Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Lacking Sight ❯ Loathing (Part One) ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The Sixty-Four Ghostly Arms was, according to Keisuke, one of those techniques that required tremendous inner focus just to awaken it. To a blind man, who could not perceive the physical world around him and had no place to turn his mental gaze except inward, such focus might not have been terribly difficult to muster. However, to a fourteen-year-old prankster-turned-ninja, whose eyes and mouth were constantly open, it could turn out to be nigh impossible, as Naruto was in the process of finding out.
“Ragh. Keisuke, they're not coming out...”
The blind man observed from about ten yards away, feeling out Naruto's aura for signs of progress. So far he had caught none, but Keisuke wasn't near ready to give up yet. If Naruto could indeed use the Sixty-Four Ghostly Arms, then Keisuke would have the opportunity to teach him alongside Jiraiya, which, in light of the Ero-Sennin's recent mistakes, sounded like a pretty good idea.
“Easy, Naruto. We haven't even been at it for twenty minutes. You want to give up already?”
“Hell no!” Naruto said, “I said I'd do this, and I'm not stopping 'til I get results.”
“That's the way, kid.” Keisuke nodded. This was the kind of spirit that he'd come to expect from the boy. Like his abundant energy, it was contagious; it made him want to see a success. “Keep at it. It took me a month of blundering my way through all kinds of hellish terrain before those feelers sprouted, and I'm older than you are. We don't know how the age difference will affect the speed at which you can use this thing.”
“Heh. You just watch, I'll make it work by next week!”
Keisuke smiled widely. “You do that, Naruto, and I'll buy thirty bowls from Ichiraku's for you when we get home.” Of course, that'll never happen, but it will be good incentive to focus harder.
“You're making it a bet, nii-chan?” Naruto asked. “That's the same mistake Tsunade-baa-chan made. You sure you can afford it?”
Keisuke waited a moment before answering. Wasn't Tsunade the Fifth Hokage? Naruto had won a bet with the strongest ninja in Konoha? He wondered if he should have been intimidated by Naruto's statement as he said, “Sure I can. Are you going to practice or what?”
When he felt Naruto become more jubilant than he'd ever perceived, he began to feel as though he should have been. “All right! Keisuke nii-chan, you're going to be at the ramen stall all day when we get back!” With that, he settled down onto the ground, eyes closed in deep concentration.
Why do I get the feeling that he's going to be right? Keisuke thought. Then he stopped worrying about whether or not his wallet would survive and put his attention back on the boy. Even if he did end up flat broke, it would be worth it if Naruto could learn to use this technique. Putting on a serious face, he returned to instructing Naruto.
“Tune out all your senses, and feel into yourself. The inner coils system is a hugely complex thing. Even if you searched it for years, you couldn't map it all. It will take time to find your tenketsus, and even more time to coax out the Ghostly Arms from them.”
Naruto didn't say anything. Whether he was focused on his inner coils, on thoughts of his free thirty bowls of ramen, or both, Keisuke could not tell. The master of the Ghostly Arms swept feelers over his aura, seeking out the places where his chakra was most concentrated, judging his progress, offering encouragement and guidance where he could. It was a tedious process, yet they continued it for several hours. For their separate reasons, both of them really wanted to see this work.
Finally, when the sun sank below the horizon leaving them with no solid results, Keisuke called a halt.
“I think we can leave it at that today, Naruto.”
Naruto, having been silent in concentration for a record seven hours, did not hesitate to voice his annoyance. “Damn it,” he said, “I didn't get anywhere today...”
“Like I said, kid, we don't have any idea how long it could take. The best you can do is to keep trying a little bit every day and hope that you find it.”
Naruto glanced up at the full moon. The white orb reflected in his blue eyes like an island of hope in an ocean of obstacles. As they approached the gates of the village, he vowed, “I'll do better than that,” he said. “I'm gonna get this thing down in a week if it kills me!”
Keisuke chuckled a little. “Well, hopefully it won't go quite that far, eh? I'm sure there are people in Konoha that'd like to have you back someday...”
“Ah, don't worry about it! If I can survive Ero-Sennin's torture, I can survive anything!”
“Hey, it's not that bad!”
Naruto spun around. The Toad Sennin stood before him, heavily bandaged but mobile. Beside him, Keisuke began to get a little nervous; was Naruto anywhere near ready to forgive his supposed “master?”
“Ero-Sennin!” Naruto shouted. “Who the hell d'you think you are, trying to pass off having my ass handed to me all day and every day, almost dying about fifty times, going weeks at a time without any food or sleep... you think you can pass that off as not that bad?”
Jiraiya, prideful moron that he was, countered. “It was all for the sake of your training, Naruto! You just said you were ready to give your life for the sake of your training. Besides, haven't you been improving from all I've put you through? Aren't you stronger now than you were before we left?”
Naruto's voice was a low growl as he questioned, “Strong enough to take seven Sound on my own, no backup?”
Keisuke, knowing what was coming next, stepped aside. Hopefully, Jiraiya would just take his lumps this time. A dislocation was better than a week-long stay in the hospital any day. And, perverted though he was, the Toad Sennin was a fair instructor in ninjutsu, so Naruto would eventually regret killing him. The menacing chakra that was radiating off the boy, while much more mellow than last time, was certainly capable of doing a good deal of damage to the still-tender Jiraiya.
“Well,” Jiraiya said, “Not yet, obviously, but...”
“Jiraiya-san?” Keisuke interrupted him.
“What?”
“Have the doctors cleared you for running yet?”
“Well...”
“Start running, Ero-Sennin,” growled the red-eyed blond before him.
And run he did.
Keisuke heaved a sigh. Oh well, Jiraiya would be fine. Most of Naruto's anger over the incident was expended already. Soon enough, all would be forgiven. Hell, Naruto had only sprouted one "tail" this time, not four...
Wait a minute, he thought. Those tails... He ran a feeler across Naruto's red chakra “tail” as the boy moved after his half-dead sensei, just to make sure.
He found what he was looking for. Keisuke's Ghostly Arm did not lie; the tail had the same signature as his own chakra arms. Grinning, the blind man followed after his young friend, eager to share with him this new breakthrough.
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Was Naruto pissed? Oh yes. Would Naruto kill Ero-Sennin? Maybe. Could Ero-Sennin run away fast enough? Hell no. Was Ero-Sennin screwed? Definitely.
Well, maybe not so screwed. He had made a good point after all; Naruto was many times the ninja that he had been back in Konoha. Hell, most of the time he didn't mind the training, and he was even nearly ready to forgive his big mistake in the hot spring town. But nobody–and I mean nobody–was going to treat Uzumaki Naruto that way and then act like it was no big deal. Screw letting up because he was hurt... Jiraiya would live, and Naruto would forgive him, but not without taking a good thumping.
“Get back here, you perverted old lump!” he cried, following in his sensei's wake.
That Ero-Sennin was quick even with his bandages. Though the Kyuubi's chakra pumped through him, Naruto was having trouble keeping up as they dodged over roofs, through alleyways, under sewer grates, across the marketplace, and god only knows how many other places. Nevertheless, Naruto made a steady gain, and within five minutes, he was nearly on him.
Then, as Jiraiya ducked under an aqueduct, and Naruto flew over it, the Kyuubi container lost sight of his perverted master. He attempted to find him again by smell, but failed; the pervert had washed his scent off in the aqueduct's waters. Cursing, he followed the aqueduct back into the heart of the village, but it was no good... he had lost him. Naruto was just about to give up and look for Keisuke when he heard screaming from a building to his left. Looking over, he noticed that the building was the local public bath.
Naruto smiled. Ero-Sennin would get his punishment after all. Bursting right into the women's side, he quickly located his sensei, up against a wall facing several very angry women, and promptly blew him through the roof. Satisfied, he turned and stomped out of the bathhouse, reveling in his breif triumph.
His red chakra still burned in him as he stepped into the cool night air. He'd given Ero-Sennin what he deserved, but it would be a while before he calmed down completely. He swept an old beer can off into the night with his chakra “tail” and turned to walk back to the hotel room.
He was halfway there when a kind voice interrupted his brooding. “Still pissed, I see. That amazing chakra is such a giveaway for that particular emotion.”
Naruto faced Keisuke with annoyance still in his voice. “Shut up. It's not like it isn't justified for me to be pissed.”
Keisuke grinned. “I agree with you. Jiraiya-san is forgetful–we'll have to keep teaching him this lesson for a long time. Still, I don't think there will be much cause for anger when you hear what I've got to say.”
“Oh really?” Naruto spat on the ground. “Then say it.”
“Toss that dumpster out of the way for me, would you?”
Naruto was too busy grousing over Ero-Sennin to question him. With his tail, he reached behind him and flung the offending dumpster to the other end of the street.
Keisuke nodded and settled against the wall. “Thank you. Care to tell me how you did that?”
“Did what?”
“Moved that huge dumpster with your chakra.”
Naruto's annoyance increased. “I reached my chakra out, put it behind the dumpster, and pried it away from the wall. How do you think I did it?”
“Strange,” Keisuke said, “When I do it, it usually would take more than one of my chakra arms to move something that big. Maybe it's because you pumped most of the chakra into a single arm rather than spread it out evenly among the sixty-four of them?”
Now Naruto's anger drained away, the demon's chakra and the tail receding back into the seal from whence they came. If he had heard Keisuke right...
“Wait a minute,” he said. “You're saying that the tails that Kyuubi's chakra makes when I'm mad are actually those Ghostly Arm things? Are you jerking my chain?”
“No,” Keisuke said, “I'm not playing around. I had a good feel of that tail there this time around. There's no mistake.”
Naruto gawked at Keisuke open-mouthed, making him look rather stupider than he actually was. After a few seconds, he shook it off, but he was still wide-eyed. This day was turning out to be more full of surprises than any other day that he had known.
“Well, that sucks... why does it only work when I let Kyuubi's chakra out?”
“It makes sense, actually,” Keisuke continued. “The essence of the Sixty-Four Ghostly Arms is finding your tenketsus and pushing the arms out into the air, where they can be manipulated almost like a second set of hands. I guess Kyuubi must have gotten bored in there and decided to pass the time by counting out your tenketsus. At some point, he probably figured out that he could extend his chakra through them. He probably twisted most of the arms together into thicker, shorter 'tails' as his personal touch. Who knew that a demon could be so creative, eh kid?”
Naruto, however, was chagrined rather than intrigued. “Damn it,” he said, “This probably means that I'll have to get that stupid fox to teach me how to do it, and I've only ever talked to him when I was half-dead.”
“Aw, buck up, kid,” Keisuke said. He put his arm over Naruto's shoulder reassuringly. “When we started this, you didn't have a clue where to look for your power. Now, thanks to Jiraiya-san's infuriating you, you've got a lead.”
Naruto brightened a bit. “Yeah, I guess Ero-Sennin is good for something, at least.”
Keisuke smiled again. “That's the way, kid. Get back to the hotel–I'll finish some things up out here and then follow you. I want to see you back at the field first thing tomorrow, so we can work on this.”
Naruto flashed a foxy grin of his own, saying, “All right, nii-chan. You're definitely going to owe me thirty bowls of ramen when we get home.”
As the kid moved off, Keisuke slapped his own forehead. Damn, forgot about that little detail. Maybe I should have waited a week. Then he stretched his free chakra arms to their full reach, confirmed the presence in the trees, and turned to face it.
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Hyuuga Hiashi's request had been clear, but as Haruka saw the man called Keisuke turn towards her, her doubts about whether this was the best course of action resurfaced. If this man possessed the kind of power that she suspected he did, then was it wise to directly attack him so soon? If he wasn't a threat at the outset, then this would more than likely make him into one.
Still, Haruka trusted Hiashi's judgment. She'd known him since her girlhood, and he'd proved to be a sound leader. Sure, he hadn't stopped the barbaric practice of putting cursed seals on the branch family, but that wasn't her problem; she was an independent, living where no member of the Main House could abuse the power. Clan politics didn't concern her anymore. What mattered was that Hiashi, whom she believed to be a capable leader, had asked her to do this for him. So it was that when the stranger turned his eyeless face in her direction, she didn't run or hide.
Then the stranger spoke. “You can come down from there now,” he said, “The kid's out of the way.”
Haruka did so, dropping from the tree and landing catlike in a battle stance. The lower half of her face was masked, and her midnight hair was tied back out of her eyes, which were precisely the same shade as the moon above them. In her black bodysuit with her Byakugan active, she might have frightened away a common man simply by looking at him. Pity that the stranger was blind.
“Your aura is strange, Hyuuga-san. Clarify your intentions, please.” The blind man's voice was low and serious. Haruka hesitated–Hiashi had advised her to strike without delay, to test his skill in its entirety, including defense against stealth attacks. However, the stranger had not only found her, but already identified her blood limit ability, so her stealth was scrapped. And if she was already pegged as a Hyuuga, then attacking him without warning might send him back to Konoha for vengeance.
She opted to oblige him. “If you are Keisuke of the Grave, as I think you are, then my purpose is to test you,” she said.
“Test me? Hyuuga-san, what need of your clansmens' would compel you to that?”
“We have observed you since your arrival here,” she explained, “And you have exhibited a power that you did not have when you visited Hiashi-sama seven years ago. If it is the same power that we believe it to be, then Hiashi-sama has cause to believe that you may be a threat to the Hyuuga Clan and Konoha. He has asked me to confirm our suspicions in combat.” Haruka didn't see any reason to lie to the man; she wasn't exactly telling him anything that he couldn't have figured out for himself, and lying to him might give him more reason to hunt her clansmen.
The blind man nodded. “I am grateful that you are being truthful with me. It's a quality that was absent in most of the last bunch of idiots that Hiashi sent after me. Very well,” he said, and removed his vest and overshirt. Haruka's Byakugan saw several more chakra arms, now free of the bulky cotton shirt, extend to join the ones that sprouted from his arms and legs.
Sinking into his own stance, the man continued, “I am Keisuke of the Grave, as you thought. Your truthfulness has earned you my respect–I'll fight you willingly.”
Silence reigned for a moment as the opponents sized each other up. Haruka's eyes allowed her to see what was invisible to the average human: the sixty-four “Ghostly Arms” that sprouted from the tenketsus in Keisuke's inner coils system. She could see him waving them around himself, feeling out the area, and watched as the nearest ones closed on her, marking out her position, feeling for changes in her aura that might give away an attack. It was as spectacular and alien-looking as she remembered it. And now, it was up to her to test it.
There's no point in trying to fake him out, she thought. He'll feel through any bluff that I try easily. I can't be sure that the Hakke Rokujuuyon Sho will work, either; those arms might just be a natural barrier for the tenketsus. The best chance I have is to out-maneuver him and try to strike directly from close range.
Her opponent was also analyzing his chances. Her Byakugan eyes can see every move that my chakra arms make. Trap seals will be useless, and she'll have advanced warning of any Kokuin jutsus that I perform. Stealth and genjutsu is an exercise in futility here. I'll have to avoid the Jyuuken as much as possible and overpower her.
The stillness lasted several minutes.
Then, Haruka saw him start to wrap some of his arms around himself, forming an elaborate seal. She didn't wait for him to finish, focusing chakra to her feet and charging him with Jyuuken at the ready. His feelers caught the movement immediately, and he flung shuriken in her path. Though she avoided them easily, her dodging movement afforded him time to complete his seal.
“Insotsu Kokuin: Raikou!” (Commanding Carved Seal: Lightning)
No visible change accompanied the activation of the Kokuin, but Haruka knew better than to charge in blindly without knowing the nature of the defense. She threw a set of kunai, which he dodged fluidly. However, his feelers didn't pick up the thin wire that she had wrapped around two of them, and without eyes, Keisuke had no other way of knowing about it. He dodged between them and ended up with his arms tied to his sides.
Certain that whatever defense that he had was now disabled, Haruka charged a second time. Taking aim at Keisuke's right lung with her Byakugan, she readied a Jyuuken strike. She was thirty feet away with no visible resistance.
But when she came within twenty-five feet and he had positioned his chakra arms in a spiral pattern around him, she knew that something was amiss. She pulled out of her charge just as he leaped into the air and started spinning.
“Raikaiten!” (Lightning Spin)
The crackling electrified whips that had once been ordinary chakra barely grazed her, but they still stung like hell. It was like being slapped by some overgrown jellyfish. She landed hard on the concrete and rolled to her feet. A modified Kaiten! If he had waited just a little longer with that, I would might have been seriously electrocuted, she thought. If he had waited... did he...?
She relaxed her stance. He'd started his Kaiten early to give her a chance to pull out. “You could have done me serious injury with that technique,” she said. “Why did you let me escape?”
“Why did you wait until I understood that you wanted to fight before attacking?” he countered. “I was under the impression that this was merely a test. Why use lethal force in a test, especially when there could be civilians caught in the crossfire?”
“Well,” Haruka said, “There are those among us who'd think you'd jump at the chance to slaughter a Hyuuga. That's part of why I am here: to find out how threatening you might be to us.”
Keisuke frowned at her, dropping his Kokuin and straightening out of his battle stance. “Hyuuga-san, I'll be honest with you. There are individuals among your clan, like you, who are morally sound enough to earn my respect. But, as a rule, I... don't like the Hyuuga much.”
Haruka stiffened. She had noticed the way that his face had contorted in disgust as he finished that sentence. Obviously, he did not like the Hyuuga at all, possibly even detested them. “So... should I consider you a friend or an enemy?”
Turning away from her, Keisuke said, “You and your clansmen are safe from me, Hyuuga-san. I have no desire to associate with them at all.” Without another word, he walked away.
Haruka let him go. She had seen enough for now, and was busy deciphering what she had learned. She had accomplished her primary goal, and confirmed that the stranger was indeed the fabled Keisuke of the Grave that had visited Hyuuga Hiashi. He was powerful, that was clear. She thought that in a real battle situation, away from civilians and with the advantages of stealth, she might have been able to best him, but in a fair fight it was clear that he was her superior. It also seemed true that he valued honesty and respected the rules of engagement.
Other than that, though, Hyuuga Haruka didn't know what to make of him. He might have been telling the truth when he'd said that her clansmen were safe, but from the way his face had shown utter contempt when he had spoken of them, she thought it possible that this might change very easily. She was once again at a loss, and decided that perhaps it would be best to consult Hiashi again.
She let her Byakugan fade and ran along the fence towards her apartment. After a minute's hard running, she let her mask fall and sighed. As she rounded a sharp corner, she wondered if...
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Naruto was nearing the hotel room when he got the feeling that something wasn't all right. Reaching back, he found that the straps that had rested on his shoulders that morning were no longer there.
“Crap, I forgot that I dropped my pack when I chased after Ero-Sennin!” he groaned, and hopped onto the fence to head back into town. He was not happy at all. On top of everything else that had happened today, he was going to have to run all over the place trying to recover his gear.
Naruto heaved a resigned sigh as he came around a sharp corner, inwardly wondering whether...
CRACK.
Two heads that had been staring at their owners' feet as they pondered the events of the long day collided, and the dual concussion that resulted yielded two unconscious ninja. The streets that intersected at the scene of the crash were deserted this late at night; there were no witnesses, and the two were left to elements.
Fortunately for them, their rescuer came within minutes. Unfortunately, their rescuer was a tired, beaten old man in torn bandages.
“Argh, Naruto,” said the man, rubbing the back of his head and wincing, “You'd better be grateful for this, dragging you back after all you put me through...” With a pained grunt, Jiraiya slung the unconscious woman over his undamaged shoulder, and proceeded to drag the concussed Naruto back to the hotel.
I'm sorry, Naruto, the Toad Sennin thought. I'll make sure you aren't neglected again.
OoOoOoOo End Chapter Four oOoOoOoO