"You're wrong!" Neji shouts at me. I must have touched a nerve is the stoic Hyuuga himself is shouting. "Power and strength are not the be all and end all of our world. There's more to it than that."
"What about us?" Choji asks. "Don't we mean anything to you? You ran out on all of us. You left us all behind without a second thought."
...
Sasuke scoffs as he keeps moving his arm around. "Don't act like we were friends. None of you sought us out for anything remotely recreational. No one here invited us over for dinner. No one asked us to hang out. No one asked to spar with us. No one ever cared about us. We were never friends."
"Well then what about the invasion!" Kiba demands. "We all helped each other then!"
"No." I coldly say. "You were all just along the way."
"So the only reason you saved me was because I was in your path?" Shino asks in his monotonous voice. "I was saved on a whim?"
"Yeah." I confirm with anger in my voice. "And none of you are any better. Actually I'd say you're all worse."
"How can you say that about us?" Tenten actually sounds hurt by my words.
"How? HOW? WHERE THE HELL WERE ALL OF YOU WHEN MY PARENTS WERE KILLED!?" Everyone is stunned into silence at my outburst. "You all were fucking steps behind me when I left that booth. Steps. Not one of you followed me. You all just stood there and watched as I leaped out while screaming about my kaa-san. Do you know what I would have done if one of you were shouting about your fucking parent while bolting towards someone screaming? I would have cut down every damn person in your way."
"So that's why none of you are shinobi. None of you are worthy of your headbands. Shinobi are protectors, we are weapons, we are pillars of strength. We defend and protect what matters to us with our lives. And when the most important thing in the world to me was threatened what did you all do? Did you step up and help me protect what's important? No. All of you stepped aside and abandoned me."
"That is why I left. If no one else will help me protect what I cherish so dearly then I will do it myself. I will become so strong that no one will dare to hurt me or anyone I care about again. I'm done depending on others. I'm done hoping that my 'friends' will come save me. I'm done with Konoha."
I'm an asshole. No, I'm more than that. I've ascended past being a common asshole to something new, I'm officially one of the worst people on this planet. What kind of a person says something like that?
"Alvarcus just tell them the truth!" Ino shouts out in panic. She's freaking out because I'm severing all ties to my home. She's worried sick for me. Her eyes are darting between Sasuke and me, she's breathing quickly even though she hasn't done anything strenuous and she's nervous as all hell. "You don't mean that! You would never mean that!"
"Fine. You want the truth?" I recall my monsters.
They slowly stomp back towards me and assimilate into my back with four gut-wrenching squelches. Except they're not fully withdrawn into me. Each mask is extended out on it's own limb made of black threads.
I take a deep breath to steady myself. "The only way I will go back to Konoha is if someone drags me back kicking and screaming. Combination Jutsu: Dance of the Dragons!"
Every single person here – except for me – goes wide eyed and slack jawed. They're aren't shocked into this look because of my bold proclamation but by the jutsu I just used. If you recall I got a very helpful scroll from Orochimaru for my birthday, it was one that explained how each dragon bullet jutsu worked. I thought it needed a little more shock and awe factor to it.
The Konoha gennin are facing down not one, but five elemental dragons. Each dragon is the pure embodiment of it's element and each one is capable of killing in the faintest of touches. And to top off the pure overwhelming force being thrown at them, each dragon isn't moving in a straight line. No that would be to easy, instead all five of them are weaving around each other in a dizzying display of contortions. It's like a synchronized dance.
"Sasuke that's our cue to leave. That stunt took way more chakra than I expected." That move is killer on the chakra cost. Well it is technically five high level jutsus used at the same time so that's to be expected.
We both turn our backs on the Konoha gennin to leave for Otogakure and Orochimaru. For the second time.
"KAITEN!" Neji roars and a dome of chakra so potent I can feel it from where I'm at surges to life around him. He's directly in the path of my jutsu, he plans on taking the hit to save everyone else.
The two techniques crash together. It's his unbreakable defense vs all of the elements' rage. Lightning, fire, water, earth and wind are being scattered. Trees are being cut in two, boulders are being shattered, the ground is being terraformed. It'll never be the same here again, Neji's Kaiten is flinging my attacks everywhere. Given they're much less potent after coming in contact with the Kaiten but it is still enough to cause serious irreparable damage.
"Don't worry about me! I can stop this!" Neji shouts as he's spinning faster and faster. "Stop them! Don't let them leave again!"
"I'm actually impressed." I say to Sasuke as I'm looking over my shoulder at Neji's display. "I didn't think anyone had the balls to stand in the way of that. Too bad he's going to be worthless after blocking it, he's bleeding off chakra."
"How are we supposed to fight someone who can do that?" Ino whispers to herself.
"Fuck if I know!" Kiba vaults over the spinning dome of chakra and with his furry companion starts sprinting straight at Sasuke and me. "But we have to! We made a promise to each other to get them both back! If they won't listen to reason then they'll listen to force!"
Both man and beast go limp. Their bodies lose all rigidity like someone flipped a switch and cut off the power to a light bulb. Each of them crumple to the ground in an undignified heap and roll a meter before coming to a stop in a pile of tangled limbs.
"They made the mistake of looking into my eyes." Sasuke says and I spare him a quick glance. He's no longer wearing his mask, he has it pinned to his belt. His eyes aren't the usual black, they're a vibrant crimson with three tomoe spinning around.
"How could you?" Hinata asks in mixed emotions. She's mad yet sad at the same time. It's like she is mad that Kiba was defeated so easily and sad that it was Sasuke, one of his friends, who did it so casually and with such little effort.
"Don't strain yourself Sasuke. I don't know how durable that arm of yours is right now. I've never put someone else back together before and it's possible that the Jiongu is slowly draining your chakra. It needs chakra to survive and right now it's latched onto you."
"I will keep tabs on my chakra levels." Sasuke promises me.
"Eight Trigrams!" Hinata's voice overpowers ours. She's standing behind me. Interesting, that means that she left a clone back by Shino since she's also over there. Or perhaps it's Shino's clone that looks like Hinata? That would be one hell of a team move, no one would expect that clone of Hinata to explode into a swarm of chakra devouring insects.
"One Palm!" She thrusts her open hand forward. She's planning on incapacitating me first. I wonder if she sees me as the bigger threat? I wouldn't blame her I did send elemental dragons at her barely thirty seconds ago.
"That's not going to work." I idly say, I'm not even attempting to dodge. "Hate to remind you but I don't have a chakra system."
~RRRAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!~
The next thing I know I'm laying on my back while staring up at the blue sky. When did this happen?
~It hurts! Host it hurts so much! Don't let it happen again! Please!~
"Alvarcus!" Hinata shouts in horror. She's staring at me and her open hand in pure terror. "I didn't know! I didn't mean to! I'm so sorr- URK!"
In a burst of unrivaled speed Sasuke moved inbetween us. He didn't settle for just that, he's also bent over slightly with his left hand gripping the sheath to his sword and his right hand on the hilt. But the sword is partially drawn, there's a fair bit of gleaming metal extending out of the sheath. He slammed the butt of the hilt into Hinata's gut without fully drawing it.
Hinata collapses on the ground while wheezing for air, trying and failing to catch her breath.
"You better be able to get up Alvarcus." Sasuke turns to the rest of the Konoha gennin facing us down. "I can't carry you back to Sound and fight off all of them."
"What..." I shakily push myself to my feet. Or I try to, I'm missing everything from my left elbow down. My hand is gone, completely gone. "Huh? How'd that happen?"
Sasuke swiftly draws his blade and switches to his left hand. Then he smacks five kunai out of the air courtesy of Tenten.
"Jiongu plus Gentle Fist equals boom." He swats another pair of kunai out of the air. "Not sure how that happened but don't let it happen again."
"I exploded?" What the fuck? That can happen?
"Fucking get over it already!" Sasuke shouts. "You've taken worse hits! Get up and help me! I can't do this all damn day and your stupid Jiongu is draining my chakra way faster than I thought it would!"
I successfully get up onto my feet without using my left arm. Cuz... it's gone. "Jiongu can you just like extend out of me and make a hand? Really can't fight like this. Well I could but I don't want to."
~Okay. But never let that happen again. Please. Never again. It hurt so much!~
"I won't." I promise as black threads pour out of my elbow and form into a black hand. It's like I'm wearing the world's creepiest glove.
...
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