Naruto: Tango with Death

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"You were joking about that evil god thing, right?"

Itachi and I were walked back from the station, and he asked me this question. Not seeing any point in lying, I replied, "Nope, I wasn't. Well, I don't know if he's really a god, more like a sage… are you familiar with the Gift of the Sages?"

Itachi thought about it for a moment, before asking, "Isn't that what monks use?"

I nodded and revealed, "The way their technique works is that they form a contract with a spirit, a Sage's Spirit, from the summon world. I also did that, and contracted a rather powerful one. Jashin, self proclaimed Lord of Death and Destruction. Anyway, I promised him a human soul in exchange of his powers."

Itachi frowned and warned, "I thought you would know better than borrowing the power of such… an entity."

I shook my head, and explained, "Don't worry, there are clearly set limits. It is a special kind of contract, and since I've completed my part, he cannot influence me in any shape or form, so don't worry."

Itachi didn't reply, he obviously didn't know a lot about this. After a moment, he simply muttered, "Be careful."

I grinned, and slapped him in the back as I said, "I heard from Mikoto I made a certain boy worried sick while on my mission."

Itachi looked away uncomfortably and defended himself, "I was only worried for the mission."

I rose an eyebrow, and said, "I was talking about Sasuke. Were you worrying about me, squad leader?"

Itachi sighed and asked, "Why did you join Anbu? Why did you even graduate early?"

I tilted my head to the side, confused, and asked, "Didn't you do the exact same?"

Itachi replied, "But it's not the same…"

"How, is it not the same? Because I'm a girl?"

Itachi frowned, and replied, "Because you don't have a family. I'm sorry, but you grew up alone, Sukaina. Why not live a more normal life, no one ever had any expectations for you."

I frowned, truly angry for the first time in a very long time.

I slapped his chest, pushing him a couple of steps back as I asked, "You think people expecting things of you is bad?"

Itachi tried to reply, but I continued, "Heir of the Uchiha, do you think people hoping the best for you is bad?"

I spread out my arms, and said, "You ask why follow such a dangerous path, but I'm asking you, why not? What do you think I have in this world?"

"I was born into this world with no one. If I didn't take the path I took, what do you think I would have, exactly? An entire clan standing behind me?"

Pushing him a few more steps back with a forceful shove, I asked, "How dare you ask me that, when you only followed that path out of selfishness? I had nothing, and this was my only way up. You, had everything. You could have followed an absolutely normal path and you would still have everything you have."

"I don't…"

I growled, "You don't what, Itachi? Izumi followed a normal path, and was she heir of the Uchiha, she would have everything you have today. You graduated early and joined Anbu because you were bored. I did it because it was my only way to secure my own future."

Itachi was still frowning, but remained silent. Exasperated, I said, "Fuck you."

And with that, I body flickered away. Arriving home, I tried opening my door, but for some god damned reason the key wasn't working!

Fuck you door too!

I kicked open my door, completely shattering it in the process. However, I didn't feel like sleeping, so I reverse summoned myself to Yami Mountain, and I headed for the Sage's statue.

I don't know why I got so angry, but for some reason what he said got on my nerves. I know I shouldn't have said that to him, it was mean, he himself didn't mean to hurt me, he simply didn't know how to behave with others…

But fuck it, I'm allowed to stop being so god damn rational all the time.

I don't know how long I then spent in the statue, but I spent most of it studying the scrolls I had received not long before I headed to the Jonin Station.

Tonight wasn't all bad either as I discovered something new about myself. The mental change I had gone through didn't just change my perception of the world, I also found managing my chakra to have become much more easy.

If when I first started experimenting on my Tenketsu I needed one whole minute to carefully slip my chakra through it, I had managed to halve that time by the time I got the mission for the Land of Forests.

However, that night, I was surprised to find out that I barely needed 10 seconds on a single Tenketsu. That made learning the Jutsus much easier, and faster.

Because I was greedy, and angry, I directly went for the S Rank Jutsu, which required my chakra to travel through a grand total of 324 Tenketsu Points.

This was huge, as there were only 361 Tenketsu Points in the human body. This truly was one of the strongest techniques in the world, an S Rank technique.

It took me slightly less than an hour, or under six minutes in the real world, to make the first cycle. With every Tenketsu my chakra passed through, I felt it get stronger, and by the time I reached the last one, I felt that more than half of my chakra was ready to be fired up.

The moment my chakra went through the last chakra point, I hurriedly left the statue, right in time to look up and let out the high pressured water that I had been storing.

The 'stream' of water looked more like a laser beam as it easily penetrated through the rocks above me. I slightly moved my head to the side by accident, making the beam tilt a little, shattering even more rocks.

After an entire second I had spit out all the water I had created with my chakra, and looking up, I was shocked to be able to see the moonlight.

For reference, I was inside a mountain, probably several dozens of meters from the top. Moreover, I was fighting against gravity as I was looking up. And yet, it tore right through the mountain.

After a few seconds, a panicky looking Owl Sage came running in. He looked around, before his eyes settled on me, and the hole right above me.

"What happened?"

I smiled slightly and replied, "Discovered a new jutsu. Sorry. I aimed up not to hurt anyone."

The Owl Sage's face turned into a frown, and he asked, "Are you going to continue training this particular jutsu?"

I nodded, and added, "Yes, and a few more. Including one that will probably flood the room… Sorry."

The Owl Sage sighed, before saying, "I think it would be wiser to relocate the statue somewhere else. Somewhere where you won't endanger yourself or anyone else."

My eyes widened as I said, "No no, I don't want to force you to do that, I'll just find something to work with, it'll be fine."

The Owl Sage replied, "Nonsense, the statue is only collecting dust anyway. Go recover your chakra, I'll move it somewhere outside in the meantime."

I looked at the statue, then the Owl Sage, and asked as I jumped down, "Are you sure you can do it on your own?"

The Owl Sage snorted and got to the statue, and suddenly lifted it by grabbing it with his talons. He said, "Go."

I smiled, and thanked him, before moving to the Sacred Water Pool, where I started absorbing the Yang Chakra.