Capítulo 19: Motivation.
Y'know, when creating "Arsene" I always had one thing in mind, "Goal" What would his goal be? Most edgy characters are like that because they're born because of circumstance. To put it simply, the edginess is a defense mechanism. Which is why, I kept thinking about Naruto's goal. And no, it's not being Hokage. Naruto wants to be Hokage so that people won't hate him, that's what his backstory explains.
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Arsene walked outside his house, the faint warmth of the afternoon sun casting long shadows on the ground. Metal Lee followed closely behind, his energy as high as ever despite the calm atmosphere. Arsene turned around, his arms casually folded as he stood on the small path outside his home. "Go ahead," Arsene said, his voice cool and indifferent. "I'll humor you."
But Metal Lee didn't throw a punch. In fact, he didn't move at all.
Instead, Metal's gaze shifted from Arsene to the ground, as if something deep within him had shifted. "I understand now," Metal said quietly, though there was a growing conviction in his voice. "I understand why you're so eccentric, why you keep to yourself..."
Arsene raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the sudden change in Metal's demeanor. This should be good, he thought, waiting for whatever conclusion Metal had drawn.
Metal clenched his fists, his eyes determined. "It's the loneliness of the strong, isn't it?" he said, his voice carrying a certain sadness. "Being as strong as you must be boring. There are no rivals to push you, no challenges that truly test you... Everything comes easy. You can't even enjoy the struggle of being weak, of overcoming your limits."
Arsene watched him silently for a moment. Ah, the common misunderstanding, he mused. This wasn't the first time someone had mistaken his solitude and strength for some tragic loneliness. It was almost a cliché at this point, but he found Metal Lee's genuine belief in his words somewhat endearing. He opened his mouth to correct him. "Actually—"
But Metal cut him off, his conviction growing stronger. "I understand! One day, I'll return, and we'll have a proper fight! A real one!" Metal declared, his eyes alight with purpose. "I'll train harder, push myself further, and when I do, I'll make you bring out your true strength!"
And with that, Metal Lee took off at full speed, disappearing down the path in a blur of green. Arsene stood there for a moment, watching the dust settle in the air. He blinked, processing the whirlwind of a conversation he had just had.
"...Well, that's convenient," Arsene muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Fighting Metal as he was now would've been satisfying enough, but the truth was, Metal was still a bit too weak. At least physically. Letting him train more before their next fight wasn't a bad idea. Plus, Arsene had other things to focus on right now.
Shrugging to himself, he walked back into the house, feeling oddly content. That takes care of that, I guess.
As he finished tidying up the kitchen, his mind wandered back to his experiment with waffles. While they were nice, they required more effort than he liked. Pancakes are simpler, easier to make. I'll stick with those, he thought, already dismissing the idea of waffles for the foreseeable future.
The Next Day – Chunin Exams Selection Process
The following day, Arsene found himself outside the Academy, sitting on a bench with his arms crossed, whistling absentmindedly. The air was thick with anticipation, and Arsene could feel the subtle tension in the atmosphere. He scanned the area, his sharp instincts picking up on the presence of several shinobi scattered throughout the vicinity—about twelve of them, all of varying skill levels.
None of them were Jonin. "What a shame..." Arsene muttered to himself. They're not the real threats. Today was the selection process for the Chunin Exams, where students would be writing a test to determine who would move on to the actual combat stages.
Arsene didn't particularly care about the written part, but the thought of fighting shinobi from other villages in the later rounds made his heart beat faster.
The possibility of facing shinobi from other lands, each one a monster just like him, was enough to get Arsene excited. This is what I've been waiting for.
Inside the Academy – Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki
Meanwhile, inside the Academy, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki were hanging out in the hallways, waiting for the rest of the students to finish their tests. The three of them had completed their exams over an hour ago, but protocol dictated that they had to remain at the school until everyone was done.
Sarada leaned against a wall, arms crossed, her expression filled with boredom. "Sigh... I'm beyond bored," she complained, her glasses slipping slightly down her nose as she glanced at Boruto. He, however, was unusually quiet, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, a chakra nature study guide in hand.
Sarada raised an eyebrow, looking at him suspiciously. "And what's worse," she added, her tone teasing, "is that you're not even blabbing about anything today." Normally, Boruto would be bouncing off the walls, complaining about how slow everything was. But today, he was doing something rare—he was studying.
"Shush, woman. I'm training," Boruto muttered, barely glancing up from the notes. His voice had a focused edge to it as he scanned the page, trying to wrap his head around the concept of chakra nature. Specifically, he needed to figure out how to give his chakra the "lightning nature" or whatever it was called.
Sarada blinked, genuinely surprised. Boruto? Studying? This was new. "Really?" she asked, intrigued. "Does it happen to be...this?" She formed a few hand signs with ease, and suddenly, the familiar sound of crackling lightning filled the air. A flash of blue lightning crackled in her palm as she formed the Chidori. The raw power of the technique was evident, though Sarada still had to use hand signs to perform it.
"Whew... I'm still not as good as my dad," she admitted, a hint of frustration in her voice. "He can do it without hand signs."
As she released the jutsu, the lightning dispersed with a soft crackle, leaving a faint electric charge in the air. Boruto's eyes widened as he watched, his mind racing as the pieces began to fall into place.
"I see..." Boruto murmured, his thoughts racing. Chakra control... If you're good enough, you can use jutsu without hand signs. His mind flashed back to all the shinobi who could do this—his dad, who rarely used hand signs; Sasuke, who rarely needed them; even Arsene, the edge lord who stole his sister a few days ago, had performed jutsu without hand signs.
Boruto's mind continued to spin as realization after realization hit him. So that means... Jutsu doesn't require hand signs if your chakra control is strong enough. Hand signs are just for people who don't have sufficient control...
Sarada and Mitsuki exchanged glances, watching as Boruto's face went through a range of emotions—surprise, shock, regret, anger, admiration. His entire thought process was playing out on his face in real-time.
Sarada, slightly concerned, leaned over to Mitsuki. "Uh... Is he okay?" she whispered.
Mitsuki, as calm as ever, gave a small shrug. "...Probably not," he replied, watching Boruto's silent epiphany unfold.
Sarada sighed, adjusting her glasses. "Figures. He's such an idiot sometimes."
Boruto, still caught in the whirlwind of his revelation, barely registered their words. I've been doing it wrong this whole time... He clenched his fists, a new determination rising within him. If I want to master the Chidori... if I want to master anything, I need to get my chakra control to that level.
...
Time - Skip
Far away from the bustling energy of Konoha, deep within the rugged terrain of Kumogakure, the air was thick with tension. The powerful bijuu, Gyūki the Eight-Tails, was locked in battle with two fearsome foes—Momoshiki and Kinshiki Otsutsuki. The clash of chakra shook the mountains as Gyūki unleashed a mighty Tailed Beast Ball, but in a horrifying twist, the two Otsutsuki absorbed the attack with ease, their sinister abilities devouring the chakra.
With a wicked grin, Momoshiki manipulated the stolen chakra, transforming it into a weapon of his own. In a flash, he hurled the very same Tailed Beast Ball back at Gyūki, the enormous explosion ripping through the air and sending shockwaves across the land. Killer B, Gyūki's jinchūriki and partner, was caught in the blast. His body was thrown violently into the air before crashing into a deep ravine.
As the dust settled, Momoshiki and Kinshiki watched in silence. They had extracted the chakra they came for, but it was not nearly enough to satisfy their insatiable hunger.
"This isn't enough," Momoshiki growled, his eyes glowing with a cold, ominous light. "We need more chakra. The Leaf Village is next." Kinshiki nodded in agreement, his large frame looming menacingly as the two began their journey toward Konohagakure.
However, beneath the surface of the ravine, Killer B stirred. With the aid of his bijuu, Gyūki, he managed to swim back to the surface, battered but alive. "Yo, these guys... they're strong, but we ain't done yet!" Killer B rapped to himself as he crawled onto solid ground, already formulating his next move. Though weakened, the indomitable spirit of Killer B and the Eight-Tails burned bright, refusing to be extinguished.
In stark contrast to the danger closing in on the village, the Chunin Exams had begun in Konoha. The excitement in the air was palpable as teams of Genin from various villages gathered for the first test. In a large, dimly lit room, the tension among the young ninja was thick. They had been presented with a seemingly simple task: answer a true or false question based on the fifth volume of a popular novel series about ninja strategies.
For most of the Genin, however, the question posed a significant challenge. The fifth volume was a recent release, and many hadn't had the chance to read it—if it even existed.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor with her teammates, Sarada frowned, her mind racing. A fifth volume? I didn't even know there was a fifth volume.
"Hey, Sarada!" Boruto whispered urgently, leaning in closer to her. "You've read the series, right? Do you know the answer?"
Sarada shook her head, frustration creeping into her voice. "I didn't know there was a fifth volume either..."
Boruto groaned, running a hand through his spiky blond hair. "Great. Just great. What now?"
Sarada thought for a moment, her brows furrowed in concentration. Then, she glanced at Boruto with a determined look in her eyes. "What answer would my father pick?" she asked, knowing that Sasuke's sharp mind was often able to see through the trickiest of situations.
Boruto paused, considering the question carefully. "He'd probably pick 'false,'" Boruto muttered, thinking about Sasuke's calculated and often contrarian nature. "Yeah, definitely false."
Sarada, however, smiled to herself. "Then I'm picking true." Her voice was quiet but filled with resolve. "I want to take a different path than my father. My own path.
Boruto blinked, slightly taken aback by her choice but respecting her decision. "Alright, I'll go with false then. Let's see who's right."
As the Genin teams answered the question and proceeded through the exam, things quickly took a turn. Those who had chosen true—like Sarada—found themselves led down one path, while those who had chosen false—like Boruto—went down another.
At first, everything seemed fine. But soon, the ground beneath them shifted, and a trap was sprung. The floors opened up, and the teams found themselves plummeting toward what appeared to be a lake of black, swirling ink at the bottom of a deep pit.
Boruto's heart raced as he looked down at the inky abyss, panic creeping in. "What the—?!"
Sarada, ever quick on her feet, reacted immediately. With a sharp flick of her wrist, she threw a kunai attached to a thin wire, embedding it into the wall of the pit. She grabbed Boruto's arm, halting their fall just in time. "Hold on!" she shouted, straining against the wire to keep them from tumbling into the ink below.
Mitsuki, with his usual calm precision, reached out and grabbed Sarada's other hand, helping to keep the three of them suspended above the pit. His golden eyes gleamed with amusement as he looked down at the ink. "It seems this was the real test."
Boruto, hanging precariously by Sarada's grip, looked down at the ink again. His sharp eyes noticed something strange—a second lake of ink in the section marked as "false."
"Wait a second... there's ink in both sections!" Boruto exclaimed, his mind racing as he put the pieces together. "That means it doesn't matter if you picked true or false—if you fall into the ink, you're disqualified either way!"
Sarada's grip tightened on the wire as they dangled above the pit. "So the real test was figuring out how to avoid the ink. It didn't matter if the answer was true or false."
With Mitsuki's help, they climbed their way out of the pit, their hearts still pounding from the near miss. Boruto let out a sigh of relief, glancing over at Sarada with a grin. "Good thing we didn't end up covered in ink. Nice work, Sarada."
Sarada smirked. "Told you I'd take my own path."
As they passed the first round of the exam, the excitement was building for what lay ahead. The true challenges were only just beginning.
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[Auther: I will probably never explain Arsene's backstory, I'll just leave obvious hints and let you guys form it. If I finish this, I might leave a side-story that explains his character.]
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