ask at the same time in shock. "Are you... losing?"