Chapter 10: The Will of Fire and The Curse of Hatred Part II

Chapter 10: The Will of Fire and The Curse of Hatred Part II

"That bastard sent us a clone…" I said, fanning away the last of the clone's smoke. My Sharingan should have noticed the difference in chakra when we were in the cemetery but—

"Not the whole time," Sui said, trying to reassure me. "He only swapped out with one when he went to get the chakra paper."

"So for the last hour."

"Yup."

I sighed, giving up. "At least he gave us a lesson plan."

"Yeah… have you opened yours?"

"No why?"

"He was pretty thorough with mine."

Sui had already opened her scroll and read through it. The instructions on her scroll were indeed thorough like it went over Sui's apparent weaknesses and what she should do to fix them. One of which said to spend an hour a week at the hospital for exercises. Wait, is our medic going to be front lining? That sounds like a bad plan.

"He wants you to learn medical ninjutsu?"

"Apparently, I'm assuming since it would help me mold my chakra better…" Sui bit at her thumb as she began to get lost in thought.

I ran my hand through her hair, reminding her not to think too hard as I walked up to Tayuya. She was sitting down in the grass, staring at her scroll, muttering insults. I wondered if checking on her was a good idea, but I did say I'd help her with practical things—

"That old fuck knew!"

"You ok… Tayuya?"

"Do I sound ok Yuki?" Tayuya shot me her usual glare.

"You sound the same actually—"

"Go fuck yourself…" Tayuya sighed, leaning her head against her legs. "He says I can't use my curse mark anymore and that I should have it sealed."

I sat down next to her and placed my hand on her back, only to receive a sidelong glare. Anyone else would have backed off immediately, but if I had comforted Yukino when she was down, then maybe she'd still be here.

"I don't need your pity."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not pitying you."

"Really?" She stared at my face. "Because it feels like you are."

"It's called comforting, Tayuya-neesan." Sui wrapped her arm around Tayuya and leaned against her.

"I'm not crying, so I don't need to be comforted!" Tayuya made excuses, but she never pushed us away. It looks like I have two idiot siblings.

"You don't have to cry to be sad." I leaned my head against Tayuya.

"You two… You don't understand. Without my curse mark I'm—"

"Weak?"

"Useless?"

"I'm not weak!" Tayuya shot up, knocking us back. "And I'm not useless!"

"Exactly." Sui and I said at the same time, getting up.

"So why are you–" Sui placed her hand on Tayuya's shoulder.

I placed my hand on her other shoulder. "So worried about–"

"A curse mark." We said together.

"Honestly, I don't even know what a curse mark is." I said, admitting that I didn't actually know what we were talking about. I assumed it was those black lines that gave her that sudden strength boost, but I wasn't sure.

"It's the markings on her neck." Sui pointed at the three spiraling Ls, confirming my suspicions. "A cursed seal created by Orochimaru."

"And how do you know about that?" Tayuya said, raising an eyebrow.

"Danzō."

Tayuya clicked her tongue. "That fucking rat betrayed us."

"I did no such thing."

I recognized that voice. The world slowed down, sending chills down my spine. With four earth kunai and four wind kunai in my hands, I prepared to attack the man I despised.

Danzō stood tall with his cane in hand, hiding his crippled arm as if he was taking some kind of morning stroll. "And if you could refrain from calling me a rat when you listen to a snake. That would be much appreci—"

I threw out my kunai, preparing my fireball Jutsu; there wasn't going to be anything left once I was done with him. Improvised Style: Dust-styled Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!

"Eight trigrams: Palm Rotation!" A blue rotating sphere of chakra destroyed the tagged kunai heading for Danzō. Once the sphere died down, Sui was revealed standing in front of Danzō, her Byakugan active. My eyes widened as she protected him, I thought things were different now, but I guess not.

"Yuki, don't make me hurt you. Attacking Danzo, a citizen of the Hidden Leaf Village, is something we can't do as Leaf ninja." Sui got into her gentle fist stance.

I laughed as I did the hand signs. "Wind Style: Whirlwind Sprint Jutsu!" With my body light and wind blowing my clothes around, I spoke. "You know. I had almost forgotten that you kept the two separate." I got into my own gentle fist stance, mimicking Sui.

"Your footing is wrong." Sui uncovered her Sharingan eye, unfazed by me copying her. Just like I knew my wired kunai wouldn't work against her all-seeing eye, she knew of my Sharingan's copying skills.

"Is it?" I moved my foot slightly forward. "Better?"

"Better—"

My hand collided with her forearm blocking my strike. Tch. I shot my left hand forward and she dodged to the side. The blow whizzed past her face. I pulled back, sending out my right palm once more. Another miss and another until she countered with a palm strike aimed at my chest. I knocked it away, a smile formed on Sui's face. She sent another strike. I blocked it with my forearm, giving her a smirk.

"You know you're supposed to shoot chakra out of your body when you strike?" Sui said, holding my gaze.

"As if I could learn that from just watching your body movements."

The Sharingan only helped me copy things I could see externally but something like how she was manipulating the chakra I couldn't do. The most I knew was the general area of where she was emitting chakra, like in her hands or what kind of nature it was. In the Gentle Fist's case, I'd have to actually be taught how to shut down chakra points.

"Enough." Danzo's cane tapped against the ground, reminding me of why I was fighting Sui.

I gripped onto Sui's arm; her eye widened as I swung her aside. "Though, I don't have to use the Gentle Fist." I dashed forward at Danzō and rocked my head back. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Ju—"

I ate the dirt as I was restrained to the ground. Two ninja I had never seen before appeared. From the glimpses I had, they weren't even dressed like ANBU. They didn't wear grey or masks but rather a plain black outfit for the one guy in front of me and a red outfit for the other guy that held me.

"Lord Danzō, should I use it." The ninja in black pulled off his glove, and his skin oozed a purple goo. What the hell?

"If you believe you can control it. Go ahead."

The ninja stepped forward only to be blocked by Sui, who stood in front of me. "Danzō, The Third Hokage will never let you get away with killing his student."

"Blame yourself for his death. You told him too much and now look." Danzo pointed his cane at me. "He's unstable. I knew I should have developed a seal for you."

I tried to get out of the red ninja's grip, but he was surprisingly strong and prevented me from using my hand signs. The red ninja even made sure not to look into my eyes whenever I tried to glare at him.

"Step aside Sui; I wouldn't want you to get hurt." The ninja in black said with no real emotion in his voice.

"Torune, I'll kill you if you take a step closer." Sui's deep blue chakra flared around her as she spoke. "Lightning Style: Lightning Cloak 50%. Do you really want to try your luck again, bug boy."

"Lord Danzō, what should I do?"

"Impressive Sui. But a tool that does not listen is not a good one. I may not have a seal on you, but I do have one on your brother. Should you keep this up, I'll kill him."

"Her brother! That's low even for you Danzō—" I felt the chilling touch of steel against my neck.

"Just give the order Lord Danzō." The red ninja held a short blade against my neck, drawing blood.

"Maybe this will serve as a lesson to you Sui. I have no need for disobedient tools. Do it Fuu."

Shit, no choice! Lightning Style: Chakra Mode—

"Wait!"

Before I could activate my Jutsu that would incapacitate me in mere seconds, Tayuya's voice rang in my ears, causing everyone to stop.

"Danzō, if you kill him. Lord Orochimaru will be pissed and break the deal. You know he wants an Uchiha."

"I can always give him Sasuke."

"Then I'll tell the Third Hokage you're working with him."

"And who do you think he would believe? You. The one with proof of working with Orochimaru. I could kill you right now and say you were a spy for him."

"I doubt the Third Hokage will ever believe you over someone with the Will of Fire."

"It seems his pacifist nonsense has gotten to you." Danzō let out a sigh. "I'm ashamed of you Tayuya—"

The two ninja, collapsed on the ground, and as I was released, I noticed that more ninja dressed like them fell from the trees. Tayuya removed the flute from her lips, her long red hair flowed down to her feet, and horns grew from her head. She was in her demon form, or what was it called again—

"To think you willed stage two even in my presence. Orochimaru, that damned snake tricked me." Danzō was somehow still standing, seemingly unfazed by Tayuya's Genjutsu.

"Trusting a snake was your first mistake. But maybe making a deal with the devil will be your second." Tayuya glanced back and sighed, blowing into her flute once more.

That was when I noticed the blood that dripped down her arm as one of her Doki fell from the sky, landing with a crunch behind her. This one was at least 4 meters tall, with its entire body wrapped like a mummy. Staring at it, I noticed how its feet were stained in red, and for some reason, I held my breath.

"I wanted to refrain from killing you shits. But it looks like you have some dumbasses that think they're clever." Tayuya spat at the ground as she walked forward. The aura she gave off was different from when she transformed in her room. That was her holding back, and this was the real Tayuya. She killed someone without even breaking a sweat, treating it like swatting a fly.

"He really did improve the curse seal." Danzō nodded as he dismissed Sui to let Tayuya walk past her.

"If you're talking about Anko's shitty excuse for a curse mark, then yeah, it's straight dogshit. But we're not here to talk about that, are we?"

Even with Tayuya standing in her curse mark stage two form and her massive Doki behind her, Danzō didn't flinch. While my legs wouldn't move even though I wanted to. I was afraid of her, but he was right there. Fear and hate overlapped each other as my thoughts piled on.

I wanted Danzō to tell me from his own mouth. What the hell is the Uchiha Coup de tat? Why the hell was his chakra so many different fucking colors? Why does the aura he give off feel familiar yet unknown? I wanted answers, but more than anything, I wanted to kill him.

2

Those thoughts triggered a memory that I wished would have never returned. A memory of my father and sister talking, the argument that strained their relationship.

"They're eyes are gone." Yukino said.

I remembered how water dripped on the floor as she hid her gaze from me. I was supposed to be asleep, but I had a hard time sleeping alone. So my mother and father decided to sleep with me for the night since Yukino took a long time coming home that day.

"That's what happens when bodies decay." My father said as he got ready for work. It was extremely early as there was barely any light in the room.

"We buried them yesterday." Yukino said, reminding me of the funeral we had that morning prior. The last one that sad was Shisui's, which was a year before.

"Yeah, we did." The air around my father changed as he realized what Yukino had done. "So, how do you know their eyes are missing."

"Does that matter? What's important is we're being grave robbed, and you're too soft to do anything." Yukino matched my father's gaze, no longer hiding her anger. "Siding against your own clan. We all know it's Danzō who's behind it all. We should just kill him and get it over with."

"Do you hear yourself right now? First, you disturb the dead, then you accuse your own father of being soft when I just don't want to see any more people—"

"See any more people what? Die? Because if that's what you were going to say, I hate to break it you, but we live in a world where people with eyes like mine exist." There was a scarlet glint of light that came from Yukino's eyes. "I know that's what you're really afraid of. I know you're scared of what makes us an Uchiha."

"Yukino! Put that out!"

With that, I felt the heat rise within the room as sweat beaded down my face. It felt like I had a fever and could barely breathe, feeling the suffocating chills from the black flames she produced. My mother held me close, protecting me from the fire. Telling me "everything would be ok" as she always tried to shield me from the world in her arms. But she could never shield me from my sister's eyes. Those red eyes that spiraled reminding me of scythes.

3

"Danzo!" I screamed out.

Delving into the depths of my soul, I remembered why I hated him. He was the one that ruined my family, ruined my life. He destroyed my reality making me live in a never-ending nightmare long before Itachi killed everyone. And it was. All. His. Fault.

It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault.It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault.

My mind repeated the same words over and over and over. I didn't know what happened; I still don't know what happened. The world was a deep red like blood, and I could barely see anything, just the faded colors of flickering flames. The closest one was blue... I think. The other prominent one was purple… I think. But the one clear color was black. It reminded me that a single person couldn't have black chakra.

The pounding in my head grew louder, repeating the lines. It's his fault. It's his fault. My legs, no longer afraid, moved as I stepped forward, wading through the crimson world approaching the dark flame. None of the colored fires moved except for the black one.

It went into the air and shot something down at me. It was a wave of some sort with a greenish color; its chakra blew around freely, reminding me of wind style. Yet it was the slowest use of a wind technique I had ever seen.

Walking forward, I tilted my head as the wind slammed into the floor behind me, shaking the ground.

The black flame made a noise I couldn't hear and fired off multiple colors, reminding me of a fireworks show. If only the colors weren't washed down with red, I could have smiled.

Instead, I just walked forward, moving my body ever so slightly, watching as they missed entirely. I never took my eyes off the black flame as it returned to the ground. My thoughts still repeating: It's his fault. It's his fault. It's his fault.

The black flame seemed to create something akin to a wind blade as it ran at me. Though it took so long, way too long, and the pounding in my head kept beating me down, it hadn't stopped, and I had enough of it. I had enough of the screaming. I just wanted peace.

So I ran forward, closing the distance in mere seconds when that thing was taking its sweet time. Up close, I could see that the black flame was actually a rainbow of colors mixed together due to it being attached to—

"Danzō!" I screamed out once again, grabbing hold of its arm of wind with one hand, and with the other, I pierced through the center of the flame. I felt a warm pulse in my hand.

Badum. Badum.

"Kill him!" She said.

"Yuki!" She said.

"Shit." She said.

All the voices screamed out something, and I didn't care; I just wanted to breathe again.

I squeezed and felt it burst.

4

The chilling heat faded as my mind calmed down. My eyes started to focus, my hands stained red, but there wasn't a body.

"So that's where the Shinigami hid them." I was surprised to hear Danzō's voice, and when I looked at him, he was unscathed. But then whose blood is this?

"Sui! Tayuya!" I called out their names, scared of what I had done but was relieved when I saw them. They both stepped out of the tree line on the outskirts of the training ground. Tayuya was still in her transformation, and Sui dashed into me, tackling me into the scorched earth.

Scorched? With that thought came the clarity that the landscape was grey as if it had snowed ashes. No green, no brown, no blue, just a desolate grey. What happened?

"Yuki!" Bringing me back to reality was Sui's crying voice. I had forgotten she was holding onto me. She felt… she felt like nothing.

I wrapped my arms around her ignoring her sudden yelp, terrified of not feeling anything. But by some miracle, she was warm. Sui was alive, and so was I. The rolling sensation of tears falling down my face returned as I held onto her. Clutching at the fabric, pressing against her body, I never wanted to let go.

"It's ok Yuki. I'm right here." Sui held onto my face staring at me. She looked fine until I noticed her bandages were gone.

In her eyes, I saw my own. My red eyes had three spiraling black scythes in them as if I had a Mangekyō Sharingan just like Yukino's. But then they divided and shrunk back into a Two Tomoe Sharingan. Until I relaxed them entirely, and they were back to being my jet black eyes. What was that?

"It looks like I'm not the only monster here." Tayuya said as I noticed she was back to normal. "But a little warning next time, little bro. If me and Sui weren't ready, let's just say you'd have more than Danzō's blood on your hands."

I let out a heavy sigh as I spoke my first sentence. "No one else got hurt but him?"

"Yeah, but somehow that rat lived getting his heart crushed, and I have no clue how."

"I-I crushed his heart?" I stared at my bloodied arm, and my glove was soaked. A slight tremble came from my fingers until Sui grabbed my hand.

"Look at me." Sui stared at me with a stern gaze. "Never lose control like that. Ever again. It's my fault for telling you more than you needed to know. And I'm sorry. But never give in to that hate, ok?"

"Sui, this is a lot to take in right now." I said, still trying to comprehend that Danzō lived even after losing that much blood. I even remembered how he didn't have a single scratch on him, but how was that possible?

"Promise me. Forget Danzō. Don't focus on what happened. Just promise me you'll never lose your cool like that again." Sui's hands tightened around my own, and I was sure she was holding back her tears again.

"I promise." I said, leaning my forehead against hers. We closed our eyes, and our breathing slowed until we relaxed. I pulled my head back with a smile. "I mean, with a name like Yuki. How could I ever lose my cool."

Sui let out a chuckle as she pulled me to my feet.

"Sis, how you find his shitty jokes funny is disturbing."

"You get used to them after a while." Sui said, going over to a mound of ashes. "At least the scrolls didn't burn." She dusted off my scroll with a cough, and slightly to the side were Tayuya's and Sui's scrolls.

"Yeah…" My voice trailed off as I stared at the barren landscape. "I'm assuming the reason this place looks like a warzone is because—"

"Fire came out of your body." Tayuya spoke as if that was normal.

"It didn't come out of him; it burned the chakra around him." Sui said, walking back to us. "And can we not talk about it? I'm sure Yuki needs a rest."

"I feel fine actually." I hopped twice and stretched my arms. "Yup, good as new. However, we're burning these gloves." I took off the tainted wear and thought about turning them into ashes.

"Yeah, add more shit for us to clean up." Tayuya picked up her scroll from the floor and read it. She did the hand signs. Tiger → Ox → Dog →Rabbit → Snake. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!"

She blew forward, and a blast of compressed air shot out of Tayuya's mouth, blowing away a portion of the ashes in front of her. "Well, that's… Hah… A nice trick." Tayuya, after using the Jutsu once, was already out of breath.

"Tayuya, you'll need to pace yourself, especially after you just used up a lot of your chakra." Sui said, closing her scroll. She did the hand signs Dragon → Tiger → Hare. "Water Style: Water Wave Jutsu!"

Sui blew out a wave of water from her mouth, adjusting its flow as she washed away the ashes.

"I guess I'm filling up the craters?" I said, staring at the holes in the ground. They were like pits that were drilled into the ground. Why do I have the hardest job?

"Yesh yoush are." Sui looked at me as she spoke, dousing me in water.

"Sui…" I wiped the water from my eyes. "You need to work on yours too."

"Sorgy." I assumed she meant sorry as she continued to clear the way.

I walked up to the massive black scroll, there were still some ashes on it, but I couldn't do anything about that. Rolling it open, I noticed Hiruzen-sensei had left me with more than just hand sign instructions but also a sort of guide on what I should do if I got stuck. Though, while I was looking for a relatively easy earth technique, I found a passage that said to be wary of the Curse of Hatred. As I went to read more, I heard a familiar voice.

"Chōji! Get back here!"

"I smelled barbeque."

"Chōji, why would barbeque be at the training ground." I heard a heavy sigh followed by the kid's catchphrase. "What a drag."

That's not good.