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Chapter 66 - Arc 4 - Brawling in the Streets: Standing Back Up
🕑 Added 2024-08-02 17:21:20 +0000 UTCI'm loving how easy the chapters are getting recently.
The support is incredible, and while it's not rising recently - the goal is so close yet so far away - it's still more than enough for me to put more love and attention into each chapter and side story. This one's a little longer than normal, and that's not strange. I felt like it needed a little bit more, and I gave it to it, because I could. $200 is more than enough for me to spend an extra bit on each chapter making sure it's better.
Thank you.
Now have Sakura casually breaking the rules while having doubts.
(Edit: Mildly changed one line that was bothering me)
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Ultimately, she decides she doesn’t care about the dead genin because she doesn’t care. It’s a bit of a circular logic, but it works for her. The fourteen genin were the enemy, and they tried to kill her with vehemence. None of them particularly deserved to die, but they challenged a force that was stronger and paid the price. That’s how ninja work, and when you go missing ninja you kind of have to double the anticipation of death, possibly triple it. She doesn’t understand why anyone would go missing ninja, but then maybe that’s privilege, she’s privileged to be in a family that loves her enough she never had to have doubts about her place in the world. She’s privileged to be born into a village that is known for its fairness and mercy. Maybe in time, she’ll come to understand them, but that time is not now. Now, she thinks they’re very stupid, and she’s willing to put her sword to that thought and cut them down for it.
Zabuza wouldn’t have felt bad for killing her if she’d actually died when he took her out like a fly, and Kakashi wouldn’t have cared if Haku had stood against them and he’d had to take him out. Death is a part of being a ninja, and whether she’s the one to do the killing or if she’s just a tool to aid in the destruction, it doesn’t matter to her at all.
She’ll give caring a try if any of them surrender, she’ll at least try to figure out if she can fail the quest partially to spare a few, but at the moment none of them have tried and it’s likely none of them will. She’ll just keep slashing until it’s done.
The Genin that fell were likely friends, and they watched each-other die, and from that perspective it must have been horrifying, but from her side it was just what was needed to complete the objective. She hasn’t been given a reason to have an emotional response about what is - to her - nameless opposition. Civilians can afford to spend hours worrying about the enemy, and some low level ninjas probably can too, but she’s decided she doesn’t want to be a low level ninja.
Naruto, Sasuke, her, they’re going to kill Itachi. They’re going to chop him up into little bits and savor their victory in whatever way Sasuke needs to feel human again. They may destroy thousands of lives on their journey, but that’s the price they’ll have to pay to accomplish their goal.
She has to rise above this, which means she cannot afford to create false feelings just to appear normal.
She doesn’t care, at all, and she’s not going to pretend she does. She feels nothing, so she will feel nothing, it really is that simple. Either her teammates will accept that, or they will fall behind while she sprints ahead. Itachi’s their goal post, and from what she’s read, Itachi wouldn’t care. Itachi would strike out and destroy his enemy, so she needs to do the same. Perhaps that’s why Hunger isn’t so dangerous in her hands, because she’s already treading a destructive path it would not dare interfere with. Perhaps it’s proud of her, she’s proud of her.
They need to be the same calibur of ninja as Sasuke’s clan killing brother, and she can walk that path without changing herself. Like she’s come to realize, being her is fine, it’s not understanding the impacts she has on others that are the problem. She doesn’t want to be normal, she wants to not freak out her friends. She wants to learn what’s normal, so she can hide in the shadows when she needs to, and know when it’s appropriate to strike out and destroy all that’s in front of her. She wishes to become a tool for Sasuke’s and Naruto’s goals, and maybe one day she too will request they aid her in conquest. That’s what being a team is about, Kakashi would approve.
That’s why she’s spent the entire night creating a new jutsu. The burning construct in her hands has three elements to it, showing off her incredible control. A long blade and handle making a katana out of earth, giving her a sword just like Hunger but without the burning desire to destroy. It’s a sword that won’t influence her thoughts or drain her life force with every swing. It’ll be better for weaker foes, or tests of endurance where tact is needed. Second, there’s a layer of water on it, creating a sharp aqua blade and allowing her to flex her control by keeping the flow stable and structurally sound.
Third, an activation feature, where she ignites the entire blade in a layer of flame chakra, boiling the water and creating a scorching slash that’ll flow off and burn her opponent even if they block her weapon. She’s proud she managed to create it and two other variations with just one focused night of effort. That she even could is probably a mixture of her mind, control, and system at play helping her. The two other versions are a one handed variant so she can use two, they’re shorter and lighter and don’t fit her body as well but they’ll work when she needs to fight defensively and block a thousand strikes again.
And the second alternate version, much more importantly, “is that flying?” Is one that even impresses Tenten. It floats right over her shoulder, utilizing a little wind to keep it upright and pointed in the right direction.
.
“Yep,” with a snap of her fingers a clap of thunder shakes the world before a powerful discharge from the base of the blade sends it flying off where it points, in this case stabbing it into a sepia colored tree. Within a second, the flame spreads throughout the bark, crackling and igniting it, while the steaming water flows up and burns the leaves above it to a crisp. “I based the design off one of your bullets, a little ignition switch is built into the base and is set off by a snap of lightning chakra, and then the wind helps keep it steady while it flies. I’d like to make it spin like a drill, but currently using all five elements in one jutsu makes the whole thing suck, so I haven’t figured out how to do cool stuff like that.”
It’s smaller, weaker, requires a lot of concentration, and is probably only practical for a sneak attack at the moment. Still, she’s proud of herself, she made an illogical thing, and her ability helped her do it like it was normal. Conceptually speaking, this attack is proof that she was dumb for ever trying to work with normal restraints.
“I know of no one else who can use all five elements in one jutsu,” Neji says, watching her antics with a clear bemusement, “it is safe to say that is more magical than it is practical chakra usage.”
“I am sure any seasoned Jonin could do that,” she denies, “but you’re right, that I can pull it off is probably more due to the magical conceptuality of my existence.” She doesn’t have to follow the rules, in fact it’s probably better if she doesn’t. Jonin are incredible because they break the rules in their own ways, working reality like a malleable clay.
“No,” Neji says, shaking his head and laying back down, “that did not even require hand signs, that’s akin to a bloodline.”
She lets him sleep without reply, after-all it is her watch, he has to be up in an hour so she and Tenten can sleep so it’s best to let him rest if he can. It’d be nice if Tenten would sleep too, but it’s also nice to not be alone so she isn’t going to start a fight over it. Besides, if it was just her, she couldn’t mess with jutsu and experiment, she wouldn’t be able to risk missing something on her watch because she was too focused on what she was doing. With Tenten doubling up, she has all the time in the world to expend most of her chakra before bed.
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She can’t help but feel a little twitchy. The desire to use her new jutsu has her excited at her core. She’d also love to use Hunger to strike a few enemies down, but nothing beats the idea of watching a new practical application to something that was previously just theoretical.
[0/1 Fierro Killed]
[2/10 Chunin Killed]
[14/20 Genin Killed]
Checking her objectives, she can’t help but feel a little sorrow that they didn’t manage to get a Chunin in that group, or finish off all the Genin. Currently they still have fifteen enemies left to defeat, and the bigger portion are real threats. It’s a problem she can’t help but pout about. They could get hurt again, or worse, they can’t even say they’ve made significant progress because most of what they’ve eliminated can’t hurt her. Going days without real progress is painful! She can’t imagine how Neji is so patient.
“Any idea how long we’ve been here?” She can't help but ask, and finds the other two shake their heads, “you think Lee is bored?”
“Lee has probably gone insane,” Tenten says, “Gai is likely no longer hiding and they’ve both paved new roads with their feet alone from all the running through the town they’ve done.”
“That’s good for the infrastructure,” Sakura says, “I’m glad they could find a way to be productive in a time like this. You have a good team.”
“That is not what I would call that, but yes, I suppose that is true.” Neji nods to himself. He’s stiff, always is, but somehow the idea of a positive spin to their energy is so foreign to him he has to reboot a little.
“I would love a bath, mnn-” Sakura smells some of her hair, and immediately regrets it, recoiling slightly at the strong, errr, fragrance, “I bet they’re having the time of their life with all the enemies trapped in this dungeon. They’re still getting paid for this as if they were with us.”
“No, I imagine they are stir crazy as can be and making it everyone else’s problem,” Tenten argues with a shake of her head, “as I said, they are paving new roads with their running.”
“What’s that?” Sakura leaves their current topic behind as her eyes focus on a new structure up ahead. No matter how open their environment looks, it’s actually very narrow and with a sort of ‘invisible wall’ built into it. No matter how they walk, they end up on this single path eventually, and she’s not one to argue with magical forces that want to direct her one way or another. What this all means, is that the thing is important, and likely where they need to go even though it feels like they’re finding it in the middle of nowhere.
The structure ahead is thick and massive and round, a metal grate with a flow of dirty water coming out of it and forming a small stream that quickly disappears into the sand like a poorly placed mesh. It’s like a graphic built in a map editor and then plopped down without thought, and she notices the jankiness immediately.
The map designer got bored, and the structure quickly turns to stone inside past the grate, framing a flow of water in the middle with two pathways. To put it simply, “it’s a sewer,” Neji answers her, “the next part of this dungeon enters us into a sewer system.” His nose wrinkles at the thought, and she has to take a deep breath in relief at the realization that the smell that hit her a moment ago might not have been her hair at all. She takes another more concentrated whiff- And immediately regrets it. Nevermind, it’s her, it’s definitely her.
“This is going to suck, I bet we get to fight an alligator.” Sakura says, chipper despite her words. Her hands twitch in anticipation, she might get to test out her new jutsu sooner rather than later.
“That’s ridiculous… which means yes, more than likely.” Neji agrees with her stoically.
Comments
Mest450
Sewer alligators are just logic. Nothing strange here.
Dopplerdee
Wanting to be normal and whanting to understand why you're not are diffrent things and thats important. Also high speed explosion swords, neat.
