18 replies to this topic

[hokuten]

EDIT: UPDATE! List of Fics to be discussed:

Naruto Based Fanfics:

• Bone Flute: Kimimaro X Tayuya with notes on original storyline, plot, and character development
• Mad Mad House: The Sasuke Experience (inspired by NG.com original flash "The Nightmare Room")
• The Forgotten (original The Sound of Hope fic idea)
• The unfinished/unpublished Prelude to H&E: The Uzumaki Saga (Chapter 0)
• Original idea behind Village Of Hentai (NO HENTAI involved)
• Unfinished/Unpublished Kakashi Chronicles (with 2 complete & incomplete chapters)
• Inspiration & Notes on Forbidden Love: KakaSaku (see Kakashi Chronicles)
• Fight Club: Naruto & Sakura (with in-depth story analysis, character analysis, and plot storyline)
• Lines: Beneath the Eyes (with in-depth story analysis, and inspiration notes)
• Unfinished/Unpublished Hinata-based fic (partial NejiHina storyline/plot)
• Unfinished/Unpublished NaruSaku challenge fic by Tatsu no Houou
• Original story plot behind the popular To the Ends of the Earth: NaruSaku, with an unpublished chapter
• Unfinished/Unpublished "Muramasa: Memoirs of Ayoshima Masato", Naruto-based fiction based off of my Original Character, with story plot, original ideas, adaptations to character development, & original story background behind the creation of the character.
• Unpublished/Unreleased notes on "The Brotherhood"
• Unpublished/Unreleased notes on "Sisters of Betrayal"
• Unpublished/Unreleased notes on "The Wind Walker: Suna-hime"
• Unpublished/Unreleased notes on "Konoha Geisha: House of Lament"
• More to come! (As soon as I find them)

Non-Naruto based Fanfics:

• "Dragoon Civil War": Original background story-fic about my Sky RPG Character, Kael Runesworth
• "Black Cell": Original mercenary/free lance group fiction
• "Megaman/Rockman Neo": Original fiction based off of the Newgrounds.com original flash "Rockman Neo" (click link to view)
• "The Game: Legend of the 5 Genji": Original Samurai/Noir fiction based off of my original character, Ayoshima Masato.
• "Type-R": Original Street Racing fiction based off of personal experience and Initial D elements.
• Yakuza *PREVIEW*
• More to come! (As soon as I find them)

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

To start things off, there's A LOT of stuff in the ol' archive, so I'll just be posting these items:

• broken fics
• fics that start at different chapters
• fics that started, but are incomplete
• ideas that are pretty good, but no drive to write
• ideas that start rolling, but then die off
• fics that have beginnings but no ends
• fics that have ends, but no beginnings
• More to come . . .

Actually to start this off! I've just released a revised, FF.net friendly fic based off of one of my ideas/unborn fics. It's started off as an obsession with Kimimaro X Tayuya, that I still want to write, but I've hit a point where I'm stuck, and feel so blocked that it's become unmotivated to even finish. So instead, I wrote this hack job of a fic, and posted it as a One-Shot instead of a full multi-chaptered Fic.

So here I present to you: Bone Flute (FF.net Edited version):

http://www.fanfictio...91/1/Bone_Flute

I'll post the original script & idea i had for it later, when i get home from work.

[True]

You too huh? XD Wow everyone is popping up with their own drabble threads. Inspiration has struck and everyone has caught it like STDS from a poorly managed brothel! I blame Denim and his uber drabbles!

Well I liked the KimixTayu even though I've never been interested in it. Nicely done and I left you a review! Hope you like! G-Mod engaged :teehee:

Edited by TrueSalvation, 23 April 2008 - 08:25 PM.

[hokuten]

Here is the original "first chapter" of Bone Flute.

spoiler --Click here to view--

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. All rights belong to Kishimoto.

Bone Flute

The room was damp and filled with the thick musk smell of death. She entered it as quietly as she could, passing by the life support equipment, the many blinking monitors, the many tubes that lay across the entire floor, and past all the many incantation marks written all over entire the room. Until finally she had reached the operating table, where a man was lying down with hundreds of little tubes connected and protruding from all over his body, maintaining his lifeforce. As there was a tube going directly into his mouth, and into his nose to help him breath, there was a seal of paper covering his face that read, "life", or "extension". The woman sat down next to the man on the table and was about to put her hands on his; suddenly he drew breath.

"What? What do you want now-" The man took a deep breath in as if he could sense something. It was the smell of an iris flower. After being suddenly awoken, he spoke clearly in a deep voice. "-Tayuya?"

She drew back her hand at the way he greeted her. It was always the same tone, never angry, never annoyed, never happy, never sad. The monotonous tone of voice like a loyal servant to a slave master, only HE wasn't her master. Her face then turned to the usual exp​ression of annoyance, thus her mood changed as well.

"What!? Can't a girl just come to say hello? Is my presence such a bother to you!? HUH? BASTARD?" She spoke in her usual manner, the way her voice and words just keeps getting more and more fierce. "Is it kittening wrong that I just wanted to see your pitiful body writing in pain, before I go? Well I hope you enjoy that stone slab and lie there like a useless doll!"

Unmoved by her words, he simply sighed, or what seemed like a sigh, but was actually just the respirator breathing for him. "Is that all? Say what you have to say, and leave me be."

She bit her lip in anger, and turned away from him facing the door. "He's found his next body. Some boy from some two-bit dead clan, and he's bent on revenge." There was no answer feom Kimimaro, instead the respirator continued to breathe for him and she continued. "They say he's very powerful, has the potential to be even more powerful than you!"

There was still no response from Kimimaro, he was as cold as the stone table he was lying down on. The air in the room didn't changed temperature, neither the thickness of the musk thickened nor thinned out. It was the same atmosphere when she had walked in, and it will remain the same when she would walk out. It was like talking to a corpse, as if no one was even there to begin with.

"I'm leaving. If you have anything to say, say it now." She walked towards the exit, and stood between the doorway.

Her back was still turned to him as she spoke those words in a very harsh tone. He said nothing, simply let the respirator breathe in again, and breathe out. She grew tired of talking to him like a dead body, and walked out of the room with her hands clentched tightly around her flute. Even though he couldn't see her through the medical jutsu seal, or open his eyes even at all, he knew. He knew that she was crying within, desperately wanting a response from him. Even if it was a dull and exp​ressionless one, anything would have satisfied her. But the fact was, he had nothing to say, he knew nothing would change the fact that she had a duty to perform. A duty given to her by Orochimaru, a man he viewed as his savior, the one person who saved him from his hell. She would never understand his devout loyalty to him. She would never understand what he gave back to him. But the only thing that she does know, is that he his heart will always belonged to her, in this life and into the next.



She had left the room very disgruntled and very upset. She tried to wipe the tears away from her face as quickly as she could before she met up with her fellow teammates. Her face was still partially flustered and pink when she had finally caught up with the others. She put her hat on and killed her emotions so that she would be focused on this mission. The four of them had already met up with the Uchiha boy and given him his proposal, now it was time to see if the boy would follow through with his decision. The Sound Four travelled light and fast through the night, it took them only a matter of two nights to reach the gates of Konoha once again. And to their non-so surprise, there stood the next "body" for Orochimaru, eagerly awaiting for his chance for new power.

"Now listen up boy. In order to prepare you for Orochimaru-sama, you will first need to die." Sakon spoke cooly and explained to the Uchiha boy. "Don't worry, you may not die physically, but you will indeed need to go through the process of death in order to ready yourself to become his tool." Just then Sakon took out a foreign pill and gave it to the Uchiha boy. "Take that, and get into this barrel. We will transport you the rest of the way, so that you're process will be undisturbed."

The Uchiha boy did as he was told, and entered into the transporting barrel. Soon the Sound Four sealed him in and started up the process. Now it was a race against time to deliver Orochimaru's new body before Konoha could send reinforcements to retrieve the boy back.

Unfortunately it had only been one night, and they were already being followed by five Konoha shinobi. It was expected of Konoha to send pursuers so rapidly, but what wasn't to be expected was that they sent four genin, and one chuunin who looked to be promoted just recently. It was the start of their second day of transporting the "new body" and they had already gotten company.

"Tch. Is this the best Konoha has to offer?" Tayuya spoke annoyingly. "A bunch of wet nosed brats eager to die?"

There stood five children not more than twelve or thirteen years of age. From the left there was a boy with pale blue eyes and long black hair, next to him was fat looking kid who looked like Jiroubou when he was younger, the center boy was the chuunin and quite possibly their leader, next to him was this blonde loud mouth kid with an orange jump suit, and finally another boy with his pet dog. It wasn't ANBU, or Hunter Nin, or Special Jounin, or Jounin, even a full group of Chuunin. Konoha not only sent children to stop them, but to add even more insult to it, they sent genin who looked to be fresh out of academy. The thought alone was so ridiculous it wasn't even worth laughing at. The Sound Four looked at their "pursuers" and wondered if they should've just LET them come, so Orochimaru-sama would have more "potential" bodies to experiment on. But that wasn't the mission assigned this time, it was to retrive one body, ONLY one body, and return back to him as quickly as they could non-stop. Annoyed at this all, Jiroubou decided to stay behind and stop them himself.

"Go ahead you guys. I'll hold them here. I've been dying for a snack ever since we left Konoha." The big fat Sound nin handed off the barrel containing the body to Kidoumaru.

Kidoumaru took the barrel containing Orochimaru's precious body, and the three Sound Nin cointinued on with their course of direction. In the distance as they left Jiroubou, all they heard was his signature jutsu being yelled out.

"Doton Kekai! Dorou Doumu! (Earth Barrier! Earth Dome Prison!)"

And there was the great explosion following afterwards, as expected of Jiroubou, the three of them knew that those five kids were no match for his 'feeding jutsu'.

As you can see, I wanted to do that whole part about all the Sound Nin fights, leading up to the final fights with Tayuya & Kimimaro, then going into the Edited Version that is on FF.net, so actually the fic that is on FF.net is really the end of this chapter.



Bone Flute (FF.net Edited Version): http://www.fanfictio...91/1/Bone_Flute

Notes on Bone Flute:

• The fic "The Sound of Hope" was the spark to start a side fic of Kimimaro, leading up to Tayuya. If you read carefully, and see the hints towards how their stories are related, you can semi-understand and see how I wanted to two to meet up.
• Originally it was supposed to be a multi-chaptered fic, depicting the origins of Kimimaro & Tayuya.
• In true fashion, it was supposed to be a Love/Hate relationship, but then I wanted to work with something even deeper like a full on romance story built on how Kimimaro is utterly loyal to Orochimaru, like that is his prime goal. But second to that is his unspoken love for Tayuya, as how he may never say it, or show it, since all emotion was taken out of him, but inside he felt it.
• Now for Tayuya, I was going to start her off as a young girl who was sold off to "Tea Houses", to become a geisha, but because she was abused so much, is the reason why she became so bitter. Until she met Kimimaro, the first person to ever really help her. So in turn she falls in love with him at first, and through time she tries to open up to him, but Kimimaro being Kimimaro, sees only Orochimaru first. Thus she kept the bitter attitude up at all times, especially since she had to work with three other outcasts.
• How I wanted to portray it was another story as well. I wanted to show points in where Tayuya speaks of freedom, and makes multiple escape attempts from Orochimaru with Kimimaro, but everytime they get caught, Tayuya is punished, where as Kimimaro simply apologizes like a loyal dog. And because of that is where the Love/Hate begins.
• Somewhere along the way, Kimimaro shows a sign of humility by giving Tayuya a gift for the aniversary of their meeting. He create a flute out of his own spine, and carve it himself. The symbolizing being that the bone from his spine being the strongest, thus lasting her for a long time.
• Even the title of the fic is symbolic, being that the Bone is Kimimaro, and the Flute being Tayuya, thus they are tied together.
• I had a lot of ideas and storylines between the two of them, and I really do enjoy this couple. They really are opposites of each other, and at the same time, they are both really good at what they do. Killing.
• So in the end, it really is a Tragedy/Romance story, because we all know in the end they die.

Next we'll look into my failed Sasuke Fic: "Mad Mad House! The Sasuke Experience"

[Denim88]

No way! Tayuya fics?!?!

Hm...I actually liked that story. I've always liked Tayuya for some reason, so anything well written with her in it is WIN in my book. Personally, I've always been a fan of NaruTayu, but that was good enough. :thumbs:

Well, I look forward to this next creation of yours...Sasuke...Experience...

[hokuten]

Next on today's list is my dark comedy fic about Sasuke in a metal hospital. Here is "Mad Mad House: The Sasuke Experience". It only goes up to three chapters, and I was working on a third chapter, but it never made it to publishing day.

http://www.fanfictio...1/Mad_Mad_House


Unfinished/Unpublished Chapter 3 of Mad Mad House

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Disclaimer: Blah blah, don't own naruto.

"I'm late! I'm late!"

No, Alice don't follow the rabbit! But the hole goes deeper and deeper...

Mad Mad House: The Sasuke Experience

Chatper 3: The Rabbit Hole

... Images ...

Images of my brother being taken away kicking and scream as if he was being sentenced to death. Only it wasn't death ... it was a room, a room to which I could only imagine what horrors would await him to make him so terrorfied. A room in which someday I'd too would have to succumb too.

Its only been my second day here at this asyleum, and somehow I feel ... in place. The blinds that covered our small vertical window opened automatically. The entire place must be run by some sort of a "computer", or timer. Bah, not like I'm planning on escaping ... yet. As my room, or "cell", was illuminated by the morning sun, it was cold and empty. I had spent my first night alone once again. The voice of my brother stricken with pure terror still in my mind. But I discarded the thought immediately as if it was just a joke. The door opened, and there was a voice on the hall intercom-

"All patients proceed to main lounge area. All patients proceed to main lounge area."

It was like something you'd hear at factory. Some calm cool female monotonous voice directing people to where they are to be. So what more unexpected things would I expect here? It was only a few steps out my door way and down the long hall. That ... dark hallway. I made my way through the winding halls and steep stairs of the Western Wing. It was like a maze, twisting and turning, halls seeming longer than they were, never ending stairwells, numbers that kept changing places going forwards and backwards, everything was about misdirection. I was already getting fairly irritated at this, took me nearly thirty minutes just to get to the 1st floor.

As I came down the main flight of stairs, I looked to my opposite side. The Eastern Wing. What was it about that side of the hospital that gave ME, the creeps. Something was there, something that I would soon find out to be unreal. It felt like gloom, the feeling of death about to take you, yet it lingered in the air, taunting you. Cold, the unbearable feeling of coldness, a cold that not even the lonliest wanderer could shake off. And yet with all those unbarable sensations ... something drew me towards it. Something luring me, to seek this horror that had no name or face. What is this mysterious feeling that wants me to find out. I had gone through many hells myself, one of which getting nearly possessed by a pedophile snake (Orochimaru). Even though I had escaped him, I never knew what had happened to him afterwards-

"Ahh Saaaasuke-kuuun."

That voice. That slithering voice of his, like a snake charmer. It gave me the shivers everytime.

"Sssaaasssuukke-kuuun."

There it was again. Wait a minute, was I imagining his voice? Or ... I turned around to my complete and utter shock.

"Hello Sasuke-kun."

I was completely in shock. It was the snake charmer himself, Orochimaru! Standing right here before me in THIS hospital! At first I didn't believe my eyes, but that pale skin, those masscare covered eyes, that snake like look upon his face. It was him. But something was wrong ... he just stood there. As if he was a zombie himself. All he had was that devilish smile, but his eyes showed no sign of life. And the way he moved, shuffling around like an empty shell. This was not the once Evil Sannin that had taken out Sandaime, or planned the great destruction of Konoha. He was ... different. His hair was cut short also, and there was a strange mark upon his head, there were stiches. Then I had realized exactly what they had done to him.

"My God ... you've been-"

Then I was interrupted by a nurse who had found us. "Labotomized? Yes, he was turned in by his own caretaker, some really nice fellow with glasses."

Glasses? Hah, so Kabuto finally submitted the old man here. Funny as how he would only wish to be Orochimaru's slave, perhaps he grew tired of only taking care of him. The nurse contined to explain.

"Yes, naturally when he was first administered here, he gave us quite a lot of trouble. Trying to play those mind games of his, and talking about raising the dead. We diagnosed him with Necro-philia. Poor poor soul. He seemed like a sweet fellow, but the doctor thought he was thinking way too much, even for himself. So he had him labotomized for his own good. Now all we can do is take care of him. Come now, you're late for breakfast!"

She took poor zombie Orochimaru, and escorted us to the main lounge. There I couldn't believe my eyes as to whom else my "roommates" would be. In the far corner watching the Tv, I saw Kisame, Itachi's Akatsuki partner, watching Animal Planet on Oceanography & Sharks. What was even more strange was that he wasn't blue anymore, but actually quite "human". Where his gills would have been they were no more, or more likely the doctors sewed him up, and gave him an anotomy change. As he was watching the Shark documentary, he just had this look of self-sorrow, he looked so pitiful. Next to the window there were more Akatsuki members, especially that Deidra. He, or she, (I could never tell the difference) was just standing there talking. That wasnt the strange part, he was talking to his hand as if it was a live being, but when in reality there was nothing there, it was only a hand. Another odd fellow as this boy Sasori, he sat at the table cutting out pieces of paper (with kiddy sciccors of course), then putting them on sticks. I wondered what he was doing, then he put up a big piece of paper and hid behind it. Then I realized what he was doing ... shadow puppets. I had heard that this member of the Akatsuki was the true master puppeteer, but now with no more complicated puppets of destruction all he had was simple paper to work with. Another man in another corner opposite of Deidra, had a strange fixation on plants. There were large stitches around his arms and upper torso. It looked like they had amputated his original limbs, then replaced them with "human" ones.

A strange crowd indeed, it was like I was the only "normal" person around, not affiliated with any organization, nor have any particular obsession ... well actually I guess I did have a Brother Complex. Did? Do? What does it matter, the Itachi I met last night was not the same brother that I had been seeking to kill for all these years. It was someone else, someone that even now is scaring me. Not because he's a threat, but something about him had changed, and that something is here in this place.

"...this strange place..."

"You're telling me!"

A familiar voice came from behind me. I turned around and who do I see? None other than a fellow bloodline carrier.

"Neji? Hyuuga Neji???" I said in disbelief. "What are you doing here? Didn't expect to see you in here."

"Eh ... I got diagnosed as a manglomaniac, a severe case of incest, but then again I did make an attempt at familial genocide. But besides that, I'm great!" He just had this look of self-gratification. "So what's the Uchiha runaway doing in a place like this? Did they catch you?"

I looked at him for a bit. "Nah, I admitted myself here. Figured I was pretty messed up to begin with, so why not just try to straighten myself out."

"Heh, you sure picked one hell of a place for a spa." He laughed it up, but then came to a more serious note. "Well I got one piece of advise for you."

I leaned in to listen. He looked left and right, checking around to make sure no one was watching him.

"Don't let your curiousity get the best of you."

I looked at him as in what the hell is that supposed to mean, but instead just shook my head at the notion, and went off to go watch TV with Kisame. After a good long hour, the nurses came in and escorted the lot of us to the cafeteria. It felt like a prison line, only no one was going to stab you, or give you punches while in line. Instead it was like a drone line. Everyone waddled in place moving foward like an assembly line. Grab the plate, move down, get food, and go sit.

Notes on Mad Mad House:

• BELIEVE IT OR NOT! The idea of Mad Mad House was inspired originally by a Flash from Newgrounds.com called "The Nightmare Room" (click link to view flash). It was supposed to be a dark comedy where Sasuke admits himself to an asylum, not necessarily an insane asylum, or one for the criminally insane, just the moderately disturbed. It's more so of a hospital for the criminally insane, who have been "corrected".
• Akatsuki: with the introduction of Akatsuki in the Naruto world, I wanted to incorporate them as criminally insane, but had been reduced down to "harmless" by-standers who need to be watched by nurses, and doctors. I had a back story for each one and their obsession, turned into medical disorders. I originally started with just up to Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, and Zetsu, because the others were not introduced, but if I had known them, these are what I would have assigned them.
  • Itachi had his eyes replaced, suffers from Delusional Disorder, and Schizophrenia
  • Kisame was surgically repaired to be back to "human", suffers violent Psychosis
  • Deidara talks to his hand or uses sock puppets while playing with child proof play-doh,
  • Sasori has been stitched back up to normal, and plays with paper/shadow puppets, who suffers from Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) (click link for explaination)
  • Zetsu converted back to "human", has a pet plant, and suffers from Depersonalization disorder, or "multiple personality disorder"
  • Hidan suffers from Delusional Disorder & Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD), due to popular belief his is very "religious", so in turn I would probably turned him into an atheist. Who also believes in Self Injury disorder
  • Kakuzu who has also been completely "sewn up" back to "human", also suffers from BDD, in the way that he wants to make himself more perfect
  • Blue doesn't actually suffer from anything, but she is to stay away from all paper objects, and confined to a plastic room
  • Pein also had his eyes removed, and suffers from neurotic psychosis, delusional disorder, schizophrenia, depersonalization disorder, and OCD. Yeah, he's definitely super medicated
  • Tobi/Madara this guy just tops everything. I'd probably just prescribe him on riddlin, that ADD medicine
• Moving on, other people who were supposed to be "guest stars" were, Orochimaru (lobotomized) and Hyuuga Neji who just suffers from OCD, but was also self-admitted.
• The comedy in this all is that here is Sasuke, who clearly isn't insane, or has any type of mental problem, except for maybe the occasional psychosis, is put in this "hospital" with all these Super-Powered-has-beens. And just living day in and day out, seeing how all of them came to fall. But the REAL story is not about Sasuke at all. It's actually about the Hospital itself.
• I wanted to base it off of "House on Haunted Hill", and all those horror stories about the old hospitals, mental hospitals, insane asylums, and such. So it may look "clean" and "safe" at the time, but who knows what exactly goes on when lights are out. I mean the way how Akatsuki is completely demoralized to the way they are as depicted. I mean wouldn't you want to know exactly how these "feared", "super-powered", "kill you where you stand" ninjas became like this?
• The second step that I wanted to incorporate into this was, "Room 6". Room 6 actually being the "Nightmare Room". The idea was to throw them into an empty chamber with a single window on the wall, to let the full moon shine in. It's a blank room, white walls, no padding, no bed, no toilet, nothing except this window to an outside world. What happens inside? All your worst nightmares become real, and true. Not just adult fears, but even childhood fears manifest themselves into the room, and there's nothing you can do about it. So can you imagine, as powerless as a baby, with a fragile & unstable mind going through that kind of hell? I'd be scared to death. So you can see why Itachi is deathly afraid of going there, as well as wanting to end life.
• Now the trick with Sasuke is that he still has his Sharingan, but has no desire to use, or even "re-activate" them. If anything, in my story he's trying suppress it. So naturally when it's his turn to take on "re-education" in the Nightmare Room, he's struggling double, not to use his Sharingan and get it cut out of him, AND having to deal with all of these old nightmares he's afraid of.
• BUT never fear, I actually wanted to play Sasuke in a more positive light, since I don't really HATE-HATE him, and wanted to play him a more noble character. In the end, Sasuke beats the Nightmare Room by simply coming to terms with his fears. In the end, I wanted him to use a line for meditation when he's finally realized that this is all just in his head, and not really real. "Fear is nothing but a figment of my imagination. The Pain will pass through me and cannot harm me at all."
• So in the end, he walks out a new man. Not necessarily a better person, he is after all a wanted fugitive, but over all a new person with a new respect on life and how everyone else is fortunate to not experience The Nightmare Room.
• So yes, in essence, the Nightmare room is not real, but only feeds off of your own fears & ambitions.
• Along the way, I wanted to include some cameo appearances from other Naruto characters: Naruto & Sakura together, Hinata for Neji, and rogue Kabuto for Orochimaru.
• An actual twist I wanted to play on this series is that this was supposed to be my first Sasuke X Hinata fic as well! Yes, where as NaruSaku come in to visit their estranged friend/teammate, and Hinata comes to visit her troubled cousin. Hinata also runs into Sasuke, and they spark off in an affair where she now comes to visit him instead.
• So go figure! Guess I just wasn't completely motivated to write this supposed-to-be multi-chaptered fic.
• And I guess I lost all will to write it, even though I really had a good plan for how Sasuke first experiences the Nightmare Room. Let me tell you, even the Boogie Man exists within that room.

Let's see next on my lists I have:

• The Forgotten (original The Sound of Hope fic idea)

EDIT: I updated the first post to have a list of all the fics I plan to post and talk about. So that is the full list up top.

EDIT(2): I just remembered I completely forgot about the main antagonist of the entire fic! Dr. Saizo of Mad Mad House!

• Dr. Saizo your normal Medical Doctor. He acts as Primary Surgeon, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Psycho Analyst, and whack job.
• During the day he is calm collected, casual, and you wouldn't mistake him for anything, other than you're normal everyday doctor who takes very good care of his patients. But during after hours? It's another story.
• He's ruthless, immoral, actually he has no morals at all.
• Extremely Unethical, and goes beyond all rules & regulations of Medical Science.
• He has an obsession with surgery, and how is very prone to human experimentation.
• He believe the ends justify the means for the good of all medical science, and what he does may help the "Good" prevail over the "Bad". Case in point, how he managed to sub-due all Akatsuki to nothing, but brainless test subjects.
• If this is the man who brought these monsters to nothing but child-like minds, then what kind of monster is he?
• He is the creator of the "Nightmare Room", Room 6 of the West Ward.
• The Eastern Ward is his personal section, he only grants access to his "special nurses".
• The Eastern Ward is depicted as every scary hospital corridor, or hallway, that has that flicking fluorescent light. With random stretcher carts just lying around, dark rooms, completely empty, or at least you think so at first. At night you can always hear screams of pain, horror, and sounds that are just humanly terrifying. Only to make you wonder, what exactly goes on there?
• At first experience Sasuke would run into ghosts, and shadow figures of past victims that came that way. All souls that are trapped there under Dr. Saizo's good/evil will.
• There was no real end to Dr. Saizo, because he is just that good at what he does. Saving the lives of Konoha, at the expense of it's enemies succumbing to his experimental ways.
• I think by the time I had Sasuke ready to leave, Sasuke would uncover the truth behind Dr. Saizo, and lock him within his own creation, the Nightmare Room, for the good doctor to get a taste of his own medicine. Or I probably would have had Sasuke cast Mangekyo on the doctor, and turn him into a blubbering vegetable himself. Either way, the doctor would get justice dealt out to him, whether it was by himself, or by someone else.

[hokuten]

Okay, here is the next installment of what didn't make the final cut! Presenting to you the original idea of "The Sound Of Hope", which originally was supposed to be a more open fiction about all of the forgotten characters, thus entitled, "The Forgotten".

A little history behind the idea:

• Originally I wanted to do all the neglected characters of Naruto-verse, not just Sound (Orochimaru's supposed country).
• I couldn't find the drive to do ALL of the characters, as well as doing FULL chapters on just one character was just too much for me to handle. Do to popular belief, even though I can come up with good material, I am just like everyone else, and don't feel like writing it all out. Which is why everyone comes in broken parts, or pieces, and never wholes.
• So instead, I condensed all of Sound into one short story of each person.

Here are some parts of the series and idea that would have been.

Original Outline, with some script

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

The Forgotten/Darkness That Guides

These are the memories and lives of those lost in time, or forgotten in face. The memories of Past, Present, and Future. But with their memories, they will always be remembered as ... The Forgotten.

---[sound]---
Orochimaru

Uchiha Sasuke (Pride & Power)

Mitarashi Anko (False Love)

Yakushi Kabuto (loyalty)
Akadou Yoroi (chakra absorbtion) (Sasuke)
Tsurugi Misumi (boneless) (Kankurou)

Kaguya Kimimaro (lonewolf) (Naruto, Lee, Gaara)
Tayuya (freedom) (Shikamaru, Temari)
Sakon/Ukon (survival) (Kiba, Kankurou)
Kidoumaru (acceptance) (Neji)
Jiroubou (hunger) (Chouji)

Kinuta Dosu (leper) (Gaara)
Abumi Zaku (power) (Shino)
Tsuchi Kin (Shikamaru)


---[Mist]---
Momochi Zabuza
Haku
Hoshigake Kisame

---[Sand]---
Yashamaru
Chiyo
Sasori

---[konoha]---
Rin
Uchiha Obito
Hatake Kakashi

Uzuki Yuugao (ANBU Girl)
Gekkou Hayate
Shiranui Genma

Sandaime - Sarutobi
Sarutobi Asumi
Sarutobi Konohamaru

Umuino Iruka
Yuuhi Kurenai
Morino Ibiki

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Forgotten

These are the memoirs of those Past, Present, & Future.
Those of the Deceased,
Those of the Living,
And those whose memories were long forgotten over time,
But let us remember their lives, their memories, the untimely ends,
... One more time ...

Part 1: Darkness That Guides, The Sound Of Hope

Chapter 1: Orochimaru
Chapter 2: Mitarashi Anko
Chapter 3: Yakushi Kabuto
Chapter 4: Akadou Yoroi
Chapter 5: Tsurugi Misumi
Chapter 6: Kaguya Kimimaro
Chapter 7: Tayuya
Chapter 8: Sakon & Ukon
Chapter 9: Kidoumaru
Chapter 10: Jiroubou
Chapter 11: Kinuta Dosu
Chapter 12: Abumi Zaku
Chapter 13: Tsuchi Kin

Part 2: Blood & Tears

Part 3: The World in a Grain of Sand

Part 4: The Eternal Flame

Semi-Start to Sandaime Hokage

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

The Forgotten

Chapter 1: Sandaime Hokage (Sarutobi)

"... In the Beginning ..."


Many know who I am and what I have accomplished in my time. But there were so few who actually knew my life's story. My strength is that I trust and believe in the people around me, and that they in turn trust me with their lives as well. As trust and belief was my strength, it has also lead me to my death. The one person whom I whole-heartedly believed to be my best student, stabbed me through the heart for his own lust for power.

My face may be carved into that mountain in Konoha, but my legacy will live in the hearts of those who saw me as the past Hokage, Sarutobi Sandaime. And this was my life ...

I remember my brothers, all of them. Shodaime, being the eldest, and Nidaime being the second eldest. They built this country from the ground up. Started a foundation, and simply kept on building it for the future, for me. They were great men, and I always looked up to them.

-----------------------------------------------
The Darkness That Guides Us

Chapter 1: Orochimaru

In my life, I have done many wretched things. Things I am both proud and ashamed of. But what I do, I do in true belief that I will make the world better. In some ways I seek redemption, in others I seek ascension, but mostly I seek a lost vengence. I have been called many names in my lifetime as well.

An Orphan,
An Outcast,
A Son,
A Man,
A Genius,
A Rebel,
A Manipulator,
A Killer,
A Snake,
A Charmer,
A Murderer,
A Corruptor
A Saint,
A Saviour,
A Teacher,
A God,
A Devil,
A Monster,

A Traitor.

I am a soul without a body. I have shed my physical skin and have accended to a higher plane of existance. I've evolved myself to a level to which no one else can attain. It is my secret, mine alone. And I shall keep that secret with me until I am either forgotten, or until I cease to exist.

I am Immortal

I am both God & Devil

I am Orochimaru.


---

I am not a monster.

It wasn't always like this. I never wanted to be the bad guy, and in truth my intentions and goals were for the greater good. But sometimes to do good, you have to do a little evil.

I am not a monster.

So in turn, I have done a lot of evil, only to help those that I can, and if not than to help myself. I don't see myself as an evil person, nor do I find my actions or ... "crimes" ... unjust. I have only done what I have out of survival, and power.

I am not a monster, I am a saviour.

Despite the many lives I have taken, I have also given new lives to those I deem fit. I have chosen those who will rise up above the common people and join me in my glorious goal. But ... what was my goal? I don't even remember it myself, because it's been such a long journey already. But perhaps, I can start from the beginning.

I don't remember my parents, and if I did they must have abandoned me while I was still just a young child. I had lived a rough life, surviving by myself, alone. No one would help me, no one would even look at me, and no one would care about me. But him ... it was he who saved me, he who picked me up from the streets and gave me a life worth living. He saw that I was a plagued child with a sickness that couldn't be cured. He brought me into his life, gave me a home, and saved me from my harsh life. He gave me an education, saw that I was much stronger than who I was, and treated me as if I were his son. It was he who gave me a second chance at life and I shall never forget it.

He was Sandaime, the Hokage of Konoha. But to me he was Sarutobi-sensei, my hero, my saviour, my father.

As I grew up with him, I became smater, stronger, faster. Learning all about the shinobi world and how to survive in it. I even made some friends when I was young. There was this blonde girl who would always beat up on the white haired boy. From what I remember, she was the great grand-daughter of the first two Hokages of Konoha, Tsunade-hime. She was very kind at heart and helpful, but there were times when she would be loud and act like a spoiled princess. The boy was Jiraiya, he would always cause trouble for Sarutobi-sensei and play pranks all the time. He was completely reckless, I'd say my exact counterpart. But for what it was worth, he'd always invite me to go play with him and have fun. As much as he was annoying, he was my only true friend ... perhaps even one that I could call a brother. The three of us grew up with each other, not just as a team of shinobi, but to me as a family. It was then that I felt happiness for the first time in my life ...

... and sadly the last. I can remember that day, the moment I knew what I would do in my life. That defining moment when I would cut myself off from my sudo family. It happened when the three of us were teenagers becoming young adults, when Sarutobi-sensei would let us go and become independent. It was that last lecture he would give us.

"The three of you, come here before me." Sarutobi-sensei spoke calmly and collectively. We came closer to him, and all sat around him. He gave us his usual lecture about life and how we must live by it to do good unto others. The his famous "Eternal Fire of Konoha" speech that he has told to all of his students, as well as those who have served with him. But then something happened as he was nearing the end of his great speech. He paused for a moment and put a hand to his chest as if he were in pain. Just then his breathing became very

Couple Notes on the Sarutobi angle:

• This actually was another idea that was brought to me, about how the Sannin (Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru) all have a similar technique standing.
• At least for Tsunade & Orochimaru, their forbidden techniques all involve a version of "immortality", or prolonging life. Tsunade with her Youth Jutsu, and Orochimaru with his body transfering. The only trick was figuring out what Jiraiya's "Immortality" Jutsu was, only we find out that he doesn't have one. His true immortality lives with Naruto, his Godson.
• So the you can see where I was going with how Orochimaru is slightly passionate about Sarutobi, and Sarutobi sees Orochimaru as an adopted son. Where as Tsunade is essentially blood related, niece.
• Anyway, it died out for me, as it got more complicated with the way the main Naruto story was going, and I felt that I just couldn't bring myself to change everything.

Essentially with this supposed to be multi-chaptered fiction, I wanted to give insight to what each character's personality was, and possible provide my own interpretation of their background, since there was hardly any to begin with. Also many of these characters have great potential for interesting stories, but are either only "mentionable", one pane of manga viewable, or not even shown at all. So I wanted to give a little more credit to these possible people! Which is why I called the fiction, "The Forgotten".

Next on the list:

• Unfinished, Unpublished, Prelude to my first narusaku fiction, Heaven & Earth: The Uzumaki Saga

[hokuten]

And now here is the Unfinished/Unpublished Prelude Chapter to my original NaruSaku Fic, Heaven & Earth: The Uzumaki Saga. Here is the link to the FF.net uploaded 5 chapter completed version.

http://www.fanfictio...he_Uzumaki_Saga

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Heavan & Earth: The Uzumaki Saga

Prelude:
20 years since he was loose...
20 years since he was sealed away...
And now...he still lives...inside of me.


==========[Uzumaki Naruto]==========
Location: Somewhere on the Borders of the Valley Of the Wind

There are 3 ANBU, one with black hair tied off, one with long pale blonde hair in a ponytail, and another with short golden hair that was wild. They stopped to rest and the Golden haired male stood next to a tree, gazing out into the distance of the long grass.

"I don't remember my past. I don't remember my parents. Hell, I don't remember a lot of things. BUt what I do know, is that I am tormented by him, ever since I was a child. His eyes always showed bloodlust. He's claws etching away at my soul. His tails wrapping around my body, squeezing the life out of me. But it is my will that keeps him at bay. My will, that subdued him...and now? He works for me. I'm alone. I'm always alone. No friends. No family. No ties to anyone, except her. She is my heaven. My salvation."

As the ANBU thought to himself, he removed his Mask. His Codename was Kitsune (Fox). His mask was even in the shape of a fox. He began to gear up, putting on his flak vest, making sure his katana was sharp and well maintained. He ran his hand through his wild golden hair, put his mask back on, and began to walk back to his teammates.

"But she was gone. And what is a man...no...a demon, without his heaven? Only a Demon free to roam the world..."

Gone,
Gone from this life and into the next,
My...Angel Of Light...

"The day she disappeared, I came up with that poem. But I don't believe in it. She lives...and I WILL find her. I will find you...Sakura..."

And the three ANBU disappeared into the grass. Moving quickly like a lion hidden within a savanna, but with the speed of a cheetah.

"Hoy. Kitsune? Tell me again why I'm with you again?" siad the dark haired man.

"I didn't ask you to come with me, Kage (Shadow). Nor did I ask you, Jisei (Self-Control)." Replied Kitsune.

"And I didn't ask you to come with me, on that mission to save Sasuke. You came to my aid. Now I am returning the favor." Kage answered. "Although Jisei, why did you come?"

"Sakura is my best friend too you know. And someone has to keep you focused, husband!"

Kage shook his head and simply laughed at those words. "How troublesome..."

"Thank you. Both of you. Truely you are my only family." Kitsune nodded his head, and smiled behind his mask. He hadn't smiled in days, ever since Sakura disappeared...

==========[Haruno Sakura]==========
"Unnnn.... Where am I?" spoke the female ninja. She woke up to a dark room lit with only candles. She checked herself for any injuries, or such. She couldn't recall anything that happened recently. The last thing she remembered was... "I was walking home after gathering flowers, when a familiar person came up to me and asked..." At that moment it hit her, she was captured by a stranger. But no ordinary stranger, he wore a Konoha headband with a slash through the metal plate. Suddenly a deep voice spoke from the darkness...

"Awake are we? Good! If you behave you may live." But this voice was different, not the one she had encountered. The man had long back hair, down to his waist. His eyes showed a darkness, that could only be caused by madness and suffering.

Notes on Chapter 0 of H&E: Uzu Saga:

• As you may already notice this was originally supposed to be the First Chapter for H&E: Uzu Saga.
• The reason why it never made it to production was because at the time I was writing lemon fics for my VoH collection. So VoH took priority at the time, and I partly dropped this whole thing.
• Later after I was done writing Lemons, I went back and picked this project back up, as I needed to write something non-lemon, but also something more mainstream.
• At the time, I was still fairly new to the Naruto Series, and we were currently on the Chuunin Exam ARC (manga & anime). So we didn't see a lot of development, and lots of more angst.
• The original story plot was that Sakura was captured by an unknown assailant, and so Naruto, Shikamaru, and Ino are off to hunt for her.
• Ironically, this storyline was partly inspired by the non-existant storyline of VoH.
• This chapter also partly inspired the later NaruSaku fiction, To the Ends of the Earth.
• Another reason why this never made to production was because at the time I really didn't want to write a whole plotline that would end up being more chapters than it should be. Which is why I cheated and wrote that cliff note/base outline in the FF.net Chapter 1.
• This was also the beginning of the fics of how I wanted to have Naruto & Kyuubi work in mutual harmony, and through the years have learned to live with each other. (Before finding out that Kyuubi is pure evil, and wants only destruction.)
• The gimmic I've always wanted to play with Naruto is that his trademark move was have a Red Fox summon jutsu made up of pure red chakra, and it was like a mini-embodiment of Kyuubi.
• This fic was also one of my earlier days as a writer, so you can see just how crude my writing really was back then. I didn't know anything about Fanfiction writing, how to properly write, what the terms were, how to keep people "in character".
• Later I'm finding out that this fanfic would be classified under: AU (Alternate-Universe), Slash, Crossover, and a bunch of other catagories. And yes, I know there are like a billion Original Characters in there that just are there for story purposes. Also this has to tbe one of the first fictions where I included people from the NaruSaku Fanclub at the time.
• Also I wouldn't know if I would classify the whole fanfic under "Songfic" because technically I'm not using the song as the base of the story, but more so for setting the mood of each sequence. So really, if you have the chance, or time, try to download the songs I've placed in there, and listen to it while reading that specific scene. And you'll really feel the mood of that scene, so I really would reccomend for those of you who have the time, to go back read the fic with the songs included in them.
• And that's pretty much all there is to this chapter, everything else you want to know is in the Author's Notes of the fics.

Next on the list, I'll go in a different order. I don't which one I'll do next.

[hokuten]

I'm going to skip Village of Hentai review session for another time, because there really isn't much to explain to it. So I'm going to move on with another Fanfic Series I wrote, but Unpublished! Now we're going to discuss: The Kakashi Chronicles!

Notes on Kakashi Chronicles:

• I used to have it on my FF.net profile, but later took it down since it really wasn't going anywhere, and I found no drive to write Kakashi X (girl per chapter).
• It was NOT a Kakashi X Harem, but more so the life of our favorite Jounin and how he is such the ladies man. I just happen to pair him up with select possible women.
• There were only 2 official chapters that were published, Kakashi X (Anko & Kurenai). Shizune was next on the list, as well as Sakura (that later turned into the one-shot "Forbidden Love").
• I think my personal favorite would have to be Kakashi X Shizune, simply because they both roughly seem to be the same age. They would kind of compliment each other in the fact where Kakashi is always getting injured and is very laid back. Where as Shizune would always be the one to heal & fix him up, and she's always worry-some & caring.
• But my personal favorite is Kakashi X Kurenai (despite the manga canon Asuma X Kurenai), simply because they are both mysterious characters, and Kurenai is very exotic and seems like would give Kakashi a run for his money.
• Anko is the classic choice for many. But I'm more of an Anko X Iruka fan myself.

Here are the first two full-length completed chapters of Kakashi Chronicles:

Chapter 1

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Chapter 1: Birds & Snakes (KakashiXAnkoXGai w/ a hint of Orochimaru)

"HEY BARTENDER!!! MORE LIQUOR!!! HAHAHAHAAAA", said a drunken woman.

She was in her early 20s, dark gray-blueish hair. She wore a long white overcoat, fishnets, and a mini-skirt. Her face was bright red, and her eyes were squinted.

"Ya' kno sumthin? I wasn't always like dis.."

It was the same story...the moment that changed her life. Of course the bartender knew this story only about a hundred times! Suddenly Kakashi walked into the bar...

"You need to stop drinking so much, Anko." He said in a calm and kool voice.

"Eh?? AH! KAKASHI~! You're just in time!" She slaps her hand onto the bar. "Bartender! Give us a shot of that Imported Vodka!"

At those words Kakashi looked at the Bartender, and nodded his head. Kakashi knew Anko would never leave unless he had a drink with her, so he came up with a trick. The Bartender would give Anko a shot of Vodka, while Kakashi's glass would be water. It was the signal that it was time Anko to go home.

"Bottoms up!" Kakashi said, with a grin on his face.

They both take their shots, and Anko almost immediately passes out. At that Kakashi picks her up and carries her on his back. Just as he begins to step out the door...

"Errhem.." The bartender waves his hands as in 'she still hasn't paid yet'.

"Ara~! Um...put it on my tab?" Kakashi says in his usual kool voice.

The bartender sighs, and just nods his head. Kakashi says his thank yous, and walks out to Anko's apartment. On the way, while carrying Anko, she begins to snore a little and mumble words.

"ZzZ..mm..i'm sorry..ZZz..Kakashi-kun.."

They had made it to Anko's place, and as he opened her door, bottles of sake and beer fell over. It was a big mess, bottles all over the floor, boxes of sake all unorganized, weapons all over tables, and wrappers of snacks/sweets all over. Kakashi navigated his way through the wasteland, and made it to her bed. He took off her coat and put it on a chair. As he laid her down unto the bed, he saw a picture frame faced down. He flipped the picture and smiled.

(Flashback - when they were all budding teenagers)

There were three young adolescents walking though the park; two guys and one girl. The first boy was slightly thin, but was ripped; he had Jet-black hair and thick eyebrows. He wore a green outfit with orange/yellowish bands around his fore arm, and calf legs. The girl who was fairly rounded, wore fishnets, a shirt, and mini-skirt. She had dark blue hair, that was tied up in the back, and had a big grin on her face. The last boy was the same size as the first, but was built more differently, not as thin/skinny, and average all around. He had shining silver hair that danced as the wind blew. Over his left eye he had a patch, because he had recently underwent some surgery recently. The boy in green ran out ahead a little and the girl followed just after, while the silver hair boy just walked silently.

"Hey! Anko! Wanna see this awesome new move I created myself??" said the boy in green.

"Really Gai?? You did it all by yourself?" Anko said.

"Yeah! It took months, but I finally mastered it! It's called Omote Renge (Primary Lotus). And then there's Ura Renge (Extreme Lotus)! Isn't that awesome!" He said this and did his pose, the teeth shining, and thumbs up (later to be known as "The Nice Guy Pose").

"That's so cool! Kakashi did you hear?" She said cheerfully and looked back to see him.

"...eh. Whatever." He replied, with a subtle tone and looked off to the side. In truth he was jealous of Gai. All Kakashi could do was imitate people and mimic their moves. He was jealous of Gai's power and strength.

"Haha! Kakashi! That attitude of yours is soo...soo...HIP!" Gai said.

"Someday you'll come up with your own move! For now I win!" It was a regular thing between these two, always competing for whoever is better. But most of all, they were competing to show off for Anko.

"Come on now, Gai. I'm sure Kakashi-kun will come up with a great move someday!" Anko replied. She liked both of them, in truth all three of them had been friends for a long time. Gai was always out there picking fights to show off his skill, while Kakashi was quiet and very smooth. "Anyway, lets get going! Orochimaru-sama said he wanted to show us something!"

SO trio made their way into the forest, where it started to become darker, and the trees towered over them. The came upon a small area where there was a circle of light. In the center of the light was a pale looking man, with long dark hair.

"Ahh! You three are late! Hmm? Kakashi? What happened to your eye?" said the pale man.

Kakashi just covered his patch with is hand, and stuttered, "It's..It's nothing. I had an infection, and it had to be treated." Of course it was lie, but man just smiled slightly and accepted it.

"Orochimaru-sama~! You look even paler than yesterday! Are you sure you're okay???" Anko said cheerfully.

"Hah! Anko, its just the way my skin is. You're looking good as usual."

Anko blushed slightly, because she had a big crush on Orochimaru, for being so smart and strong. She wished she could be as strong as him.

"AH! Orochimaru-sama! What is it that you wanted to show us today!

It's not another one of your 'pets' is it?!" Poor Gai said, as he gulped nervously.

"Ohoho!! Oh no, today I would like one of you to become my assistant!"

At those words Anko jumped up and gleefully said "Really!?"

Kakashi and Gai just looked confused, because of the way Orochimaru said "Assistant", he had a look in his eyes as if they were to be guinea pigs or something...

"So any volunteers?" He said very snake-like.

Of course Anko was already jumping up and down, waving her hand in the air. "Me~! Me~! Me~!"

"Hahahaha!!! It seems that Anko is the braver of the two of you! Okay! Anko you will come back here tomorrow for special training for the next couple of months. Here I want you to have this." Orochimaru gave her a tooth necklace. It was the tooth of a big snake, it was almost he size of your finger. Anko gave a big smile and began looking at it.

"Its really pretty. Thank you Orochimaru-sama!"

Kakashi and Gai had a very bad feeling about this. They wanted to ask what Orochimaru was planning for, but they were also afraid of him. He would always work in the shadows, even for a ninja. At that very moment, the two boys wouldn't see Anko for a long time...

(End of Flashback)

A flock of birds had just flown past the window. It was the same sound as his special move, The Chidori. Just as Kakashi was pulling the blanket over Anko, he saw the Cursed Seal. That very seal that Sasuke has on his left shoulder. And he remembered that moment, when he and Gai were sent on an A rank mission...

(Flashback - Kakashi & Gai now in ANBU)

"You summoned us Hokage-sama?" said a more adolescent Kakashi.

Sarutobi had a look of alarm and worry on his face. He Was putting on his battle gear, as they came in.

"It's a state of emergency. I want you two to track Orochimaru and stop him in anyway." He said in a stern voice.

"Why is he a criminal all of a sudden, Hokage-sama?" asked Gai.

"He's been killing people and taking their bodies. For what reason I'm not too sure, but I intend to find out." Sarutobi said this, as he tightened his arm guards. "But what I do know, is that he's holding Anko hostage."

"WHAT!?" Both Gai and Kakashi's face expression changed.

"You're mission is to bring Anko back, and slow Orochimaru until I arrive. Go, and be careful. He's not alone"

"Yes sir." And they both left his office.

They had made their way to an underground lair, almost like a sewage Cistern. It was like a maze, corners turning left and right, the darkness all around, and the pungent smell of waste. Kakashi and Gai made way fast, until they reached a large area in the maze. A room almost 2 stories high. There were only 2 pathways, the one they had just come through, and one on the other side. There stood a pale looking boy, not much older than they were. About 18, maybe 19, he had short white hair, and a strange marking on his forehead.

"I can't let you pass." said the pale boy.

Kakashi and Gai bum rushed the boy, but then suddenly spikes came out of his body! They were his BONES!? They fought for a short while and neither Kakashi nor Gai could land a solid hit on him. Then Gai had an idea. He leaned over to Kakashi, and spoke to him.

"Kakashi, when I give the signal, you go."

"GAI!?"

"Only I can stop him. You have to go save Anko."

Kakashi looked at him and knew Gai had something up his sleeve. He nodded and got ready to move. Suddenly Gai disappeared and the pale boy was hit up into the air. Gai's speed increased dramatically and the pale boy was caught off guard.

"KAKASHI GO!!! QUICKLY"

Kakashi moved as quickly as he could just missing a few spikes that the pale boy threw while in mid-air. At that Kakashi disappeared into the dark hall.

"It's just you and me you freak! EAT THIS! OMOTE RENGE-!!!"

Just as Kakashi made his way down the dark tunnel the ground all around

shook as if a great earthquake had just hit. He looked back and thought to himself, "Gai..." He continued forward ran into a few traps that were no problem for him. Then he finally reached an area where there was a soft light. There he saw him face to face, Orochimaru. That pale face, and snake like eyes. In his left arms he carried a knocked out Anko.

"Orochimaru! What are you planning on doing to Anko! Why are you killing people senselessly!?" Kakashi barked out.

He simply replied, "Ohoho! It's good to see you too Kakashi-kun."

"ANSWER ME!" He threw shuriken at Orochimaru, but he caught them all with his right hand.

"I'm glad you were able to get past all my traps, and young Kimimaro. But you can't stop me. Even if you are ANBU. My plans? Well...they're just a SURPRISE!" He said those words like a mad man, his eyes were wide open and he licked his lips.

At those words Kakashi tried to attack Orochimaru with everything he had, but they were all thrown off like childs play. He wasn't powerful enough to beat Orochimaru, and Anko was going to die. Finally Kakashi tried to bum rush him, but he pulled a hidden sword and cut Kakashi's left eye. Kakashi backed off and was on one knee, covering his eye with his left hand, and his right hand hung to his side. He was almost out of chakra, and his body was exhausted. Blood was coming down his face.

"What's wrong, Kakashi-kun? Tired already? If you die, then maybe I'll STEAL your BODY? HAHAHAAA"

Kakashi began thinking to himself, he could hear the slow beat of his own heart, "Power... I need more power." Suddenly his right hand began to spark.

"Power to protect those that I care about.." The sparks began to gather.

"Power to save Anko..." Almost like lightening gathering to his palm, becoming solid. The sound was loud, almost like the beating of a thousand birds

"POWER TO STOP THIS BASTARD!!!" At that moment he opened his left eye to reveal IT! He got up and charged Orochimaru with inhuman speed!

"OROCHIMARU DIE!" Kakashi said in a rage.

In an instant Kakashi's arm was driven through Orochimaru's open chest, not hitting Anko. Orochimaru coughed blood, and simply smiled. Kakashi breathing hard, completely exhausted.

"So, the rumors are true. They gave you Sharingan!"

Kakashi gasped at those words, and looked right at him, eye to eye.

"You win this time. Take care of Anko for me. It's been fun..." And Orochimaru began to melt away, it was a clone. "...Kakashi-kun."

After that Kakashi caught Anko before she hit the ground, and laid her down. There was a mark on her left shoulder. An unfamiliar seal he had never seen before. She was twisting in pain, and all he could do was hold her hand. But soon he was going to pass out, completely exhausted and drained of chakra. He held her hand as long as he could, and began to pass out. in the distance he heard someone calling out to him faintly...

"Kakashi! Hey Kakashi! Hang On, Hokage and ANBU are coming..."

(End Of Flashback)

Kakashi tucked Anko in, and removed his mask and headband, revealing his face. He bend over and kissed Anko on the forehead, and then put the picture frame back up. He made his way out of the apartment without making a noise, and closed the door quietly. Gai was outside already waiting for him to go eat. It was a picture of Kakashi and Anko together years after the incident, and in the corner was a smaller picture of them as kids that time they went to see Orochimaru.

End Of Chapter 1.

Author's Note: Well first let me say its not easy for me to come up with titles, so sorry for this one being Untitled. Okay so maybe it isn’t that big of a Love Triangle. Originally I wanted to do something similar to Macross Plus with Guld/Isamu/Myung but it didn’t work out. I wanted to so an extended scene with Gai VS Kimimaro where when guy pulls off the Primary Lotus, and Kimimaro's bones are all broken, but then as Gai runs off to catch up with Kakashi, Kimimaro does a T1000
and pulls himself back to together. About the Kakashi and Sharingan thingy, I picked up some of the theories from people, and I guess I wanted to use some of it. If the part with his "Chidori" seems kinda weak, I’m sorry, it is kinda confusing. He's supposed to be thinking to himself then when he's fully charged up, he shouts "OROCHIMARU DIE!". About the flashbacks, sorry again if that is confusing too. Well sorry Ero-Senins, no hentai this story. I'll try to put some kind of lemony freshness in Chapter 2 though. Well hoped yall liked it! ~Hokuten

Chapter 2

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Chapter 2: Crimson Eyes [KakashiXKurenai]

It was the end of summer, and the beginning of fall. Kurenai was sitting in the local cafe drinking some hot tea, when suddenly Kakashi appeared.

"Come join me for some tea, Kakashi?" said the crimson-eyed Jounin.

The Silver-haired Jounin stopped in his tracks and lifted his face from his Come Come Paradise Vol. 3.

"Hmm? Kurenai? Why are you here alone? Where's Asuma? He's usually here with you." He replied.

"He left early to play Shogi (Japanese Chess) with Shikamaru again." She said rather sadly.

Kakashi lost on his road of life, decided to sit down with her.

"Why do you mask your face all the time?" She said, after taking a sip from her cup.

Kakashi paused for a moment, then gleefully said, "...Ahh~! It's until I get married some day!" Then he began to scratch the back of his head.

At those words Kurenai tried not to laugh, and spit her tea out. She smiled lightly and deeply at him. "You are handsome, you know..."

He paused for second and saw Kurenai looking directly at him. "Kurenai... Why don't we go for a walk? While the sun is still out?"

She nodded her head, and they left the cafe. The two jounins made their way to a park where it was quiet and not many people were around. As they were walking, Kurenai asked Kakashi "that" question...

"Why did you bring me to Konoha?" asked the crimson-eyed Jounin.

Kakashi paused for a bit, then replied, "I don't know."

But in actuality he knew. He remembered the moment he was sent out on a rank B mission that nearly costed his life. They found a spot out in fields of Konoha, where the grass swayed in the wind, and sat themselves under a willow tree. Kakashi sat leaned up against the tree, while Kurenai sat on the side of him. She took his arm and put her head onto his shoulder.

"May I...see your face. Please?" She asked quietly.

Kakashi simply removed his headband and mask, revealing his scar and sharingan. He opened his eye and took breathed in the clean air, letting the wind blow through his silver hair. He looked down at Kurenai and saw that she was slightly blushing and smiling.

"Why do you always ask to see my face?" Kakashi question politely.

Kurenai closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder again. "Because, it's that same face that brought me back home."

At those words she took his hand and held onto it, and he simply gripped back.

"Do you remember the day we first met?" She sighed, and quietly dozed off.

Kakashi held onto her hand, and whispered, "I remember..."

[Flashback: xx Years ago...shortly after the Orochimaru Incident] -- Hokage's Office

"You summoned us Hokage-sama?"

There were 5 ANBU in his office today, most noticeably were Anko, Gekkou, Genma, Gai, and Kakashi.

"I've summon you for a special mission. 4 of you will go on a reconnaissance mission (gathering intelligence). Here are the details." Sarutobi handed to Gekkou a scroll.

Gekkou coughed, and spoke, "Excuse me, Hokage-sama. But there are 5 of us."

"Oh? So there are. Well then Anko, Genma, Gai, and you will be assigned. Dismissed."

Gai made a face at Kakashi as if to say "HAHA!! I've been chosen!", but Kakashi merely ignored him. The 4 ANBU put on their masks and left immediately, and just as Kakashi was about to leave...

"Kakashi. I need to speak with you."

"Yes sir." And he stepped back into the office.

"How are you feeling?" Hokage was refering to Kakashi's Sharingan eye, which was covered by a eye patch.

"The scar hurts now and then, but I have been training myself, and re-adjusting my flow of chakra." He replied.

Hokage sat down in his chair and took off his hat. "There is a separate mission I want to you to do. Alone."

"..."

Then he began to light his pipe and smoke. "Yuuhi Kurenai. Have you ever heard of this person?"

"No Sir."

Hokage blew a smoke cloud, and continued, "She ran away from Konoha at the age of 16, and went into missing for a couple years now. I want you to track her down, and bring her back. She should be about your age now, maybe a little younger."

"..." Kakashi was confused about this mission.

"Do you know why she ran away?" He paused. "It's because she has no one left here in Konoha. Since Kyuubi's attack, she lost off of her family."

"why me sir?"

Sarutobi got up from his chair and put his hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "I choose you because you are very empathic. You hide your emotions very well, but I know you."

Kakashi bowed his head in respect, and replied, "Yes sir."

"Here is the scroll to get you started." Hokage handed him a red scroll.

"Most noticeably, she has Crimson (Red) Eyes."

Kakashi was about to leave again...

"Kakashi. Be warned, SHE is a Survivalist and a Master of Genjutsu (Illusions). There's a reason why she hasn't been found yet."

Kakashi took note of Hokage's words and left the office.

--------------------------
[3 days into the hunt...] -- Somewhere out in the Country Of Grass

Kakashi thinking to himself, "Hmm. Last known sighting of her was in the Village of Grass."

He was already in a large area of grass fields and trees. It had seemed like he had been traveling endlessly for days. He made camp, and rested for the next day. The wind was pure and refreshing, also the landscape was absolutely beautiful. The next morning, he woke up and saw a small village up ahead. As he entered the village in a cloak, katana in hand. There were few people here, just small houses, and shops. He walked over to a supply shop and bought some rice, then asked the owner, if he saw anyone passing through this village recently.

"Excuse me. You wouldn't happen to know if anyone came through here recently?" He asked. "I'm looking for a woman."

The storeowner simply replied, "Sorry. No one's been here for weeks. In fact, your the first person we've seen in days!"

Kakashi paid for his small bag of rice, and left. As he was making his way out of town, he wasn't watching where he was going and then bumped headfirst into a woman. She had dark hair, and a light complexion (skin tone)...

"Oh! Excuse me." Said the woman, she was blushing slightly.

Kakashi fell on his back, and his eye patch snapped off. "Oh no, it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm-"

He didn't move at first, and was completely blanked out. This woman was beautiful. Then he looked directly at her eyes...they were crimson...

"You..."

The woman knew this tone of his voice and began to run away as quickly as she could. Kakashi got up and threw his cloak off.

"STOP! WAIT!" He shouted, as he was following her into the more wooded area.

Suddenly he had tripped a wire, and a pair of logs came flying down at him! Kakashi quickly dodged it, but then nearly stepped into a pit of spikes! He maneuvered over it, then suddenly wooden spikes came flying from all sides!? He jumped out of it, and reached treetop.

"My god...so many traps. She lured me in here on purpose." At those words, Kakashi remembered what Hokage-sama told him. "I understand now, why you picked me Hokage-sama."

Kakashi then unleashed his Sharingan. He quickly scanned the area and made past over fifty well placed traps, when suddenly he made it to a opening of long grass. He stood in the middle of the clearing. The long grass was almost up to his waist. She was here, hiding somewhere ready to strike. Kakashi spoke out calmly, "Please, I'm not here to harm you. Hokage-sama just wishes you to come home."

Kurenai, hidden in the grass, drew her kunai. Kakashi was having trouble pinpointing her, the grass kept on shifting left and right. She was like a lion ready to pounce her prey. Then she struck! Kakashi saw her and subdued her as best as he could. He knocked the kunai out of her hand and held her down. She looked away for a moment, and Kakashi looked at her.

"You're really pretty you know that." He didn't know why he said that. Maybe because of her eyes, they were so alluring. Just as Kakashi finished saying that, he grabbed the hand that was about to stab him in the back. "And these tricks won't work on me."

The clone on the ground disappeared and Kakashi had Kurenai. She tried to use a sleep technique on him, but Kakashi merely countered it.

"I've never met anyone like you before. Strong...and handsome." Kurenai said.

Kakashi released her, and spoke, "Hokage-sama wants you to come home. He's given you a chance to become a teacher, and forget this life of running away."

"..."

"Aren't you tired of running away? You can't change the past. But you can live." He looked at her, and began to walk away. "If you want to continue running, then I won't pursue. But I am giving you the choice."

"..." She turned to look at the open grass plain, and the life that she would have running, alone, traveling without a purpose. Then she looked at this complete strange, an ANBU with the scarred red eye. The wind began to blow through her hair, and she pushed it back. Kurenai walked towards the ANBU and took his hand. "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai."

Kakashi gripped her hand back, turned to look at her, and replied, "Hatake Kakashi."

"You know, you’re the first to beat all my traps, and see through my illusions. I find you strangely attractive. Handsome too." She said as they were making their way back.

[End Of Flashback]

The two of them sat there arm in arm, hand in hand, as the sun set into the horizon, and the cool breeze of the wind blew against their warm skin.

"Kakashi..." She opened her beautiful crimson eyes, and watched the sunset.

Kakashi lowered his head to kiss her forehead, and replied, "I know... I know..."

End Of Chapter 2.


Author's Note: WHEW!!! Sheesh I think I did a rush job on this one. Iunno what I was thinking. Anywho, yea Kurenai is such a mysterious person, I guess I had to make up some stuff. So there you have it Kakashi X Kurenai!? Both have red eyes, well Kakashi only has one, but what the heck! lol I think I should've put in more "Illusions" but I got lazy. I think I'll probably be adding more to this/revise it later. Next up is Chapter 3, Kakashi X Shizune!? yay! Hopefully I can make this a drama/comedy. Ack! Sorry no Lemon yet... Oh god, I hope Chapter 4 doesn't end up a disaster... Anywho, hope yall liked this one. ~Hokuten

Chapter 3 (unfinished)

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Chapter 3: Old Promises [KakashiXShizune]

I remember that night so vividly. When the demon came, and took my parents. But it was the day when I met him...

[Flashback - The night Kyuubi attacked...]

"MAMA! PAPA! Don't leave me!" A young girl ran out to her parents crying.

"We don't wish to leave you, Shizune. But it's our duty to protect everyone, and those that we love."

"But why do YOU have to go!?"

"Because we love you, and to protect you, we must answer the call of duty. Some day, you will understand. Remember that we will always love you."

The two shinobi parents embraced their little girl and that was the last Shizune had ever seen her parents. She went with the rest of the civilians to the safe shelter. Her parents had gone to fight the great demon fox, most likely to their deaths, but it was to protect her, and all of Konoha.

Notes on Chapter 3:

• The original storyline, is that during the night of the Kyuubi attack, Shizune's parents go off to fight, and leave her with Kakashi to look after her. As children, Kakashi vows to protect Shizune and look after her, as he knows what it's like to lose his parents as well. Well as we find out, Shizune's parents die protecting & serving for Konoha, thus leaving Shizune an orphan, and a middle-aged (not older) Tsunade to adopt her. Through time while Tsunade is still in Konoha, Shizune & Kakashi have a role reversal. While Kakashi joins ANBU, and goes off on dangerous missions, Shizune takes up medical school, and enrolls under Tsunade. Thus Shizune is the one who is now taking care of Kakashi, after almost every mission. So through time, Shizune leaves with Tsunade (when she goes rogue), and Kakashi stays in Konoha. When they come back, in the end he visits her all injured and bruised up, and she fixes him as usual. The two go into a deep discussion about each other, what happened, where they've gone, and all that. In the end, this was his way of checking up on her and making sure she would never be alone, by coming to her directly for treatment, so that he'd always see her.
• I wanted to put a romantic angle on it, but more so left it at a more deep friendship bond, as they are two differnt worlds, but share a common loneliness of loss of parents during war time.

Notes on Chapter 4:

• The unwritten Chapter 4 of Kakashi Chronicles was supposed to be Kakashi X Sakura. Not in a romantic angle, but more so teacher/student relationship.
• Because I never got to it, there isn't any real outline, story, plot, or development.
• In the end, I never got to start anything on a Kakashi X Sakura angle, and actually threw away the idea because I wasn't all too obliged to write it myself.
• But a year or two afterwards, I suddenly felt compelled to write a Kakashi X Sakura fiction, most-likely because of the idea of the two year time-skip (Part 2 Manga).
• So instead of actually continuing Kakashi Chronicles, which kind of died off on FF.net and all the other places I've posted it. I came up with a completely different fanfic, with a whole different feeling and mood, and by this time, my writing had matured.

So for those of you who haven't read it, here is the link to "Forbidden Love", technically Chapter 4 of Kakashi Chronicles, but actually a seperate fiction in itself:

http://www.fanfictio.../Forbidden_Love

Notes on Forbidden Love (FF.net):

• As stated above, Forbidden Love is the unofficial Chapter 4 of Kakshi Chronicles.
• The aformentioned statement above does not relate to any Melissa(s) on H&E. But actually a real life friend of mine, who really means a lot to me.
• The over all theme to this fiction is fairly Mature Rated. To the comon fanfic reader it might just seem like a night watching movies with your sensei/senpai. But in reality, it's a little more in-depth that than, and if you read between the lines, you'll see that it's a little more intimate than you'd think.
• The line "Always & Never" is from Sin City (movie), from Clive Owen's story "Big Fat Kill", at the end when Clive Owen & Rosario Dawson are together.
• I semi-based it off that theme, of how our dark hero has interest, and genuinely loves his student, but realistically, she loves a different person.
• Of course, being a girl of that age, emotions can run wild, and she's in conflict of what she wants. So the dark hero, being the "good guy" & "doing the right thing", in a way let's her go. Like any cliche quote, if you truly love someone, sometimes you have to do what's best for them, even if it means "Letting them go". Not to be confused with "If they love you and you let them go, they'll always come back".
• God I hate that line, because it's not always true. It's the hard goodbyes that are real, and letting go of the one you truly love is the hardest thing to do in the world. So when Kakashi answering Sakura's question with "Always, and Never", you have to understand that it's killing him inside that he's letting her go now and not get attached to an "old man", when she can experience a "better love life" (in a sense).
• I think this has to be one of my more powerful fanfics I've ever written, because it really has a lot of emotion, deep meaning, and expression to it.

[hokuten]

I'm going to do two quick ones, that are already published.

http://www.fanfictio...72/1/Fight_Club

Notes on Fight Club:

• Fight Club was supposed to be my interpretation on getting NaruSaku together through physical combat.
• Supposed to be slated for multi-chapters.
• The over all theme to this fiction was two completely seperate styles of fighting, coming together as one, and fight side by side, hand in hand.
• I wrote this fanfic during the peak of my interest of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), as well as interest in Professional Boxing. But now it's died down to a casual interest, and not so obsessive, especially the way things are going currently.
• The fanfic was supposed to be based off of what training was like during the Two Year timeskip, where Naruto is with Jiraiya, and Sakura is with Tsunade.
• In Chapter 1, Naruto is introduced as Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who in real life is a real mix martial artist, who specializes in Brazilian Jujitsu & some Muay Thai (Kickboxing). His trainer I based off of UFC Hall of Famer, Ken Shamrock. Babalu is one of my favorite fighters because he's crazy, and he'll pull some wicked submissions out of you if you aren't careful. So I gave Naruto Babalu's name & title as a fighter's name, since the "UTC (Ultimate Taijutsu Championship)" is an underground organization in this fic. And he doesn't want his name to be associated with Konoha in respect.
• In Chapter 2, Sakura is introduced as herself, because she is fighting in a sanctioned area. Sakura learns taijutsu first hand from Tsunade herself, so in turn to truly train Sakura in combat (besides sparring with her master) she pits her into the ring for real experience, and cash on the side (as Tsunade would do to exploit her student). In this area, I really got to be creative in making her a full on Muay Thai (kickboxing star). What really inspired me to write her as this was during the episode in Naruto Shippuuden (Part 2 Anime), when she & Naruto are doing the Bell Test with Kakashi, and she rushes in at him boxing style. That was awesome. Then when she was fighting with Chiyo against Sasori. That was totally badass. So in turn, I wanted to give her a more realistic background about her Taijutsu training. Not just Sakura Vs Tsunade all the time.
• So in contrast, Naruto who is doing pure Brazilian Jujitsu (ground game, with submissions) vs Sakura who is doing pure Muay Thai (striking game). The two entirely different worlds of training, and masterly of techniques over time inadvertly come together.
• The Opening Chapters show them at the peak of their status, winning the championships. But the other chapters open with them starting at the lowest rank, losing their fights at first because they aren't accustomed to pure Taijutsu, with no use of chakra. That's another key point I wanted to put in this fanfic, they aren't using any Ninja skills here, besides body & mind. It's all completely natural training: strength weight lifting, toughening through conditioning, endurance by cardio workout, speed & coordination training as well.
• So they start off low, then they finally pick up the pace, and find their groove/style to fight. That's when they are on the rise, and like any fighter who starts winning, they become over confident. So they lose their first championship fight, but rise up again for the challenge, and not only become better fighters, but better people in the sense of honor.
• The final Chapter that was supposed to be for this series was that, Sakura was going to face off against "Babalu" this notorious underground fighter, who is actually Naruto under a different alias. So the fight is set up for a big event, supposed to held at a place called "Moonlit Wilderness" (Tekken).
• Thus the song from that stage from Tekken "Moonlit Wilderness" really sets the mood for that fight. BUT in the end, Naruto throws the fight, because he can't bring himself to fight against his "Sakura-chan". Instead there's a whole up-roar and the two sides team up all together and just fight their way out.
• In the end of the story, Naruto doesn't reveal himself to Sakura, because he isn't ready. As well as Sakura who is interested in this "Babalu" guy, but can't shake the feeling that she knows him somehow. The two of them walk away from the professional taijutsu world, and take with them the knowledge & experience they had gained.
• Also for some reason I was in a very Fat Boy Slim mood, so if you are reading the fics, try playing the song associated with the fight scene, and you'll definitely feel the intensity.
• As an after story, when Naruto returns to Konoha (officially), the two of them go off in a sparring match, and that's when Sakura realizes that Naruto was "Babalu". So the two of them have that bond of taijutsu to link them together even more in-depth.

http://www.fanfictio...eneath_the_Eyes

Notes on Lines: Beneath the Eyes

• This fanfic came out roughly the same time as "Forbidden Love", so the deep meaning, and powerful wording is still in affect here.
• As stated in the Author's Note, what really inspired me to write this fanfic was that my friend, Chris has the same type facial lines as Itachi does. And when he had noticed it himself, he explained as "I'm always smiling, so I guess the lines are like scars in a sense, but positive in a way!". That really hit me, and I immediately thought of Itachi and how he has the same facial feature. So in turn, I wrote this fanfic depicting that those scars are actually from him being the good brother (keeping in mind that I wrote this BEFORE the recent manga chapters 397/398).
• So theorically & pretty scary, my fic is slightly similar to what Kishimoto wrote. Possible he read my fanfic, and liked the idea? Who knows, I don't really care.
• The second inspiration that partly helped in writing the fanfic was Final Fantasy X. When Tidus confronts his father, Jeckt, he shouts to him "I HATE YOU!", when we all know that in truth he just missed having a father. And all he could answer to him was that he "hated" him. So in essence here, Sasuke's "hate" is really just him missing the good brother he used to be.
• The imagery here is more powerful than the actual words, but at the same time, the words stand out with such meaning that you can't overlook the deeper sense of the emotions running.
• So maybe? Just maybe, we might get a "reformed" Sasuke? Although I doubt it, and it's way to storybook ending, I personally think some ones going to die (talking about Naruto Manga).

I think that's enough notes & fanfics for today. I'm all burned out and exhausted from all that review. I'll start up again tomorrow with the long awaited "To the Ends of the Earth"! The one where it probably would have been my finest work of art yet, but died an untimely death of just uber laziness. Sorry fans & subscribers!

[hokuten]

Finally! The long awaited over view of the critically acclaimed "To the Ends of the Earth"! Well not really critically acclaimed, but one of my true epic stories to be told.

http://www.fanfictio...ds_Of_the_Earth

History & Key Notes behind EotE:

• A key note before we begin, is that this was written before Part 2 Manga/Shippuuden Anime, and before the revelation that Akatsuki was a specific group of 9 shinobi. Before I wrote them in as a evil organization spread through out the countries (like an organized crime mob).
• The theme behind this fiction is "World War II".
• The first chapter was my attempt at trying out a different style of writing through letters. The actual theme I based it off of was Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay movie). With how Ben Affleck writes those letters to Kate Beckinsale from England. I loved the contrast between the war out in Europe VS the war in the Pacific (before Japan's attack). The over all feeling you get from Naruto's letters is the truth, and what is going on exactly. People are dying, getting injured & scarred. It's just like the war in Vietnam, people didn't really perceive war until they saw it, or read about it. It's a horrible thing to view, and an even worse thing to experience when you're right in the middle of it.
• One of my favorite points in Chapter 1 is that Naruto is partnered up with Kiba. Those two in my opinion have the best compatibility to be partners in crime. Which actually sparks another fiction, "The Brotherhood", that will be discussed another time.
• Actually now that I think about it, the letters are almost exactly like Pearl Harbor format, and in the end it is Naruto (Ben Affleck) who "dies". But not really, and there's no Josh Harnett character to swoon Sakura's heart over.
• So in the end, you find out that Naruto is indeed captured, and was the intended target, leading up to that point.
• In Chapter 2, I introduce Shiro the White Wolf. Shiro, I took from Suikoden II, because he was my favorite non-human character, and I used him for everywhere I went. So in turn, I inserted Shiro as Sakura's guide, so to speak. Shiro is a noted character that I wanted to use in many fictions, he's my personal fan favorite, and I love the white wolf being a companion.
• Shiro in this story may seem just like a playful & watchful guard, but in reality he's not stupid at all. He's very self-aware, and when push came to shove he'll protect you at all costs. It's sad that I never got to really play out his character.
• In Chapter 3, I brought back the letters, only this time I based this off of the movie "Memento" with Guy Pierce. Where he has no short term memory, and so he leaves notes on the back of polaroid pictures to remind him key notes. Only in this case, Sakura is retracing Naruto's steps through the war, from encampment to encampment, village to village.
• Also at the same time, we have Naruto who is captured and put on a prison island. For Naruto's side of the story, I slightly used Count of Monte Cristo, and how he's trapped in something similar to a French Prison. Dirty, isolated, dark, smells of rot & blood. And the only thing that is keeping him alive is the thought of Sakura, and the letters she's written him. Here I wanted to depict how real prisoners of war are treated. Which usually is never pretty. This was only just the beginning to what they would do to him.
• And of course, at the end of Chapter 3, we have our favorite anti-hero return, Sasuke!
• Now in Chapter 4, Sakura & Sasuke meet again for the first time in over 10-15+ years (keeping in mind this story was written before Part 2 Manga, or Shippuuden).
• According my story, she's already gotten over him, and moved on with Naruto, but to Sasuke (or who we think is Sasuke) he thinks she is still attached to him, and thus tries to "manipulate" her into going his pathway.
• Sakura by now is not girlish anymore, and is an adult with a very matured mind. So she is very cautious about him showing up all of a sudden.
• What I completely left out, was that Shiro is supposed to be there and just goes berserk at first sight of Sasuke, because he can sense what he really is, and who it really is. And in that moment, Sakura has to subdue Shiro, so that he doesn't jump and bite Sasuke's head off. I got too into the human moment, and completely neglected Shiro.
• At the end of Chapter 4, we see the hints of who is in true control of Sasuke, and I'll explain more of the plot further as we move along.

And now presenting to you, for the first time ever, finally open to the publics eyes, the Unfinished, Unpublished, Chapter 5 of To the Ends of the Earth: NaruSaku!

Chapter 5 (unfinished)

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

See Disclaimers 1-4.

Chapter 5: Sand & Fire

(I've got no strings)
(To hold me down)
(To make me fret, or make me frown)
(I had strings)
(But now I'm free)
(There are no strings on me)

"God I hate that song." A red headed young man spoke in an annoyed tone. He sat across from his older brother who was working the children's show. The red haired man was creating elegant sand castles for the children to play with.

"Well little brother, it's the only show that brings in the children and parents." The older brother spoke, he had a distinct face paint pattern upon his face. It was similar to that of a kabuki dancer, only he was working the puppets.

"And when is sister going to come back already, Kankurou? I'm getting tired of making these ... THINGS." The younger one spoke even more agitated.

Kankurou made his puppets dance around singing that incredibly annoying song. "Paitence Gaara. You know how Temari is when dealing with our clients. And besides she can take care of herself."

"Tch. I'm just ..." Gaara paused for a moment, trying to think of the unfamiliar word that escaped his tongue. "... whatever."

Kankurou chuckled slightly as he knew Gaara was actually "worried", or "concernend", for the first time in a long while. That and the fact that all the children went over to see him make his super sand castles. But everytime they tugged at his sash, he would give dark glare, growl, and scare the poor children every now and then. All in all, it was good to finally have a "normal" brother, and a some what, not "happy", but complacent family. Soon after Kankurou had finished his show of Pinocchio, they closed up their small display area, and moved into their temporary hut. It was made completely of sand and held up purely by the sheer will of Gaara. This was training for him so that he could always keep full concentration, and not lose focus. He would simply sit in the center and meditate. While Kankurou went over to fix up his puppets, most importantly Karasu, his main puppet and weapon. A few moments later a blonde woman came walking in. She was the oldest of the three, their sister, and leader of the group. She wore a very elegant dress, that had a deep violet color about it, along with a red sash that went around her waist. She was fairly slender but had a medium build to her, with her hair tied off in four buns, and those devilish green eyes! She could seduce any man with her looks alone! On her back she carried a rather large fan, it went from her feet up to nearly her midsection/chest.

"Ah, Temari you're back!" Kankurou annonced. "So who's the target this time?"

She placed her giant fan down against the wall, and undid her hair that fell down just past her shoulders. "We've just been reassigned, and you're never gonna believe what our assignment is this time."

"Konoha business again?" Scoffed Kankurou as he began to wrap Karasu in bandages.

Temari gave a faint laugh, and began to change her clothes. Almost immediately a wall of sand just popped up so she could change behind it. "Thank you, Gaara. Yes, more business from Konoha. This time we're going to have to save Gaara's friend yet again."

"What!? Naruto's in danger agian!?" In the instant Gaara lost focus, the sand wall for Temari came falling down and she covered her nearly naked body with a robe she had. Also their temporary sand hut nearly came crashing down!

"GAARA!?" She yelled out embarassed and a little agitated, even though they were siblings.

"Oh ..." He paused for a moment, sat back down and regained his concentration. The hut that nearly disapated went back into shape, and the sand screen came back up for Temari. "S-sorry sister."

Temari sighed heavily, contined to change, and finish the mission briefing. "I'm still never gonna get used to you apologizing, but it's okay Gaara. At least this time you didn't create a sand trap like last time."

The three siblings all laughed, their moods lightened up, even Gaara had a slight smile upon his face, remembering that incident. Temari finished geting changed, and the sand wall fell back to the ground.

"Apparently this is UNOFFICIAL business. A friend just happened to call in a favor and he wants us to assist Naruto's woman in search of him. She's supposed to be meeting us within the next few days. AND apparently he was lost in that damn war Kohona and the Grass had. But whatever, we're getting paid to help anyway." Temari finished breifing them, and chose to lay down for a bit.

"Heh, so they need our help once again to find this lost soldier. Well lucky us! Hey Gaara looks like you get to save your buddy yet again!" Kankurou made a semi-joke at his younger brother.

Gaara simply sat there meditating, thinking to himself. (Naruto is in danger yet again. I must go to help him, my only best friend. The one who helped me realize my existence without killing.) And the three of them rested up, waiting for the arrival of their soon to be traveling companion.

---

Meanwhile on the outskirts of the Hidden Village of Sand, Sakura and Sasuke had just crossed the extensive desert. They had passed from town to town asking for any signs or clues of any unusal activity within the past few months or so. All of the towns simply told them off, and pointed them in the direction of the main Village of Sand.

"It's strange, how can people miss a 30 foot long metal dragon, stomping its way across the desert? I mean someone must have seen something!" Sakura questioned all of those past towns.

"It's not like everywhere else. The sand muffles the heavy booms of this dragon, so no one can really hear it coming. As well as the wind keeps shifting the sand around, so there are no tracks or traces left behind. Whoever these people are knew how to cover their tracks, and planned this out very precise." Sasuke answered her.

Sakura nodded at his explaination which made sense. But one more question still puzzled her mind. "It all still doesn't make any sense, why would they start an entire war of bloodshed over one person?"

"Hasn't he told you his secret? The burden that he carries with him?" Sasuke asked confusingly.

"About what? Kyuubi?" She replied.

Sasuke looked at her baffled as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "Yeah, I'm sure by now he's told you everything about it, and his whole life's story."

"Yes. He has, the day we realized our feelings. He revealed everything to me." She nodded her head.

"Think about it. You can't just send him on a mission and make him disappear, it causes questions and investigation. Solo missions and team missions have witnesses, concrete witnesses. But starting a war you have hundreds, maybe even thousands of people going at each other not really focusing on one specific person. Also it's natural for people to die in war, so Konoha simply assumed he died in action, or went missing. It happens, and you can't really do anything but deal with it. See the difference? When I learned that Konoha was at war, I couldn't believe it myself. And when I tried to search for the reason as to why, I found that ... there was no specific reason. I found it puzzling so I tried to investigate it myself. But I never imagined that I would bump into you in the middle of this whole mess. And when I saw you all of my past memories came back, remembering all the terrible things I caused. Sakura I'm sorry-"

"Stop it, you're already here helping me. This is your redeeming value! You're here to help me find Naruto! And when we find him ... maybe we can all go home, together." She smiled at the dark Uchiha.

Deep down, that was the reason why he liked her. She always saw the good inside of him. She always believed that he was never truly evil inside. Going home never sounded so good, but to return home, would also mean facing consequences. Consequences he knew he would have to face sooner or later, but until then he would help her find Naruto.

"Thank you Sakura." He said in his usual serious tone. She smiled back gladly and turned to face forward. But as she faced forward, his face went into an malicious smile. Inside he was laughing, inside he knew just EXACTLY what he was doing.

They had finally reached the marketplace of the Sand Village. The hustle and bustle of people going from one booth to another trading and selling. As they began to walk into the crowds, the people almost instinctively knew they were from Konoha. Even though their ties were stable once again, there was still bad blood between the two countries. Sakura and Sasuke could hear the people whispering and mumbling words about the two of them, but they also went about their business. They walked for about three more blocks then came to a building.

"Shikamaru said that he got us some help from Sand." Sakura spoke as she checked the message she recieved a few days back.

They came to a bar called Suna Irekawari, "Shifting Sands". It was a fairly medium sized bar, with many shady looking figures all about. It was looked like the kind of place where people with dark pasts would gather and tell their tales. They saw a blonde woman in the back of the bar sitting with two other men wave as if to signal them. Sakura and Sasuke walked over to the corner table and couldn't believe who they were meeting yet again after such a long time. Both sides gave an shocked response to whom they would be traveling with.

"YOU!?"

---

Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara came to Irekawari Suna just a few minutes ago, sitting themselves down in the back of the bar in the corner. This was the place where they would usually meet their clients and hear what job they're supposed to do. But this time around it was different, instead of going out to "take care of" someone, they were going to help search and rescue. They didn't know who exactly they were to meet, but were told to keep an eye out for a pink haired woman and dark blue haired male. Kankurou ordered himself some beef stew along with a bottle of imported beer. Gaara on the other hand simply wanted a glass of water. Temari was the manager, so she had to stay fairly sober for the confrontation. All she could think was if the male companion would be cute or handsome, but still had a mind for business. Normally all their missions involve "removing people" (assassinations), but this was a change in pace. She owed a favor to a very important friend in Konoha, so this would be her way of repaying her debt. Strange as it was, this rescue mission would actually be a relief from their constant dark path of killing. Even though, Gaara himself wasn't the one doing the missions, Gaara was actually the cover up. Temari did most of the dirty work, as well as Kankurou also did his fair share, but both elder siblings decided that Gaara never needed to shed blood anymore. Not ever since he changed for the good.

A few moments had passed and their food had already arrived. Temari was getting pretty impatient and was thinking about scarpping the mission, but that's when their contact had walked in. Two people, a woman with pink hair, and a man with dark blue hair. They looked vaguely familar at first, but as they made their way towards the corner, the faces began to become more recognizable. That was when both sides exclaimed at each other.

"YOU!?"

If Temari was right, the woman was the actual contact, but to face this man ...

"Uchiha Sasuke." She said his name in a fairly dark tone. "Now there's a name that will fetch us a hefty price. Just a sighting alone will grant us hundreds in silver. Although I never thought I'd be helping you instead of hunting."

The Uchiha renegade scoffed lightly at her remark, gave the usual cocky smile, then eyed the blonde babe herself. "Heh, and I wouldn't mind being taken in by someone like you. That is, if you can handle me."

Notes on Chapter 5:

• With Chapter 5 we introduce our favorite characters of all time! The Sand Siblings! In my story, they are not welcomed back to Suna with open arms, and are actually discarded by the Shinobi Council. It's a little more darker themed for them, but the positive factor in it is that they are finally a functioning family, even if it being just the three of them.
• This semi-idea sparked off from another idea from a would-be fiction, "The Wind Walker: Suna-hime", which we will discuss later.
• The opening of Kankurou doing Pinocchio was just too perfect, with Gaara entertaining the kids with his moving sand. The cover for the Sand Sibs are that they are traveling artists, moving from village to village, country to country, picking up jobs. And by jobs I mean, free lance mercenary jobs.
  • Temari is the handler, and does most of the work.
  • Kankurou is the sweeper, who cleans up after the mess, and finishes up any dirty work that is left.
  • And Gaara is the trump card for emergencies.
• The way I had it planned out was that they had a systematic way of working, and the key point was that Temari was playing Big Sister role full time now. She had two brothers to look after, although Kankurou was old enough to watch himself, but she definitely played more sister role after Gaara. She took care of him as the big sister she should have been when they were children.
• Also this was a reformed Gaara, who wasn't psychotic anymore, much like how Shippuuden/Part 2 Gaara is now.
• Moving on, the three sibs are contracted by (surprise surprise) Shikamaru to assist Sakura in her journey on tracking Naruto down.
• And of course, being the free lance workers they are, when they run into Sasuke, of course there's the question of his bounty.
• But differences aside, they stick to the mission. Even though the thought of turning Sasuke in is on their minds. I kinda put in that Sasuke hitting on Temari, because who wouldn't hit on someone like her! But it's actually him just being an arrogant jerk as usual.
• How this chapter was supposed to play out was like this:
  • The group head out into the desert and track the "Tank" through the sand with Gaara.
  • Somewhere along the way they get ambushed by Akatsuki soldiers, armed with "guns".
  • This happens towards the end of the chapter. So Sakura & Sasuke are on the right path, and get separated from the Sand Sibs.

Notes on Character, Storyline, & Plot development: (under construction)

• First let's get the storyline & plot out of the way. After Chapter 5, Chapters 6+ would have been about Sakura & Sasuke traveling from country to country, on a hunt looking for "Naruto's last location". So pretty much it's a wild goose chase, because Sasuke is leading her around by the nose. The plot being that Sasuke is trying to stall Sakura, while the Marquis is trying to break Naruto. During this time we see all the "discarded weapons" that the Akatsuki supplied during the War.
  • The "Metal Creature" is actually a "Tank" in the shape of a caterpillar like dragon, so it's about 30 feet long, moves pretty fast, and the armor is reinforced. But you find that it's nearly stripped apart for resources, and practically nothing is left behind, to cover it up.
  • The "lightning shooters" are the beginning step to "Guns" in the ninja world. So it shoots loud like lightning, and strikes just as hard. I'm talking real bullets, not prehistoric little bullets. During this time, it's the fact that the evolution of weaponry is starting to enter in the Naruto-verse.
  • As for the "Horse Riders", I actually don't remember where I was going to go with that one. I think I was thinking of "summoned" riders from hell, as in the Four Horsemen.
  • There were other types of "inventions" or "new weaponry" that I wanted to introduce into the fiction, but since it never really sparked off, it kinda died off there.
• Now from Naruto's side of the story, the entire time he's being held captive, and tortured day in and day out. What I had originally planned was that in Chapter 4, when Naruto verbally attacks the Marquis and uses his dark sense of humor (since he's much older now, and not kiddish) and makes the sarcastic suggestion of an "Exorcism". That sparked an idea for the Marquis to do. So in turn, I wanted to play it out that Naruto is actually going to allow them to attempt to exorcise Kyuubi from Naruto's body. And in doing so open up a door that they really should have. So by this time, Naruto has been staying alive by pure will power and thanks to his constant focus on Sakura. So when it finally comes to the exorcism, you can already tell that it's a bad idea.
• The way the Exorcism plays out is that they knockout Naruto, and the dungeon cell goes completely black, the candles blow out, the windows all shut, and it's pitch black, except for a dark red glow emanating from Naruto. The Marquis makes his move and attempts to speak with Kyuubi. As the Marquis moves closer to an unconscious Naruto who is chained to the wall, Naruto suddenly opens his eys, and they are blood red. Now Naruto is in under complete conscious under Kyuubi. When the Marquis attempts to speak with Kyuubi, the demon fox only laughs at him. The way I portrayed Kyuubi is speaking directly into his mind, without opening Naruto's lips. So you have this pure evil looking Naruto who has this look of deviant curiosity at this human who's practically abused his host's body. The scene was supposed to be very intense, and some what dark comedy.
• Afterwards the deep conversation, just before the Marquis is about to end the exorcism, Kyuubi takes advantage of this situation and essentially breaks Naruto out of the prison island. Completely destroys the entire prison, enslaving the Marquis inside his own hell. Kyuubi then takes Naruto's body all the way to land, and then relinquishes control back to Naruto. Now the story takes a turn, as Naruto is free from hell, but has no clue where he is exactly, or what direction to go towards.
• The story goes back to Sakura & Sasuke where after a few chapters of traveling (maybe 2-3 chapters after Naruto's escape), they finally catch up to Prison Island. Upon arrival, that's when Sasuke has to change the plan, and possibly hold Sakura hostage. But no until they find Naruto.
• This is where I lost focus of where the story would go. Either they go on hunting after Naruto, or I end up making it a quick find.
• In any case, by the end of the story, Sakura & Sasuke finally find Naruto, and that's when things turn south. Sasuke makes a strike for Naruto, but Shiro intervenes and takes the blow. Then after a quick fight scene, Naruto hits Sasuke with a mortal blow which should have killed him instantly. BUT that's when the clincher kicks in! Sasuke is not Sasuke, but actually Orochimaru! Just when Sasuke "thought" he defeated him, Orochimaru actually did win the mind battle (KEEP IN MIND, this was before Chapter 392/393 with Orochimaru's jutsu). So in a climatic battle, it comes to Naruto & Sakura fighting against Orochmaru/Sasuke! And just as Orochimaru is winning and goes in for the kill & transfer to Kyuubi, the last of Sasuke's will comes back.
• In the final moments, I wanted to portray Sasuke with some honor & nobility, and he takes his own life along with Orochimaru, since Orochimaru is stuck to that body. So NaruSaku get their lost team mate back, but at the cost of himself. It was a supposed to be one of those noble endings, and like in Pearl Harbor, they name their child after Sasuke in honor of him (only instead it's not Sasuke's kid, it's PURELY Naruto's kid, just name him in honor).
• Now moving onto Character Analysis! I'll start with Sakura!
  • Sakura: for starters, she is the main character this fiction was supposed to be centered around, as well as build up her character as a strong willed woman, with a true passion to search for the one that she truly loves. It's a love story to any end, and to what lengths you'll go through to really find the one you love. As well as it was her turn to save Naruto in a way, where Naruto has always saved her from the very beginning. That and the fact that she didn't want to lose another important person in her life. Now that I've reread through the chapters I've written, I should have left her at a Jounin level rank, instead of Lv1 ANBU. So I may, or may not do a re-write. Possible, but I doubt it.
  • Naruto: on the other hand, Naruto is ANBU rank, but not necessarily in ANBU. So he's kind of like a Lv1 Special Jounin (just left ANBU to become a more normal soldier). Naruto is actually the side story of the entire fiction. There were supposed to be some chapters purely on him, but through all of those chapters he's being broken down, or at least attempted to be broken down. The trick with Naruto is that he's still got that "punk", "roughneck", "prankster" charm about him, but it's not childish pranks, or stupid things when he was a kid/teenager. So he's a bit more matured, but now he's got a more matured mind in when to know how to answer correctly, and he's witty about it. Some extra skills I wanted to throw out there in the final battle against Sasuke was that, Naruto not only has Rasengan mastered, but over time, he's also managed to do Chidori (before Part 2 Manga/Shippuuden with the whole Chakra Manipulation deal). So the surprise attack is that Naruto catches Sasuke/Orochimaru off with Rasengan, but then comes up with his other hand that has Chidori! I wanted him to say some line like, "You're not the only one who knows that technique!", and BAM! Naruto hits him with a double shot of Rasengan + Chidori.
  • Sasuke / Orochimaru: in this fiction, Sasuke if people hadn't guessed it already, is under the control of Orochimaru. So through this entire time, it's Orochimaru in Sasuke's body leading Sakura all around on a wild goose chase. In the end, it's revealed that it is indeed Orochimaru, but in the climax, Sasuke regains control and in a redeeming factor sacrifices himself to end the nightmare.
  • Shiro: as for my favorite all time character insert, he played a more subtle role. Always staying by Sakura's side, protecting her just as Naruto would. So Shiro in a sense is Naruto in spirit, but instinctively Shiro knows that this person is important. And through his master's influence Shiro's first instinct is to protect her at all costs. And so in the end, he protects Sakura from Orochimaru's potential fatal strike.
  • Marquis: the evil villian of the first half of the entire fic, is the kind of man who you just cringe at. He's cruel with a smile, and has no morality to just how far he'll "interrogate" you. He's the kind of man who will kill you, and bring you back to life, just make you suffer all over again. It's the guy you just hate until the very end, and he gets what he deserves.
  • Akatsuki: the organization in my fiction, was going to be one of those shadow organizations, the kind that conspiracies talk about (i.e. Free Masons, or The Illuminati). I wanted it to be a group of leaders just playing around with the world as if it were a game. Keeping in mind that this was before it was revealed that the group was a select 9 ninjas. So throughout the story, they're trying to cover up after their affairs, and this is where Sakura who is inadvertently stumbling onto their conspiracy group by Orochimaru/Sasuke. The idea being that Orochimaru is trying uncover them and steal their weapons, technology.
• EotE Plot: the plot behind the story, is some what lost to me. I guess I didn't really come up with a good plot line for Sakura to go from country to country. I mean the goal was right, "Find Naruto, bring home". But how to get there, I just couldn't come up with anything at the time. I apologize to those of you who really enjoyed my fiction, and suddenly come to this unfinished, incomplete fiction. But really, I just lost all my writing edge, and when I do come up with something, it only comes in short moments.

And that completes the overview of "To the Ends of the Earth". I hope this helps those of you who read it before, and always wondered what would have happened, or what could have been. I'm sorry I couldn't quite get it all out of my system back then. But at least now you have a general idea of what I had planned originally.

[hokuten]

Okay, EotE took me 2 whole days to write up that freaking Over View. But it's definitely worth it, and I'm starting to feel a lot better now that I got all of that out. Especially since I've been keeping it bottled up for nearly 3-4 years worth of information. So I hope you all get chance to read it and fully understand what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, and why it never really got finished.

Okay, moving onto the next fiction! I've got a more risqué-type fiction! It started out as one of Tatsu no Houou's fiction challenges, and it started out really good, with lots of potential, but in the end, I hit a wall and like all my previous fics, it just kinda dropped off. So here's presenting to you . . .

Unfinished, Unpublished, NaruSaku Challenge fic
WARNING! Contains some MATURE material.

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Tatsu Challenge #4

Topic: Morning After from Hell
Genre: 1 part Drama, 1 part Angst, a dash of Romance, and a pinch of Humor
Rating: [M] for Mature

*beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep*

The alarm was starting to go off as the blonde ninja took a swipe at his clock to turn off the alarm blaring off in his ear. His mind was still foggy, still half-asleep, half-awake. He was face down on his pilow, but then turned it to the left and opened half an eye to focus on what time it was.

"...kuso..."

He muttered as the clock read 8 A.M. The sun was shining through his window on this late April day. It had rained last night, and it will probably rain again tonight. In his bed, he realized that he more on the left side of it. But for what reason he didn't care...

"Unn." He grunted and thought to himself. (Must have rolled over too far or something.)

He sat up from where he was and rubbed his head as it was pounding. Just as he sat up to stretch he noticed something slightly unusual than normal, and looked down at himself.

(Why am I naked?) He scratched his chest, but again didn't care since it was so early. (Ugh, feel so fuzzy and a little sticky...)

As he got up from his bed and made his way over to the bathroom, he was slightly tripping and stumbling over the mess in his apartment. Unsure of why, because he had just cleaned it yesterday, there were clothes thrown all over, and a trail of wet footprints leading from the front door. Again, he didn't pay mind to it since it had rained last night, and must have been one hell of a rain storm. He got into his bathroom and turned on the shower to warm it up, then went over to the sink to brush his teeth as he waited.

How many years had it been since he came back to Konoha? Maybe one? Or two? The seventeen year old chuunin pondered as he brushed his teeth. Still in his state of pondering, he heard something ... or someone tripping and stumbling on the same path towards the bathroom. Although he didn't really pay any attention to it due to his blistering headache. He just kept brushing his teeth, then as he went down to spit and rinse his mouth. The figure had walked into the bathroom and just jumped into HIS steaming shower stall.

As Naruto lifted his head back up, the mirror in front of him was fogged up. Strangely enough he saw the figure he had heard walk in in the fogged up mirror. Just then his eyes opened even wider as he saw the color of that person's hair. He felt the butterflies in his stomach begin to curl again, completely frozen to the spot where he was standing. He felt a large knot in his throat as he tried to swallow hard. Then he tried to throw off the idea of Sakura-chan actually in his apartment in his shower.

"Nah! It's just the steam and my head playing tricks on me." He spoke to himself out loud.

---

There was an alarm blaring off from the other side of the bed, but she was already used to her alarm doing such a thing all the time. She, herself had almost instictively rolled over and hit the snooze button when it suddenly went off by itself.

(Heh, must have already shut off by itself.)

She thought in her brief moment of waking up, but almost immediately dozed off again. In her state of mind everything sounded like a whisper, unsure of what had happened last night. Just then the bed, slightly bounced as if someone was getting out of it. She didn't really notice it, assuming she must have just involuntarily kicked randomly in her sleep or something. And again she heard some noises that sounded like something, or someone was wandering around like a clumsy idiot in her room. She dozed off just for a few more minutes when she heard the shower go off.

"Mmm." She gave a slight morning groan, and began to wake up. (Mom, must have turned on the shower for me. Although I'm pretty surprised she didn't come wake me up like usual.) She thought to herself, but shruged and stretched her arms, yawning then putting a hand to her head. "Ooh, my head..."

As she got out of the bed, everything still seemed kind of out of focus. She had something on her head, almost like a night cap. She pulled it off to let her silk smooth pink hair down just touching her shoulders. She tried to get a look at the night cap, and almost immediately recognized it.

(Bah! Why do I have this!?) It was Naruto's black walrus sleeping cap, so she simply threw it on the bed annoyed. But then she picked it back up as she remembered why he gave it to her. (That baka ... gave it to me on for my 18th birthday. As if he couldn't get me something better.)

But deep down, she knew this hat had a certain level of sentimental value in it. So she gave it a silly hug and put it back down. That was when she noticed that she was naked. At first she was perplexed at the idea and was semi-confused. Then again she had that smug face of (Aha! Look at my perfect body) and (Damn I'm hot!), but then she wiped that smile off her face when she realized she felt kind of icky. So she made her way towards the steam coming out from the bathroom. It was really weird for her, becuase it was like her room got bigger or seemed different. As she followed the resinating heat, she then tripped and stumbled over the messy path.

"Ow, what the kitten!?" She muttered. She too was still in a drowsy state, but now semi annoyed.

She was only annoyed because she could have 'damaged' her goods. So she got back up and continued to follow the steam from the bathroom like a zombie. As she made her way into the bathroom she just simply walked her way into the shower stall. The water was just right, not overly hot, but warm to the touch as it bounced off her smooth body. The stall seemed a little smaller than her usual one, assuming that her parents were probably remodeling the house or something. Again, she didn't really care at the moment. She opened her eyes slightly to see a rack hanging on one of the sides of the stall. First she reached over for the shampoo and squeezed some into her hand. The smell was that of Country Apple, and not her usual Floral Green shampoo.

(Strange.) She thought. (Guess mom, wanted me to try something new.)

As she rubbed the shampoo into her hair, and washed it, the smell gave off very crisp, yet smooth and soothing smell of apples. She even gave this wry smile of 'Ooh, I like this shampoo'. As she was rinsing the shampoo & foam out of her hair, an abrupt voice disrupted her euphoria.

"Nah! It's just the steam and my head playing tricks on me" Said a familiar male voice.

After hearing that comment, she almost instictively responded with.

"Nani?" She spoke in a very sweet tone of voice, still rinsing her hair out. "What's playing tricks?"

---

"Nani? What's playing tricks?" Responded the pink haired venus in the foggy mirror.

When Nauto heard that response his heart stopped almost immediately, but then began to beat very heavily. Finally he came up with the nerve to wipe the mirror with one hand to reveal that he was not hallucinating her. The clear and sharp image of the girl of his dreams was in HIS mirror showering in HIS bathroom, here in HIS apartment. Still very unsure to believe this, but also at the same time deathly afraid to turn around, should he have to face her wrath if she was real. He slowly turned his head twitching, then finally completely turned around to face her.

Whether it was good, or bad timing he turned around in time just to see her arching her back forward slightly, as she was finishing rinsing her hair. The way the sheen of water highlighted her curves, the rosy glow of her cheeks through the shimmering curtain of steam, the small drips of water that fell from her ample breasts, the way the water ran down her entire body. And when she had finished rinsing her hair, she flipped her head back, making her hair whoosh back! Truly Naruto had imagined this in his mind almost all of his life, but never once in a lifetime get to witness it. Completely blown away by this, all he could do was stutter...

"Sa...sa...sa..sa-sa-" He muttered, but finally spoke clearly. "Sa-Sakura-chan?!"

She stood there in all her glory, her hands just behind her head with her eyes closed, but then responded when her name was being called by that only voice she knew called her that.

"Nani, Naruto?" She said so innocently as she herself hadn't arisen to the situation yet. But then in an instant she opened her eyes in pure disbelief to repeat that name. "Na-Naruto?!"

They stood there looking at each other wide eyed, neither one moving from where they were purely shocked at the very situation they were both in. For a good minute they just stared right at each other, when finally...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" They both simultaneously screamed and pointed a shaky finger at each other.

Then realized that something even more unbelievable! Simultaneously again, they looked down at themselves, still pointing at each other with their right, then pointing at themselves with their left, screaming again. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Finally realizing why they were both naked, in the same room, and what else they could have POSSIBLY done. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Almost at the same time yet again, they both squatted down in embarassment because they were both naked. Sakura squatted down with her legs together, her right thigh facing Naruto, also she had crossed her arms to cover her breasts. While Naruto squatted down onto closing his legs to Sakura and covering his private area with his hands. Both of them in complete and utter disbelief and major embarassment, their faces were so red you'd think they were both cherry heads. After another awkward minute, Sakura was the first to speak.

"NARUTO-BAKA!!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" She yelled in her very annoyed, but also embarrassed voice. But her next comment would really be perplexing. "What are you doing here in my house!?"

Naruto unsure of what she would do to him if he answered, he was very nevous. "A-a-ano ... Sakura-chan. This is actually MY place."

"Eh!?" Sakura in disbelief stood up briefly and peared out of the stall, out into the actually apartment place.

Of course Naruto was still facing away trying to to look at her, so as to not cause any more trouble that he was already in. Sakura looked around from where she was to see that this really wasn't her house, and to confirm that there was a big sign hanging over the front door saying "Naruto's Wonderful Palace". This was not her home, her room, or even her bathroom. It was all his, even the scrub she had in her hand was that of a toad (Gamatatsu sponge). Then she sat back in the shower stall, completely shocked and appalled at her situation.

(How did I get here? What happened? What did we DO!?) She fell back and sat against the wall of the shower stall, with one hand still covering her breasts, and the other upon her head. Inner Sakura rampaging about in her head. (What else, you baka! You partied with him and then happily slept with him last night!) Sakura had this grim smile and shook her head left and right telling herself, (No! No! No!)

When finally Naruto interuppted her again. "A-a-ano. Are you okay Sakura-chan?" She still sat there just shaking her head stubbornly. "I'll leave you now to finish. Gomen!"

So he shuffled his way out of the washroom with his back turned to her, his hand still covering his private area. But before he left, he shuffled back just near the opening of the stall and handed her an extra towel from under the sink. Sakura took it and began to dry herself off, Naruto shuffled his way out and closed the door behind him.

---

After the door closed, she stood up and tried to collect herself. She put the towel Naruto gave her on the rack on the side, and finished up washing the rest of her body.

"Feh." She nervously chuckled to herself. "That bakeru, scaring me like that. But still...just how did I end up here?"

She pondered to herself trying to recall last nights events, but all she could remember was rain. Rain from last night and someone carrying her on their back. She wasn't sure who or why, but then a feeling came back to her. While she was on that person's back, it felt warm through the cold rain. She remembered that when her head resting on his shoulders, she could hear his soft heartbeat beating along with hers. And the way his hair smelled was so pleasant and soothing. Almost like ...

"...apples." She then muttered and realized that very shampoo on the shower rack in front of her.

(No...) She thought. (What did we do? Why did I come home with him!? THAT Guy. I mean we are teammates, and close friends, but ... not like that ...)

She truly wanted to know what could have possibly happened before the "speical events" that happened in his apartment place. (What did he do that made me feel that way? The way he carried me on his back. For once in a lifetime, it almost felt like I was really...)

"...happy." She muttered again to herself, while finished drying herself off. Then making her way out of the bathroom to ask Naruto.

"Oy! Naruto, do you...uh...have a comb or brush by any chance?"

---

Naruto was still redish from the whole experience, not to mention his "little buddy" ... well not so "little" anymore after that lucious view. So he tried to walk it off, and find some temporary clothes to wear. In the meantime, he also decided to clean up what he could, and gather the thrown clothes together. Figuring out who's was who's, but in the end both of their clothes were wet. At that moment he semi-began to remember what happened.

"Oh yeah, it rained pretty heavily last night. So that's why our clothes are wet, and that puddle that was near the door."

So he took the pile of clothes, both hers and his, and threw them into his dryer next to the kitchen. It would take another thirty or so minutes for their clothes to completely dry off, so Naruto went around looking for some other clothes they could both wear for the time being. All he found were some boxers for him, and one of his button down shirts. It wasn't much, but it'll have to do for now. After that he got his mop and tried to clean up the small puddles before they leaked into ground and seeped down into his lower neighbors.

"Ugh. My head." He paused for a moment to hold a hand to my head. "What did we do last night? Or do I even want to know what we did. Maybe it's best that we don't..."

He imagined the "sort" of things that could have possibly happened. It was such an awkward moment, after he started to think about it. He did wake up on the left side of the bed, so that means she was right beside him when he woke up. Then all that noise he was making just trying to get to the bathroom. Then he thought..

He looked up at the ceiling but then looked down at himself. "If I saw her naked...then that means..."

Then his face turned red again, and his mouth gaped open. His eyes showed that dreaded look of embarassment again.

"Oh noes! Sakura-chan has seen ME as well!?"

Then he shook his head, and threw the notion away. In his mind, she was still his goddess, pure and innocent. He tried to clear his head of those images of her smooth...beautiful...heavenly body... Again he shook his head.

"No! I'm not like Ero-Senin!"

Just then the bathroom door opened, and Sakura came out with her hair dry but messy, and wearing only the towel he gave her.

"Oy! Naruto, do you...uh...have a comb or brush by any chance?" She asked.

Naruto collected his thoughts again, and replied. "Huh? Oh yeah, I think I have one of Ero-Senin's brushes."

He went into the washroom again, and looked under his sink. There he found the brush that Jiraiya had him use to brush his long hair. Naruto shuddered at the thought becuase he had to do that for his master during those three years away from Konoha. The brush itself was fairly clean, no left over white hairs of the old man, which means he must take really good care of his hair! So he brought it out and handed it to Sakura, then gave her the button down shirt to wear because their clothes were still in the dryer. After he gave her the shirt to put on; he put the mop back in the kitchen behind the fridge, then it was his turn to use the shower.

As he closed the door behind him, Sakura removed her towel and put on the shirt. She gave a wry laugh and saw as it went from her shoulders down around the middle of her thighs. The sleeve was pretty long, just a hand length longer, but after all it was Naruto's shirt. Strangely enough it felt really comfortable on the skin and smelled really nice, also it felt warm. She was laughing again and shook her head.

"Oh God, why am I feeling this way? I mean it's Naruto."

She simply walked over to the kitchen/laundry area was and sat down in one of the chairs. She needed to get her mind off of him. So there was a radio on the table, and she turned it on...

[-for your dream, it's a too much!... "That was Hey Jimmy! from Peace Maker Kurogane. We have a request today by Aoyshima Masato! He may live up at that crazy ol' temple but he's a good guy! I'm your host Dj Funkay, from Kawaii Radio here on the K-O-N-O-HA network! This one's for you Masato-sama! So Far Away by Crossfade! ...I've been changing, but you'll never see me now-]

She tuned the volume of the radio down, and just sat listening to the song. The song talked about a guy changing but the person that means to him doesn't pay attention, and since the guy is moving on with his life the other doesn't see it. And somehow inadvertently the song made her think about all the times that Naruto has done so much for her, yet she's never truly gotten a good chance to see him become the man he is now.

Why was she feeling this way now? What's gotten into her so suddenly? Was it just this coincidence that she's finally awoken to a dream that's only begun? Or was this all just a game in her mind? Since she had lost Sasuke, she's only going to Naruto so that she won't be alone. So many thoughts, so many emotions, so many questions going through her mind.

(What's gotten into me? I can't love him, even if he's been so kind, and caring for me. I'm strong, I can take care of myself. I don't need any help-)

Just as she was in mid thought, Naruto came out of the steaming bathroom. Wearing his clean boxers, and drying his hair. She gazed at his body, that same body that he's risked time after time when they were children back then. But now he was maturing, grown to become a man, grown to become a fine, fine man. Even though she was older than him by a few months, he was always a head taller. His arms were fairly muscular and his body was cut, although she giggled slightly as she looked at his abs. Even though he had washboard abs, he still had just a tiny gut from all the junk food he eats from time to time. Just watching him dry his hair, and then walk over to her made her troubled thoughs go away. As if just his very presence was soothing. Realizing that she was gawking at him like a school girl she tried to regain her composure before he could see her face.

Naruto sat down across from her, and put the damp towel around his neck. He leaned back in his chair, and sighed. They both sat in an awkward silence waiting for their clothes to finish drying. The radio was still on with the volume low, but still audible.

[-*instrumental song ending*... "That was just Move with their new hit Noizy Tribe! Today is the last day of the Lily Festival, on this Friday morning! Anyone and everyone come on down to the main square for one last day of celebration of the beginning of Spring! Bring a friend, a girlfriend, or just a posse, and join us, The Kawaii Radio crew, featuring our latest Mix Master Starlight5! And meet me! Dj Funkay in the flesh! We're gonna be partying down like there's no tomorrow all day and into the night! Come to the festival, have fun, and please drink responsibly! Now let's kick this last day off with our special Kawaii Radio megamix! ...*Back to normal random Anime songs*-]

Just then the Dryer dinged, signaling that it was done. The both of them nearly jumping up at the same time to get their clothes. They sorted out their clothes from each other, and began to dress themselves up. Both of them facing away from each other, and discreetly changed without looking at each other. During that moment it was still quiet, neither of them really sure what to say, but the same questions were running through their minds, and trying to think of something other than (So...do you remember anything?)

Sakura unbuttoned the shirt and placed it on the table where they were sitting. She first put on her soft pink underwear. She switched from panties to thongs because she during her missions she had to move alot, thus her panties would always "ride in" on her. So when she turned seventeen she switched to thongs after Ino had taken her out shopping and what not. Next she put on her tank top mesh with the single strap that held it. Next was that new red vest that she always wears now, then the mini skirt and the white shirt tied around her waist. Her casual attire.

Naruto on the other hand put on a pair of black slacks, and a black muscle shirt. Since it was pretty sunny out he decided not to wear his orange and black jacket. Also for a change of style, he wears Konoha dog tags instead of his headband, which he encased above his Tv.

Both of them were chuunins, but rarely wore the vest unless it was a formal meeting. They got their shoes/boots and without saying any words just exited the apartment and made their way over to the elevator. Again, it was that uncomfortable silence, it felt so tense that they didn't even look at each other. Naruto wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if he would be punished by violence, or say something wrong and cause more problems. While Sakura still unsure how she got there in the first place, just tried to avoid eye contact, knowing that he will want to say something, then have "THE talk". After they had exited the apartment complex, they finally turned to face each other, but still no eye contact.

Naruto put a hand to the back of his head, rolled his eyes to look away, and finally drew some courage to speak. "Ne, Sakura-chan..."

But almost immediately she cut in and interruptted him from talking. She ran her hand through her smooth hair, looking away in the opposite direction. "We should probably go report in. I have to go to see Hokage-sama today."

"Unn." He grunted as he was shut down, always business first. Of course, they were chuunin and have responsibilities to do. He nodded his head, but then kept it held down feeling kinda disappoited. "Well, then I guess I'll see you later when we have to meet up with Kakashi-sensei, right?"

"Yeah." She finally looked at him and saw the dissapointed look on his face. She wanted to talk to him, she wanted to say something, to DO something, but somehow she just couldn't. So she turned around and faced the direction she was going to go, and before disappearing she turned her head and tried to give him a smile. "Ja ne Naruto." And she was gone.

He still stood there and watched her disappear into the distance. All he could do was raise a hand and quietly said, "Ja, Sakura-chan." and went about his business.

---

Sakura left Naruto and she headed towards Hokage Tower to go report in to Tsunade. But after leaving Naruto like that, all she could see was his sad face. Normally she had never seen him actually sad or disappointed. He would always have a smile, or atleast be laughing, but this time it was different. As she was walking along her path thinking, she was suddenly interrupted by an old man's voice.

"You're wondering why you're feeling this way about my stupid student now, and not before when you two were younger."

She looked up and turned around to see who it was that just made that comment. It was none other than Jiraiya, or the Ero-Senin. To her it was odd for them to be meeting like this so openly. Normally he would just stop her to ask where Naruto was, but instead he was talking to her. She bowed respectfully since he was a Senin, even if a perverted one at that, and was curious as to why he stopped her.

"Ohayo Jiraiya-sama. Can I help you? Naruto is back that way." She pointed in the opposite direction she was coming from. "So you are back in town?"

The old man simply chuckled and replied with. "No. I'm not here to see Naruto. I was on my way to do some 'Spring Break' research for my upcoming book." He did his Super Pervert big thumbs up, but then went to his serious face. "But then I noticed you walking so solemnly. Are you okay?"

Sakura felt a little embarassed that here the Ero-Senin actually stopped her because he saw her in dismay. She tried give a wry smile and wave off the notion. "Aha, I'm okay. Just been a rough morning, that's all. Nothing's wrong."

Of course she knew that the Perverted Geezer could see through her lies, but he genuinely wanted to help if he could.

He put a hand to his chin and placed his other arm at his elbow, looking like he was trying to figure something out. "Sakura right?" He then pointed and asked her, then moved off to the side to sit down on a bench. Then motioned to her to sit next to him, she gave this unsure look since he was the Super Hentai Senin. "Come come, I not going to conduct 'research' on you. I promised my stupid student that I wouldn't use you for any of my projects."

She tood his word and so she moved over to sit with him on the stone bench.

"Do you wish to know how I know that you are troubled about him?"

She looked at him and nodded.

"Well, since I am a master at 'observation', the first thing I noticed was you walking along in a very troubled fashioned. Here in Konoha, there aren't many women I meet that are troubled." He explained in a playful way, but then turned to his second explaination. "And secondly, probably only I would know this which is how I knew instantly, is your scent. You're smell of his stupid apple shampoo."

Sakura wasn't sure if she was impressed by this pure instincts, or disturbed that he knew about Naruto's hygine products. But then Jiraiya explained why, after taking out his smoking pipe and lighting it.

"You see, when he and I were gone training, we were in the Hidden Village of Grass and they have very exquisite items there. He wanted to go buy soap, and this lady sold him that bottle. Ever since then, whenever we stopped by the Village Of Grass he would always stock up on it. He even bought case to be sent back home and was going to give you one. Anyway, you smell of it." He took a puff and then chuckled. "Heh, that damned country apple."

She found the little tidbit of info a little amusing and cute. Even Naruto has a good taste in shampoos and such. Now the Ero-senin would get down to business.

"So tell me. You don't just go over to someone's place to take a shower and use their shampoo."

She knew what he was getting at, but the next comment he would make was well...

"Was my stupid student good? Or bad that you had to clean youself and leave him so aburptly?"

Almost instinctively Sakura gave the old man a big slap across the face for such an inappropiate question, which ended up knocking him a few feet away. She had hit exactly like how Tsunade would have. Jiraiya getting up with a big red palm print on his cheek, and walked back over. Sakura then realized that she had just slapped a Sanin, and tried to apologize.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you so hard."

Jiraiya simply held up a hand and waved the pain off. "It's alright, it's alright. I am used to this sort of thing, although I did sense a little Tsunade in you. Heh. So tell me why you are troubled."

Sakura explained her situation, from the moment she woke up, the embarassing realization in the bathroom, and the awkward silence between them this morning. She told him all about how she does care for him, but then a different feeling came up just now, a feeling that she had felt a few times before but not like today. Jiraiya listened intently and tried to analyze her situation. He nodded his head in acknowledgement and partly understood her emotions.

"Well, let me tell you something about him. I'm sure you are well aware that he is the embodiment of Kyuubi, the fox demon that nearly destroyed Konoha. I'm also sure that you are well aware of the hard life he lived during his childhood years, from the moment of birth to the day he became a ninja. Even now after he has gain respect and acknowledgement from Konoha, there are still people who see him only as a demon. There will always be people like that."

Sakura nodded her head and continued to listen.

"And despite those people, he was saved. Not by himself, but by one of your teachers, Iruka. He was the first to recognize him as a person and treat him equally. Then he got to meet you and Kakashi." Jiraiya tried to stay away from the topic of Sasuke, since it was still partially taboo. "You understand where I'm going. There's something special about that boy, something that he gives to other people."

"What is it?" Sakura asked as she was intrigued by this, but also understood it.

"Reassurement that we're alive, the will to live, the will to change, the heart to understand people even when they are strangers, and most importantly, hope. Even though he is stupid at times, and can be reckless, or get into more trouble than he can fix himself; he is very mature. But you, you know that you are his precious person. The one person that he would most likely give up his hokage dream to be with-"

At that last comment Sakura found it quite unbelievable. "That's impossible. That's his number one goal in life! How can you know such a thing?"

"Heh. You want to know how I know?" The white haired Sanin, took another puff from his pipe and chuckled again. "Because he told me himself."

Sakura was speechless and struck with a little surprise at this. Jiraiya continued. "Now do you understand his feelings for you? He would want you're acknowledgement more than anyone else."

"But I do acknowledge him."

"Don't be silly. You know the acknowledgement I talk about." He a paused again. "Think about it yourself. When you are with him now, don't you feel more closer to him than usual? When you see him you feel more secure and glad to have him around? When it's cold and he gives you his jacket or vest, it feels a lot warmer than usual?"

She began to think about all those times, and it started to run through her mind.

"He's been trying to tell you all this time, and whether you choose to be oblivious to it or not trying to take this seriously is hurting him. when we were away for those three years, you were his focus to be better."

'Oy Ero-Senin! I'm gonna become stronger so that next time I won't fail Sakura-chan!' - 'I will become stronger, and show her that even I can be mature!' - 'Maybe when we return, I can show her all my new tricks and see me in action this time!'

The Toad Senin recalled those few moments of Naruto talking and training. They had been sitting there for about thirty minutes or so talking and discussing. Finally they had finished talking and he got up to move. Sakura also stood up and they moved back onto the main sidewalk.

"Hey. Look, I'm sorry if I imposed on you, but I just thought you should know." He then reached into his pouch on side and took out a bottle labeled 'Rose'. He handed the bottle to Sakura and told her. "Give this to him. He's should be old enough to enjoy this now. Serve this to my stupid student, and talk to him. Put him to ease, tell him you're true feelings. I hope our little talk has helped straightened things out."

Then Jiraiya began to walk away, tapping the pipe to get rid of the used tobacco, and putting the pipe away. Sakura just stood there looking at him. He then began to walk away and told her just before he disappeared.

"I know you're a strong girl, but sometimes it isn't always best to be strong all the time. I mean look at you're teacher, she's still single too! But don't tell her I said that! Ahahaha!"

He said those last words and was gone. Sakura just stood there thinking over what the wise Ero-Senin had told her. She understood his words well, and looked at the bottle he gave her. It was a bottle of sake that had the fragrance of roses. She tucked the bottle into her back pouch and continued on to report to Tsunade-sama.

---

Meanwhile, Naruto had made his way over to Ichiraku Ramen shop. He walked in and sat down looking fairly glum. Already Ayame (ramen girl), along with the Old man (the cook), knew something was wrong.

Ayame brought out his usual ramen order, and asked him. "Hey, what's wrong? Something bad happen?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at the smiling server, and gave this sheepish smile. "Aha, no. It's nothing. Itedekimasu!"

And he dug into his extra-large bowl of miso ramen with beef. After a few moments had passed, someone quite unexpected came in and sat down right next to him. She gave a fairly big smile and her pet pig came snuffing at Naruto's leg.

Naruto slowing down from his eating pace, looked to his side, smiled, and said. "Ah! Ohayo Nee-san! And hey Tonton!"

"Aha, ohayo Naruto." Shizune greeted him back, and Tonton gave a quick squeel to acknowledge. "You sure are up early today. More than usual."

"Ha, yeah..." He paused as he was reminded of this mornings earlier 'interactions'.

His face expression almost changed in that moment from a happy smile to a solemn grin. Almost in that instant, Shizune knew something was wrong or something was heavily on his mind. Shizune despite not being related to Naruto, felt that she was acting as his older guardian (just like Iruka). Where as Iruka is Naruto's brother and teacher, Shizune was like his older sister. She would care about him and scold him when he needed to be scolded. Even though she knew her parents were slain by the demon Kyuubi, she never hated him.

Notes on NaruSaku Challenge:

• This is the basic storyline/plot that I wanted to go with. It ends up being of those stories where the two of them were so drunk last night, they ended up together. Through the entire story, the both of them are slightly awkward about it, and try to investigate separately on how the two of them even ended up together in the first place.
• The theme behind this story is there is a village seasonal festival going on, so they must have hooked up during the festival.
• Along the way they encounter all the people, villagers, other Characters, and find it within themselves that why is it so awkward, when really they do match up perfectly.
• So by the end of the story, they go to the last night of the Spring Festival, and Sakura finds that she genuinely enjoys being with Naruto. And finally they get to the small bar, and that's when the bartender clicks it all together with "Oh it's you two again! Welcome back, same thing from last night?". And that brings all the pieces together.
• They must have gotten drunk last night, BUT if they had gotten that drunk, and she went home with him annyway, she doesn't regret it anymore because now she's realized just how great Naruto really is, and accepts him for who he is.
• I had two ways to end this. One they both get drunk again, only this time not blackout, unconscious drunk. Or they both decided to not drink and just enjoy the rest of the night together. I ended up wanting to do the non-alcoholic ending, because towards my ending, I wanted to have a Lemon ending.
• In my non-alcoholic ending, let's just say they go back to Naruto's place, Naruto goes into the hot, steamy shower first, but then Sakura jumps in with him, and she simply whispers him "You still owe me one last dance".
• From there, you can use your imagination.
• Okay now for the fun stuff & side notes! A side note to this fiction is that I wanted to incorporate a kind of "Playlist" going on, which is why I inserted the "DJ Funkay". During this time I was heavily listening to Kawaii-Radio.net!
• Again, the songs I've inserted into this fiction directly affect the mood, and represent how the characters are supposed to be feeling. Kind of a ironic/coincidental thing going on.
• At the Festival itself, I wanted to insert a Dance-Off between Team Gai! Yes, I know.
• So you have Neji who's doing a more pop & lock, liquid dancing.
• Lee who's all straight-up B-Boy, break dancing, footwork.
• And then there's Tenten who straight up out-dances the both of them. She does all pop & lock, B-Boy, Liquid, footwork, AND GLOWSTICKS! AWWW SSHHHH******TTTTT!!! Because Tenten is bad ass that way.
• The song I wanted them to battle to was ATB - Emotion. It's actually a very simple & basic song, but it definitely gets you in the mood.
• The ending song for the entire fic was ATB - Let you go (original not the remix). So you can imagine NaruSaku in the shower semi-slow-dancing to this fic together

This definitely has to be one of my more favorite Fanfics that I never got to finish, and it makes me so disappointed that I could have finished it, but I'm just to freaking lazy. Writing that comedy bit in the beginning when they see each other in the bathroom was just hilarious. I loved that moment, and how it came to me was just silly. I was thinking of all those Anime moments of when the protagonist runs into the love interest. It's very Love Hina style-ish, only without the violence.

[Leney]

This is a cool list. It's interesting to see how people craft their stories and what stories end up getting finished or not finished for whatever reason.

I liked the part of the Unfinished, Unpublished NaruSaku one. Where's the rest of the story?

[hokuten]

All of these Fanfics I've kept in storage are either Unfinished, Unpublished, or Discontinued. I'm only posting them out because I feel like I've been keeping them bottled up for so long, that I need to just let them out, and share it with everyone. It's pretty much as the title of the thread says, "Junk-in-the-Trunk Fics".

Next on our list is the Hyuuga Hinata fanfic that I actually started! It never made production, or deadline, because I simply lost focus of it, and like all writers, I hit a wall. So here is my One-Shot fanfiction of Hinata!

Unfinished, Unpublished, Chapter of Hyuuga Hinata:

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but if I did NaruSaku would rule the world and Temari would be my wife.

Byakako: Pride Of the White Tiger

Ever since I was young, I was always expected more out of. Father, mother, uncle, sister, even nii-sama, but I wasn't strong enough. Wasn't brave enough to become strong. But now, here I am, head of my house and with a husband I never thought that I would have ended up with. A strong, kind soul, a person who suffered just as much as I was, an outcast from the same people I was once outcasted from. Someone who protected me when we were children, then became my teacher to show me the path to become a stronger ... no a better person as well. But of course, there were many other people that helped me gain confidence and helped me to become the person I am now.

[Flashback]

I was only three years old, and it was the time for the meeting of both Main & Branch House members to gather. It was the time for HIM to recieve his seal, that "cursed" seal. There were so many of us that day, almost everyone from both sides of the clan came. I was so scared that I hid behind father most of the time. But when we came to a stop, I came out from behind him, and saw another boy behind Uncle Hizashi. He was only a year older than me, and I knew him as my cousin. Unsure of why there were so many people gathered here on my birthday with such serious faces, I hid behind father once again and peeped out from just behind him holding onto the skirt of his robes. He placed a hand on my head and told me not to fear, then looked over at Uncle. Just then the boy looked over at me and smiled.

"Kawaii, ne? Chichue?" He said to his father, Uncle Hizashi.

He called me cute, something not even father has told me once. I felt a little at ease and came out from behind father to smile back at the boy. But as I looked at Uncle, his face showed a sad smile, because father had mentioned something to him. Afterwards, both sides of the family departed and went their seperate ways, only the boy came with us. He walked along side with me smiling, then he started to talk with me.

"Don't worry Hinata-sama! I'll always protect you! Dad said it was my duty too! So let's be friends, okay?" He said this very happily, not knowing that he was actually going to be recieving the cursed seal.

At the time we were too young to understand, but it made me happy since he was the only person who really wanted to be my friend. I smiled back, nodded my head, and held out my hand to hold his. He smiled back greatly with such happiness. I don't remember the last time Neji ever smiled so happily since we were children...

---

After he had recieved the Hyuuga cursed seal, he would always come over to play. Even though our fathers seemed like they were always arguing over something. Neji would even come over to train with me sometimes! He would always show me how to do the right moves and such. I was never as good as my father wanted me to be, which was why I was starting to become slower in my training days with him. But Neji was always there, smiling ... cheering for me. Seeing him there gave me such confidence even when father would scold at me for not doing the right technique, or jutsu. Days when Neji was there, I felt happy and secure. He was like a real older brother to me, someone I could look up too. Someday I knew he would become a genius, and I wish I could be as strong as he was.

But then...

That day, for some reason, father made Uncle Hizashi's seal glow, and uncle fell to the ground screaming in pain. It was that day that things began to change ... things would change for a long time. That day, Neji's eyes changed when he saw his father in pain because of my father. That day was only the beginning of my nii-san's change.

Notes on Byakako: Pride of the White Tiger:

• The original idea behind this fiction was that I wanted to build Hinata in a way that was true to her character ,but with a stronger background and character feel. The reasoning for my sudden inspiration was more so driven by those people who look down upon Hinata as weak, or useless, without giving her a chance for improvement.
• Albeit, I myself am sometimes disappointed in how she is portrayed, and can sometimes be one of those people, but I still have high hopes for her character development, because she has so much potential.
• So in my fiction, this is my interpretation of Hinata's life, and how it should be portrayed.
• The general idea/plot of the story is that even though in Manga/Anime, she's often depicted as weaker, or not really standing out. You have to keep in mind that she is still a Hyuuga, and carries an Advanced Bloodline (i.e. Byakugan).
• Another fact that she is born from the Main House, trained by Hiashi (Hinata's Father) vigorously since she was able to stand. And despite her father disapproving of her, she is still continuing to train on her own, learning & training her own techniques without any help (this being before reformed Neji).
• So in the beginning she's actually a very strong person, despite her low demeanor. It just doesn't help that her father is disapproves of her, and that Neji is constantly in conflict with the Main House, or that even her younger sister is sometime over-shadowing her.
• So in my fiction it's kind of a character builder, to show that she's strong not physically, but emotionally & mentally. And that her determination to rise up from her "previous" self is like the pride of a Tiger. And yes, my plan was to give her the representation of Byakako, The mythical White Tiger, who symbolizes Pride & Honor.
• Also, I suppose another part influence to writing this fiction was that I actually do enjoy seeing Neji & Hinata together (despite being cousins), as this pairing is a direct representation of Yin & Yang. Hinata being the Yin to Neji's Yang.
• So this depicts her narration of how she can rise up from being the "discarded" one, tame the wild beast of the Branch House, and in the end, reunite the two houses to become a whole, as the Matriarch.
• To start it off, I wanted to show from Childhood how the relationships between Hinata & Neji began. How when they were children, he wasn't concerned about revenge, or rivalry. He was happy to protect & serve with Hinata. And as children he would even help her train.
• As the years past, that's when the Hyuuga Incident happens, thus Neji turns bitter and seeks vengeance upon the Main House, as well as live to despise his cursed seal.
• Through this time, Hinata is in conflict as she misses the carefree & lovable Older Cousin who would come over to play with her, practice & train with her, and even sometimes defend her from his own father who would slander her.
• Time passes by, and then Neji fights Naruto, gets slightly reformed. So he's not so bitter about Hinata, but still carries a grudge against the Main House.
• It's at this point where my variation changes. The plot was for Neji to secret train Hinata to show up her father, and take over the Main House. Of course through the influence of Neji himself.
• But Hinata is smarter than that, and sees through his deceit, so at the peak of her training, when she's finally caught up to Neji's level, that's when she calls him out on his plan.
• Now Hinata being from the Main House, Cursed Seal free, naturally beats Neji hands down. But the entire time, she has not once used the Cursed Seal jutsu to disable him. By beating him fair and square, he then realizes that Hinata is truly stronger than she really is, and accepts her.
• And thus the two begin to recollect about the past, how she misses the kind & cheerful Neji. But of course, times have changed, and things may never be the way they were before. But, he will try to lighten up a little, and at least treat Hinata with more respect, as she definitely has earned it.
• So final section of the fiction goes into the future, when Hinata has succeeded Hiashi, and taken up the role as Matriarch of the Hyuuga Family.
• As Matriarch, she's stopped the use of the curse seal on Branch Members, reunited both families as a whole, and the Hyuuga Family has never been more stronger than it was first founded.
• And of course, as a it is a "NejiHina" fiction, Neji is by her side as her loyal second hand. As well as he is the last of the Branch Family members to carry the cursed seal. But no matter what, Hinata has treated him as an equal, despite being the Head Matriarch.
• And of course, they reunited the families by marrying into each other. (DUN DUN DUN HYUUGACEST!!!)

So I have to say that this Fanfic did have A LOT of potential to be something pretty decent. But again, I just lost focus somewhere, and hit a brick wall.

[hokuten]

Okay I'm going to condense a couple of fics onto the list, since they are more general notes, than actual Fictions (except for VoH, which I will not post here because it contains explicit material). For access to VoH, you'll have to find it yourself, either on AdultFanFiction.net, or Mediaminer.org and search for it if it is still available.

So whether you know of VoH, or have read it, I'll give a brief overview of all the chapters. Oh, and don't mind the cheesy/corny titles, due to popular belief they are supposed to be that way.

Village of Hentai Overview (NO HENTAI INVOLVED, only quick summaries)

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Chapter 1: Parting Ways

The story is basically Naruto & Sakura confessing their love for each other, and Naruto finds out that Sakura is moving away to another country (because of her parents). And the two of them spend their "last night" together, before being separated.

Chapter 2: Jealousy, Lust, & Raging Hormones

Naruto after losing Sakura, makes Ino jealous of such drama & romance. Meanwhile Shikamaru doesn't understand it at all, and consults Naruto about his feelings for Ino. Ino in an attempt to "seduce Naruto", who ends up being Shikamaru instead.

Chapter 3: Confessions of the Heart, Demon Unleashed

Neji is captured by some rogue shinobi, and in a rescue attempt, Hinata & Naruto go out to try and save him. Along the way, Hinata finally confesses her feelings for Naruto, despite knowing that his heart belongs to Sakura. Naruto "comforts" her, and the two go off to rescue Neji before he is dissected on.

Chapter 4: The Lotus in Konoha blooms twice

Lee after suffering Gaara's attack is forced to learn a new type of Taijutsu from Tenten. Instead of Gai-sensei's Tekken-fu (Bone Breaking), he learns the similar Juuken-style (Hyuuga Gentle Fist) called Tai-Chi. And thus Lee & Tenten "train" together, and both become better teammates to one another.

Chapter 5: Wrath of Aburame, Two Hearts as One

The Aburame book of Family Secrets has been stolen. So in a test of confidence, Shino as the acting heir to the family is sent to retrieve the book. Along the way he runs into a familiar face in the form of Tsuichi Kin, formerly of the Sound Ninja, under Orochimaru. He "interrogates" her for information, and retrieves the book.

Chapter 6: In the Desert, Where the Flower Blooms

Tenten is sent off as a liaison of Konoha in Suna, Hidden Village of Sand. Her guide is Kankurou, and are tasked with going to search for his lost sister, Temari. The two travel along in a "one-sided search" for his sister in the deserts of Suna.

Chapter 7: The Sound of Sand

A comedy story about Temari & Kin meeting in a bar and lamenting how they were beaten by Shikamaru. The two practically get drunk and well ... "experiment" with each other as they both have things in common.

Chapter 8: Words, Weapons, & Women

The story then returns to Naruto who is now set on a search to find Sakura, but is also tasked with a mission from Tsunade to stop a militia coalition. He is partnered up with a fellow ANBU, "White Lotus", who turns out to be Tenten, and the two set off to stake out the milita. Their mission is to assassinate the leader, and end the militia. During the stake out, confused emotions and feelings suddenly emerge! And even the dreaded "Wind Walker" assassin pops in to watch!

Notes on Village of Hentai:

• The inspiration to this FanFiction Series was back during the NarutoTalk days, when Blayze & myself were discussing a series called "Hentai 500". Essentially it was Naruto traveling from Universe to Universe expanding his Harem to 500 women. The actual total count we had made it up to was about "100" women, from about 20-25 anime series?
• But realistically, we didn't go through with it because that would require over 50+ chapters, and all of them would get boring as it would all be the same material, with different girls, and places. So I decided to just narrow it down to Naruto-verse.
• The original idea was to create random stories, with random pairings. But I didn't really think it would end up being all linked/centered around NaruSaku.
• I suppose the storyline is somewhat also linked to my other fiction we discussed earlier, "H&E: The Uzumaki Saga". In the way that Naruto is searching for Sakura, so in all technicality this would be the full "Prelude" to that fiction.
• Also, by popular demand (via my old AdultFF.net account), many people actually preferred the NaruSaku angle, and wanted Naruto go after Sakura. So that also partial led up to this angle.
• But realistically, I lost all my taste & focus on writing lemon fiction. It just wasn't very appealing to me anymore, and I got tired of trying to write better lemon fics as it was always the same.

Okay! Moving onto the next fiction we'll be discussing is "The Brotherhood".

Never before discussed notes behind "The Brotherhood":

• The fanfiction was slated to be a pure Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, & Chouji fanfiction.
• The basis centered around Naruto & his three best friends who have stuck side by side through the years as a "band of brothers".
• The premise of the story is slightly variated from the original Naruto-verse storyline. Instead of Naruto being taken care of by Sandaime Sarutobi as a child. At Yondaime's death with transferring the Kyuubi into Naruto, Sandaime sends Naruto to be adopted by the Inuzuka Clan (Kiba's family). So Naruto is raised to be a Inuzuka, thus where Naruto & Kiba first come into play.
• The plan was that even though Naruto is accepted into the Clan, and given a place to stay & be raised normally, the other Inuzuka children despise him because he is the "adopted" one.
• But that is where Kiba being the same age of Naruto, finds an affinity & recognizes Naruto as his "animal spirit counterpart". Kiba being the "Wolf", and Naruto being the "Fox", or in reference to the Disney movie, "The Fox & the Hound".
• What I truly enjoy is that Naruto & Kiba are both in essence the same person. Except it's the subtle differences that make them compliment each other.
• Naruto being the prankster, and getting into more trouble that he can easily get out of. Where as Kiba who is also a troublemaker, but more of a roughneck, and loves to be on the run. To almost make it scarily similar to something real, it's almost like Corey Feldman & Corey Haim.
• You put these two guys who love to cause trouble and who would work absolutely well as a team, you got a dynamic duo.
• That's what I love about Naruto & Kiba! The two of them have the greatest potential as a adopted brothers, and would totally cover for one another.
• So in my fiction, the two of them find a common ground with each other, and simply just grow up really close. I believe Kiba being the elder brother by a couple months (July), and Naruto being the younger (October).
• So naturally, Kiba being the elder, would have to cover for Naruto almost all the time, since Naruto would be the trickster & prankster (also a play on the myth of the Kitsune). So Naruto's entity truly is like a fox, and the Hound/Wolf, being Kiba would always be there to cover up, and follow after him.
• Now moving over to Shikamaru & Chouji's story, the two of them meet up through Family ties. The Nara Clan already being friends of the Akimichi Clan, the two were destined to meet sooner or later. And we all know that those two are the closest of friends anyone could get. Chouji treasures Shikamaru's friendship, as Shikamaru treasures Chouji's friendship, the two depend, rely, and trust each other with their lives.
• So there really was no reason to deviate from the original Naruto-verse storyline for them.
• How all four meet, was the real task. Naturally they would all come together during academy days, as children (probably pre-school, kindergarten, possible 1st grade).
• I was never sure who would meet who first, but I always would think that Naruto met either Chouji, or Kiba met Shikamaru. Or the other way around, but the point is the four of them band together eventually and essentially become the first 4-man shinobi group (although as kids they were just trouble makers).
• But through the years, they would always work together, despite being separated into different teams (excluding Shikamaru & Chouji, duh). And the bonds built between the four of them would always be the strongest.
• I believe I even wanted them to have their own clubhouse, as secret place where only the four of them know about, and with exclusive access to only those four. And no matter how many times others tried to follow them, it was virtually impossible for anyone to find them. Not even the Hokage, himself could find their secret hiding place.
• So the evolution of their bonds, turn to a "Brotherhood". These four brothers of different blood, but all share a common bond amongst each other.
• Even as a team, you can see how it all works! Kiba is the scout, Naruto is the crowd control, Shikamaru acts the main leader (of course), and Chouji is the sweeper who cleans up leaving no trace behind.
• And the why I wanted them to all interact amongst each other was something big I wanted to do. For example, no matter who is with who, the connection level is above normal. So they can all communicate with each other through signs, or simple looks. They now what each other is thinking, and don't need to speak to each other.
• Another trick is that no one is left behind, if one falls the others go with him. If one suffers then all suffer, and if one is happy, then all share that same emotion. It's a bond that only comes through time, experience, and just overall interaction.
• So as time progresses, all of them begin to grow up and lead their own lives.
• Now here is the clincher, and where my fiction would have gone either gone into a Part 2, or just a continuation.
  • Ending 1: The Brotherhood go on a mission and complete the mission, but due to complications are disbanded and have to separate from each other for a while. Three of the brothers go off in different directions: North, East, and South. And one of them stays behind to hold the fort here in Konoha, so that when the others return, there will always be someone here to welcome them home. So my planned ending was Shikamaru going to all of their favorite places as children, and remembering all times spent as children, while showing each goodbye scene for each Brother. I believe I planned it so that Chouji goes to the North, Kiba goes to the South, and Naruto travels East. It's a sad and powerful ending, because after so many years, the Brotherhood is finally coming to an end, but at least it's an open ended ending.
  • Ending 2: It's basically the same as the first, only all four brothers leave Konoha, and Shikamaru goes to the West. And it is actually Ino, who stays behind and is the unspoken keeper of welcoming the Brotherhood back. Ino being the exception because of the Nara-Yamanaka-Akimichi Clans ties. So she is the only female to know about them, and she keeps their secrets to herself, since they included her as their unspoke fifth member.
• Now moving onto the possible continuations:
  • If I had went with either ending, nearly 10-20 years have passed, and they are all adults living perfectly normal lives on their own.
  • Chouji became a sumo wrestle to the North has a wife & two children.
  • Naruto became a farmer, because he moved out with Sakura to just live out the land.
  • Kiba became a Environmentalist, and under-cover Eco-Terrorist, fighting to save the lands in the South.
  • Shikamaru in Ending 1, has kept his job as Chuunin, eventually reaching the position of Jounin, and has held the fort down for all this time. In Ending 2, if he goes to the West, he lives his days with Temari as the Suna Liaison for Konoha.
• The actual storyline for the return goes as this: the sins of the past have finally caught up to them, and now they must all reunite to right their wrongs.
• They all receive the letter from Shikamaru (or Ino) and almost immediately leave their new lives to return home. It's almost a sad thing for Chouji because he doesn't want to involve his family and makes the hardest decision to leave them behind. Kiba, he's practically the leader of the Environmentalist Group, and abandons them at the time of their need. As for Naruto & Sakura, it's a homecoming, but also sad because they leave the land that they've cultivated from their own two hands.
• Anyway, the Brotherhood gathers together again, back together, and they all share their stories. After each one resolves their story, they get down to business, and that's where I got my writer's block.
• Also another inspiration to writing this fiction was partly inspired by the movie "Four Brothers", with Mark Wahlberg, Tyreese Gibson, Andre Jackson.

Overall, I'd say "The Brotherhood" was a great idea, and has a lot of in-depth storyline to it. I'm just sad that I could never really get it all out, or even have started chapter. I know I've had many doubts about starting it off with Naruto as Hokage, then narratoring about the past. Or making it all separate points of view. Or how I wanted to portray the real brotherly bond between Naruto & Kiba, or Shikamaru & Chouji. But this definitely would have been one of my more epic FanFictions that would either get a lot of attention, or none at all.

[hokuten]

Okay the next few fictions I'm about to post are all Unreleased Notes, I've had for potential or obsessive fanfiction ideas.

"Sisters of Betrayal"

Unreleased Notes:

• This fiction is somewhat more of a suspense, thriller, with a little bit of twisted psychology.
• Inspired by the Korean movie, "Two Sisters", and the manga, "Monster".
• There are two main characters this entire series is based on Anko & Shizune.
• Despite them being entirely separate characters, I wanted to put in the "what if" the two of them were sisters.
• And when you really think about it, they are roughly the same age, similar body characteristics (minus the obvious ones). As well as motives as in, Anko went to Orochimaru, and Shizune with Tsunade.
• So if you can see where I'm going with this, then you'll understand just how messed up it really will be.
• Anyway, the base storyline is that the two "sisters" during their childhood are practically identical, and spend all their time together.
• Finally when they start to get older and get placed into teams, that's when they get separated. Anko with Orochimaru, and Shizune with Tsunade.
• As time progresses, we find out that Anko got lured into Orochimaru and was almost one of his experiments.
• As for Shizune we don't really know much, nor do we know exactly when she leaves Konoha with Tsunade.
• So during the "Find Tsunade" ARC of Naruto, we introduce Shizune, and all that good stuff. Upon returning to Konoha, that's when the real story begins.
• Anko & Shizune are reunited after so many years, but there's a kind of rift in between them. No one really knows what happened to both of them, or why they don't really speak to each other anymore.
• You would think it's because they got separated and haven't had the time to really see each other, or was it because of the conflict between their "Masters", or possible it was something deeper.
• So along the storyline, for some reason, someone has been leaking information out from Konoha to Orochimaru.
• Somewhere along the line Kabuto also makes appearances now and then talking to someone in a dark cloak.
• The person investigating all of this is actually Sakura at the personal request of Tsunade. Naruto at this time is gone and with Jiraiya on training.
• So as Sakura goes undercover, and investigates the "mole". She narrows it down to the only only person who was remotely linked to Orochimaru, Anko.
• Now as we all know, Anko broke away from Orochimaru, and with the help of Sandaime, she was able to fight against the "cursed seal". But no one really knows what the TRUE story is behind Anko & Orochimaru, so it's up to Sakura to dig deeper, and look for the records (with Hokage permission of course).
• So through the "records", Sakura finds all the "official" documented experiments Orochimaru has done during his time as a Konoha Ninja. But then she finds all the "unofficial" documented experiments, and learns of how he had done human experimentation.
• As a side note, Sakura gains a lot of knowledge from the papers, since Orochimaru at the time was a medical prodigy, before going psychotic.
• Moving on, Sakura reads through all the files. It takes days, even weeks to read all of the files, especially in the correct order and sequence of dates. Until finally reaching the final chart that is sealed and marked as "Kusa", translating into "Grass". When she tries to open it, all of the pages are empty. It looks as if someone had stuffed blank medical papers into a chart and didn't fill them out, or place any photos attached to it.
• Sakura unsure of the meaning, and unable to "unlock" the secret of the "Kusa" File, takes it with her and continues on with her investigation.
• So in order to find out how to unlock the secret to the chart, she decides to retrace the Medical Charts of each "patient" and "site" that Orochimaru left behind, possibly attempting to find the link to this sealed Chart.
• Now it turns to Sakura running from place to place, uncovering the horrors of Orochimaru, finding out that the people left behind are either physically scarred, or mentally unstable due to the extreme human experimentation.
• And like every true suspense thriller, just as Sakura reaches one step closer to unlocking it, some is already one step ahead of her, erasing the evidence. In her path, Sakura realizes that this is turning out to be something even more dangerous than it started out.
• It's a pretty gory story, with a lot of psychological twists, until finally, the truth is found.
• The clincher of the entire fiction is that she is confronted by Anko, who tells her to stop looking into it, and that this is a very dangerous path to follow. But Sakura, in true SHANNARO fashion, disregards the warning and continues.
• There's a fight sequence where I wanted Sakura to actually get the best of Anko, not because she's stronger or better. But because through this time, Sakura has been reading the files on Anko, and knows exactly how to beat her easily, the REAL TWIST using Orochimaru tactics.
• After Sakura confronts Anko, the seal on the chart is broken, and Sakura reads the files. Upon reading the entries and finally understanding the true meaning of "Kusa" (Grass), now she is in conflict herself.
• So Sakura finally tracks down Kabuto himself, and ambushes him along with the mole. And the mole is revealed to be Shizune (surprised? not really, since I just told you).
• So the files reveal that it was Shizune who was actually in deep connection with Orochimaru, and Anko reveals that it was her who tried to save her sister from the corruption. And upon sacrificing her own body to save her sister, she takes up on the Cursed Seal.
• It's a deep and twisted story of how Shizune has been under the influence since the beginning, and it's about Anko taking the fall for her, being the "good sister".
• So you can see how deep it can really get, since we know Anko is more rogue, but in story she's the good one. Then you have Shizune who's calm natured, but in story she's the evil one.
• In truth, I never came up with an ending. Actually it all stopped right at the revelation of Shizune being the mole. I couldn't bring myself to kill her (because I love Shizune), and I couldn't really picture Sakura, or much less Tsunade, taking her out of the picture.
• I suppose it was meant to be one of those question mark, open ended endings.
• Which is probably why I couldn't really put it to paper, since I can't stand open ending, or question marks.

"The Wind Walker: Suna-hime"

Unreleased Notes:

• This fiction, if you haven't already guessed it, is based off of my number one all time favorite kunoichi, Temari!
• There's no real plot, or storyline. It's basically a Noir-type fiction, where she's a hired assassin known as "The Wind Walker". And NO, this is in no relation to Legend of Zelda: Wind Walker. I've never owned it, nor played it. This fiction is completely based off of my own ideas, and perceptions.
• The way I wanted to play her off was that she's become a fully capable killer, who's witty, sexy, intelligent, and just over all a Femme Fatale (duh being my super number 1).
• So the reason she's called the "Wind Walker" is not because her signature trait is that she can walk upon the wind, but because she's essentially mastered all aspects of Wind-Natured Chakra. She's so in-tune with it, it becomes a second nature, and it responds to her almost instinctively.
• The best part about her is that she doesn't even need her over-sized fan anymore, the Three-Star Fan. If anything that is her trump card now. She could even use a simple paper hand-sized fan, for her attacks, that's how good she is.
• So the basic "story/plot" of the series is that she takes job after job, and lives her life as Princess of Suna (Gaara being Kazekage), and Kankurou being Gaara's 2nd aide. So during the day, she's Captain of the Guard, and does mostly liaison stuff, politics, and social gatherings.
• During night, she takes up personal jobs for her own pleasure.
• There is a slight variation to how I wanted to portray her.
  • First, her team would have been Gaara & Kankurou. In this storyline it follows the concept of what I had explained in "Ends of the Earth", how they are a three man free lance mercenary team.
  • Or I could go with the original plan as stated, she's princess by day, seductress assassin by night.
• Either way it could have gone would have been acceptable.
• So yeah, pretty much she takes contracts from any one who's willing to pay her price (some ridiculous high price), but it's well worth it, because she'll get it done.
• Another thing I wanted to add in, was that Shikamaru would have either been her Handler, or most used contractor (meaning he would hire her the most).
• In a way, I guess I wanted to play the "Alias" type character, with Jennifer Garner. And then if Shikamaru was her handler, they'd have that sexual tension going on. So this fic was kind of gearing towards ShikaTemari.
• I couldn't bring myself to write it because the story would have ended up like Cowboy Bebop. No general direction, and no main base storyline, besides getting the job done.
• Don't get me wrong, I liked Cowboy Bebop, but again, my writing style needs focus, and a straight forward plot line.

"Konoha Geisha: House of Lament"

Unreleased Notes:

• This was basically my attempt at writing a Naruto version of "Memoirs of a Geisha". Most likely this fiction would have turned out to be a AU-type fic, as well as a lot of characters would be semi-OOC.
• The main protagonist of this fic, is Sakura! Yes, finally a hoku Sakura-centered fiction!
• So here's my play on the whole Geisha idea! So instead of "blue eyes" being rare in the story, Sakura's green eyes are the more rarity. So in case point, Sakura is put through Geisha school, and undergoes the training.
• Here is were things get kind of twisted. She changes her eyes out, and wears blue contacts, and dyes her hair black. Can you guess who's name she's going to go under as yet? If not, then be prepared. She assumes the Geisha name of "Hinata".
• Yes, so in essence, she becomes this "Hinata" character for when she is a Geisha.
• Now, enter Naruto & company (the guys). Naruto in the beginning fell in love with a girl who had pink hair, and jade green eyes. And upon returning to this Geisha House, he runs into a different beauty, "Hinata".
• So my sick & twisted, way of luring NaruHina fans in is that it isn't revealed that "Hinata" isn't really Hyuuga Hinata, but in actuality it's Sakura in Geisha form.
• Thus Naruto does fall in love with her for that strange reason. He can't shake this feeling that they've met before.
• So as NaruHina fans get lured into this "really good" fanfiction that supposedly is too good to be true, later when the Geisha House is under attack, and everyone is made to go into hiding. "Hinata" goes with Naruto, and as she takes off her make-up, reveals that she is actually Sakura.
• And thus the true shocker comes out! The fiction is really NaruSaku the entire time.
• How it ended beyond that point, I lost focus again. It became too complicated on how I wanted to end it, or how I wanted to go about it. All I know is that I was so in a devious mood when coming up with this idea, that I just loved the thought of NaruHina fans getting so into this fanfic, then realizing at the end, that Hinata is only just a name, and in reality, the whole fanfic was NaruSaku.
• Evil plot? Maybe. Great Lure? Definitely. But writing the whole thing out? Nah.

Finally it comes to it! My Original Character, and storyline! Featuring next is "Muramasa: Memoirs of Ayoshima Masato".

[hokuten]

Finally! The it comes to it at last! Featuring for the first time for open eyes, the unreleased, unpublished Chapter 1 & Notes on "Muramasa: Memoirs of Ayoshima Masato".

"Muramasa: Memoirs of Ayoshima Masato"

History behind "Ayoshima Masato":

• Originally created when I had first watched "Love Hina", and like all other fans, fell in love with Aoyama Motoko.
• It started with wanted to create a counter-part male character who would complement Motoko in all of her weaknesses. Where as she would be the strong willed and open to combat. Masato would be the more calm natured one, and refuse to fight. But also at the same time, if she would have moments of weakness, she wouldn't need to rely on Keitaro (since Keitaro & Narusegawa are official canon). So she would lean on him.
• Not to say he wasn't all perfect, because I didn't want to create a Gary-Stu. He would have his own faults, like as I said, because he refused to fight, most people found him weak or cowardly. He has a high sense of honor, but he's also not afraid to get his hands dirty.
• So to understand the reasons behind Ayoshima Masato & Aoyama Motoko (in just about all my stories), this is the main premise.
  • Masato & Motoko is my play on Romeo & Juliet. Where Ayoshima is Montague, and Aoyama is Capulet.
  • In Love Hina universe (which is the base of the entire creation), both families are esteemed swordsman, have a prestigous background, as well as have a historic legacy that dates back to even feudal times.
  • So in true Romeo & Juliet fashion, both familes are heated rivals, but the two youngest children find each other through the Hinata House.
  • Keitaro is still the current landlord, and only male character who lives in the house, and he later finds out that there's another person who stops by every now and then who does some help fixing and cleaning.
  • And enters Masato, he's a quiet guy at first who only comes and goes. Sometime in passing he runs into Motoko, and it's love at first sight. But the trick is, Motoko is in conflict between her feelings for Keitaro (to stay true to the Love Hina story), but also at the same time, the moment she saw Masato, she knew it was a different kind of love (from Keitaro).
  • So through my Love Hina fiction (which I need to find), Masato & Motoko slowly build their relationship, then later find out that they are Ayoshima & Aoyama. Thus the conflict of family interests begins.
  • The two keep their relationship a secret from both sides, until Episode 25 "Motoko's Choice, Love or the Sword: Don't Cry", when Tsuriko enters the picture.
  • In this episode, that is when it is revealed that Masato & Motoko are involved with each other, and of course the Big Sister being the current holder of the dojo forbids her sister to even be near an Ayoshima.
  • So the episode plays through, only instead of Keitaro finding Motoko out in the rain, it's Masato. And thus the conflict begins where the two of them decided to openly fight against their families and show them that true love prevails!
  • As corny as it sounds, I actually wrote it out in a better fashion, that's just the best explaination I can come up with to simplify it.
• Now that you know the basic storyline of the Ayoshima & Aoyama plot, now it variates from version to version, but it never ends well for my character.
• To give my character more depth and better storyline, there's a canon plotline I've incorporated and stuck with.
• As you may read in other fanfic ideas & stories I'll be posting later you'll see the common storyline.

Character details on "Ayoshima Masato":

• I suppose what he looks like is based off of Nanjiro Echizen when he's in his monk outfit. Short brown spikey hair, red eyes, with a more lean built body.
• Then the black tattoo of the rising dragon is on his back. If you've ever played "The Bouncer" on PS2, the final fight against Duragon, when he goes all super powered, and you see the red dragon tattoo appear on his back, it's that exact tattoo only black on Masato.
• When going into "Kokuei Ryuujin" mode, Masato's red eyes turn black, but the pupils remain blood red.
• Random sightings of Masato: H&E: Uzumaki Saga (chapter 2), VoH (chapter 4), Tatsu's NaruSaku Challenge (during the radio broadcast)
• The name "Masato" translated means "Justice". So after reading his background info and his storyline; you can see why I chose this name on purpose. He's got a very good sense for Justice, whether it's righteous or for vengence, or simply for acting upon the situation. Just as "Motoko" translated is "Source", or "Child of the Source", so her character being his source of freedom, and sense of life. And when it is taken away from him, he demands "Justice" in the form of "Vengeance".
• I don't know what "Ayoshima" translates into, but I just found it very close to "Aoyama", and I liked how the contrast in saying each name is very alluring. You can almost feel the tension between the two just by saying the names.

And so here it is!

Unreleased, Unpublished Chapter 1

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the original materials that belong to Kishimoto. This is a semi-original fic that revolves around the Naruto world with my own original character (OC).

Muramasa
Memoirs Of Aoyshima Masato

Do you believe in fate?

Where your path is your own, the events that happen to you are of your own doing, and you are in control?

Or do you believe in destiny?

Where your path is pre-determined, everything is set into place, and you are the pawn?

Me? I believe in neither one. I walk my own path, and yet I am a pawn in this cruel world.

Who am I? What am I?

Just a ghost, walking in the wind.

Only a ghost ...

---

Prologue: Lost & Found (part 1)

Dark is the cell in which they had given me since I had checked myself into this prison. In a room too small to stand, and too short to lie down. Isolated from the outside world, never again to see the light. The only window is that of my prison door when they send the food tray. For the weak, this cell would turn a man insane within weeks. But for me, try living in here for years. I don't remember the last time I felt or saw the sunlight, nor the moonlight. I don't remember the reasoning to why I let myself be put into this place. But then again, perhaps it is best that I don't remember. But I do remember was that the moment I decided to come to this hell hole (some would say), I didn't want to be found ...

... until that day ...

Whether if it was the seventeenth year, or the twentieth, it didn't matter, but it was when more than the cell window opened. The cell door opened completely, and the ambient light came rushing into my humble abode. I hand't opened my eyes because even the soft light would sting my eyes from my constant state of darkness. Instead I raised my head and immediately sensed my two usual guards standing before the door.

"Ghost! Are you still alive?" The guard on the left gave a firm voice into the cell. All he could see was the movement of my head to acknowledge that I was still moving. "Heh. It seems destiny has called your name once again-"

I scoffed at those words, and replied with a dark tone. "Tch. Destiny."

"Oho! So he speaks!" The guards mocked me. "Well in anycase you have a visitor, and a very important one at that."

I scoffed again at the words. "Whoever wishes to find me is either paying to see a monster, or is it already time for my replacement?"

"Neither." The guard replied. "It's about your release."

I then opened my eyes almost immediately at the sound of what he had just said. Crimson were the color of my eyes, deep with red, deep with the color of blood. After a good moment of silence, I closed my eyes agian, finally decided to get up from my sitting position, and exited the hole. I went into the usual positining to be chained, and placed with explosion tags around the vital areas on my body should I feel the need to escape. I complied with my guards as they knew well that I had no intention of leaving, or had the will to fight. So as long as I hadn't given them any trouble, then they would treat me with some sort of respect.

They escorted me through the several subterrainian levels of the prison, we were only going one way, up. As we were ascending up the stairs, I could hear the murmurs of the thousands of other prisoners suddenly turn to silence as I passed their cells. Whispers of "It's him!", "The Ghost who walks!", "He's finally getting out?", "Nah, prolly excution time.", "Well whatever it is good riddence, even HIS aura brings bad luck to this wretched place!". I paid no attention to their bickering and mouthing, instead I was wondering ...

Who in the world would go this far to find me, to search out me? Why would they want me? Of course I could only think of a few things that I have done that would cause such a predicament.

... Murder ... Execution ... Treason ... Treachery ... Betrayal ... Silence ... Punishment ... Revenge ...

"None of the above if I know the list of why that is in your head." One of the guards spoke. "It is indeed your freedom that is at stake here. They say he is the Hokage of Konoha, a true humane person and one that has spent nearly half his lifetime in search of you personally himself."

"Hokage?" I spoke quietly in my dark tone. "Which? Shodaime? Or Nidaime? I have not seen those two boys since I helped them during the Unification War."

"Neither, once again. In fact, it is the 3rd Hokage, Sandaime Sarutobi, whom has come to your aid." The guard answered my question.

... Sandaime ... Sarutobi ... I thought to myself. ... so it is the youngest who comes ...

After serveral hundreds flights of stairs, we had finally reached a room near top side. I could almost smell a breeze of fresh air beneath the thick musk of this hellish dungeon. Finally I was brought into a holding cell that looked more like an interrogation room. There was a wooden table along with two chairs facing directly across from each other. The two guards sat me down in one of the chairs and then stood over the doorway, as if waiting for someone to come in. A few moments pass as we waited for the Hokage of Konoha to enter the room, and soon one of the guards spoke.

"I don't mean much disrespect, but what is taking so long?" The guard spoke quietly.

Just then I began to chuckle slightly. "Haha, he's been standing in front of me the moment you two sat me down in here! Hahaha!"

And like he was cued from the shadows, out came a young man with a dark brown beard, his hair was almost like n afro like spike but with a receding line. He looked as if he were in his mid-thirties, strong and proud, but his face showed much compassion. He wore white & red robes, his triable hat with draped sheets around, with the lettering on the center reading "Hokage". He stepped out from the shadows, and waved at the two guards to be at ease. He then took out a pipe, lit it, took a puff of smoke, and finally sat down across from me in the opposite chair. He then took another puff of smoke and blew it upwards as not to blow it into my face as proper etiquette. After taking the second puff of smoke, he then spoke.

"My God, you haven't aged a bit. Although it has been a long time, hasn't it-" His voice calm and cool with reserve, the tone being light but strong. "-Masato-sama."

"Hm." I grunted in response. My eyes were back to closed as I chose not to see the light, much less any ambient light in the room. I raised my head as if to face him and gave him an expressionless face. Even though I had my eyes closed, he knew well that I could see him and everything.

"Remove his bindings, and the explosion tags." Sandaime spoke calmly. "This is no way to treat a war hero, of course."

The guards looked at each other puzzled with the Hokage's words, as they never really knew who I was and what I had did, but only knew that I was kept in the most isolated cell at the bottom of the entire prison. They hesitated at first, but the Hokage gave them a reassuring look to trust him. They did so and removed all the chains and bindings on my hands, feet, neck, arms, legs, and body. Then they removed all the explosive tags from around me, and allowed me to stretch out.

"Now leave us." The Hokage ordred and waved his hand at them. "Please."

The guards bowed respectfully and exited the holding cell, closing the heavy door behind them. As they had locked the bolt into place, that was when the conversation began.

"As I know you already know why I am here, I won't ask the question. But you also know that I am leaving this plece without you." The Hokage began to speak. "The question is why now? Why all of a sudden has a 'young kid' like me coming to the aid of an old old man like you?"

I didn't have to answer since all of these questions were essentially rhetorical.

"'Because it is only right that the young worries after his elders'! As you would lecture me. Also I believe one of your favorite lines was 'Leave no man behind', which is very widely known." He continued once again. "So I ask you why are in such a hellish place as this? The answer is, 'I wanted to disappear and not be found', but here I am. It may have took me half my lifetime to find you, but it won't be in vain."

I had no response, or any reaction to his words.

"I said I wouldn't ask you, but I will anyway." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "Come home. You take the blame for something not any human can do, or can surpass. It wasn't your fault for terrorizing the entire nation. You were not yourself, and it was not you who killed my brothers. And you can't keep running away from your past. Let me help you, as you did when I was just a boy. You are not a criminal who deserves to live in such conditions. I know your history, I know your past, and it wasn't your fault for slaying her as well-"

It was at THOSE words that I slammed my fist onto the table to stop him. And Sandaime knew he had gone to far with what he was about to say.

"Forgive me. I was out of line. But it is only right that I care for you. Konoha cares for you." He went back to reasoning. "Even though you are old with wisdom, perhaps this young one can teach you a few new things about living."

"Saru-" I spoke his name. "-tobi..."

"No escorts, no guards, no ANBU, no tricks, no assassins, no religious factions, no usurpers, and no warring clans. Just you and me on the open road again." He gave a soft smile, and put his pipe down. "We'll take our time, see the old sights, remember the old days, and tell you what has happened to the world since you're absence."

I paused for a moment. "There will always be war."

Sandaime closed his eyes briefly and sighed. "And you won't have to fight them unless I send for you, or you come of your own free will."

"And I will always be hunted."

"Then we shall face them together, as we have before." He answered striaght back at me.

I sighed heavily, as this was the promising 3rd Hokage of Konoha. Always being the humane one, carrying his people in his heart at all times. Then I took a deep breath as I knew that Sarutobi would not give up on me, even if I had beaten him up and returned to my cell. He would only keep on coming back. So I took one more heavy sigh, opened my eyes and stared right into him. These (blood lust) eyes staring into the proud and honorable brown eyes of Sarutobi, and I gave him my answer.

"Home. Home is where the heart aches."

Storyline from Naruto RPG:

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

(Part 1: Family/Clan)

When, he was born is still unknown to many, but his family has been with Konoha since the beginning. The Ayoshima Family line is best well known for its rival war against another family line, th Aoyama Clan. The two families have waged a personal war against each other for centuries. The original reason as to why the families were at ends was that the Ayoshima clan had gotten the privilege to serve the Shogun as guadians of the Kokuei Ryuujin Seal, that the Aoyama clan had seeked. Thus a feud was born, the Aoyama clan swore to bring malice and bring down the Aoyshima clan.

But as the years passed and the feud continued, it was passed on from generation to generation, and the true reason was lost. All that was taught to the children was hate. But finally came Masato's turn to take up the seal, and this time the feud would end here.

Why? He had found love, Aoyama Motoko. But of course the Clans would never see them together. Also they were both destined to face each other in the Traditional Duel the families held. Neither of them wished to fight each other, so they tried to run from their families and escape such a cruel fate. But there was no escape, in the end they were to face each other ... to the death. This was how the families settled the dispute and move onto the next generation. In the end, at the dual, Motoko had lost, and even worse, Masato was to perform her senpuku there and now.

Later Masato found out that his own family had a part in Motoko's loss, for they had switched her blade with a fraud. Masato denounced his family and slew down his own family in a murderous rage ...

(Part 2: The Curse)

... After slaying his family with Motoko's sword, Masato began to burn. It was as if he was on fire, and screaming in pain, he fell to his knees. As he woke, it felt as if something was grafted onto him, a burning sensation coming from his back. It was the Kokuei Ryuujin. The blood of his own kin & his murderous rage had awakened the demon.

The curse of the Kokuei Ryuujin bears a great burden. He would carry this until the demon saw fit that it was full ... full of what? Anger? Hate? Sadness? Blood? Suffering? And so Masato would wander the land, never aging, never feeling, never loving again.

The power of the Kokuei Ryuujin, gives eternal life, but at a price. To activate the Kokuei Ryuujin is to pay in blood, blood of your enemies, your friends, even loved ones, it didn't matter who it just wants blood. Whenever he became overwhelmed by the demon, Masato's eyes would change from red, to black with blood red pupils. To wander alone, only a slave to a demon that wanted blood & souls. He had tried many times to take his own life, but the demon would never let him. The demon would laugh, and always tell him...

"You woke the demon, now you must pay the price with your soul..."

And on top of bearing such an omen, he carries the very same sword to which he had used to execute his own wife. The curse of the blade to which there is another story...but for another time.

(Part 3: Temporary Absolution | Present time)

After many years of wandering, Sandaime (3rd Hokage), had found him again and took him back into Konoha. Through his kindness and wisdom, Sandaime helped train him to fight the demon through power of will, to live for Motoko, even if it was a cursed life. He worked his way through the Shinobi ranks, and became fairly infamous, but always kept to himself, and very few people.

He spends most of his days meditating at the temple now.

It became a bed time story for children who misbehaved, and held ill-will towards their families. Parents would tell the story and say "If you become a bad, the Kokuei Ryuujin will come and eat your soul!", tales of horror and how a "black plague" swept through all over from country to country. A single man, a demon slaying everything in its path, drinking the blood of all its victims. A giant demon with sharp teeth, glowing red eyes, and a black shadow that covered him completely. His hands big enough to crush a grown man's skull, strength that of 1000 soldiers, and a thrist for blood that is never-ending. So naturally children were afraid of these things, and thus were well behaved. Although, often children would wonder, if there were no survivors, where did the stories come from? Of course, whenever Masato would sometimes pass and hear such tales, he knew the truth.

The Legend of the Kokuei Ryuujin & the Ayoshima/Aoyama Feud had passed into time ... Legends became myths, myths became stories, and stories became rumors.
______________________________________________________________

But one day, everything from his cold world would change. On the night when the Kyuubi demon had rampaged through Konoha, he was away on a mission. By the time he had learned word of the demon's attack, he was too far away to make any difference. All he could do was complete his current mission, and pray that Konoha will triumphant over the demon.

The date, October 10th, it was a cold fall night when a terrorist situation had befallen the neighboring Wave Country's Shogun. The Mist shinobi had forcefully taken over the Shogun, and Wave Country called in Konoha for assisstance to rescue their Princess. Masato was sent alone on this mission as a military aid to help the loyal retainers of the Shogun fight back against such Shinobi. In the end there was castle siege, which led to a massacre. The Mist Shinobi had lost, but in turn they had also slain the poor Princess. Masato had found the Princess in her last dying breath, and she had revealed to him that she had a baby, but hidden away safe. No one had known about the child, but when Masato had found the baby, he realized that it was a baby girl. And knowing that the Wave Country only accepts male heirs to the throne, he found himself at a choice ...

Let the girl be thrown away by the Wave Country laws, or take her with him. Either choice would have been a harsh life, and an ever-winding road. He couldn't bring her into his life, and could trust no other person to truly take care of her. And just as he was about to leave the girl for dead, she almost immediately took hold of his finger with her tiny hands. This small child, newly born into this world took hold of the finger of a man who was covered in blood, smelled strongly of blood, and eyes that read only death. She didn't let go of him, and it was that night, he didn't know what had gotten over him, but perhaps this was their fate.

Now ... Father & Daughter.

He had taken her out of there, and found his mission complete. The Wave Country restored their Shogun, and despite the loss of their beloved Princess, they appointed a new Prince from the residing family that had survived, possibly direct cousins of the Princess. It didn't matter to Masato. What was done was done. And as he was leaving the Wave Country eagerly returning to Konoha to help in the fight against Kyuubi. He had realized something. He stopped on the border, baby girl in the basket on his back. He didn't have a name for her, nor knew what her name was because the Princess had died before calling her child by name. Just then, a white flake had fallen onto his face. He looked up and it started to snow. He took off the basket to wrap a warm blanket around the child and for once in many years, he smiled. And suddenly something had come over him in which he had not felt in so long...warmth. Warmth of satisfaction? Warmth of a sudden realization? Or warmth of a new life that had fallen into his lap. Fate indeed.

"From this day forth, you will be Yuki. Ayoshima Yuki."

Years had passed since that day. She was already growing up rapidly and happily with her new father. It was strange for her, many people had told her that she didn't look like her father at all, but never cared either. She was raised up as a normal girl, well cared for, never neglected, and unspoiled. Of course, there did come a time when she was six and had wanted a Geisha doll (much like an expensive barbie at the time). But Masato bought her a simple brown bear instead. She became so upset that she chose not to speak to him for a time, and even started to cause trouble. She would run away sometimes and curse him. All he would always tell her the same thing, "One day you'll understand why". But until then she would refuse to talk to him, and keep trying to run away.

Finally one day, she had made another attempt to run away, but this time she would be caught by rogue shinobi from the country of Grass seeking a ploy to assassinate Mastato (because of his high rank in Konoha). They took poor Yuki and locked her in a small room with no windows. She was alone in the dark, scared, frightened, upset, and crying. It had been only a few hours when suddenly she heard screams and horrifying cries of terror. Sounds that she had never heard before. But there was that smell, the scent of something she had not smelled since she was just a baby. His scent, her father. She then wiped her tears away and began to feel reassured that her father was coming ... but something was different, it wasn't the same feeling as back then, it made her even more scaried because of the cries of pain and horror that came from behind the door. All she could hear were many people getting hurt, explosions everywhere, people fighting, and then there was a loud roar that came from all directions. There was an aura in the air that was completely overwhelming, like breathing in a thick smoke. There was a blood red glow coming from the creek from teh door. Finally, it fell silent ... deathly silent. The door had finally opened, and there was her father, covered in other people's blood. The corridor behind him was black, so she could not see anything. She stood up from her spot and took a few steps towards him, but stopped to see that something was odd. It was her father indeed, but something was different, his eyes glowed a demon red, and there was almost like a dark shadow within the shadow, an outline of something hovering over her father. A ghost? A demon? A shinigami? But soon after a moment, it disppaeared, and her father was back to normal. Masato walked towards her and knelt down to embrace her, but suddenly he had collapsedr. The only words he could say before he passed out were...

"Was I late?"

It was that moment that she realized that her father came all this way just to save her. Fought viciously through possibly hundreds of armed shinobi, and searched far and wide just for her. She wiped her tears away and cried out to him over his body.

"Chichuie! Chichuie! (Papa! Papa!) I'm so sorry! I promise I won't run away anymore! Please don't leave me!"

She cried and cried, until finally she realized that she hadn't really done anything for him as a daughter. He had given her a rich life full of love and care, but she hadn't repaid anything in return. It was now that she found a new strength, and began to try and drag her father's body out of the hell that they were in. It was then that she realized, as her father would protect her with all his life, she would in-turn rise up to protect him.

The story of how she had dragged him all the way out and back to an outside small town was something of a miracle. Something only a child could summon up the strength to do for their loved parent.

And so through time she would grow up to be a fine girl. She never once complained to him, and always kept a smile on her face for him. Finally it was time for her to graduate from the Ninja Academy. After the ceremony, she came rushing to him inside the temple to celebrate. He welcomed her into his arms and had a somewhat sad smile on his face. She asked why, and so he would tell her...

"You're growing up so fast. You're not a child anymore. I've taught you how to take care of yourself, and how to be a fine person. And now you are old enough to know the truth. The truth about me, and about you."

He told her everything about himself, his past, his actions, who he was and where he had come from, everything even about the demonseal upon his back. And of course, he had finally told her about how she had come into his care. It was all a little much to absorb, but instead of her being shocked, she smiled and simply replied.

"My name is Ayoshima Yuki. My father is Ayoshima Masato. That is all I need to know."

Despite all of the truth and explaination, she carried that same smile for him. He knew he had done well in raising her. Now he would talk about the current situation.

"Now that you are a full fledged Genin. I won't be staying with you at home anymore. I will be staying here at the temple as my home. It is time for your becoming your own person, live your life, and become a great kunoichi. And when the time comes, should you wish to become ANBU, I will be waiting to train you myself as the many others you have seen growing up. Until then, I will only be another Jounin-sensei for three other Genin. Now, give me you're headband from the Academy."

She handed him her Konoha headband that was a dark blue with the Konoha leaf inscribed on the metal plate. He then folded it up neatly, and placed it on his side. Then he pulled out a wrapped present, something that looked like a small box, but to her she knew exactly what it was.

"Consider this you're graduation present."

She took the box from him with both hands, and nearly tore it to shreds beacuse of the excitement that ran through her body. As she opened it, there was a case with a black Konoha headband, her father's. She took it out and wiped the small tear coming from her eye. Before he could say anything, she was all too excited and jump over to hug her father excitedly. This was because she had always grown up seeing him wear the headband, before he switched to dogtags. And the day she wanted to be a ninja, she had always hoped that she would get to wear something like that one day. It was just an even bigger surprise that he would pass his down to her, because they don't make the black-style anymore. Masato held his daughter aside with both hands firmly on her shoulders. "Now go. You're new sensei is probably already waiting for you."

She nodded her head and rushed off happily, her father's black Konoha headband in hand. As she was disappearing off down the lengthly flight of stairs, Masato spoke silently to himself.

"You know the way home now, just follow your feet back. My pride and joy, my Yuki-hime."
_________________________________________________________________

Notes on Story & Plot:

• The plan for Pre-Part 1 (Naruto Manga world) was to have Sarutobi escort Masato back home, and thus begin his training to control the Kokuei Ryuujin, and seal it's power from having to be used. During this time, Sarutobi is still a young man, and Yondaime is still just a boy. So you can grasp the time difference, and see that he is a lot more than he seems.
• So during this Pre-Naruto Era, Masato has built his status in Konoha, and risen through the ranks to be well known and well-liked. Only Hokage & select people know the truth behind the "Ayoshima". So during this time Masato meets: Yondaime (kid > teenager > adult), Tsunade (kid > teenager > adult), Jiraiya (kid > teenager > adult), Orochimaru (kid > teenager > adult), Kakashi (kid > teenager), and lots of other people as Kids to Teenagers. The Sanin he meets them as children and watches them grow up to be young adults (into their 20s-30s).
• I wanted to write him as the trainer for all of those people, which is how everyone knows him and his reputation as a person & shinobi. I even wanted to write that Masato is even older that that, because he dates back to when Konoha was first started, but he went off the radar, thus Sandaime found him again. I also wanted Masato to have him teach Yondaime the "Shinigami Fuuin" jutsu (the Death God sealing technique). Which is what Yondaime uses to seal the Kyuubi away.
• So now it's Part 1 Naruto-era, some where along the way, Masato is sent off on a high priority level mission, and that is when Kyuubi attacks. Because he was not there to help (which probably would have been a great deal), that is when Yondaime sacrifices himself, and seals it into Naruto.
• Upon returning, that is when Masato finds that Yondaime is gone, and Naruto is sealed with this burden. So he takes it upon himself to take care of Naruto for the time being, as he knows what it is like to have a demon inside of him. He takes care of Naruto as an "Uncle" until the age of 5, when for some reason Masato must go into hiding. The Ayosima have risen up again and are on the hunt.
• So Masato decides with the help of Sandiame, to seal himself away into a deep sleep, until things settle down, and will be awakened once more in great times of need.
• Years pass, almost 9-10 years go by, and it is Tsunade who wakes up Masato, because Konoha is in turmoil after the Sound-Suna attack.
• Masato awakes to a slightly different era/time and meets the older (50+ year old) Tsunade. Everyone who knows/remembers him calls him "Masato-sama, or Masato-sensei", because he is very highly regarded. So now it is Naruto & Sakura who are older and it is now Part 1 Naruto-era, but nearing the end. Naruto reunites with Masato, but can't quite clearly remember him exactly. So at first meeting, Naruto is completely oblivous to who he is and acts like his normal arrogant loud mouth self.
• NaruSaku escort Masato back to Konoha, and it's like one of those filler episodes/movies. They get into all kinds of trouble along the way, and get to know more about Masato himself. Until finally Naruto remembers his "Uncle Masato", and things are full circle.
• At the end of Part 1 Naruto Era, it stays true to the manga, Naruto goes off with Jiraiya, and Sakura with Tsunade. Masato resumes his Jounin-sensei position, and that's when the whole "Naruto RPG storyline" enters.
• Now going into Part 2 Naruto-era, Naruto slightly more mature and stronger than he was before, under-goes Masato's training style. This is where things deviate from the Part 2 Manga-verse/Shippuuden storyline.
• As you can see this storyline actually conflicts with my Naruto RPG storyline, but it doesn't matter anymore. There are a lot of plots and ideas that conflicted with each other, or simply didn't seem to fit together correctly. So it's kind of why the whole idea flopped in my head.

Notes on Muramasa:

• The basic story of Ayoshima Masato is this:
  • Now that you know the basic premise of the Ayoshima & Aoyama conflict, this is the more in-depth storyline.
  • The two families rivalry date back to the beginning of Konoha itself.
  • The reason they are fighting each other is over which family will take control over the "Dark Dragon" Seal (Kokuei-Ryuujin, kinda stolen from Ninja Gaiden for Xbox).
  • So these two families have A LOT of bloodshed between each other. To the point that it's almost like a racial hate just for being in either family.
  • After several generations of hate, finally it comes to a new generation. Masato & Motoko are born.
  • Before they were trained in the art to kill and their families secret skills passed onto them.
  • And as discussed before, the two meet out of fate, and fall in love at first site. Before the "hate" was instilled in them. So basically these two "stars" are born pure & untainted with the family rivalry.
  • Of course the Families disapprove of such a horrifying thought that an Ayoshima & an Aoyama could ever be together.
  • So after many attempts to elope and run away, they are forced to fight each other as law dictates this time god-awful tradition.
  • And so, Masato unwilling to fight, is willing to give his life for the woman he loves. The Ayoshima family knowing this, purposely sabotage Motoko's sword by replacing it with a cursed one, a Muramasa.
  • The two decide to do a double suicide and impale each other, but because the Ayoshima rigged the fight, Masato ends up winning. And the worst fate happens, he must perform Motoko's senpuku as her beheader.
  • Horrified at this, he refuses, but the family give him the choice of either giving her a clean death, or slow agonizing one.
  • Motoko knowing that if he does not perform the beheading he will suffer more, and simply begs him to just live for her.
  • Masato left with no choice, completes the ritual, and the Ayoshima Family once again take on the "Kokuei Ryuujin" back to their household.
  • That very night during the Clan celebration, loose lips reveal the plot to rig Motoko's sword (which Masato has taken up in memory of her). Upon finding out the truth behind everything, he slays his entire family in a murderous rage, and proclaims a self-exile for commiting the crime of Genocide (on his own faimly).
  • What he doesn't realize is that the blood of his own kin at his own murderous intent had awoken the Kokuei Ryuujin, and thus now the demon dragon god was fully awake. Once awake, the curse of wandering, constant isolation, and never-ending suffering begins.
  • Masato goes into self-exile, and disappears for years.
  • During this time, the rivalry has gone into a lull. Until Masato had resurfaced and was reformed by the first Hokages of Konoha. Shodaime & Nidaime were the ones to quell & subdue the beast, but it was Sandaime who helped him find his humanity.
  • Since then his secret has been kept only to the Hokage line, and to those who died keeping his secret hidden.
• Okay back to normal notes, Masato is essentially immortal, but he can still feel pain, still feel suffering, and at every waking moment he is in constant battle with the Kokuei Ryuujin. Ever locked in a battle of will & control.
• Motoko's Sword, Muramasa (the cursed one), is also another burden he bears, but it is entirely because he chooses not to let go of it. I actually have a whole separate storyline for the sword itself.
  • My plan for the Muramasa was that it's a sword that won't come out of it's sheath.
  • So essentially it's "locked" from within, and will not release itself, unless it wants to come out.
  • Yes, the sword itself is alive, not sentient, but it has a mind of it's own.
  • So staying true to the Muramasa myths, the sword has the curse of blood upon it. It only hungers for blood, and embodies the Blood God within it.
  • When "unlocked" and it comes out of it's sheath, the blade appears as if it is completely rusted, covered in a blood stained red rust. But don't be fooled by it, it can still cut you, maybe not cleanly at first, but it IS dangerous.
  • The trick with this sword is that everytime it tastes blood, the blade restores itself little by little, absorbing the blood making the sword becoming whole again.
  • So with every cut, every slice, every strike, the blade becomes cleaner and cleaner, until it's become a fully restored/replenished katana.
  • At the peak of restoration, the sword is at it's most powerful state, and can exhibit dangerous qualities. Some times Masato claims it comes alive and starts moving on it's own. Other times, he's seen the Blood God be summoned from it and becomes a fully materialized avatar. And the scariest moments are when the sword just begins glowing violently red, blood dripping from the blade even when all the bodies cut down from it are nothing but dried husks of their former selves.
  • It's a very powerful, very dangerous weapon to be used. Which is why he forbids, anyone from touching, or even looking at it. As well as why he refuses to use the blade no matter what the situation.

Moving onto something different, I actually have a whole storyline that built up after starting the Naruto RPG we have here on H&E.

Notes on Masato & Yuki:

• I kind of liked the idea of him having a sudo-daughter. Which is where Yoko's character "Yuki" came in.
• I guess I liked the idea of him having this completely innocent, outside force that makes him even more human. So he can give it a shot at raising a child outside of what his family had trained him to do.
• As well as him having taught many teams before him, and passing on the training to become better people, and to save lives, not take them.
• So through the RPG, it did kind of help me further develope a real storyline and extended history for Ayoshima Masato.
• In one of our missions, I played it that the Ayoshima are back on the rise, and Masato is back on the hunted. In the mission to "Kyoto", I totally took the whole "Samurai X" idea, where Kyoto was going to burn down. So along with the "Shinsengumi" enters the "Ayoshima".
• Along the way, we find out that the Aoyama are still alive, and have long given up on the "hate", because they finally realized how obsessive things had become and after losing their ancestor, Masato's "Motoko", they've changed dramatically. And that's when the reincarnation of Motoko's sister, "Tsuriko" intervenes and saves Masato from the hunting Ayoshima. This was the first encounter.
• There's a lot of sacrifice & bloodshed since the Ayoshima had reformed and went on the hunt to bring Masato & the Kokuei Ryuujin back.
• So in the next Ayoshima Gaiden, there is a second encounter and first strike is made. We encounter Masato's younger brother (reincarnated), and they fight. Masato cannot bring himself to kill his own brother (even though it is someone completely different).
• In the third encounter, Masato decides to take the fight directly to them. He and his team go back to where it all began, and destroy the Ayoshima once again, with the help from the Aoyama.
• In this conflict he fights not only his younger brother, but also his elder brother & sister. And finally in the end, he is forced to fight his own parents. Keeping in mind that they are all reincarnations of the past.
• After this fued has finally ended, things begin to calm down, and Masato & his team resume normal missions and life.
• BUT! Just when things seemed to have passed on, Masato is finally captured, because of the threat made to his daughter, Yuki. So Masato wishing to keep Yuki safe, and out of the entire mess, willingly goes captive.
• In this twist it is Yuki who goes off to find her father. The team assembles together, along with whichever teams that volunteered to do a joint mission.
• They find out that the entire Ayoshima family who were deemed as the "Demon Slayers" were in fact making deals with Demons themselves. And that the entire faction is being manipulated by Masato's Great-Grandmother, the Matriarch of the Ayoshima Clan.
• So Yuki & friends, discover a whole history of what really was going on, and exactly how the Ayoshima had always beaten the Aoyama every time.
• A fight ensues, and finally it comes to terms that when the Ayoshima Matriarch attempts to "take back" the Kokuei Ryuujin, the Dark Dragon God does not go so peacefully. Nor does it like the fact that it's been kept sealed away for so long. Also along the way the Dark Dragon God has contemplated it's very being, after being with Masato for so long.
• So in a rage, the Dark Dragon God destroys everything, including itself, ridding this world of it's evil as if the world didn't have enough evil as it is.
• Finally it comes to the final blow, Masato & Yuki fight the Matriarch. Lifting the curse upon her father, and freeing him from the bonds between with Motoko, so her ghost may rest peacefully.
• Yuki understand that she may never take Motoko's place in her father's heart, but she will be there to support him, and take care of him as she always has. Truly Father & Daughter.
• Now it comes to the curse of the Muramasa. This was a nother Gaiden mission I wanted to implement, but I wasn't entire sure about how or where to go with it.
• The plan as to simply "purify" the sword from it's Blood Curse, and lifting the Blood God away from it.
• In the end, the "Muramasa" would then transform into the "Masamune".
• A sword of Life, and not Death.

So all in all, the whole Ayoshima Masato saga, was pretty epic and had the major potential to become something bigger. But while looking back on it, he does come off as borderline Gary-Stu. Which is why I've sometimes variated his storyline and decided to simply go with the "Muramasa" Curse, and skip the whole "Kokuei Ryuujin" thing. But the major point behind him is similar to Kenshin in Samurai X, when he slays Tomoe, and has to live with the regret.

In my case, Masato is forced to execute his love, and she gladly gives her life to save his. Thus he carries the cursed blade on him, and to him he can't let go of her, so that she in turn is stuck on this plane as a ghost accompanying him through his endless suffering. She won't leave him until she's absolved, or ready to be free.

You'll see variations of the story in my later fictions that I'll post & discuss. Things like "The Game", there's a whole different version of how I depicted Ayoshima Masato.

Okay well that's it for all the Naruto-based fanfictions I've written, or had ideas about. Now we'll be moving onto my "Original Fiction list", and see how those all played out.

[hokuten]

Well since we're on the topic of Ayoshima Masato, why not start off my non-Naruto fanfics with Ayoshima Masato, so the notes are all shared together. Here is my attempted at a modern-samurai flick, with a little taste of the past. There are two original chapters based off of this fiction, the first being the actual prelude, then the second being a variation of how I wanted to open up the series.

Key Notes on "The Game: Legend of the 5 Genji":

• In this variation of the Ayoshima Masato storyline. The opening setting for both introductions is that it is set in very Early Feudal Japan Era.
• Masato is apart of an Elite Group of Samurai called the Genji. Masters of their own sword art that governs the lands, and serve under the Daimyo.
• In this storyline, Masato & Motoko are already wed, and with their marriage locks all family rivalry.
• Except in this version, Motoko is actually the Antagonist plotting the downfall of Masato & the 5 Genji.
• In v2.0 of Chapter 1, you'll see how it opens up with Masato being followed out by his fellow Genji and run into conflict.
• The basis behind this whole story is that Masato relives his life over and over, because he finds out that he is immortal (like in Highlander), a curse is put upon him by the Aoyama Clan to walk the earth and everything he loves or ever loved will fade away with time.
• So with every generation the bloodline passes on, as you will read in the Build-Up Chapter at the bottom.

Unfinished, Unpublished, Chapter 1 v1.0

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

I've seen Dynasties and Shoguns rise, and Empires fall. I've seen heroes and villians come and go. I've fought in many battles, at many different times, but The Game will never end. It never will, not until I kill her. She will never let me go, never let me rest, chase me to the ends of the earth, and make me suffer.

I remember that day. So clearly burned into my mind. That day...

"KAAEEEEEEDDDDEEEEEEE!!!"

And it will only repeat itself, over, and over, and over. Not until I stop her.

"Motoko, we will end this."

Not until...I kill her.

---

The Game

Chapter 1: Today

[Modern Day]

"My name is Lloyd. And I live here in Chicago, although I live alone, I more or less have a family and friends. I live a simple life, in my own place, and I have an inheritance from my family's line. I, more or less, grew up with a girl named Anna, and I've known her pretty much since we were kids... We pretty much live together and what not."

That day I recieved a letter in the mail. There was no return address, but it was pretty funny, because the letter was sealed with wax, like in the miedevil times. As I opened the letter, I read what it had said.

"I found you."

At first, I threw the letter aside, and laughed at it, as if it was some kind of prank. But deep down, I knew what it meant. Was it time already? Who knew? I disregarded that letter and left the house to go eat lunch. I picked up Anna from her work and we ate at some resturant. It was strange, I had a very bad feeling today. As if, we were being followed, and being watched closely by someone.

"What is it, Lloyd?" Anna asked me as she saw my worried face.

I shook my head, and replied calmly, "It's nothing."

"I know that look. And it tells me that you're very troubled." She said and gave me this look that said (if you don't tell me I'll beat you up).

So I explained to her that I got some weird letter today. She laughed at it, and told me exactly what I was thinking. "Don't be silly, one of your friends is prolly playing a joke on you!"

"I don't know. I still can't shake this feeling that we're being watched...or even followed."

She took my hand, and just looked at me with a smile. "You're so weird! Even when we were kids, you were wierd! I don't know how I ended up with you!"

That made me laugh out loud. "Ha! It's because of my MANLY charms!"

She laughed, and was glad to see me lighten up a bit. "Well, I know you have some kind of secret! And someday I'm gonna figure it out!"

We both laughed, and enjoyed the rest of that day. Although I was still paranoid, I know someone is follow us, well...not Anna...but me.

===

Notes on Chapter v1.0:

• In the original opening chapter, the scene calls for Masato to slay one of his most trusted & closest friends. A Kunoichi from the past that traveled with him, and over time fell in love with him, thus she sacrificed her life for him.
• I took the basic background story from Onimusha 1, with Samanosuke & Kaede, because I absolutely loved Kaede. She was definitely one of those under appreciated characters, and had a deep character feel behind her, even though she was just a support character.
• And the whole over all feel is similar to Kill Bill, that now it's "Kill Motoko", because somehow she has tormented me for all these years.
• The time skip to present day (20XX), is supposed to be the contrast in time era. So you can already see that Masato has lived all this time through the years.
• Yes, I know it's very corny & cheesy to use my own name as his "cover identity", but it always seems like a great idea at the time!
• The girl "Anna" is another one of those common girl names, and characters I like to use in all my other fanfictions. One that you'll see in another one of my series called "Type R" (Iniital D inspired).
• So the common key element in this series is "Anna" who is my new companion (almost like in the Dr. Who series now that I think about it).
• So basically, the story of the whole series is that I relive that fated moment since I was cursed by the Aoyama Clan.

Unfinished, Unpublished, Chapter 1 v2.0

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Disclaimer: The names and people in this story are semi-original, some are historical names, some may have a few historical references. This story belongs to me, and I hold my rights to it. If I could, some of the text would be in Japanese with english subtitles, but to save trouble text in ITALICS is supposed to be in Japanese (just use your imagination).
---

Do you believe in fate?

Where your path is your own, the events that happen to you are of your own doing, and you are the player?

Or do you believe in destiny?

Where your path is pre-determined, and everything is set into place, where you are the pawn?

Me? I believe in neither one. I walk my own path, yet I am a pawn in this cruel game. Who am I? Just a ghost, walking in the wind. Only a ghost...

---
The Game: Legend Of the 5 Genji
---

Prelude: [Odawari Province, Fuedal Japan 1XXX]

"TRAITOR!"

The front gates to the inner sanctum had broke open, and a young samurai had just ran out, being followed by three more samurai! The one that was on the run was of fairly built stature, and looked to be in his early twenties, very young, but had a strong look. Just as he jumped off into the main courtyard out in the open, he was then surrounded by the his three pursuers. They all drawed forth their swords, as the samurai stood his ground, and placed his hand on his katana. The rain pouring down onto the ground, as the moon was shining over them.

"You've betrayed us Masato!" Shouted the short samurai, who looked small for his size, but you could tell he was very fast and skilled, he was quite agitated, and his aura was firey, his eyes focused on the traitor.

"Why? How could you backstab Master Masa? Just come with us calmly, and we will sort this out." This man was rather tall, large in build, but was the oldest of them. His voice was calm and deep, but it showed a kind of regard as in respect for his new foe. He drew forth a large blade from his back and held in position to charge.

"It was not me. Please you have to-"

"LIES! We saw you with our own eyes! And now, you will pay." The last samurai was about the same age, his hair was long and wild, and they were of the same build. This warrior drew forth two katana, weilding dual katana!

The three pursuers cicled around their prey, ready at any instand to strike him down. As the man stood his ground he tried to plead with his former comrades.

"SHE set me up. After all these years, not once have I betrayed any of you."

"That can't be, because it was Motoko who came to us for help." Said the short samurai.

"You don't understand..." Masato knew he was at a stand off. His comrades would not listen to him anymore, he had been framed for slaying their master, and now he was a traitor. "I see how it is. If this is how we are to part, then so be it."

And with those words, he calmed his breath, and gripped his katana firmly. The three samurai circled him once more, and then they all took positions to strike. Thunder boomed in the sky, and lightning had flashed! In that instant flash it was all over.

"Sayonara, my comrades."

The one called Masato had downed all three samurai and was sheathing his blade, as he was walking away into the darkness of the rain.

The 5 Genji, were no more...
---
Chapter 1: The Calling

[Somewhere in the U.S. 200X]

"Masato ... (lloyd) ... Masato ..."

"Lloyd? HEY LLOYD!?"

"Huh? Wha?"

I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall for some time now. Those visions, I see them everyday, everynight they haunt me. What does it all mean? I looked to my side, to my best friend, Anna. She had woke me up from what

Notes on Chapter v2.0:

• In this version, you get a little better taste of the past, and you meet 3 out of 5 Genji.
• The 5 Genji as depicted in my story are also the famous Swordsmiths: Asura, Bizen, Muramasa, and Masamune.
• The premise is basically the same as v1.0 where the setting is in the present day, and Masato/Lloyd is about to go through the living hell once more.
• So the way it's supposed to open up is that Masato/Lloyd gets the letter of "Challenge". The usual deadline is coming up and he must answer the call or face to live this nightmare for the next 100 years. But the deception is that Motoko always interferes with the "Calling", and thus dooms Masato to live the nightmare regardless.
• Through the series, you'll learn the history behind the 5 Genji, how they were once the greatest warriors of the time, and then you'll learn about the betrayal and conspiracy.
• Despite having the potential to become something bigger, this storyline didn't really stick with me very long.
• I have to admit that this fanfiction was pretty weak on my part, and this was one of my earlier attempts at writing Samurai Flicks.
• In all actuality I only wanted to write the second to last chapter, as viewed below.

Okay now here is the EXCLUSIVE, finished Build-Up Chapter to the Final Chapter. By now if you were a member who joined H&E when we first started, then you've already seen this, if not, this is you're second chance to see it all over again.

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Disclaimer: This story is of my own creation, some elements are from some anime/mangas and movies, so credit for that goes out to them. Some characters and some names are Historical and others are fictional, so please bare that in mind. I would write in japanese, but save time a space, all ITALICS means japanese, just use your imagination. The brackets mean Kaede is translating what a person is speaking. okay on with the show!

"It's time."

"What is?"

"To return home. Back to the homeland. Back to Japan."

---
The Game: Legend Of the 5 Genji
---

Chapter 2: Lost Souls

[Tokyo, Japan]

The hustle and bustle of the city was always the same, just as I remembered it. People going everywhere, mass chaos all around, but somehow everything was all kept in order. We made our way to this part of down that was like an anime festival or something. But I found what I was looking for; there was a great crowd in the center of the market place, all huddled around as if to see some kind of parlor trick. In the center was this short man about in his mid-twenties, with a bokuto (wooden sword). We made our way through the mass of people and I asked Kaede what the man was shouting out into the crowd.

She translated for me, "[Come anyone! I challenge anyone in this crowd to open combat! Wooden swords of course! If you can lay one blow! Just ONE BLOW! I will pay you 10,000 yen ($100)!] - Pretty silly if you ask me. He's just a show off."

We watched for a bit, as a few people brave enough to take up this man's challenge. Of course these challengers were just amatuers trying to show off for their girlfriends, and what not, just trying to be macho. But little did they know that they would get the kitten whooped out of them. For about five or eight rounds, he was undefeated. I waited, and watched, until finally he had beaten his ninth challenger, then he began to boast some more.

"[Is there no one that can beat me?! NO ONE!? I will double the price now!]"

Then I told Kaede to translate for me. "[I challenge you, but I don't want your money. If I win, I want you to answer my question.]"

The short man, heard my challenge issued from Kaede, and he laughed as if it was the girl who had challenged him, but then when I stepped out from behind her, his face expression changed. Now he had a face that looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"[Masato...]" The short man spoke with an quiet angry tone.

"Kaede, tell him..."

"Masato?" She had a strange look on her face as she spoke that foriegn name, and she translated for me, "[Well? Do you accept? Or are you afraid?]" Then she turned to me, and whispered to me, "What are you doing? Are you crazy? This guy could really hurt you!"

"I just want to ask him a question. But the only way to do so is if I fight. Don't worry about me."

The short man now had a very stern face, and nodded his head in agreement to my terms. But then he began to speak again. And Kaede told me, "[Since you are my tenth challenger, let's up the game shall we?]"

And then he called to his partner and he brought him his katana, a real sword. The crowd gasped, as if now this was going to be a real fight, not with wooden swords, but with real ones. Kaede tried to stop me, but all I told her was, "Sword."

Her face went down, and she brought forth my blade that she was carrying. I drew my sword, and held it to my side, with one hand behind my back. The man drew forth his katana, his eyes showed such a firey aura that you could almost feel the heat he was giving off. We circled around each other for a few paces, and got into stance. Our eyes focused on each other, holding our grounds, waiting for the other to strike first. We stood for a good minute or two, then the short man made the first strike! He rushed in with incredible speed, and made rapid strikes from all over! But I could easily see all of his moves, thus I blocked all of his strikes! And then he switched stances on me, and began making more heavier, or harder strokes! The Chime of our swords ringing arcorss the courtyard square! The crowd motionless as they watched this old style samurai battle, it was like out of a old japanese movie! We fought for another good five minutes exchanging strikes, until finally he made a fatal move and rushed in head first! I quickly dodged it as best as I could, and held my blade to his neck. Both of us were breathing heavily, from such an intense fight, and he lowered his blade to acknowledge his defeat. The crowd cheered, and they all applauded as if the entire fight was just for showmenship, all choreagraphed. When in reality, it was a life or death match. I took my blade away from his neck, and Kaede came to my side.

"[What do you want, Masato?]" He spoke fairly disappointedly.

"Where is the Master? I need to see him."

"[Why!? So you can finish the job!?]"

"No. It is almost time. And I wish to reconcile."

"[Tch. Well, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you.]" And he sat down, and turned his head away stubbornly.

"Still holding onto the past? You know I didn't kill him back then. Please, just tell me where he is!"

His face expression changed to regret. "[I don't know, really. But Bizen might.]"

"And where can I find Bizen"

"[Okinawa. Drinking, trying to forget the past, as we all have. Masato, even if you are innocent, how are you going to prove it?]"

"At the Gathering."

He nodded his head understanding my words, and saw me walking away. "[Hmph. I see. Well good luck, Masato. Tell the master, I said hi.]"

"Thank you, Asura."

And Kaede and I left Tokyo that night. Now, we head to Okinawa.
---
We had arrived in Okinawa two days later, since we arrived in Tokyo. It was small quiet place, not as hustle and bustle as Tokyo, but more smaller and less busy with traffic. There was a small town not far from the main city, where I remember Bizen would always go to drink. On the way to the town, Kaede was curious as to why Asura was calling me a different name.

"Lloyd, why are people calling you Masato, and it seems like you know more than you're telling me?"

"Don't worry about. They're probably just refering me back to my great-great-grandfather. We're here."

[Okinawa, Japan]

The train stopped at this small station, and it was directly connected to the small town. We walked around for a bit, and found the only bar/tavern that was open. Inside was pretty empty, only the few residents sitting in the booths, and in one of the booths was a large man in his late thirties, and with him he carried something that looked like a large case. It stood leaning against the table, almost as high as the table, maybe a little over. We walked over to the table, and just as we reached to where he was sitting, he spoke in a clear, calm, deep voice.

"[Hello, Masato. I knew you'd come.]"

As Kaede and I sat down, the man was already drinking two to three bottles of sake. "Asura?"

"[Yes. He called me as soon as you left Tokyo.]"

"Bizen, you know why I am here?"

"[Yes. But I cannot help you.]"

"You bear no gudge against me?"

"[I have never beared a grudge against you. Nor will I ever. If you were wrong, we would have all been dead that night. I know you left us alive for a reason. Tis why I am still curious as to why you left us.]"

"Which is why I must reach the Master."

"[The master doesn't like to be found. Which is why I cannot help you either. Only Muramasa knows where he is. Although Muramasa won't be as...cooperative...as I am, and won't be as gracious to see you as Asura was. Muramasa holds the biggest grudge yet.]"

"I see. Where is Muramasa?"

"[Kyoto. Drinking her sorrows away.]"

"Thank you Bizen. You were always the kind to me."

"[Ehh, I always liked you anyway. But tell me something. Why do you have this girl with you? Why are you hiding who you are?] - Hey what's that supposed to mean!?" Kaede was translating for me as she thought about that last remark.

"She is here, Bizen. It will end in due time."

He paused to look at me, and understood what I meant by those words. "[I see. We will meet again, Masato.]" He took a sip from his cup, and had a grin on his face.

Kaede and I got up and we left quietly, although after that last conversation she was very riled up now. "What is going on Lloyd!? What is this Gathering? And what was that man talking about?"

I tried to change the subject, and move on. "Look, I'll explain everything after we get to Kyoto-"

"NO! I want an explaination now!" She told me very angrily.

I took her off to the side, held her by her arms, and looked striaght into her eyes. "Look. Have I ever led to you wrong? Have I ever lied to you, or decieved you? How long have we known each other? For seven years, I've always been true to you. Please, I need you by my side more than anyone right now. So no more questions until AFTER Kyoto, okay?"

She saw my stern face, it was a face she had never seen before, I was determined to finish my quest, and she understood my pain. Kaede nodded her head in acknowledgement, and she was quiet for the rest of the way to Kyoto.
---
This time we took a train to Kyoto, heading in the opposite direction Okinawa. It took four long days of travel to get there. As we got out of the train station, I stopped Kaede, and spoke to her.

"Whatever happens here, do NOT interfere. No matter what. Understand?"

She nodded her head, not understanding why I was saying this, but acknowledged my words regardless.

[Kyoto, Japan]

When we had arrived in Kyoto, it was just as quiet as Okinawa. The mood here was even more heavier than that of Okinawa. Apparently the town knew something was going to happen, so no one paid any attention to us, and passed us off as "tourists". I followed the instructions that Bizen had given me, and found a lone bar called "Kyuu" (Blood).

Just as I opened the door, a type of knife flew past my face, just hitting the edge of the door. I stopped to pull the dagger from the door, and looked around. Empty, the entire bar was completely empty, all but the old weary bartender, and a woman, were at the bar. By her side were two katanas, just leaning against the bar, as the woman was sitting on the bar stool.

"[Hokairi...Masato.] (Welcome back)" She spoke loathingly, and continued to drink her, what looked to be, fifth bottle of sake.

"Ohayo, Muramasa. (Hello)" I said.

"[It's been too long since we last met. And I wonder, how have you been? Slacking off, running away from a destiny you can't escape?]" She spoke maliciously.

"..."

"[And now the DOG has returned for his dicipline. And I will be your judge, jury, and executioner.]"

"You still bear a grudge against me?"

"[YOU ABANDONED US, BETRAYED US, AND LEFT US TO DIE! The Daimyo disbanded us all, and we all seperated on our own paths! How do you think we feel!? How do you think I FEEL!?]"

"For that, I am sorry."

"[I don't need your apologies. And who is this b*tch!? Why aren't you speaking to me directly!? Are you mocking me!? Why do you always be little me!? Is it cuz I'm a woman!?]"

At that last remark Kaede was a little agitated and was about to tell her off for calling her a b*tch, but then I spoke.

"So ka. (I see.) Kaede, leave us."

Kaede was surprised to see that I can speak Japanese on my own, just left in a confused fluster. After she had left, I made way over to Muramasa. She was young, about my age (21-22), and was fairly beautiful. I knew it was her, purely by her attitude. Muramasa and I had never gotten along, but when it came down to it, we respected each other. I took the seat next to her at the bar.

"So Asura couldn't beat you, and Bizen simply gave up. Now it I who must defend the master." She said all cocky. "HEY BARTENDER! MORE SAKE!"

"Still drinking. Even after all these years, you haven't changed one bit."

"Oh!? And you! You left us to die, and our master wounded. We were lucky that it wasn't a fatal wound. I tended to him personally."

"You still don't understand."

"Oh I understand alright. You abandoned the Genji, backstabbed the master, and ran. I always knew you were the coward."

I took that insult in the face. I knew Muramasa was trying to pick a fight with me, but I tried not to start it. So I calmly continued to talk. "Where is the master."

"HAH! Like I'm going to tell you! You're gonna have to beat it out of me to find out!" She spoke wildly and drunk.

I sighed, and tried to resolve things calmly. "Why are you always like this? Always trying to pick a fight? Always jealous of me, or always wanting to beat me? What have I ever done to you to cause such a trifle?!"

That had pushed her over the edge, and now she was becoming an angry drunk. "What did you ever do to me!? You were always the better one! Always the leader, the stronger one, the successor! I could never beat you! NEVER! But now, things are different. And we will end this here." She spoke angrily.

"I see. Then there is only one way to settle this.

She got up as best as she could and grabbed her two katana. Then she angrily stomped he way out of the bar. "OUTSIDE! NOW!"

As she busted her way out the door, I shook my head, and sighed heavily. I took one sip of sake, and left money on the bar. As I made my way out of the bar, the bartender began to speak as he was cleaning up the mess.

"She's not all that bad. Just a mean drunk, is all."

I chuckled slightly. "I know." And I exited the bar.

I followed the trail that she had left, it swayed left and right, because she was drunk, but there was a definate path. I led from the bar, down an alleyway, and then it went straight into the center of the town square. I saw her, leaning against the well, and took a drink of cold water from the well. The sun was turning red as it was setting into the horizon. This would be our battleground, the houses and shops all began to close their windows, and shutters, as if it was like a showdown in Wild West films.

"Although I am a girl..." She stepped forward, still a little wobbily, but she was well on guard. Her katanas were strapped to her sides, one on the left, and one on the right. "I am still MURAMASA!" And she took her hands, and crossed her arms, as if to reach for each blade with the opposite arm, and drew forth both blades simultaneously! "If you beat me, I will tell you where the master is. IF, you beat me!"

I sighed heavily, and shook my head. I took my stance, and drew forth my blade. "Let's go."

We stood there, eyes focused on each other, just trying to read each other's moves. Letting our battle auras heat up, the wind slowly started to pick up. Her wild red hair flowing with the wind, she didn't blink an eye. Never losing sight of each other, when finally, she made the first move.

"RAAAAAGGGHHH!!!" She rushed in with both blades ready to make a downward angle strike, I blocked the heavy strike, and was pushed back slightly! She struck with double the speed, both blades rapidly striking me! I managed to keep up with her speed, and tried my best to block, then she make a spiral type of attack where her blades became like a whirlwind! I quickly jumped away and dogdged as best as I could. At the finish pose of her move she was in an almost graceful like pose, as if she was dancing! I was surprised at such an adaptation to her fighting style, both the traditional style combined with modern. She then began to smile.

"Heh. You still have it. And I thought you had gotten soft." She spoke with a almost excited grin, as she was finally getting her chance to fight me. I then noticed that my left sleeve was cut, and had grinned. Just then her face turned more serious. "I know your holding back, Masato. If you don't fight me, then I WILL kill you!"

I simply replied. "So be it."

Just then I changed my stance from a normal two hands on my katana to just my right hand. Next I moved my right arm just about shoulder level, holding my katana on it's side, as if to make a side swipe. Just then, Muramasa smiled even more excitedly, and got into her postion of one katana held just above her head, and the other pointed at me. "This is what I have been waiting for, the legendary Suio-Ryu (Wave-Slicing Stroke)!"

The wind blew once more, and the sun was about to fade into the darkness, and in those final seconds of light, we rushed each other at a great speed!

CLANG! - CHING!

We had crossed each other, and now were on opposite sides. Her strike ended as her arms were at her sides, as if she had made a cross type of slash. I stood as my right arm was across my face, as if I had done an upward stroke. And with that final strike, the sun had set into the horizon, and the moon shined down onto us. She turned to face me, and put both of her blades into the ground, still holding onto the hilts.

"Why did you come back? Why did you leave us all those years ago?" She tried to speak, but she began to feel the effects of a massive hangover.

"I came back for justice. I left, to save all of you. If I hadn't run like I did, we would have killed each other that night, and all would have been lost. I left, searching for the truth, and now I have returned with it. At the Gathering, all will be revealed." I spoke softly, and calmly, as I sheathed my blade once again.

Muramasa nodded her head and accepted that answer from me. "The master works in mysterious ways. Although you should know that he has never left his home. He still lives in the capital."

"You mean he's in Tokyo!?"

"No." She coughed slightly. "The Old Capital. You must return home..."

My eyes opened as I realized where she was going to tell me.

"...back to Edo."

And then she fell over onto her knees, her two katana just holding her up. I moved over to her and helped her up. She had passed out finally from all that drinking and excessive fighting. I gathered all of her gear, and took her to the Hotel that Kaede was staying at. When I had returned, Kaede was curious as to what had happened, but I simply told her to ask later. I told Kaede to help shower Muramasa and get her into bed. I left some medicine and a note for her to read in the morning. After that I paid for her night, at the front desk and we left for Edo.

[The Next Morning]

"Wha?" Muramasa had woken up, and tried to get up, but her head was pounding. "Agh, my head."

She turned her head to the side and saw the stuff I had left her, then she saw the note I had left.
---
By now, if you are reading this, we've already reached Edo. Just take the hangover medicine I left for you, and the medicine for your wound. I had to knock you out pretty hard last night. I'm sorry for the pain and suffering I caused you. But you know that I've always respected you as my rival, but also as my comrade. I have not forsaken the Genji, and I have not forsaken the past. I will redeem myself soon, after I have met with the master. Fate or Destiny will have us meet again. Until then, do take care of yourself, Muramasa.

Sign,
Masato
---

"Tch. That idiot. Always looking out for us all, even when we called you traitor. You never turned your back on us, as we had. I don't know what you're planning, but I'll be seeing you soon." She then turned over to take the hangover medicine and drank the water. "Ugh! What the kitten is this!?"
---
[The Old Capital, Edo, Japan]

It was exactly as I remembered it, the old Capital. Everything looked almost the same, only with modern buildings and some recent expansion. The old castles were still there, mostly for tourism, but the old homes were still the same. Block by block, sector by sector. It's been so many years since last I set foot in Edo, I've missed the old home, but of course, business first. The old master's home was still right where I had left it, those many years ago, when I casted myself out. It was exactly as I left it, a big house in it's own place, only instead of a fortress, it was a two story house, complete with a fortified wall for privacy, but inside was very traditional. Old style home, mixed with a little modernization. Kaede and I had entered the complex, and rang the door bell.

Ding - Dong

We heard footsteps and a female voice from the inside. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

This was it, I had finally reached the master, our guiding soul, the one who has trained each of us in an art of war, and style of combat, Master Masamune. The door creaked open, and as I held my breath to finally see my master after such long years, since THAT incident...

It was a middle aged lady, about in her mid-thirties; she had an apron on, and was wiping her hands on a towel. I had a confused look on my face, and saw that this lady was not my master. She saw my face expression, kindly smiled and asked. "Welcome home, Masato. It's so good to see you."

Kaede saw that I was frozen to say anything, and quickly nudged me with her elbow from behind. Then I regained my senses and simply asked. "Is Lord Masamune home?"

The woman smiled, and nodded her head. "Please, come in. I'll tell him that you have arrived." She welcomed us into her home, and we came in.

Inside was very beautiful, it looked as if they had just remodeled the house, and renovated it. There was definately a feng shui about it, a sense of serenity and nobility about this home. It was after all my master's home, of course he had his fair share of katana collections. We took our shoes off, and placed them at the entrance of the house, then walked into what we thought was a living room, with all the pieces of art, and tapestries. I saw that there was a full suit of armor from the old fuedal days in a glass case. I remember that armor so clearly, it was made of strong bamboo, and had a thin sheet of iron between it, it was like an early version of kevlar, only crude and not refined. He wore that battle armor in countless fights, it had always served him well. Kaede took a seat on the couch, and simply watched as I walked around looking at the artifacts.

I made my way over to a two piece katana set. It was black with white string, and had very intricate work done to the scabbard, and handle. And then I saw "it", my master's most trusted blade handed down from generation to generation, hand made by his own family line, it was almost like a Golden Katana. The handle was shaped into a dragon's mouth, and there was a blue jewel inside of its mouth. The scabbard was made of very strong bamboo and there was a demon like insignia on it. The blade itself was most impressive, made from a ancient technique only known by the Masamune line, no replicas are known any where in the world. Folded exactly 100 times, and tampered into inhuman strength. It could cut through bone, steel, and much more with a single stroke, and never rust from blood. It was a war Katana, a Dotanuki. Simply priceless, not worth any amount in the world, if anything it would rule the world before a price could be put on it.

As I stood there in pure awe, the woman came back in to see us. "He's in the garden area. Please follow me."

Kaede got up, but I stopped her and told her that I must go alone. The woman offered to see to her, after she escorted me. So I followed the woman through the extensive house, and made our way to what seemed to be the center of the house. There was a small garden, with sand, and a small pond. Standing next to the Cherry Bloosom tree was a young boy, barely eighteen, tending to the tree. He did not turn around to face me, but continued to tend to his tree. He was a strong looking boy who had a look of pure nobility, and a calm nature. The way he tended to the tree was so delicately, but precise. Just then he spoke, his voice was soft, and young, but he was still growing.

"Ohayo, Masato-sama."

I knelt down on one knee, and bowed my head to him. "Master."

He chuckled slightly at my response. "Very funny. Why have you gone through such great lengths to see me?"

I still did not raise my head to him. "I've come for reconciliation. And to bring word. A Gathering is being summoned. And the game is almost coming to an end again. And yet. I fear for you, Master."

He then turned, and came to lift me off my knees. "I know it was not you who betrayed the Genji, Masato. It is because of you that I still stand here before you. And stop this Master business. You were OUR leader, I was only the startegist. And it is I who should be bowing to YOU."

He was nearly a head shorter than I was, and I was about six feet. His build was fairly thing, but he had the essence of a true samurai. This was my lord and master, even if he was several years younger than I am, he was still the embodiment of Masamune, his mind, body and soul as one. We talked for many hours until nightfall. Kaede was already exhausted from all the traveling, so she had ate dinner with Masamune's mother, and went to bed early. Meanwhile Masamune and I were in his dojo/shrine area, talking the night away, when suddenly the doorbell rang. Masamune's mother had answered the door, and then escorted three people to where we were. It was them, Asura, Binzen, and Muramasa.

Here on this day, the 5 Genji reunited, after years and years of dismay.

"Today is a good day!" Masamune spoke happily. "Mother, could you prepare us a feast please? Tonight is a joyous occassion!"

She simply bowed lightly, and went off to prepare food and drink. We followed the master into a more private room, with a table layed out and ready for us. We all sat down around the table, Asura sat across from Masamune, Bizen sat across from Muramasa who was sitting next to Musamune, and I sat at the head of the table. All of our weapons gathered at the door, we all began to talk, and remember our past days. Just then Muramasa had broke out the bottles of sake she had brought with her from Kyoto. Everyone had a glass, except for Muramasa (he may be mature in mind, but he was still responsible for his body...he is only 17 in this life).

"So here we are again! The 5 mightest warriors in all of Japan, back to together!" Asura bellowed out loud, and began to laugh.

"It's good to have you back Masato. Although I do wonder if you still possess your skill!" Bizen drank to my name, and quietly chuckled at Asura's antics.

"Hmph! I got to test him, but I still can't believe you came back, you dog!" Muramasa jokingly cracked at me.

"Oh? And look at all of you! One needs to show boat his skills in Tokyo for money, an old man who's too lazy to fight, and a hot headed drunk who fights just about anyone or anything that moves! The only person who's still mature is younger than all of you!" I laughed back at my comrades.

"Hey! Just cuz he's the master, doesn't mean we can't pick on him, he is only what? 13!?" Muramasa began to laugh.

"17! I'm 17! I turn 18 in two months!" The master tried to fight back, but Muramasa had him in a headlock.

"Oho! Is that right!? So then you'll be legal for me in two months eh? Masamune!? Ahahahaaa!!" Muramasa flirted with the master for a bit, then teased him.

It was a good night, it was as if everything was back to normal. I smiled, and watched as they all played with each other, Short Asura and Big Bizen playing their usual drinking game, Muramasa drinking wildly, while Masamune was trying to keep her calm. I sat back and thought to myself, "I'm home".

Soon afterwards, food had arrived, and we settled down to eat, although through the many years it seemed that none of them had ever changed their eating habits. They all viciously snarled and gobbled their food like barbarians, and I sat there just laughing. Finally as the night was dying down, we got to business.

"So Masato what is it that has brought you back after so many years?" Masamune asked calmly.

"As you all know, it is almost time for The Gathering. Nobunaga, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa will be there with their representing warriors. The nearing of the Game is about to end, and it is there that I will finish the fued between me and HER."

Asura suddenly caught on. "You mean-"

"Yes. Motoko is still alive. She is the traitor among us."

"But she was never Genji. Why would she turn against us? And besides, isn't she your-"

"In some ways, yes, but after such treachory, I lost her. What I am about to reveal to you is the truth about what happened all those years ago..."

---
[Odawari Province, Fuedal Japan, XXXX]

"But why!? I'm just as good of a swordsman than anyone else! You forget my family line of Samurai!" Motoko argued with me.

"Because you are my wife. And how would I feel if you were to be endangered by my side!? If the shogun got word of you becoming a Genji we could lose face. You forget we live in a time where female samurai are looked down upon? And are only used as Shogun officers?"

She turned away, and became upset. "But I am of noble blood! Isn't there some way you can change it!?"

"If I could, I would have you fight by my side all the time. But this is the way it is. Please understand this." I took hold of her and held her in my arms. "You know I love you, is that not enough? Is not our love enough to satisfy you? Is not being a my wife, but a samurai wife not good enough? What's gotten into you lately."

She simply took hold of my hands, and kissed them gently. "I just don't like it at all, husband. I just...wish I could do more."

I embraced her tightly and whipered into her ears. "Be still my heart, for this woman will be the end of me. And yet I still love you."

I was to leave her and travel north to meet with Nobunaga, as he had an important message for me. I never should have left her that day. It was that same day that she had disappeared. Soon I would find out that she had gone to see Masamune for advice. But when she had not come back for some time, I rode to the main castle, only to find that, she held a dagger in her hands, and they were covered in blood. I quickly rushed over to Masamune's side, who was barely alive, but still with me.

"Masa, hang on! Motoko, who did this!?"

She spoke madly. "Who!? I DID HUSBAND!"

"What? Why-" I couldn't believe her answer, but what she was about to do would put me in this situation.

"I've had it with you're symphatizing! Only a wife, only your wife, only a samurai's wife! I AM A SAMURAI! AND I AM AS EQUALLY SKILLED AS YOU! Which is why I've come to end it husband! From this day forward the Genji are no more! And I will cause you the pain and suffering that I've had to deal with for so long! From this day, you and I are cursed!" She began to chant a sutra of which I've only heard once. It was a curse from her Family line. Just then both of our bodies began to glow violet and a dark flame came from the violet. Just then there was a burning sensation coming from my back, it was so painful that I nearly fell to the ground. She was also feeling the same sensation, but simply laughed maniacally. "From this day forth, you and I are forever linked. We can never die, nor can we ever truly live. I will make you suffer for all eternity, and you will live this day over and over and over! Know that, it was the Aoyama Clan that should have been Genji, NOT THE AOYSHIMA!"

"You decieved me only to betray me?"

"Hahahaha! From the very beginning! You didn't think the Aoyama and Aoyshima could truly co-exist! Our families have been rivals for ages! By now your entire line has been thinned out! You are the last! But I will not grant you death, I will grant you suffering!"

"Motoko..."

I tried to grab my katana and draw it forth, but the pain from my back was still burning. She quickly exited...
---

"...and that was the last I had ever saw her. The rest you all know. I knew she would inform you and trick you into believe that I had betrayed us all."

"So the Aoyama Clan was behind all of this treachery." Bizen nodded his head, and thought intently.

"Yes."

"What did she do to you, Masato?" Muramasa asked curiously.

I then stood up, and removed my shirt, and revealed my back. Across my back was a black tatoo of a rising dragon; it started from my torso, and worked it's way up my spinal, and curved across my shoulderblades, and its head rested on my lower neck. It looked as if it's claws were digging into my shoulders, and its mouth was biting my neck. As strangely beautiful as it was, it held a more sinister motive. "This is the Aoyama mark of Death. I am neither living, nor dead. But I stand and breath before you all. I have lived to see our fore fathers live and die, empires and nations rise and fall. And now we are right back where we started."

Asura's face just beamed, and he spoke suddenly. "My god. So the stories are true! Our ancestors always told us about you! How you were...immortal!"

"Immortal? Tch. Doomed to a life where she let me live to watch everything and everyone around me fade away? A life to where I must always watch my back, because she is always there to torment me? It is I who has been running all of my life. I who has been hiding away. But now, this feud will end."

Everyone had paused at my words. "And how can the curse be lifted?" Masamura spoke slowly and calmly.

"Death in Death."

Muramasa and Asura both spoke at the same time. "Death in Death? What the kitten is that supposed to mean?"

"One cannot die unless the other kills them, or vice versa. A cruel fate, and something not easily done. But that is the plan, right?" Bizen had taken the words right out of my mouth. He understood me best, he always has.

"Yes. I am to fight her, so that this game ends. I'm not running anymore. I ran because I was afraid and confused. I needed time. Time to regain my thoughts, time to train my body and mind. Time to figure out why she had betrayed me. And now, I am ready to face my destiny, to change my fate, to settle the score once and for all."

I had finished my speech and it was time to turn in. We all took up a cup, to make our final toast.

"This will probably be the last time, we will ever meet again in this lifetime. I'm glad that I was able to finally make amends, and let the truth be known."

"It is we who have wronged you. Instead of holding hate, we should have sought for you with reason, not vengence. In the end, we are honored that you came back to us, you that brought hope back, you that brought us all back together, you that makes us complete." Masamune spoke proudly. As we all raised our glasses to one another and tipped our heads in honor.

Asura made the first toast. He held his cup high and spoke strong. "To Strength!"

"To Honor." Bizen spoke calmly and cooly.

"To Blood!" Muramasa raised her cup fiercely.

"To Friendship that knows no bounds." Masamune humbly said.

I looked at each of my comrades, my friends... no ...MY family. And raised my cup to them all. "To Generation to Generation, may our souls always be united and reunited again as one. May you four continue to live through your children and through them into the next life. And may the curse finally end, and that this old ghost may move on. We are forever, Genji."

At those last words, we all tipped or cups, and drank one last time. And thus the night ended. But then little did I know that someone was there behind the door the entire time, listening to our tale. I knew she was there, but she left just as we made our final toasts...

---

To be continued.

Notes on Build-Up Chapter:

• So in this climatic build-up towards the end of the series, Masato by now has a plan to end the nightmare once and for all.
• But in doing so, he must travel back home, back to where it all began. And thus he must finally mend the accusations that were placed upon him.
• Initially Masato was framed a long time ago, and he could never undo it because he was constantly hunted, and always on the run.
• Now after almost 50 Generations later, and thousands of ancestors & descendants of the past, it has finally come to a perfect rebirth of all the Genji.
• I wanted to put a modern twist on the 5 Genji, and the sword masters.
• As you can see each one has their own style, attitude, and character to them.
• The trick to Lloyd/Masato and Anna/Kaede is that she is Lloyd's translator, it isn't revealed until now that Lloyd is indeed Ayoshima Masato.
• So all this time she had been following him from place to place, witnessing battle after battle, and speaking words for him. It's no wonder that she is a pretty upset at him, but deep down she can feel that this is what her role in destiny is, to accompany him to the end.
• So very much like Kill Bill, Masato has to travel from place to place, seeking the Master of the Genji, Masamune himself, while reasoning with his former comrades.
• And the only way to speak to his old friends is through combat. Except for Binzen who has always been on his side, and Masamune who knows the truth.

So in the end of this series, the way I wanted to end it is that Masato instead of running away, confronts Motoko about why she betrayed him. In the end, Motoko slays Masato, but in doing so Motoko is free from her Clan's mind control and laments her actions as she truly did love Masato, but could not control her actions at all. She had to witness all the suffering she had put him through, and in the end, it is Anna/Kaede who grants Motoko an honorable death to be with her beloved.

And thus the curse of immortality is over, and the story lives on through Kaede/Anna, to be told over and over through generation to generation.

[hokuten]

And now for something different. Here is my attempt at a Original Fiction about a free lance mercenary group made up of different people of different backgrounds, all brought together as one common goal, to be a family. This is

Unpublished Chapter 1 of Black Cell

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Disclaimer:

Black Cell

Transmission Start

In the center of the warehouse was a Japanese man, tied and bound to a chair. He wore a black suit with a black tie, and was clean cut, although his hair was thinning out from old age. His face showed no fear, or any concern about what was about to be done to him. All he knew was that there were four people in the warehouse, four people that took out his entire army, personal guards, even the sweeper team that was supposed to rescue him, and it was only four people that held him captive at this very moment in one of his own warehouses on the docks of Tokyo, Japan.

Three men, and one woman.

He was Yakuza, a gangster, a rich man from a more or less noble line, and someone who deals in death. It wasn't the fact that he was one of the main bosses of the Yakuza crime syndicate that they held him captive, it wasn't the that he had a lot of different types of "merchandise" that they could easily take, it wasn't even the fact that he had enough money to pay them whatever they wanted possibly five to ten times over. In fact, he didn't even know why these four people came after him specifically, or why he's being held captive. Soon, all of that would be answered...

"Whoever you are, you won't get away with this. If you kill me, you will only bring suffering for yourselves, and bring upon such a war that you'll never even get a chance to sleep!" The Yakuza boss spat at the feet of the young man who was nearest to him.

This young man was Asian as well, although not Japanese native. He stood at a good six feet, and was of medium build. His face showed no emotion towards the Yakuza's threat. Instead he simply looked at him with cold eyes, those eyes that pierce the skin like ice, and strike directly at the heart! Almost in that instant, the Yakuza boss felt an overwhelming aura of bloodlust from this one man, and for what reason he didn't know. They had saved him, saved him for last, up close and personal. And then in his last defying act, the boss made one more threat...

"I'll swear to it that you'll be hunted for the rest of your lives! I'll kill you, your friends, and your families! When I get out of here, I will hire the best of the best to erase you off the Earth! I'll hire the Suicide Kings to dispose of you! They'll erase any and all existance of you and everyone around you!" He shouted and gave a devilish smile as the young man's expression changed from ice to a kind of neutral look. But suddenly, in turn that devilish smile changed to concern as the young man started to laugh at the boss' antics.

Just then the woman came from behind the young man and gagged the boss so that he wouldn't speak anymore, but instead listen. After gagging the boss, she stepped away and gave the Asian man and the boss space. As she was walking away, she handed him a fourteen inch blade, the Asian man pulled up another metal chair and sat directly across from the Yakuza boss, put the knife right through the boss' left leg right down to the hilt. The blade pierced his skin like a hot knife and butter, cut striaght through the bone, and exited the other side, even cutting down through the chair itself! All fourteen inches ran through human skin, muscle, tissue, bone, and metal chair. The Asian man did all of this with one clean movement, straight down, and the boss knew he was very serious, but all he could do was scream in pain muffled by the gag. After the boss was finished screaming, and done passing out from the shear pain, his eyes focused on the man. His face looked young, if at first glance you would think he were only sixteen, but indeed his eyes showed that he was older, probably just turned twenty, or twenty-one. And as he tried to look into those dark brown eyes, the boss tried to find why this man was targeting him, why was this so personal that this young man went through so much just to get him. Then the young man laughed. It was an unnerving laugh, like something a real "bad guy" would do.

"You'll kill me?" The Asian man sarcastically questioned the bleeding Yakuza boss. "You'll ... kill me, and my friends, and my family?"

The boss grunted and growled at the young man, and stared at him with hawk like eyes, thinking (Where was he trying to go with this?).

"Friends? I have none. Kill me? I'm already dead. Family? Well they're already here." He continued, gave a half cocked smile, and did a half turn waving his hand at the other three people behind him multitasking. After making that comment, he turned his chair backwards, placed it side by side the boss, sat back down, and leaned against the back of the chair with his arms folded on top.

"You see him?" The young man pointed at an older thicker caucasian man with short dark hair, who reminded him of Jean Reno (the actor). "That's Phillipe. My father." The Yakuza boss puzzled by this gave a blank stare. "He's French native, but raised in the United Kingdom. He speaks with an English accent, but uses his natural French accent when he talks to us. If you didn't know better you would think he were English."

The French man was busy loading a truck full of money cases, and some expensive food products. Then the Asian man pointed at another caucasion man with blonde hair and a crew cut hairstyle, who was slightly skinner, but seemed very strong since he was loading up boxes & cases of artillery & ammo (weapons: ballistic & explosive).

"Him. That's Yuri, my older brother. Born and raised in Moscow, Russia." As the Asian man continued, but then was suddenly interupted by the Russian.

"Святое дерьмо! Маленький брат! Cмотрите на это!" He spoke in his native tongue.
(Holy kitten! Little brother! Look at this!)

"Что? Что это?" I responded back in Russian.
(What? What is it?)

The Russian pulled out a long black case about three to four feet long, and brought it over to me. He placed it down on the ground on top of a smaller box near by. As he opened the case facing him, he gave a beaming smile, smirked at me, and lit a cigarette. He took one deep breath, and turned the case around to show me its contents.

"Wow! A samurai katana!?" I turned to look at the Yakuza boss, who held his head down as we had just found one of his prized possessions. I then nudged at him with my elbow like a jokester. "Hey hey! You've been really holding out on us huh? Boss?"

The Russian and I laughed merrily as he went back to looting the other boxes & cases of weapons. I got up from my chair and went over to the box containing a three piece katana set; one full length katana, a tanto short sword, and a wakazashi. The scabbards were made of a block polished wood, and the handles were made of sturdy brass. The tip of the handle was fashioned into a head of a dragon, almost as if it were going to bite your hand off, and in the center of the dragon's mouth was a fitted blue sphere jewel. I took out the katana and pulled forth it's blade. As I took the blade from its sheath, it made a beautiful ping sound, and as I withdrew it from the sheath the blade vibrating against the scabbard made a ringing sound that was simply heavenly. But what intrigued me more was the make of the swordsmith ... Muramasa. A complete Muramasa set, and well maintained through the generations, I had to tip my hat off to this Yakuza boss, he really kept this priceless artifact in near perfect condition. After placing the katana back into its case, I sat back down next to the boss and continued my family lecture.

"You see her?" And I pointed at the only female member of our family. "That's Morena, although we call her Wren for short. She's Israeli, but she seems a lot more exotic looking, no?" And I poked at the man who was still bleeding at the leg, where the fourteen inch blade was still "rightfully" placed. "Her? She's my older sister. Even though she's only a year or two older than myself."

The Yakuza boss was already losing alot of blood from that knife wound, and so thus far in my family explaination he couldn't really keep his focus straight. Through all this confusion since the Asian man stabbed him, he didn't understand why he as telling him all of this, but soon enough he would get it. That was when the Asian man got up, and swung the chair around so that he could sit directly infront of him again. The boss' head was sinking down into his chest, numb with pain, all he could do was listen. Then the Asian man picked up his head for him, and placed it striaght up again. It would soon be the end.

"So you see? They are my family, and I am the youngest. Even though I am Asiam myself? I am American. Born in the United States of America." I then gave this half cocked smile. "Now you're asking, what is the whole point about this? Why am I telling you all of this? Well, thus moves onto my next point." The Asian man got up and started to walk around the Yakuza boss, pacing himself slowly, then coming to a slow stop, putting his arm around his shoulder, and leaning in to talk. "You said you wanted the Suicide Kings, the top assassin team in the world. The top espionage team for hire that money could buy. The one group of people that bring countries, WHOLE countries to their knees, or start them."

Just then the Yakuza boss was starting to get his point, and his eyes began to widen.

"Don't you see? This is my family." The Asian man put his head side by side to the Yakuza boss' already sweaty and blooding face, so that they would move in unison. And he looked directly at each member of the team. "An MI6 for a father, a KGB for a brother, a MOSSAD for a sister, and I am CIA. We are the Suicide Kings."

The Asian man didn't have to spell it out for the Yakuza boss, but it for the sheer blow of ridicule at the boss that he did so. Still unsure of why, or who would set him up like this, but that would also be answered right about now...

"Before we finish you off, don't haunt us for your grief, haunt those that hired us to get rid of you. Why do you think no one is coming to save you? The other Families? The other Houses? Even your own family set you up, and with your own private warehouse is our payment. So don't hate us, hate them." The Asian man spoke those final words into his ear.

Finally it was time to die, the Asian man stood back up, and took out the katana once more. He unsheathed the blade, and pulled out the blade that was pinning the Yakuza boss to the chair. Then he cut the man loose and ungagged him, but the boss didn't run, instead he fell to his knees in a pool of his own blood that had been dripping from his leg wound.

"Because you are gratefully offering this priceless sword to me, I will give you an option of death."

The Yakuza boss knew he had no where to go, no one to count on, it was all over, yet at least here this man who was about to finish him was still giving him a choice.

"You can either run, and we'll shoot you down disgracefully. Or ... you can still die with honor, like in the old ways. I will be your second."

There was no other choice, if he were to die, it would at least be befitting to die honorably. And so the Yakuza boss took the wakazashi from black case, unsheathed it, and cut open his stomach without hesitation.

"May you find inner peace in the next lifetime." And the Asian man made a single stroke, slicing from skin to bone and through with one motion. The Yakuza boss' head rolled down the floor and came to a stop about five feet away from the body.

The mission was done. The team left the warehouse a few moments later, and as they drove off in a truck, the building exploded into flames. The Israeli girl rolled down the window and threw out a card, a playing card ... The King Of Hearts ... aka Suicide King.

End Of Transmission

Unfinished, Unpublished, Chapter 2: Black Cell

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Black Cell

Case File #626 "Project: Archturius"

...Accessing File...

Codename: Cerberus
Name: *CLASSIFIED*
Age: *CLASSIFIED*
Height: 6'1
Weight: 199 lbs.
Birthplace: 07/23/84
Company: Central Intellegence Agency
Status: CIA Operative *ROGUE*
Last known location: Somewhere in Midwest, US

Status Report:

FILE NOT FOUND

File Report:

FILE NOT FOUND

Case Report:

FILE NOT FOUND

Mission(s) Report:

FILE NOT FOUND

...Connection Interuppted...


My name is Lloyd, that's all you need to know. I've been a government dog since the day I turned ten years old. How? Well, you know those standardized test you take in grade school? Ever wonder why they always tell you at the beginning of the test that "it doesn't matter if you get something wrong or not, just simply answer the question to the best of your knowledge? Well, guess I must've "aced" their tests, and thus was that day when I would be taken from my family and put into a program only known as "Project: Archturius" to a few high ranked officials from the U.S. government. I wasn't some gifted kid, or some super smart genius, or even some prodigy. I was just a ten year old Asian boy who was born in the Midwest, into a middle class family who was just living their lives. Why they chose me? I'll never know or understand, but soon the training would begin.

At the age of 10, that very same day they picked me up, they entered me into the U.S. Army. "Be all that you can be!" was the motto at the time. I worked several different people, I didn't know who they were or what their ranks were, but they put me through the harshest of harsh training. In the several years that take normal soldiers to become full Army Rangers, I became one at age 12. Not only that, I was also trained by some guys with Green hats, "Green Berets" they called them. From what my assigned "guardian" told me, I was given all the elite Army training needed, and without the mental problems. I didn't understand what he had meant by that, but I would later on in my left.

After becoming both an Army Ranger & Green Beret, I was sent to the U.S. Navy at age 12, that same consecutive year. By age 14, I was a bonafide Navy Seal. Even though I didn't break any record on technical diving, or such, I did set a few records as being one of the youngest Seals. But of course, I never got any recognition because my training was once again closed only to myself and not to the public.

By 15, I was already inducted into the Top Gun for U.S Air Force pilots, and was even given a chance to fly with the RAF (Royal Air Force) in the UK. By 16, I became a U.S. Marine, the best of the best, and with completing all of requirements needed, I became ... Special Forces. And with becoming Special Forces, I was recruited into the Central Intellegence Agency, yes that's right, the C.I.A. Who ever thought that a 16 year old be recruited into the CIA, let alone even becoming Special Forces. It was then I finally understood why they trained me so harsh, and pushed me forward at such a young age. Project: Archturius was about creating an American Super Soldier. A single unit trained in all elite forms of combat, survival, and counter-terrorism. But what does that have to do with that single standardized test I took? I'll never know, perhaps because they saw some kind of recognition in my mind, or saw some kind of mental potential for this kind of training? Or maybe I was just unlucky.

Anyway, by 17-18, I was already doing Black Op missions (Shadow Operations, the kind where if you die, no one will ever know, and all they send back home is a flag and a medal of honor) for the CIA in nearly fifty different countries, completing over a record standing 100 successful missions. Whether it was espionage, corporate take overs, assassinations, starting wars in other countries, and even terrorism. You'd think over time it would be so much pressure on such a young teen, soon to become an adult. But I didn't care what I did, it was put into my mind that I was doing this all for my Country. For freedom, justice, and the good guys are invincible ... but soon enough, everything would change.

September 11, 2001

I was in Washington DC going to be awarded the Medal Of Honor from the President. My parents and entire family was flying in to come see me and congratulate me. But the unexpected happened ... terrorists took over two planes, and crashed them into the World Trade Center. A day that will live in infamy throughout the entire United States. My family, my entire family was on one of those planes coming to see me, and they were killed in the crash. It was then that I truly could not feel anything because of the sheer shock that this could, no DID happen in my country. The country I fought to serve and protect. It was then that I realized that no matter how many "Bad Guys" I kill or take down, they will always be out there and I can't stop them all.

Notes on Black Cell:

• The idea was that you have four spies/assassins all joined together to become a fully functional family. All of them lost their families in some freak accident, or random violence, non-related to their jobs.
• The name "Suicide Kings" was something completely random to me, and it just sounded like a cool name to be called, if they were a free lance, black ops cell. And for their signature, it's the King of Hearts also known as "Suicide King".
• I don't really know what sparked or inspired this type of fanfiction, which is also why it never made publish date, or even developed further than two chapters.
• I suppose it's partly inspired by Bourne Identity, Universal Soldier, and all those movies that are based off of a "Super Soldier", or the "Perfect Soldier".
• But even a super soldier needs family, isolation and no human contact can drive a man crazy.
• So you have all these different people coming together, working together as a team, and as a family, and just living day by day, job to job. Wondering how they aren't already dead because of their line of work.
• Another Fiction story where I've inserted myself into it, and wanted to play around with the idea.
• Unfortunately as I just said, it never really took off in my mind and I could never really develop the story if I didn't have more interest in making it.

Notes on the Unwritten Chapter of Black Cell:

• A planned chapter of mine was that the team accepts a mission to hold out at a remote location, to protect a VIP until evacuation.
• So they have to stand ground out in the middle of the desert in this two floor house, filled with all sorts of artillery that's supposed to last them the night.
• So during the night, the team contemplates their lives and it's one of those humanizing moments for each character.
• The key moment I wanted to depict was that each of them have their own ways to relax at a time like this. So you have Yuri cleaning his guns, and doing ammo checks. Phillipe who is cooking away in the kitchen. Morena who is lying down upstairs on the roof watching the star lit sky. And me who's on the broken down piano playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The song essentially sets the mood, and the inevitable fight that is coming.
• By morning, the main climax is that the Arabic Army & Militia come storming in, and the four of them have to hold out for thirty minutes until the chopper gets there.
• So in this fight, it's practically a mini-war.
• How it all ends, I never really figured it out.
• I never decided whether I wanted them all to die, or all of them to live.
• I suppose I wanted them to live, but as for an epilogue, I don't know.
• Again, this is another one of those series that has no real goal, or set direction. Which is why it probably failed in my head, and didn't get out.
• But the idea was pretty cool at the time.

[hokuten]

And now for something different again. Here is my concept on a Megaman/Rockman type fanfiction. It's inspired & based off of another Newgrounds.com Flash called "Rockman Neo" (click link to view). The flash in my perception is from a more darker future (as I'm sure there are already a bunch of dark Megaman/Rockman fanfics out). But in any case here's my concept.

Notes on "Rockman Neo":

• The two man protagonists are the usual "Rock" & "Zero".
• The main setting is some time in 30XX as the flash states, and it's a very dark future. The Mavericks have taken over the world, Dr. Wily (who is a clone from the original Dr. Wily, not Sigma) has recreated his best models to fight back against the Mavericks (who is led by an AI called "SIGMA"), and then we have Zero (with Roll) who are fighting as a third party Army.
• So from Zero's side of the story he's trying to fight a whole war, while trying to stop Dr. Wily as well.
• From Rock's side of the story, this Rock was created by Dr. Wily himself (and not Dr. Light), so he's a very bitter and dark anti-hero. Somewhere along the way, Rock goes into a mental break down and goes rogue. Which then leads up to Dr. Wily creating his other Seven Robots to hunt down Rock and bring him back.
• The Wily Bots all become unstable for some unknown reason, and are now under the control of the Mavericks (SIGMA-AI). The Wily Bots are used for Terrorism to keep the populace under control, while the Mavericks use Martial Law.
• Somewhere in between Zero & Rock run into each other, and Zero tries to befriend him thinking it's "X" (since Zero was born during the "X" era). Not realizing that this is Rock and not "X", the two conflict and Rock runs away.
• It all plays out like every Megaman/Rockman game, Zero or Rock fights the Wily Bots. Then the two team up to fight the Mavericks.
• Additional Characters were Roll (Rock's original sister, so she knows Rock), then there's that Nurse that pops up in the Flash, I couldn't think of a name. But the storyline I came up for her was that Rock took her hostage, and as he keeps her hostage, she learns that he's just a troubled robot that needs guidance. So as Zero has Roll, Rock has this Robot Nurse.
• All the weapons are the usual, Rock & Zero absorb them after beating them.
• I threw in Protoman in as a pure Wily Bot and not as Rock's "Brother". The cool thing about this Protoman is that he's got vulcan shot capability, and instead of a physical shield, he's got a personal energy shield.

List of the Intended Characters:

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

1. Gutsman (mm1) - Super Arm
2. Slash man (mm7) - Slash Claw
3. Bombman (mm1) - Hyper Bomb
4. Shadow man (mm3) - Shadow Blade
5. Protoman (mm8)
6. Bubbleman (mm2) - Bubble Lead
7. Yamato Man (mm6) - Yamato Spear
8. Megaman

Zero (X4-X7): Z-Sabre (sword), D-Gaive (spear), V-Hanger (dual daggers)

As you can see, Zero has his usual weapon, the Z-Sabre. I added in the D-Gaive from the GBA Zero games, and the daggers I threw in as something extra. Thanks to Tatsu no Houou who also partly helped in my research and attempt to write this fic. I suppose this peaked during my interest when I was playing Megaman X4. But after going through a lull, and I was also focused on EotE at the time, it died off like most of all the fictions.