Chapter 40 - Arc VI: Kyuubi Unleashed- Chapter 2

Shoki made his way across the grounds, heading toward one of the three areas that sounded like it met Sakura’s requirements.

As they ran, Sakura tried to get the boy to talk. Apparently, unlike Ryouko, he was gender indifferent. That is to say, girl or boy, Shoki was somewhat anti-social, but not patently unfriendly.

“So your eye…what’s it called?”

“…Issekigan. The ‘Discerning Eye’.”

“And what does it do?”

“I’m not sure. That’s what Ryouko-senpai is trying to help me figure out, along with Uzume.”

No title? Wow, this kid must know Uzume pretty well to get away with that!

“Have you lived here long, Shoki?”

“For a couple years now. Uzume took me in, and told me that she had a big brother for me. But he died…”

“I’m so sorry,” Sakura told the boy. “Did you get to know him?”

Shoki shook his head. “No. He was dead within two days of my coming. He was Uzume’s brother. Ryouko-sempai reminds me a lot of him.”

“How so?”

“They’re both nice people with a keen since of duty. And they’re both fire chakras.”

Sakura was tempted to ask how Shoki knew that, and why it was important, but she held off. She didn’t want to pry.
“Has Ryouko been good to you? I mean, has he taught you a lot?”

Shoki was quiet. “…”

“?”

“…He told me I don’t have to be what I’m supposed to,” Shoki said finally. “Those bad guys; the Akatsuki, I think. They wanted to kill me because of my eye. Ryouko-senpai and Uzume, and Azami-senpai stopped them.”

“What do your eyes have to do with it?” Sakura didn’t quite understand that. If Shoki didn’t really know what they did, then how did the Akatsuki?

“My eye messes with this other kind of eye. It’s like a…ripple. Yeah. Like when you throw a stone into a pond, the ripples it makes. The guy trying to kill me had that kind of eye. The other one had red eyes with a lot of pupils in them. Lady Uzume brought fire out of his eyes somehow.”

Itachi Uchiha! Sasuke’s brother! Sakura exclaimed to herself. And the other one…ripple-pattern eyes? Who could that be?
“What did Ryouko say you didn’t have to be?”

“A weapon.”

“Huh? A weapon?”

“I guess my eyes help me to learn quickly. He and Azami-senpai have been training me to fight Pain. He’s the ripple-eyed guy, by the way. But Ryouko-senpai says that I don’t have to be a weapon. That people aren’t weapons- people USE weapons. But I told him that, if it’ll save lives, I don’t mind being a weapon.”

Sakura fell into silence, amazed by this boy’s maturity. I guess he had to grow up fast.

“Here’s the first spot where that flower might be.”
Shoki pointed to a waterfall up ahead. Barely visible behind the waterfall was a cave. Exactly the dark, cool environment the Kousei plant grew in.

“Perfect! Let’s get looking! It’s a red flower, shaped kind of like a daffodil, with a green center that makes a star shape onto the leaves.”
--

Naruto was really pushing Ryouko. He had backed him all around the barrier. It was a miracle Ryouko was still alive. Ironically enough, the more he tried to protect Naruto from himself, the bigger a danger Naruto became.

His chakra is agitated…almost enough to produce the nine-tails chakra…The only way I‘ll be able to match him is to take off my curse bindings…but if I do that, I‘ll only be okay for maybe two hours…three if I don‘t use much chakra. There‘s no guarantee that Azami will have found Jiraiya, or that they‘ll be here in time. I‘ve got to think of another solution.

“RASENGAN!”

It came completely out of nowhere. All Ryouko could do was throw his arms in front of his chest and jump. He hit the top of the rotating chakra sphere and was flung upward, spinning out of control. Naruto appeared above him and punched him right in the stomach, sending him rocketing back toward earth.

Damn it! Ryouko cursed, blood spilling out of his mouth. He nailed me right through my shielding chakra…I’ve got to heal myself- if I survive this fall!

Thinking quickly, Ryouko used the ‘Earth Style: Moving Land River” Jutsu again, this time beneath him. He hit the now softened earth and was carried away by the water, narrowly avoiding another vicious punch from Naruto. His fist made a crater in the ground. He left it there, glaring at Ryouko as he panted from exhaustion.
--

Naruto walked toward the forbidding black gate; water on the floor beneath his feet. As he approached the gate, he heard a voice that would shake most people to their core. But Naruto wasn’t scared- he knew this voice. He knew it well. It shared his body.

Do you want power? Power to defeat the man who would take your woman away?

Naruto reached toward the gate. There was no hesitation on Naruto’s part, which was in direct contrast to the few times before he had accessed nine-tails power.

That’s it…give yourself to me…

--

Naruto had begun to contort in apparent agony, his hands on his head. Around him, a malicious orange chakra gathered, forming two tails at his back.

Ryouko recoiled with horror. He was out of options now. If they were to both survive, he would have to play his own ace.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu! Triple Rashomon!”

Two Shadow clones flew toward Naruto at their highest speed, swinging fists, feet, and kunai, while three giant walls featuring a ghoulish face came up from the ground. Behind them, Ryouko felt inside himself for the length of black cord. He prepared himself for the pain.
--

Naruto had begun to contort in apparent agony, his hands on his head. Around him, a malicious orange chakra gathered, forming two tails at his back.

Ryouko recoiled with horror. He was out of options now. If they were to both survive, he would have to play his own ace.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu! Triple Rashomon!”

Two Shadow clones flew toward Naruto at their highest speed, swinging fists, feet, and kunai, while three giant walls featuring a ghoulish face came up from the ground. Behind them, Ryouko felt inside himself for the length of black cord. He prepared himself for the pain.
--

Sakura and Shoki had thoroughly searched the caves behind the waterfall, but had no luck. The next spot, a dark grove near a pond, yielded no results either. That left one more spot. And this particular spot you was going to be hard to reach.

“It’s up there,” Shoki said, pointing upward. “On top of the bluff. Up there is a natural hot spring, where the priests go to bathe and meditate. Right near it is another cave, said to be where the first Lady Uzume understood her powers.”

Sakura nodded, silently praying that this would be the place where the plant would be growing. She couldn’t go all the way back to Konoha. There was no time. Ryouko couldn’t fight forever. Neither could Naruto. But with the size of Naruto’s chakra, she knew who was more likely to come out on top in a long fight.

“Up we get, then,” Sakura half-grumbled, focusing chakra to her feet. She paused at the concentration handsign, seeing Shoki just starting.
“What’s wrong?”

Shoki cocked his head, an image frozen in his eye. “I…don’t know how to do that. I know how to focus chakra to my feet, and how to maintain it…but I’ve never done it while moving…can you go up? Maybe I can do it if I see it once.”

Sakura doubted that. This might be second nature to her now, but she was the only one she knew of who got it on their first try.

“Well, you focus your chakra in an even amount. Just the right amount. You’ll know it when you feel it. Then you just walk, and keep the chakra going. Like this.”

Sakura walked up the mountain. She turned her head to see where Shoki was. To her surprise, he was making his way up the mountain! Slowly, but steadily, he was climbing up.

Amazing! Does it have something to do with his eye? Or is he a genius? Or…?

Shaking her head, Sakura decided to tell Ryouko about this later. Right now, she had to get up this hill to be sure there WAS a later for him.
-

At the top, Sakura paused. Her eyes went white, and her mouth twitched. Staring back at her from the hot springs were ten naked, shriveled old priests.

Yuck! Why couldn’t they at least be young monks?! This is so gross! That damn plant better be up here! I think I’m traumatized!

Looking past the naked old men, Sakura saw the plant she needed. Without a second thought, she sprinted over to get it.
She heard a cat-call, and two seconds later, she had lambasted a priest with a vicious right hand.

Oops. Am I gonna go to hell for that?

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