Naruto: Shadow of the Beast

[Kattekerma]

"Wow~!" Fuyuko giggled as she was slammed into the wall, creating a hole large enough to make the entire room collapse, but around Yori, his emanating arua didn't even seem to let the rubble pentrate it. The rubble fell around them and Fuyuko laughed once more, "Y'know gettin' all angry like this ain't gonna help ya out, y'know? She's already gone." Despite her happiness at Yori finally wanting to be serious, she couldn't help but wonder what brought this about. "Demon man, did you really care for that girl?" She managed to get a hit in, flipping upwards by grabbing onto his shoulders and pulling, flipping the man numerous times before he went flying into another wall, crashing through it. When Fuyuko heard a thud, she dashed forward, heading into the room and knocking away falling debris. This was going to be a fun fight.

Yori panted, his mask having been cracked upon slamming into the wall and landing on his face. Half of it broke off immediately while the other half stayed on. His heavy panting did little to calm him, as he stood there for a moment, assessing Fuyuko. His eyes gleamed an odd glowing red color, from what Fuyuko could see, the pupils weren't their normal shape, instead they were the shape of stars. "Oohh~ that's nice!" Fuyuko hummed, "What a nice expression, Yori. You're really cute, I'm so glad I was right to pick you!"

"Pick... me...?" Yori's voice was rough and gravelly, almost as if he hadn't been speaking just a few minutes ago. A sharp, barked laugh that borderlined crazy escaped his mouth before his lips were drawn in a tight, almost manic smile. "You're gonna wish you didn't pick me..." Without saying anything else, Yori charged forward, his hands moving rapidly in handsigns. "Earth release: Bear Armor!" Yori rolled, stones sticking to his body and creating armor. Fuyuko dodged his uncoordinated punches with ease, frowning as she jumped, kicking him across the room.

"Yori~!" She whined, crossing her arms, "I picked you cause you were stronger! Why're you usin' these lame ass... whoa!" Fuyuko, caught by surprise was slammed into the wall once more. "Haha! I shoulda been payin' attention! Clever trick." Fuyuko dusted herself off, only barely having time to react to Yori's sudden flurry of punches and kicks. The two entered a clear battle of taijutsu and Fuyuko could feel Yori's anger, his rage and all of his fury just pouring off of him in waves. It excited her. She laughed, grabbing Yori's shoulders and headbutting him, and while he was slightly dazed, she tossed him upwards, though was surprised when Yori grabbed her as well, both of them going through the ceiling. "Wow! Guess you've gotten better! I better stay on my toes..."

 

[Ultra Paradox]

The earth encrusted around him like armor seemed to crumble away, sloshing by his feet. With every minute it seemed to become gushier, and Fuyuko noticed his hand signals. Tiger,Ox, Hare, Serpent,Tiger,Ox. She watched each of his hand signals closely, until realizing what exactly he was planning. She clutched onto one of her swords, running so fast it appeared to be a glide. As she ran she vanished from his left, appeared to his right, dissapeared from his right, and re-appeared at his left. But it was far too late, the time she wasted analyzing his technique, led to her failure.

"Earth Release: Mud Seal Jutsu!" The dirt quickly formed to mud, sloshed around the decrepit floor that they burst through and quickly became dry encrusting Fuyuko within it. She gasped and looked at her feet, the mud was quickly overflowing up to her knees before drying up by the time she could blink.Disgruntled, she slammed her sword against the mud, but it didn't make a dent.

"Ugh! Damn you!" She looked up at him, her heterchromia eyes watching his. Quickly becoming aware that he was still full of rage, she hurried to find a way out. His eyes were a deep crimson red, and he was stalking her with the intent to kill. Death was awaiting her unless she found a way out.

Yori swayed left and right, before suddenly bursting into a sprint, eyes still locked on her. A burning light came from his palm and that's when the panic set in for Fuyuko, she was going to die..."Unless," She whispered to herself then smirked. She held her hand up, yelling,"Release!" The seals from earlier quickly became undone, a ssss sound echoed through the base then an explosion erupted.

Yori fell over, stunned and confused at what was happening. The entire facility was shaking. He looked at the ceiling and it was crumbling then below him it all crumbled. The floor fell beneath them releasing Fuyuko from the trap as she slammed onto the floor below (The one they were on before). She stared at Yori who also fell but stayed down for a couple seconds before standing rather dazed. She smiled finding her sword.

"Those seals were explosions, it's a shame that such a cutie like you has to die after all of this. But I just couldn't let you kill me. I have much more to accomplish before I could even think of perishing." She rushed towards him in his confused state, sword at hand, and slashed.

"What?" She was slowly falling. There was no blood. What was happening.

"That's for throwing me down the hole," Ado growled, feeling her sore fist, "Bitch."

Yori slowly glanced over at Ado and a smile could be seen from his half cracked mask, but their moment couldn't last long. The floor continued to crumble as he fell to his knees. Ado rushed to his help and by the time she looked up Fuyuko was gone. "Damn...hurry, on your feet! We have to get out of here!"

 

[Kattekerma]

Yori could barely stand. He wanted to, really, he did. But he just had no energy. 'Play time's over...? Aw, it's okay, though, boy. Next time. And maybe next time... we can formally met. Until then, ANBU-ya' Yori looked around, he could feel conciousness fading as his eyes drooped. He could feel all of the energy fading away, he could feel all of the pain, almost like all the hits he'd taken were suspended before the pain could hit him and now it's all finally hitting him. Yori coughed, hacking out a good glob of blood as Ado caught him. She grunted, hefting him onto her back with strength Yori had never seen. "Looks like I'mma just have to carry ya." With that decided, Ado quickly moved, dodging falling rock and debris as she made her way towards an exit. Jumping through the rooms and dodging falling rock proved to be a greater task than originally thought, Ado couldn't take time to look for an exit, only keeping her focus on dodging the rock as she went.

"Ado... there..." Yori weakly pointed towards a sliver of sunlight peeking in through a crack in the ceiling. The destruction wasn't too far behind them and it would surely be even worse if Ado broke through that crack, but she had no choice. Grunting, Ado allowed her chakra to pulsate freely from her skin, creating something akin to a thick barrier of armor around herself and Yori as she jumped, expelling chakra and breaking through the crack. She jumped higher, pushing off of a fallen tree and effectively smashing it to pieces as she landed gracefully nearby. The sounds of destruction could be heard as one final and large dust cloud rose into the sky, covering the sun and one loud BOOM was heard. Then, silence. "We... We made it..." Yori breathed out, relief flooding through his body. The relief that they were out of danger nearly put him to sleep, but he couldn't, not yet. "Where's..."

"I don't know..." Ado replied, looking around. Her vision was only as good as the normal shinobi, the sharingan didn't allow her the abilities that came with the byakugan, so they were both at a loss. "She did mention leaving..." Ado commented, trying to remember, but she could barely hear the girl when they were inside that tunnel. "And whoever might have been alive in that tunnel is surely dead."

"They were all dead to begin with..." Yori commented, "I could... feel it... their life forces, they were there, but they hadn't been for a long time." Yori shifts slightly, "You'll have to report this to the village so they can grieve properly. Don't mention... that woman, though."

"Of course. We'll save that for the hokage." Ado nodded. Though she wanted to bring up another thing. Yori and that... odd chakra she'd felt when she was stuck down below. "When I was in that pit, I stumbled across some rather odd machinery. It's gone now, but I can draw it from memory. From what you've said, I think it might've been that machine to turn those people to stone... and take away their life force."

"You're probably right. But... let's not stay here." Yori coughs, "I need medical attention, but I'll be fine for now. Go to the village and I'll wait outside the village for you."

"Right." And with that, Ado dissappeared, unaware she was being watched.

"Kuku..." Fuyuko stepped out of the shadows. "So my dear Yori is aware? Even that Ado girl... mmmm.... he's not gonna like this..."

END​

 

[Ultra Paradox]

"Maru-chan," She gently called from behind the mahogany door, softly tapping on it twice. Marako had been awake for quite awhile, acting unnaturally lethargic. His face was covered by a pillow which he breathed heavily into, his arms and legs flopped about in the shape of a star. He didn't answer at first, waiting for her to call again, and like always, she did. He yanked the pillow off of his face, moving the ghostly colored hair from his eyes, "Yeah?"

Today was the day of the fair celebrating the existence of all the great Hokages. The village has been working hard on this for quite a few months, building new wooden statues. All of those heroes, Naruto, Konohamaru, Sarutobi, the only Hokage being left out to be forgotten in the history books is Shibata the murderer of the late Hokage The Great Sarada. Marako might have been a miscreant at times, but he loved to study and read about all the great heroes. In fact, he was fond of reading, not many people knew that about him. Outside of his house, when he's around friends he is nothing but a nuisance. But at home, his wildest dreams come alive every time he opens up one of those books.

He dreams of being a hero, like Naruto or his son General Baruto who died in combat. One of his favorite books, Naruto Shippuden made by a man who passed away long ago, Kishimoto, talks about every single one of Naruto's journeys with his friends. In the story he mentions unknown heroes lost to time, people like, Choji, Rock Lee, Kiba and even some famous names like one of the legendary Sannin Jiraya teaching him everything he knows. Oh, and when he fought against another legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. He could just go on and on rambling about this for days. But yet, he hated this day.

He couldn't spend it with his favorite hero, the one he cared about the most, his father. Usually he would take a day off from his beloved restaurant Attakai guriru (The Warm Grill), despite it being so busy on days like this and spend it with Marako. But for the last year or two it's been different, his father has grown very ill. While he refuses to admit it to Marako, he sleeps for long hours at a time, and he could hear his parents whispering through the thin walls about scheduling countless appointments with the doctor. He knew this year would be no different, so instead of getting up he decided to just stay in bed today. No need to read, see his sensei or his friends. He just wanted to lay there, and hope that today ends as fast as it starts.

"Maru-Chan?" He snapped out of his incessant deep thinking, realizing his mother was at the door for quite a while, watching him. He stared at her for a few seconds then rolled over, so she would see his back.

"Okaa-san, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to realize you were day dreaming...someone's here to see you."

"Hm?" He rolled back over and saw Hyosuke peek over the door, Chiko sitting on top of his head. His mother stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her and Hyosuke made himself comfortable in one of Marako's reading stools.

"Hey there hero-boy," Snickering he playfully asked, "Or should I call you Maru-Chan?"

"Shuddap," Marako sat up a smile on his face, "I told my mom countless of times to stop calling me that, but she persists." He waved it off, removing the sheets from his waist. "Couldn't even wait for me to change outside huh?" Marako asked, walking over to his closet with nothing but shorts on.

"Calm down sissy, it isn't like you got anything to be flaunting," Chiko ran down Hyosuke's shirt poking his head out of the top and did light chirps. Hyosuke laughed and nodded, "Yeah, he does have a bird chest,"

Marako, ignoring the comment, brought up the question while pulling on a oversized shirt, "Why are you here? It can't be a mission, I mean I wouldn't forget about that. Plus, you aren't wearing your ninja gear."

"Ahhhh, very inquisitive," Hyosuke nodded and stood up, walking around his room. He ran his finger over the tip of his books looking at every single one closely, each one being about one hero or other. Sarada's Glory, Naruto Shippuden, The Uchiha Clan? Interesting.

"Well, Sensei asked me to get you up and at em. She wants to celebrate the festival with us."

"Really?" He turned around to look at him, and his confident dark purple eyes spoke back to him. Looks like he does have somebody to go out with, his team. But...would it really be the same?

"I guess I'll go..."

"You guess? Come on Marako, you get to see Sensei in some type of Kimoto. We all know you got a little crush for her."

"Tch, come on man, lay off," He joked laughing with him.

After getting ready, he slipped off some sandals and walked downstairs. His mom offered them breakfast, which Hyosuke kindly denied eating enough at him with his mother around, but Marako decided to take a bite for the trip. They walked around the village seeing all the decorations being put up. It was beautiful really. There were decorated paper lanterns, a ton of origami, beautiful designs. Everyone was getting into the swing of things.

"Sensei's house should be up this way."


​

 

[Kattekerma]

Though it had only been less than a year since Maiko and Ritsuko had begun living, Maiko had already figured out that living with a ninja such as Ritsuko had its ups and downs. One of the perks was that Ritsuko was a ninja. And one of the cons was that Ritsuko was a ninja. On the upside, there were traps that prevented anyone from getting in the house and on the downside... Maiko often forgot about those traps. Ritsuko would only laugh and cut her down from something or quickly disarm it while she juggled groceries, making Maiko see her in a new light. The woman's traps had a mind of their own, seemingly, always changing day to day. Maiko often times asked why they changed so much, she'd never seen Ritsuko actually touch the traps and yet she knew how to dodge and duck between all of them. Was that just the power of a Jounin? "C'mon, you gotta tell me. I been living here long enough." Maiko said as she fiddled with the yukata that was laid out.

She and Ritsuko were in Ritsuko's messy room while the woman was putting on lotion at her dressing table. Maiko had been in this room only a handful of times. Ritsuko wasn't a private person, but she did have boundaries for the first couple of weeks. Nothing personal, she'd said, but ninja needed boundaries and Maiko understood that. Ritsuko never intruded on her space without knocking or announcing her presence. She guessed ninjas did things a lot differently than civilians. She was somewhat thankful for the privacy too.

Maiko looked around. There were a couple of pictures by the nightstand. One of a younger Ritsuko presumably on her own team, as well as their own team portrait and one of Ritsuko standing next to someone much taller, with their arm wrapped around her. Maiko never questioned her on the photos, since it seemed too personal.

"Uh, I guess since you have been here for awhile." Ritsuko says, looking at her in the mirror, "And ya probably won't be movin' out anytime soon, ya freeloader." Maiko rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She wasn't a freeloader, Ritsuko just never let her help out with the bills. "Okay, so summons."

"Summons?" The word sounded familiar and yet not so familiar. Maiko tilted her head to the side.

"Summons." Ritsuko repeated as if that was the End All Be All and said nothing more about it. "Anyway, do you know how to put yukata on?"

"Wait," Ritsuko paused as Maiko looked over at the woman, "This is mine?"

"Um, yes." Ritsuko turned to actually face her, "That's why it's over there, duh?" Ritsuko fixed her with a look that made Maiko feel a little stupid.

"Well, to answer your question, I've never had to put one on." As sad as it was to say, Maiko had never been invited or even really wanted to go to festivals. "This'll be my first as depressing as it sounds." The gasp of shock made Maiko look up.

Ritsuko shook her head, "Well now we have to do everything! It has to be the best festival ever! I used to go with my team." A look of fondness crossed Ritsuko's face. "Ohara-sensei used to take us. Koga and I would always lose the goldfish game but Sakuya was pretty good at it, haha! Anyway, enough of that, how about we get you ready and then I'll get ready."

"Am I gonna regret this?"

"...probably."

"Alright... I'm in your care."

"I'mma make you look so cute!"

"Oi..."

 

[Ultra Paradox]

A familiar creaking could be heard outside of Ritsuko's room from the kitchen, the door was pushed open, this was confirmed by the soft tinkling of the wind chimes. Ritsuko stood from the corner of her bed, suspecting it to be Hyosuke since she ordered him to get Marako earlier. "Jeez," She sighed, "It took you long eno-" She peeked out the doorway and a light sigh gave way. "Oh, its just you."

"Happy Hokage Day! Don't act like you aren't happy to see me," Kishara pushed the blonde hair from her eyes and placed a paper bag on the table, "I brought you and Maiko some food!" She gave an energetic smile before collapsing on a chair.

Maiko slowly peeked over from behind Ritsuko, then looked between the two of them. This wasn't the first time Kishara payed a visit, in fact, she visited quite often. So much so that when she doesn't poke her head in to say hi, Marako was almost positive something was the matter. In an attempt of not getting in the way, Maiko stays in her room for the most part, overhearing their daily gossip about the average villager that's been having an affair or Kishara's frequent complaints about her pupils. Specifically about some Kyojo kid. But Kishara was always so out going, she would encourage Maiko to sit in the room with them and enjoy some girl time only for Maiko to kindly refuse.

"Good morning Kishara-Sensei," Maiko said in her usual soft yet dry tone, giving a light nod.

"How many times do I have to tell you, don't be so formal," She waved Maiko off with a smile and Ritsuko walked up to the table. She removed the string holding the bundle of food together and the paper bag gently drifted apart. The corners of her mouth slowly rose and that made Kishara happy, "Got you your favorite, Udon with a side of Onigiri. Just the way you like it girl~"

"You know me so well."

"Hey, what are best friends for. I got you the same thing Maiko, since you refuse to sound 'bossy' by telling me what you like," Maiko and Ritsuko both showed their gratitude, unboxing their paper plates and eating their early breakfast. "Now don't get used to this, its only because its Hokage day, and little old Kishara is feeling generous!" She was always so happy, yet the exhaustion was obvious with the bags under her eyes. Usually it wasn't noticeable, but today, it seemed as though she forgot to put makeup on.

"So," Ritsuko mumbled with a mouth full of noodles before slurping it down, "What's new with you?"

"You don't even know Ritsu!" She gave a deep exhale and melted into her chair, "The kids are all going out with their families tonight, Komine can't go with me because he has the guard shift-"

"A guard shift as a sensei?" Ritsuko asked dabbing at her lips with a napkin.

"I know right! On our only day off. He's all like, 'This is an opportunity for me to make more money ughhhh'," She mocked his voice obnoxiously, forcing Ritsuko to ball up laughing, even Maiko let a smirk slip while chewing on a Onigiri. "Oh, oh and Sousuke said he's taking some of the Academy kids out with him since their parents work at the market place, so I can't go with him. Ritsuuuuu! What. Am. I. Going. To. Do."

Ritsuko hated when she threw her tantrums and she waited patiently until she settled down on her own. "Well, I'm going to go out with my kids tonight," She pointed at Maiko, "And it's this ones first time going out for the festival. So I was planning on dressing her up real pretty so all of the cute Konoha boys can feel jealous that she isn't in their team." She smirked, watching Maiko's colored cheeks go from dark brown to pink and her markings radiate a weak yellow color.

"Ritsuko-Sensei..." She mumbled and shook her head, "I'm not interested in things like that."

"Oh, sure you aren't," She remarked sarcastically, "But, if you want to come with us you can. Just be on your best behavior alright. It wasn't fun when you got drunk last year."

"Ohhhh yes, yes, yes! I would love to go! I'll be on my best behavior. In fact, I'll help you do Maiko's makeup! You know how good I am at that. Well...I haven't put any on today, but trust me, with my natural beauty, I don't need it."

"Stop being cocky and have some of my Onigiri."

"I don't want any, that isn't good for my weight."

Maiko was really caught up in this situation and there was nothing she could do about it. The same way living with a Ninja had its ups and downs, living with a somewhat girly "woman" had the very same positives and negatives. So Maiko could do nothing but sit there silently eating her noodles, enjoying the conversation, and blushing about every explicit comment they made. Luckily for her, that's when the boys arrived.

As soon as the door came ajar, Chiko sprinted inside and hopped on top of the table sniffing at the food. He chattered, his bulbous eyes stalking a rice ball then practically pleading Maiko for one. She eventually budged and he scurried off with the Onigiri stuffed in his cheek. Kishara awed the little animal and his manners before even noticing the boys behind her.

"Chiko! What did I tell you about taking food before introducing your...self...," He stopped yelling when noticed the extra head at the dinner table. It was a beautiful girl with fair skin, mauve eyes, and much shorter than him about an inch or two shorter than even Marako. He was mesmerized, and Maiko wasn't too happy. She hmphed under her breath and continued eating, annoyed.

Marako smashed into Hyosuke's back and was taken aback, "Hyosuke, what the hell man-" He noticed the same girl and all the blood from his ashen skin relocated to his cheeks.

"Oh hi!" She stared them up and down, tapping on her chin, "These are yours?"

"Mhm," Ritsuko chewed with her eyes closed and a proud smile, "Introduce yourself boys."

Hyosuke bowed and shyly whispered, "My name is Hyosuke Yamanoue," He rose slowly pointing at Chiko who was cleaning his fur on top of Ritsuko's shoulder, "And that little guy is C-Chiko."

Marako shoved him out of the way bowing repeatedly, "Marako Arita at your disposal!"

The laughter basically blurted from her lips and she leaned back against the table, "You guys are cute," Marako smiled confidently, it only deflating after she said, "All of you I mean."

"Nerds." Maiko put her empty paper plate down and mumbled giving them a dirty look, specifically Hyosuke. But of course, they both brushed it off as Maiko was never really in the mood.