#seven big chakra streaks

[blue-scorpion-king]

The Seven Big Chakra Streaks

//An update on just 7 new finisher moves for Earl and that’s it. :3 Cutting to the chase-

----------------------------------- -The Seven Big Chakra Streaks/'Tis Eptá Megáles Ravdóseis Tsákras' (In Greek)/'Las Siete Grandes Rayas de Chakra' (In Spanish)/'Sebun no Ōkina chakura no shima' (In Japanese), simple, big aura finishers by Earl, channeling one of his 7 Chakra Beasts, 7 pieces of his Id, that stands alongside his Ego and his Superego, and requires him to take off his ring weights/guards and an charge of aura to do it, which Earl would feel exhausted like after being in one of his form sets. Along with that, an tribal style marking appears on Earl's chest forms, his fire curse on his scars flares up, his eyes turned into the black sclera form, being an mortal Olympian and all, veins bulging around his face and eye sockets, and his hair temporarily change into an different color until the finishing attack is over.

#1='Orchestra of A Million Heart-Tearing Claws!!!'/'Orchístra Enós Ekatommyríou Daktýlon Kardiás!!!' (In Greek)/'¡¡¡Orquesta de un Millón de Garras Desgarradoras!!!' (In Spanish)/'Kokoro O Hikisaku Tsume no Okesutora!!!' (In Japanese): While in an ratel badger-shaped aura cloak, Earl shoots five fiery electrified aura claw slashes that cuts about a million times at Mach 11, or 8,440 mph, either from the right hand's or left hand's fingers. Aura color: Red. Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdASzBwITpI (From Heartcatch Pretty Cure)

#2='Billion Spiral Wolf Splash Force!!!'/'Disekatommýrio Spirál Lýkos Voutiá Dýnami!!!' (In Greek)/'¡¡¡Mil Millones de Fuerzas de Salpicaduras de Lobo en Espiral!!!' (In Spanish)/'Jū Oku Supairaru Ōkami Supurasshu Fōsu!!!' (In Japanese): Earl gathering aura into an condensed truck size shape, with wolf head-shaped fire/lightning aura particles that howl as they gather and form the sphere that is shaped like an giant wolf's head, and then, shoot it out at Mach 22, or 16,880 mph, with his right hand mainly. Aura color: Orange. Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlrmTB75fzw (From Pretty Cure Splash Star)

#3='Trillion Tri-Star Horned Dragon Charge!!!'/'Trisekatommýrio Tri-Astéri Chorn Drákos Chréosi!!!' (In Greek)/'¡¡¡Billones Carga del Dragón Cornudo Tri-Star!!!' (In Spanish)/'Chō Toraisutā Tsuno no aru Doragonchāji!!!' (In Japanese): An aura-charged arms crossed charge, with the cloak of an electrified fiery triceratops around Earl, which 3 inches before Earl actually hits his opponent, they are already hit by the burning and electrifying shockwaves that shakes them, but holds them in place, at Mach 33, or 25,320 mph, until 2 last shockwaves delivered when Earl hits with his charge, and punches with an aura-made line star on his fist and sends his opponent flying with all of that built-up momentum in the shockwave shaking. Aura color: Yellow. Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g83a9ThKpno (From Happiness Charge Pretty Cure)

#4='Wave Ensemble of Quartet-dillion Stings!!!'/'Kýma Sýnolo tis Kouartét-katommýrion Tsimpímata!!!' (In Greek)/'¡¡¡Conjunto de Onda de Cuarteto-trillón Picaduras!!!' (In Spanish)/'Nami no Ansanburu no Karutetto-Shi Chō Sasu' (In Japanese): Earl thrusting forward with his right, or left, index finger, spiralled by elecrified fiery aura, shaping to an scorpion stinger, with an green scorpion aura image behind Earl before the lunge forward, going underneath the sternum of his target, with one shockwave at first, and then, after an delay of 38 seconds, at mach 44, or 33,760 mph, the opponent is immediately send at that speed, barraged by electrified fiery aura shockwave after shockwave, numbering in 39,999,999,999,999,999, from that one spot until it finally stops (Going to the beat and melody of the finisher's theme song). Aura color: Light Blue/Green. Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdTiQAEBetc (From Suite Pretty Cure)

#5='Quintillion Godly Rainslashes Burst!!!'/'Pentakisekatommýrion Theoí I Vrochípéftei Ekrixi!!!' (In Greek)/'¡¡¡Quintillón Piadoso (Piadosa) Porteslluvia Ráfaga!!!' (In Spanish)/'Go-Jū-Oku Kei Kami na Uteki Bāsuto!!!' (In Japanese): With the aura image of an dark blue owl behind him, Earl does an straight vertically slash with either his left arm, or right arm, that shoots out an huge sharp, fiery, electrified aura slash, in the shape of an owl's wing, that slashes forward about quintillion times at Mach 55, or 42,200 mph, to his opponent. Aura color: Dark blue. Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivH2wQ-bpU (From Smile Pretty Cure)

#6='Sixtillion Future Cursing Hammer Crush!!!'/'Exikisekatommýrion Mellontikí Thráfsi Sfýras!!!' (In Greek)/'¡¡¡Sixtillion Maldiciones Futuras Aplastar Martillo!!!' (In Spanish)/'Rokaju~tsu Mirai no Noroi Hanmākurasshu!!!' (In Japanese): An aura cloak of an purple gorilla, with silver, surrounds Earl as his right forearm charges with purple colored fiery aura and his left forearm charges. He puts his hands together, enlocks them, and goes for an hammer swing strike at Mach 66, or 50,640 mph, which the target and the ground will crater at the same speed. Aura color: Purple/Silver. Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19-j57Z5Kjc (From Hugtto Pretty Cure)

& #7=‘Septillion Marble Mebius Shells! Ultra!!!’/'¡Septillion Mármaro Mebius Perivlímata! Ultra!!!' (In Greek)/'¡Septillion Conchas de Mármol de Mebius! ¡¡¡Ultra!!!' (In Spanish)/'¡Shi Māburu Mebiusu Sheru! Urutora!!!' (In Japanese): Earl unleashing an barrage of septillion of mainly tank shell size tiger-shaped fire/lightning aura projectiles, with some as big as 18-wheeler trucks, going at Mach 77, or 59,080 mph, with his hands out. Aura color: Light blue, black, pink, and white (Hair becomes full black). Finisher theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqDuJppUQaA (From Pretty Cure Max Heart)

+Tier level of all of the 7 finishers: Island level. -Can be used in all of Earl's form sets and his female state, among the other ones within his 16 Power Goat Moon Hieroglyphs.

-----------------------------------

Hope you all like this. :3

~The Bat~

[silverstarlightwrites]

ah yes, the idea for yet another variant of this au chain

Team Seven take the mission to the Land of Waves. On the bridge, they fight Zabuza and Haku.

On the bridge, Sakura dies.

For a moment that lasts forever, everything seems to freeze. It’s shock, initially, on every face. Haku’s mirrors are in the midst of cracking apart, Naruto and Sasuke standing bloody and back-to-back between them, while Haku lunges across the expanse of stone to protect Zabuza from the shrill and deathly lightning in Kakashi’s hand.

Even Sakura herself seems stunned, rotating midair as if in slow motion. She seems unsure of herself, or how exactly she got where she is - bolted from one end of the bridge to the other, abandoning her post as Tazuna’s bodyguard to intercept Haku on their way to Kakashi.

And she’s made it, to her credit. Caught Haku just before they reach Zabuza, tagged them with her kunai. There’s blood on their clothes, a stark red streak against pale skin and fabric.

They’ve spun at the contact, reflexive, defensive. Somehow, even with the Chidori roaring in Kakashi’s palm, the world goes silent as Haku’s senbon sinks into Sakura’s neck. It’s all too slow as the strike transfers momentum, as Sakura’s feet lift from the ground and the senbon tears out of her throat. Sasuke stares on with Sharingan ablaze, unable to breathe, unable to look away as his eyes dutifully and traitorously record Sakura’s death in minute, excruciating detail. He doesn’t know, just yet, what the cost of his clan’s power truly is.

But Kakashi does, only too terribly well, and as time catches up with itself and Sakura goes crashing into the bridge, he strikes. His hand punches straight through Zabuza’s ribcage, tearing through his heart until Kakashi’s fingers protrude from his back. The surprise on his face is overlaid with the relief on Rin’s, and Kakashi yanks back, turns away, refuses to look at her ghost with the blood on his hands.

Sasuke is frozen, unblinking, struggling to breathe. He can’t drag his gaze away from Sakura’s body, and she looks so small where she’s crumpled on the bridge, utterly motionless in an expanding puddle of her own blood. He can’t see colours, except for the crimson, as if everything else has been spontaneously switched off.

She’s still breathing, barely, a weak flutter that-- Gods, Sasuke thinks he might be imagining it, actually, he can’t tell, and her body is outlined in white fire that he knows isn’t real, Sharingan whirring, head spinning. The world rotates.

It ruptures, all at once, as Naruto lets out an ear-piercing scream at Sasuke’s side. Whatever was holding it all snaps, and Sasuke whips around to check on Naruto, and sees the menacing red bleeding into blue eyes, sees the way his teeth are cracking and elongating in his jaws, the fangs that are too big for Naruto’s skull, the ink creeping out from the birthmarks on his cheeks, winding back along his temples and down his nose.

There’s a shout, Kakashi’s voice, but Naruto has already vanished in a blur of sticky red chakra and the shattering of the stone under his feet, and by the time Sasuke can find him again he’s already torn into Haku like a wild animal, cracking bone and shredding flesh. Their head rolls away from their body, before Naruto pounces on it.

The skull pancakes under Naruto’s hand, a splatter of brains like a water balloon bursting, a tongue poking from between his fingers and an eyeball popping into the air and arcing away. Naruto is snarling, glowing, and there’s blood dripping from every footprint he leaves, his skin melting and boiling as fast as it heals under the cloak of-- of-- oh gods, and Sasuke doesn’t even know, can’t even comprehend what it is that he’s seeing. A Naruto that isn’t himself, isn’t even human, and there are ethereal tails forming and lashing from the dark red chakra itself, two-- three. Long curves that look like ears, deep gouges in the stone as his nails-- claws, they’re claws, wickedly sharp, and they look more like bone than fingernail, like the animal is too big to be contained by Naruto’s real body.

Haku is in pieces under Naruto’s attack, and he won’t stop slashing and biting and shredding. Nausea boils up, fear and panic and Sasuke doesn’t fucking understand but he’s pretty fucking sure that he doesn’t want to, and it’s almost a relief when he has to turn away to vomit.

Kakashi’s voice is in the air, and every fibre of his body wants to help ruin the people who’ve killed Sakura right in front of them, wants to sprint to her side and try to save her - but he can’t, he knows, and he can’t lose control like his kids are. He’s the leader. He’s the adult. There’s too much blood under Sakura already, her carotid artery sundered by the attack, and she’s just a child, she’s beyond help, beyond Kakashi’s rudimentary skills in medical ninjutsu, she’s already gone and there’s nothing Kakashi can do to save her. Because there’s never anything he can do to save her.

But he can’t lose control, and he needs to triage the situation as best he can. If he fails to act, then he’ll lose Naruto too. He’ll lose Sasuke. He’ll lose all of them. So he sprints to Naruto, tackles him to the ground, ignores the sudden searing agony of the Kyuubi’s chakra biting into his skin. Naruto is wild, lost in the onslaught of his demon and grief, but where the Kyuubi’s domination brings with it new and unique strengths, it also brings weaknesses.

It takes more chakra and effort than Kakashi has, but he makes Naruto look him in the eye, brings as much of the Sharingan’s power to bear as he can. For a minute, struggling to keep Naruto down while he howls and snaps his teeth and tries to bite through Kakashi’s wrists, nothing visibly happens. Kakashi is shaking by the time Naruto finally stills, takes a deep breath, lets out a noise like a dying animal.

When Naruto slumps, the Kyuubi locked back into its cage, Kakashi goes down with him.

Sasuke’s approach is slow, shuddering, uncertain. His eyes are burning, and he can’t tell if it’s from chakra or from tears, but he doesn’t care. Naruto and Kakashi are breathing, tangled together in an unconscious pile, and Sasuke can’t even begin to think what to do with them so he ignores them. Goes to Sakura instead. She’s sprawled, her skin scraped and raw from her impact and tumble against the bridge, her throat torn open. Sasuke’s never seen what the inside of a larynx looks like before.

He turns away as he gags, but there’s nothing left to come up except a violent ache so deep that Sasuke thinks, for a moment, that he might be about to die as well. Sakura is limp when he tries to pick her up, warm and pliable and lifeless in his hands. He can’t get them to stop shaking, makes a mess as he tries to wipe her hair out of her face. Smears blood everywhere. It’s matted in her hair, the normal pink warped into a blurring crimson.

It’s the ninken who actually take control. Pakkun sets Bull and Shiba to guard Tazuna, even though the threat to him is gone. The cold reality is that they’re acting more like prison guards than bodyguards; Konoha has lost a genin and nearly lost her whole team, and it rarely forgives such offences. Guruko establishes a small parameter around the scene, and Akino keeps the remaining civilians in a tight group. Urushi comes to sit vigil with Sasuke, and they let him cradle Sakura’s body to his chest and cry.

With only a few words, Pakkun has Ūhei unsummon herself, and she vanishes in a puff of smoke to report to the Hokage and get a rescue team sent after them. With Bisuke’s help, Pakkun himself sets to untangling Naruto and Kakashi and ensuring they’ll live through this. Shiba, the only ninken with a lightning affinity, is pulled off Tazuna duty to give Kakashi a chakra transfusion; he jolts and moans when it’s delivered, but it’s a necessary agony and he doesn’t fully wake.

When Gatō makes his appearance, Bisuke vanishes and reappears on his shoulders, and his entourage is sent fleeing in panic as she rips out his throat too with delicate, savage fangs.

By the time that Ūhei returns with a rescue squad at her side, Naruto is awake again and he refuses to let anyone take Sakura’s body from him but the masked Anbu simply picks them up together. Gai is firm but gentle as he carries Kakashi - not quite awake, but beginning to stir. Sasuke tries to stand - he’s numb and hollow, and he thinks that he should feel like he did when he found Itachi over the bodies of their parents but he doesn’t. He doesn’t feel anything.

Perhaps he should feel guilty for that.

His legs fail him, however, and maybe he should feel pathetic for not even being able to pick himself up from the ground but he can’t bring himself to care as he’s carefully lifted up by Asuma. Sasuke wants nothing more than to stop existing while he watches his team over Asuma’s shoulder, stares unblinking at the way Naruto shakes and begs Sakura to wake up. She won’t.

She won’t ever again.

The ninken make the trip back with them, and if it is a quick affair then it is also a haunting one. Naruto doesn’t shut up the entire time, alternating between talking to the girl who cannot hear him and muttering quietly to himself. If Sasuke looks closely enough, he can see the flash of fangs in Naruto’s mouth that never quite flatten again.

The report to Hiruzen lasts for a lifetime, and is over far too soon. Kakashi is lucid by then, standing on his own feet but with Gai’s continued assistance. His report is... empty. Perhaps that’s as it should be - he does not cry, for death has already wrung from him as many tears as he could ever give it, but his voice is icy and his gaze is bitter and grim. He recommends, as emotionlessly as he explains all the rest, that Konoha execute Tazuna for his crimes.

Naruto finally surrenders Sakura’s body when her parents arrive. He and Sasuke will never forget the way they break when he does, the collapse and the howling and the way that Sakura is stiff and pale in their arms. Her eyes are still open, glazed and green and unseeing.

Why are her eyes still open?

Afterwards, after Sasuke and Naruto are released from Team Seven’s trip to the hospital but Kakashi is coerced to stay, two of the ninken stick around. Ūhei sticks to Sasuke’s side like a parasite, a warmth and stability that Sasuke finds himself loathing, while Bisuke trails Naruto at a short but definitive distance.

Naruto doesn’t let Sasuke wander home alone. He wants to, desperately, wants to hide away in the ocean of death that he lives in and-- gods, and what, exactly? Showering is an option that should be appealing, but it’s not. Even the thought of washing Sakura’s blood off himself - of erasing the last tangible evidence of her life - is sickening. They’d been cruel to her, in life. Sasuke had expected little of her at all, and he hadn’t cared if she’d known it. Naruto, with his puppy-love, hadn’t been better.

Except she was dead, and in the end her strength hadn’t mattered at all. Any one of them could have been caught the way she was - and it was bravery that had killed her, not weakness. She’d left the safety of distance and thrown herself in the way, in between their sensei and an incoming attack, and there was no way of knowing if Haku could have hurt or killed Kakashi in the attempt but Sakura had prevented it from even being an option.

Had she known? Had it been a decision on her part, or had it been instinct and desperation? Had she ever realised that-- gods, had she ever known that her team loved her?

A glare isn’t enough to discourage Naruto from following Sasuke home, as it never has been, and there’s a chance that Sasuke could make him leave with words but--

He can’t bring himself to speak. Not once, not at all. His voice feels like a weight in his throat, like he’s swallowed marbles, and that’s fine, really, because what right does he have to fucking use it anyway? Sakura’s voice has been stripped away. She’ll never speak again, and Sasuke deserves to far less than she does.

Did.

The dogs never leave their sides over the following weeks. Ūhei and Bisuke are their most common company, but all eight of the ninken rotate in and out. Naruto refuses to go back his own home, wherever the fuck it is. At first Sasuke hates him for it, hates everything, but eventually Naruto is absent for half a day - training, he says when he gets home - and Sasuke panics.

So much is gone. Almost everything is gone. Sakura is gone. And gods Naruto is annoying - but he understands, actually, Sasuke can see now, despite the absurd and cheery exterior he’d worn before. He’s always understood, and the cheerfulness was a lie. Or, perhaps, a choice. And the fear of losing him to is so overwhelming that Sasuke simply never asks him to leave.

They attend Sakura’s funeral. It’s... eerie. Too many people and too few people at the same time. Some that Sasuke doesn’t recognise - too many that he does. Sasuke stands between Naruto and Kakashi, and Kakashi doesn’t say a word to them, to anyone, and Sasuke lets Naruto hold onto his hand with a crushing grip. Ino approaches them, afterwards, and habit has Sasuke bracing himself but there’s no admiration in her eyes this time. She snarls at them. “It should have been you.”

It’s hard to argue with her.

Sakura’s parents are... unbearable. The agony in their expressions is so familiar, so intimate, and yet they’re so kind to Sasuke and Naruto despite the fact they let their daughter die. When Mebuki learns that they’re living on their own - not a parent between them - she begins visiting them. They’re not social calls, not really, and she doesn’t linger too long, but her visits are scheduled and regular, and bring with them meals put together for Sasuke and Naruto and whatever cleaning they haven’t managed between them. After the first week, she brings small snacks for whichever of the ninken are with them as well.

Kizashi gives them two stuffed animals and Sakura’s hitai-ite. The toys are generic - a very round bird and a fox, both worn by time and use - but they were hers, and beloved when she was small. Naruto tries to refuse the hitai-ite, because surely her parents want to keep such an important thing, but Kizashi insists. He doesn’t want it, he tells them. He would rather remember Sakura as his daughter, and not as a Konoha soldier.

Perhaps there’s merit in that, but Sasuke and Naruto set it between her toys on the dresser in their room, next to their team photos, and they can’t bring themselves to work out the bloodstains in the fabric, but the plate is kept perfectly polished. Maybe her parents just don’t understand - but Sakura was proud of her position as a Konoha-nin, and she died fulfilling it.

It’s a little shameful, of course, that Sasuke is sharing his room with Naruto - but Naruto disagrees, and Sasuke can’t bring himself to care. Sleeping alone has proven... difficult. And pride is worthless.

The dogs never leave, but Naruto and Sasuke don‘t see Kakashi after Sakura’s funeral. There are meetings with Hiruzen, visits from some of the other jōnin, and no matter how vehemently they protest, they’re assigned a new sensei. It’s hideously uncommon, and it’s not Kaede-sensei’s fault, but Sasuke can’t help but hate her too. She can’t replace Kakashi, and Sasuke resents her for even trying, no matter that Kakashi-sensei has abandoned them. At least they’re not given a new teammate. As if anyone could possibly replace Sakura.

“The dog-Anbu is back,” Naruto says one day, while they spar under Kaede’s watchful eye. “I think... I think it might be Kakashi-sensei.”

And Sasuke knows about the dog-Anbu, of course. Though he rarely speaks himself, Naruto has no such compunction, and his chatter has become a familiar comfort. A Naruto who’s talking is a Naruto who’s alive. He’s told Sasuke all about growing up, about the loneliness and the dread. About the hatred of the village. The dog-Anbu had been the most familiar regular amongst the quiet tail of Anbu who’d watched Naruto his entire life - and yet never intervened. Had it been willful, or were they under orders? Hard to say, given that they were almost never given direct trouble anymore. The civilians who saw them out and about - on the rare occasion they were - were either too sympathetic or too wary to confront them. There was no opportunity to intervene even if the dog-Anbu wanted to.

That the surreptitious Anbu presence was back should have been concerning, but... Naruto had always found comfort in the recognisable dog-Anbu. Maybe it was contagious.

And if Kakashi was still watching them, then he hadn’t abandoned them. Somehow, it made Kaede’s training more welcome.

Jiraiya becomes part of their lives. He’s an irregular and brief presence, but he drifts in and out. They meet him early, and Naruto refuses to leave Sasuke’s side to fulfill whatever task Jiraiya has for him, and so they learn together the truth of the beast caged inside Naruto’s skin. Jiraiya works on the Seal, repairs what he can from the damage Naruto did on the bridge, ensures its continued integrity. He’s hard to like on a personal level, but they don’t begrudge his visits when they happen - making sure Naruto has control of the demon is imperative. He can’t use a power he can’t control.

Because that’s their secret, of course. In the dead of night, in the quiet of the Uchiha compound, when it’s just them and the ghosts. Naruto practices, with Sasuke on hand - Sasuke who’s learnt from Jiraiya that the Sharingan can manipulate the Bijuu, who finally understands what it was Kakashi did to bring Naruto down when Sakura died - and Sasuke practices with him, and forces back what power slips beyond Naruto’s grasp when they break open tiny cracks in the Seal.

And Naruto helps Sasuke too, offers a barrier of stolen demonic chakra that is the only thing, they’ve found, that can provide any resistance to the sticky black flames Sasuke can conjure. It makes his eyes bleed, and the chakra cost is like ashes in his veins, but creating and controlling the Amaterasu gets easier every time he does it.

They’re going to need it. Sasuke isn’t sure if Naruto simply needed the context of Sasuke’s quest for vengeance or if Sakura’s death made him understand the purpose of revenge, but they’re in it together, now. Naruto refuses to leave Sasuke’s side - and if that means following him down the path that leads to killing Itachi, then so be it. His power, despite what Sasuke had once thought, is immense and - somehow - at Sasuke’s disposal.

It’s strange, he thinks. How Naruto can still have faith in people, the differences in how he talks to Sakura’s ghost as if she’s watching them, as if she’s not simply gone, as if she might be proud of them, and how Sasuke can never bring himself to say a single word. Stranger still, how easily Naruto throws that faith away when Sasuke asks him to.

Strange, but comforting. Love, perhaps, if Sasuke lets himself dare to contemplate so fragile and dangerous a thing. And if Naruto will forsake his morals at Sasuke’s behest, then the least he can do is hold true to them. Because one day, when they’re ready, when they’re so strong that nobody will ever be able to rip away a life they love ever again, they’ll hunt down Itachi and make him pay for the lives he tore down.

But first - and maybe it’s practice, or maybe it’s vengeance, or maybe it’s both - they’ll return to the Land of Waves, once they’ve got enough control of their strength, and they’ll burn the Great Sakura Bridge to the ground.

[silverstarlightlion]

the final entry in the team seven dies on the bridge au - this one got way away from me but oh well, I’m not editing it because that’s not how this chain works

Team Seven take the mission to the Land of Waves. On the bridge, they fight Zabuza and Haku.

On the bridge, Kakashi dies.

It happens in a flash, a shout and a burst of chakra and blood. The ice mirrors trapping Sasuke and Naruto in with Haku crack and break, and there's a high-pitched electric whine that lasts for a moment longer than the voices, before everything turns eerily, horribly silent.

In the ghostly silence, the mirrors collapse and smash into the half-finished Bridge, shattering, and Team Seven comes apart and shatters with them. Kakashi drops to one knee – thud – as the lightning in his palm winks out, and Zabuza steps back with a sneer. At his side, Haku lowers their hands, ignores the streak of blood across their side, and relaxes their stance. They move into Zabuza’s wake, following him as he strides past. Towards Sakura.

Towards Tazuna.

Naruto shouts, incoherent, and all at once he's wreathed once more in the strange and sticky red chakra, and throwing himself at Zabuza. Sakura is struck dumb, frozen, unblinking, watching Zabuza approach with sightless eyes, her kunai still held before her – her grip is textbook and too tight, and wavers when the Kiri-nin get too close.

She doesn't move, as Haku lashes out to stop Naruto's descent, flings him back. She doesn't move when Zabuza walks past her. She doesn't move as Sasuke snarls and jumps after Haku as well, as their fight re-engages. She doesn't move when Tazuna cries out behind her, she doesn't move when her name rings in her ears, she doesn't move when it ends with a whimper and a gurgle. Sakura doesn't move as Zabuza sets his sword on her shoulder.

She thinks, for a minute that lasts her whole lifetime, that Zabuza’s going to kill her too. She's not sure that she minds.

It's only when Zabuza grunts, dismissive, and turns on his heel – taking his sword with him, leaving a nick in her collar so shallow it doesn't even hurt – that Sakura finds the will to move. Gasps in a deep breath, like she's been drowning. Naruto and Sasuke are still fighting around her, flashing back and forth as Haku fends them off, but it all just sounds like echoes as she remembers how to walk and starts creeping towards Kakashi-sensei.

He's sprawled gracelessly, and his head is turned just a little too far to the side. He's half on his stomach, shoulders flat to the concrete, with one leg crumpled up underneath him. The grim, grey light of overcast morning winter is reflecting in his eyes, a glimmer that feels like a lie.

"Kakashi-sensei…?" she hears herself ask, her voice absolutely tiny, and her knees give way to drop her at Kakashi's side. Naruto is shouting something behind her, getting distant, and Sakura can't tell if he's moving away from her or if she just can't trust her senses anymore, but she can't bring herself to try figure it out. Her ears are ringing. Kakashi doesn't respond – doesn't move, doesn't blink, doesn't lift his gaze to her. His pupils don't respond to the light, too dilated. His mismatched irises are almost eclipsed. "... Kakashi… sensei…?" Her voice is a ghost in her own throat. When she reaches out, it feels like watching someone else do it; her hand is shaking violently, numb and cold, and her very skin feels like it doesn't belong to her, clingy and fuzzy and tingling all at once, like she's both trying to crawl out of herself and is the thing trying to be climbed out of.

Kakashi's face is warm when she touches him. It's a struggle to roll him over, the effort a blur of sound and nauseating breathlessness as she grips his shoulder and pushes. He's limp, utterly so, and his limbs drag and twist when she manages to get him more on his side. There's no movement in his chest or stomach.

He doesn't blink. He's not breathing.

The blood is pooling underneath him where Haku had torn a hole in his side, from all the cuts Zabuza gave him. When Sakura touches his face again, tries to turn his head even though she doesn't even know why, she can feel the broken bones in his neck grind.

Her tears taste like bitter acid as she collapses, each sob into Kakashi's unbreathing chest torn out of her as if she's turning inside out. Sakura can feel each beat of her own heart, like being kicked, a thunderous stomping in her ears, and it's a betrayal of the highest order when she can't feel Kakashi's under her hands. She thinks she screams, maybe. She's not sure.

It's not real. It can't be real. If she can just cry hard enough, if she can get out the huge, heavy, writhing thing that's crawling up her throat, if she can just make it all stop for just a moment, she can make it stop being real. Because it has to be a lie.

Kakashi is one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. He's their teacher. He's improper and lazy and grouchy, and he's fought so hard to get this mission done, and he can't be dead. There's so much more he still has to teach them.

She thinks that one of them touches her, maybe, but it registers only as searing pain and she cries out between choking sobs, and it's only when she eventually has to pull back from Kakashi— From Kakashi's… body… from Kakashi that she remembers she's got the incredible misfortune to exist, and that there's still a solid world around her. It's revolting. That the world dares to continue being when it should be shattered.

But she pulls back, because her sobs are getting caught in her throat and she's gagging on them, stomach convulsing as the force of her crying slides into violent coughing, until she jolts and vomits.

Naruto, returned from the fruitless chase, keeps at Sakura's side and rubs her back, and tries to figure out what to say. How it could have possibly gone so wrong. They should have won. They were supposed to win – they were supposed to save Inari and prove that goodness meant something and make sure that Waves would be okay.

But there's nothing but the cold wind and the grey sky and blood on all sides, and the smell of death and salt and bile while Sakura struggles to breathe through her tears and retching.

Sasuke hasn't made a sound. He stands a few feet away, eyes dark, staring at Kakashi with hatred and icy anger. His hands are clenched. He knows too well that Kakashi is dead and they failed and it doesn't mean a damn thing. Because life is cheap and death is worthless. Sasuke is seven years old again, and trying to figure out how to say goodbye to the corpses that are no longer his parents, and Kakashi will never even know if they mourn him or not. He can't find the will to care or fight or cry. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. Nobody matters.

Death comes for all. Why should it mean anything if it found Kakashi now, or later? It would find everyone eventually.

Sasuke would make sure of it.

And across the countries, far beyond the knowledge of the now-lost genin, Konoha is split apart with the howls of eight ninken.

It's the ninken who find them first, in the end. They haven't moved from the bridge, half-completed, when the ninken arrive. It's late afternoon, and they've huddled together and done not much else. Sakura is in a small ball, curled up on the ground and holding onto Kakashi's body like he might still wake up at any moment and give her something to do. Sasuke stands nearby, arms folded, silent. He's watching, guarding, perhaps, except that he spots the ninken incoming and says nothing and moves neither to block their approach or welcome it. There are several Narutos milling about, one sitting with Sakura, hand still rubbing her back, while the others do… something. Even they're not really sure. But Naruto is a creature of action, and he can neither figure out what it is he's supposed to do nor tolerate the prospect of doing nothing.

There are Anbu on the ninken's tails, and they quickly take charge of the situation, and everything blurs together into noise and colour and pain.

When they arrive back at Konoha, the Anbu have to drag Sasuke up to the Hokage Tower with them. Naruto trudges alongside voluntarily, his gaze straying constantly to Kakashi – pale and still and cold and stiff in the Anbu's arms – and he silently prays that Grandpa Hokage will know what to do, because everything… seems a lot less simple than it did before, suddenly. Sakura offers no resistance, tucked against another Anbu's chest as she has been since they first picked her up in Waves Country. She's still shaking, each breath shallow and rattling, her gaze distant and empty. Putting her down isn't an option. Naruto is pretty sure she would simply stay curled on the ground where she was set, if the Anbu was to put her down.

Hirizen is unusually serious, when they're taken into his office, but that makes sense, Naruto supposes. The death of a Konoha jōnin is a big deal. Orders are given over their heads, and Naruto stays quiet despite the endless questions clawing at the inside of his ribcage, because Hiruzen does know what to do, obviously, because of course he would, so Naruto just has to wait until he tells them what they're supposed to do.

Right?

And it'll be okay? Like it's supposed to be?

… 

Sasuke fights. He snarls, and then shouts, and then draws a kunai. The Anbu who'd dragged him up here in the first place knocks him unconscious, somehow, too fast for the genin to track, and carries him out. Sakura doesn't even ask where they're taking him.

And she… quits. Not on the spot, it's not until they attend Kakashi's funeral – and Sasuke attends too, shackled to an Anbu member, and it's the first time they've seen him since Hiruzen's office – but at the end of the day, when almost everyone else has gone, when Sasuke's gone (and he didn't even acknowledge them, didn't say a word to them, ignored Naruto's shouting after him when the Anbu walked him away), she finally finally finds her voice to speak. She's been silent since the bridge.

"I'm… I'm quitting," she whispers to him, while her parents stand just a teeny bit back to give them space. Her eyes, dull and hollow green, are fixed on Kakashi's headstone. "I can't do this. I can't do anything."

She sets her hitai-ite on Kakashi's grave, and Naruto never sees her in training again.

He finds out where Sasuke is, through a combination of stubborn defiance and reckless rule-breaking. Hiruzen allows him into what can only be a secret Anbu facility, and takes him down endless stairs until finally he sees the torchlit cage that Sasuke is in. He's doing pushups when they arrive.

It isn't until Naruto appeals to him as a friend that Sasuke finally stops, gets to his feet, storms up to the bars. "We are not friends," he hisses.

"What are you going to do?" Naruto can't think of anything else to ask him. What can he possibly be doing? How can he be okay down here?

"I'm going to kill the people who deserve it."

Naruto visits Sasuke six more times, and six more times he's almost fully ignored while Sasuke ceaselessly trains, alone in the dark, as if he doesn't even care that he's locked up like some kind of criminal. Naruto dares once to ask Hiruzen to let Sasuke go, and he learns that day just why the Kage's are so respected and so feared. It's the first time he's ever been scared of Hiruzen, and no amount of apologies or make-up ramen afterwards can undo it.

If this is what being Hokage really means, Naruto's no longer sure that he wants it.

The seventh time, Sasuke is gone, and no one will tell Naruto where he's gone.

When, months later, Iruka takes Naruto to meet Jiraiya, Naruto leaps on the offer of training. He's been… not wallowing, but his team has disintegrated and his training has gotten spotty. He needs a teacher, someone incredibly strong like Jiraiya, because Naruto has to get stronger. He needs to get strong enough to protect the people who matter. He needs to be strong to make sure that nobody else dies because he couldn't stop it – he needs to, because maybe if he can get there, if he can promise safety, then he can earn back his family. Sasuke and Sakura had been, pretty much, for the short time they'd been a team.

His team was everything. How could he protect Konoha if he can't even protect his teammates?

And so Naruto leaves with Jiraiya, single-minded and dogged, and if he pushes too hard too fast then it's all Jiraiya can do to try and keep up with Naruto's pathological need to chase strength.

…

Sasuke relinquishes freedom. He has no use for it. In the dead of night, he's whisked out of the Anbu Red Vault and into a silent promise of power and revenge. He allows the Seal to be placed on his tongue without resistance. He's called upon, eventually, to murder the other child he's been trained alongside, and he does so without hesitation or mercy. He dons the black uniform and the pale mask and he carves himself into nothing more than a blade, and he lays himself in Danzō's hand. One day, he is promised, he'll be the weapon wielded to end Itachi's life.

…

And Sakura leaves. She does it out of mercy, she thinks at first. It's her fault, after all, that Kakashi is dead. That Sasuke is gone. That Naruto is alone. She knows nothing of their fates, and she dares not ask after them, because if she involves herself then, she's sure, she's just going to get in their way.

And it’s a guilt that she's finally realised she isn't strong enough to carry. She stood by, on the bridge, and she did nothing. It doesn't matter that she was Tazuna's last line of defence; Tazuna is dead. It doesn't matter that she was told to guard him; the man who gave that order is dead, too.

It's her fault, it's her fault, it's her fault, it's HER FAULT.

So she sneaks out, and she means it to be mercy, because the only way she can think of to make sure she never does it again – does nothing – is… if she's not around to. And it's mercy, really, if she doesn't force her parents to be the ones who find her. She's never been able to scrub her own skin free of the way Kakashi's had felt. Warm and faintly damp with sweat and smooth between the endless minute scars, cooling into tacky rigidity. He'd still looked like himself, when the ninken had got there, but he'd felt like stone under her hands. Like he wasn't real.

Like none of it was real.

Sakura decides, in the dead of night, that she's willing to give anything to make it not real.

And, in the end, someone extends mercy to her parents but it's not her. The first moment of freefall, when she jumps off the edge of the Hokage monument, is exhilarating. Freedom. Safety. She's going to escape, and she won't have to take down anyone else with her ever again.

The next few seconds overwhelm her with terror, and Sakura loses her grip on reality as it suddenly registers what her freedom really means, and as the ground hurtles up towards her, all Sakura can think is that she's afraid. Like she was on the bridge. Like maybe that's all there is, after all. Fear.

So when a pair of arms wraps around her and snatch her out of the air, Sakura clings on and sobs without knowing who it is that's saved her, or if it’s even real, and it feels like being on the bridge all over again. But the arms stay close, hold on tight, and eventually Sakura manages to remember how her senses work.

"... Gai-sensei?"

He's still dressed in his signature green jumpsuit, but there's a grimness to him that's unfamiliar. Holding her entire meagre weight close to his chest with just one arm, Gai brushes her hair back out of her face, sticky and matted with snot and tears. "It's going to be okay, Sakura." She can't wrap her head around why Gai's here. How is he here? But Gai glances at her at the same moment Sakura realises he's walking, and she can't get the whine in her throat to make any more words, but Gai seems to understand. "If you were to die now, then Kakashi died to protect you for no reason. And I know you don't want to squander that."

Her fault. But Gai says it differently. Like for her isn't the same as her fault. Was it for her? Sakura isn't sure of anything, anymore. If anyone knows, it must be Gai-sensei. A shudder goes through her, and she buries her face in Gai's shoulder. Her senses are screaming at her, her heart still wild and painful in her chest. It seems to think she's still falling to her death.

"... What can I do?" It was already squandered. Wasn't it? Sakura couldn't do anything. She'd stood by and watched.

But Gai grunts, pets her back. "It's never too late to stop giving up. Get strong. Protect the things Kakashi can't anymore. Protect yourself. Protect Konoha."

And it’s pathetic, but Sakura is pretty sure she's pathetic no matter what, so she scrunches up her hands in Gai's shirt, and wishes they would stop shaking so bad, and shakes her head. "I can't. I'm not strong. I'm… I'm not strong."

"You're here." She almost wasn't.

And the whine breaks out. "I'm here bec-cause I'm weak. B-because he was— was strong."

Gai hums. She can't tell if it's agreement or not. "So do him proud. I'll show you how." Gai loosens his grip, just a little, and picks up Sakura's head. Forces her to meet his gaze. His face is oddly shadowed in the moon- and lamplight. "It's not easy. It's never easy. But it's worth it. You're strong – let me show you just how strong you are."

They're on the other side of the village, Sakura thinks, now that she's looking around. Still shaking – shivering, really – but they're in a residential area, closer to the outskirts, where the houses have little gardens and families and—

Gai carries her to a house. Lee is on the porch, watching anxiously.

"Why are you doing this?" Sakura manages to ask, while Gai brings her inside, and carefully deposits her on a couch. Lee appears at his side a moment later, and he offers Sakura a glass of water. Automatically, she takes it, and Gai steadies her hands so she doesn't drop it. Their faces are blurry through her tears. "Why…?"

It's Lee who speaks up, and he's quieter than usual but no less intense. "Because when we lose a family member, we should come together to support each other." Gai nods, beams at Lee proudly. "Kakashi-sensei was Gai-sensei's family, so he was my family. And you're Kakashi-sensei's family, so you're our family."

The water tastes like adrenaline and steel when Sakura makes herself sip it, but the gentle chill of it diffuses in her chest and something she doesn't have words for eases slightly.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Lee," Gai says, pulling Lee down into a hug with his free arm. "So. Let us help you be strong, like Kakashi wanted."

It's surreal. So many things have happened in so little time; a few minutes ago, Sakura had been convincing herself to jump from the top of the Hokage monument. How can this feel so different, so quickly? She's in— Is she in Gai-sensei's house? And it can't fucking be real – but nothing feels real anymore, hasn't for a while now, and… if anyone knows what Kakashi wanted, then it's Gai.

And it’s Gai.

… Can he really teach her strength? Does it matter?

"He's not totally gone while we remember him," Lee says quietly, and he lays a hand on Sakura's knee. "So if we do what he wanted, then it's like he accomplished his goals."

It doesn't make a lot of sense to Sakura, because Kakashi-sensei is definitely gone, but… Well, she can always jump off a high place later. Maybe they're right? Would Kakashi want her to learn strength from Gai?

Sakura drinks the rest of the water.

"Okay."

[kanonsarchivedblog]

Night Terrors

Word Count: 1627 Rating: T Warnings: Descriptions of wounds, body horror Characters: Tobirama Senju, Hashirama Senju, Izuna Uchiha ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The dream always begins the same. He’s had it so many times by now, he could recite it by memory if he could get the words to form in his mouth rather than his brain alone. If he could bring himself to speak out loud, to vocalize, to just finally tell it to the world and get it off of his chest. But he can’t. And so, the dream begins. It’s near winter, the end of fall- late, late enough that his breath fogs in the early morning air. He is ten, here. The sky is starting to lighten now, the sun not yet breaching the horizon to the east but starting to, the rays making streaks of gold that dance through the retreating navy, banishing the night once again. Hashirama is standing beside him, shaking in the early morning chill. He never did like the cold; he couldn’t handle it the same way that he could, or the way Mother could. Hashirama whines softly, wanting to go back inside. Hashirama always whined, even now. Their father had left the night before, called away late to some important meeting. Kawarama wasn’t back yet. He should have been back. He was seven. He didn’t know anything- he barely knew what flowers he could and couldn’t snack on, what mushrooms would kill you the moment you breathed in their spores and which ones were the best to roast over an open fire. He was seven, so little.

Butsuma approaches, a weird bundle in his arms. Except that isn’t just clothes. Red is staining white, and it’s Kawarama wrapped up in that little bundle, looking too small to possibly be his little brother, but it is. It is him, because he’s sitting up in that bundle and looking at him and telling him “This is your fault. This is your fault. This is your fault.” But he can’t talk. His mouth isn’t moving right, the jaw broken, pried apart by adult hands, broken and hanging loosely, tongue lolling far too long to be normal, but that’s what the tongue is, isn’t it? It goes down the throat. But his eyes aren’t there, even though he can feel him looking, his eyes aren’t there. Instead it’s black holes in his head, but it isn’t black, not really, just a really dark red because that’s muscle and tissue there where his eyes used to be. Butsuma is talking. “He is a shinobi.” He says. But he wasn’t a shinobi, he was seven. Shinobi were older. They had to be older. Kawarama could barely hold a sword. “He died a shinobi.” Butsuma says again. “He died a shinobi.” “He died a shinobi.” His brothers repeat. A shinobi. A shinobi. He died. Died. Died. Dead. The world swirls around him, fading into darkness, and it’s like he’s waking up except he knows he isn’t awake. The ceiling above him isn’t the ceiling in the Senju compound in Konoha, but the thatched ceiling of his childhood. His mother is screaming. He moves before Hashirama does. Or, Hashirama is moving, but he’s moving to pull the blankets up, telling Tobirama he doesn’t want to go, doesn’t want to know. But Tobirama is twelve, and knows more now. He knows what a mourning cry is. She is kneeling on the ground, clutching the lifeless body of Itama. Itama, who was only nine. Who had been sent out because Butsuma needed Hashirama and Tobirama at home to watch over Mother. Itama, who was stabbed over and over and over and there are too many holes to count from blades. Itama, whose lifeless eyes stare at the sky as Mother howls out a sound that’s not human in any way. Grief, personified; her white hair is wild, blowing in the cold spring wind, whipping it this way and that, and tears are streaking down her pale cheeks, cheeks that hold the same scarlet streaks that his would in four years, but he didn’t know that then. She is crying, and Hashirama is on the porch, and Butsuma is yelling and he is always yelling, always screaming. The Uchiha did this, the Uchiha massacred his boy, the Uchiha are responsible even though it was his fault for bringing his son onto the battlefield. The Uchiha killed him. Uchiha men killed him. Uchiha men desecrated him. He didn’t know what that word meant, then. He knows what it means now. The world swims once more, and as he blinks, he’s staring at scarlet eyes with a peculiar windmill pattern. He blinks, hard. Izuna. He’s pretty, he can’t help but think- a softer face, a smile that was far too cocky for someone like him, far too taunting. He’s holding Tobirama’s shirt, and Tobirama is in a river while Izuna is laughing, trying to run away but the current of the water is pushing him back to Tobirama, and he catches him, and it’s that weird moment when time seems to slow. When everything stops and he just stands with him in his arms and oh. Wait. They can’t do this. They step back from one another like they had been burned, Izuna throwing his shirt so quickly and harshly that it smacks him in the face. By the time he grabs it off of his face, Izuna is gone, and he is alone in the river with a smile that’s too big and cheeks that feel too warm and he has to dunk his head into the river when Hashirama suddenly appears, calling for him. When he rises, he’s not in the river. He’s on a battlefield, the sound of fighting all around. The Uchiha and the Senju. That’s right, that’s this fight. He spins, and finds Izuna, his blade raised, tears in his eyes. Madara is screaming across the field at Hashirama; their fight is flashy and stupid and too big and of course it is, because that’s what Hashirama is. Flashy and stupid and too big for his pants, Mother always said. She’s gone by this time, taken by grief and maybe his father’s hand, they never knew the truth of the matter, only woke one day to find him already burying her. But Izuna is there, his hair having fallen from it’s tie. The wind rustles it, and he looks so beautiful, even torn up and bloodied and bruised and with dirt smudged across his features. So beautiful, even as he lunges first. Uchiha were so fucking devoted to their clan, it confused Tobirama sometimes. He’d do anything for Hashirama, sure, but not for his father. Not for his other clansmen, who were lying in heaps, dead or dying or maybe trying to hide beneath all those bodies, hoping to get away from this fighting once and for all. He can’t blame them. He isn’t sure what he’s devoted to, now. Izuna’s blade crashes with his own. They aren’t using Jutsu- Izuna’s chakra reserves were too low, and Tobirama couldn’t risk signing right now, not with Izuna coming at him over and over and telling him to just give up, to just let him do this, to just die already, you stupid fucking albino Senju. That catches him off guard, he even laughs as Izuna goes in and gets him across the top of his left thigh. Going for an artery and just barely missing. He can’t remember what happens next, even in this night terror he can’t piece it together. It’s so many flashes all at once of skin, of laughter, of those crimson eyes with those pinwheels, of heat, of heartache, of funerals, of Hashirama laughing, of Madara laughing, of feeling weightless, of the feeling of someone atop him, of holding someone in his arms, someone with black hair and pale skin and then- Then, he is holding him in his arms, except this time it’s Izuna’s blood on Tobirama’s blade, and Izuna’s head in his lap as he smiles up at him, as Tobirama apologizes for things having to end this way. As tears fall from his eyes and onto Izuna’s pale cheeks, as Izuna closes his eyes, as Tobirama does not let out a mourning cry but instead lifts Izuna’s body and carries him to where Madara and Hashirama are fighting. As he feels hands, actual hands touching his actual face, and he’s awake, jolting upright on the futon, gasping for breath and looking around for the phantom hands. The bedroom is empty, the sky moonless. He reaches over and grabs a candle from beside his bed and lights it with a wave of his hand. Nothing sits in the corners waiting to reach out and take revenge, nothing sits at the top of his futon, stroking his cheeks as he struggles through another night terror, nothing lays beside him, onyx hair spread out across pale sheets. Nothing. Alone. His penance. He breathes a sigh of relief and closes his eyes, shoulders slumping as if he were Atlas and he, alone, held the weight of the world. A shake of the head, and he reaches up to snuff out the flame, never blow it out. No, that was an insult to the spirits, always has been, always will be. Mother taught him that. He lays back down, eyes falling closed, but for a hint of a moment, he thought he saw scarlet above his head, gazing down at him. A trick of the light, Tobirama thinks as sleep pulls him back under quickly. Exhaustion does that to a man when you have to go behind and fix every single mistake your brother makes and make sure that the village doesn’t fall apart while he’s in office. A trick of the light, even as the shadows begin to move.

[remmushound]

Curse of the Clan part 61! @scentedcandlecryptid @selfindulgenz

April’s light engulfed her clan, the green growing into a massive lotus that swallowed them all in a protective embrace. The sudden rejection of Krang’s violent mental advancements sent the alien force reeling, hissing clicks escaping him as he searched for some escape from the power that seared him like a marshmallow over a bonfire. Chakra lights blinked back into their hosts, all joined at the hand as they stood before Krang and his lies.

Life was breathed into Splinter and Michelangelo like the fastest medicine. Their strength returned and they were able to stand on their own. Draxum stared at the healing with vermillion eyes, the golden twine weaving their injuries shut like nothing he had ever seen before. His gaze traveled to Cassandra, the origin of this strange golden glow, her body untouched by the blades that had struck her down.

“Healing…” Draxum breathed his disbelief. It wasn’t just Cassandra passing her glow— they all were sharing the chakras energy between each other, their own chakra shining brightest but not enough to outshine the shared colors. “Of course.”

“Draxum.” Splinter called, looking over his shoulder at Baron Draxum with a mischievous grin on his face, “I would like to give Krang a taste of his own medicine.

Draxum’s eyes went wide a moment, then settled with just as much smugness as Splinter, “You are all knowing. Give it your best shot, Splinter.”

Splinter’s eyes went wide at the acknowledged name, almost misty, before he turned back to Krang with all the intent to destroy the monster once and for all.

***

No, no this wasn’t right! This was his second chance and this time he was supposed to win! Instead of tasting sweet victory, all he had was their power, their words, suffocating him with their truths. The truth was like poison, and that was exactly what they were doing to him. He sustained himself by seeding lies, but here? There were no minds to take seed into, no place to plant his tentacles and hold on for dear life.

This wasn’t going well— not at all! He needed to escape, to find somewhere else to stay, somewhere cold to lay low and grow stronger while everyone else grew weaker. He could certainly destroy them then!

Krang winced at a blinding pink light that came out of nowhere. He squinted his eyes at first, but then the power and taste of his home overwhelmed him enough to look and witness the indescribable beauty of his beloved and benevolent queen. She was coming from the rift, lifted by her platform just like the one Krang had, but all the more beautiful because of its rider.

“Queen…” Krang breathed, and he could say nothing more as she came closer to him, tentacles reaching out as if to tenderly stroke him before falling far short.

“Knave.” Said the queen in the voice just as spenderous as her.

“Queen.” Krang didn't care about the wrong name addressed to him; she was his queen, and she could call him anything she wanted to.

The queen looked disappointed; it was pure heartbreak to her subject. “You're bad Knave. Very, very bad!”

Krang’s expression faltered, his eyes growing wider and wider. “My Queen…?”

“Naughty naughty!” Queen waved a tentacle at Krang, “You’d throw such a big temper tantrum with such a short time out?”

“I… I…”

“Answer me when you’re spoken to!”

Krang couldn’t answer; it was all he could do to sink down into himself and stare up at her with a soft expression. Almost like a child being scolded.

“Very well, if that’s how you’re going to be.” Queen crossed her tentacles and scoffed, “I suppose you can just stay here and never come home!”

“WAIT!”

Krang lunged forward into a submissive position, trying to crawl his way through the air to his queen as she backed up into the rift and out of his reach, disappearing into the pink and leaving him behind as he cried for forgiveness.

“No no no no no PLEASE! Queen! Mother! Don’t go…”

***

“Look!” Leonardo pointed, “What's going on?

Krang wasn’t fighting back anymore. The look on his face was fear and distress, not anger or dangerous intent. The alien lowered himself to the ground, tears streaking down his face, gasping for every breath.

“He… he’s crying…” Michelangelo frowned, his eyebridges furrowing.

“Then be quick about it.” Draxum said simply, waving a hand. “I’m not sorry if I’m low on sympathy. Destroy him already!”

Six out of seven lights ignited, ready to do just that. They didn't have to be told how; the process was guiding them and not the other way around. The chain of ascending power couldn’t complete without all seven chakras, and it seemed the seventh wasn’t so keen on following the lead of his family.

“Mike?” Leonardo asked, opening an eye to cast a side glance at the more than hesitant box turtle.

Michelangelo couldn’t speak at first; not when Krang’s anguish was washing over him like the pain was his own. “Can’t you feel it? He’s sad!”

Arpils’ green light gave a hesitant flicker; she could feel it too, an all too familiar burn that was like a loop of agony to her that made her tears flow as freely as they did from Krang.

“We can’t destroy him.” April sighed, lowering her bat and looked back at the others. “It’s not right. We already won.”

“We can’t just let him go!” Leonardo scoffed.

“I’m not asking you to!” Michelangelo said, “But we can find a better way to trap him! Please… don’t make me hurt someone…”

Those soft, pleading words with Michelangelo’s puppy-dog eyes made everyone wince and look away as guilt and unwelcomed sympathy washed over them. Raphael squeezed his eyes shut, tugging at his mask with a low growl before his eyes snapped open.

“Why don’t we vote on it? There’s nine of us. Majority wins.” When Raphael got no argument against the idea, he went on, “All in favor of destroying Krang with the chakras?”

Four hands went up; Leonardo, Draxum, Cassandra, and Raphael. He gave a nod and sighed.

“All those in favor of sparing?”

Michelangelo, April, Sunita, and Splinter raised their hands. Raphael frowned and turned his attention to Donatello, who had yet to vote. All eyes were on the softshell now as Raphael broke from the group and approached his little brother, resting a broad hand on Donatello’s shoulder.

“Hey… you’re the deciding vote, bro.”

Donatello tensed. His eyes searched over the watching faces, all begging for his vote for their cause, all so pleading and hopeful that he'd choose their side. How could he choose either when that meant disappointing the others? Maybe if he had voted sooner then it wouldn’t have been so bad, but he found himself unable to raise his hand for either option, like his arms were tied to his side.

“Which will it be, Donnie?”

[hazusreaderinserts]

Legacy [Naruto Reader-Insert]

You’re definitely a Yamanaka, aren’t you?

Family and Village secrets run rampant. All you wanna do is survive long enough to see Naruto become Hokage and to find out who you really are.

[Fem! Reader x Various]

Warnings: Long plot. Slow-burn. The slowest of the burn.

Crossposted on Wattpad and Quotev. Masterlist

Chapter 7 The curtain rises.

It's been three years since the Uchiha massacre, since the events that made your life crumble apart like a cookie crumbling in milk. You will gladly use another simile to summarize those three years but it had seemed so easy, you know? How a couple of events could just dismantle the life you knew in the span of a several months. Human life is just so fragile. 

You never found out the cause of Shisui's death and after you confronted Itachi about his death that one time, he massacred his entire clan. You heard news. The entire Uchiha District, completely wiped out. Civvies and shinobi alike. Dead. His parents too.

The village shook at the news, but it was just swept under the rug. And people didn't seem to make a big deal out of it. Just a snap of a finger, and the main civvie population of the village just forgot that the Uchiha clan ever existed. The genin kids from civilian backgrounds never even knew the details behind the Uchiha, just that they were once a powerful clan in Konoha and one day, they were gone. Like you said, the big, pink elephant in the room was swept under the rug with relative ease. 

In three years, all that the Uchiha clan stood for was forgotten. Their holiday stamped out from the map and renamed into the Festival of Fireflies. Their Clan grounds burnt to the ground, all that's left is just a shadow of the grandeur of the district that it used to have. All that is left of the Uchiha is a boy, a broken shell of what he used to be. The younger brother of the butcher himself, Uchiha Sasuke.

All the other clans panicked after realizing it was the prized prodigy of the Uchiha clan that lead them into their misfortune. You don't really know what the other clans did, but the Yamanaka reeled in the leashes of all the shinobi in service under their clan banner. You were not exempt from this. One of father's close aides shadows you around everywhere, and you couldn't skip Kunoichi class anymore. So you've been obedient in attending all your classes.

Everyone; the clan-sponsored orphans, kids of the branch families, staff of the Torture & Intel Bureau (it's a fact that everyone in there is in the palm and pockets of the Yamanaka Clan) and you, had to go under various psyche and mental health evaluations, provided by the Clan's best doctors and researches. Since the Yamanaka clan specializes in the mind and psyche, it makes sense that they have their own private research facility.

Beneficial pieces of research do trickle down to the General hospitals but most of the stuff that they are researching aren't really appropriate for medical use.                                                              ____

You sit there, by the side of brother's hospital bed, his meticulously bandaged up hand in yours. It wasn't as big as you remembered anymore, it was only half as big as it used to be. Your hands were no longer small and child-like, instead they are full of callouses and scarred knuckles.

The short sword that Shisui gifted to you is no longer in use, now a decoration. A reminder. A trinket of the past. You possess the hands of a fighter now, the hands of a shinobi. Your copious use of hand cream doesn't prevent the roughness of your palms.

Mother had to pry the white sword from his cold, clammy grasp when he checked in, courtesy of Hound. It now sits on a worn out weapon display beside the front door. You hear that it didn't want to leave brother's hand until Mother separated the cord-string from the hilt. Suddenly you are reminded of that time at the Deer Festival a couple years ago. You remember Brother's bright smile.

He's in a coma. Has been ever since Hound brought him back from the incident with the bright white light. He tells you that Brother skirmished with someone during the Uchiha Massacre.

Tears pool in your eyes as you tighten your grip on Brother's fingers. There is no trace of white in his hair anymore. And it's much more longer now.

The doctors and Mother says that there's no hope of him recovering. Your eyes grow hot and prickly at the thought.

You hear a rustle on your right and you wipe your hot, prickly eyes with one swift motion. Hound moves in his seat, turning a page of his orange novel. Three years is enough to change your perception of this man.

"Hound, stop reading your ero novels in front of a minor." You say, giving him a disapproving look.

"Stop calling me Hound then." He retorts with a lazy drawl. He looks tired. Like, you know. Tired. Like he’s aged a lot more than the amount of time that actually passed.

You just let out a sigh and turn your attention back to Brother.

Hound was a cold, effective and ruthless shinobi in the past and he showed it. This Hound however (he insists that you call him by his name) is lazy, tired, gives pathetic reasons whenever he's late (which is always) and a huge weirdo with a kink of reading dirty novels in public. 

This Hound still has the qualities of his old self but he carries himself in a different way now.

"Hey Hound? "

"Don't call me that. What is it?"

"How long have you known Brother?"

Hound pauses to think, an eye veering to the upper left as he searches his memories. "About seven years, give or take." He counts down with his gloved hands, "Yeah seven."

Hound now wears his hitai-ate to cover his scarred eye and a Konoha-style flak jacket, instead of his ANBU clothing. Everything else is black or a dark navy blue. The wrinkles around his eyes are more noticeable now. When you say wrinkles you meant the creases. Not actual wrinkles. Though his silvery hair does give him an illusion of being an old fogey (if Hound knew you call him that sometimes in your head, he'd probably not be very amused).

Or maybe he's just tired, you can't tell.

You count mentally in your head if it all lined up and it did. Seven years huh. He stayed in Brother's shadow for seven years because of the sword. Seven long years.

Will he be your shadow you once the sword is yours? You didn't want to think about that. It's way too soon.

You know Hound visits your brother during the weekends and sometimes during his free time, which made him a good guy in your book. You also see him visiting the memorial stone if he's not there by Brother. You'd need to search it up later. His name. You kinda hate not knowing the identity of your future guard dog. And his abilities.

Hound audibly flips another page. Then the silence settles and the both of you just sit there. By Brother's bed.                                                            ____

Sasuke Uchiha is a completely different person now, you think as you observe his shurikenjutsu from the trees. He is no longer the bright, outgoing little boy with a very competitive streak. He is, however, still competitive.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

The shuriken bounces off each other and they change their trajectory to hit the square targets, all queued up in a straight line, one behind another. It's a pretty impressive feat to be able to bend all those stars and make all of them hit.

Sasuke lets out a breath of air that he had been holding and throws one in your direction.

You narrowly dodge it and jump down to a clear area beside him. Sasuke's expression turns unto a guarded one and you immediately put both of your arms up in a mock surrender. He looks into your eyes.

"Not here to ambush you, just wanted to ask you if you'd like to come over for dinner." This is the nth time that you asked him. You throw a punch at him and he catches it with his fist.

You are ambushing him, He thinks.

"How is your brother?" Sasuke asks after minutes of contemplation. He's deflecting, you notice. Two can play at that game. His grip on your clenched knuckles tightens and he twists hard, flipping you over to your side.

You press the issue even more, "I'll make your favourite." Your eyes show him how determined you are to get him to eat dinner at your place. You were more calm than Sasuke anticipated and your form flickers from his vision, only for you to appear behind him with a blade to his neck. Ah, you've gotten better at shunshin, he notes. The blade you're using isn't your family heirloom. Its Shisui's ninjato. His gift to you. 

"No." His tone is flat and uninterested. Sasuke holds his breath. He didn't even hear the tachikaze. You've gotten faster. Sasuke holds out the handsign for Kawarimi and feels a pull on his entire body, his body pops out from a distance away. He replaces himself with a nearby boulder.

"Tomato pasta." Your tone is equally flat and uninterested. You focused as much chakra as you can in bursts with each step you take, angling your blade to pierce him.

"No." Sasuke deflects your blow with a kunai he pulls out from his pouch.

"Curry with tomatoes. Lots of tomato-" You swing again.

"No." He blocks. He drops his kunai and grabs your wrist with both of his hands. And uses the leverage he has to throw you over his shoulder. 

"Grilled salmon with lots of tomatoes in your miso soup." You twist your body in the air and land on your feet, holding your blade up in a defensive stance.

He pauses for a second. Just a second. You know that you're getting to him. "Wrong type of fish. No."

"Onigiri with bonito flakes, sun-dried cherry tomatoes and grilled tuna with a large serving of tomatoes."

Sasuke's stomach let out a loud growl and you know you have him in the palm of your hand. "Y-yeah? I don't need your pity." He crosses his arms against his chest and you feel his hostility drop.

You just give him a sad smile, sliding your blade back into the sheath behind you. "He's fine, thanks for asking. Let's spar again after, okay? You can use that fireball jutsu you've been practicing."

Ah there it is, your true intention of inviting him over. You want him to help you out with chakra control, his is much more better than yours. At least this is much better than your other plans that involved threatening to let Ino loose on him.

"Heh, you've gotten better mouse." Sasuke's face transforms into a cynical smile. He catches on pretty fast. This time it held no condescending tone, not like that time he beat you down at the academy. He turns around and catches you off-guard when he knocks you to your back with his forearm pressed onto your neck.

And you did get better. All the books you studied about the psyche helped. And you knew his favourite foods. And what makes him tick. Or at least you think. Sasuke sees that you have that same look that you had back when you ran from him before the massacre. He caves in easy when it came to you.

"If I can't beat you in taijutsu, why not something that I'm good at?" You smile. It doesn't reach your eyes. The pressure of his arm is choking you.

Sasuke just lets out a soft heh and sighs, he gets up and drags you too your feet. He's known you for this long that he could pick up on your tells. And you made him feel somewhat normal, like the massacre didn't happen. For a while. The only person he has good associations with of his past.

"You're a big idiot. You'll never get better at taijutsu, you don't have the strength to parry most of my hits." He says. You know exactly what he's talking about.

He sticks his hands into his pockets and walks toward the direction of your house. You follow him wordlessly.

Sasuke finishes all the food that you cook for him, right down to the last morsel and lingers at your place a little longer after your spar (he uses the neck grab thing on you again, that bastard.)

                                                           ____

You wake up with your hand outstretched towards the hilt of that blade in your house and you hear it sing. The sharp vibrato of the metal blade sings. It rings in your ears loudly, making you fall into a deep trance.

Then Mother's hand is around your wrist. She wakes you up by calling your name.

"It's happening again, " Mother lets out a shaky breath, "It's happening." The light from the moon shines on Mother in such a way that she looks more aged and tired than you last remember.

This isn't the first time it's happened. It started the night right after Brother checks into the hospital and the blade. You wake up all confused just standing there. Right before the sword.

She's mounted right up there, paper seals littering the outside of her wooden sheathe. And she sings, just like how she's singing now. Like she's calling out to you. To reach forward. To touch her.

Mother puts both her eyes around you and embraces you in tight hug. The one time she shows you motherly affection is after she made it sound like you were going to die. It's ironic.

"She's going to choose you. Of course she is. You're the only one left." Mother whispers under her breath. You aren't sure if she is talking to you or to herself.

"What's going to happen to me...?" All you could do is narrow your eyes into small slits, they were burning.. The helpless feeling from before bubbles up in your throat. You didn't have a choice then and you didn't have a choice now. There is never one, you realize that only now. For you, choice was always an illusion. Mother sits you down to tell you everything. And you are in for a long night. Finally you know why Mother and Brother both refer to the sword as Her.

                                                           ____

You’re the last one to arrive in your class, with a large, white sword that’s way too big for you. The moment you enter the classroom, all eyes are on you. Ino sits at the middle-top row, mouthing angrily at you about 'Sasuke' something, something. Shikamaru and Choji are beside her. The Nara boy mouths something else at you, then shakes his head angrily before signing and gesturing at you with hasty hand motions. Talk later. Important.

Shikamaru had caved in and just learnt sign-language from his father because he was tired of whenever you weave your fingers in signs when you're angry and you didn't want to talk.

​​​​​​Choji just nods and gestures as if to say, what he said. The long talk from Mother still weighs heavily in your head so you just nod at their direction and you just slide into the nearest seat. Which happens to be in between Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba. Kiba wolf-whistles as you slide past, "Heyyyy Mousey, lookin' good." Akamaru, his dog, barks in affirmation. You choke audibly as your eyes widen. You are ten. He is ten. Everyone is ten. How on earth did he think that wolf-whistling a little girl is appropriate?! Granted that he is a dog boy, but that doesn't mean he has to behave like one. A blush rises to your cheeks as you hasten your movements. Naruto just greets you with a loud smile and wave. How can a smile be so loud? But that's just Naruto, everything about him is loud. Like his orange jumpsuit. "I meant your sword! Your sword!" Kiba emphasizes on the sword part in a whisper-shout and gestures at the blade by your hip, then turning away to the shy-looking girl beside him to chatter away, with a hint of pink on his cheeks. You just settle into your seat and ignore the two noisy boys beside you, one of them is trying to get your attention. Naruto chatters on about his dream of becoming the Hokage, which you doubt at this point, but you hold your tongue. Just smiling and nodding when appropriate. You don't think Naruto notices that you are kinda zoning out at this point.

You feel sorry that you aren't listening to the Uzumaki boy as much but you needed to think about the things that Mother finally revealed to you about the sword. which is yours now. Her weight is heavy by your waist, but you'll grow into her soon. The Uchiha boy sitting in front of you just smirks audibly with a loud heh. You know this is his way of laughing at you.

Iruka-sensei steps into the classroom five minutes later and begins his lesson. You sneak Akamaru a few pets before concentrating your focus on Iruka's particularly interesting lecture about chakra transformation.

[guideyogabasics-blog]

Slowly, More Men Coming Around To Embrace Yoga's Benefits

Based on the most recent survey, the vast majority of participants in yoga classes were women (approximately 77 percent), despite the fact that some of the most popular and even famous teachers today and many of the originators of the practice are and were men. So where are the men from the studio? That is a question that many yoga instructors and studios are trying to answer as they try to reach out to a market that, essentially, remains relatively untapped. There are many possible reasons why men stay away from the yoga studio, but a few reasons seem to stick out a lot more than others. Many experts and yoga enthusiasts point to the competitive nature in men and the belief that many men don't discover yoga challenging enough for the physical goals they wish to accomplish. Plainly stated, many men don't find yoga "masculine" sufficient for them (as if a pose like the Side Crane is a piece of cake). According to a few instructors, quoted in a current article, men enter the yoga studios and see a room full of women, perhaps hear calming music and notice there's not just one piece of heavy metal equipment in the room and conclude that this place is not for them. And if there is a male instructor, his relaxed, sensitive demeanor is in sharp contract to the "feel the burn" approach of a personal trainer he may be used to. 1 yoga instructor said that men come to the studio looking for a challenge immediately. Experts point to a number of possible reasons why popular men consider yoga a "women's thing", starting with Indra Devi, a female yoga instructor who came to the Oughout. S. in the 1940s and was promoted by cosmetic legend Elizabeth Arden. Some time after, Richard Hitttleman grew to become a yoga celebrity, but his books and television show only featured female models. The PBS network introduced "Lilias, Yoga and You" in the 1970s and featured instructor Lilias Folan in an afternoon broadcast that seemed completely tailored for the stay-at-home mom of that era. Although more athletic forms of yoga developed later, such as Power Pilates, the deep involvement of woman in the practice solidified the idea of yoga as a woman's exercise in the minds of many men. Meditation experts also say the need for men to have concrete exercise results may also be a reason why they refrain from yoga. Along with weight lifting or weight training, a man may see an increase in muscle mass - a bigger bicep or a bit of definition here or there. But with meditation, many of the most important changes are internal, mental and emotional benefits that maybe harder to gauge for a individual taught to measure success by wins and losses.

As one instructor stated, instead of focusing on quieting his thoughts or relaxing, men may build even more tension by focusing on performing a pose perfectly (in response to their own competitive streak) and not be satisfied until they do, even if it's a move recommended for an advanced student and they're within their first class. By putting their efforts into perfection, many men completely miss one of the real benefits of the practice. Lastly, several yoga experts and instructors point to men's fear of failure as one of the reasons they shun yoga in such huge numbers. Since most men's idea of exercise consists of lifting weights or calisthenics that require the body to move in such a rigid motion, they frequently lack the flexibility that yoga demands. Even beginning male students, the experts say, give up after a few sessions simply because they fear "failure" at not being able to perform the moves (without realizing that their inflexibility may be the biggest reason they ought to participate in yoga). Yoga instructors say it may help to inform many men that some of today's top athletic stars tend to be yoga fans who use the practice to help them perform. Superstars such as NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, former NFL celebrity Jon Kitna and pitcher Barry Zito, as well as entire teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Cubs, provide yoga to their athletes to counteract the rough treatment they receive on the field. Men who attend health classes must let down their defenses and not think of yoga in terms of success and failure. The instructors say that physical exercise is not concerned with perfection of pose or rating someone based on whether they can perform a backbend on their first time in class. Yoga, they stress, is a gradual process where the student comes to acknowledge the mind-body connection. When put into the right perspective with realistic goals, each yoga session can be considered a "success". Yoga instructors suggest that men that are attending their first yoga session take time to introduce themselves to the teacher and discuss the class structure. Men must also accept and admit (to the instructor and to themselves) that they harbor some anxiety about the yoga class. By creating lines of communication, the student and the instructor can begin to erase the fears they have about not being up to the job of yoga. Another option yoga instructors may want to consider, the experts say, is occasionally conducting a men's-only yoga program where men can be themselves. Instructors who have held classes such as this admit that it creates a different atmosphere than usual and the typical male joking is not uncommon. But arranging such classes can be a big help in teaching men to relax inside studio and, in turn, relax with the idea of yoga. Finally, men should be willing to let themselves go mentally in a doing yoga class. Some of the most powerful men in business have credited yoga with letting them clear their heads of the day-to-day tensions and mental strain of the workday. And not only does yoga let them get rid of old, troublesome thoughts, it allows brand new thoughts to come in. indeed, many top executives have claimed that some of their most successful ideas have come although meditating during yoga. It may take a while until more men embrace yoga the way women have. But by implementing this attitude, men too can begin to understand the benefits of yoga, both mental and physical. Yoga - A Part Of The particular American Health Quest For Decades As you continue on your journey of discovery in yoga, you've no doubt probably discover a few terms that are unfamiliar to you, either from your yoga instructor, classmates or in books and magazines you may have read on the subject. Some terms might refer to yoga moves or poses, or they may refer to concepts particular in order to yoga. Don't panic if they are unfamiliar to you. Like many special practices, yoga comes with its unique terms that turn out to be familiar to yoga enthusiasts during their journey. Many of the terms (if not all) are Hindu in origin and may be difficult to grasp (or even pronounce) at first. But as you continue your yoga journey, these words as well as others will become clear and relevant to your life. Below are a few terms that you may run across in the study of yoga. This list is actually, of course , in no ways a complete one, but it might provide a useful overview of the concepts of yoga. Abhyasa means "practice" and refers to the constant spiritual yoga practice. Acarlya refers to a instructor or guide, primarily one out of religious areas, but it is also used in yoga. Ananda is the state of bliss and ultimate joy. It will get its name from one of the most devout followers of Buddha. Asana is the name of the actual poses in yoga, which are made to promote a sense of well being and harmony of the mind and body. There are numerous asanas that promote different types of flexibility or mental rest. Ayurveda is an Indian medical system that has a long tradition in the country. Despite the millions of practitioners worldwide, it is looked at as an alternative solution medicine by many doctors in the West. Bhakti Yoga, or the "yoga of devotion", is a major branch of yoga that will focuses on forming a devotion to a personal form of God. Within Bhakti, there are three schools: Shaivism, Shaktism together with Vaishnavism. Bodhi means "awakening" or "enlightenment" and is the state of the awakened Buddha. Buddha is the title given to an individual who has attained enlightenment and ultimate inner peace. Is it the honorary title of the founder of Buddhism, Gautama. Chakra means "wheel" and refers to the psycho-energy centers on the body. Buddhism yoga maintains there are five chakras on the body, while Hindu yoga practitioners believe there may be seven or more. Diksha is an initiation process given to those who gain understanding into the hidden aspects of yoga. It may include the presentation of a mantra given by a guru of Buddhism, Hinduism or even Jaimism Goraksha was the founder of hatha yoga and was its first teacher. These days the name also pertains to a person who has reached an upper level of yoga practice and has mastered some of the more difficult hatha yoga poses and practices. Guru is an advisory and spiritual teacher. Guru-Yoga is a theory in yoga that placed the expert at the center of a yoga practitioner's learning process. Hatha Yoga is one of the major branches of yoga that is outlined by its combination of poses, body cleansing practices and breathing exercises. Ishvara-pranidhana teaches practitioners to focus on restraint, self-control and dedication to their spiritual side. Jnana-Yoga is a branch of yoga that focuses on obtaining knowledge and wisdom. Typically the practice focuses on four distinct paths: development of a discriminating mind, the skill to remain dispassionate when needed, virtue as well as freedom from earthly bonds. Kaivalya is the ultimate goal of yoga, to be free of the material constraints of the world and also "isolated". People in a kaivalya state are aware of everything around them but have the ability to stand apart from it. Karma refers to a task of any kind and its subsequent effect on one's life. Karma concerns the entire cycle of life, the causes and results. Krishna is the human form of the god Vishnu, whose teachings form the basis of the practice of Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavate-Purana. Kumbhaka is a breathing exercise in which the lungs are filled with air. The practice is generally done when meditating or chanting. Kundalini-shakti is the lowest psycho-energy center in the body and is key to full enlightenment. To activate the actual kundalini-shakti, the practitioner must awaken it and direct it upwards to the crown of the head. Laya Health is a Tantric yoga process in which the energy of several psycho-energy centers of the body is gradually dissolved. Mandala is actually a circular design that is created as a representation of the cosmos and is often used in meditation techniques.

Mantra means an audio or phrase that is sacred and has the power to induce a meditative state when chanted. Mantras are noises or phrases, such as "om" or "hum" that are chanted. They are usually given to a student before undergoing a disksha. Mantra-Yoga is yoga where a mantra is the primary means of meditation and path to enlightenment. Marman is the area on the body wherever much of the physical energy is either concentrated or compressed and blocked. Nada is an inner body sound that professionals of nada yoga or kundalini yoga say can be heard during the practice. It is key to concentration and relaxation. Nyasa is the ability to fill certain areas of the body with the "life force" simply by touching or thinking about the areas. Om can be a phrase often referred to as the original mantra and is considered the "ultimate reality". Prana is the "life force" or "life breath" in which yoga practitioners believe exists in all life on earth. Prasada refers to a state of mental clarity and pure elegance that is reached through meditation. Recaka is a term uses in connection with meditative breathing and refers to the exhalation of breathing and the control of the breath. Samadhi is the unity of body and mind that is achieved through meditation. In this, the highest degree of meditation, the waking, sleeping and dreaming mind are all working in harmony. Samatva refers to balance and harmony during the mind. Sat refers to the "ultimate reality". Siddhi is somewhat related to Sat in that it refers to spiritual perfection along with reaching a state of ultimate reality. Sushumna-nadi is the central area of life force in the body. It begins at the foundation of the spine and extends to the crows of the head. Turiya is a state of consciousness that goes beyond the most typical states of walking, sleeping and dreaming. It is frequently described as the human spirit in harmony with the human encounter and is the focus of a great deal of meditation. Upaya refers to the practice of compassion in Buddhist yoga teachings. Veerasana, furthermore referred to as the "hero's pose", is regarded as an essential pose for concentration and discriminative thinking. Yoga is the practice associated with bringing into harmony the state of the body and mind, individual and universal consciousness. It unites opposing states in the torso to reach a higher state of awareness. WoYoPracMo refers to World Yoga Practice Month, a period in which yoga practitioners, each veteran and new, vow to practice yoga every day for an entire month. Many yoga studios offer special prices and sessions during this month and yoga practitioners help each other with motivation and support.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Reintroduction, Reconciliation and Rebirth

So apparently one of my followers asked me about the whole “Mary Grayson as a Talon” verse I’m working on: “What if Mary gave herself up to the Titans instead going on a revenge streak against the Court of Owls?” 

So then, I answered. 

@lightdusk, this is for you :-)  

Padding through the hallways on her bare feet and looking at the various photographs on their walls, Mary Elizabeth Lloyd Grayson was captivated by the people inside said photographs. Five teenagers, each different looking than the last all smiling and have the time of their lives whenever the camera went off for them. Among-st them where an African American with blue and silver cybernetics attached to him, a green skinned, fanged, pointed eared young man with a smile that can melt the heart of any rough roustabout, a deadpanning young girl having grey skin and an Indian style chakra gem on her forehead with a tiny smile next to the other two. Out of all five of these teens, however, none captured Mary’s attention as the golden/orange skinned red haired girl who was locking lips with her boyfriend…not just any boyfriend though. Said boyfriend with a domino mask covering his eyes and spiky black hair in a red vest and green tights, which was her son Richard, which was her Little Robin growing up and having friends outside of the circus, let alone an alien girlfriend like Starfire and having the time of his life in these photographs.

After examining the photos and their content, Mary continues walking through the halls of this ‘Titans Tower’ and wonders of now how did she arrive here under all places of her life…or rather her afterlife. That’s when the events leading to this moments hit her like a freight train in the middle of running through a dark tunnel in the Rocky Mountains. In other words, they hit her pretty hard. Mary remembers the deal she had made with the Owls and how her life will now be under their control instead of her then seven year old son’s, She remembers her ‘death’ falling from a great height to the sandy floor of the circus grounds below, most likely smashing various bones in her body and leaving a bloody mess for the coroners to clean up, all due to faulty trapeze wires the failed to hold her husband John and herself after the trademark ‘Flight of Death’.

Next came the electric pain that erupted all over her said, awakening her and allowing the electrum to do its job bringing life back into her lungs. Afterwards, the ‘indoctrination’ as the Owls slowly and painfully breaking her mind into submission for their control and to showcase her strength on all levels when faced with death causing conditions not limited to mental instability and various tortures. Then came the part the finally gave her some relief, the part in which she remembers who she was, why she was what they call a Talon in the first place, and how she not only escaped the Owls’ but made contact with The Titans, immediately surrendering to the authorities for multiple charges of first degree murder. On the day she was put into a police van with iron plated handcuffs, local villain Professor Chang tried robbing a Xenothium factory with the first Titans plus police stepping to clean it up in a snap. That was until the gunshots were heard and Chang contacted the rest outside the factory demanding he will go free from this stand off or all Titans will pay dearly. Mary, overhearing of her son and his friends in danger, immediately began slipping out of her cuffs and without boots, utility belt or her signature throwing knives and entered the factory without the police even noticing. About 7 minutes later, all five Titans immediately walked out of the factory with nothing more but a few scratches  while a barely dressed Mary walks out with Chang on her shoulder, thoroughly beaten to  a pulp, before Mary sets him down and extends her hands for the cuffs back.

In that one mission, Robin couldn’t help but ponder on an established fact made here: not only does the substantial amount of evidence point to his mother being alive again along with the fact she was under the mind control of an ancient conspiracy that most likely would’ve taken him hadn’t for his said mother making a deal with them but now even after all that brainwashing, torture at the hands of heartless bastards and years of assassination, she still loves him and the fact she didn’t even consider murdering Chang for threatening him no less proves that there does lie hope that Mary Grayson can be rehabilitated to society. Only thing is, she was not Mary Grayson as far as the police or general public know. Mary Grayson is long gone, being the victim of an ‘accident’ alongside her husband caused by mobsters due to a protection racket gone horribly wrong.  So with that fact, rehabilitating her into society will be…tricky at the least.

Robin was not the only one thinking of that however for his mother was thinking the same thing as well. Though for Mary, as her bare toes scuffled across the tile floor, she was contemplating  on not just the events in the last few days and the fact the Titans’ pledge for keeping an eye on her as ‘their prisoner’ but now on her own steps towards rehabilitating to society outside. What she needed was friends and connections never explored before since it’ll only be a matter of time before the Owls realize their prized Talon is missing from their ranks and start sending their agents after her.

CLANK.

“Aw man, Grass Stain!” Cyborg’s voice erupted across the halls from the Ops Room from which Mary can hear due to her hearing

“Dude, it wasn’t me! Even if it was, how the heck was I supposed to know that plate was slippery?”

“Well maybe if you hadn’t gone octopus like that out of the blue, maybe your hands could’ve had a better grip on it!”

“My hands so have a good grip, both tentacle and finger, I’ll have you know!”

“Yeah well not this time, now we got some porcelain on the ground that anybody can step on and that part of the floor in MY tower is ruined!”

“Yeah well maybe if you weren’t freaking out about Bumblebee coming over for just a simple dinner and not a dang date…!”

“Oh no, BB, You didn’t just say that you little..!”

By the time Cyborg and Beast Boy were preparing to tackle each other to the ground over the filthy state the kitchen was in, Mary by now finishes up cleaning the last plate that wasn’t broken and subtlety taps the two on the shoulders, causing the two to nearly fall over from shock, more so from Mary being right there as opposed to the fact now the kitchen was near spotless and the broken plate was safely removed from the spot it fell onto.

“Ahem, if I may be a bit a bug to you two, I helped out with the kitchen a bit and even started setting up the table for dinner tonight. Just thought I make sure you two have a big huge ‘super’ brawl here and potentially hurting yourselves” Mary says with a soft, motherly smile on her face with tweet of snarky sass in her speech.

Both Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at both her and each other with a sense of realization, they can be such idiots with trying to get their chores done, spending their time at each other’s hair instead of fixing the problem.

So after about half a minute of silence, Beast Boy speaks up,

“Eh, sorry man I lashed out like that.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Bros?” Beast Boy raises his hand making a fist for Cyborg to bump.

“Bros.” Cyborg says as he bumps in his own fist into Beast Boy’s.

Mary nods her head in assurance. These two clearly had a strong connection with each other and they clearly had done so much together over the years it was utterly admirable on all levels. These two remind Mary of her husband John and his friendship with their manager Mr. Haley, the way those sometimes can get into shenanigans with each other over the next performance or just hanging out with the rest of circus crew.

After settling that little shouting match, Mary proceeds onward to the rooftops of the Tower, hoping to get a good view of the city her son with his friends protected with dignity and prestige. Such a city it turned out to be though, the bright lights, the calm ocean breeze and the soft crashing of the waves below helped provide an atmosphere of calm and relaxation Mary hadn’t felt since her youthful days in which her family would take the annual road trip to the Black Sea coast in the Ukraine. It was days like that, walking through the beaches with her mother, her father, and eventually the man who became her husband that really speak dearly to Mary. Those were her family and now with that life long gone into the past, she now wonders not really if she can make a new life likes those memories but rather how she can.

Dangling her legs on the edge of the Tower’s rooftops and taking out a small mirror in her sweatpants’ pocket, she looks at the light grey skin color her body now takes in. In a way, this colors means to taunt her very existence as it not only screams ‘you’re technically an undead person not unlike zombies that your husband and his friends can enjoying watching on Halloween night, now you’re a woman who done unspeakable torture to little kids just because your ‘Masters’ didn’t like them talking crap about their cities.’ With that very long bit of depressing news in her mind, Mary spitefully closes her mirror.

“So, you’re enjoying the view out here?” Raven asks as she joins alongside Mary at her right side, her legs crossed and floating from the ground very slightly.

“I do very much” Mary replies before having a more downcast look on her face “but I know for a fact it’ll only be a matter of time before this city and all the people in it will suffer all because of me remember who I am.”

Raven peeks over to see Mary’s distress, “Mrs. Grayson, if anything does happen here, it won’t be your fault. Not now and not ever.”

“What makes you say something like that?” Mary asks with now a bit of questioning going into it. Raven always seems on the more interesting buts of the Titans Mary can see. Her usual gloomy and anti social behavior is as apparent as a tiger hunting for his own prey away from any sort of his own kind. Yet, for some reason, raven has had plenty of hope in her friends, always being around to provide them heavy support on their various missions and usually being the one to knock out an opponent of it wasn’t her son.

Raven pauses a brief ten seconds before gathering her thoughts and explaining herself, “Knowing all the terrible things my Father had me do shortly after my birthday and the prophecy surrounding it, I felt like I was going to hurt my friends, the only people who truly understood besides my own mother. I felt legitimately creepy instead of just different. For that month in my life, I was practically a monster.” She raises her head as the full moon begins shinning on the two “But your son, Robin and my best friend Star, they never gave up on me. Neither did Beast Boy or Cyborg. I would’ve had a fun bet if she were back to normal; Terra would’ve tried to help to. Why’s that? Because I’ve proven to them time and time again. I wasn’t a monster. I wasn’t even creepy or different to them. I was their friend and I choose what I did not for my…asshole of a father, but to protect my friends. They saved me with the entire universe and I’m forever grateful for what they gave me in light of all that.”

“What’ll that be?” Mary asks.

“A second chance to make it all up by my actions” Raven replies with a soft smile as she turns to Mary, who now see each other in clear view “I’m sure if the girl who brought about the End of the world itself can get a second at being a good person by Robin, whim I remind you by the way is your son, I’m sure he can let you get that chance too.”

A few hours later, Mary finds herself in bed within the ‘spare bedroom’ that was within the Tower’s newly built Special Lockdown Zone, meant for prisoners that can’t be transferred to high security just yet or most likely for allies that potentially lose control over their actions. She definitely fits into the latter category since by now the bulk of the Titans have seen her composure and motherly nature across the Tower since they took her in. As she was cracking her toes with her hands on bed, Mary had thought of Raven’s words that she was given during their conservation on the rooftop. The thought of her son giving second chances for anything isn’t all that new. When he was younger, the Grayson caught a rat trying to eat their cereal within the family trailer. Rather than calling for it being finished off by John, Richard wanted to instead release it back into the wild far away from human contact where it won’t be pest jus for surviving. So, John takes the captured rat out to the field and does so. The rat never came to the circus grounds ever again, mostly likely living a peaceful life out in the wild. This compassion was always present for Richard from what she can remember and it was showing right now with the way not only they kept her in the Tower under their watchful eye, but the fact her room was on almost exact replica of her old bedroom back at the circus, right down the placement of the Flying Graysons poster hanging over her pillows.

By now the Titans had gone off to bed and it was her turn to do so. With that, Mary shut off the lamp right on her dresser, lays down her head on the pillows and, not even bothering with the blankets provided for her, shuts her eyes.

Unfortunately, her mind was not so kind for her tonight.

As soon as her breathing evened out, Mary began whimpering. Soft whispers of ‘I didn’t mean to’ in Romani poured out of her mouth. Sweat starts pouring down as those whispers started getting slightly louder. Mary then begins tossing back and forth, grabbing tightly to her arms and scrunching her bare toes tightly on the blankets towards the end of the mattress. Finally, Mary starts biting into her pillow rather angrily yet sorrowfully as tears began rolling down her face intensely.

I didn’t mean to! I tried my best to save you! I’m sorry, Little Robin! I’m so sorry…The inner voice Mary cries with anguish and absolute pain at the sight she sees: mounts of bloody bones, organs and all impaled with knives, her knives. These children, their parents, innocent people and numerous others she can’t even fathom, all are gather at her bare feet and slowly getting bigger and bigger until they start losing stability…they start falling unto her…

“Mom?  Mom?!”

With those words spoken, Mary’s eyes snapped open and they dart across her room until settling on a certain black haired, blue eyed young man with said blue eyes looking in worry.

“R-(sob) Richard?”

“Y-Yeah, Mom it’s me. I saw you on the cameras having a nightmare. Are you okay?”

Not even bothering with an answer, Mary grabs her son and pulls him onto her chest while she buries her face onto his shoulder, sobbing her eyes out. Richard can do nothing else but wrap his own arms around his mother and gently rub her back in an effort to calm her.

‘Robin?” a soft female voice says as Robin looks up. On the door to this room was Starfire, dressed in her pink and purple PJs and fuzzy slippers for her own bare feet since said feet are volatile in their ticklishness to anything. Robin, clad in a blue T shirt with black sweatpants and nothing coating his own bare feet, nods in Star’s direction saying

“My Mom just had a nightmare; it’s not too bad but if you like…”

Before Robin can finish that sentence, Starfire goes up to the two Graysons and wraps her arms on Mary’s back, joining her boyfriend effort at calming down her Earth In law.

Eventually their efforts pay off as Mary’s sobs began to calm  and she’s finally able to look at her son and his alien friend with read veined albeit golden eyes.

“S-sorry for that, it was just…very bad and I might’ve overreacted without knowing about it” Mary says as she begins to get her composure slowly back, tuning to her son she says “Mama’s okay right now Little Robin, she can handle the rest of the night.” Mary finished with a tearful soft smile trying to reassure her son.

Richard, of course, doesn’t take this sort of attitude so easily. Rather than going, her allows himself being let go from Mary’s arms but still sits cross legged on her bed.

“Mom, whatever you went through was physically hurting you badly. If this is what you can go through when you’re trying to get some shut eye, you need to someone to talk to about it.”

“Agreed friend” Starfire chirps in “Though friendships and bonds outside of family are rare on my home world, it is quite common for mothers and their warrior children to discuss of night terrors that would’ve plagued them. Robin and I shall wish to aid you of this burden Madam Grayson.”

“Are you sure? Because I think I can take it...” Mary tries pitifully to counter with tears (both regular and bloody) still leaking.

Starfire couldn’t help but slightly giggle ‘Nonsense my friend.”  

The two had a firm but soft smirks on their faces that say ‘You can trust us; we’ve been literal Hell and Back’ and also remembering Raven’s words in which reassure that trust, Mary breathes out

“Alright then, it’ll quite a long story, probably enough that you two will fall asleep before I finish it all the way…” Mary says, not evening finishing before Starfire leaves the two with her slippers next to the bed.

“She’s just getting the spare futons we use whenever we crash in another’s room” Robin says with a toothy grin on his face.

Mary, probably for the first time in a while, chuckles at that statement “Well, lady friends typically tend to do that.”

“Mom?” Robin asks.

“Yes, Richard?”

“Was your dream about…all the stuff you did…while under their control?”

“Well…yes. It—it was horrible.”

“What did you see?”

“Mountains and piles of …bones…children, women, any kind…just their bones piled at my feet and getting bigger. I did all of that. All I wanted was to make sure you didn’t do any of it. But all those lives…I thought you were never going to forgive me for…”

Mary was cut off at that moment for Richard proceeds to wrap his arms around her to prevent another breakdown.

“I get what you’re feeling Mom. I’ve done one or two things I regret that were meant to protect my teacher and my friends. I honestly thought they won’t forgive me for it, but while it took quite a bit…they did, not the ‘took quite a bit’ for my teacher. You gave up everything for me and made I was found by the right hands but you don’t need to punish yourself for it. I’m happy that…I have a mom and two dads in my life. I don’t ever replace you or devalue you just because of what you did.”

“What are you saying, Little Robin?”

“You’re my mama. I forgive you even though we do this to you. Just want to let you know no matter how many bad things you did, you did it for me and I appreciate it, just like what you did for me…before the ‘accident’.”

“So...can you help me? Maybe get a new name or something when I go out soon?” Mary asks with a sad look of curiosity.

Richard look at her with a soft smile “Well yeah, mama. Sure the whole world’s heard of aliens, demonic abominations, super criminals and guys wearing red and blue strongman uniforms  flying around with an S on his chest, but I don’t necessarily think living undead circus acrobats is quite up there yet.”

Mary once again found herself chuckling at her son’s wisecracks

“Well, that’s definitely your father speaking right there.”

“Which dad are we talking about, the acrobat or the Bat?”

More chuckling between the two ensure just as Starfire reenters the rooms, on her shoulders being big pillows, blankets and futons ready for the two of them.

Shortly afterward, all three began settling down for the night, Starfire taking the futon on the floor while Robin, while tempted at first for the second, just straight out fell asleep on his mother’s side with his stuffed elephant Peanut in his arms. Mary looks at the two with much softness and happiness. These two were inseparable and  even if on different beds, they were sticking together  almost every night an everywhere they go, much like how John and her were before Richard’s birth.

So starting tomorrow, they would begin finding the Romani tribe the Lloyds descended from and Mary will become said tribe’s personal bodyguard under a new name. All that was needed was a new ID, a new name, basically all that legal mumbo jumbo that both Cyborg and this so called ‘Batman’ can work on. For now though, with her Little Robin in her arms and sleepiness once again taking a firm grip on her, Mary Lloyd Grayson begins shutting her eyes and slowing down her breathing…

…maybe Devin Grayson can work? Nah, too obvious….

Took me quite a while to finish it but I hope this satisfies your appetite for stories sadly neither of the Big Two are willing to take  instead going for either Bat-worship or ‘Buy our next event comic where heroes will lose or fight each other instead of the bad guys, now every two months.” 

Dedicated to @lightdusk, @nightglider124, @fireflyxrebel, @kryallaorchid and so many others. 

[ekourege]

Original Version of rewrite

Kakashi's an Enabler, Alternatively titled; Why Does Naruto Keep Giving Him All These Damn Plants; or, it's Kakashi's Birthday

Rated T for profanity

No pairings, only fluff and friendship.

Summary: “Naruto and his penchant for plants coincide with his stealth skills, and Kakashi ends up saddled with more greenery than he can really handle. (Slight AU, small amounts of angst. One-shot.)”

Rewrite is here

Slight AU here, there's some reference to Kakashi actually training Team Seven, and that's pretty much completely out of character for him. (or maybe it's exactly in character?)

It started right after Kakashi had barely passed Team Seven.

He went about his usual routine; get up, feed his ninken, check his ninja supplies, and go to the memorial stone and reminisce. It made him late for his team meeting, but didn't that just make it more fun for him? Genin team or no, he had a routine, and he would stick by it. Besides, no one would call him out if he showed up a little later than usual.

It really was a nice day out. Maybe he could stroll to the bridge instead of taking the rooftops?

It was 10:30 AM when the copy-nin strolled into the designated meeting place of Team Seven. Kakashi pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise novel and jumped into a tree to observe his genin bicker and prickle with irritation with his untimely manner. Kakashi had expected to hear complaints about his chronic lateness, or Naruto fighting with Sasuke and talking about his 'awesomeness' while Sakura insulted the blonde, and fawned over Sasuke, who ignored her in turn. Really, just how had he passed this team again?

This was not to be, it seemed.

Sakura and Sasuke had called a temporary truce and had huddled close to each other for support. While Naruto emphatically badgered them about their interests, hobbies, and any other essential information he could think of. From what the gray-haired man could tell, he'd been bothering them for a while now, going by the way Sasuke was looking practically homicidal, which only happened if you managed to annoy him long enough, while Sakura's hand was twitching constantly, which meant that railing Naruto wasn't working.

It was when Naruto started shaking Sasuke's shoulders, obviously irritated that no one was answering his questions, and Sasuke started to make the hand signs for a Katon Jutsu, Kakashi interfered. Appearing with a plume of smoke, book in hand, Kakashi called out a gleeful, "Yo!"

At first, it seemed to work, Naruto backed away and the murderous irritation on Sasuke's face lessened while Sakura looked somewhat relieved, calling out a fairly tame, "You're late!" in reprimand. Naruto did too, in purely Naruto-esque fashion, which included jumping up and down and punching the air. Honestly, manipulating them was way too easy, he'd have to fix that somehow. He'd rather not see his cute genin die because some other ninja took advantage of their vulnerability.

However, immediately after that, Naruto did a complete 180 and invaded his personal space for information; shouldn't it have been apparent on the first day that he wasn't going to reveal anything about himself?

"Sensei! Sensei! What's your favorite food? Least favorite? D'ya have any pets, besides your ninken... do ninken even count as pets? If so, what're their names? Favorite color? You never actually told us anything about yourself besides your name, so! Is your hair dyed or did you go grey early? Sensei, c'mon! I want to know, 'ttebayo!"

Kakashi felt the urge to switch places with Sakura using a kawarimi, but only raised his hands in defense of his personal bubble before waving off the questions with a well placed, "Maa, yes, I do, but we should really get to today's lesson, don't you think?"

Naruto frowned, brows furrowing, "But Sensei! We're a team! We have to know these things about each other!"

Kakashi just hummed and turned away, "Do we?"

"Yes!" Naruto hollered, pointing at him defiantly.

Kakashi rubbed his mask covered chin, appearing to think about it for a second, "Hmm, well, let's get to today's lesson, shall we? Sasuke, Sakura, head over to the stumps, there's a Katon Jutsu I'd like you both to attempt today. Naruto, gather some leaves, we need to work on your chakra control…"

And that was that.

(If only he'd turned around and seen his blonde genin's eyes glint before following the rest of Team Seven with a pout.)

There was something they'd forgotten about Naruto: his sheer stubbornness. When Naruto set his eyes on something, he bulldozed anything that got in his way; no matter how impossible it may seem, or how high the odds were stacked against him until the knucklehead achieved whatever he was after, he wouldn't stop. Naruto with a goal was an inescapable force of nature.

Kakashi honestly hadn't thought of Naruto's information gathering attempt for months, after that initial time it was never brought up again, so they'd all quickly put it out of their minds. Therefore, it was one hell of a shock when Naruto started spouting off private information on his teammates. He even had information on Kakashi himself! Though the strangest thing was, Naruto wasn't even bragging or talking about himself, he wasn't giving away how he got this knowledge at all. He was just casually revealing classified information.

Oh, god. How'd the brat get his hands on his old mission reports? Sakura whacked Naruto on the head with the broom she was using to sweep an elderly couple's porch when he told everyone their Zodiacs. Kakashi himself is apparently a Leo.

He felt a great amount of satisfaction at the lump that formed on Naruto's head, chuckling before burying his nose in his new copy of Icha Icha: Make Out. (His old copy had gotten burnt up by a stray fireball from Sasuke during a spar with Naruto. Kakashi had spared him no mercy for that, the proceeding spar was brutal for him: hell hath no fury like a porn book burned.)

It was supposed to have been a normal D-rank, they were supposed to hear whining and frustrated yelling from Naruto, not have their life's stories revealed! It was really starting to freak Kakashi out just how much dirt Naruto suddenly seemed to have on him.

Kakashi was internally freaking out about all the irresponsible things Naruto could possibly do with all the embarrassing missions and information on him. Naruto had a mischievous streak a mile wide, and Kakashi shivered at the thought of what Naruto could do at his (and Sasuke's) expense.

It was only when Naruto started speaking about his past, about Team Minato and Kannabi Bridge, he thought it time to step in. (and quickly, he doesn't like even mentioning Kannabi bridge. Too many memories.)

"And then Sensei's Teammate - Obito Uchiha -"

Kakashi inhaled, stiffening imperceptibly and interrupting with a sharp, "Naruto."

Naruto startled, sending Kakashi an annoyed glare over his shoulder, while Sakura and Sasuke sent each other a look and subtly tried to vacate the premises. Sakura didn't stand too close to Sasuke though, he knew too many embarrassing things about her and she needed time to recover from her mortification before she tried to pursue her beloved again. Naruto cocked his head to the side and stared at his sensei while he tried to continue weeding the garden, "Yes, Sensei? I'm trying to tell Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme about your past, it's need-to-know info!"

Kakashi twitched, leaning over Naruto and releasing a bit of killing intent, "Where did you learn this information?"

Naruto averted his eyes and started sweating. "Uh.."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "Did the Hokage tell you?" (If so, Kakashi and Tsunade would have words, Hokage or no.)

Naruto's face twisted with bewilderment, looking at his sensei as if he was stupid, "Of course not! The Hokage can't reveal one of their citizen's personal information without consent!"

"Then why do you know these things?" the copy-nin accused, hands on his hips.

Naruto cringed, hesitating before answering with a tense, "I, uh, read your files."

Kakashi's eyes widened, and so did his other two genin's, who quickly snapped to attention at the admission. "Y-you, what?"

(He couldn't've, he couldn't, he wears bright orange and won't ever shut up, that's got to be a lie. It can't be true.)

Naruto sat fully onto the ground next to the partially weeded garden, looking wearily at his team, "We're a team, we need to know these things about each other! What if we accidentally said something that hurt one another but we didn't know because we didn't know like, anything about each other! We're like strangers! So, I made it my mission to stop that from happening, you're welcome, dattebayo!" Naruto broke off with a mumble that sounded like, "Besides, it's not like it's hard to get that sort of stuff anyway."

The (mostly) sane members of Team Seven just stared, slightly dazed, as they tried to picture a ninja in neon orange breaking into the archive under the Hokage Tower, before calling out in varying degrees of disbelief, "No, you?!"

"That's got to be a lie, idiot."

"Naruto, that's not a very funny joke."

Naruto bristled, huffing and crossing his arms, "Well, you guys weren't telling me anything and I needed to find out somehow! So, I broke into the archive and read your files, simple! It's not like it's a big deal or anything, everyone can do it!" Naruto took the time to glare at each member, clearly affronted by the fact they were dubious of his claim.

Kakashi snapped out of his stupor just as Naruto got tired of the awkward silence and turned back to his work of weeding the garden. He then scooped him up by the collar, ignoring Naruto's protests, and the handful of weeds that were chucked as his jounin vest, and marched him to the Hokage Tower. Mentally noting to talk to the Hokage about the obvious holes in security around the tower.

As his other two (thankfully obedient) genin followed behind him, Naruto's indignant complaints to Kakashi turned more and more nervous and hesitant, "Oi, Sensei! Sensei put me down!"

"...You're not gonna snitch are you?" (Oh, yes, he certainly was going to 'snitch'. The little devil deserved it, anyway.)

"...Sensei?"

"You're can't stop him, you know." Tsunade grunted, resigned.

Kakashi's mouth opened in shock, "B-but Tsunade-hime, you're the Hokage! Your word is the law!"

They were in the Hokage's office, Kakashi having dragged a pleading (for mercy) Naruto by the collar of his jumpsuit in, along with a faintly amused Sakura and Sasuke.

Naruto was seated in a chair in front of Tsunade's desk, sulking. The slouch and defiant look in Naruto's face turned immensely smug when he heard the Hokage's mournful response, sending Kakashi a smirk.

"Supposedly. The brat-" Naruto, the aforementioned genin, bristled and called Tsunade an old hag; and was sent crashing through the wall without the Hokage even sending a glance his way. Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto, smirking beneath his mask. 'Serves the brat right.' "-gets into everything, chunin, jounin, ANBU, you name it. He can get into every important location in Konoha. If we close off one hole in our security, he'll find another way in. He's our security team's worst nightmare, and our intelligence division's wet dream.

Try all you want to get him to stop, Hatake. It will do nothing. I know, I've tried, even threatened to take him off active duty for a month when he burst into my office yelling about my heritage. Instead, he turned around and blackmailed me! I swear he knows everyone's secrets. There really is no escape." Tsunade finished, cutting herself off before she could rant any further, before sending a glare to the hole in the wall that Naruto was hauling himself out of, brushing rubble off his orange clothing.

Kakashi was stunned. Naruto, an ill-prepared genin who couldn't even do a bunshin, being able to successfully infiltrate the most heavily guarded buildings in Konoha, escape, and blackmail the fucking Hokage into letting him get away with it. It just wouldn't compute.

'God help Konoha.'

Naruto broke into arrogant, boisterous laughter. "Of course! I'm The Prankster King, dattebayo! To be that awesome ya have to know your pranking area inside out!" Naruto crowed, standing up and puffing his chest out.

"I can't believe Sensei put up with this…" Tsunade muttered, rifling through her desk drawers for some alcohol.

Naruto gestured flippantly to the painting of the Third on the wall, "Oh, Jiji and I made it a game! It was sort of like hide and seek, but more fun! I would hide somewhere and do a prank if he didn't find me in time, and if he caught me I had to help him with paperwork… he cheated using that crystal ball of his, though..."

Tsunade just put her head in her hands.

When Kakashi had awoken on September the fifteenth, he had gone about his regular routine. He got up, showered, put on his mask(s) and jounin vest, fed his ninken, made himself some coffee, and finally tied his hitai-ate over his left eye before heading for the Memorial Stone.

It was only when he got there that he remembered the significance of the date. It was his birthday.

'Oh, joy. If Gai finds out, he'll never leave me alone.'

Kakashi actually managed to get so paranoid about green spandex wearing men appearing out of nowhere, screaming about youth and doing a frankly alarming amount of pushups, that he cut his time at the Memorial Stone short, deciding to change up his routine in staving off the inevitable. Thinking a moment, and then heading towards that dango place Anko likes, he discreetly cast a henge on himself, making himself appear less noticeable. 'Sorry Sensei, Obito. It's Gai, you have to understand.'

The jounin, unfortunately, got a bit carried away with hiding from Gai, and when he next checked the clock, it was 1:30 PM; and he was about six hours late to his team meeting. Kakashi faltered from where he was munching on his fourth stick of dango, nearly choking on the dango he was taking a bite out of. This was actually a new record of unintentional tardiness, and the gray-haired man had to take a moment and be faintly impressed with himself. Before his genin hunt him down and slaughter him, he thought maybe he should probably get to his team meeting. Placing money for the dango on the counter, Kakashi high-tailed it for the bridge.

Kakashi appeared in front of an extremely annoyed Team Seven, who seemed to be plotting his murder? Ah, he'd probably left at a good time then. Kakashi nervously gave his complex excuse for the morning, shivering slightly when Sakura cracked her knuckles, Sasuke's eyes flared, and Naruto's eyes turned icy and calculating. Kakashi was screwed. Anyone and everyone who knew of Naruto's pranking days knew that Naruto only made that face when he was planning a revenge prank in the most humiliating way possible. He weathered the usual reprimands, Sasuke having joined in with particularly prickly comments directed towards his Precious Sensei. Ouch.

The jounin-ensei eye smiled at his genin and was about to make a witty comeback, but instead was met with a plant with the name "Mr. Ukki" scrawled messily across the rim of its pot shoved in his face, along with a cry of "Happy birthday Sensei!" from Naruto.

Kakashi blinked, then sighed exasperatedly and accepted the potted plant that was forced into his hands. He'd gotten used to Naruto's sneakiness and surprising aptitude for infiltration and stealth months ago, it didn't surprise him at all that Naruto knew his birthdate. Naruto hadn't really stopped at their files, which all seemed to fall into his hands somehow. He went above and beyond and searched for more things about them, and even started compiling information on his peers. Kakashi had no doubt in his mind that he'd probably read a lot of the higher ninja's psych evals, too.

As Kakashi adjusted the plant carefully, making sure not to squish or tear any of the leaves, Naruto stepped back and pursed his lips, fiddling with his hands before looking up, posture turning oddly small. There was an anxious look in his eyes, his body language showing restlessness and trepidation as he asked, "Do... do ya like it? It's called the "Cast-Iron" plant because It's a such a low maintenance plant, and since we're ninja and all... you'll probably forget to water it or give it proper sunlight sometimes because we'll be busy with ninja stuff. You need to keep the soil a bit wet, but it can stand a bit of neglect. Um, I thought maybe you'd like it, 'ttebayo."

Kakashi was tempted to pull out Icha Icha and ignore this display of vulnerability, but instead reached out and ruffled Naruto's messy hair, murmuring his thanks and eye smiling down at him. The tips of Naruto's ears turned red, and he spluttered, rubbing his neck. Sakura and Sasuke both held out their gifts for him, Sasuke looking reluctantly pleased with the surprised look in his eye. 'Maa… maybe I can go a little easier on them today.'

He accepted the gifts, tucking the wrapped packages into his vest for later, and called them to attention, starting that day's lesson.

When they stopped for a late lunch, (and took him to Ichiraku's, figures. The old ramen chef supplied them all with little party hats that wouldn't fit on his head due to his very spiky hair. Cute idea, but a bit degrading.) Kakashi opened the gifts from his other two genin, while Mr. Ukki the Plant sat upon the counter, green leaves shining proudly as he thanked Sasuke and Sakura. Directing them back to the training ground while Naruto footed the bill.

There was a warm feeling in his chest as he walked home; a plant, romance novel, ('Without porn!' Sakura had hastily told him before he could question how she managed to get her hands on it. He was a bit put off about it, but was appreciative nonetheless.) and a new package of masks cradled against his chest.

"My Eternal Rival!"

It had been such a good day, too.

Kakashi had settled Mr. Ukki on the window sill of his small apartment, watering it and taking as good care of it as he could.

So when Naruto, despite being away on that training trip with Jiraiya, sent him two plants for his birthday that next year, which arrived at his doorstep via Ninja Courrier while he was going through his regular routine, he cracked a little smile. He figured that the reason Naruto left two plants for him was because Sasuke was gone, and therefore couldn't send him one.

He still feels the little sting of betrayal when he thinks of Sasuke.

He places one plant, a Parlor Palm, onto his desk, while the other goes onto his bookshelf, which is an arrowhead vine, according to the label. He picks up the envelope that came along with it, and when he opens it up, two books fall out. One is a plant care manual, which is useful, while the other is… an Icha Icha book. A brand new Icha Icha book, if he's correct (which he is) and lets out a very un-shinobi-like noise when he opens it with glee, only to find that Jiraiya signed it! 'The brat's really outdone himself this year.' Kakashi mused fondly.

He can see from the corner of his eye that his ninken are looking at him and his book with contempt, but Kakashi's too immersed in his new copy of Icha Icha to really pay them any mind.

(He's a bit disappointed when the day idly ticks away without Sakura ever sending him anything, but that's okay. He has his ninken, he has his plants, - Kakashi's starting to think he understands why Naruto likes them so much -, and his Icha Icha. He's content, he's not lonely.)

The next couple years are much the same, the jounin receives a few new books on plant care, some plant supplies which are tucked away into a drawer, several new plants; even one made to hang from the ceiling, and the manuscript for the latest Icha Icha novel. Kakashi's starting to look forward to his birthdays, just a little. Even if Sakura's hasn't been to visit him a little over six months, and Sasuke's defection makes his heart ache a little, makes him a little more bitter, he's not lonely. He's got his plants (He understands, now. He does.), he's got Naruto's letters, Gai's challenges, and his ninken.

All in all, things are looking up. Right?

"Kakashi, I think you have a fucking problem." groans Raidou, who started to gripe at him as he was in the middle of regaling his plant excursions. Naruto had sent him some stalks of bamboo a couple weeks ago, along with some sunflower seeds.

Kakashi just looked at him blandly, "Hmm… what makes you think that?"

This time it's Asuma that chimes in, "It's all you ever talk about anymore, Kakashi. I don't know why one of your brats thought to get you a plant was a good idea, honestly."

Kakashi gains an air of mock-offense, before gazing at them all with hurt, muttering about "abuse" and "sacrilege".

When Naruto comes back for his training trip, he greets the village with a dazzling smile and a loud declaration. When he greets Kakashi, he hands him a Canterbury Bell, smiles at him, and waves goodbye, saying something about meeting "Iruka-sensei" for ramen.

Sending a short wave back, he reenters his apartment building, pulls a mug out from a cabinet in his cramped kitchenette, fills it with water, and puts the flower bundle in it.

The gray-haired jounin picks one out of the bouquet, and tucks it into his pocket, before pulling out one of his books and heading to the jounin station to relax and brag about his new gift.

He is pleased when he walks in and finds them all suitably exasperated at the little bell-shaped flower sticking out of his vest pouch.

(He'll find out later while drunk with Gai and the other jounin that those flowers mean "gratitude". Gai will beam at him, and Kakashi will drunkenly mumble about his new favorite student.)

Even after all the time that has passed, Naruto still sends him plants and flowers for his birthdays and other special occasions. He's had to move, as he ran out of space to keep all his plants and worried about killing his precious students gifts, (He felt so sad after he accidentally killed Mr. Ukki three years ago. Naruto told him that it was alright, of course, But Kakashi is determined to not have it happen again.) so he moved to a much bigger apartment, where he keeps his plant care manuals, Icha Icha books, and the romance novel Sakura gave him so long ago on a shelf. When asked about why the silver-haired nin moved after being seemingly content in his tiny apartment for so long, Kakashi would shrug and make a comment about a lack of space and the age of the place before whipping out his book and shoving his face into it.

From time to time he'll take a look at Team Sevens team photo and the small romance novel on the shelf, and with a twinge of bittersweet fondness, grin.

All's right with the world, to Kakashi. He's still got his ninken, Gai and his challenges, the other jounin, his students, Icha Icha, and his plants.

That's good enough for him.

Uh,,, this kind of went off the rails! This was about Kakashi and Mr. Ukki originally, but I guess the word flow for each scene about the original concept just kind of stopped, oops.

I'm so sorry, this is really bad, but I hope you at least enjoyed it.

[blue-scorpion-king]

Earl & Dorothy’s sudden Shuumatsu-verse venture

(Some spoilers for Shuumatsu No Valkyria is in this post, so beware of that.)

Earl, and Dorothy, would gone through an dimensional portal made by Brunhilde, on an summer Saturday, on an day off of work for Earl, with the help of Buddha Gautama & an secret traitor among the gods, which turns out to be Hermes much later, seeking an mortal on humanity's outside of planet Earth, to other universes, and encountered Earl after several attempts and her being disappointed on how she find, and to be the surprise when he finally gets his chance to fight an god in this tournament. Sure, *his* planet wouldn't be destroyed, but he can't let these gods in this particular universe destroy Earth just because they were shitty enough to not be more involved in making sure that an big portion of humans wouldn't be THAT bad, angering the gods of the Record of Ragnarok universe (Or the Shuumatsu-verse/Universe 72), but not all humans. Though, it was strange at first for Earl to be in another universe, seeing gods like Zeus, Ares, Loki, Odin, & others acting so haughty, along with that the tournament would include one more god to match up with the 14 champions of humanity, including an human looking alien from another universe, who turns out to be the mortal Olympian son of Hades & Persephone in the universe he is from, and an very minor deity, according to the hierarchy of the Greek pantheon, as the gods and humanity have been told, against 14 divine beings. And to Brunhilde's surprise, Earl wouldn't need one of her sisters, who have the ability to change shape into an divine weapon, or some shape, called Volund, but Dorothy would need an Volund-shaped core layer, from Hlokk (Even after having to be Jack The Ripper's Volund in the fourth round against Heracles), nor that Earl would want to other people as weapons to fight his fight with Horus, the Egyptian God of Kingship, The Sky, and such, of the Shuumatsu verse. And that if humanity wins all 14 match ups, Earth gets to live on, and the opposite happens if the gods win the Ragnarok tournament.

-But, before his fight, with an magic stone inside his body, making his under the skin mortal Olympian tribal line marks glow, along with having his 'corpse paint' face paint on, along with having his Zolubu armor on, Earl did have to fight off three ambushing deities, under an secret order of Zeus, Odin, & Shiva, to 'test' out the alien warrior form another universe, who has an similar aura to the gods, creating an huge amount of suspicion, even with the shouting of 'out of bounds'. But, Earl was calm and composed, as suddenly, Earl's 'alien' combat prowess is shown to humanity and gods, to their shock, as he dodges, blocks, and eventually, hit really, really hard. Much harder than the other champions of humanity (Which most of humanity's champions are at Wall level, while Lu Bu is at City level, and the first ever human being, Adam, is at Planet level, without Volund, like all of the major gods), to fard off this ambush- Earl VS Ganesha, Hindu God of Success, Wisdom, & New Beginnings (Hindu/With an power to make Sanskrit character letters into 3D, that have different effects to the environment, and even form them into shapes, like an charging elephant, similar to Koichi's Stand, Echoes, from JoJo Part 4) -> Niko, Olympian Goddess of Victory (Greek/Speed power & friction manipulation) & Skadi, Jotunn giant goddess of bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains (Norse/Ice & snow manipulation, earth manipulation, & speed powers). [Similar to Goku VS Recoome -> Goku VS Jeice & Burter in Dragon Ball Z's Namek Saga]

Round 7 of this detour venture turned tournament arc, the Ragnarok Tournament of the Shuumatsu-verse, after Buddha VS Bishamonten & the six other Chinese/Japanese Lucky Gods turned Zerofuku: Earl Zolubu VS Horus, the Egyptian God of Kingship, The Sky, Warfare, & Protection. An fight of weapons, hand to hand, abilities, and even fighting with transformations, but with Earl not going to his Ultra Mortal forms [Large Building -> City Block base tier level, with to without his ring weights on, along with his three form sets VS Planet tier level] (Theme of the fight: Arrogance VS Humbleness + How an king is like to the people he cares about and knows)

Shuumetsu!Horus's abilites/weapons: D'Khopesh, an wind emitting sickle-like one handed sword, and Sky Ripper, an mini-storm brewing round shield, with the Eye of Horus on it. Embedding his muscles and skin with godly hurricane force winds, along with hurricane wind breath and flight without any wings (Similar to Zaheer, the main villain of Legend of Korra: Book 3). AND throwing feathers from body, embedded with concussive wind, that got at Mach 9. & having 7 different forms, besides his base form- 1] An much faster, but less durable & powerful younger form, looking like an pretty teenage Egyptian man, with an double falcon-motif Egyptian crown. 2] An slower, but more powerful older form, looking like his younger form, but in his 70's. 3] An organic winged sun disc with Horus' face on the front. 4] An leopard skin wearing mage-like humanoid form, where he is more focused on his godly storm winds, along with hand to hand & melee weapon wielding combat, looking like his younger & older forms, but looking to be in his 30's. 5] An 10 meter tall falcon form, with an double crown and an 20 meter wide wingspan. 6] An Hieracosphinx form, or an 18 meter long lion with an sun disk crowned falcon form, but with no wings. & 7] An literal hurricane form, shaped like an falcon (Similar to the thunderstorm 'rhinoceros' from James & The Giant Peach).

-And Earl using 9 aura finishers, 7 of his 34 secret MMA techniques, & 1 secret Dark Hadou technique, against Horus to wore him down in 5 moments in their fight (Along with bringing the Axe & Thunder Dials to his black utility belt): Sun Storm Sonic Boom (One of the seven Sun Claw Soul-Vaporizers against base form Horus) -> Blue Asura’s Killer Destruction Gale of Caution (One of the 34 secret Blue Asura MMA techniques) -> Billion Spiral Wolf Splash Force (One of the Big Chakra Streaks, against Hieracosphinx form Horus) -> An Knuckle Bomber and then, Sun Destroyer Tiger Vortex (Another of the Seven Sun Claw Soul-Vaporizers), against the 'eye' of literal godly hurricane form Horus -> Blue Asura’s Dead Condor Scream (Another of the 34 secret Blue Asura MMA techniques) -> Phoenix Owl (One of the 7 Murderous Chakra Destroyers, while in his Chakra Beast Owl form and tapped in his Dark Hadou, against giant falcon form Horus) to Sun Boom Badger Thunder (Another of the Sun Claw Soul-Vaporizers as an surprise attack when Earl turns back into his base form, supposedly blacking out from the strain of the fight and doing the previous finishers, doing that after a lot of attacks in his *sleep*, like an certain lightning breathing Demon Slayer, while Horus went to his younger form to minimize the damage he got from the previous attack) -> Blue Asura’s 18 Scorpius Star Pincer Twists (Yet another of the secret 34 Blue Asura MMA techniques) -> Slaya Moonfade (Another of the 7 Murderous Chakra Destroyers, while his Dark Hadou is tapped in once again, against Younger form Horus) -> Blue Asura’s 11 Dragon Boran Streaks (Another of the secret Blue Asura MMA techniques) -> Wave Ensemble of Quartet-dillion Stings (Another of the Seven Big Chakra Streaks, while in his Chakra Beast Scorpion form, against Hieracosphinx form Horus in an 2nd bout) -> Blue Asura’s Supreme Jupiter Thunder Eagle Imprint of Shame (Another of the secret 34 Blue Asura MMA techniques) -> Nebula Elysium Storm (Against leopard skin form Horus, along with his left eye getting stabbed with Earl's Grizzly Magnum Bowie knife, coated in his divine blade in order to harm him, and cave in his actual eye socket, on top of all of the damage he got in the fight so far, along with Earl) -> Blue Asura's Sonic Booming Ram Rush to Blue Asura’s Spiral Engraving Frog Circle [Bagua Zhang] (Two of the 34 secret techniques of Earl's MMA style, an mixture of styles, plus improvisation, against Old form Horus) -> Shun Goku Satsu/‘Raging Demon’ (The prime devastating secret technique of the Dark Hadou, but to truly batter his soul, not to destroy it, to Base form Horus).

[Music for the whole fight: Egyptian Warriors [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CkAl_WqGpE] -> Military Aggression [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3JItqYCH-k] -> Dogadon [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8al_6V-fZg] -> Water Breathing Middle Battle [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6YwbNqMBhQ] -> Ashes On The Fire x Beast Titan Theme [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpzOryPjN6c] -> Because Pretty Cure are invincible! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g83a9ThKpno] -> Zenitsu Theme (V2 by Samuel Kim) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8l2ZeOUZEA] -> The Unsubdued [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASjLo7CstY] -> Emil - Despair [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNE4WM-Si7g] -> Yuusou [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbWZByi7cRc] -> Unravel (Elan Vital cover) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKj2vGm3Ip0] -> Pretty Cure Suite Session Ensemble [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdTiQAEBetc] -> Bloodstained Philosophy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynk9TRv6QpA&t=63s] -> Burn Cosmos [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edVTfVmubY0] -> Vajra Asura VS Vajra Deus [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdZtzlhN99c] -> Combat [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaY1ihyBtbA] -> You're Mine [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ5gtInauiI]

Then, after that, Earl giving his respect to Horus's spirit and determination, along with personally walking over to the loved ones of the human champions that have fallen before this fight, Lu Bu, Adam, & Raiden Tamaeemon, along with giving respect to Thor, Hercules, & his loved ones, Kojiro Sasaki, & Shiva, giving his respect and condolences to them, even with his damaged body, even with one scared as fuck Horus after being beaten on an hellish level during the fight, Earl walks out of the stadium victorious and back to his room with Brunhilde.

Round 8: R. Dorothy Wayneright, the assistant android of Earl VS Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation, who has godly marble manipulation and generation power, along with giantess growth and an divine Greek war scythe in hand [Tier level: Planet level, like all of the other major important gods of Valhalla]. [Music for the fight: Cold Steel Coffin [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR3NNyixNew] -> Sure Promise [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8QAeJk3q94] -> March From Hades [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu1PfWgJBFw] -> Stand A Chance [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue1DTQTJxpM] -> Tide of Chaos [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYRXOyVCwDM] -> Deep Red [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uRUPEN8F9U] -> Heats [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHOPTVBFpgM] to Sure Promise Union Square [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfjRA7d7XH4]

With the winner ultimately being Dorothy, after she goes into her Big O Buster form and gives one whallop fest that Aphrodite would NEVER forget, being as traumatized as Horus after his defeat from Dorothy's master, Earl Zolubu.

(This is something that I just did for fun because why not? :)

~The Bat~

[blue-scorpion-king]

The Seven Sun Claw

//Another set of 7 finishers of Earl Zolubu and that’s it. :3

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Similar to the 7 Big Chakra Streaks, these finishers with sword, or any other melee weapon in hand, Earl has, called the Seven Sun Claw Soul-Vaporizers/'Sebun Taiyo Tsume Tamashi Johatsu-ki’ (In Japanese)/'Eptá Iliakoí Nychtoí Psekastíres’ (In Greek)/'Siete Vaporizadores del Alma de Garra Solar’ (In Spanish) exhausts Earl after one use, requires an starting stance, a lot of aura surging through, without his ring weights on, channeled through his 7 Chakras, with each of the 7 Beasts inside each of them, 7 pieces of his Id, that stands alongside his Ego and his Superego, and temporarily changes his aura and hair color until the finisher is over. Along with that, several tribal style markings appears all around Earl’s body, and face, forms, his fire curse on his scars flares up, his eyes turned into the black sclera form, being an mortal Olympian and all, veins bulging around his face and eye sockets. Though, Earl was taught the Seven Forms of Streaks melee weapon using style at age 8 by the mysterious 'Skull Knight’, Apollo, the Greek god of the 2 (Bagklock) Suns, the arts, music, and some other things, one of his cousins, finishes that out by teaching and making Earl try to perform these finishers, even without much aura nodes being opened at the time, time and time again, to abhold to certain words the legendary martial artists, and actor, Bruce Lee, once said: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

1] Sun Eater Wolf Burst/'Nikkoyoku Okami Wakiokoru’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking orange wolf behind Earl, he starts with an single hand low guard stance of Lykos, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where he would hold whatever weapon in his right hand, holding to his side, thumb on the length of the handle, and pointing and his feet apart at an shoulder width. Then, he would defend against attacks, if they happen, with precise movements during his lunge in an straight line and at Mach 22, or 16,880 mph, with an aura heated weapon, Earl goes for an deep and fast horizontally across the rib-cage of his opponent, down to the whole spine even, or both arms if they got in the away, down to the bone, with half of the blade of the weapon, if it has it, or half of the whole blunt weapon, which would smack the whole ribcage away from the body in an bloody heaping mess. Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Orange. Aura element of the finisher: Heat. 2] Sun Destroyer Tiger Vortex/'Taiyo Kuchiku-kan Tora Uzu’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking black, with white stripes, tiger behind Earl, he gets into an opening stance of Tigri, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where he holds his weapon above his head horizontally with his right hand and pointing to the side, with his body half-twisted and his left hand swept across and down. Then, at Mach 77, or 59,080 mph, he turns his body un-half-twists his body to spin it around 7 times to make an actual miniature hurricane/typhoon, with Earl inside the 'eye’ of it, which has aura tigers clawing at his opponent as they are lifted up into the aura-made storm, before it stops and fades as fast as it manifested. Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Black. Aura element of the finisher: Fire. 3] Sun Storm Sonic Boom/'Taiyo no Arashi Sonikkubumu’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking dark blue owl behind Earl, Zolubu gets into an opening stance of Glafx, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where Earl’s weapon is in an two-handed grip above the user’s head, the blade angled upward and behind the user, and the dominant leg, that being the right leg usually, was held back. Then, at Mach 55, or 42,200 mph, Earl slashes downward and then, horizontally from the right side, where after a little delay, with small explosions cracking the slashes on the opponent’s body, huge explosions suddenly bursts out from the back of the opponent, going outwards behind them until they stop at 5 miles, spreading to an 125 degree having area. Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Dark blue. Aura element of the finisher: Explosion. 4] Sun Smasher Sound Break/'Taiyo Funsai-ki Oto Kowasu’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking purple monkey behind Earl, he poses in an opening stance of Pithikos, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where his weapon is held from his body in his right hand, angled upwards and back, his left hand folded across his chest, and his feet are evenly spaced out. Then, with an wide horizontal swing, with his right hand over his left shoulder, at Mach 66, or 50,640 mph, the slash, and the sound of the sword, splits the torso by the sound waves, that spreads to splits the legs, arms, and then, the head into clean cut-by-sound-waves-alone pieces. Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Purple/violet. Aura element of the finisher: Sound. 5] Sun Crusher Three Horned Dragon Iron Ram/'Taiyo Assai-ki Sankaku Ryu Tetsu Osu-hitsuji’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking triceratops behind Earl, he gets into an opening stance of Triakerasi, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where he holds his weapon back in a one-handed grip, angled forwards with the blade arm held parallel, the other hand held up, and the dominant foot was positioned back. Then, with an lunge at Mach 33, or 25,320 mph, he quickly gives an jab to the right shoulder, than switches to the left, and lastly, to the abdomen, with the weapon all the way in, making aura that has been conjured into heated liquid iron hardens quickly after cooling off rapidly, before taking off half of an opponent’s head, where liquid iron hardens and cools off into an solid state at that spot too. Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Yellow. Aura element of the finisher: Iron. 6] Sun Venom Rippling Sting/'Hiyake Namiutsu’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking scorpion behind Earl, he goes into an opening stance of Skorpios, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where he holds his sword to the level of his chest, with double hands, at an slight angle, and facing at the side, either right or left. Then, Earl goes for the lunge front flip, roll, and an lunge again, with the added momentum, to vertically spin himself in an circle rapidly, at Mach 44, or 33,760 mph, at slash through an opponent, causing one aura ripple at first, and then, 44 more sharp aura ripples throughout the opponent’s body, cutting and bludgeoning at the same time Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Green. Aura element of the finisher: Ripple. & 7] Sun Boom Badger Thunder/'Taiyo Boto Tanuki Hekireki’ (In Japanese): With an aura image of an demonic-looking ratel/honey badger behind Earl, he starts with an double hand high holding stand of Asvos, one of the 7 parts of the Seven Forms of Streaks style, where he would hold his weapon up to his face, at an slight angle, with both hands on the handle. Then, at mach 88, or 67,520 mph, after an swift motion that makes an Z, Earl vertically swings down to cut, and electrocute, an opponent right in half. Aura/hair color when this finisher is being used: Red. Aura element of the finisher: Electricity.

+–Tier level of both this finisher set and the 7 Big Chakra Streaks: Island level.

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Hope you like them. :3

~The Bat~