My bad, kinda didn't write while I had the time, but now that I am busy I felt it was the perfect time to start writing again. Prolly gonna write every saturday morning, don't expect a consistent length, I'm doing this to avoid doing other shit, but like this I have an excuse.
Around 2.3k words so I'm doing good. the first half was written however long ago? like 8 months ago. THe other half was written today. Who woulda thought... Anyway. sorry for the long wait. Thinking of doing this to get some passion back into my life.
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I held my pose, while Gaara looked at me with the same impassive expression on his face. Hayate then declared the start of the match. Gaara remained unresponsive, an unfocused look at his face, as he waited for me to make the first move. Sand was pouring out of his gourd, gathering at his feet.
"What? Scared? Come at me bro." I signaled for him to approach at me, still holding my pose.
Gaara smirked. "I am going to enjoy this..." The sand mobilized, rushing towards me, trying to envelop me. I dodged with ease, outmaneuvering the sand without Projection nor Reinforcement.
I sighed, disappointment lacing my voice. "Is this really all you can do? I was really hoping for more..." More sand rushed at me, only for it to miss. "Man, you really need to do better."
"You say this, and yet" Gaara began "You've been hesitating to attack... Could it be, that you are scared?" The corners of his mouth tugged upwards.
"You are really overestimating yourself, the only reason I am not attacking" I Projected in front of him, and flicked his forehead, before retreating once more. "Is because I wanna have fun before defeating you." My own smile grew wider, as the barrage of sand grew more intense and frantic.
Gaara then started building a dome out of reinforced sand, to protect himself, as his automatic sand defense had not activated.
I continued to taunt Gaara while running around him, only for me to suddenly be assaulted by biting pain coming from the mark. Hot pain was clawing at my back and neck, thoughts being planted in my head.
'I can help you become better; help you become MORE. JOIN ME AND WE SHALL AVENGE YOUR CLAN.'
I shook my head, dispelling the foreign thoughts, only to discover I was surrounded by sand. A small Reinforced kick was enough to dispel the sand, and I began the game of cat and mouse once more, while suppressing the mark with my own chakra, and dismissing the foreign thoughts whenever they appeared.
"You seem to have trouble keeping up... You won't last long if you continue like that." Gaara said, as he finished covering himself in a dome of sand.
"You think so? Fine, I guess Ihave to stop playing with you, you poor neglected child." I said with a smirk, as I activated Reinforcement and rushed towards Gaara, punching his dome of sand, great amounts of it being sent flying. I continued my assault, my attacks overwhelming his defenses even without Projection. Sand grasped at my foot, and I activated Projection, only for the cursed mark to activate once more, this time with much more power. My concentration was broken, and the Projection failed. Sand had now enveloped my lower half almost completely.
I looked at Gaara through the hole I had made in his protective dome, as I smirked. "This much is barely a warmup. You should really try harder." One of my eyes was half closed, water gathering in it, as the mark spread once again, the pain coming from it intensifying and the foreign chakra becoming harder to contain. I freed myself out of the sand, Gaara becoming visibly more and more frustrated every time I dispersed his sand effortlessly.
The whole reason I have been hesitating to end the fight was because I didn't want to change canon too much... My presence may have affected things, but Gaara's win in this match is pretty important for the story.
While I was pondering on how to act next, Gaara had changed his approach, instead of hitting me with sand he manipulated from afar, he chose to envelop himself in a dense suit of sand, and engage me in hand to hand. It was a good idea, as I would be forced to trade blows with him.
Unfortunately for him, I had trained my durability to inhumane levels. Couple this with my Reinforcement, and I was about as durable as the man of sand. I continued to stall, remaining indecisive. Then, once again, the mark started again. The pain became more intense, my face contorting from it, its chakra becoming too much for me to contain. I instinctively used my right hand to scratch the mark, hoping to calm it.
"You are starting to have trouble keeping up... What happened?" Gaara asked, his confidence returning.
"Migranes, becomes a regular occurrence when dealing with redheads, apparently." I sighed, clapping my hands. "You really are nothing special... " I sighed, shaking my head, and preparing to forfeit. It was the only option left, as the mark from Orochimaru had become too bothersome to ignore for any longer, it was starting to disrupt my Reinforcement.
With my speed, Gaara could never catch me. In normal circumstances, that is. Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstances. My leg was caught in sand, one that was glowing from the amount of chakra infused in it. I sighed once more, shooting Gaara an unimpressed look.
"Really? Well, it doesn't matter, I've seen the extent of your skill. I forfeeeeEEEEEEEE-" I was flung by my leg into a wall. I coughed in my hand after recovering, and continued. "As I was saying... I am far above everyone else here. It wouldn't be exciting to go any further than this. Maybe Neji would be close to my level, though I doubt it. Well, I forfeit. See ya." I waved him a goodbye, before walking back to my teams balcony.
Now that I no longer had to maintain Reinforcement, I could suppress the mark once again, slowly pushing it back into dormancy. I ignored my team, as I concentrated to completely eradicate the cursed mark. Only to fail. No longer how much I refined the foreign energy, it wouldn't disappear completely. I sighed, deciding this would be a problem for later.
Deiki, seeing I was done with what I was doing, asked. "Why didn't you win?"
"I am already way above this competition, and that redhead is too unstable, just a few words were almost enough for him to go berserk. I'd rather not be held responsible for his possible rampage."
I ignored the following matches, which quickly passed. In the end, I couldn't care less about all this, I got most of the important people in Konoha's next generation to have a favorable impression of me, I reckon.
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We stayed in the village in the following days, with me mostly experimenting on how to restrain the mark as much as possible. The time flew by, as I made advancement after advancement. I had managed to almost completely cut off the mark from my own chakra network, although I couldn't completely remove it, its capability to pump the foreign energy into my system and disrupt my Jutsu's is gone, for now...
The next stage of the Exam had started, and so had Orochimaru's and the Sand's joined attack against Konoha. My main goal in this current situation is to look for an opportunity to kill Shikaku to delay the Akatsuki's plan. Though it won't be too hard to defeat them later if push comes to shove...
As I pondered while walking through the village, I was attacked by a two Sand ninja. I Projected behind them, and mashed their heads together, killing them both. One of them had a sword in his hands, which I snatched. I need better reach for what I want to do... I then continued to wander, while searching for the main cast.
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To my delight, it wasn't long before I spotted Sasuke and the Shino kid. Without delay, I followed after them out of the village and into the forest. I quickly caught up to them, but I chose to remain hidden. I just had to hide until I found an opportunity to kill Gaara... It will make everything a whole lot easier, since everyone would have more time to develop. Shino had to stop his pursuit to fight with Gaara's brother, but I had no interest in him.
My smile never leaving my face, I watched as Sasuke and Gaara met. I took the sword I had looted from one of the sand shinobi, and waited for my chance. As Gaara was starting to rampage, his form swelling as the tailed beast tried to escape, I pounced.
My legs strengthened to their max, I flew through the air, my sword piercing through Gaara's neck. Just as I was about to swipe it to the side, and send his head flying, I was hit by a massive wave of sand. The same sand then covered his neck, his will fighting against the tailed beast to stop it from going berserk. I recovered, and looked down at him with a sneer and my signature smirk.
"You look like a rabid animal, what happened? Are you that scared of me?" My taunts seemed to have worked surprisingly well, as Gaara rushed towards me, half his body covered in sand, reinforcing him to extreme levels.
"Be careful now, sand-boy. I'm not handicapped anymore... " I met him in the middle of his charge, and contested him in strength, only to Project to his side, and sweep his legs out from under him.
"You don't know real pain... The isolation..." Gaara said as the sand cushioned his fall, and a massive wave thrust towards me. I tried to project, only for my concentration to falter, leaving me a standing duck.
Pain assaulted me as I was buried under a sea of grain. Without delay, I used my strength to burst out from it, and jumped onto a tree. Someone messed with the mark, its power growing remarkably. A scream of pain flashed out, as Sasuke fell to his knees, clutching his head and neck, as black veins started to appear over his form. He recovered quickly however, and jumped out of the way of Gaaras half-transformed form.
"Uchiha Sasuke, you understand it... The isolation, and the pain that comes from it. You know i-" Gaaras speech was cut short by the sound of a thundering bird, Sasukes hand being covered by lightning.
The Uchiha heir charged with unmatched speed, guided by his clans Kekkei Genkai. His hand sliced right through Gaaras deformed silhouette. Seeing an opportunity, I pounced upon the redheads stunned form, gripping the tanto still stuck in his neck, and thrashing it out the side of his neck. I watched with delight as... Sand? Gushed out the whole in his neck... Before I could react, a tail made of sand swept me upward with terrifying force. I clenched my teeth as the ground got further and further away, as the two figures got smaller and smaller.
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I watched as the Kusa ninja got blown into the sky. As annoying as he was, he was a great distraction.
I dodged another strike with the help of my Sharingan, as Gaara grew more and more enraged. His movement keeps growing faster and faster... What is he made out of? I need time to predict his movements to be able to dodge, and he keeps getting faster. I can't use Chidori either anymore, my hand hasn't recovered yet...
I jumped out of the way once more, as its monstrous form crashed through trees in hopes of reaching me. My hands went through rapid hand signs, as I prepare my clans signature. The fireball technique, hitting a charging Gaara straight in the face.
Unfortunately, Gaara charged through the fire, his form seemingly unharmed. I gritted my teeth, my arms in an X form as I blocked his charge... Chidori really is my only choice after all.
"Is this all your existence is worth? Tell me, are you really that weak? You're naive, your hatred is not strong enough." My mind raced, as I searched for a way to get out of this situation. "You are weaker than me!" Gaara shouted, as he charged straight towards me. I quickly activated my Sharingan, and charged a Chidori, meeting him halfway through. The sand that made his mutated arm drooped low, as a giant hole was made through it, and my own form was now covered in hundreds of black spots... The curse mark had appeared again, my body going limp.
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I waited patiently as my body started listening to gravity once more, the Earth calling my body as if it was calling its beloved lover. I watched as lightning flashed from a spot in the forest, probably the Uchiha heir fighting for his life.
I smiled as my approached quickened, and as the ground came closer and closer. I prepared my body with Reinforcement, as I prepared to make my graceful landing. Only I estimated the distance wrong, and a tree branch connected to my head, making me flip, before hitting another branch with my back, before falling on the ground on my face.
My head spinned as I rose to my feet, before walking towards the sounds of shouting. No need to hurry, after all, I had all the time in the world. My ribs hurt...
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Damn this is boring... I have no idea how much further I have to go, and if I even went the right way... I should've waited a little to recover myself after that fall. I am very much tired right now as well...
I stopped my train of thought as I saw a head of blonde head perched up on a branch... That looked to be Temari? Temuri? Gaara's sister, and a good sign. I got back to the fight. I quickly climbed up the tree, and bashed the back of her head before she could react. I looked at her unconscious body with apathy, before turning my head back to the fight, where a dozen orange silhouettes were jumping a racoon dog made of sand. I sighed. This was going to be annoying.