Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Ice Picks and Hand Grenades ❯ Tidal Waves ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: Children under the age of four shouldn’t smoke.

A/N: Shikamaru's learned a lot of new jutsus. So says I. So it shall be. I mean why not? He can't just learn nothing in all those years.

CHAPTER EIGHT: Tidal Waves

I can’t! I can’t say a fucking word!

Face to face with this man my voice abandons me, threatening to never return. It’s very hard to look into his eyes without shaking in fear. This man who loves Kiba. This man who has nothing to lose, nothing to gain. My feet are cemented to the spot… and as hard as it is to look into his eyes, I just can’t… can’t look away.

We are very different, me and him… I-I’m such a fucking coward…

“I could kill you for this, Nara Shikamaru!” A growl emanates from somewhere deep within Shino’s throat, a sound that would rip through his very flesh if given any more strength. Without fair warning, his face contorts again, this time accompanied by an infuriated tilt of the head. “You don’t even love him, do you? This is all a fucking game to you!”

Fucking-he… he thinks this is a game? What right does he have to say that to me? I’ve done nothing fucking wrong! This isn’t about me… or Kiba… this is about… this is…

…if this were just a fucking game it wouldn’t hurt this much! If this were a game I wouldn’t feel like my insides were tearing apart and my chest wouldn’t feel so fucking hollow! If-if this were a game… I-I… I wouldn’t feel like I want to rip my own heart out just to make sure it’s still beating…

Before I know what I’ve done, my hand raises in response, my feet shuffling back… into ready position.

I am selfish. I was alone for far too long, and now I am selfish. I don’t know what I’m doing here… what right I have… but if this will make the pain go away, or even just dull it a little… I have to do this. I have to do this to prove to myself this isn’t a nightmare, and that I’m not going to wake up…

But even through this… I’m scared, so utterly scared. I hate this feeling. I hate knowing that right now, I’m in over my head. I’ve prepared for this moment a long time, even going so far as to create a new jutsu solely for this battle. Kage Amimono no jutsu, a passive defensive skill I created after seeing the sand shell that protected the Kazekage… but when I use this skill my chakra will drain very quickly. And even worse, I won’t be able to use any other shadow skills as long as the Web is in effect.

But I have to do this… I have to…

Even if… Shino is very smart, and there are very few holes in his fighting… and even fewer that cannot be plugged. I’m only hoping that now the rain will be to my advantage, that is… if it changes anything at all.

I push my fingers together in a simple seal. “Kage Bunshin no jutsu!”

Since three is my unlucky number, I’ve split myself four times. Shino watches carefully, undoubtedly already sending out tracking insects to each clone. But I’ve gotten quite good at Shadow Division. It won’t do him any good. The clone directly to my left leaps back, ready to pose as my real body until it’s destruction.

“Kage Amimono no jutsu!” It shouts, the air around it’s feet swirling, but otherwise showing no visual sign of the discipline.

Hopefully this will give me enough time to think up a better plan.

Myself and the clone on the other end take a running start while the two in the center each throw a shiruken to divert Shino from our attempted flanking.

Shino dodges the shiruken easily and with surprising grace, immediately summoning up two large hands with his insects. Shit… it didn’t phase him at all! The large swarming fingers flex once before stretching out-one toward my Shadow Clone, one toward myself, looking very ethereal and at the same time… very dangerous.I quickly start forming the first seal I can think of. “Koton! Goukakyou no jutsu!” Placing my forefinger and thumb at my mouth, I exhale, hurling the fire toward the insect hand mercilessly. My clone isn’t looking so lucky, however, and is forced to use the replacement technique to escape.

When I see that log splinter into thousands of tiny shards it hits me again… I’m in trouble. This is the kind of fight that… the first blow is the last blow… and odds are, if Shino hits, it’s going to be fatal…

The remaining insects fan out, obviously aiming toward the clone posing as my real body. Shino wants this fight over as soon as possible, that’s for sure. I have to stop him from reaching it… I have to protect my façade… I still don’t have another plan! I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but nothing is coming to mind!

“Shino! Stop it!” Kiba’s voice echoes from the sidelines, though I know he dares not approach.

Completely ignoring Kiba’s cry, Shino makes a beeline for the two remaining clones blocking my fake body, easily slashing them away with a pair of kunai he seemed to pull from thin air.

Apparently sensing their just entrance, the insects attack quickly, and the Web does as it should, pulling the shadow around the body’s feet up to defend him from attacks just as Gaara’s sand used to do.

Myself and the clone remaining in the back meet midway, knowing that if he destroys my fake body, it will all be over that much sooner.
Our hands fly together, forming seals with each others hands as if possessed. “Koton! Kaenhoushaki no Jutsu!”

This should be very powerful… at least enough to divert him from his goal. Pressing our fingers to our lips, the fire spills across the ground rapidly, almost instantly engulfing the bug master in flames hot enough to incinerate human flesh.

Black ash falls to the ground, but I’m certain it’s not Shino’s remains. No, he’s far too good of a shinobi for that. One…two…there! Shino reappears above my fake body, instantly hailing it with a barrage of various weapons. The Shadow Web flies upward, reflexively, attempting to intercept the weapons. This skill wasn’t made for that, the defense isn’t powerful enough to stop something as large as a kunai…

The weapons cut through the shadow as if it were nothing more than the result of diverted rays of the sun. The fake body attempts to stop the weapons with it’s forearms, but to no avail. Shadow bodies cannot sustain much damage… usually a single shuriken is enough to do the trick… and just like that, it disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

This isn’t good… he destroyed the clone body much faster than I’d anticipated…

“Kage Amimono no jutsu!” Our voices ring out in unison, fingers flying as quick as humanly possible…

Two new fists form from the shapeless mass of insects hovering in the air. It’s very obvious who the targets are. And they’re fast… very fast… but the seal completes just in time, catching the brunt of the insects with the Shadow web…

But even with the Web in place, it won’t hold long, not against this many insects… I don’t have enough chakra for that… especially since I’ve split the skill in two.

I have a minute at most.

“Koton! Goukakyou no jutsu!” Our voices again are in unison.

Insects fall dead at our feet by the thousands. It’s really quite disgusting, if one stops to think about it… there’s a glint in the corner of my eye… hell, that clever bastard! The insects were just a cover! And the kunai is so close now that I won’t have time to dodge!

I’m going to have to waste even more of my chakra… I activate my Kawarami technique… but no log this time… leaves should do the trick.

Shino turns away from me, gazing intently at the clone lying on the ground, kunai imbedded dangerously deep in it’s left shoulder. It’s a very good clone to be able to sustain such damage, you have to give me that.

“Shikamaru, surrender.” Shino leans down and grabs hold of the clone’s shirt, receiving only my infamous glaring smirk and a self assured scoff.

This is my one chance. If I screw this up, I’ve as good as lost… I have to be absolutely stealthy for this… this move is my silent kill. I’ve used it on many an assassination mission, despite the fact that a Chuunin doesn’t typically perform such tasks…

My fingers still locked in seal, I begin to sink into the shadows below my feet until none of my body is outwardly visible. This is similar to an illusion really… or a cloaking device. Should I be stupid enough to stick a limb out of the shadows into the sunlight, that limb would be an easy target.

I hear a surprised intake of air when the Shadow Clone at Shino’s feet disappears in a puff of smoke. Quietly, now. A jounin of Shino’s level undoubtedly has very heightened hearing and chakra sense. If he looks hard enough, I’m certain he could find me.

I creep up behind him slowly, every step languid and carefully thought out. I break the skill once in place, my body seeming to leap from the shadows that ripple like water… and I do jump, springing over his head high enough that he cannot readily reach me. This move will have to be drastic. I only have enough chakra to perform it once.

“Ka-“ Shit… what the? My throat… what’s… I land harder than expected… buckling my knees beneath me. But-but fuck, my breaths are gasping and… it can’t be… no, I took precautions… I…

“You forgot one little thing.” Shino towers over me as he approaches… it hurts… but I manage to roll my eyes upward to meet him. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction… of letting him think I’m a witless coward in my last moments…

I can’t speak… when did the bugs start entering my body? I couldn’t feel anything… nothing!

“Before the battle even started, I left a single insect on you. You were marked the whole time.”
I, fuck! I should have noticed! That means the insects were entering my body the instant my Shadow Web went down… so when I was in the shadows… I didn’t make any mistakes! He was just trying to break down my defenses the entire time!

Imagine that. The 'genius strategist' Nara Shikamaru... outwitted. I'd laugh if not for the situation.
Shit… it… it hurts… and I… can’t hear anything. They’re swarming me openly now, nothing I can do… even when I swat at them… completely unaffected…

I feel something… like hands pulling on me pushing me, I can’t tell… the insects are all over my body…

A million tiny scratches everywhere… inside and out. I can’t see anything, but I feel them… destroying me… I can’t breathe… I’m dying…

It’s that black place in the back of my psyche, that black place that steals away the light… it’s come for me now… but…in this darkest moment… I…

I’m dying… can you believe that? Can you… can anybody hear me? I’m drifting… do I look like a cloud out here? I never knew being like a cloud would feel so cold… it is cold. I-I’m dying… I’M DYING… oh gods… dying hurts, it… it hurts… it’s cold and alone and I don’t want to be here-I don’t want to be here-I want to go home… please let me go home. I’m dying… I don’t want to die…

I DON’T WANT TO DIE…

I DON’T WANT TO DIE…
I DON’T WANT TO DIE…

I-
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A/N: I don’t wanna be a writer anymore…-Slams head on desk, then crawls away into corner.-