Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Villages ❯ Game of chess, part 1 ( Chapter 19 )

“What is it that causes us to fear those who we don’t understand? Is it that we fear contact with the unknown; as if to believe that we ourselves may become strangers to ourselves if we spend too much time on the unknown side of the world.” –Juri, former Paradiseo Chunin and serial killer



Temari felt certain happiness at finally seeing the dock in the harbor they were landing on, Kuroudo was helping support her. Temari hadn’t been on a boat for long before and never in seas as rough as some of the ones they had went through to get to Paradiseo, so she was feeling a little sick, the whole trip had taken about four weeks and luckily the winter wasn’t coming for another month and a half, the weathermen had way over guessed the ETA. But now they’d finally arrived in Paradiseo, the island’s shore was outlined with high rocks and fierce waves, except for the large city they were coming towards. The outer shore of most of Paradiseo was much the same, it gave the look of a natural fortress and every harbor they’d seen had artillery bases that, according to Kuroudo had over lapping fields of fire over the entire harbor area, which only gave more credit to Paradiseo being a giant fortress. From what Temari could tell, any attempt to land on anywhere besides a harbor city meant certain death against deadly rocks and impossibly tall cliffs; surely a natural deterrent if she’d ever seen one.

Set in a valley there was what looked like a river mouth, around which a large city had been built; the city was the port city of Mizu. Temari marveled at how large some of the buildings were, and at how much calmer the sea was here as opposed to the first port they’d tried. From what Kuroudo had told her, Temari knew that most buildings in Paradiseo tended to be triangular because of the harsh winds and heavy snowfall during the winter. He’d also told her that the topography of the land was fairly harsh and could be dangerous to outsiders unfamiliar with it and most of the land outside of the cities and towns was dense forests filled with many large predatory animals so venturing out alone wasn’t highly recommended unless you were very familiar with the terrain and were armed.

“The winds are picking up and the temperature is dropping,” Kuroudo said calmly with a slight smile on his lips, he kept his cautious gaze toward the shore as he spoke to Temari. Kuroudo’s wounds had all healed up and he was wearing his standard outfit; dark green camouflage fatigue pants, black canvas running shoes, black tee-shirt but he’d also put on a warm looking green camouflage trench coat. Also Kuroudo wore a pair of circular framed glasses and left his eyes uncovered, revealing the mismatched pair as he gazed calmly along the rough waves. In all he looked like a wild rebel teenager with his long red hair untied with styled bangs and his goth/paramilitary outfit but the look in his eyes and the demeanor he presented was that of an old and tired veteran, “There’re clear signs of the coming winter this year, luckily this port doesn’t take the worst waves like most of the others do so we can still land here. And I see you and Momoko pigged yourselves out already, she really made you get fat fast.”

“Yeah, she’s real pushy and she wants me to be fat so she practically force feeds me,” Temari said quietly as she looked down at her stomach, it wasn’t nearly what you could call flat anymore; it now strained her shirt (which was starting to rise up and reveal her large belly from the strain of containing said belly) her waist size was much larger now as well and hence her butt had ballooned out, dangerously stretching out the pair of Paradiseo camouflage fatigues she was wearing. Her breasts had also gotten much larger and she was now wearing one of Momoko’s bras and their now large C-cup size further strained her poor shirt. Momoko had been stuffing her with sweets and fattening foods, not allowing her exercise or to eat anything remotely low-fat for the past four weeks. As a result Temari had ballooned out, gaining easily forty pounds and she was having some trouble fitting into Kuroudo’s clothes; which, despite the fact he was a guy and his clothes were slightly baggy and too large for him, he was a rather thin guy with much narrower hips than Temari had expected (Kuroudo has only about a 30 inch waist; he’s only 5’ 8” and 140 pounds) so his pants were too small for her now bloated body. Temari knew that she was only going to get bigger, but she was starting to get used to the idea of being a mother so being fat really didn’t seem like a big deal, but her belly already looked like she was four months along and her butt had gotten much wider then she’d expected. “I’m just not used to this, I feel like everything is happening too fast.”

“Moving around with all that extra weight isn’t too easy either,” Kuroudo calmly said as a devilish little smile crept across his lips, “but if it means anything to you, you look great like that; really womanly if you ask me.”

“I still think everything’s happening too fast,” Temari sighed while she rubbed at her belly, “I feel like I just met you two and now I’m already moving to a completely different country with a baby on the way…”

“Oh, don’t worry we’ll have almost five or six months to take things slow,” Momoko said cheerfully as she walked up and hugged Kuroudo and Temari wearing a light green kimono. She was much bigger than before, her belly was still soft but it was now large and her butt looked almost twice its previous size, her extra size was straining her kimono about as much as Temari’s was straining Kuroudo’s spare clothes. Momoko’s body shape was more voluptuous than Temari’s; she was more of a plump hourglass than just plain big everywhere like Temari was getting. Momoko seemed very comfortable being large, and she’d confirmed that she was in fact also pregnant, which Temari was happy about because it meant that Momoko was going to suffer the same discomforts she was. “Aint much to do during the winter besides cuddle up underneath some warm blankets and either fuck or spoon anyhow. Well in all fairness,”

“You send me out to feed your cats and keep bears off the property!” Kuroudo said with a smile, “and then you sit underneath the warm blanket curled up with Kitsune and my little vixen!”

“Oh your ferret is usually there too,” Momoko chuckled, she looked quite beautiful with her larger size; she obviously carried weight very well. Temari felt slightly saddened by this because as it seemed she just gained everywhere. Momoko gave Temari a warm smile, “I’ve been living with Kuroudo for about three years now; we’re used to each other’s stupid bullshit.”


Seiryuu walked down into the lower reaches of his castle to greet Toku and get the boy’s report. Seiryuu didn’t like Toku; he merely tolerated him as the younger child of the Akukage and very little more. Seiryuu walked into the main chamber to find his two guards dead and Toku laughing over their corpses, Seiryuu’s eyes widened at the grizzly display.

“You idiot!” Seiryuu howled as he kicked Toku across the room before the younger ninja even knew that he’d moved, “You have to stop killing our men!”

“But this is fun!” Toku chuckled out as he stood back up and charged towards Seiryuu screaming, “Entertain me!”

“You moron,” Seiryuu howled his rage as he drove his foot into Toku’s gut, “Don’t you get cocky just because you’re the Akukage’s son.”

Toku fell to the ground and launched a lightning attack at Seiryuu who merely deflected it. Seiryuu was the foremost specialist in lightning based ninjutsu in the world so using them against him was foolish to say the least and he absolutely despised being underestimated by someone like Toku. Toku was a very tough fighter and for his age very strong but the boy lacked any common sense and was too murderous; Seiryuu believed the boy was too powerful a medicine to use as he liked to burn the hand that fed him but the boy had the fortune of being the son of their ruler and the younger brother of Yoku Akuramma (one of Seiryuu’s strongest and most trusted fighters and the Darkness’s answer to the question of defeating Momoko Kentoko). Were it not for the boy’s lineage Seiryuu would have killed the psycho years ago but as it stood the boy was being worked into the planned invasion and worse yet and seemingly just to piss him off; Toku was supposed to fight Kuroudo.

“You little worm!” Seiryuu screamed as he exploded into an uncontrollable rage and began violently beating Toku; he’d remembered that the job of fighting Kuroudo had fallen to Toku and not himself, that had driven him over the edge. He knew the Akukage was making a big mistake by using Toku as Kuroudo’s opponent in place of himself; Toku wasn’t even close to being a match for Paradiseo’s Fox, the boy was just too stupid and he lacked the necessary strategy to defeat Kuroudo. Seiryuu knew he could do it; he knew Kuroudo’s techniques and his fighting style, his weaknesses as well and he’d even compiled an impressive dossier on the boy’s psychology and thought processes. Seiryuu knew how Kuroudo thought and fought; Seiryuu was the only one ready to fight Kuroudo. “Do you think you’re ready to face Kuroudo in your state, hmm? You don’t stand a chance against him; he’s going to out think you, out fight you and completely out class you!”

“Calm down Seiryuu-sama, there is no need to punish the young master so badly.” From behind Seiryuu the calm and polite voice of Byakko doled out. Byakko was a tall and heavily muscled close range fighter; a formidable tai-jutsu master who has trained his whole life with the singular purpose of defeating Kamekami Okamimaru in battle. Meaning that Byakko’s taijutsu was the strongest in the world and he’d proved that fact by defeating thousands in battle; but at the cost of half his face, which had been burned off and slashed up by the only man to ever defeat him; Juubei Kentoko. Seiryuu didn’t need to look at Byakko to know exactly what the man looked like and what he wore down to the smallest detail; he wore a changshan (KF note: a changshan is the stereotypical Chinese outfit that you see in the old martial arts movies and they are still commonly worn in Hong Kong today) outfit with the upper jacket being a light beige color with the jacket’s sleeve cuffs being black and the pants were also black. The man was heavily muscled with broad shoulders and a general thick build about himself and his jaw was also wide and his mouth was just the same. The man’s eyes were close together and one was horribly misshapen from his battle with Juubei as was the entirety of the right side of his face and Byakko was also bald and his ears large.

“Is that coming from you as my subordinate or as the Akukage’s?” Seiryuu said calmly as he turned and faced Byakko; in truth the Su-Shin were all equal in strength for the most part and anyone of them engaging another in battle was a fearsome prospect to consider. But Seiryuu was becoming increasingly displeased with the state of affairs handed to him by his lord.

“It is speaking for Lord Akukage-sama and for your best interests, Seiryuu-sama.” Byakko said calmly and walked toward his commander speaking with a cool and calm tone. “If you kill his son then Lord Akukage-sama will not be lenient towards you. Even you would be put to death and we cannot afford to lose you, Seiryuu-sama.”

“Whatever,” Seiryuu calmly said, “Since you’re here I’m guessing ‘Godot’ must be getting close and soon the ‘boss’ will be here as well, is the lord coming as well?”

“Yes, soon Godot should arrive and then we will escort him to the boss.” Byakko calmly said, “This is an important step towards our battle against Paradiseo.”

“Yes,” Seiryuu looked off into the distance through a large window as he spoke. The land he gazed so eagerly toward was the border with Paradiseo, just beyond the beautiful mountains lay the land they’d been training to conquer. The look in Seiryuu’s eyes was that of gleeful anticipation for his promised day, the eyes that gazed toward the far off land were those of a man determined to achieve his goals and become what he’d always dreamed of; an immortal. “Soon we will show off our own power to those fools and I’ll relish my own conquests…”


Koga walked down the dark underground passage way he’d traveled so many times before with Pain and Juubei following close behind him; they needed to know what was happening in Paradiseo, and with how things were looking in the Darkness the whole situation was looking like it would be most entertaining to watch. Koga relished the thought of finally being able to face down whoever the Darkness had built to kill him; the thought was exhilarating and filled his dark heart with gleeful anticipation.

“I do so hope that the darkness decides to attack,” Juubei said musefully, “I really want to test that Jangchi fellow they trained to take me down. He apparently is stronger than Kuroudo is, although the collision of Kuroudo against their Seiryuu will be a priceless death match. Truly wonderful, the blood would fill the rivers of life and death. I do so wonder who would win, what do you think Koga? What’s Juri’s verdict?”

“Well,” Koga said absently as he mused through his brains to do a quick analysis of the fighters in question. He finally continued after about ten minutes of silent musing, “Well, Seiryuu has much more experience and being that he’s a long range genjutsu user and he specializes in lightning based ninjutsu, he surely has the advantage over Kuroudo who is a close range taijutsu user who specializes in water based ninjutsu. But Kuroudo does have the advantage of speed and strength, he’s also much better at taking abuse and if he got close enough he’d undoubtedly shred Seiryuu like a frog in a blender but of course Seiryuu knows that and knowing the Azure Dragon he surely has an in-depth analyses of Kuroudo’s fighting ability and style. So overall I’d guess that Seiryuu has the advantage over Kuroudo.”

“But you’re forgetting one very important thing about Kuroudo,” Pain’s Deva body said calmly as he walked pass Koga, “he’s defeated Juubei in a one on one death match.”

“Tee hee,” Juubei chuckled softly as he continued down the path, “This is true; little Kuroudo-chan did defeat me, I do wonder what Seiryuu’s going to do about that. Although in truth, both Kuroudo and I held back in that match; we used maybe eighty percent of our true skills back there.”

Koga let a cruel grin spread across his lips; he knew that the one piece of data that Seiryuu lacked was firsthand knowledge of Kuroudo’s true 100%; one little miscalculation against Kuroudo at that level is a certain death for anyone facing him.

“The world around us is changing rapidly,” Juubei said with a definite grin and certain happiness to his rough voice, “soon brainless beasts like us will follow Kenji to the other side, Koga. That day shall be one to remember for all eternity; the day that the young ones can finally bear the burden of the world on their own shoulders. Ah, the day the baby bird spreads its wings and flies is a joyous, yet sad day indeed.”

“Makes you wonder who else will go extinct,” Koga frowned as he spoke softly, “you never know what designs nature will choose to surpass the previous models. Who knows, maybe we’ll be the ones standing tall in the ring when the dust settles?”

“No,” Juubei said dully as he stopped walking, “I’ve been thinking about what Kuroudo said to me; about how there is no such thing as eternity or immortality, how everything burns and everyone dies eventually…”

“What on Earth are you blabbering about,” Koga said dully as he turned to see Juubei; wild with glee and anticipation quivering in the narrow corridor. Koga smiled in turn, the raving madness of the two was undeniable but even Koga looked to Juubei with a certain horrified expression as he said, “Juubei!?”

“I’ll do everything I can to prove him wrong and I am going to crave a smile permanently into his face but what if his laughing can carry him beyond my level? What if it is possible to surpass me with pure heart and the strength of the support of your loved ones? Surely it’s a low probability but it is still in the realm of possibility; which makes me stir with excitement. Imagine that, finally something that interests me again!” Juubei howled out as he slowly became more and more engrossed in his own twisted pleasure filled thoughts; he waved his hands and twisted his body madly, like a raving priest before a congregation of the faithful he spoke with a voice so mad and forceful that the devil himself would turn tail and run, “Ah, that sweet feeling, it has finally returned to me! Yes, the true spark of life comes not from the heavens own electric rod but from the elation one feels towards life itself! No, there isn’t a thunderstorm in all of the world’s long and largely unrecorded history that can generate a spark greater than the unfathomable jolt I feel now! Oh, glorious torment of pain and agony, sweet death my beloved! Come forth, come hither my beloved foes; come forth and try to end this nightmare, seek to do battle with me just as all the angels of Heaven seek to do battle with all the demons of Hell itself! Come soon, lay yourselves bare before my eyes and show me what it means to fight for the very right to exist! Throw yourselves as sacrificial lambs to show me what it is that one needs to transcend this mortal realm! Show me what it means to be a true God, show me through the prayer of vicious combat! May the splatter of spilling blood be our hymns and the sound of bones breaking be our music, the fury of our fists shall be our communion! Make this body of mine bleed in torment and pain as I struggle toward the summit of that high mountain before my very eyes as I come to claim my rightful place as the new God of man and beast! Make me bathe in flowing blood, baptize me in your entrails in the river that flows from your still beating hearts!”

“Juubei…” Koga said in shock as he backed away from Juubei, the fear that was forced into his veins by the mad speech of the Jackal caused Koga to quake in fear. The greatest mad genius stood before Koga and Pain in an uncontrolled frenzy of joy, before them stood the devil himself.

“May you, my beloved foes, prepare for the day I come to meet you in battle. The most amazing and frightening display of power and violence shall be ours and ours alone to enjoy and despise; prepare to lay down all that you hold dear in your lives and face me with all your might for if you do not then you shall parish like straw before a raging fire!” Juubei howled out as he held his head up toward the damp ceiling, “There is nothing in this world that can surpass the joy I feel now at being alive to face those monsters; the beast of darkness and the monster of light! The great beast of darkness, Jangchi Akuramma; the second strongest warlord in the realm of shadows and death! The grand monster from the light; Kuroudo Inutoriki, he breathes the sweet aroma of battle and exhales nothing short of death itself!”


As Kuroudo stepped onto the dock from the boat a wide smile crept across his face, a dull chill ran down his spine. His instincts told him that a storm was brewing; another long and violent conflict waited just over the horizon line, soon he would be needed again. Kuroudo smiled and let the primal feeling wash over him; he was a weapon, a thing that was useful only on the battlefield killing men without mercy. Kuroudo had long ago resigned himself to his fate; to be a lonely and terrible monster, stalking the battlefield as long as he lived.

“Scars, they remain forever if they’re deep enough. No, they remain until time slowly allows them to fade away, they remain as reminders to the pain we overcame, and our scars are to be proudly displayed to the world.” Kuroudo said dully as the smile left his face as he stared off into the distance, “They remain as a road map of our lives, scars are the long forgotten battle lines drawn through our lives, carved permanently into our flesh by our foes to remember them forever. I choose to bear these scars for those who are not warriors; I bear these scars proudly so others won’t bear them in shame and fear. I am a monster, a beast forever cursed to battle but I became that monster so someone else could live in peace without bearing the pain that gives me my scars. Lacking so much as pride I let the blades fillet my flesh and cut down those who carve my scars so no one else has to bear this fate. Juubei, you once did this too; but now you are the one who scars the innocents of the world so now I stand in your way with my body as a shield for those who don’t wish to raise their fists. So come Juubei, I deny everything you’ve become and will tear it all away with my own hands; come and I will send you back into the crushing blackness from which you came.”

To be continued…

-Kazuki Ferret

Notes

‘Godot’- A reference to the play ‘Waiting for Godot’ a theater classic

I wanted Paradiseo society to be a strange mix of Japanese and German culture placed in an extreme environment of both hot and cold. But more than anything their society is a strong society that is battle hardened, and the terrain of the land itself is representative of that so I designed the country itself to be analogous to a fortress.

For Purgatoire I wanted to go with a Chinese and British type deal on the culture and their society is one placed in a stable environment. There’s more to it than that but I’ll get into it later on…