-2 months ter-
Pov: Ryū
"Did you file away the reports from st month? Ibiki said they weren't there when he looked for them" I ask Akemi.
"Of course- though I did take them out st weekend to compare with our current battle-sage data" She tells me.
"You have to sign them out next time- even if you are in the room next door or only using them for an hour" I scold her.
"I apologize" She states with utmost seriousness.
"So. I know you are free tonight" I cough.
"Spying on me are you?" Akemi jokes as she writes down notes on team 3.
"Well... I do have your timesheet, the knowledge of your favoured areas in Konoha and I walk you home every night- sometimes I don't leave that home, so yes- I am a spy" I nod my head.
"And what of my free time?" She asks me.
...
"Want to get some dinner?" I ask awkwardly.
"No, I am chilling at the hot spring with Tsume tonight" She declines.
"Oh..." I turn to my paperwork and continue writing notes on team 5.
...
"She doesn't mind mixed bathing if you wish to come say hi" She yawns out.
"Oh- me? That would be awkward" I shake my head.
"Oh? Afraid to see other women naked?" She ughs at me.
"Well- you know..." I scratch my neck.
"Like you could even get with Tsume" she barks out a ugh at the thought.
"Hey- I could... not" I take offence and then take back my words as I say them.
"Oh was that a challenge I heard?" She begins to mess with me.
I can't deal with her pranks and teasing today- I just wanted to rex and eat some dinner!
"Nope, you heard wrong" I go back to my work.
"Mixed baths- tonight. No backing out" She smiles.
Damn.
-four hours ter-
"Huh" I say with genuine surprise.
"What?" Tsume says as she raises her eyebrow at me.
"Well... how do I put this..." I take my eyes off her towel and look at My girlfriend in the eyes.
"Don't feel a thing?" She smirks.
What? How did she- of course she knew because she pnned this... but how though?
"Yes..." I squint at her.
"Can someone tell me what's happening? Oi Akemi, your boyfriend keeps staring at me" Tsume kicks Akemi's shins.
"Pft- I am a Yamanaka who specializes in medical jutsu Ryū, I wouldn't have btantly asked you to come here if I didn't already know you- and it seems better than yourself" Akemi smiles with a sigh of relief.
"Oi, don't ignore me" Tsume kicks her shins again.
"You know- I wouldn't be surprised if you were shocked at the fact that Lady Tsunade has huge boobs" Akemi says.
"Okay, now is the time to fill me in on what's happening- Oi" Tsume keeps kicking her.
"Yeah... what? I am very concerned and confused" I ask her.
"You are a workaholic who before falling for me would stare people in the eyes and only the eyes at all times- I have never seen your gaze wander anywhere and I was of course curious about what you were into... so I kept trying on new clothes and styles but you responded with the same love as always..." She sighs.
"Okay...?" I tilt my head.
"I brought you here for an experiment if you must know- sorry Tsume but I wanted to see what would happen if he saw some other pretty nearly naked dy... I was nervous at first but now I feel like an idiot.
"How so?" I ask.
"Oi" Tsume spshes water at her.
"Because you stared at her rack like you were examining a new set of Kunai! Nodding to yourself as the quality was good enough and just putting them away! No passion just inspection!" She grabs at her hair.
"Woah- are you okay?" I ask her as she takes a breath.
"Now I am- this past month I was freaking out because I thought you didn't care about me, and I just found out you just don't care about my or anyone's body at all!" She tsks.
"I care about your body..." I hold her shoulder and reassure her.
"Can you fucking clue me in?" Tsume holds her other shoulder and smiles dangerously.
"No you don't... you love me. Sorry, just stressed over this..." She lowers her body into the water and submerges half her face.
"Oi, do you know what's happening here?" Tsumi spshes water at me.
"Not entirely but I am getting a picture" I look down at Akemi who rises out of the water again.
"You don't lust after the form of people- you only lust after the love you feel for people... for me... Its just- sorry, it was important for me..." She tells me with a sigh and I start to get it.
She was worried I didn't love her due to my ck of... libido and just came to the conclusion that I do? Or something like that.
"What does that have to do with the Hokage's breasts?" Tsume asks.
"More your breasts..." Akemi furrows her brows.
"I am somehow more lost than before" Tsume snacks her shoulder.
...
"I came here to cheat on my girlfriend with you" I nod my head seriously and Akemi smacks me over the head.
"Okay now your just confusing her on purpose!" Akemi scolds me.
"My bad- but Tsume, if I tried to woo you would you fall for me?" I strike my most handsome of poses.
"Please don't bring this up again Ryū..." Akemi holds her face in embarrassment.
"Eh... I guess I would feel serene" She shrugs.
...
"What?" Both me and Akemi say at the same time.
"Serene? Is that a word you would use to describe- how would... what?" Akemi second guesses herself.
"Wait is that a yes? Or a no?" I ask.
"More of a 'aaaaa~' type feeling you know?" She smirks.
...
"Okay- sorry for ignoring you a second ago... can you answer the question?" Akemi asks her.
"Nope" She smiles and makes Akemi's eye twitch.
"Okay this was too confusing for many reasons, good seeing you again Tsume- I will see you tomorrow Akemi" I get out of the water and ruffle Akemi's hair before shaking my head.
A single sigh leaves my mouth...
...Why am I much more comfortable being tortured in the box than whatever awkward interaction that was?
---
Pov: Kenzo
"I told you not to move you vile sack of shit" I spit and stare down at one of the men who slowly tries to reach for a kunai.
"To think they call me monster when people like you just wander the desert and py with peoples lives... sickening" I scrunch my stare and the group of around fifty people shrink down further into the sand... I sit on their cart of goods and overlook them.
"Nothing of value these people are nobodies" Kakazu empties out the st bag of junk and tells me.
"You go ahead- I will handle clean up" I tell Kakazu who starts walking into the distance.
"Couldn't survive selling your 'goods' when the Naruto Bridge was made could ya? Thought you could just pack up and move to the next desperate nd?" I spit out coldly.
*Shuffle*
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE!" I shout and the man balls up on himself and starts sobbing loudly.
My gaze burning above them- must be hell. good.
"Tell me nothing but the truth- where are your friends?" I grip the cart beneath me and crush the wood.
"We...we...we..." Someone sobs out.
"Truth" I coldly mutter out and raise my unyielding stare to its highest state, a stare not made for regur people.
"Now" I command.
---
Pov: Shuzo
"Kurotsuchi, may I ask you not to disturb me for a while? My next meditation will be quite important- I know you know I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't" I bow to her.
"... I will find something else to do..." She pockets the rocks she has prepared and sighs as she looks around my room.
"Perhaps you would like to read? I have bought a new selection of books in anticipation of this" I gesture towards the rooms bookshelf that is more full than before.
"Thanks... I will check them out" She nods her head and I take a breath.
...
This is it.
I can feel it.
The breakthrough is nigh.
I close my eyes.
I take deep breaths in and out.
I let all the pain that ails me flow through...
...
And I open my eyes.
Inside the orange box.
Without using a scroll I have managed to enter the orange box... and across from me is the greatest evidence to the fact that this orange box is a representation of my soul...
Three people stand, Kenzo, Shuzo and Ryū.
The difference is that those three have dark eyes and red pupils... the difference is that these three are not our split souls but rather the darkness within them.
A shadow of who we are... of what we could be.
The shadow of me steps forward as the other two smile and fade, hiding and waiting till the others eventually find them.
"Poor little Shuzo... so hateful for the past that built you- so spiteful because you get to rex all day while others take responsibility" My Shadow sneers.
"I am not poor. Am quite rich actually" I retort.
"Humour to detach yourself from the seriousness of the situation... how Kenzo like" My Shadow says with a dreadful tone.
"I am not-" I start but am cut off.
"You are not him. You will never be him. Just a split, self centred version of him... the only split self here who has any amount of ability to cim to be the original is the one who kept his name.... You think that being called Kenzo is an insult... when it is a responsibility- you could never stand to be the monster..." My Shadow ughs at me.
"That's not what I meant" I state.
"Isn't it? Oh? What did you mean... enlighten me" My Shadow speaks.
"Kenzo is- he doesn't have any reason to do what he does and he does it anyway! Its infuriating to watch him struggle when nothing pushes him too!" I shout.
"So you think he should be weak like you? Lay back and let his brother die?" My shadow mocks.
"No- Naruto can handle himself, Konoha can and has protected him!" I yell.
"Can they? You saw how they treated him... how they treated you... that's why you hate them, that's why we loathe them" My shadow cackles out.
"You... you don't- you can't say that, Lord third was kind..." I state.
"We both know that one bad egg spoils the lot... and Konoha only ever had very few good eggs... that's why you hate him right? We were once one of those bad eggs spoiled by the other terrible eggs..." He whispers to me as if telling a secret.
"You think I don't know that?" I mutter.
"I know everything you do Shuzo... but you don't know everything I do" My shadow shakes his head.
"What?" I look up at his crimson eyes.
"You and the other two forgot so easily... you deserve to be called monster" It chuckles... my shadow chuckles.
"Forget what?" I scowl.
"Why don't I help you remember?" My shadow gestures to the box and I blink.
I stand with a lunch bag in one hand and a match in the other... I stare across the small cssroom and see myself in the reflection... I was the kid with the match?
That doesn't... I couldn't... I am a monster.
Haaaa- Haaaa- Haaaa-
"Breaking, bending...?" My shadow taunts.
*Gasp!*
I shuffle awake and clench my chest, Kurotsuchi is startled by me and I take a huge breath.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"Yes I'm fi-" my mouth opens wide and my eyes follow suit as I stare at the wall where my shadow lies... shadows aren't meant to have eyes... not crimson ones.
"You lost. Three slices of fun. Three chances to win... don't let the monster out Oswald" My shadow taunts me and I struggle to breathe.
"AGAIN!" It yells and I faint, Kurotsuchi almost certainly shocked.
I blink back into the orange box... taking heavy breaths as I y upon its floor, I look up and see the three figures ahead of me.
This time Ryū's Shadow walks up and Kenzo fades... my own shadow still has those crimson eyes.
"You filthy little hypocritical bitch, mocking my love when you love nothing? Mocking my way of life when you sit here and do nothing! When you struggle to rex with no one pushing you!?! Are you happy Oswald! Are you happy!?" The shadow grasps my colr and throws me across the room as lightning wraps him.
"How about the fact that you run and hide- how about the fact that you gave Oorochimaru his arms back on a fucking whim!? You feel big having power over him!? Do you!!!" The shadow kicks me in the stomach and I crash and roll across the floor.
"And yet there is that little whisper still lingering isn't there... that tiny thought in your pitiful fucking head" The Shadow grips my head and smashes his own against mine.
Blood pours out of my nose and I scream as a cold whisper passes by my ears.
"Oorochimaru is thankful for the new arms... he has seals to ensure they don't fail him... power that allows him to circumvent the ability to sense your own soul... all you did was trap other kids in the hell you escaped... all you did was give Oorochimaru exactly what he wanted... like you did all those years ago when he kidnapped you" My own shadow whispers in my ears.
"What...?" I mutter out.
"You fucking sold bitch!" The shadow headbutts me again and drops me on the floor.
"You fucking ruined everything! Told Oorochimaru everything! Can't you remember!? Cant you fucking keep track!? Tell you what? We can, what you repress is what we are fucker!!!" The shadow stomps on my neck and I struggle to breath.
I blink and I am on that torture table again, Oorochimaru holds a snake that slowly slithers out of my throat and makes me struggle for life.
"Without your stare maybe you will remember what the rest of you did... instead of focusing on staring why don't you listen?" My own shadow whispers to me.
...
"The orange box, the orange box, the orange box! It helps me! It helps me! Gives me time! Gives me obstacles! Gives me knowledge! The orange box!" I feel my own voice mutter uncontrolbly over and over again.
I feel like vomiting.
*Brrghhhh!*
"Arh- what the hell!" Kurotsuchi compins as I vomit onto the floor... I look up to the mirror and see a pale version of myself with crimson eyes.
"THIS WONT BE JUST A REFLECTION SOON ENOUGH BITCH!! ONE LAST RUN!?!? ARE YOU UP FOR IT SNIVELING LITTLE RODENT!?" My reflection bangs on the mirrors surface and yells at me... soon again I bck out.
Only to awaken in the orange box.
....
...
My body is pale... my shadow has eyes... Kenzo's Shadow walks forward.
"You hate me" It states.
...
"You hate yourself" It states.
...
"Only because you can't understand yourself... why push yourself? Why drag ourselves through such pain? For what gain do we have?" It states.
...
"Do you remember the night our mother called us insane? Said she doesn't love us..." It states.
...
"Makes sense why Ryū fell so easily... Akemi is quite the desperate bitch" It states.
...
"How about that time when your father just wanted you to be normal...?" It states.
...
"And you never felt more disconnected... Isn't that what you wanted? Detachment from the pain? Isn't it easier to hide away from us?" It states.
...
"Nothing? Then how about this memory... of your insignificant goal... the one thing you had to hold onto" It states and I blink.
...
I hold a letter- no, a list of names...
"Bullies from the school. Quite like Kenzo to make a list of people to enact violence upon..." It states.
...
"That feeling of burning alive... was so worth it for the suffering you saw on their faces as light left your eyes..." it states.
...
"I didn't break you did I?" It states.
...
"Well... what about this memory?" It states.
I look around as my body stands in a football field, I watch as the game is pyed... remember how 'football' is pyed.
My biggest bully, my number one. My top of the list constant star who never drops below first pce!
The girl who took me into her group of friends only to mock me and hurt me... the kid who decided that I would be the perfect punching bag.
I am hungry.
I should go get lunch.
A small imperfect walk to the canteen, slowly I make my way to the counter and drop a few coins and cash in exchange for a sausage roll and the dy hands me a bag with my items inside.
...
I fiddle with the match in my pocket before heading towards my next cssroom... if I get there in time...
The number one's css should be just above me... I can light up the stairwell.
...
I sit in that cssroom and I fiddle with my match.
*flick* *Flick* *FLICK!*
I light it on the box and drop it the ground...
*grasp!*
Before catching it.
"Let go..." I look up to see my reflection, crimson eyes staring at me.
"No" I sternly reply.
"Can't handle the memory?" It states.
...
"You can't can you? Accept that you were always mad... the box said so itself, it chose you for this... this desire to burn so others could burn with you" It states.
...
"The desire to burn yourself so you can feel power over others" It states.
"You nearly had me. But- but I wasn't holding a match box until I needed it... this memory is false" I snarl.
"Observant" It states.
"Trickster bastard- Oorochimaru was curious even after I was tortured- he never heard those words! He still came back to figure me out! Take my blood!" I yell out.
"Perceptive" It states.
"I... wasn't the one who burned me, I know it- I can feel it" I hold my chest and clutch it.
"How human" It states.
"Human, not monster" I state back.
...
"All that is repressed... my darkness, our shadows come to test me- my memories have been repressed and forgotten, meaning you have full control over what I discarded" I state.
...
"I can't argue against you when you spoke the truth... but when you lie... when you lie I can argue" I state.
...
"So then why lie?" I ask.
...
"Nothing? Than why not remember this?" I state.
It blinks and looks around, the box- my soul bends to my will and I shape it to the moment I had long ago, the choice I made.
He looks down as I offer him a sandwich.
"You want the easy way out? Fuck over one kid and rex or tough it out with the demon?" I ask him.
It stares at me.
"Tough it out" It states.
"We always take the more interesting path" We state.
"I can't just detach myself from you- my darkness... my shadow... that's boring, that's the normal way of obtaining enlightenment- that's not how we do things" I tell him.
"What...?" It asks.
"You are me- and I am not leaving me behind for some bullshit I read in some book ages ago about enlightenment or rexation or detachment" I state.
"What...???" It looks confused.
"I ran! I hid! I hated that I was me! I wanted to take the easy way out alright!?" I scrunch my nose.
"Ah- hahahahaha!" It ughs.
"I just wanted out! But who cares anymore! I don't! You just gave me back my motivations!" I grab its shoulder and stare it in the eyes.
"I'm gonna beat a snake- beat some masked bitch and then get home to make my brother a meal!" I poke its chest as it smiles.
"And I am not gonna do that the Kenzo way- I am gonna do it my way! Kenzo can do what he wants!" I poke it and it stops smiling to become confused again.
"I'm going to forget the snake! That bastard will return my arms and I will not fear him- the only victory he has over me is his fear!" I yell out.
"I RENOUNCE MY FEAR OF HIM!" I scream to the box.
"I'm going to leave that masked bastard to Kenzo- he knows what he is doing and he can do it well!" I yell out.
"I HAVE TRUST IN MYSELF!" I scream out at the shadow.
"And Ryū can love who he wants because Kenzo fell first- he grew attached to a kid and we all did too" I poke it again and again.
"I WILL FORGIVE MYSELF! I KNOW IT!" I shout out to no one in particur.
"Forgiveness accepted... dumbass" It smiles as its eyes turn white and my soul feels lighter.
"Don't fuck up!" My own voice escapes me as my skin stops being so pale...
"Don't lose that trust... remember that we are always here... another you... waiting to take the reigns when you refuse to" My shadow whispers as its crimson eyes fade.
...
I blink and colpse onto my knees... I can feel Kurotsuchi shaking me but I cry my heart out.
*Sniff*
I can't remember what happened... but maybe that's fine for now- I am a madman with three minds and three ideas... not one of them good.
Three idiots.
Three crazy idiots.
And a world of pain to go through!
YES!
YES!
LETS BECOME ONE AGAIN! THAT WAY.... THAT WAY I AM IN CONTROL ONCE MORE~ I CAN SHARE THIS REVELATION WITH THE OTHERS!
------
Obtain a blessing without the system!
Rewards: K-rank instant scroll, Five statistic scrolls!
------
"Kehehehehehehehehekeekekekekekekekekekekkaahahahahahahahahahahahahahkekekekekekekekekekekekekekekahahahahahahahahahahakakakakakkakakkakehehehehehehehehakkakkakakaka!" I ugh maniacally.
"Are you okay!?!??????" Kurotsuchi asks.
"Yeah why!? Hehehkeke... I am just embracing my own mad mind is all!" I sniffle and wipe my tears.
"I should get Granfather" She gets up and I ugh to myself.
Ohhhh- boy... I need to calm down....
Pfft- hahahahaha!
But this high is.... better than anything I have ever felt!
*Sp!* *Sp!*
I sp myself twice and breathe in... practicing my meditation and letting my mind and body cool down...
"Are you... better?" Kurotsuchi asks me.
"Yes. Sorry about that, if you are still worried I can speak with you grandfather?" I nod to her.
"... yes please..." She opens the door and I stiffle another ughing fit.
[Spiritual attachment]... I cannot wait to see what this blessing can do!
Thanks for reading :)
My work keeps changing my times around so releases on Monday may vary in time!
