บท 162: Unexpected Move
"There's a man we have to meet,"
"Who?" Jiraiya asked.
"Dr.Hiro,"
"…" Jiraiya stared silently at Orochimaru as though he was looking at a monster.
"Dr.Hiro?"
"You mean the mentor of that kid Katasuke?" Jiraiya asked.
Katasuke was a special jōnin of the Hidden Leaf Village who changed the world with his ninja tech. Before arriving in the Hidden Leaf village and even before the time he helped in the cleanup of the aftermath of the fourth ninja world war, was mentored by Dr.Hiro in the field of science and technology.
"…" Orochimaru silently smiled at Jiraiya, not denying his words at all.
"Why meet him now of all times?" Jiraiya asked.
"Dr.Hiro is not the doctor as you remember from Naruto's memories,"
"I have seen his face,"
"He resembles a person from the small circle of people I communicate with," Orochimaru said.
"Resembles?" Jiraiya was puzzled.
"Yes,"
"Ever since I encountered Naruto-kun,"
"I've been working on a small project,"
"I've sent him the details on that project since he has an expertise in that area of the project,"
"We were supposed to meet on a later date for an exchange, where I give him information in exchange for the blueprint he'll prepare for me," Orochimaru said.
"I see…"
"And this project of yours…" Jiraiya paused to observe Orochimaru's expression.
"Yes,"
"It was for the destruction of the village, but now I have other plans for it," Orochimaru replied.
"I see…" Jiraiya murmured.
——————————
Back in the training field…
Sasuke and Neji stared at each other after awakening their eyes.
Lee, who was watching their spar by the side, was very excited to the point that he found it hard to control his emotions.
Neji gestured with the back of his hand facing Sasuke.
"Come," Neji beckoned.
"Hmph," Sasuke grunted.
(Whoosh!)
Sasuke ran towards Neji.
("Let's see that Byakugan of yours,") Sasuke thought as he approached within two meters of Neji.
Hah!
Sasuke kicked at Neji using his right leg only to be blocked by an arm.
Neji stared emotionlessly for he knew this was only the first move.
("Neji stood up to Sasuke-kun on the first move,") Lee thought.
Sasuke smiled, following which he increased the force in his kicking leg.
"Hrm," Neji grunted as he looked at his left arm that bore the pressure of Sasuke's right leg.
Hah!
Neji sent a palm strike using his right palm towards Sasuke.
(Bam!)
Sasuke used his left hand to block Neji's incoming palm the same way Neji blocked Sasuke's kick.
("What?") Neji was astounded.
(Whoosh!)
Sasuke and Neji parted away from each other.
*Sh!*
Neji looked up to see Sasuke in his fighting stance as well.
"Your turn," Sasuke taunted Neji to come over using his hand.
"ugh," Neji felt ashamed.
"You're going to regret that," Neji said as he brought his palms out again.
"…" Lee stared silently at Neji.
Neji's expression reminded him of the Chūnin exam, where Neji struck Hinata down without mercy.
Sasuke was also reminded of the scene from back then, which made him curious about his current situation.
"Here, I come," Neji announced following which he ran towards Sasuke.
Hah!
Neji sent a palm towards Sasuke, only to be dodged narrowly,
("Let's see how many you can dodge,") Neji thought as he sent out another palm.
Hah!
Hah! Hah!
Hah! Hah! Hah!
Lee observed the spar closely.
Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!
Every single palm Neji sent was either narrowly dodged or blocked by Sasuke.
Hah! Hah!
Hah!
Neji executed palm after palm with textbook execution that had a good rhythm and a clean look to the fight. Sasuke, on the other hand, had no rhythm to him at all. Sasuke seemed to dodge without a care, leaving it all to his instincts which led to him dodging in an unorthodox manner that made Neji madder and madder after every palm.
Hah! Hah!
Sasuke flipped backward out of Neji's reach, while Neji gasped for breath as he stared at Sasuke.
("How's this possible?")
("He doesn't look tired at all,") Neji thought.
Sasuke, on the other hand, also stared at Neji.
Although on the surface, he was absolutely calm, inside his thoughts were swimming in troubled waters.
("That was close,")
("If it wasn't for me awakening that third tomoe, I might have been hit once or twice,")
Sasuke thought as he stared at Neji only that at this moment, he frowned.
Neji seemed to be smiling for some reason.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked.
"Hehe,"
"You're within the area of my Eight Trigrams," Neji explained.
"Huh?" Sasuke stared at Neji crouching down and extending his hands out, the right hand behind him with the palm facing out and the left hand with its palm facing Sasuke.
Lee became excited.
("Neji did not get to show this to anyone till today,") Lee thought as he stared at the match more excited than ever before.
("Whatever it is, I am ready…") Sasuke was on guard against any unexpected attacks.
"Now," Neji took a few steps towards Sasuke.
*Sh!*
Sasuke's Sharingan saw the chakra concentrated on Neji's fingertips.
("Is this a special technique?") Sasuke thought.
"Eight trigrams,"
""
—————————
Hidden Leaf General Hospital
Naruto looked at Shikamaru.
"Sasuke wants to kill me?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Shikamaru nodded.
"and how did you find out?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru sighed, following which he explained how he had a conversation with Sasuke in the forest regarding Sasuke helping Neji train.
"So, you're telling me that Itachi said that the only way to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan is to kill his best friend, in other words, me," Naruto said as he pointed to himself.
"…" Shikamaru nodded silently.
("Looks like Shikamaru isn't kidding,") Naruto thought.
This conversation also led Naruto to think back to the conversation he had with Sasuke before they left together for the Kazekage Rescue Mission.
——FlashBack——
"Naruto!"
"I'll be honest. I want to know the truth about Itachi from you."
"I want to know what made him do this."
"But I realized that I am not powerful enough to defeat you right now, which drives me to search for power."
"Other than this… I also feel a strong urge to kill you," Sasuke said with a crazed look across his face.
Naruto stared at Sasuke, reminding him of the old Sasuke he dreaded.
"But…" Sasuke's facial expression reverted to its usual.
"I decided against it; It feels like I am being forced to think of his words back from that day again and again."
—-End of FlashBack-—
Naruto looked at Shikamaru.
("I did indeed talk about Shikamaru taking revenge, but this conversation came after that")
("Did Sasuke change back to his old self?") Naruto thought back to the few days he had with Sasuke after that mission where he showed the thousands of Zetsu.
("Shū") Naruto called out.
("Yes?") Shū appeared next to Naruto within his mind.
("I want you to show all of my memories to Shikamaru,") Naruto said.
("Everything?") Shū asked.
("Other than my private moments, EVERYTHING,") Naruto gave the command.
Naruto knew that Shū always adjusted the amount of memories everyone needed to look at the future, however, Shikamaru being Naruto's advisor and the number one strategist needed any information he could get his hands on.
("I understand,") Shū said following which he disappeared from within Naruto's mind.
Naruto looked at Shikamaru, but he didn't see Shū come out yet.
("What is he doing?") Naruto thought.
…
Shū was staring at Naruto's memories.
Naruto's memories were neatly laid in front of him as a big collage of videos of important moments.
Despite the Naruto in front of Shikamaru being a clone, it did have the memories of the original as well.
At this moment, Shū looked at a particular part of the giant collage.
("The memories of his last twelve years before the final battle seems to be a bit corrupted,")
Shū thought as he looked at the collage's picture, seemingly having less vibrancy and quality than the rest of the images.
However, a few months before the final battle seemed perfectly fine…
Shū then looked at the last possible clear memory.
It was a memory where Sasuke was looking down at Naruto.
Shū examined the memory further.
The image enlarged, playing back what took place at that time.
It was a room where Ino, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, and Shikamaru had gathered.
Naruto was held within a large stone.
Only his head was outside the stone that faced the others,
The image appeared to be out of focus, but Shū could understand that this was probably Naruto looking at them despite being unconscious.
Shū looked closely at everyone.
Despite being out of focus, he could make out that the people in the room were grief-stricken.
Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura, in particular, had faces dried from crying all day.
Shikamaru looked at Ino and Sasuke.
"Are you two ready?" Shikamaru asked.
"Mm," Ino and Sasuke nodded.
"Ino, remember to follow Sasuke's every movement properly and place those genjutsu memory blocks from your side as well," Shikamaru reminded.
"Mm!" Ino had a determined expression.
"Then let's begin the process," Shikamaru said, following which the image closed and returned to the giant collage.
Shū was perplexed,
("Should I unlock this memory for Shikamaru or not…") Shū thought.
("Shū!") Naruto called out.
("Yes,") Shū returned back to the dimension where he could converse with Naruto's mind.
("Are you going to show the memories to Shikamaru or not?") Naruto asked.
("I want to, but there is a certain part of your memory that is locked away,") Shū said.
("What?") Naruto was confused.
("Why didn't you mention this before?") Naruto asked quickly.
("It's because it never made sense as your other memories seemed to fit perfectly and provided more than enough information to everyone so far,") Shū explained.
"What's going on, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, seemingly running out of patience after staring at a silent Naruto for a while.
"Just a sec," Naruto said following which he closed his eyes to communicate with Shū in a more focused manner.
("It doesn't matter now,")
("Since Shikamaru is here, he might as well make some sense out of it,") Naruto explained.
("Okay, I'll go ahead and remove the restriction then,") Shū said, following which, he started to move his hands in a particular manner trying to interact with laws.
(Boom!)
An internal explosion took place within Naruto's mind.
*sh!*
The twelve years of blocked memories quickly flashed past Naruto's mind playing back everything that happened.
"n-no…" Naruto murmured following which he fell onto the floor lifelessly.
"Naruto!" Shikamaru called out as he tried to wake up the clone that descended into a state of shock.
(pop)
Shikamaru heard a sound.
"huh," Shikamaru looked at Naruto, only to see an orange-red chakra spewing out slowly.
…
"huh?" Naruto who was holding onto Hinata within the room looked towards the closed door.
("Kurama,") Naruto called out.
("It's an evil presence,") Kurama nodded from within.
("Shikamaru and my clone are outside,") Naruto thought following which he placed his kunai by the bed.
< Flying Raijin Stage 2 >
*Sh!*
Naruto appeared with Hinata within his room.
He then slowly placed Hinata on the bed.
("I'll be back later,") Naruto thought as he looked at Hinata.
(Whoosh!)
Naruto had vanished.
…
Meanwhile,
Outside the hospital room,
Shikamaru stared at the dense orange-red chakra that was slowly spewing out of the clone Naruto.
"N-Naruto," Shikamaru tried calling out once again.
*sh!*
The original Naruto appeared next to Shikamaru.
"What happened?" Naruto asked Shikamaru.
The clone Naruto suddenly opened its eyes.
The pupils of the eyes were the same ones Naruto used to have from being in the nine tails mode.
"What's going on…" Naruto was confused.
The clone Naruto looked at Naruto and Shikamaru for a second.
Grrr!!!!
The clone growled in anger, following which it stood on all fours.
("Shit!") Naruto stared helplessly as the clone raised its hand into the air.
"Ahhh!!!!!!" The clone Naruto screamed as it placed its hand down.
(BANG!)
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