The Tale of Wesobi
Chapter 3 ±± A Quest for Light – The New Path±±
This chapter is the third on the Tale of Wesobi Saga and this particular release is the final part of the 3rd Chapter which is called "A quest for Light". I recommend listening to the music on each part as you read on.
As Scorps kneeled down next to Scary's body, desperation took over him. The events that had just passed still seemed somewhat of a dream to him. It was all so fast and unreal he couldn't yet fully understand. How could both of them have been so foolish and arrogant that they'd allow themselves to fall under such a trap?
"Hang in there scary! Scary? SCARY?! ****" he said as he focused on using his chakra to scan his friend’s body. "Dam... He lost his right leg, below the knee, his whole left arm and his left lung are gone along with most of the rib cage. His heart is there but it has a tremendous tear and is rapidly dyeing out!!!! His chakra is at 2%... ****! Think! Think! Wait.." A foreign substance coursed through Scary's body "What is this? It seems like...fluorine? That Vincent! Always with the cowardly moves...poison! But then it means that... **** **** **** ****!!!! Think! think! I have 87% of my chakra left that means I can.... Dam! Even at full strength I can't heal scary fast enough! I need more chakra and I need someway to remove the fluorine from his body. But how? Dam I can't think straight! Don't die on me scary! Please don't die!" Tears ran over Scorps cheeks as he desperately tried to find a solution in his mind. His medical arts, while of a high level, were not enough, in his mind, to ensure he could save scary.
"Seikakuna denryoku... Watashi no chikara!" (Power…you need my power) Echoed a deep voice inside scorps.
"If I use your power, there is no turning back... You won't be safe...I won't be safe... And Wesobi might have given his life for nothing..."
"Anata wa hokanohito no yōna yowaide wa arimasen...To dare ga watashi no tame ni shinu koto o nozonde imasen...Kyōsei-teki ni sanka shi, kōdō o toru tame no jikan!" (You are not weak like the others…and I don’t want anyone else dyeing for me… Its time we joined forces and act!)
"I don't have any alternative do I? But still, how? I mean, chakra alone won't do the trick."
“Watashi wa anata ni atarashī gijutsu o oshieru. Shikashi, soreha sukuide wa arimasen. Kare wa hantaisoku ni sudeni aru to darekaga ōkina gisei o hipparu koto ga dekiru baai ni nomi.... Niku no gisei... Anata. Anata ga toru koto ni narudarou nani no ichibu o toru hitsuyō ga arimasu... Kugyō gyaku...” (I’ll teach you a new technique. But it is not a salvation. He is already on the other side and he can only be pulled back if a sacrifice is made .... A sacrifice of the flesh ... You… You will have to take on yourself part of what you're going to take from him ... Penance reverse ...)
"That can kill me...and you.... Ok...are you ready?"
“Hai.. Anata no tame ni, kare no tame ni...” (Yes…for you and for him…)
"..."
As Scorps received the instructions on how to perform the forbidden technique inside his mind, he pressed his right palm on scary's chest and his left palm on his own chest. Suddenly, a burst of white chakra seemingly erupted from scorps body. The effect was so dramatic that the ground itself seemed pressured by the immense unknown energy. The energy seemed to endlessly surge from scorps until it suddenly stopped, leaving him and scary in the middle of a sphere of light. Scorps now seemed made of that white energy, almost ethereal, though different. Wings sprouted from his back and he seemed to possess a tail. His hands had a more claw like appearance and his face had a feral, almost animalistic set of features to it. As this happened he said "Ribāsu kugyō... Muryōdesu!" (Inverse Penance…Release!) and suddenly Scary's body started to regenerate, his vitality seemingly returning to him almost in a flash. His chakra pool was being restored, his lost arm regrouping at a fast pace. As soon as he was recovered, it all ended. Scorps returned to his original self in a blink of an eye as the transformation ended just like that. Scary was recovered and moved slightly, regaining some of his conscience.
As scary opened his eyes, he could see his friends eyes tearing up "Scorps...w…what...how?" But before he could say much, in Scorps lips a small smile formed and suddenly his left arm, left leg, and a big chunk of the left side of his chest simply withered into a decayed, dried up mushy tissue, before detaching and collapsing to the ground, followed by Scorps body soon after. "Why?!?! What did you do? I was dead and you brought me back right?! You brought me back at what cost?! Why?? What did you use? Scorps!" Panic was patent in scary's words and it was time to actually panic at the thought of losing a friend.
"You are my b…best friend... I couldn't let you die...I took your injuries upon myself... She helped me... But it seems we both underestimated the effects of the technique…" Said Scorps in an increasingly weak tone... The plan had backfired...he could feel his strength leaving him in waves at frightening speeds. For a moment he thought he could heal himself after taking into him the wounds of his friend but the reality set in. The bond with Her was not perfect enough for enough chakra to pass and help him. Both were weakening at each second that passed and soon they would both perish, however... "I should still have enough chakra to destroy this wretched village..."
"**** you if you think I'll let you die!" Scary stringed few hand seals and said "Genjutsu: Omoi no Kamui! Ill force you to save yourself! If you have enough chakra to destroy this wretched place, go to hell if you think for one second that I believe you don't have enough chakra to save yourself!"
"Y…Yamato...if I spent my chakra to try and save myself but I fail… I…it will all go to waste if you force me and I fail... and then we will have accomplished nothing... You need to survive and go save this world...this goes beyond me, you or even Wesobi...you need to take her upon your own body you..."
"Shut up...you are so annoying and you’re not letting me ... Wait...what? Who is...but how.....?"
"Watashi wa atode setsumei shimasu... Watashi wa sore o naosu koto ga dekimasendeshita... Watashi wa jūbun ni chakura o ataeru koto wa dekimasen... Anata suru koto ga... Watashi wa karōjite hoji suru koto ga dekimasu..” (I'll explain later ... I could not heal him ... I cannot give him enough chakra ... it has to be you ... I can barely hold him here...)
"But how? I mean...so...Ok... Now is not the timeWe’ll talk about it later…"
And as scary put his hand on Scorps chest, he felt his friends chakra connect with his own, overflowing and overbearing for him to negate in such a weakened state.
"Scary...I just saved you...don't..."
"So you were hiding this technique...it won't heal it all but it will reform your lost body parts and that should be enough..."
" Hai ni narimasu” (Yes, it will…)
"No scary! You'll die if you make me use that while you're so near to me!..."
"Shut the **** up! God! I am the one who decides on what to do with my own life! Now... Ibiton: Gozentaru Dou Lucifer!" And suddenly Scorps body turned into pure decay flames, before reforming uninjured and apparently undamaged "it was but a moment but it should have been enough...I cannot restore your chakra though since with that I'm about out myself...same with you...I'd say 2 to 3% each...which means... “Chakura Setsuzoku : Kai!!” (Chakra link: release!)" And as scary took his hand out of scorps chest, it looked burned but functional. Unlike a normal burn wound, though, where the blood vessels are cauterised and don’t bleed, this wound was bleeding heavily and the tissues seemed almost half digested as scary tore a part of his shirt and wrapped it around his hand. Scorps was panting heavily, feeling the exhaustion of what he just did taking over his body. His chakra was not regenerating at its normal pace and he knew he still had internal injuries that the nature of the simplistic technique scary forced him to use hadn't healed. But he was alive.
"scary...your hand...Let me heal it... I..." But what he felt was pain as a fist slammed into his face
"never do that again...you lost sight of what is important and I might have been unable to save you...or worse, we could have both died! And to have been hiding that from me???? So what are we going after Wesobi for if you are the real vessel? Since when by the way? I was there when she merged with Wesobi! We were both there!!! She picked Wesobi!!!! Scorps.... I'm your friend but to sacrifice my life I must know for what or for whom I'm fighting for!" Scary was white and pale, his hair seemed to have lost colour and he was sweating and panting heavily. "We will discuss this later though... now, any ideas on how to leave this wretched place? I don't assume you are in any condition to summon one of your cranes, are you?"
Feeling embarrassed, Scorps looked down at the floor as he replied "No...I couldn't summon any useful ones with my chakra level...still, there are no ninjas around since the fight started. I can't feel any chakras nearby. Not even civilians. I think we should proceed on foot to the border ASAP. It's our best option...on the way we should be able to recover our chakras and we should reach the border with about 20% each which should allow us to travel safely and fast"
"A keen strategist mind as always... Assuming no one comes... By the way, any idea on what was that about? I still can't understand why would Vincent try to beat Lilli and attack us for pursuing her..." Both of them stood up, with difficulty and started walking as fast as possible towards the eastern border, the one closest to them.
"Scary, everyone in akatsuki only wants power… Vincent was a high ranked member of akatsuki. Some say he was, at some point, the leader. He was amekage and he was the one that sheltered the organisation inside the village when it was founded. I’d go as far as to say it was founded specifically to shelter akatsuki... Lilli taking over should have been like a huge slap on Vincent. He and her...well, they never clicked and, from what we pierced together, Lilli entered akatsuki and without the knowledge of Gobi or Vincent, managed to orchestrate all of this from the inside and take over, pulling most of the organisation to her side. They are too similar to actually be compatible, which means that one cannot rule over the other. Taking that premise into practice, Vincent would either leave or try to beat Lilli and become leader himself, kicking her out... We...well, we aren't in either of those sides, so we were thorns he needed to clear before he could proceed with anymore actions. And that was enough for her to escape ever so elegantly…"
"As always… I don't know Vincent that well, nor Lilli for that matter, outside from the mask she put up to actually interact with us in former inter village affairs. She is your blood sister and was Izuna's friend, although I don't think either of you fully trusted her. I think the moment she attacked you outside the village with that strange power was the turning point… Awakening her Kaleidoscope brought forth the madness and darkness within her…"
"Well, when Caliburn took her to kirigakure after her eyes initially woke up, I was but a child and so was she. I took shelter in Konoha and from that age our contact was sporadic and very superficial. I wanted to believe she was the child I grew up with but deep down I knew that things had changed when she got to kiri. The death of her parents was a deep shock to her. One she never fully came to terms with. When we finally met, years later, in the outskirts of konoha and I showed her how much I had grown and that I could use Wood Release, she flipped. She went mad and attacked me, trying to mimic that power. The result was that…thing… She left me for dead and ran… Deep down I know she didn’t intend for it to go that way but her envy for my newfound power…it was too much… "
"Hum... Vincent's past, from what I know, is also dark and somewhat mysterious. little is known of him before he became nexus pupil. once he did, he was his most uncompromising one. He did all he could to learn as much as he could from nexus, even using somewhat "dirty" tactics at time... That’s the main reason many dislike him. all he did during that time was with the sole purpose of attaining knowledge and power. other students hated him but nexus seemed to like his tenacity. Then one day, nexus wanted him dead and issued a bounty on his head. soon after he joined akatsuki. The in between is a mystery. I think he might have gotten close to nexus to learn the secrets behind nexus power... And might or must have done something that would count, in nexus eyes, as betrayal. “
Scorps stopped. Hazed, weakened and trembling, he was a mess but there was something he needed to say to his friend. “Scary, Lilli told me where Wesobi is…or at least I think she did…she might be trying to fool us but…It felt real and honest… She said he’s being held in Kirigakure... I don’t know Scary… She seemed honest…”
“You, better than anyone should know not to trust her. However, we don’t really have much choice. In our quest for light we haven’t really accomplished much have we? We’ve been easily defeated every time, we lost Izuna and we still haven’t gotten hold of Wesobi… And I’m still out of the loop of why Yokai is inside you.”
“Well, I think its time you know it all… And its not only that you don’t know why she is inside me…its also that you don’t know what she is…”
“Hum… this feels like a big flashback coming up… We should do it some place else…”
"Agreed. Let's go. We shouldn't stay here more than the bare minimum amount of time..."
Scary faced forward before walking he put his hand on scorps shoulder and looked into his eyes with a very serious look "don't ever throw your life away for my sake… ever again..."
"And I’d say the same to you...yet...does it matter what we say if in the end we won't follow through with it?"
"Humpf...Guess this marks the end of our quest for Light... The new path begins..."
"The path to the unknown... Let's keep going..."
A few moments before they entered the village...
As Scary and Scorps approached the village, walking through the water patch outside it, they couldn’t help but wonder what they’d find inside. They were both supressing their chakras to the mass, to try and get some surprise effect on their approach, when Scary stopped and put his arm in front of Scorps, stopping him as well.
“What is it?”
“I feel something… Take a look with your Byakugan”
“Ok…” said Scorps, activating his implanted eye “A barrier…a huge barrier. It envelops all of the village and spans even underground. Spherical and apparently strong.”
“I figured as much… Thought I thought that by defeating Gobi, the barrier would dispel... I assumed he was the one sustaining it.” said Scary as he threw a kunai forward. The kunai collapsed with the barrier and manifested it for a second, before falling to the ground.
“Can you deactivate it? I’m not very skilled with barriers…”
“I think so…” Scary approached the barrier and placed his left hand on its surface while doing the confrontation handseal with his right hand. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he started to focus a large amount of chakra. “Seems like the only way to pass through it is which a special talisman tag. Dispelling it is easy though not for average ninjas. It will take just…hum…this… KAI!” and the barrier dispelled itself.
“Wow…that was surprinsingly easy…”
“Not really. That type of barrier is sustained by chakra crystals which can fracture if they become overloaded with chakra. That’s why they have a built in protection. If you manage to overload it, to protect the crystals, the barrier dispels itself. This way you don’t have to rebuild the whole system everytime someone breaches through it.”
“Hum… interesting… then you simply overpowered it? Guess it was a weak barrier then…ahah”
“It took about 3/7ths of my chakra to overpower it”
“…” Scorps was surprised. He knew first hand the amazing power his friend wielded and his uncomprisingly large vitality, chakra pool and will power. To say it took almost half of it to overcome the barrier was a clear statement of its power.
“I can’t sense many chakras in the village” said Scary as he started walking towards the shore of the village, a few meters away
“I can see about 70 chakras in the village, all in the outskirts, moving outwards, as if escaping the village. All ninjas, jounin rank and below. Only stronger chakras are 2 in the second highest tower where… oh… Its Lilli and… I can’t see the other one clearly such is the amount of chakra he is displacing… I think its Vincent”
“What?! So Gobi was right, Lilli was still here…”
“Yes, she seems to be fighting Vincent mid air in the middle of the village. Since there is no one nearby we should intercept them. We need Lilli’s information!”
“Still, keep your eye out for interference… We are in the heart of Akatsuki’s home…”
Both ninjas quickly made their way through the village streets towards Lilli and Vincent’s location, rapidly approaching them while wondering, on the way, why the village seemed deserted…
A few minutes before...
Lilli was in the amekage office, sitting in Gobi’s chair so pleased with her self she couldn't help but smile and giggle. Turning the chair around she faced the large window which was behind it and from which she had a view of most of Amegakure. In the reflex in the glass she saw her smirking face.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" She yelled, startled at what looked like a clown painted by a 3 year old. "Dam...is this what I look like when I'm smirking? Or am I smiling? " she asked her self before starting to do some faces towards the reflection in attempts to make sure that next time she laughed she wouldn't scare even herself...though if used correctly perhaps it could be a battle technique. Lost in her thoughts and in her quest for beauty, Lilli could feel two large chakras outside the village, one of them very familiar, the other not so much. They approached the fleeing ninja she had ordered to capture and Gobi’s squad. "Interesting" she thought when suddenly the door of Gobi’s...hum...her office opened behind her. She couldn't feel any chakra but the presence was ominous. Dangerously ominous.
"Vinnie-boo, came to visit Gobi?" She said from behind the tall chair, without turning around.
"Lilli... I thought I felt someone powerful...guess I was wrong...where is Gobi and what are you doing here? Do you mind getting out of that chair by the way? It's not yours..."
"Vinnie Vinnie...ever so nice... Now that we belong to the same organisation, we should try to treat each other better, don't you think?"
"No, I don't. Where is Gobi? And get out of that chair..."
"Oh my lord, aren't we getting all worked up over something to little... Be careful, I might expel you from our little group and who would actually take you then? Little old homeless Vinnie…"
"Expel me?? I'm one of the founding members! I know every little secret of this organisation and I'm the only one left who seems to remember its real purpose! Expel me?? Who are you to expel me?? Only the leader can and Gobi will never expel me!"
"Oh..." And Lilli turned the chair to face Vincent, her fingers intertwined between each other and crossed in front of her mouth, her elbows on the chair arms, as she leaned back against the chair’s back. From above her hands, her crimson gaze focused on Vincent. Powerful, menacing and unsettling. Strangely, the rest of her facial expression seemed amused "Gobi isn't the leader anymore... I am."
"Ahahahahaah! As if! I mean...but..." But the look on Lillis face wasn't deceiving...it was easily understood as the truth. "When??"
"Oh! Didn't you get the red cloud newsletter? Ahah..." Despite joking Lilli knew she shouldn't fight him. Despite her dislike, the man was powerful and dangerous and she had just fought against Gobi. She never fully understood to what level but she wasn't stupid enough to ignore that he was indeed someone she should only face as a last resort. "Well, Vinnie boo, I have no special task for you at the moment unless you want to go help Gobi. He went on to search for an ANBU that heard what she shouldn’t have heard. You might want to help him out because she…"
"Task??? For me? Are you kidding me? I will never bow down to you! Gobi might have lost but I won't. You won't take all my hard work and flush down some metaphorical toilet! Who cares about a little insignificant ANBU?!" And before Lilli could do much, a large blast of some unseen force pushed her backwards. She barely had time to brace herself as the invisible force pushed her backwards, blasting her out of the amekage office through the window in the midst of broken glass and desk pieces. Now mid air, about 10 meters away from the tower but a good 100 meters up from the village streets down below, she strung a few hand seals and summoned a large black macaw beneath her, which served as a platform to stop her momentum and prevent her from falling into the city bellow. In the large hole left in the building was Vincent, staring at Lilli with anger.
"Hum...although it was dramatic it didn't do that much damage...invisible even to my eyes and I couldn't sense it... Senjutsu? Hum...troublesome...." She thought before she said "hum but that ANBU isn't just any ANBU..." But her enemy couldn’t hear her. He could only hear the raining and a few gibberish sounds he couldn't understand at the distance. This angered him. Was she playing with him? Mocking him? He punched forwards and a large lightning bolt rampaged towards Lilli. An unknown technique but, from the looks and feel of it, strong and dangerous. However, as it reached Lilli it simply divided it and passed to the sides of her, as if an invisible barrier surrounded her and her summon. It was then that Vincent felt the undeniable, unquestionable powerful chakra of the Uchiha Kunoichi in front of him. She was much more powerful than he ever imagined and her chakra level was higher than any uchiha he had faced so far.
"Don't fight me Vincent... Only thing you'll accomplish is the destruction of this little village..." Again, only gibberish at the distance in between the sound of falling rain. Why the hell was she mocking him???
"STOP MOCKING ME! I WILL NEVER WORK FOR YOU OR WITH YOU!"
This time, the voice was heard throughout the air and Lilli heard him loud and clear, then face palmed herself... "I've been speaking too low...he mustn't have heard anything I said..." But her macaw flapped its wings releasing a barrage of feathers that struck the building around the area Vincent was and even inside the now destroyed office. The feathers suddenly grew to the size of large humans.
"IF YOU WANT ME TO REARRANGE YOUR FACE SO BADLY YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED FOR A LITTLE TUCK HERE AND THERE" she said as she pushed her eyes back and up a bit with her fingers, and her cheeks, mimicking the effects of a lifting "BECAUSE YOU’RE BECOMING ALL SAGGY AND DROOPY! IM SURE LEAFY DOESNT LIKE THAT, NOW DOES SHE?" She yelled, hoping he would listen this time and weirdly happy with herself and her own ability to throw random offensive jokes. Any female dog would be jealous.
"DONT SPEAK OF LEAF EVER A..." But before he could finish his sentence, the large feathers glew in a bright red before exploding. The effect was so severe that the top part of the building disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris. Suddenly, from the smoke and the debris cloud, something blasted upwards. Something that Lilli had never seen before. It looked like a demon, with wings, claws and a underworldy appearance. However, it was much more like a Wolf rather than a demon. A lycanthrope it seemed. A product of legends and myths of old.
"I SHAKL KILL YOU!" Said Vincent though at that point, Lilli was unsure if it was truly her enemy or a summon he brought fourth. The only thing she knew was that the chakra level on that "thing" was rapidly rising, and she couldn't understand why. No seal was visible, no external source, nothing. Yet chakra formed inside him at such enormous speeds that she couldn't really grasp what was going on until she considered the logical explanation... "Senjutsu..." And it suddenly all fell into place... The demon in front of her was nothing more than the refined effects of natural energy rampaging inside his body and transforming it into something. She met a ninja with a similar yet seemingly unrefined ability in Amegakure. Howard. But she now knew that she was at a disadvantage. She didn't know senjutsu and she knew that to become aware of natural energy, see it or even sense it, one would need the training and the ability to do so. This meant he could attack her and she would be virtually defenceless. However, she had a strategy, one she couldn't employ mid air. It seemed that her opponent would also like to take the fight down because even with wings, it was noticeable the effort he had to spend to maintain himself airborne.
She clapped her hands and a large portal opened above her enemy. From it a large earthen lid fell, with enormous might, attempting to pin the enemy down and into the ground. But the enemy didn't move or seem phased but the attack. He simply lifted his hand and intercepted the lid, stopping it. Dramatic display of raw physical power that left Lilli surprised. She wasn't expecting such a drastic level of physical power. In the distance, she felt leafs chakra escaping the village and Gobi clashing with the two other powerful chakras. She knew he didn't have a chance. She weakened him. But she never thought someone would interfere... And now...of all times...But before she could come up with another scenario, the enemy flung the giant lid in her direction. As it was flung it started to rotate slowly in its own axis. Her macaw wasn't fast enough to dodge it with flight manoeuvrability since the lid was so big and fast. She jumped off of the bird towards the lid, releasing the bird summoning in a puff of smoke. Landing on the lid she attached herself with chakra to it and used her sharingan abilities to time her next move perfectly. She used her earth chakra and made the lid 100 times heavier. As this happened the lid plummeted to the ground at ridiculous speeds. Right before it hit the ground, Lilli jumped upwards. The collapse of the lid levelled a large area of Amegakure, clearing it as the lid scattered, destroyed, all around. This created a large dust field and allowed Lilli to land safely, supposedly unseen by her enemy, allowing her to lay a trap she had...
"You can't hide from me..." Said suddenly a voice behind her. What she felt next was a pain her new back as her enemy kicked her with ridiculous might. She was thrown 30 meters before she hit the ground, which, using her agility, she managed to do on her feet. Panting and in pain, Lilli still maintained her poker face, trying to seem unphased and even amused by all of it.
"That's what irks me more about you Lilli! You're always fake, always acting! Despite what anyone else does to you, you never seem affected! It's annoying!"
In a serious tone, not like her normal tone, Lilli replied "not everyone can give themselves the luxury of being emotional teenagers 24/7. Some people need to grow up even as kids and become able to be happy regardless of what life throws at them. Some people don't have the luxury of showing emotions to others or they risk being preyed upon. You are old... But you are still a naive child Vincent Valentine. Though I'm surprised...haven't you noticed someone missing? Isn't a particular ANBU supposed to have shown up? She must be missing you...and I know she can sense you... and you can sense her…" said Lilli, trying to capitalize on the situation and on her intel. She was always good at using personal stuff against her enemies. Always good with mental games and playful banter. Always good at emulating the perfect female canine beast.
"Leaf...what did you do to Leaf?! Where is she?!"
"I did nothing but judging from the interaction I've been feeling in the borders, she just fled the village and is now beyond your reach. And Gobi is no more."
"Borders? You mean the ANBU you were talking about a minute ago was Leaf?! You *****!"
"Hey, settle down with the name calling... I might feel offended… She knows it all... your role... mine... Gobi's... She knows the truth behind Amegakure. She overheard me and Gobi speaking in private. To be honest, I did try to kill her to prevent the secrets from coming out but Gobi stopped me... and lost... And well, the rest you can put together yourself" she said as she felt the two powerful chakras advancing into the city. She only needed to drag the fight a bit longer.
"You...you spoiled it all...you ruined what I worked so hard to accomplish...I will kill you...I will kill you right now!" And he raised his hand above his head. A large sphere of chakra materialized. Unlike a rasengan, the sphere was red and lacked movement. But Lilli could feel it was compressed and with her sharingan she could see it was actually a barrier set around a unphamtomable amount of chakra, most likely, Senjutsu Chakra. The ground beneath Vincent crumbled, crushed by the heavy chakra, forming a crater all around. He then pointed the large sphere at Lilli and the barrier opened in that direction. A beam of power chakra blasted outwards, with speeds rivaling that of a bijuudama and a power in nothing smaller; the attack was as dramatic as it was dangerous. As it was about to reach Lilli she clapped her hands and pointed her palms forwards. The technique collided with some sort of barrier that Vincent couldn't really see. But he simply fueled more chakra into the massive technique. Despite that, for some time, nothing happened. Both techniques were colliding head on with not clear sign of a winner. Then both techniques stopped. Lilli was panting slightly but so was Vincent who suddenly reverted back to his normal self.
"Seems you are at your limit, blood maiden... I’m surprised you could defend against that… "
"My limit? Ahaha! You know nothing about my limit... And that? Please… It was weaker than my blow dryer…" She replied with her ever so annoying confidence and overbearing arrogance though noticing that she was at about 15% of her normal chakra level already. And although she had her trump cards still available, she was reluctant to consider that she should use them against him. Thought he also seemed depleted himself.
"Unlike me you can't replenish your chakra..." Said her enemy as he noticed her low chakra levels. And Vincent did the confrontation handseal. Suddenly his chakra started to rise and his minor wounds to heal. His vitality, seemingly returning, slowly but surely. "Nexus thought me many things...one of which was how to create chakra within yourself..."
"Unlike me, you seem to care about all that... Vinnie boo"
"Liliana Chwan Uchiha... what a sight for sore eyes... Don't tell me you are weakening out on me..." Said a familiar voice on the distance.
"She isn't weakening...I can feel that she still has her chakra seal closed... she is still just beginning..." Said another voice.
As the two figures approached, Lilli could now recognize them. The mighty sage of wood and her blood brother, the sage of illusionary touch.
"Just in time...this was getting boring...now, be a dear brother and finish him for me?"
"No... I want to know what you did to Wesobi..." said Scorps ignoring the presence of Vincent and focusing on Lilli.
"I did nothing... I truly didn't... Aha... Or perhaps I did… Well... it's time to leave none the less...it was fun Vinnie boo... we will continue this some other time... by the way, that ring... its mine..." And suddenly, the ring in Vincent's finger started to glow and started to zap away his chakra at incredible rates. Strangely, as Vincent grew weaker, Lilli grew stronger. The chakra was being transmitted into her own ring, the master ring of akatsuki. When Vincent took the ring off, she was already fully recovered as if nothing had happened and he was drained almost completely of his vitality. Vincent’s ring puffed away as it reached the ground.
"You....!"
"Oh Vinnie...don't tell me you seriously throughout you had outsmarted me? That's ridiculous... Now, I'll be taking my leave and you guys will stay here... measuring masculine appendages as I think that's what guys like to do... Also Vinnie, be careful... My brother and the sage of hornyness over there are much stronger than me... I would run too if I were you... Ta ta!" She said as she dropped a smoke bomb and a flash bomb at the same time. From the smoke and the flash, Scorps saw a large macaw blasting upwards with ridiculous speed into the air with Lilli on its back.
“Scary…I’m going!”
“Go!”
Scorps took off, running and jumping at great speeds to follow the large black bird. But suddenly he felt a large chakra travelling behind him, an attack no doubt. As rapidly as he felt it, he also felt his friends chakra stopping it. Unphased he continued towards Lilli, attempting to reach her. “Stay safe Scary” he thought.
As Scorps took off towards Lilli, starting his pursuit, Vincent released a large burst of fire towards him. In its path a large wooden wall rose up, stopping it.
“Vincent… we are not your enemies…” said Scary
“Lilli….IS MINE!” and he clapped his hands. Two large sections of earth rose up around Scary but as they crashed, they smashed a small wooden log.
Behind Vincent, Scary’s voice whispered in his ear “We need information from her… We cannot let you kill her just like that.”
As Vincent turned around to his left, he swung his left arm to deliver a roundabout arm smash on Scary but he hit only air. Scary was 10 meters away from him.
“I’ll kill that woman…and there is nothing you can do to stop me! Now, stop these little hide and seek games and stay out of me way, old man!” Vincent tried to take off in the direction of Lilli and Scorps but a blast of a very bright, white fire passed before him, inches from his face. The heat was such that instantly a few blisters were formed on his cheeks. Even without contact, that fire burned.
“I can’t allow you to do that…”
“Then I’ll guess I’ll have to kill you…”
Vincent transformed again but this time, the beast was different. 5 times his original size, he suddenly became almost bullish in form. Horns sprouted on his head and his build was much, much bulkier than before. Instead of feet, he had hooves and his legs curved differently. He had hands but they were covered in a hardened shell, similar to the hooves on his feet and each was much bigger than normal even in comparison to his physical size. His eyes were yellow and his face had a long jaw and a snout resembling that of a bull. Minotaur was the only word that came into Scary’s mind; the legend of a half man, half bull beast. But before he couldn’t even think much about it, the beast rampaged towards him. The speed was such that it seemed out of place for such a huge body. With each step, a small crater was formed by the creature and its momentum grew. As it reached Scary, it attempted to deliver a powerful fire infused punch with his right arm. “A mistake” thought Scary. As the punch was about to connect, Scary blasted outwards all around in white flames and rose his left hand towards his enemies right hand, releasing a beam of white flames, pushing his enemy backwards and burning him severely in the process. His enemy’s right arm and shoulder were missing, as well as half his face and his body was all burned.
“You thought you could fight my fire with fire…but my fire is not a simple fire…it’s the hottest fire… White Fire…”
His enemy didn’t speak. Not because he didn’t want to but because he was missing his lower jaw. Instead of collapsing to the ground, his arm regrew rapidly and his skin healed at an astonishing rate. In moments, it was as if nothing had passed.
“I see… Nexus and his experiments and teachings… I’m sure your unique clan must have been orgasmic for him to research… *sigh* this will take longer than I thought”
And Scary clapped his hands. The enemy was suddenly skewed by countless wooden spikes which suddenly enlarged themselves to twice their size before exploding, within his enemy. “Mokuton: Kyousei Mokuzai No Jutsu!” he said before he used the second technique “Mokuton/Suiton: Hi Sugi!” With flesh and blood scattered all around, Scary was surprised that it was so easy to…
“You shouldn’t underestimate your enemy…you should know better than that old man…” said a patch of his enemies face, on the ground, comprised only of both his lips and a patch of his left cheek. Suddenly, all the blood and flesh joined together into a mushy pulp of redish tissue before reforming as Vincent, in his normal form once again. He seemed uninjured but his chakra had dropped drastically. Very, very drastically.
“W…what are you?” said Scary, completely taken off his feet by what he just witnessed. His healing ability was on a ridiculous high level making Scorps pale in comparison. Scary was considering that winning against such a foe might not be an option after all.
“I am vengeance in the flesh… And you are in my path…”
A large smelly mist suddenly burst outwards from Vincent, engulfing the field and Scary as well. It smelled like rotten eggs. And Scary had just sniffed a good portion of it.
“Shit! Its poisonous, I’m sure of it…”
“Yes, you are now dead, Sage of Wood… Meet my special element… Fluorine… an element befitting of the Sage of Medical Arts…”
“Sage of…you are a Sage??? But…”
“Well, not officially as of yet… But its just a formality. With all living Sages missing besides the ones in Akatsuki and you and Scorps, one could say I only need Xylon to proclaim me a Sage and I’m done… But that’s not a discussion for now, is it?”
Scary was rapidly cursing through several scenarios in his mind. He wasn’t good in medical ninjutsu and he had no way of flushing out poisons from his body. He was doomed. But he didn’t want to be defeated just like that. Sensing his opponent’s chakra, it was clear he didn’t want to spend more to kill Scary. He was most likely saving it to face Lilli once he left Scary behind, dead. It had been ages since Scary was so pressured. Yet, he wasn’t lost. He focused all his chakra into his index and middle finger of his right hand and rapidly pointed it forwards. An insanely fast beam of water coiled with lightning pierced through Vincent’s lower left neck and shoulder, obliterating it completely. “Dam, I missed his heart” thought Scary. Suddenly, Vincent concentrated and spiked his chakra. The mist exploded around Scary in a violent quake. As the explosion happened he tried to channel chakra into his skin to harden it and protect it but it wasn’t enough and he passed out, feeling only unmeasurable pain. The scene was unsightly. Scary was on the ground, severely injured and seemingly burned all over. His left arm, shoulder and leg were missing, and he was unconscious. In front of him, a gasping Vincent was coughing blood and on his knees, weakened and grabbing his left shoulder with his right hand. His left arm was attached to his body by a mere string of flesh, ready to fall to the ground at any time. All around, a steaming crater had formed as a result of the explosion.
“Who would have thought that I’d be injured this much by him? As expected from an Old Generation Sage… Well, I’ll just heal and…” but Vincent couldn’t heal. Was his chakra too low? No. It sould be enough to heal. Then what? He couldn’t feel the tissue but that was… “Shit…” the tissue surrounding the wound was crackling with lightning. It was all numb and paralyzed. He couldn’t heal it like that and he noticed that he spent too much chakra in the fight and never replenished it to be able to negate the lightning. And he couldn’t do so now as he was re-routing all his chakra to keep him alive “Dam you Scary!!!” he said as he coffed more blood and gasped in pain. He felt a strong chakra approaching rapidly. It was most likely Scorps. He knew he was in no shape to face anyone, let alone a fellow sage and medical ninja as himself. He took a bit of his chakra and merged with the ground, deep inside, escaping to parts unknown. As Scorps arrived, he was taken by the horror of the scene he was witnessing.
“SCARY!”
In the meanwhile...
As scorps ran behind Lilli, her bird gained more speed and rapidly started to flee away from Scorps. He had no choice. Bitting his thumb and doing a set of hand seals, he summoned a large crane beneath him, taking flight high into the sky behind Lilli.
“Grus, sorry to call upon you. I need to intercept that large Macaw”
“Sure Gigi. On it!”
So ridiculous was the speed gained that a small “pop” sound was made from the dislocation of the air around the crane. He truly was fast. In a moment they reached striking distance from Lilli and her Macaw. “I need to force her down…” he thought to himself. But how could he do that? As if he had just read his mind, Grus said “Leave it to me…” inhaling and exhaling in return a very loud, high pitched screech. “Kure-n Geijutsu: Kiai!” The Macaw suddenly puffed, leaving Lilli to plummet to the ground bellow, startled. Grus dove behind her, in a missile-like dropping dive. When Lilli was just a few meters above ground, a large “pillow” of yeast grew from the ground, forming a large cotton-like shock absorbing platform, keeping her safe from danger in her landing. Grus halted, mid air, above the menacing Kunoichi who was leg crossed, arms behind her back, staring at Scorps.
“Brother… why the long face? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you wanted to kill me… and my poor Macaw…what did you do to her?”
“She was simply reversed back…in fear… And kill you? Yeah, if it was that easy we wouldn’t be having this conversation… Where is Wesobi?”
“Wesobi this, Wesobi that… are you two a couple? I mean, I have no issue with these modern things brother but are you sure? I think you could do better…”
“Lilli, where is Wesobi?” but this time, Scorps killing intent was palpable. His chakra rouse so much that the yeast fluctuated and started to deflate as the ground around Lilli’s location fractured, such was his power and determination.
“oh my…you really are angry…” said Lilli, seemingly unaffected. This was, however, only a façade. Inside she was both intrigued and surprised that her brother became so powerful but more so that he was so determined to kill her to save his friend. She was envious but also a bit scared…could she have found her match?
“Lilli… why was it that, in Konoha, when Xylon appeared, you pretended to be surprised that I used wood? You knew fairly well that I could use it… I still have the scar in my chest to prove it…”
“Who knows? Perhaps I only wanted to play with your mind… kept you thinking about it didn’t I?”
“Lilli… you could have easily killed me in Konoha… why didn’t you?”
“…” her face showed sadness but only for a split second before it revoked back to her usual mask “Scorps, don’t read much into it… I’m bad… rotten… nothing you can do about it… I want to rule the world and rid it of weaklings like you. Simple.”
“I don’t believe it… I do believe, however, in your goodness…” a small moment of pause followed before Lilli spoke again.
“Wesobi is alive but not for long… We found out he is a decoy… She won’t show mercy. And you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You should join us instead of being in our path because our path cannot be stopped. Because you won’t be able to stop her. No one can. I’ll tell you this though… Wesobi is in Kirigakure. In a small fortress in the northern shore. Heavily guarded, the fortress is virtually impossible to breach. The barrier alone is strong enough to take barrages upon barrages of Bijuudamas and remain undamaged. It was where the Niibi Jinchuriki, The Seven Scaled Boy was kept when he rampaged.”
“…why the sudden change of heart?”
“Who knows? Perhaps I’m lying to divert your gaze from our real plans…who knows?”
“Indeed…”
Lilli stood up and took a scroll out, biting her thumb. “You should go to Scary. He isn’t fairing very well against Vincent. I can sense it.”
True enough, Scorps was too focused on Lilli to notice what was going on. Grus flapped his wings a bit stronger, lifting a bit higher into the air
“Grus, no…Lilli can’t escape! Scary will have to endure it!”
“Sacrificing friends? Not like you Scorps…” she said as prepared to spread her blood on the scroll “This is a special tag given to me by Xylon. Once my blood is smeared on it, it will teleport me to his location immediately. Before I go… I can sense it in you… I can see it with these eyes… Your body assimilated it… Didn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“About me giving you the partner to your Jinsei…Shi…Death… Mushrooms… Glad your body could take it… And that you can now use it... Take care brother…don’t get killed… and be careful of Vincent…”
As she smeared her blood in the scroll, she disappeared, without a trace.
“****! Go Grus! Lets get to Scary. His chakra is rapidly fluctuating and… I can’t feel him anymore…Grus! Hurry! Back into the village!” and the bird promptly obeyed.
Meanwhile, far away from the village in a nearby forest clearing...
Dawn was gazing upon the distance when a familiar presence approached her, fast, urgent and ever so energetic. “Tell me little one, what news does Scorps send?” she said to the tiny tiny bird of her clan. She will never fully understand why the bird never grew up like a normal crane but it was undeniable that there was no bird with better infiltration skills and flight speed than it. The little bird conveyed the message Scorps had given it to the letter before nodding and dispersing. “Akihiko, I am to bring you to McRazor in Konoha. He will give the village’s protection to you and you’ll need it as its likely that Akatsuki will send for you. In the way, you are to tell me everything you know Leaf, once again, so I can transmit that to Scorps.”
“Ok Dawn-hime. Leaf, are you and Shuck ok to travel?”
“Yes, I think so.” And as they prepared to leave, Leaf and Shuck detailed the events they witnessed in the office of the Amekage before fleeing the village. “But… Kiritsugu… What is this all about? What is this…Yokai? I can’t understand any of it…” said Leaf and she and Shuck quickly climbed on the majestic blue bird.
“Hum… guess I can tell you the story of what its all about on the way” said Kiritsugu mid climb “Lets go Dawn, fly high but keep your senses keen”
“Yes, Akihiko-dono” and the blue bird took flight towards the horizon, in the direction of Konoha.
“Well Leaf, you know the story of the Juubi and the 9 Bijuu right? And how Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki sealed the Juubi inside himself before dividing it into the 9 Bijuu right? Shinju or the God Tree as it was referred to, was the original form of the Juubi, passive, inerte, ruler of the this world. It was one of the Gods of Old, one of the creators of this world.”
“One of the…? So…there were more?”
“Exactly. Shinju was a God but not the only God. Most of the past is shrouded in myths and folklore explanations of simple things so I cannot be sure, nor can anyone. How many were there or what they were capable of doing is a mistery. The only thing we know is that the Spirit and the Phantom were both gods of that era as well. The Yokai and the Yurei. Yokai or the Phantom, is the God of Earth and Yurei or the Spirit, is the God of Heaven. Together they represent the true duality of both Light and Dark. While Shinju or the Juubi was the manifestation of both Yin (creating form from nothingness) and Yang (breathing life into form), Yurei and Yokai were each Yang (Yokai) and Yin (Yurei). Always together and always apart. Yurei appeared to be a white Tiger-like entity, though with 3 pairs of paws and a large black orb of energy in his forehead. Yokai was depicted as a black Dragon-like beast though with the body of a snake, a pair of wings, 4 short limbs with claws, adorned with a line of fur on its back and with a white orb of energy in his forehead. Both were said to be comparable to any Bijuu in size.”
“…”
“Yeah, a bit too much to take in all at once but the whole story is much bigger than that. You see, the Shinju was the creator but it was power without purpose. It created through destruction and it had no real purpose driving it. Thus its simplistic craving for those who ate its fruit later on. In reality, it couldn’t care less about anything yet wanted to destroy it all. A side effect of its abilities, the ridiculous amount of power it wielded had to be applied and destruction was what it applied it to. Before the fruit was eaten, it was not peaceful or passive; it was in a deep slumber, induced by Yurei and Yokai. Before, its said that Shinju often rampaged into the world with no purpose or reason until one day, Yurei and Yokai manipulated their essence into manipulating the Shinju’s essence (I know, redundant but these stories are often like this) and transformed it into a tree. But this wasn’t enough. The Shinju, god of creation, had its power from its unique ability to give form out of only its imagination and thoughts. Including his power, his chakra. Thus his power would never cease. It craved for more and subconsciously produced more. And that meant it could never simply be contained or paused or restraint or destroyed. As they transformed the Shinju into its tree form, negating most of its already low cognitive functions, they devised a way for it to release its power from time to time, in a harmless way, preventing the destruction of the world or its awakening. They made sure that its power slowly passed on to the ground and the earth, strengthening it by making sure its roots were buried deep into the ground. But this wasn’t enough. So, every 1000 years or so, the tree would bloom, afterwards forming a fruit which contained its power. The fruit would naturally wither and fall to the ground, infusing the world with what it contained and the tree would be kept sleeping while it produced more power. Until the fruit was consumed, this worked. The problem was what happened to Yokai and Yurei. To accomplish that, they consumed virtually all of their powers. Weakened and diminished, they were at the brink of the void when the impossible happened. Two small kids, age of 6, found them in the forest. The kids knew nothing about Gods or power. They were innocent. And in their innocence, their instinct was to help. And they extended their hand towards the gods… You must understand, however, that at that time, Gods didn’t interact with humans. Never had a God even talked to a human let alone touch them. Gods were creators, protectors and destroyers. Not equals. But something about that innocent act of extending ones hand to help moved something inside the mighty gods. They allowed the kids to touch them. And the result was something no one could predict”
“What happened?”
“Well Leaf, because the gods were weak, their essence merged with the kids. Yurei merged his body and essence with the little girl called Hana (Blossom) and Yokai merged his body and essence with the little boy called Toge (Thorn). They couldn’t control it. The life force of each kid overflowed their dyeing existence and they woke up inside the kids. The kids became the first vessels of both Yurei and Yokai. The result was similar in many aspects to a Jinchuriki though there was no sealing process or technique that forcefully contained a Bijuu inside a host human and, perhaps the biggest difference, they were intertwined with their life force. So, for millennia, Yokai and Yurei have been passed down from host to host. Or so the legend says.”
“wow…but…how come I never heard of it? Or, for that matter, anyone heard of it? Seems something hard to hide…” Dawn flew high into a rain cloud. The large drops drenched her feathers but seemingly fell as if they were covered in oil. The passengers, however, felt both the cold and the wetness of that passage and shivered.
“Sorry Akihiko-dono, Leaf-kun and Shuck-san. I couldn’t avoid it…”
“We understand Dawn, don’t worry. Are we still very far?”
“Twenty minutes from the outskirts of the village more or less”
“Good. Now, where was I? Oh, right. Even the explanation I gave you is said to be a myth; a fairy tail. Unlike Jinchurikiis, both Yōki (vessels) never showed their powers and always resided in the shadows of the Ninja World, away from the whole hidden village affairs. They were never revealed and were somehow always hidden from the world. There are many hidden ancient powers in this world… This was just one more.”
“So Rei Uchiha wants to have the power of Yokai for herself? I mean…what power exactly can these gods possess inside a human? And why haven’t they released themselves back into the real world in their original forms?”
“Well, what she may want or not I don’t know but one thing I do know: fiddling with such ancient and enormous powers is never a good thing. Yokai is the one who can breathe life into form… What that power entails I don’t know. You must understand that the Shinju was divided into 9 and each of them is as powerful as you already know and Shinju was described as being much stronger than the sum of its 9 parts. Yokai and Yurei are described as each containing virtually the same amount of power as the Shinju as a whole. Its hard to understand what is real or a myth but from what I understand of the story, its not that farfetched. The Yoki of the Yokai would be an amazingly powerful individual… As for your last question, its said that once they were merged with their first Yokis, they lost their true form. They changed. And with that change came the dependence on a vessel. Perhaps by having their essence mixed with the humans life force and soul they became alive, mortal in a sense, losing their god status. But that’s all suppositions. Its impossible to know at this point as probably only the two vessels might know the answers.”
“Still… I don’t understand… Is this Wesobi the vessel of the Yokai? If so, with so much time passed since he was abducted, haven’t they yet succeeded? I mean, how do we know Rei hasn’t extracted Yokai yet?”
“You ask questions I can’t answer Leaf. However, they are trying to extract a God who is merged with a powerful ninja. Such a feat can’t be done easily. I suspect the act of doing it requires power that one simple human doesn’t have and probably a unique set of conditions. But this is all, again, simple guess work”
“Well, if Wesobi is the vessel of the Yokai, who is the vessel of the Yurei?”
“She is…”
At the same time...
In the borders of the Fire country, north of Konoha, a beautiful, graceful, tall woman walked in a slow pace. She wore a loose black silk Kimono, tied with a broad red sash tied in her waist, with a large bow behind, just above her tights. Despite being loose and flowing with each movement she made, it let, in a very subtle manner, show her incredible figure. An hour glass shape of pure lust, curved and luxious chest with long, sculpted legs, which showed from within the Kimono as she took each step forward. A large cleavage, almost to her waist, both front and back, let a glimpse of her skin and invited lust in any who looked upon her. Her hair, incredibly white in contrast with her attire, fell in locks to her shoulders, falling above her breasts. Her eyes were of the deepest and inhuman orange ever seen, almost iridescent in their glow. Her face had a very gentle line to it and it featured a pair of full lips and a gaze capable of showing both lust and kindness. She moved slowly, swinging her hips from side to side and moving her hands in the most fluid and sensual way possible. In her hand, a simple white Katana, beautiful and deadly, with a black handle and a simple scabbard. An inhuman sight in the middle of a forest, miles away from any village. As she walked, an aura of both lust and danger but also kindness and innocence filled the area, as if she was a predator on the prowl. But she had always been like this, independent. She had always made the path the wanted to walk. But now she had to take part in the scheme of things. She had to be part of it all or all would be lost.
“Wesobi… I won’t let you die… Its time for this Quest for Light to open a New Path... The Path of Ages...”
Chapter 3 ±± A Quest for Light – The New Path±±
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This chapter is the third on the Tale of Wesobi Saga and this particular release is the final part of the 3rd Chapter which is called "A quest for Light". I recommend listening to the music on each part as you read on.
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As Scorps kneeled down next to Scary's body, desperation took over him. The events that had just passed still seemed somewhat of a dream to him. It was all so fast and unreal he couldn't yet fully understand. How could both of them have been so foolish and arrogant that they'd allow themselves to fall under such a trap?
"Hang in there scary! Scary? SCARY?! ****" he said as he focused on using his chakra to scan his friend’s body. "Dam... He lost his right leg, below the knee, his whole left arm and his left lung are gone along with most of the rib cage. His heart is there but it has a tremendous tear and is rapidly dyeing out!!!! His chakra is at 2%... ****! Think! Think! Wait.." A foreign substance coursed through Scary's body "What is this? It seems like...fluorine? That Vincent! Always with the cowardly moves...poison! But then it means that... **** **** **** ****!!!! Think! think! I have 87% of my chakra left that means I can.... Dam! Even at full strength I can't heal scary fast enough! I need more chakra and I need someway to remove the fluorine from his body. But how? Dam I can't think straight! Don't die on me scary! Please don't die!" Tears ran over Scorps cheeks as he desperately tried to find a solution in his mind. His medical arts, while of a high level, were not enough, in his mind, to ensure he could save scary.
"Seikakuna denryoku... Watashi no chikara!" (Power…you need my power) Echoed a deep voice inside scorps.
"If I use your power, there is no turning back... You won't be safe...I won't be safe... And Wesobi might have given his life for nothing..."
"Anata wa hokanohito no yōna yowaide wa arimasen...To dare ga watashi no tame ni shinu koto o nozonde imasen...Kyōsei-teki ni sanka shi, kōdō o toru tame no jikan!" (You are not weak like the others…and I don’t want anyone else dyeing for me… Its time we joined forces and act!)
"I don't have any alternative do I? But still, how? I mean, chakra alone won't do the trick."
“Watashi wa anata ni atarashī gijutsu o oshieru. Shikashi, soreha sukuide wa arimasen. Kare wa hantaisoku ni sudeni aru to darekaga ōkina gisei o hipparu koto ga dekiru baai ni nomi.... Niku no gisei... Anata. Anata ga toru koto ni narudarou nani no ichibu o toru hitsuyō ga arimasu... Kugyō gyaku...” (I’ll teach you a new technique. But it is not a salvation. He is already on the other side and he can only be pulled back if a sacrifice is made .... A sacrifice of the flesh ... You… You will have to take on yourself part of what you're going to take from him ... Penance reverse ...)
"That can kill me...and you.... Ok...are you ready?"
“Hai.. Anata no tame ni, kare no tame ni...” (Yes…for you and for him…)
"..."
As Scorps received the instructions on how to perform the forbidden technique inside his mind, he pressed his right palm on scary's chest and his left palm on his own chest. Suddenly, a burst of white chakra seemingly erupted from scorps body. The effect was so dramatic that the ground itself seemed pressured by the immense unknown energy. The energy seemed to endlessly surge from scorps until it suddenly stopped, leaving him and scary in the middle of a sphere of light. Scorps now seemed made of that white energy, almost ethereal, though different. Wings sprouted from his back and he seemed to possess a tail. His hands had a more claw like appearance and his face had a feral, almost animalistic set of features to it. As this happened he said "Ribāsu kugyō... Muryōdesu!" (Inverse Penance…Release!) and suddenly Scary's body started to regenerate, his vitality seemingly returning to him almost in a flash. His chakra pool was being restored, his lost arm regrouping at a fast pace. As soon as he was recovered, it all ended. Scorps returned to his original self in a blink of an eye as the transformation ended just like that. Scary was recovered and moved slightly, regaining some of his conscience.
As scary opened his eyes, he could see his friends eyes tearing up "Scorps...w…what...how?" But before he could say much, in Scorps lips a small smile formed and suddenly his left arm, left leg, and a big chunk of the left side of his chest simply withered into a decayed, dried up mushy tissue, before detaching and collapsing to the ground, followed by Scorps body soon after. "Why?!?! What did you do? I was dead and you brought me back right?! You brought me back at what cost?! Why?? What did you use? Scorps!" Panic was patent in scary's words and it was time to actually panic at the thought of losing a friend.
"You are my b…best friend... I couldn't let you die...I took your injuries upon myself... She helped me... But it seems we both underestimated the effects of the technique…" Said Scorps in an increasingly weak tone... The plan had backfired...he could feel his strength leaving him in waves at frightening speeds. For a moment he thought he could heal himself after taking into him the wounds of his friend but the reality set in. The bond with Her was not perfect enough for enough chakra to pass and help him. Both were weakening at each second that passed and soon they would both perish, however... "I should still have enough chakra to destroy this wretched village..."
"**** you if you think I'll let you die!" Scary stringed few hand seals and said "Genjutsu: Omoi no Kamui! Ill force you to save yourself! If you have enough chakra to destroy this wretched place, go to hell if you think for one second that I believe you don't have enough chakra to save yourself!"
"Y…Yamato...if I spent my chakra to try and save myself but I fail… I…it will all go to waste if you force me and I fail... and then we will have accomplished nothing... You need to survive and go save this world...this goes beyond me, you or even Wesobi...you need to take her upon your own body you..."
"Shut up...you are so annoying and you’re not letting me ... Wait...what? Who is...but how.....?"
"Watashi wa atode setsumei shimasu... Watashi wa sore o naosu koto ga dekimasendeshita... Watashi wa jūbun ni chakura o ataeru koto wa dekimasen... Anata suru koto ga... Watashi wa karōjite hoji suru koto ga dekimasu..” (I'll explain later ... I could not heal him ... I cannot give him enough chakra ... it has to be you ... I can barely hold him here...)
"But how? I mean...so...Ok... Now is not the timeWe’ll talk about it later…"
And as scary put his hand on Scorps chest, he felt his friends chakra connect with his own, overflowing and overbearing for him to negate in such a weakened state.
"Scary...I just saved you...don't..."
"So you were hiding this technique...it won't heal it all but it will reform your lost body parts and that should be enough..."
" Hai ni narimasu” (Yes, it will…)
"No scary! You'll die if you make me use that while you're so near to me!..."
"Shut the **** up! God! I am the one who decides on what to do with my own life! Now... Ibiton: Gozentaru Dou Lucifer!" And suddenly Scorps body turned into pure decay flames, before reforming uninjured and apparently undamaged "it was but a moment but it should have been enough...I cannot restore your chakra though since with that I'm about out myself...same with you...I'd say 2 to 3% each...which means... “Chakura Setsuzoku : Kai!!” (Chakra link: release!)" And as scary took his hand out of scorps chest, it looked burned but functional. Unlike a normal burn wound, though, where the blood vessels are cauterised and don’t bleed, this wound was bleeding heavily and the tissues seemed almost half digested as scary tore a part of his shirt and wrapped it around his hand. Scorps was panting heavily, feeling the exhaustion of what he just did taking over his body. His chakra was not regenerating at its normal pace and he knew he still had internal injuries that the nature of the simplistic technique scary forced him to use hadn't healed. But he was alive.
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"scary...your hand...Let me heal it... I..." But what he felt was pain as a fist slammed into his face
"never do that again...you lost sight of what is important and I might have been unable to save you...or worse, we could have both died! And to have been hiding that from me???? So what are we going after Wesobi for if you are the real vessel? Since when by the way? I was there when she merged with Wesobi! We were both there!!! She picked Wesobi!!!! Scorps.... I'm your friend but to sacrifice my life I must know for what or for whom I'm fighting for!" Scary was white and pale, his hair seemed to have lost colour and he was sweating and panting heavily. "We will discuss this later though... now, any ideas on how to leave this wretched place? I don't assume you are in any condition to summon one of your cranes, are you?"
Feeling embarrassed, Scorps looked down at the floor as he replied "No...I couldn't summon any useful ones with my chakra level...still, there are no ninjas around since the fight started. I can't feel any chakras nearby. Not even civilians. I think we should proceed on foot to the border ASAP. It's our best option...on the way we should be able to recover our chakras and we should reach the border with about 20% each which should allow us to travel safely and fast"
"A keen strategist mind as always... Assuming no one comes... By the way, any idea on what was that about? I still can't understand why would Vincent try to beat Lilli and attack us for pursuing her..." Both of them stood up, with difficulty and started walking as fast as possible towards the eastern border, the one closest to them.
"Scary, everyone in akatsuki only wants power… Vincent was a high ranked member of akatsuki. Some say he was, at some point, the leader. He was amekage and he was the one that sheltered the organisation inside the village when it was founded. I’d go as far as to say it was founded specifically to shelter akatsuki... Lilli taking over should have been like a huge slap on Vincent. He and her...well, they never clicked and, from what we pierced together, Lilli entered akatsuki and without the knowledge of Gobi or Vincent, managed to orchestrate all of this from the inside and take over, pulling most of the organisation to her side. They are too similar to actually be compatible, which means that one cannot rule over the other. Taking that premise into practice, Vincent would either leave or try to beat Lilli and become leader himself, kicking her out... We...well, we aren't in either of those sides, so we were thorns he needed to clear before he could proceed with anymore actions. And that was enough for her to escape ever so elegantly…"
"As always… I don't know Vincent that well, nor Lilli for that matter, outside from the mask she put up to actually interact with us in former inter village affairs. She is your blood sister and was Izuna's friend, although I don't think either of you fully trusted her. I think the moment she attacked you outside the village with that strange power was the turning point… Awakening her Kaleidoscope brought forth the madness and darkness within her…"
"Well, when Caliburn took her to kirigakure after her eyes initially woke up, I was but a child and so was she. I took shelter in Konoha and from that age our contact was sporadic and very superficial. I wanted to believe she was the child I grew up with but deep down I knew that things had changed when she got to kiri. The death of her parents was a deep shock to her. One she never fully came to terms with. When we finally met, years later, in the outskirts of konoha and I showed her how much I had grown and that I could use Wood Release, she flipped. She went mad and attacked me, trying to mimic that power. The result was that…thing… She left me for dead and ran… Deep down I know she didn’t intend for it to go that way but her envy for my newfound power…it was too much… "
"Hum... Vincent's past, from what I know, is also dark and somewhat mysterious. little is known of him before he became nexus pupil. once he did, he was his most uncompromising one. He did all he could to learn as much as he could from nexus, even using somewhat "dirty" tactics at time... That’s the main reason many dislike him. all he did during that time was with the sole purpose of attaining knowledge and power. other students hated him but nexus seemed to like his tenacity. Then one day, nexus wanted him dead and issued a bounty on his head. soon after he joined akatsuki. The in between is a mystery. I think he might have gotten close to nexus to learn the secrets behind nexus power... And might or must have done something that would count, in nexus eyes, as betrayal. “
Scorps stopped. Hazed, weakened and trembling, he was a mess but there was something he needed to say to his friend. “Scary, Lilli told me where Wesobi is…or at least I think she did…she might be trying to fool us but…It felt real and honest… She said he’s being held in Kirigakure... I don’t know Scary… She seemed honest…”
“You, better than anyone should know not to trust her. However, we don’t really have much choice. In our quest for light we haven’t really accomplished much have we? We’ve been easily defeated every time, we lost Izuna and we still haven’t gotten hold of Wesobi… And I’m still out of the loop of why Yokai is inside you.”
“Well, I think its time you know it all… And its not only that you don’t know why she is inside me…its also that you don’t know what she is…”
“Hum… this feels like a big flashback coming up… We should do it some place else…”
"Agreed. Let's go. We shouldn't stay here more than the bare minimum amount of time..."
Scary faced forward before walking he put his hand on scorps shoulder and looked into his eyes with a very serious look "don't ever throw your life away for my sake… ever again..."
"And I’d say the same to you...yet...does it matter what we say if in the end we won't follow through with it?"
"Humpf...Guess this marks the end of our quest for Light... The new path begins..."
"The path to the unknown... Let's keep going..."
A few moments before they entered the village...
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As Scary and Scorps approached the village, walking through the water patch outside it, they couldn’t help but wonder what they’d find inside. They were both supressing their chakras to the mass, to try and get some surprise effect on their approach, when Scary stopped and put his arm in front of Scorps, stopping him as well.
“What is it?”
“I feel something… Take a look with your Byakugan”
“Ok…” said Scorps, activating his implanted eye “A barrier…a huge barrier. It envelops all of the village and spans even underground. Spherical and apparently strong.”
“I figured as much… Thought I thought that by defeating Gobi, the barrier would dispel... I assumed he was the one sustaining it.” said Scary as he threw a kunai forward. The kunai collapsed with the barrier and manifested it for a second, before falling to the ground.
“Can you deactivate it? I’m not very skilled with barriers…”
“I think so…” Scary approached the barrier and placed his left hand on its surface while doing the confrontation handseal with his right hand. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he started to focus a large amount of chakra. “Seems like the only way to pass through it is which a special talisman tag. Dispelling it is easy though not for average ninjas. It will take just…hum…this… KAI!” and the barrier dispelled itself.
“Wow…that was surprinsingly easy…”
“Not really. That type of barrier is sustained by chakra crystals which can fracture if they become overloaded with chakra. That’s why they have a built in protection. If you manage to overload it, to protect the crystals, the barrier dispels itself. This way you don’t have to rebuild the whole system everytime someone breaches through it.”
“Hum… interesting… then you simply overpowered it? Guess it was a weak barrier then…ahah”
“It took about 3/7ths of my chakra to overpower it”
“…” Scorps was surprised. He knew first hand the amazing power his friend wielded and his uncomprisingly large vitality, chakra pool and will power. To say it took almost half of it to overcome the barrier was a clear statement of its power.
“I can’t sense many chakras in the village” said Scary as he started walking towards the shore of the village, a few meters away
“I can see about 70 chakras in the village, all in the outskirts, moving outwards, as if escaping the village. All ninjas, jounin rank and below. Only stronger chakras are 2 in the second highest tower where… oh… Its Lilli and… I can’t see the other one clearly such is the amount of chakra he is displacing… I think its Vincent”
“What?! So Gobi was right, Lilli was still here…”
“Yes, she seems to be fighting Vincent mid air in the middle of the village. Since there is no one nearby we should intercept them. We need Lilli’s information!”
“Still, keep your eye out for interference… We are in the heart of Akatsuki’s home…”
Both ninjas quickly made their way through the village streets towards Lilli and Vincent’s location, rapidly approaching them while wondering, on the way, why the village seemed deserted…
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A few minutes before...
Lilli was in the amekage office, sitting in Gobi’s chair so pleased with her self she couldn't help but smile and giggle. Turning the chair around she faced the large window which was behind it and from which she had a view of most of Amegakure. In the reflex in the glass she saw her smirking face.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" She yelled, startled at what looked like a clown painted by a 3 year old. "Dam...is this what I look like when I'm smirking? Or am I smiling? " she asked her self before starting to do some faces towards the reflection in attempts to make sure that next time she laughed she wouldn't scare even herself...though if used correctly perhaps it could be a battle technique. Lost in her thoughts and in her quest for beauty, Lilli could feel two large chakras outside the village, one of them very familiar, the other not so much. They approached the fleeing ninja she had ordered to capture and Gobi’s squad. "Interesting" she thought when suddenly the door of Gobi’s...hum...her office opened behind her. She couldn't feel any chakra but the presence was ominous. Dangerously ominous.
"Vinnie-boo, came to visit Gobi?" She said from behind the tall chair, without turning around.
"Lilli... I thought I felt someone powerful...guess I was wrong...where is Gobi and what are you doing here? Do you mind getting out of that chair by the way? It's not yours..."
"Vinnie Vinnie...ever so nice... Now that we belong to the same organisation, we should try to treat each other better, don't you think?"
"No, I don't. Where is Gobi? And get out of that chair..."
"Oh my lord, aren't we getting all worked up over something to little... Be careful, I might expel you from our little group and who would actually take you then? Little old homeless Vinnie…"
"Expel me?? I'm one of the founding members! I know every little secret of this organisation and I'm the only one left who seems to remember its real purpose! Expel me?? Who are you to expel me?? Only the leader can and Gobi will never expel me!"
"Oh..." And Lilli turned the chair to face Vincent, her fingers intertwined between each other and crossed in front of her mouth, her elbows on the chair arms, as she leaned back against the chair’s back. From above her hands, her crimson gaze focused on Vincent. Powerful, menacing and unsettling. Strangely, the rest of her facial expression seemed amused "Gobi isn't the leader anymore... I am."
"Ahahahahaah! As if! I mean...but..." But the look on Lillis face wasn't deceiving...it was easily understood as the truth. "When??"
"Oh! Didn't you get the red cloud newsletter? Ahah..." Despite joking Lilli knew she shouldn't fight him. Despite her dislike, the man was powerful and dangerous and she had just fought against Gobi. She never fully understood to what level but she wasn't stupid enough to ignore that he was indeed someone she should only face as a last resort. "Well, Vinnie boo, I have no special task for you at the moment unless you want to go help Gobi. He went on to search for an ANBU that heard what she shouldn’t have heard. You might want to help him out because she…"
"Task??? For me? Are you kidding me? I will never bow down to you! Gobi might have lost but I won't. You won't take all my hard work and flush down some metaphorical toilet! Who cares about a little insignificant ANBU?!" And before Lilli could do much, a large blast of some unseen force pushed her backwards. She barely had time to brace herself as the invisible force pushed her backwards, blasting her out of the amekage office through the window in the midst of broken glass and desk pieces. Now mid air, about 10 meters away from the tower but a good 100 meters up from the village streets down below, she strung a few hand seals and summoned a large black macaw beneath her, which served as a platform to stop her momentum and prevent her from falling into the city bellow. In the large hole left in the building was Vincent, staring at Lilli with anger.
"Hum...although it was dramatic it didn't do that much damage...invisible even to my eyes and I couldn't sense it... Senjutsu? Hum...troublesome...." She thought before she said "hum but that ANBU isn't just any ANBU..." But her enemy couldn’t hear her. He could only hear the raining and a few gibberish sounds he couldn't understand at the distance. This angered him. Was she playing with him? Mocking him? He punched forwards and a large lightning bolt rampaged towards Lilli. An unknown technique but, from the looks and feel of it, strong and dangerous. However, as it reached Lilli it simply divided it and passed to the sides of her, as if an invisible barrier surrounded her and her summon. It was then that Vincent felt the undeniable, unquestionable powerful chakra of the Uchiha Kunoichi in front of him. She was much more powerful than he ever imagined and her chakra level was higher than any uchiha he had faced so far.
"Don't fight me Vincent... Only thing you'll accomplish is the destruction of this little village..." Again, only gibberish at the distance in between the sound of falling rain. Why the hell was she mocking him???
"STOP MOCKING ME! I WILL NEVER WORK FOR YOU OR WITH YOU!"
This time, the voice was heard throughout the air and Lilli heard him loud and clear, then face palmed herself... "I've been speaking too low...he mustn't have heard anything I said..." But her macaw flapped its wings releasing a barrage of feathers that struck the building around the area Vincent was and even inside the now destroyed office. The feathers suddenly grew to the size of large humans.
"IF YOU WANT ME TO REARRANGE YOUR FACE SO BADLY YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED FOR A LITTLE TUCK HERE AND THERE" she said as she pushed her eyes back and up a bit with her fingers, and her cheeks, mimicking the effects of a lifting "BECAUSE YOU’RE BECOMING ALL SAGGY AND DROOPY! IM SURE LEAFY DOESNT LIKE THAT, NOW DOES SHE?" She yelled, hoping he would listen this time and weirdly happy with herself and her own ability to throw random offensive jokes. Any female dog would be jealous.
"DONT SPEAK OF LEAF EVER A..." But before he could finish his sentence, the large feathers glew in a bright red before exploding. The effect was so severe that the top part of the building disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris. Suddenly, from the smoke and the debris cloud, something blasted upwards. Something that Lilli had never seen before. It looked like a demon, with wings, claws and a underworldy appearance. However, it was much more like a Wolf rather than a demon. A lycanthrope it seemed. A product of legends and myths of old.
"I SHAKL KILL YOU!" Said Vincent though at that point, Lilli was unsure if it was truly her enemy or a summon he brought fourth. The only thing she knew was that the chakra level on that "thing" was rapidly rising, and she couldn't understand why. No seal was visible, no external source, nothing. Yet chakra formed inside him at such enormous speeds that she couldn't really grasp what was going on until she considered the logical explanation... "Senjutsu..." And it suddenly all fell into place... The demon in front of her was nothing more than the refined effects of natural energy rampaging inside his body and transforming it into something. She met a ninja with a similar yet seemingly unrefined ability in Amegakure. Howard. But she now knew that she was at a disadvantage. She didn't know senjutsu and she knew that to become aware of natural energy, see it or even sense it, one would need the training and the ability to do so. This meant he could attack her and she would be virtually defenceless. However, she had a strategy, one she couldn't employ mid air. It seemed that her opponent would also like to take the fight down because even with wings, it was noticeable the effort he had to spend to maintain himself airborne.
She clapped her hands and a large portal opened above her enemy. From it a large earthen lid fell, with enormous might, attempting to pin the enemy down and into the ground. But the enemy didn't move or seem phased but the attack. He simply lifted his hand and intercepted the lid, stopping it. Dramatic display of raw physical power that left Lilli surprised. She wasn't expecting such a drastic level of physical power. In the distance, she felt leafs chakra escaping the village and Gobi clashing with the two other powerful chakras. She knew he didn't have a chance. She weakened him. But she never thought someone would interfere... And now...of all times...But before she could come up with another scenario, the enemy flung the giant lid in her direction. As it was flung it started to rotate slowly in its own axis. Her macaw wasn't fast enough to dodge it with flight manoeuvrability since the lid was so big and fast. She jumped off of the bird towards the lid, releasing the bird summoning in a puff of smoke. Landing on the lid she attached herself with chakra to it and used her sharingan abilities to time her next move perfectly. She used her earth chakra and made the lid 100 times heavier. As this happened the lid plummeted to the ground at ridiculous speeds. Right before it hit the ground, Lilli jumped upwards. The collapse of the lid levelled a large area of Amegakure, clearing it as the lid scattered, destroyed, all around. This created a large dust field and allowed Lilli to land safely, supposedly unseen by her enemy, allowing her to lay a trap she had...
"You can't hide from me..." Said suddenly a voice behind her. What she felt next was a pain her new back as her enemy kicked her with ridiculous might. She was thrown 30 meters before she hit the ground, which, using her agility, she managed to do on her feet. Panting and in pain, Lilli still maintained her poker face, trying to seem unphased and even amused by all of it.
"That's what irks me more about you Lilli! You're always fake, always acting! Despite what anyone else does to you, you never seem affected! It's annoying!"
In a serious tone, not like her normal tone, Lilli replied "not everyone can give themselves the luxury of being emotional teenagers 24/7. Some people need to grow up even as kids and become able to be happy regardless of what life throws at them. Some people don't have the luxury of showing emotions to others or they risk being preyed upon. You are old... But you are still a naive child Vincent Valentine. Though I'm surprised...haven't you noticed someone missing? Isn't a particular ANBU supposed to have shown up? She must be missing you...and I know she can sense you... and you can sense her…" said Lilli, trying to capitalize on the situation and on her intel. She was always good at using personal stuff against her enemies. Always good with mental games and playful banter. Always good at emulating the perfect female canine beast.
"Leaf...what did you do to Leaf?! Where is she?!"
"I did nothing but judging from the interaction I've been feeling in the borders, she just fled the village and is now beyond your reach. And Gobi is no more."
"Borders? You mean the ANBU you were talking about a minute ago was Leaf?! You *****!"
"Hey, settle down with the name calling... I might feel offended… She knows it all... your role... mine... Gobi's... She knows the truth behind Amegakure. She overheard me and Gobi speaking in private. To be honest, I did try to kill her to prevent the secrets from coming out but Gobi stopped me... and lost... And well, the rest you can put together yourself" she said as she felt the two powerful chakras advancing into the city. She only needed to drag the fight a bit longer.
"You...you spoiled it all...you ruined what I worked so hard to accomplish...I will kill you...I will kill you right now!" And he raised his hand above his head. A large sphere of chakra materialized. Unlike a rasengan, the sphere was red and lacked movement. But Lilli could feel it was compressed and with her sharingan she could see it was actually a barrier set around a unphamtomable amount of chakra, most likely, Senjutsu Chakra. The ground beneath Vincent crumbled, crushed by the heavy chakra, forming a crater all around. He then pointed the large sphere at Lilli and the barrier opened in that direction. A beam of power chakra blasted outwards, with speeds rivaling that of a bijuudama and a power in nothing smaller; the attack was as dramatic as it was dangerous. As it was about to reach Lilli she clapped her hands and pointed her palms forwards. The technique collided with some sort of barrier that Vincent couldn't really see. But he simply fueled more chakra into the massive technique. Despite that, for some time, nothing happened. Both techniques were colliding head on with not clear sign of a winner. Then both techniques stopped. Lilli was panting slightly but so was Vincent who suddenly reverted back to his normal self.
"Seems you are at your limit, blood maiden... I’m surprised you could defend against that… "
"My limit? Ahaha! You know nothing about my limit... And that? Please… It was weaker than my blow dryer…" She replied with her ever so annoying confidence and overbearing arrogance though noticing that she was at about 15% of her normal chakra level already. And although she had her trump cards still available, she was reluctant to consider that she should use them against him. Thought he also seemed depleted himself.
"Unlike me you can't replenish your chakra..." Said her enemy as he noticed her low chakra levels. And Vincent did the confrontation handseal. Suddenly his chakra started to rise and his minor wounds to heal. His vitality, seemingly returning, slowly but surely. "Nexus thought me many things...one of which was how to create chakra within yourself..."
"Unlike me, you seem to care about all that... Vinnie boo"
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"Liliana Chwan Uchiha... what a sight for sore eyes... Don't tell me you are weakening out on me..." Said a familiar voice on the distance.
"She isn't weakening...I can feel that she still has her chakra seal closed... she is still just beginning..." Said another voice.
As the two figures approached, Lilli could now recognize them. The mighty sage of wood and her blood brother, the sage of illusionary touch.
"Just in time...this was getting boring...now, be a dear brother and finish him for me?"
"No... I want to know what you did to Wesobi..." said Scorps ignoring the presence of Vincent and focusing on Lilli.
"I did nothing... I truly didn't... Aha... Or perhaps I did… Well... it's time to leave none the less...it was fun Vinnie boo... we will continue this some other time... by the way, that ring... its mine..." And suddenly, the ring in Vincent's finger started to glow and started to zap away his chakra at incredible rates. Strangely, as Vincent grew weaker, Lilli grew stronger. The chakra was being transmitted into her own ring, the master ring of akatsuki. When Vincent took the ring off, she was already fully recovered as if nothing had happened and he was drained almost completely of his vitality. Vincent’s ring puffed away as it reached the ground.
"You....!"
"Oh Vinnie...don't tell me you seriously throughout you had outsmarted me? That's ridiculous... Now, I'll be taking my leave and you guys will stay here... measuring masculine appendages as I think that's what guys like to do... Also Vinnie, be careful... My brother and the sage of hornyness over there are much stronger than me... I would run too if I were you... Ta ta!" She said as she dropped a smoke bomb and a flash bomb at the same time. From the smoke and the flash, Scorps saw a large macaw blasting upwards with ridiculous speed into the air with Lilli on its back.
“Scary…I’m going!”
“Go!”
Scorps took off, running and jumping at great speeds to follow the large black bird. But suddenly he felt a large chakra travelling behind him, an attack no doubt. As rapidly as he felt it, he also felt his friends chakra stopping it. Unphased he continued towards Lilli, attempting to reach her. “Stay safe Scary” he thought.
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As Scorps took off towards Lilli, starting his pursuit, Vincent released a large burst of fire towards him. In its path a large wooden wall rose up, stopping it.
“Vincent… we are not your enemies…” said Scary
“Lilli….IS MINE!” and he clapped his hands. Two large sections of earth rose up around Scary but as they crashed, they smashed a small wooden log.
Behind Vincent, Scary’s voice whispered in his ear “We need information from her… We cannot let you kill her just like that.”
As Vincent turned around to his left, he swung his left arm to deliver a roundabout arm smash on Scary but he hit only air. Scary was 10 meters away from him.
“I’ll kill that woman…and there is nothing you can do to stop me! Now, stop these little hide and seek games and stay out of me way, old man!” Vincent tried to take off in the direction of Lilli and Scorps but a blast of a very bright, white fire passed before him, inches from his face. The heat was such that instantly a few blisters were formed on his cheeks. Even without contact, that fire burned.
“I can’t allow you to do that…”
“Then I’ll guess I’ll have to kill you…”
Vincent transformed again but this time, the beast was different. 5 times his original size, he suddenly became almost bullish in form. Horns sprouted on his head and his build was much, much bulkier than before. Instead of feet, he had hooves and his legs curved differently. He had hands but they were covered in a hardened shell, similar to the hooves on his feet and each was much bigger than normal even in comparison to his physical size. His eyes were yellow and his face had a long jaw and a snout resembling that of a bull. Minotaur was the only word that came into Scary’s mind; the legend of a half man, half bull beast. But before he couldn’t even think much about it, the beast rampaged towards him. The speed was such that it seemed out of place for such a huge body. With each step, a small crater was formed by the creature and its momentum grew. As it reached Scary, it attempted to deliver a powerful fire infused punch with his right arm. “A mistake” thought Scary. As the punch was about to connect, Scary blasted outwards all around in white flames and rose his left hand towards his enemies right hand, releasing a beam of white flames, pushing his enemy backwards and burning him severely in the process. His enemy’s right arm and shoulder were missing, as well as half his face and his body was all burned.
“You thought you could fight my fire with fire…but my fire is not a simple fire…it’s the hottest fire… White Fire…”
His enemy didn’t speak. Not because he didn’t want to but because he was missing his lower jaw. Instead of collapsing to the ground, his arm regrew rapidly and his skin healed at an astonishing rate. In moments, it was as if nothing had passed.
“I see… Nexus and his experiments and teachings… I’m sure your unique clan must have been orgasmic for him to research… *sigh* this will take longer than I thought”
And Scary clapped his hands. The enemy was suddenly skewed by countless wooden spikes which suddenly enlarged themselves to twice their size before exploding, within his enemy. “Mokuton: Kyousei Mokuzai No Jutsu!” he said before he used the second technique “Mokuton/Suiton: Hi Sugi!” With flesh and blood scattered all around, Scary was surprised that it was so easy to…
“You shouldn’t underestimate your enemy…you should know better than that old man…” said a patch of his enemies face, on the ground, comprised only of both his lips and a patch of his left cheek. Suddenly, all the blood and flesh joined together into a mushy pulp of redish tissue before reforming as Vincent, in his normal form once again. He seemed uninjured but his chakra had dropped drastically. Very, very drastically.
“W…what are you?” said Scary, completely taken off his feet by what he just witnessed. His healing ability was on a ridiculous high level making Scorps pale in comparison. Scary was considering that winning against such a foe might not be an option after all.
“I am vengeance in the flesh… And you are in my path…”
A large smelly mist suddenly burst outwards from Vincent, engulfing the field and Scary as well. It smelled like rotten eggs. And Scary had just sniffed a good portion of it.
“Shit! Its poisonous, I’m sure of it…”
“Yes, you are now dead, Sage of Wood… Meet my special element… Fluorine… an element befitting of the Sage of Medical Arts…”
“Sage of…you are a Sage??? But…”
“Well, not officially as of yet… But its just a formality. With all living Sages missing besides the ones in Akatsuki and you and Scorps, one could say I only need Xylon to proclaim me a Sage and I’m done… But that’s not a discussion for now, is it?”
Scary was rapidly cursing through several scenarios in his mind. He wasn’t good in medical ninjutsu and he had no way of flushing out poisons from his body. He was doomed. But he didn’t want to be defeated just like that. Sensing his opponent’s chakra, it was clear he didn’t want to spend more to kill Scary. He was most likely saving it to face Lilli once he left Scary behind, dead. It had been ages since Scary was so pressured. Yet, he wasn’t lost. He focused all his chakra into his index and middle finger of his right hand and rapidly pointed it forwards. An insanely fast beam of water coiled with lightning pierced through Vincent’s lower left neck and shoulder, obliterating it completely. “Dam, I missed his heart” thought Scary. Suddenly, Vincent concentrated and spiked his chakra. The mist exploded around Scary in a violent quake. As the explosion happened he tried to channel chakra into his skin to harden it and protect it but it wasn’t enough and he passed out, feeling only unmeasurable pain. The scene was unsightly. Scary was on the ground, severely injured and seemingly burned all over. His left arm, shoulder and leg were missing, and he was unconscious. In front of him, a gasping Vincent was coughing blood and on his knees, weakened and grabbing his left shoulder with his right hand. His left arm was attached to his body by a mere string of flesh, ready to fall to the ground at any time. All around, a steaming crater had formed as a result of the explosion.
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“Who would have thought that I’d be injured this much by him? As expected from an Old Generation Sage… Well, I’ll just heal and…” but Vincent couldn’t heal. Was his chakra too low? No. It sould be enough to heal. Then what? He couldn’t feel the tissue but that was… “Shit…” the tissue surrounding the wound was crackling with lightning. It was all numb and paralyzed. He couldn’t heal it like that and he noticed that he spent too much chakra in the fight and never replenished it to be able to negate the lightning. And he couldn’t do so now as he was re-routing all his chakra to keep him alive “Dam you Scary!!!” he said as he coffed more blood and gasped in pain. He felt a strong chakra approaching rapidly. It was most likely Scorps. He knew he was in no shape to face anyone, let alone a fellow sage and medical ninja as himself. He took a bit of his chakra and merged with the ground, deep inside, escaping to parts unknown. As Scorps arrived, he was taken by the horror of the scene he was witnessing.
“SCARY!”
In the meanwhile...
As scorps ran behind Lilli, her bird gained more speed and rapidly started to flee away from Scorps. He had no choice. Bitting his thumb and doing a set of hand seals, he summoned a large crane beneath him, taking flight high into the sky behind Lilli.
“Grus, sorry to call upon you. I need to intercept that large Macaw”
“Sure Gigi. On it!”
So ridiculous was the speed gained that a small “pop” sound was made from the dislocation of the air around the crane. He truly was fast. In a moment they reached striking distance from Lilli and her Macaw. “I need to force her down…” he thought to himself. But how could he do that? As if he had just read his mind, Grus said “Leave it to me…” inhaling and exhaling in return a very loud, high pitched screech. “Kure-n Geijutsu: Kiai!” The Macaw suddenly puffed, leaving Lilli to plummet to the ground bellow, startled. Grus dove behind her, in a missile-like dropping dive. When Lilli was just a few meters above ground, a large “pillow” of yeast grew from the ground, forming a large cotton-like shock absorbing platform, keeping her safe from danger in her landing. Grus halted, mid air, above the menacing Kunoichi who was leg crossed, arms behind her back, staring at Scorps.
“Brother… why the long face? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you wanted to kill me… and my poor Macaw…what did you do to her?”
“She was simply reversed back…in fear… And kill you? Yeah, if it was that easy we wouldn’t be having this conversation… Where is Wesobi?”
“Wesobi this, Wesobi that… are you two a couple? I mean, I have no issue with these modern things brother but are you sure? I think you could do better…”
“Lilli, where is Wesobi?” but this time, Scorps killing intent was palpable. His chakra rouse so much that the yeast fluctuated and started to deflate as the ground around Lilli’s location fractured, such was his power and determination.
“oh my…you really are angry…” said Lilli, seemingly unaffected. This was, however, only a façade. Inside she was both intrigued and surprised that her brother became so powerful but more so that he was so determined to kill her to save his friend. She was envious but also a bit scared…could she have found her match?
“Lilli… why was it that, in Konoha, when Xylon appeared, you pretended to be surprised that I used wood? You knew fairly well that I could use it… I still have the scar in my chest to prove it…”
“Who knows? Perhaps I only wanted to play with your mind… kept you thinking about it didn’t I?”
“Lilli… you could have easily killed me in Konoha… why didn’t you?”
“…” her face showed sadness but only for a split second before it revoked back to her usual mask “Scorps, don’t read much into it… I’m bad… rotten… nothing you can do about it… I want to rule the world and rid it of weaklings like you. Simple.”
“I don’t believe it… I do believe, however, in your goodness…” a small moment of pause followed before Lilli spoke again.
“Wesobi is alive but not for long… We found out he is a decoy… She won’t show mercy. And you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You should join us instead of being in our path because our path cannot be stopped. Because you won’t be able to stop her. No one can. I’ll tell you this though… Wesobi is in Kirigakure. In a small fortress in the northern shore. Heavily guarded, the fortress is virtually impossible to breach. The barrier alone is strong enough to take barrages upon barrages of Bijuudamas and remain undamaged. It was where the Niibi Jinchuriki, The Seven Scaled Boy was kept when he rampaged.”
“…why the sudden change of heart?”
“Who knows? Perhaps I’m lying to divert your gaze from our real plans…who knows?”
“Indeed…”
Lilli stood up and took a scroll out, biting her thumb. “You should go to Scary. He isn’t fairing very well against Vincent. I can sense it.”
True enough, Scorps was too focused on Lilli to notice what was going on. Grus flapped his wings a bit stronger, lifting a bit higher into the air
“Grus, no…Lilli can’t escape! Scary will have to endure it!”
“Sacrificing friends? Not like you Scorps…” she said as prepared to spread her blood on the scroll “This is a special tag given to me by Xylon. Once my blood is smeared on it, it will teleport me to his location immediately. Before I go… I can sense it in you… I can see it with these eyes… Your body assimilated it… Didn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“About me giving you the partner to your Jinsei…Shi…Death… Mushrooms… Glad your body could take it… And that you can now use it... Take care brother…don’t get killed… and be careful of Vincent…”
As she smeared her blood in the scroll, she disappeared, without a trace.
“****! Go Grus! Lets get to Scary. His chakra is rapidly fluctuating and… I can’t feel him anymore…Grus! Hurry! Back into the village!” and the bird promptly obeyed.
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Meanwhile, far away from the village in a nearby forest clearing...
Dawn was gazing upon the distance when a familiar presence approached her, fast, urgent and ever so energetic. “Tell me little one, what news does Scorps send?” she said to the tiny tiny bird of her clan. She will never fully understand why the bird never grew up like a normal crane but it was undeniable that there was no bird with better infiltration skills and flight speed than it. The little bird conveyed the message Scorps had given it to the letter before nodding and dispersing. “Akihiko, I am to bring you to McRazor in Konoha. He will give the village’s protection to you and you’ll need it as its likely that Akatsuki will send for you. In the way, you are to tell me everything you know Leaf, once again, so I can transmit that to Scorps.”
“Ok Dawn-hime. Leaf, are you and Shuck ok to travel?”
“Yes, I think so.” And as they prepared to leave, Leaf and Shuck detailed the events they witnessed in the office of the Amekage before fleeing the village. “But… Kiritsugu… What is this all about? What is this…Yokai? I can’t understand any of it…” said Leaf and she and Shuck quickly climbed on the majestic blue bird.
“Hum… guess I can tell you the story of what its all about on the way” said Kiritsugu mid climb “Lets go Dawn, fly high but keep your senses keen”
“Yes, Akihiko-dono” and the blue bird took flight towards the horizon, in the direction of Konoha.
“Well Leaf, you know the story of the Juubi and the 9 Bijuu right? And how Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki sealed the Juubi inside himself before dividing it into the 9 Bijuu right? Shinju or the God Tree as it was referred to, was the original form of the Juubi, passive, inerte, ruler of the this world. It was one of the Gods of Old, one of the creators of this world.”
“One of the…? So…there were more?”
“Exactly. Shinju was a God but not the only God. Most of the past is shrouded in myths and folklore explanations of simple things so I cannot be sure, nor can anyone. How many were there or what they were capable of doing is a mistery. The only thing we know is that the Spirit and the Phantom were both gods of that era as well. The Yokai and the Yurei. Yokai or the Phantom, is the God of Earth and Yurei or the Spirit, is the God of Heaven. Together they represent the true duality of both Light and Dark. While Shinju or the Juubi was the manifestation of both Yin (creating form from nothingness) and Yang (breathing life into form), Yurei and Yokai were each Yang (Yokai) and Yin (Yurei). Always together and always apart. Yurei appeared to be a white Tiger-like entity, though with 3 pairs of paws and a large black orb of energy in his forehead. Yokai was depicted as a black Dragon-like beast though with the body of a snake, a pair of wings, 4 short limbs with claws, adorned with a line of fur on its back and with a white orb of energy in his forehead. Both were said to be comparable to any Bijuu in size.”
“…”
“Yeah, a bit too much to take in all at once but the whole story is much bigger than that. You see, the Shinju was the creator but it was power without purpose. It created through destruction and it had no real purpose driving it. Thus its simplistic craving for those who ate its fruit later on. In reality, it couldn’t care less about anything yet wanted to destroy it all. A side effect of its abilities, the ridiculous amount of power it wielded had to be applied and destruction was what it applied it to. Before the fruit was eaten, it was not peaceful or passive; it was in a deep slumber, induced by Yurei and Yokai. Before, its said that Shinju often rampaged into the world with no purpose or reason until one day, Yurei and Yokai manipulated their essence into manipulating the Shinju’s essence (I know, redundant but these stories are often like this) and transformed it into a tree. But this wasn’t enough. The Shinju, god of creation, had its power from its unique ability to give form out of only its imagination and thoughts. Including his power, his chakra. Thus his power would never cease. It craved for more and subconsciously produced more. And that meant it could never simply be contained or paused or restraint or destroyed. As they transformed the Shinju into its tree form, negating most of its already low cognitive functions, they devised a way for it to release its power from time to time, in a harmless way, preventing the destruction of the world or its awakening. They made sure that its power slowly passed on to the ground and the earth, strengthening it by making sure its roots were buried deep into the ground. But this wasn’t enough. So, every 1000 years or so, the tree would bloom, afterwards forming a fruit which contained its power. The fruit would naturally wither and fall to the ground, infusing the world with what it contained and the tree would be kept sleeping while it produced more power. Until the fruit was consumed, this worked. The problem was what happened to Yokai and Yurei. To accomplish that, they consumed virtually all of their powers. Weakened and diminished, they were at the brink of the void when the impossible happened. Two small kids, age of 6, found them in the forest. The kids knew nothing about Gods or power. They were innocent. And in their innocence, their instinct was to help. And they extended their hand towards the gods… You must understand, however, that at that time, Gods didn’t interact with humans. Never had a God even talked to a human let alone touch them. Gods were creators, protectors and destroyers. Not equals. But something about that innocent act of extending ones hand to help moved something inside the mighty gods. They allowed the kids to touch them. And the result was something no one could predict”
“What happened?”
“Well Leaf, because the gods were weak, their essence merged with the kids. Yurei merged his body and essence with the little girl called Hana (Blossom) and Yokai merged his body and essence with the little boy called Toge (Thorn). They couldn’t control it. The life force of each kid overflowed their dyeing existence and they woke up inside the kids. The kids became the first vessels of both Yurei and Yokai. The result was similar in many aspects to a Jinchuriki though there was no sealing process or technique that forcefully contained a Bijuu inside a host human and, perhaps the biggest difference, they were intertwined with their life force. So, for millennia, Yokai and Yurei have been passed down from host to host. Or so the legend says.”
“wow…but…how come I never heard of it? Or, for that matter, anyone heard of it? Seems something hard to hide…” Dawn flew high into a rain cloud. The large drops drenched her feathers but seemingly fell as if they were covered in oil. The passengers, however, felt both the cold and the wetness of that passage and shivered.
“Sorry Akihiko-dono, Leaf-kun and Shuck-san. I couldn’t avoid it…”
“We understand Dawn, don’t worry. Are we still very far?”
“Twenty minutes from the outskirts of the village more or less”
“Good. Now, where was I? Oh, right. Even the explanation I gave you is said to be a myth; a fairy tail. Unlike Jinchurikiis, both Yōki (vessels) never showed their powers and always resided in the shadows of the Ninja World, away from the whole hidden village affairs. They were never revealed and were somehow always hidden from the world. There are many hidden ancient powers in this world… This was just one more.”
“So Rei Uchiha wants to have the power of Yokai for herself? I mean…what power exactly can these gods possess inside a human? And why haven’t they released themselves back into the real world in their original forms?”
“Well, what she may want or not I don’t know but one thing I do know: fiddling with such ancient and enormous powers is never a good thing. Yokai is the one who can breathe life into form… What that power entails I don’t know. You must understand that the Shinju was divided into 9 and each of them is as powerful as you already know and Shinju was described as being much stronger than the sum of its 9 parts. Yokai and Yurei are described as each containing virtually the same amount of power as the Shinju as a whole. Its hard to understand what is real or a myth but from what I understand of the story, its not that farfetched. The Yoki of the Yokai would be an amazingly powerful individual… As for your last question, its said that once they were merged with their first Yokis, they lost their true form. They changed. And with that change came the dependence on a vessel. Perhaps by having their essence mixed with the humans life force and soul they became alive, mortal in a sense, losing their god status. But that’s all suppositions. Its impossible to know at this point as probably only the two vessels might know the answers.”
“Still… I don’t understand… Is this Wesobi the vessel of the Yokai? If so, with so much time passed since he was abducted, haven’t they yet succeeded? I mean, how do we know Rei hasn’t extracted Yokai yet?”
“You ask questions I can’t answer Leaf. However, they are trying to extract a God who is merged with a powerful ninja. Such a feat can’t be done easily. I suspect the act of doing it requires power that one simple human doesn’t have and probably a unique set of conditions. But this is all, again, simple guess work”
“Well, if Wesobi is the vessel of the Yokai, who is the vessel of the Yurei?”
“She is…”
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At the same time...
In the borders of the Fire country, north of Konoha, a beautiful, graceful, tall woman walked in a slow pace. She wore a loose black silk Kimono, tied with a broad red sash tied in her waist, with a large bow behind, just above her tights. Despite being loose and flowing with each movement she made, it let, in a very subtle manner, show her incredible figure. An hour glass shape of pure lust, curved and luxious chest with long, sculpted legs, which showed from within the Kimono as she took each step forward. A large cleavage, almost to her waist, both front and back, let a glimpse of her skin and invited lust in any who looked upon her. Her hair, incredibly white in contrast with her attire, fell in locks to her shoulders, falling above her breasts. Her eyes were of the deepest and inhuman orange ever seen, almost iridescent in their glow. Her face had a very gentle line to it and it featured a pair of full lips and a gaze capable of showing both lust and kindness. She moved slowly, swinging her hips from side to side and moving her hands in the most fluid and sensual way possible. In her hand, a simple white Katana, beautiful and deadly, with a black handle and a simple scabbard. An inhuman sight in the middle of a forest, miles away from any village. As she walked, an aura of both lust and danger but also kindness and innocence filled the area, as if she was a predator on the prowl. But she had always been like this, independent. She had always made the path the wanted to walk. But now she had to take part in the scheme of things. She had to be part of it all or all would be lost.
“Wesobi… I won’t let you die… Its time for this Quest for Light to open a New Path... The Path of Ages...”
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