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TGNH Ch. 5 - Complete! - Valles - 11-30-2005
TEENAGE GENIN NINJA HEROES
chapter 5
DESTINY
JULY, 12TH YEAR AFTER THE ATTACK OF THE KYUUBI
Bakusuta Neshan, Konohagakure no Sato no Tokubetsu Jounin and his opponent stared at each other for a long, hating moment, and then his favorite student, Haruno Sakura's, nightmare doppelganger drew herself up and spoke. "You'd have eaten Orochimaru alive. But I'm better than he is, and now you're mine."
He closed his eyes for a moment, then let his head fall - so that she wouldn't see the triumph in his face.
"RAITON: TATSURAKURAI NO JUTSU!"
Tatsurakurai no Jutsu, the Dragon Thunderbolt, was the most chakra-intensive elemental ninjutsu ever created. It was also one of the least efficient, which was occaisionally a blessing in disguise. For a ninja who insisted on regarding it merely as a destructive attack, it was impossibly wasteful - but, one who was ready to recognize the advantages granted by - pardon the pun - the shock value of its blinding brilliance and deafening report could make it an extremely useful part of their overall strategy.
Regenerating her body to even the extent neccessary to overwhelm Neshan's battered carcass - after the expenditures of the earlier fight, and supporting the demands of three seperate ressurections - had cost her almost all of her remaining chakra - so much so that even the relative pittance needed to maintain the Byakugan was too great a cost to spare... which meant that Naruto's attack was a true blindside, and knocked her effortlessly across the battlefield to slam into and through the trunk of an unfortunate tree. It swayed, leaned, and finally crashed to earth, and then there was a moment of silence broken by the brushy clatter of small branchlets falling loose and tumbling through its foliage before the clearing echoed with a wordless shriek of rage that was intimately familiar from the all-too-common times when Naruto gave in to temptation and indulged his prankster's appetites at his female teammate's expense.
Part of the crown of the fallen tree exploded, sending branches large enough to be fully grown trees in their own right flying and tumbling end over end through the air as a red and pink blur erupted from the leaves and flashed across the battlefield towards her attacker. Naruto's eyes widened, and he tensed to dodge, but even his astonishing endurance had been badly taxed by the ninjutsu he had just used, and before he could even begin to move her hand flashed out and snatched a drifting thread of glitter from the air in front of her as she planted her feet and skidded to a halt.
She stared at what she had caught for a moment, then sneered and looped the wire around her palm and -yanked-. The thin strands of metal bit deeply into the flesh of her palm, but Sasuke was hauled bodily out of his blind and into her reach. He twisted as he fell, trying to ready himself for the blow he knew was coming, but she swatted his block aside with a single casual hand, then slammed the open palm of the other into the center of his chest a split second before he touched down.
The blow broke several of his ribs - not all, not enough to make the entire ribcage give and jab sharp fragments of bone into vital organs, but some - and knocked him back to tumble limply across the ground before her.
It also gave Sakura - the younger Sakura, the real Sakura, the one with skin clear rather than scarred, and aquamarine eyes rather than Frankensteinish red and white - the opening she needed to lunge out of cover and into a furious fullisade of blows that seemed to hammer in from every direction at once...
To no avail, as the older kunoichi shrugged them off like the waving of a baby's arms and slammed one knee into her younger mirror's stomach before straightening that leg and sending her victim flying as her hands came up to begin the seals for the finishing blow.
The Genin forced herself to her feet, ignoring the throbbing pain of internal bleeding in favor of the more immediate danger of that... nightmarish copy.
Who was doubled over, on her knees in agony. Sakura hesitated, and her doppleganger raised her head to glare at Neshan. "Tessa," she hissed, and he smiled.
"In the smoke from those explosion notes."
"You'll pay," hissed a voice like the bowels of hell, and then she teleported away.
* * * * *
At first, by some mutual, unspoken agreement, they didn't talk about it, instead concentrating on healing their wounds - as far as they could be - and making ready for the night.
Eventually, however, their camp was as comfortable as it could be made, and the questions had to be asked. Neshan levered himself up to sit against a tree and looked his three students in the eye. "I guess I owe you some answers."
Both of the boys looked at Sakura.
The team's sole kunoichi took a long, ragged breath, then looked up from staring at her own white-knuckled fists. "That... she was me. Wasn't she? Somehow."
He took a breath of his own, let it out, then nodded slightly. "After a fashion." He paused to let them grope for something to say for a moment, then explained. "The way I understand it, is that time... branches. For every decision, every chance that -this- could happen or -that- could happen, there are two futures, one for this and one for that. As we live, we... observe, decide, which actually happens... That woman was pulled from... a future which is no longer possible."
She had tears in her eyes, and her voice was pleading. "I won't... become..."
He hesitated a moment, then, "No."
She swallowed. She'd known him long enough to recognize that mannerism. "You're lying."
Neshan looked away. "No one can know the future for certain. No matter how insane or ridiculous the possibility, it is, by definition, possible. So... I can't promise that there's absolutely no chance of your becoming... something just as bad. But I can't say that about myself, either." He smiled, then, trying to reassure her. "Can you even understand... how she got that way? Can you see yourself doing it?"
She had wrapped both arms around her stomach and bowed her head, as though trying to ward off some chilling wind. "...yes," she whispered.
Her teacher looked stricken, and his eyes darted, trying to find some way to convince her otherwise.
"I can't," Naruto said. "In her eyes... she was so afraid, so scared. The Sakura-chan I know could never be like that. She's, -you're-, too strong to be that small."
She sniffled and scrubbed her eyes dry with a fist, then gave him a smile like a flash of sunlight on a cloudy day.
Sasuke's voice had broken early, and the roughness from the way it had been handled during the earlier fight dropped his baritone into a threatening rumble. "How do you know that?"
Neshan took a deep breath, then let it out in a huff. "When I was... twenty-five, I think it was... I was living in a city a long way from home, working as a teacher. I got home from work and there was a man in my apartment. He said that he was... an agent for a worthy cause. That he was, if not a god, then something close enough that the difference would never matter to me.
"He did some things... provided enough evidence that I had to take him seriously. Then he told me that there were... others... equal to him and his, but opposed. Dark. Dangerous."
"Like Kyuubi?" Naruto asked.
"Far worse. That the two factions were engaged in a struggle along lines that were... close enough to how we look at good and evil, but that they couldn't battle directly. That the backlash from that sort of struggle would destroy the reality they all wanted preserved, for one reason or another.
"So, instead, each of them recruited agents, champions, who they could move to other worlds to work for their cause.
"Which was why he was talking to me."
Sasuke nodded, fitting the pieces together. "And, if you're an agent of one side, then that alternate Sakura is your opposite."
The Jounin smiled and settled back slightly, then winced as the motion irritated his damaged shoulder. "Exactly."
Naruto squinted. "Huh. If these gods are equal, shouldn't you be that... person's equal?"
Neshan made a sort of 'more or less' wave. "The way he explained it to me was that each side kept a running total of 'points' that they could expend recruiting and outfitting their agents. Grabbing That Woman the way they did, the bad guys have spent a lot of points on this world, but they've had to compromise on other fronts to do so. I'd never defeat her in a million years - but if I can teach -you- to do it, I win anyway, and even... even if everything goes wrong for us, my patrons have been able to use the points they saved by only getting me to win victories on dozens of other worlds."
Sasuke blinked, and both of his louder teammates were a little pale. "You really think we could..." Naruto whispered.
"There's a -reason- I call you guys the Junior Legends."
Sakura swallowed audibly. "But... wouldn't you two have arrived at the same time? If you were supposed to oppose each other?"
"I'm not -completely- without support, remember. Arriving early was one of the bonuses I got - along with a certain degree of foreknowledge."
Sasuke gasped, and Neshan met his eyes. "Yes, I knew about your clan."
Sakura and Naruto went deathly quiet and met each others eyes for a moment, trading silent messages. Then, subtly, almost imperceptibly, they slipped a little closer to Sasuke and turned to face their teacher.
The older ninja observed their consolidation with a certain amount of satisfaction. Not a moment of thought or a word spoken needed for them to come together in mutual support - exactly what they'd need later on. Then he sighed and leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree, looking up at the sky.
"What I know - knew - was only one of an infinite number of possible courses of events. The slightest change - one person thinking of one thing at one time that they otherwise wouldn't have - could snowball and then suddenly nothing looks the way it would have. Having your clan present and alive would have been far more than a minor change, and jeapordized everything I'm responsible for seeing done."
Sasuke was trembling, with his lips drawn back from his teeth and hands fisted so tight their knuckles were pure white. "-You-..."
"For all that, though... My last advantage was a... a degree of intuition into which changes would matter and which wouldn't. It wasn't important that your family actually be gone, merely that... they seem to be.
"So we tried to arrange that - genjutsu, spies, a plan... we hoped that... by using the right kind of illusions, by being ready ahead of time, we'd be able to smuggle the Uchiha into hiding, while still making Itachi - and everyone else - think that he had killed them."
Sakura laid a supporting hand on her teammate's shoulder, but he wasn't reacting to anything at all, and Naruto picked up the slack by looking at their teacher hopefully. "So, they're..." his voice trailed off at the other's expression.
"...a few."
"What?"
"The first steps went off perfectly - what you saw that night... none of -that- actually happened. But later... someone talked. He found where they were being hidden until we could move them to some secure location. There were five safehouses. He missed the smallest of them, but the others..."
So high, then such a dissapointment. "Chichiue and Hahaue... they'd have been at the largest. Leading."
"Yeah."
Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His parents were gone, but he still had other family. "Can... can I go see them? The ones who..."
"No."
The Genin's flashed open and his fists clenched, digging up handfuls of dirt, and his voice was choked and harsh. "No?! You tell me that my clan, my -family- that I've been mourning for, for -years- is -alive-... that I've been -lied- to - by you, by -everyone- - and now you won't even show the -fucking- grace to let me -see- them?!"
Neshan dropped his eyes from the sky and met Sasuke's gaze glare for glare. "No, because a mission, a plan, which has been in the works longer than -you've- been -alive- - a mission which is -vital- to the wellbeing of thousands of individuals, to the survival of Konoha, to the very fate of this world as a whole - rests, utterly, on a certain, very well-informed individual believing that you and your brother are the -only- surviving Uchiha. Because you are being -watched- by his agents. Because even the -slightest- chance that you'd be followed and the ruse discovered is too much. No."
Even choked and raging, Sasuke could think quickly. "I'm bait."
"Yes."
They glared for another moment, and then the younger ninja's eyes dropped. "...How long."
"Not more than a year."
"Swear it."
"On my honor as a ninja, our intelligence on the enemy's plan indicates that he will move -exactly- as soon as we provide a given stimulus. The last element of our counteroperation will be in place no later than this August, presumably leading to action some time in November or December."
"He'll try and take him at the Chuunin Exam?" Sakura asked.
"Yes."
Sasuke took a deep breath and tilted his head back to look at the sky, and some subliminal tension in his features seemed to flow away. "I can wait that long."
The others relaxed also, Naruto with an audible sigh, but then Sakura blinked. "Wait, if you knew about her like -that-, what did Haku-san tell you?"
"Until I talked to him, I had no idea of her -name-... I knew to expect someone from-" he made another vague little wave of his hand, "-_elsewhere_, but who that would be, or where they'd be from... he was the one who gave me that piece."
"Why didn't you tell me then?"
'Huh?' Naruto mouthed at Sasuke.
'Don't ask me, moron.'
"At first, I was hoping to avoid her, at least for now," Neshan admitted. "And later, well, there wasn't time."
Sakura frowned. "I guess so..."
"What does 'tessa' mean?" Sasuke threw out, breaking the awkward silence that followed.
Their teacher seized the opportunity with both hands. "It's a poison that inhibits the body's ability to generate and carry chakra. It's not terribly dangerous if you know it's there, because it doesn't last very long and because it can't make you... able to use less than you're currently using. But, if your usage dips while it's in your system, then trying to bring it back up will be massively painful for as long as the poison lasts... and, once it's completely absorbed, will no longer be possible at all.
"For a moment there, near the very end, she relaxed completely. Right now, Sakura, her chakra capacity is actually lower than yours, despite the difference in experience. She'll still be able to grow her chakra naturally, but if you can match her -rate- of growth then you'll always have that advantage. Either way, it'll be years before she's ready to match against a Jounin again."
All three of his audience sighed slightly. Knowing that was a relief, knowing that, next time, they'd at least have a fighting chance rather than a forlorn hope.
Then Sakura had a horrible thought. "Sensei? Are -all- of our missions going to be like that?"
* * * * *
"'Neechan!" Sakura glanced up at the shout, but still barely had time to catch the lavender-and-black blur before it could slam into her midsection. She had expected that response, of course, but -not- the instant she opened the door. "Hey, hey! Careful, chibikko! I got stabbed there!"
"What?!" Haruno Katakuri yelped and flinched back, eyes flicking up and down her three-years-older sister's height, looking for some sign of injury. "Omigod! Are you okay?! I didn't hurt you, did I?"!
Angelic smile - -too- angelic. "I missed you?"
Sakura squinted. "Okay, what did you do?"
"Who, me?"
"-Yes-, you - I've had a hell of a week," the ninja of the family snarled, not above playing the sympathy card to get her way, "I'm looking forwards to taking a -break-, and the last thing I need is to spend th-"
"Sakura!" their mother cheered, swooping in and sweeping her oldest daughter into a smothering hug. Unfortunately, as glad as the girl was to see her mother for the first time in two months, one of her arms was clamped -right- across the wound that That Woman's summon had put in her back, and it -hurt-.
Sakura hissed in pain, and slipped out of the hug with a careful twist and a gentle application of leverage - she could have done it by main strength, but there was no sense disturbing -both- of them with how much she had changed even since graduation. Her mother unconciously smoothed out the wrinkling the maneuver had left in one silk sleeve and blinked at her daughter in confusion mixed with hurt.
She tried to smile reassuringly, but anticipatory dread made it hard. After all the talking and persuasion it had taken to reconcile her parents with her chosen career and convince them that she'd be -just- -fine-, telling them hse'd been injured, and on her first time out, yet, was -not- going to be pleasant. "I'm glad to see you, too, Hahaue, it's just... Hug a little higher, please? That area's still kind of sensitive."
"'Still kind of...?'" Haruno Asuna's eyes widened in sudden horror, and she patted her hands aimlessly across Sakura's shoulders and arms, reassuring herself that her daughter was really there. "You were hurt! Darling, are you-"
She cut her mother's rapid stream of words off with a single gentle finger across the lips. "I'm fine, Hahaue. Just fine." She paused for a split second, and cocked her head. "Is Papa home today? So I can explain everything at once?"
"Right here, sweetie." Unlike his wife, Chairman Haruno Saffuron of the Haruno Trading Group was a large, powerfully built person, as those born into the Haruno clan tended to be, and his quick hug seemed to swallow his daughter's slender frame entirely. "What did you need to explain?"
The latest heir of a shinobi tradition stretching back centuries too a deep breath, then began. This was -not- going to be fun.
* * * * *
"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!"
'It was hard for you, wasn't it, Naruto?'
Iruka-sensei wouldn't have said that if he didn't - not -then- of all times. He wanted his student to do well, to be happy and successful, so knowing how well the mission had gone should make him glad.
It was kind of sad to think of it that way, with what had ahappened to Tazuna-san and all, but the nightmarish creature Sensei had taken to calling 'That Woman' had been unbelievably strong even for a Jounin, strong enough that just getting away with their lives would have been a victory, let alone driving her off so that the bridge could be finished from the plans its late designer had left.
Sensei had said that he'd talked the Naminokuni authorities into counting that as satisfying their contract, in return for his reccommendation that the inevitable mission upgrade -not- be added to that contract's cost. Sensei'd also said that it'd likely be counted as an S-class mission, which'd go a long way towards getting him the recongnition - all three of them, really, each for their own reasons - wanted and needed.
So Iruka-sensei would be glad to hear about it, and with the Academy teacher having been the first, the very first to care about -him- for any reason at all...
Naruto would do almost anything to make Iruka-sensei glad.
It wasn't a school day, and it was almost noon, and Iruka-sensei had told him once, when they were sharing ramen during the rainy summer months when almost everything in Hinokuni ground to a halt, that the new Genin would always be welcome in his home.
So he only knocked twice, quick bangs of knuckles on wood, before throwing the door open and charging inside.
Iruka's apartment wasn't all that large even by the modest standards of administratively postd Chuunin - a single room with enough space for a bed and a table and a couple of chairs without feeling -too- crowded, and a little counter and sink and two-burner stove along one wall by the claustrophobic closet that held the toilet - so Naruto was able to take in the entire space in a single glance.
He had been willing to barge in like he had because he knew that it was too late in the day for his teacher, a habitually early riser even when he -didn't- have a class to teach, to still be asleep - yet there he was, mostly buried under the bed's badly rumpled covers. "Iruka-sensei!" he yelped. "Are you okay?! Or sick?! Do you need-"
A pair of shuriken thunked into the wood of the door frame beside his head, and a minimal shift from within the pile on the bed found the intruding Genin fixed by a baleful, if sleepy, glare. "go 'way..." she hissed, then flopped her head back down into the curve of her host's neck.
Belatedly it occurred to Naruto that Iruka-sensei was not in the habit of leaving clothes strewn randomly around his apartment, and neither did he own a Tokubetsu Jounin coat or black miniskirt. Further, although her hair had been the right lenth, neither face nor voice nor bare, scarred shoulder had borne much resemblance to those of his adoptive elder brother - or even a man at all, for that matter.
The graceful thing to do would have been to apologise politely, turn, then leave quickly and quietly, being careful to close the door on his way out.
"GYAGH!" Naruto screamed, and ran for his life.
* * * * *
Hyuuga Neji looked up at the man who had just walked into his cell, and tensed. Hiashi met his nephew's gaze for a moment, then sighed and looked down. Neji had been learning the subtle cues of his uncle's body language for literally his entire life, and could see that something in his own demeanor had answered the question the older man had entered to room intending to ask.
"I heard your conversation with Hinata after your hearing," the head of their clan said, calling the memory to the front of Neji's mind. Their talk - argument, to give it its proper name - had been nothing new, with her trying to wrap him up for her larder with sweet, promising words and him castng the attempt aside, both of them going back over ground they had trod before.
"What of it?"
"When I was sixteen... My father told me the 'duties,'" his voice gave the word a vicious turn that made Neji leave off his stubborn glare at the back wall of the cell and turn to meet his uncle's eyes. "of the Main House to the Branch. I tried to ignore it. I tried to change it. I said I wouldn't hurt my brother that way... They said I -had- no borther!" He snarled the words like they still burned, like he was an inch away from wailing them. "If you believe nothing else I say today, though, believe that the only reason I stopped trying was that everything I did, the old men -chose- to take as rebellion by those they controlled, and punished through the seal..."
The boy's lips were drawn back from his teeth as he finished taking in his uncle's words. "You're a -liar-," he hissed. "I -saw- you use it. I -saw-..."
"-Yes-, you saw," Hiashi snapped, with a thickness in his voice and tension in his jaw that said as much as any number of tears. "You saw the -least- those old bastards would have accepted for what I sensed - for what I couldn't have hidden if I tried!"
"How do -you- know that?"
"Because it had happened before! I tried so many times, but I could -never-... I never..."
No more snarl, now, but eyes still cold. "And now?"
He looked away, and spoke quietly. "I won't try to claim I've always honored the promises I made, then. Not as well as I should have. But there have been no new curse seals since my grandfather's death - -will- be none, while I live - and I can at least give you and Hinata the support and protection Hizashi and I never had."
"And the Council?"
"They'd already stolen my brother from me even years before he died. What do I owe -them-?"
There was silence for a long moment. "This can't make up for sending my father to die rather than pay for your own actions," Neji said, almost mildly.
His uncle flinched, then took a deep breath. "'So please tell this to Neji,'" he said, voice not entirely his own. "'That I am choosing death of my own will, to protect my son, my brother, my family, and the entire village... Brother... I wanted, just once, to disobey the Hyuuga destiny... I wanted to choose my own destiny, that's all.' ...That was the last thing Hizashi ever said to me..."
* * * * *
"Absolutely not."
"Hahaue?" She had been afraid of this.
"You are telling me that this supposedly -safe- mission ended up involving -poison- and, and -torture-, and -murder-, and, and we're supposed to let our little girl stay involved in something that only a -fool- would think wouldn't get even -worse-?!" Asuna's voice had started her statement flat and brittle, but it rose steadily towards the end. "No! You're, you're going to stay -home-, and -safe-, with a wonderful husband and no more scars and beautiful children and... and..." abruptly, she seemed to run out of words, and sat a moment with her jaw working before she burst into tears.
Sakura hopped over the table - a horrible breach of manners, of course, but if Hahaue was distracted lecturing her least elegant daughter then she -wasn't- worrying about... But she was too upset to notice or care about the action as her daughter settled in beside her and wrapped gentle arms around her shoulders. "Hahaue? Hahaue, please. It's all right - I'm fine, I'm safe, I'm right here and I'll be good as new by tomorrow..." she pleaded.
Saffuron reached out and laid his hand gently across his daughter's cheek, and for once none of the half-a-dozen siblings clustered around the edge of the drama complained about the favoritism. "And next time?" he asked softly, with a worried look in his eyes.
Asuna was not a woman given to physical contact or open displays of affection, and it was a measure of her distress that she leaned into her daughter's embrace rather than reasserting the aura of serene dignity that was usually as much a part of her as the perpetually-worn pair of gorgeously inlaid combs that had been the first gift she ever received from the man who would later become her husband. "There won't -be- a next time," she hissed frantically.
Sakura turned her head slightly to nuzzle into her father's caress, and started rocking in place slightly to try and smooth out the tension singing through her mother's body. "Everything we talked about before I left is still true. Most missions aren't anywhere near as bad as this one. Neshan-sensei even said that this was the worst one -he'd- ever had." She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and said the hurtful thing her sense of honesty demanded. "But... even if none of that were true, I still couldn't stop."
Saffuron's jaw tensed slightly, and Asuna paled and seemed to shrink in on herself.
"I couldn't walk out and leave my friends, my comrades, in danger when I might have helped them."
[Especially,] whispered the shadowed voice of her conscience, [when the danger is -you-.]
* * * * *
The atmosphere in the exercise room was already tense and cold when a pair of Branch Family guards led Neji out into view, with his cousin Hanabi padding quietly along behind.
Hyuuga Inei was making a speech, but Hanabi tuned his voice out and ignored him just as thoroughly as she ignored the official witnesses, Main and Branch families alike, standing solemnly along the chamber's walls. Her concentration was reserved solely for her sister.
Once, before Uncle Junnan had left, she had thought Hinata was wonderful - so pretty, tall and elegant (at least to a six-year-old's eye), as mature in carriage as some court beauty as she stood by Uncle's side, as lovely and awesome as the mother enither of them could remember.
Then Uncle was gone, and the illusion came crashing down. The quiet but unyielding defender who had warded her from the jealousies of the other children of the clan couldn't string three words together without stuttering. The deft fingers that had pulled such beauty from a loom fumbled if they tried to so much as knot a piece of string. The gentle hands that had guided her through the first steps of her instruction in the Jyuuken couldn't swat a gnat, let alone deal a true blow.
For a long time, Hanabi had hated her sister for betraying her faith like that, but now it just made her sad, as they faced each other in the plain black body-gloves clan custom mandated for a student of the Jyuuken, quietly sad for the distance between them.
So, shocked as she was, when Hinata stepped forward to sweep her into a hug, she returned it fiercly, and stared as they stepped back, puzzled at the words her sister had whispered in her ear.
"Begin!" Inei called, and Hanabi lunged, struck, just as their matches had always gone before, since almost before she could remember.
This time really was different - rather than dodging or blocking, her sister counterstruck, meeting her blow with her own hand and a flare of chakra that, to the sensitivity of an active Byakugan, was almost blinding.
The younger girl fell back, reassessed, but even the split second that took was too long and she found herself hopping narrowly over an arcing leg sweep that trailed blue-white fire along the floor of the training hall. The palm thrust came while she was still in the air and lacked the traction to evade, so she had to block it. Some instinct - prompted perhaps by the flaring power behind her sister's previous strikes - made her do so with both hands, one braced behind the other to meet the strike, and both of them reinforced with the full weight of her chakra.
It was barely enough.
The physical impact of blow alone was enough to knock her back out of engagement range, and both of her palms felt like solid disks of fire - even in comparison to the arcing chains of sparkling agony shooting up through her forearms and elbows.
Chakra burn occurred when a person's inner coils were forced to carry more power than they were prepared for. In a minor case - such as she could identify hers as being - it was 'merely' painful, as the coils were abrupty forced open to the neccessary level. The degree and scope of the pain, however, said quite clearly that that single quick strike had come very near indeed to -not- being minor.
Said that the sister she had so hated for being less the hero, for being -weaker- than a still younger Hanabi had worshipfully believed... was -easily- powerful enough to shatter her entire chakra system with a single strong blow.
The words Hinata had whispered in her ear before the start of the match made so much sense now. 'I'd do -anything- to protect you... except kill an innocent.'
The fear that had made it so easy to defeat her older sister hadn't been of pain, or of failure - it had been of -herself-, of what she might do with a single loss of control.
Her father had tossed her like that in their practice matches often enough that she came back on balance and into stance without a hitch. Their eyes met across the dozen or so feet between them, and Hanabi had to giggle. "Baka," she said, and didn't realize she was crying until she had to sniffle to continue. "Baka! I don't need a protector - I need a -sister-."
The heir of the Hyuuga swallowed softly. "But..."
"I'm strong," she said. "I won't break."
A deep, slow breath, and a smile that, for the first time in neither knew how long, was hopeful as much as it was sad. "Okay." The soft, femine expression across from Neji's proxy had never been anything but determined, but now, indefinably and without any physical change, there was something both of play and of challenge about it. "Show me."
Power was one thing, but Hanabi had her pride - and holding back or not, Hinata -had- lost those matches. "You first."
The older sister's smile got a little wider, and the younger was actually -grinning-, and then they moved in the same beat.
* * * * *
Uchiha Sasuke looked around himself as he walked once more among the crumbling wreckage of a once-prosperous district... and cared.
When he was alone, it hadn't mattered that the painted signs along the business streets were peeling. It hadn't mattered that the winter rains had carved deep gullies out of the hard-packed earth of the roadways, or that gras was sprouting along the higher ground left behind. It hadn't mattered that the houses' shingles had curled and split, or that the frames were rotting out from underneath them.
Nothing mattered to the dead. And everything that had mattered to him -was- dead.
The only thing that the living could give the dead was vengance, so that was what he had had to settle for.
But they were -alive-!
Not all of them, not the ones most important to him, but -some-! 'Someone, anyone to care for,' as he had told Naruto on their trip back. And their homes -would- matter to them.
Sensei's plans would limit what he could do to prepare for their return, the demands of secrecy being what they were, but as the Uchiha's last surviving representative in Konoha, the care and well-being of the clan's assets was -his- responsibility - a responsibility that he had, in truth, been failing. If even a chance remark had driven that fact, that awareness home, then a sudden and lasting attention to the Uchiha estate would not be outside his established character, however, then he would have an excuse that would allow him to fulfil -both- his duties, to clan and village alike.
He glanced up as he moved into his bedroom - checking for traps and ambush, yes, as any shinobi would, but more meeting the gazes of his parents as they looked out at him over the shoulders of his younger self from that long-ago festival night, all three of them smiling and happy in their grand holiday kimono. There were other photos along the shelf next to that one - cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents... every Uchiha save one. He still had some pictures of -him-, from group shots small and large, but they were locked away where he couldn't accidentally catch sight of them in a bad moment and destroy precious memories before he could regain his control.
Except for the red and white paper fan hanging from one wall, and the newer picture thumbtacked to the windowsill over his desk, the aging photographs were the only decoration in the room.
Moving to the desk and taking out a sheet of paper, he began to write, quickly and efficiently, soon covering both sides with his handwriting's characteristic square, neat characters. The first step would be finding someone - or several someones - both willing and competent to go through the district and identify which buildings needed which repairs, as well as which ones would need to be condemned and completely replaced. After that, such roofing and structural worked as seemed most urgent would come next, then the interiors and external paint once all the houses were to the same point and ready for them. It would take longer doing things that way, but spreading them out would let him cover a greater proportion of the work out of his own pocket, saving a greater share of the clan's funds for when the others returned.
Then there'd be the roads, although the city might be willing to help cover the costs of that, and supplies of goods suitable for long-term storage.
'In case of emergencies,' he'd say, which brought to mind that he'd have to be careful to seem slightly cracked rather than aware of something his audience wasn't.
Eventually he stopped and looked back over the list he had written, then nodded internally and blew gently across its surface to dry the ink before he rolled it up.
'Someone, anyone to care for,' he'd said.
As he turned to go he paused, then pulled the thumbtack under the window out and slid its photo into a frame, which he then set beside the one of his parents at the festival.
'Hey, what does that make us, chopped liver?!" Naruto had answered.
Three new faces grinned at his back as he left - Neshan was kneeling in the center with one arm punching victoriously into the air and the other - the one he had lost - wrapped around Sakura's waist as she stood beside him. She was resting one hand on his nearer shoulder and mirroring the triumphant gesture with the other. Naruto stood behind their leader, throwing one arm out in a victory sign and dragging their scowling final teammate into the frame with the other.
* * * * *
Most of Hanabi's successes against her sister had been due to Hinata's own fears and lack of confidence - but by no means all of them. For all her youth, the younger sister's reflexes were superb, and her kinesthetic sense, her awareness of her body's position and motions, was exception even by the exhalted standards of the Hyuuga, whose combat style relied heavily on such awareness.
So the battle was not -completely- one-sided.
Hinata, for her part, was not without advantages. She was older and more experienced, with five critical years' difference in reach and pure physical strength. Her endurance and condition were superior, again thanks to the added time the older sister had had to spend developing them, and thanks to her Jounin-sensei's efforts to heal the damage to her spirit, her chakra was far close to its natural almost-overwhelming levels than it had been even as recently as the Genin Exam.
Hinata struck first, this time, a straight palm thrust from her off hand backed by enough chakra to knock the smaller girl halfway across the room, but her sister slipped under and to one side of the strike even as one of her own hands stabbed out at the abdominal coil junction carrying chakra from Hinata's heart to her legs.
The elder sister twisted away from the attack quickly and gracefully, but with only partial success. The intended target was missed, but Hanabi's strike still disrupted part of the chakra flow through her sister's abdominal muscles - not a truly dangerous injury in and of itself, but one which would inhibit Hinata's ability to move, attack, or evade.
Hanabi had just begun to smile at her success when her sister's knee seemed to come up from below and to one side as though out of nowhere and slam her jaw closed with an audible 'crack!'
As much as half the audience winced sympathetically, and Hanabi herself staggered as the impact knocked her off her stride before recovering in time to deflect her sister's quick followup.
The younger girl fell back a couple of steps, making a mental note to be wary of further attacks against her head. The Jyuuken only rarely made use of such, because there were only a handful of tenketsu there and all but a couple of them were quite minor, but it was rapidly becoming clear that her sister meant to integrate 'hard' styles into her more conventionally Hyuuga 'soft' tactics to take advantage of her greater mass and strength.
Hanabi's lesser height gave her a considerably shorter reach than her sister, making holding the range of the engagement at arm's length a fairly bad idea, but that same weakness might also be turned into an advantage. The relative difficulty of projecting chakra from parts of the body other than the hands created a zone of vulnerability very close to any Jyuuken user's body, and Hanabi's shorter arms meant that -her- vulnerable zone would be smaller than her sister's - creating a narrow range band where her attacks would be effective but her sister could not effectively respond. Hinata's integration of conventional taijutsu into the Jyuuken would partially nullify that, of course, but since nothing in that direction had been seen from her before she had to be new to the style, and would not yet be able to use it to best effect.
With that in mind, Hanabi charged - straight into her sister's sidekick.
She folded almost in half around Hinata's foot and fell almost straight back under the impact. The taller girl came in on the offensive as she hit the groun, but she managed - somehow, barely - to roll upright and out of the way of one attack, then zag in and around another kick to slide in close and finish the motion exactly where she wanted to be. Strike -there- and -there-, then-
Hanabi's eyes widened as her third strike skidded off of an entire -sheet- of chakra blocking access to her sister's body as Hinata spun to face her - then kept going.
"HAKKESHOU: KAITEN!"
As Heavenly Spins went, it wasn't much. Hinata only made one full revolution, and inexperience made her chakra release noticably irregular - so much so that she was badly knocked about by the completion of the technique. However, as was becoming her custom, the young Heiress of the Hyuuga made up for her relative lack of precision with the judicious application of simple brute force, and spent enough chakra on the technique to knock her opponent literally across the room.
Then she lost her balance and fell flat on her ass.
Hanabi pried herself off of the far wall with a muttered word that she very much hoped her father hadn't been close enough to make out, then took a deep, centering breath and changed stances. Her sister's -real- power was just as impressive as she had remembered, and if she wanted to win then she'd need to do something drastic. If she didn't, then it was blindingly obvious that the only question would be whether it would be the internal burns or external pounding that knocked her out first.
The older of the two had recovered, and came in in a lunge and Hanabi tensed and counterstruck and did something she had never even dared to attempt before.
Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty-two.
Sixty-four.
She had missed at least half of her target points, but still hit enough that Hinata gasped. Coughed. Staggered. Then fell.
Hanabi walked closer, ready to make sure of the thing, then doubled over, gagging, as her sister rolled up on her shoulders and straightened both legs in a double kick that picked the smaller girl up bodily and knocked her flying. Another quick flurry of motion and it was all over, with Hinata kneeling with one knee in the small of her sister's back and one finger resting on the rarely-visible tenketsu that connected brain to spinal cord. "D-do you yield?"
The defeated girl smiled. "Hai... Oneesama."
* * * * *
He didn't, in strictest terms, -need- to be in the hospital. If there had been sufficient need, he could easily have fought with at least -most- of his full strength - but a few days of bed rest would greatly speed his overall recovery, so here he was in an embarrasing gown that further revealed the detailed seal work tattooed around his remaining arm and across much of the rest of his body, trying to do his paperwork left-handed.
"Well?" came a voice from the door.
He sat his work aside with a sigh. "'Well,' what? I fucked up by the numbers."
"Neshan-kun, you ask too much of yourself," the Sandaime Hokage chided gently. "You couldn't have known what you would face."
"The hell I couldn't!" the younger man snapped. "Tazuna -told- me she was there, -told- me what she was capable of even before we'd left Konoha! Then -Zabuza- - I didn't even -think- about what it'd take to blackmail him, to threaten him. I was so blind, so fucking -cocksure- that things'd go the way I remembered that I never even -considered- turning back until it was already too fucking -late-!"
Sarutobi Chieshamaru carefully refrained from giving vent to a sigh of his own. Intelligent, dedicated, and caring he might be, but their time working together since the day what looked like a five-year-old child had turned up on his doorstep with a very strange story indeed had proven to him that it would take days, perhaps weeks, to work simple common sense past the younger man's savage intolerance of his own failings. Still - best to start the process now. "Enough! Your team is alive, the customer was satisfied. You did -not- fail."
A moment's mulish glare, then Neshan let out his breath in a huff. "All right." He stared straight through the wall for a moment, then spoke. "My errors and That Woman asid, I think that things went fairly well. The O-Tazuna-Hashi is complete and trade is already starting to pick up. We've added a powerful new bloodline to those resident in Konoha. Naruto's made his debut, and Akatsuki's probe team should be on its way fairly soon. We've identified my opposite number and at least a few of her goals and motivations - my account's already on your desk; we'll probably want to have Anko-senpai talk to Sakura for more insight. I managed to catch the bitch with a doze of tessa - full effect, so it should take her out of the game for at least a year or so. The stress seems to've gelled the kids together even better than we'd hoped." He paused. "And... after the way That Woman threw their nightmares at them, I though i owed them some honesty."
If that meant what the aging Hokage thought it did, then that had -not- been part of the plan, and had -not- been authorized. "And?"
A shrug that was no longer so badly pained as a few days past. "Mostly it was minor stuff or bringing them up to date on my background, but Sasuke managed to put enough pieces together to suspect the worst about his family. I gave him the truth, or most of it anyway, and he's willing to cooperate with the plan as it stands. On the way back he was thinking of making some changes in the Uchiha holdings, but said he had an idea to disguise it - either way, I made him promise to run everything by you, first.
"Past that - nothing else to report."
* * * * *
Neji felt happy, for once, and while his body ran repeatedly through the rote motions of the Jyuuken, most of his mind worried and fretted at the strange new feeling like some querelous grandparent confronting a change in their routine.
It would take time, and no little amount of it, for the memories and lingering feelings of wrongs done to fade and leave his uncle and the two girls who called him 'big brother' as -family- rather than strangers connected by blood...
But he had time, and he knew that that day would come - it had been sealed by his promising Hinata the ally she had been seeking, and by the way Hiashi had slapped down the Clan Council's attempt to have Hinata's victory overturned on the grounds that her 'uncouth behavior' (in other words, her use of taijutsu other than the Jyuuken) was 'unbecoming of the noble and glorious heritage of the Hyuuga' (words failed him.) He knew it was coming - and he looked forward to it.
With that thought, and a typically restrained smile, he finished his last kata and turned to go inside and to bed for the night.
Then an overwhelming wall of force picked him up and slammed him against the broad trunk of one of the massive trees overlooking the Hyuuga clan compound. He blacked out momentarily from the impact, but was brought straight back to conciousness by the stabbing lances of pain that pinned his spread-eagled hands to the rough bark.
He couldn't activate the Byakugan without his hands free, so the owner of the feminine voice that whispered, "You can't escape destiny - it just never means what you thought it did," into his ear only registered as a flash of color in the corner of his eye - red and white and pink - before everything went abruptly dark.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: TGNH Ch. 5 - drakensis - 11-30-2005
I'd envisage a moment's shocked silence and then Naruto (IIRC correctly, the only one who got least mauled) going: "Sugoi! How'd you do that!?"
The trouble with questioning Neshan at this point, I would have thought, is that:
a) they have no reason to believe that he knows more than they do about the other Sakura (although Sakura after reflection, might ask what could have made her turn out like that)
and b) there are other priorities, like getting themselves patched up
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Re: TGNH Ch. 5 - classicdrogn - 11-30-2005
"... How are you still moving?" He does have a big chidori hole through him and an arm gone at this point, right?
- CDThat which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Re: TGNH Ch. 5 - Valles - 11-30-2005
Quote:Heh. I'd had Sasuke raising that issue, but you're right - it's much more IC for Naruto.
I'd envisage a moment's shocked silence and then Naruto (IIRC correctly, the only one who got least mauled) going: "Sugoi! How'd you do that!?"
Quote:Mm. Well, for your second point, the next scene doesn't start until after the cleanup is finished and they've set up camp for the night, and for your first, one of the things I'd wanted to do for thematic reasons is to have Genin!Sakura as the person with the best insight into Hell!Sakura's thought processes - precisely because of how much that understanding would disturb her.
a) they have no reason to believe that he knows more than they do about the other Sakura (although Sakura after reflection, might ask what could have made her turn out like that)
The other thing about this scene is that it's not so much the kids walking up to N. and demanding answers as him reasoning that, hey, this is their lives they're trusting him with, so he owes them no small amount of honesty.
Quote:O.O Oh, dear. You're right about that... During the fight he was running on about two parts adrenaline, three parts training, and four parts sheer stubborn, but after...
"... How are you still moving?" He does have a big chidori hole through him and an arm gone at this point, right?
Hm.
Ja, -n
(Well, more like the Chidori hole ran through the long axis of the arm, but that's the overall effect, anyway.)
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: TGNH Ch. 5 - Herr Bad Moon - 12-01-2005
I swear I'll make some substantial comments about the latest chapter when I'm not looking down the barrel of my senior thesis and 40 some pages of other term papes.
And to answer the question
Sarkura: "Are all our missions going to be like this?"---------------
-Jon
Wash: Psychic? Sounds like something out of science fiction.
Zoe: We live on a spaceship, dear.
Wash: So?
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"
Re: TGNH Ch. 5 - classicdrogn - 12-01-2005
Quote:... now I'm seing Sakura in an elaborate helm and bodyglove, all light grey with glowing red lines, while Neshan stands in as a rather-less-ominous Master Control.
Sarkura: "Are all our missions going to be like this?"
- CD counts TRON amoun his raving-fanboy-obsessionsThat which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Re: TGNH Ch. 5 - Valles - 12-01-2005
Quote:^_^;
I swear I'll make some substantial comments about the latest chapter when I'm not looking down the barrel of my senior thesis and 40 some pages of other term papes.
Ah. Don't worry about it - take as long as you need.
And that's the perfect line to end the scene with. ^_^
Ja, -n
(has never seen Tron)
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
tessa? - Logan Darklighter - 12-01-2005
I don't know who'd say it -- and I feel like I should know -- but who/what is Tessa?
Re: tessa? - Valles - 12-01-2005
Quote:Most commonly you'll see it as the favored nickname of one Captain Theresa Testarossa of MITHRIL, but in this case... Well. I've already got that on my list.
I don't know who'd say it -- and I feel like I should know -- but who/what is Tessa?
Hint: the word translates as 'shackle'.
Ja, -n
(really, who ever heard of a girl named 'teletha'?)
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Status Report - Valles - 12-06-2005
TGNH Ch. 5
Fight finish: DONE
Question scene: 85-90%
Naruto return: ~50%
Sakura return: DONE
Sasuke return: 1-5%
Hinata/Neji arc (newer): 1-5%
Hinata/Neji arc (older): MOVED TO NEXT CHAPTER
SPOILER DELETED: MOVED TO NEXT CHAPTER
Ja, -n
(ETA: update 12/10/05)
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
about 2/3rds done - Valles - 12-12-2005
But, hopefully, by posting this I'll be able to distract my muse for the fifteen hours or so I've got to finish the paper I have due tomorrow.
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: about 2/3rds done - Herr Bad Moon - 12-13-2005
Quote:Especially when you got a Demon Fox inside your stomach you can tap.
Tatsurakurai no Jutsu, the Dragon Thunderbolt, was the most chakra-intensive elemental ninjutsu ever created. It was also one of the least efficient, which was occaisionally a blessing in disguise.
undefined
Quote:Wow, can't even maintain a Byukugan but still can snap ribs. What the hell is inside your head guy?
The blow broke several of his ribs - not all, not enough to make the entire ribcage give and jab sharp fragments of bone into vital organs, but some - and knocked him back to tumble limply across the ground before her.
Quote:That's an interesting take on an old theme. And the "point system" is cool, giving an explanation why they don't dump tons of super strong people into a single world.
"Far worse. That the two factions were engaged in a struggle along lines that were... close enough to how we look at good and evil, but that they couldn't battle directly. That the backlash from that sort of struggle would destroy the reality they all wanted preserved, for one reason or another.
Quote:See what happens when you spend all your points in being insanely strong and psychotic? Shoulda saved some for Figuring Shit Out catagory.
Neshan made a sort of 'more or less' wave. "The way he explained it to me was that each side kept a running total of 'points' that they could expend recruiting and outfitting their agents. Grabbing That Woman the way they did, the bad guys have spent a lot of points on this world, but they've had to compromise on other fronts to do so. I'd never defeat her in a million years - but if I can teach -you- to do it, I win anyway, and even... even if everything goes wrong for us, my patrons have been able to use the points they saved by only getting me to win victories on dozens of other worlds."
Quote:Fudged wording.
He found where they were being hidden until we could move them to some secure location.
One of the big events I was looking forward to seeing you alter was the Uchiha Massacre. I think you nailed it, as blatant change would have just had Itachi ice a lot more people besides the Uchiha.
Quote:That's exactly how it played in my head when I thought of the line. Sakura seemed the likely one to say it too
Then Sakura had a horrible thought. "Sensei? Are -all- of our missions going to be like that?"
![[Image: happy.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/happy.gif)
Quote:Oh man, that's priceless. I feared for Iruka's soul and wondered when Anko would finally make her move. Naruto's gonna need the brain bleech.
A pair of shuriken thunked into the wood of the door frame beside his head, and a minimal shift from within the pile on the bed found the intruding Genin fixed by a baleful, if sleepy, glare. "go 'way..." she hissed, then flopped her head back down into the curve of her host's neck.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"
Re: about 2/3rds done - Valles - 12-13-2005
Quote:Who, Neshan? Pretty much what he's been teaching Genin!Sakura. And seal-reinforced plate armor.
Wow, can't even maintain a Byukugan but still can snap ribs. What the hell is inside your head guy?
Quote:Eh? wakarimasen...
Fudged wording.
Quote:Assuming he's as strong as he seems, then yeah, it would've.
One of the big events I was looking forward to seeing you alter was the Uchiha Massacre. I think you nailed it, as blatant change would have just had Itachi ice a lot more people besides the Uchiha.
Further deponent sayeth not.
Quote:I'm glad. I was a little worried that it'd seem like a cliche - the old 'walk in on the parents' joke - but it seems to've come off well.
Oh man, that's priceless. I feared for Iruka's soul and wondered when Anko would finally make her move. Naruto's gonna need the brain bleach.
A&I have some serious issues to work out, particularly having to do with their perceptions of themselves and each other,so this is by no means the end of that plotline. Unfortunately, I currently have no idea exactly what those issues are or how I'm going to handle them, so...
Ah, well. I'll work it out.
Quote:Yep. I don't think I can remember ever seeing what I'd call a good charictarization of Hiashi anywhere in the fandom - we're always caught between the repentant and loving father on one hand and the soulless, unfeeling tyrant on the other.
I completely buy this. Its not even a stretch in cannon for him to feel this way, he was pretty pissed off about how that whole thing went down and seemed resigned to his fate in a distrubingly similar way that Neji did pre-asswhupping.
Hm. Maybe desaix's...
Quote:You ain't seen nothin' yet. ^_^
She's getting scary. I love it.
Quote:w00t! Yeah! *dances madly* I'm writing about people!
Great chapter. You've really got the characterization of pretty much everybody down pat. Its really impressive. You don't let them be defined by their personality quirks like other fics do, but make them just that, quirks. Reading your stuff makes me want to go find my notebook with my drafts of the piece I started working on.
Thank you! I'm done with my last final, now (yes, finished it before nine in the morning), so stay tuned for the rest of Chapter 5 sometime later today before I pack up and start driving.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: about 2/3rds done - WengFook - 12-14-2005
Excellent to finally see it all together like that
one small error that I picked up on a cursory look thru though
Quote:near the end you missed an "e" there
"My errors and That Woman asid, I
![[Image: smile.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/smile.gif)
_____________________________HK-47: "Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds"
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.
Re: about 2/3rds done - Herr Bad Moon - 12-14-2005
Quote:Actually, I was talking about you! Making H!Sakura so damn scary, you've got a twisted mind. Keep it up!
Who, Neshan? Pretty much what he's been teaching Genin!Sakura. And seal-reinforced plate armor.
Quote:You fudged the wording in that sentence.
Eh? wakarimasen...
Quote:Yeah its an old trick but still funny, but in conjunction w/ Anko and Iruka? That just goes off into a world of funny that nobody has farmed yet. Still giggling over it.---------------
I'm glad. I was a little worried that it'd seem like a cliche - the old 'walk in on the parents' joke - but it seems to've come off well.
-Jon
Wash: Psychic? Sounds like something out of science fiction.
Zoe: We live on a spaceship, dear.
Wash: So?
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"
Re: about 2/3rds done - Valles - 12-14-2005
Quote:*waves hand* Details, details.
near the end you missed an "e" there
^_^
Quote:The hellbitch was mostly about doing my research into that sort of mind and then combining all the worst traits I saw.
Actually, I was talking about you! Making H!Sakura so damn scary, you've got a twisted mind. Keep it up!
What I'm setting up for Hinata, now that's scary...
Quote:Do I amuse you? Good!
Yeah its an old trick but still funny, but in conjunction w/ Anko and Iruka? That just goes off into a world of funny that nobody has farmed yet. Still giggling over it.
Actually, I've gone out of my way to conceive of her in a sort of Sakaki-esque manner, specifically because she's usually cast as such a hard-ass - so this goes well with that.
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Naruto anime - classicdrogn - 01-08-2006
I was catching up on my filler season eps today - did you watch 161? The fake Gai and Lee are a hoot, and the scary part is that the 'terrible tortures' inflicted on them are kind of an easy, recovery day for the real Gai and Lee ... but the reason I'm mentioning it is Demon Eyes Sakura. Wanna screen shot? It's a few points off from Jigoku no Sakura, of course, but I'd be more worried if it wasn't...
- CD
ETA: I, ah, made a few changes. Is good?
![[Image: JigokuNoSakura.jpg]](http://users.adelphia.net/~merrynh/cashew/grunion/JigokuNoSakura.jpg)
...or perhaps I should say, "Is very, very evil."That which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Naruto anime - drakensis - 01-08-2006
Kowai!
*hides under table*
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
Re: Naruto anime - Valles - 01-08-2006
Quote:Isn't she, though?
Kowai!
*grabs and saves*
Thanks, Drogn! Great work!
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: Naruto anime - classicdrogn - 01-09-2006
Quote:...my work here is done! ;?)
*hides under table*
Quote:S'all part of the service. I wasn't quite sure I had the eyes on the right sides, and they look kind of flat to me still - but then, she is a cold-hearted, murderous sadist. The hard part was getting rid of the furshugginer glow without having obviously repainted parts of the image, but I think I managed - though I did forget to put in a border around the Sharingan iris. All told., however, I'm quite happy with the effect, and even more so that it matches the way the character is supposed to look.
Thanks, Drogn! Great work!
My father happened to wander past a few minutes ago, and saw the image inlined above. He has no idea aboutr Naruto in general let alone TGNH, but says that she is "a remarkably intense looking individual." How true it is.
- CD
ETA: I recall one of the discussion threads mentioning that Hell Sakura keeps parts of people she considers to have been serious enemies preserved in jars, and suddenly wondered if she considered her own weakness to be enough of an enemy to have kept her original eyes that way, or if she simply discarded them like those false ideas that have no meaning, trash called 'freindship' and 'loyalty.' I'm not sure which would be the more twisted, really...That which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Re: Naruto anime - Valles - 01-09-2006
Quote:I think it was more likely the second, personally, but really the question is moot - her collection was left behind in her original universe, as she (and N., for that matter) arrived in the TGNHverse pretty much starkers.
ETA: I recall one of the discussion threads mentioning that Hell Sakura keeps parts of people she considers to have been serious enemies preserved in jars, and suddenly wondered if she considered her own weakness to be enough of an enemy to have kept her original eyes that way, or if she simply discarded them like those false ideas that have no meaning, trash called 'friendship' and 'loyalty.' I'm not sure which would be the more twisted, really...
Ja, -n
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Re: Naruto anime - classicdrogn - 01-10-2006
Oddly enough, I can't find chapter four here on the board. Do you have an archive site anywhere, N?
- CDThat which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Re: Naruto anime - Valles - 01-10-2006
Actually, yeah. I gave in some time back - exposure and all that.
Ja, -n
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===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."