Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Villages ❯ Back to the present, Phoenix Rising ( Chapter 16 )

“There are some people in the world who know nothing of right and wrong and continue to exist only to kill and kill in a futile attempt at filling the emptiness in their lives; this is the mark of a true psychopath.” –Hajime Saito, 13th Inukage of Paradiseo



"Did she do it?" Rock Lee dully said as he looked to the inferno that had become Kazuko’s final act, he couldn't see what had happened, the street in front of him was alive with wild flames that were threatening to devour the buildings they were feeding on; even the damp ground was burning. Kazuko had blown herself and Kenji Akabane to pieces, there was no way either of them could have survived the explosion.

"She came so close to doing it!" a horrid voice rose from the flames as a figure stepped from them, a figure more reminiscent of a devil than a man. It was Kenji; he was badly burned with over half of his face cooked off, his cloak was burnt to tatters and his left arm looked to be nothing but one large burn, same with his right leg. The right side of his face was the one that was nearly burned off, his eye was just a white orb and the glass from his glasses was completely gone, so were the lips on the right side of his face; giving him an eerie half smile. Lee watched as smoke rose from his smoldering corpse-like body; he looked like a demon from one of Lee’s nightmares come to life to kill him.

“I should have guessed it wouldn’t be so easy,” Lee tried to stand but only yelped in pain at the wasted effort which Kenji chuckled at as best he could with his surely roasted throat and voice box.

“Ha,” the burned man smiled fully and spoke with his new, harsher voice, “Boy, about the only thing that’s holding you together right now are your spine and a few tendons.”

“So what,” Lee harshly protested as he continued to struggle against his own body weight, “You’re really not in much better of a condition!”

“Hmm,” Kenji scoffed as he walked forward, “Does it look like these wounds mean shit to me? They don’t even hurt!”

“You,” Lee grit his teeth, “You and that Kazuko girl, what is wrong with you; how can you soldier through so much pain so easily!?”

“Tsk,” Kenji’s harsh voice cracked as he shook his half deformed head, “We were both ninjas of Paradiseo! In Paradiseo you don’t survive if you can’t overcome the worst pains imaginable.”

“Is that so?” Lee tried once again to stand up, only when he looked down he could see his intestines starting to spill out from the wound and he screamed.

“Boy, in Paradiseo you kill to survive,” Kenji looked to the clearing sky with a far off look in his eye as he spoke, “we who vow to protect Paradiseo take an oath that the only way the enemy will advance past our lines is if they do so stepping over our dead bodies. During training we are subjected to pain and physical torture to help steel our nerves against them, we train to inflict even worse pain on our enemies and to do so without remorse or pity. It is how twisted individuals like Koga, Juubei and I are so welcome amongst the Paradiseo elite; we have no conscience and no qualms about killing someone for even the pettiest reasons.”

“Oh, so what about that fox-boy or his girlfriend!?” Lee barked defiantly at Kenji, “What of the ninja of Paradiseo today? Those who fought for their peace in that hellish war we’ve been hearing about for so long!?”

“Kuroudo, Momoko, Jenkins and Miho are of a different breed,” Kenji’s gaze had a hint of sadness to it now as he continued his speech, “They have what I lack and what Juubei tossed aside many years ago, they question. They don’t blindly follow orders and kill without reason, they ask ‘why?’ a simple question that can save so many lives… A human question, yes… Despite his appearance Kuroudo has not lost the one thing that sets him and Juubei apart.”

“And what is that exactly?” Lee asked as he grit his teeth, staring into Kenji’s deformed eye; Any day now, come on I can’t keep stalling him…

“His humanity,” Kenji said cruelly as he turned his gaze to Lee, “That is what Kuroudo has that sets him apart from a real monster, what separates him from Juubei. Kuroudo has a heart and he knows how to care, he questions the morality of his actions and does the one thing Juubei and I can’t do. He makes the right choice; he chooses to struggle to gain the respect of those who once despised him, to protect them with his very life and push himself far beyond his breaking point for them. That is why Juubei despises him.”

“Story time’s over,” Kazuko said as she drove the last bayonet through Kenji’s back, he yelped in surprise. Kazuko had let go and stripped her jacket off at the last moment, she’d gotten a really bad hair cut out of it but she’d survived with little injury and because of Kenji’s now obliterated right ear she managed to sneak up behind him and assassinate him. “You should pay more attention, corpse bird.”

“You,” Kenji turned to see Kazuko; her hair was now only shoulder length and she was completely topless but other than that and the wounds Kuroudo had given her and the few that Kenji had inflicted, she was perfectly fine. Kenji sneered as he gripped the bayonet and forced it out his back, as it fell he grabbed it with his roasted left hand, “Missed my heart!”

“Shi-!” Kazuko howled in horror as she realized what had happened; she’d aimed too far off and had only pierced Kenji’s lung but had left his heart unscathed. She didn’t even scream as the blade was driven into her gut; she looked stunned as she felt the pain launch through her body. Kazuko stumbled backwards gripping the blade, her leg giving out underneath her as her will power faded. Kazuko’s eyes were widened from shock, she held the blade so tightly her hands were bleeding and she looked terrified; she’d lost her gamble.

“Kazuko…?” Lee asked as he stared in shock as the girl fell backwards, but he was more worried about the look of horror on her face; she was dying.

“She’ll be dead soon enough,” Kenji calmly said as he walked over to Lee and placed one of his heavy boots on Lee’s neck, “Do you wish to follow her?”

“Do you wish to go ahead?” Anasake said cruelly; he stood next to Kenji, who turned in shock to face the ninja. Anasake quickly drop kicked the stunned Kenji in the gut, sending him reeling across the rooftop. Lee looked on in awe at the older and more experienced ninja; he was tall and broad shouldered, he obviously had immense physical strength from how well he wielded his weapon and the amount of force behind his kick. From all angles Anasake had the telltale markings of a taijutsu expert, maybe not a specialist per say but definitely a mastery of one or more martial arts. Anasake took off his sunglasses and stared Kenji down with a cruel look in his fiery eyes, “You’re one of the few opponents that I’ll take these sunglasses off for, Corpse Bird.”

“Oh,” Kenji’s gravelly voice choked out with something reminiscent of a laugh, “I suppose you’re commenting me?”

“Oh don’t worry,” Anasake said as he grabbed his Zanbatto and swung it in front of him, “Your legend won’t stop me from killing you.”

“Ha,” Kenji barked and his papers began circling around him again, “That remains to be seen, boy!”


Juubei swung his fist and connected with Kuroudo’s, however Juubei could only watch in amazement as his arm was torn off by the force of Kuroudo’s attack.

“This is sure different,” Schwartz Wald chuckled and leapt out of Juubei’s body. He was very jackal-like in appearance, staying within the normal dimensions for the species with only his speech and odd facial markings giving away his true identity. “We’ll take him two on one and see how he fares, Doctor.”

“Alright,” Juubei said as he slugged Kuroudo’s muzzle with all his might but the fox simply returned the favor. Reeling backwards Juubei smiled beneath his mask with his now broken jaw, “I’m going to full strength; one-hundred percent!”

Deep inside Kuroudo something snapped and he regained control of his Black Fox form, while initially confused he quickly regained focus on the battle and watched as Juubei gleefully pointed at him.

“Did you hear that, Kuroudo?” Juubei howled out in rage and ecstasy, “I’m going all out against you!”

“Hit me hard and hit me fast,” Kuroudo grinned ear to ear as he cracked his knuckles. He didn’t understand how or why he was back in control but at the moment it really didn’t matter; he had Juubei to deal with.


Momoko fell down panting; she’d gravely overestimated her limits and underestimated the damage to her ribcage. He was only able to down one of the Pain super-duper piercing fetish squad and was now doubled over in agony as she felt her ribs shifting painfully underneath her soft flesh; she needed medical attention and fast.

“So, you’re done now?” one of the Pains asked as he walked close to her and with his foot rolled her over onto her back.

“Oh how I wish I hadn’t dropped my revolver right now!” Momoko managed to half laugh out, and then she spat onto Pain’s face and giggled at his reaction to her vulgar gesture. “Well whatcha waiting for; a fucking invitation? Shit or get off the pot you fucking moron!”

“Fine,” Pain said as he prepared to finish Momoko off but before he could strike he was hit in the chin by a large heavy object that sent him reeling backwards in pure shock.

“Get… away from her!” Temari howled as she stood weakly over Momoko’s body holding her fan and panting heavily from her exhausting fight and the panicked run to retrieve her weapon and return to the fight. She was now operating on pure battery power and instinct; she had a look of desperation in her eyes as she stared down Pain. “I won’t let you lay another finger on her, you piercing freaks!”

“Temari,” Momoko said in shocked admiration as she smiled up at her… lover? She still wasn’t sure on what the relationship they shared between the three of them was exactly. But Momoko felt, she felt happy that Temari was trying to save her life; but she was also disappointed that she was making the same mistake she had and engaging the Pain super friends. Even Momoko couldn’t figure them out, she kept having a feeling that something was off about them but she didn’t know what it was. Then she let something unexpected escape from her lips, “I love you.”

“Now I understand your ‘friendship’,” one of the Pains said as Temari’s cheeks turned bright red and Momoko couldn’t help but smile at the awkward reaction. “But I do feel slightly bad for Kuroudo.”

“Why?” Temari said with a big stupid grin on her face, “He was fucking my brains out too. I think I’m in love with both of them. Do you want to talk about my sex life even more? Perhaps you’d like to know my fetishes and preferences; how about what I wish I looked like?”

“Wha… umm… ah?” Pain stuttered, he was seemingly unnerved by the girl’s boldness about something that could explode into a scandal for both of their villages and a topic most people don’t yell about in the middle of a street.

“Well I love chubby girls; nothing excites me more than a nice rack, a belly bulge and a nice fat ass! I love guys with nice fit bodies and long hair, and the bad-boy look! Oh the thought of a man who knows when to be a total badass and when to be a gentle but dominant lover has filled my girlish dreams for years!” Temari giggled out while setting her fan down and crouching next to Momoko. Okay, he’s clearly uncomfortable with this conversation. It might not be much but this will buy me enough time to come up with an exit strategy, I hope. Well if talk is unnerving him why don’t I play with Momoko a bit? She certainly won’t object; she’s smiling at the talk. I just wish Kuroudo wasn’t busy… We could give these punks an encore of last night!

“Temari…” Momoko started to say something but Temari kissed her, causing her eyes to widen for a moment before she started putting her tongue to work and started exploring Temari’s kimono with her hands, gently rubbing her breasts and hips as Temari started to do the same with her hands on Momoko, carefully avoiding any injured areas but unable to resist massaging Momoko’s soft belly. Momoko lay on the ground enjoying the gentle rubbing and passionate kiss Temari was giving her, wishing they were back in bed at the hotel, or at a restaurant fulfilling one of Momoko’s most treasured fantasies about another girl; weight gain and feeding. Momoko found herself wishing for more time with Kuroudo and Temari; to see what they could make for a life together, the three of them as a family with maybe a few kids… She wanted something more than what she’d fought for during the war; she didn’t want to merely survive but to actually live.

“STOP THAT!” Pain howled as he rushed over and violently kicked Temari off of Momoko who for a moment was wondering where her lover had gone because she’d been too wrapped up in feeling Temari’s body and wondering what she’d feel like if she was much softer, she’d forgotten about Pain.

When Temari hit the sign outside of the devastated building she felt and heard her ribs shatter and her mind became awash in pain. As she hit the muddy ground it took everything she had not to break down crying and beg for mercy, instead she lay in the damp mud heaving to breathe and wondering what the fuck she’d been thinking almost going into a full blown fuck fest with her lover in the middle of a battle.

“Oh, I was about to start sucking her tits!” Momoko said with a chuckle as Pain prepared to deliver a killing stomp with his foot Momoko giggled out another warning, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Oh, why not?”

“Well,” Momoko said as she licked her lips, still tasting Temari on them, “Considering my father and my fiancé are both right over there and I know Kuroudo will not hesitate to kill you and neither will my father if you endanger the possibility of his legacy being passed on.”

“Well that’s a risk I’m willing to take!” Pain howled as he once again prepared to stomp Momoko’s head off but stopped when one of his bodies noticed an elderly man pointing a cane at his temple. The man seemed to be ancient with a long white bread, hair and eyebrows he had numerous wrinkles that made his face look like a melting picture, he had turtle charms hanging from his ears and he wore a simple but expensive looking green hakama. Pain calmly addressed the newcomer, “And you are?”

“You’re a rather foolish little puppy if you intend to face Paradiseo but have not committed my name and face to memory.” The old man calmly side kicked Pain across the obliterated alleyway as he spoke in a scolding tone. “For over one hundred and seventy years I have wandered this world of ours; I’ve learned much and saved many lives, ended many as well. I am the last surviving student of Shido Inuzakari-Sama; I am the man who trained Juubei, Kenji and Saito all those many decades ago. And here I stand between you and the young lady who I call my granddaughter and her lesbian lover. If you intend to get pass me little baby bird then you’d better be prepared to take me head on.”

“We are Pain,” one of the Pains said while the rest of his comrades got into fighting stances around the old man who started chuckling and coughing.

“You certainly are,” The old man said he shook his head, “So, you’re the leader of the Akatsuki are you not?”

“Very perceptive of you, old man.”

“Well I suppose I should inform you as to whom I am before I rearrange your collective faces,” the elder said as he shifted his weight on his cane and he locked gazes with one of the Pains, “I am Kamekami Okamimaru, the Snapping Turtle; former eighth Inukage and current Head Castle Guard of Paradiseo.”

“Good to know,” the Pains launched themselves into battle against the strangely calm Kamekami, not realizing fully the extreme power they faced. Kamekami raised his cane and blocked the punch of one of the Pains’; above him a giant beast fell but he caught it with his free hand and tossed in against two of the remaining Pains.


Momoko woke up inside a partially destroyed store with Temari lying next to her, sleeping soundly despite the sounds of the raging battles outside. Momoko felt around Temari’s ribs causing the girl to wince at the mere touch of even Momoko’s gentle hands, she needed medical attention and fast.

“She’ll be fine for a little while now,” a tall wiry figure said from the corner of the poorly lit room. Momoko recognized his voice; he was Raisaku Dafur, the Python and current head of R&D in Paradiseo. He’d been one of her father’s disciples and he was a brilliant, if not a bit eccentric scientist who’d developed most of the terrible weaponry used by Paradiseo during the war; most notably was the feared artillery pieces, all of which were of Raisaku’s design. Raisaku smiled, “You’ll never believe this, but Kuroudo is actually winning against Juubei.”

“You’re joking…” Momoko said as she forced herself to a sitting position and cradled Temari’s head in her lap, more concerned for the wounded girl than she was about Kuroudo, “But she needs help, Raisaku!”

“She doesn’t need it as much as Kazuko does,” Raisaku said flatly; he had a look of true concern in his eyes as he intently watched the battle outside, “I’m waiting for an opening to get pass Juubei to get to Kazuko and Lee. Plus Anasake is facing off against the Corpse Bird. I can’t do much work medic-wise with that lunatic nearby; he’d think nothing of attacking me, I have to wait for Anasake to bring that bird down.”


Anasake dodged another wave of Kenji’s papers; now airborne Anasake grabbed a food pill and ate it. He needed to down Kenji and fast, luckily the veteran warrior made a fatal mistake and defaulted to his standard tactic of making origami armor for himself; a tactic that against the feathers was complete suicide.

“C’MON!” Kenji howled as he rushed towards Anasake; millions of sheets of paper forming a suit of armor, a broadsword and angel-like wings for him. The helmet Kenji had made for himself resembled the head of a raven, the smoke rising from his roasted flesh bled through the papers; he looked like a strange angelic knight as he flew to Anasake. Channeling as much chakra as he could into his origami sword he clashed blades with Anasake who was slammed into another roof top. Kenji howled his rage to the sky, using all of his chakra he gathered more paper, sheets tore through the rooftops and walls of buildings all around Konoha and began circling around Kenji in the sky. Anasake stood up on the rooftop, Zanbatto ready to battle his foe.

“THIS IS THE END!!” Kenji’s armor fluttered off and joined the storm of papers around him as he howled to the sky; he kept only his wings and the broadsword. The look he presented was still vaguely angelic but he seemed more devil-like now, his papers danced wildly as he howled to Anasake, “Final move, Origami Death Dance; Waltz of the Endless Cheery Blossoms.”

“Phoenix Feathers,” Anasake became enveloped in white blinding flames as he stared up to Kenji and calmly said, “Die weisse Federn von den Engeln.”

“WALTZ!!!” Kenji screamed and sent the papers launching towards Anasake who leapt into the maelstrom swinging his Zanbatto, the papers ignited and the sky became a second sun as Kenji was once again roasted.

Kenji’s face took the full blast, his remaining eye went blind forever more, his wings and sword went up as fire balls as the clothes he wore became little more than kindling for the inferno that Kenji’s world had become, the Corpse Bird fell from the sky just as Icarus and Mephistopheles had before him. Unlike Icarus his wings were paper, not wax. But he fell all the same, and then he felt a hand grip his throat and slam him; head first into the rooftop.

“The white feathers of the angels,” Kenji’s further roasted voice croaked out as he lay blind, burned and dying. It’s finally over; I have finally been completely bested in combat by an enemy. I come to greet thee Baron Samedi. Kenji moved as best he could but opted instead to talk, “I never would’ve guessed that you’d be able to master them at your young age, Anasake-san. You’ve grown so much since you first joined us in the Fuugagumi. That was about five or six years ago, I’m so glad to see that you’ve risen above me; as both a ninja and a man. Finish me and I bestow upon you the title of “Sennin’.”

“Wait,” it was Lee’s voice, “Why did you lose your humanity, how did Juubei throw his away!?”

“I’m a sociopath, I never had humanity; suited me just fine. Anything I had that could’ve been called humanity was stripped from me before I was old enough to comprehend what was wrong. Did you know I’m actually deeply terrified of ravens? But Juubei,” Kenji felt the warmth of the sun on what little nerves he had left and he smiled, in his mind at least. He continued, but even to him his voice had become that of a stranger, “he was what you’d call a ‘scienceholic’; he’d do something just because he could and then research whatever data was produced from that. He began studying what he called ‘human conditioning’ and ‘human modification’ the latter being the most extreme and unholy sets of experiments ever born; he’d saw a person in half to make a centaur for example. His research there is what the Land of Mountains was trying to replicate when they got a hold of Kazuko. Juubei himself is the most extreme example of the success of his program, that string jutsu of his is done using his own body that he’s modified through hundreds of bastardized medical procedures to create the ultimate soldier; an undying corpse.”

“He hates Kuroudo because he sees himself in Kuroudo,” Kenji’s new voice snarled, “Juubei and Kuroudo are dark reflections of each other. To be more precise; Juubei and Kuroudo are each other, on the same path, but going in opposite directions of one another. Yes, Juubei is a human who strives to be a monster and Kuroudo is a monster who strives to be human. Juubei was born rich, respected, powerful and brilliant; he had everything yet he wanted perfection, immortality. Juubei wanted to be a god and the closest interim form he saw that he could take was that of a monster so he became the beast he is today; a sad twisted shadow of his former glory. But Kuroudo is different, he had nothing he was born despised and hated, a monster. Kuroudo now fights to be respected, liked and accepted; he has found love and gratefully taken it into his heart and protects and nurtures it. In a way Kuroudo looks into Juubei’s eyes and tells him ‘Your life has become a bad joke.’ And that is a personal challenge that Juubei cannot let go of, so long as the two of them exist they will fight to the death until one of them proves the other wrong by killing him.”

“What was the human conditioning?” Lee asked, his mind processing the grabbled information from Kenji’s raspy voice.

“Yes, human conditioning was his name for experiments involving behavioral modification of individuals to produce certain eccentric behavior patterns or to try and nullify certain behaviors in persons such as mental patients or to eliminate the restraints of individuals to create an army of sociopathic individuals.” Raisaku explained and nodded to Anasake, “Jenkins, end his pain I can answer questions better then he can in his current condition while I patch these two up.”

“Thank you,” Kenji said with an eerie drawl to his harsh voice; he was decimated, his face looked like it was mostly skull and his body seemed to be nothing more than a piece of overcooked meat that took in harsh, raspy breaths. Anasake drew out his massive revolver and sighted Kenji’s deformed head. Kenji continued his final sentence, “You’ve all helped me complete this nightmare I’ve been living for so many years; it’s time I finally woke up.”

Anasake pulled the trigger, the massive report brought the entire village to a standstill as the heavy .6 hollow point slug burst through Kenji’s skull, obliterating it and ending the life of a Paradiseo legend. Kenji ‘Corpse Bird’ Akabane had fought since his youth for Paradiseo; he’d developed psychotic tendencies during his early teen years after long physical and mental abuse by his father, and repeated sexual abuse from his older sister. To avoid being known by anyone Kenji took great lengths to conceal his face, also because his father said he couldn’t stand the look of the boy’s face. By the time of his graduation from the academy he routinely tortured animals and after he was done he’d make an origami representation of the animal and place it atop the mangled carcass. When he was fourteen Kenji took part in a mission with his team and he met up with a young Darkness village Genin named Seiryuu who was raping a younger female refugee, when Kenji intervened he was easily defeated and was forced to watch the rape and murder of that young girl. Afterwards Kenji became deeply disillusioned with the world around him and began to kill people on a regular basis; eventually he helped Juubei with his experiments and left the village with him. He once again aided Paradiseo as a member of the Fuugagumi but left with Juubei once again, he never saw his home again and doesn’t know what became of the family that abused and twisted him into a faceless serial killer and he will never know how differently things could’ve worked out had he never been abused. But he died using himself as a marker for the next generation of Paradiseo ninja to climb over and exceed; in the end the malicious entity known as Corpse Bird gave his life, honor and sanity to try and better his homeland in the only way he believed he could.

And so brought down by the Phoenix and seeing the promise of the future ninjas of the world, Kenji Akabane slips from the world of the living seeing with his blind eyes a brighter future. Kenji Akabane is swept away in the never ending current of time but forever remains as a legend and as just another name inscribed on a monument in the center of Paradiseo to be honored as a hero who died in the service of his country and its people. He lived as a criminal but died as a soldier and shall complete his last mission and return to the soil from which he came, and to feed the ravens he so loved and feared.

To be continued…

Next time: The Bad Joke of Life part 1

-Kazuki Ferret