Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 2: The Daitengu

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Chapter 10: The Filth in One's Mind

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Daikoku, inside of Tsubai explains what he understands of the situation: Tsubai's younger sister is standing in front of them and is using the powers of Akashita, the Tengu of the previous generation.

"In her case, it makes sense that she can handle the power of a Tengu, since she's also a descendant of the head your clan." says the ghost. "But judging by her look, she's been taken over, and easily."

"Saori, can you hear me?" asks Tsubai, trying to reason his sister.

"She can't." answers Daikoku. "Akashita is in total control of her body. Her not being used to a Tengu's power makes her easier to manipulate for someone like him."

Akashita, with Saori's body, covers himself with his black mist and runs toward Tsubai with no specific strategy other than reach him. Tsubai just jumps away, still with plenty of questions in his mind.

"What happened to the two ninjas?" he asks to his Tengu.

"They're dead."

"What? Just like that?"

"It's Akashita's jutsu. Whatever his yamabushi touches with his black mist dies instantly. I don't know if it works on everyone the same way, but you better stay away. Keep running."

"This is way too powerful. Is he the strongest of the Tengus?"

"It isn't that strong. It's just as if he could kill you with a single touch, like a swordsman that would always aim for the neck. All you have to do is keep your distances. Even if he doesn'ttouch you, his mist can still suck your life out, So staying nearby for too long is dangerous."

Tsubai keeps running away while making sure he keeps an eye on his sister.

"How is he controlling her body? Is it another of his abilities?"

"About 1 tengu out of 3 has this ability. He's not the only one who can do it. I think the strongest ones have it. But generally, the host remains conscious, just unable to see the real world."

"Ok so how do we beat him and free Saori? Are we strong enough for that?"

"Strong enough? Tsubai, I think you didn't really get what I am. I can use one of the two strongest Kekkei Genkai a tengu could offer and manipulate time and memories. There is no Tengu, except the Daitengu itself, who stands a chance against me. Problem is he'll take control over Saori for as long as he's in her. And I don't know any way to pull him out myself."

"So what do we do?"

"We have to kill him. It's the only way to stop him."

"Kill him? But it would mean kill Saori."

"My only goal is to keep you alive, regardless of… LOOK OUT!"

Tsubai, concentrated on Daikoku's explanation, lost track of his sister. Unseen, Akashita transported himself in the black fog that composes his body and upgraded his speed and sneak. The dark cloud took a turn and is now floating toward Tsubai at high speed. As it comes to take Tsubai's life, a voice emanates from it.

"I,… Riku needs you dead. I have to take you." says the voice of Akashita.

Tsubai just looks at it coming closer and just focuses on Saori's face that he can see through the cloud. Himari already died for his safety, he doesn't want the same thing to happen to her. If people will keep running after his power and endanger his loved ones, Dying right now as the dark fog demands is the quickest and easiest way to keep everyone he knows safe from his curse. Tsubai, ignoring Daikoku's screaming voice in his mind stays still, ready to die and give what he wants to his father.

"You really are an idiot." says Daikoku.

Tsubai's inner world turns to black entirely and his body stops moving. Daikoku's hood is crawling over his body and making him lose control of his own body.

"As I said, only the strongest Tengu have this ability. Now, let me proceed on my own."

From the black mist, Saori's hand comes out just in front of Tsubai's face, ready to take his life in a single touch.

Jikanteido - (Time Pause)

Just a few millimeters from his face, Saori's fingers freezes as well as everything around. Daikoku, in control of Tsubai's body, steps away of the girl's trajectory. On her side, he materializes a dark chakra scythe in his hand and, with no pity in his soul, gets ready to slice the frozen young girl.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screams Tsubai, who stops Daikoku with his words.

"You shouldn't be able to see anything."

"I don't. You're in control of my body right. What will you do?"

"…"

"I'm warning you, Daikoku. If you kill her now, I'll kill myself, and I promise you won't always be able to stop me from doing it."

"Tsubai, as long as I live within you, your life is the only thing that keeps me alive. I must protect it at all cost."

"There must be another way. If this tengu is now in Saori and was in the jar before, it means he or my father must know a way to force him out of her body."

"Neither of them will help us. They need us dead for some reason I didn't figure out yet."

"I refuse to let her die!"

*Sigh "Fine."

In reality, time suddenly starts flowing again. Akashita who was flying on a line has no time to react, and straight hits the scythe placed under Saori arms. The blade goes through the whole body and cloud, but intentionally, only the cloud is sliced in half. The body falls to the ground, not lifted by the mist anymore. Daikoku stands in front of the girl who quickly gets up. Even if she appears unhurt, she's acting like the slice severely damaged her.

"Still standing?" asks Daikoku.

"You? His tengu?" says Akashita, through Saori's mouth. "It's you, the source of our troubles!"

He covers his host's body with black mist again and concentrates it likes gloves around her hands. Unfortunately, all this mist is sucked into the ground as soon as it takes form. Daikoku had already planned his opponent's attempt at fighting back. His darkness chakra spreaded on the ground is sucking the chakra and fog out of Saori's body. Unable to move, Akashita has his energy taken away and loses control over his yamabushi for now, causing her to faint to the ground. Daikoku slowly walks towards her and frees Tsubai's mind to let him see reality again. Coming back to reality, Tsubai sees his sister lying there.

"What did…" he starts to ask.

"She's not dead. Only asleep." says Daikoku. "But when she wakes up, Akashita will manipulate her again, and she won't be free for as long as he lives."

"Really? That fast? I thought it would be harder to beat him." exclaims the yamabushi.

"I told you you're underestimating me." answers the tengu. "So what did you say? He or Riku must know how to free her?"

Tsubai doesn't answer and just looks at his tengu using his body to hold Saori's head and try to extract Akashita's memories, to find an answer to his question. But he doesn't succeed, there's no memory to take.

"The tengu doesn't know how he got there." it says.

"Oh you took his memory." notices Tsubai. "Then it's no problem. If he doesn't, then…"

"His yamabushi must know." says Daikoku finishing his host's sentence.

He turns his head to the far left end of the village's beach, and lets go off Saori's head. It's where Riku Minamoto was at last according to the girl's memories. Daikoku leaves the body back to its owner, who lifts his sister's body up and holds her in his arms before heading to his father's location, having now no other choice than to finally face him.

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In the mobile home on the beach, the Minamoto leader is drinking from a bottle of sake, sitting alone and waiting for his tengu and daughter to return with good news. A stranger's voice suddenly breaks him out of his daydream.

"So it seems like you're trying to take the last heir's life." says a man with very pale skin, white clothes, white hair, and two black lines going from his eyes resembling tear strands. He stands there as if he just appeared.

"What? How did you get in there? There are guards keeping the door." asks Riku, troubled by this entrance.

"I passed through." answers the man. "I hope you know that these murder attempts are really disappointing lord Sojobo."

"Doesn't he understand that I'm forced to do that for my survival?" explains the Minamoto leader. "It's because of him that I have to do this."

"Doesn't it occur to you that your survival isn't part of his plan?" sadly says the white stranger.

"What do you mean? does he really intend to let me die and replace me with Tsubai?"

"The last tengu is something he can't afford to lose. He can't afford to lose any of them. He just expects you to ensure Akashita's survival before your own death."

"HE CAN'T LET ME DOWN LIKE THAT! I'M THE CURRENT LEADER OF HIS LINEAGE!"

To this words, the mysterious man doesn't answer anything. He simply starts to glow in an intense white light and vanishes, leaving exactly like he entered. Riku takes his time to calm down, but stays stressed by the fate imposed on him. Going back to his chair, his gaze crosses the window and he perceives his son's head. Getting that Akashita failed, he realizes that his son is coming for him.

Overcome by panic, he brutally stands up and grabs a weapon on the table, some kind of crossbow with a kunai on it. He stands ready to shoot, facing the door. His look alternates between the door and the window so he knows what is happening outside. Through the window frame, he sees the ninjas who were supposed to guard the door of this shed casually walk away like it never was their problem.

"What did he do?" he thinks. At this moment, the front door moves. Tsubai just pushed it open with his foot and takes a step forward in. Riku aims at him immediately willing to shoot but he's restrained by Saori, lying in her brother's arm. Riku hesitates for a short time, then thinks of his life, of what Tsubai represents. He firmly holds his weapon and shoots the kunai at Tsubai, regardless of if he touches his daughter or not. However, at the exact moment where the kunai was about to hit its target, his son appears standing right in front of him, and he looks taller than usual.

Very soon, Riku realizes that it's not Tsubai who grew, but he who got lower. Looking down at his feet, he sees one of his knees broken and bent the wrong way. As he screams in pain while he looks at his broken leg, he grits his teeth and tries to hit his son in the face. Tsubai simply leans back to dodge the punch and kicks his dad in the torso, sending flying through the window.

Riku, who's been thrown out on the beach, turns around and crawls away from the cabin, in direction of the woods, who mark the limits of the village. Tsubai just calmly walks out and goes to follow him.

"SOMEBODY KILL THAT BASTARD!" yells the leader of the village hoping for someone to hear and help him.

Tsubai gets closer and closer to him as he tries his best to flee.

"You were really ready to shoot at me. And you really used your own daughter as a tool. How disgusting…" he says, insulting his father.

"Listen son…" starts Riku, trying to ask for mercy.

"Don't call me son. I know what you're gonna say is just a bunch of lies."

"I can explain. You don't understand how important it is that YOU die."

"So you can save your ass, that's all?"

"The curse, Tsubai. I thought I escaped it, but it's back. If you don't die, I will."

"Yes. As I said. To save your ass, you'll kill your own son, and play with your daughter. You're such a coward."

"It's more than that. Let me explain." answers Riku, panicking.

"When mom and half the village died… And now a few weeks ago when the village was under attack. Running away from danger and letting everyone down seems to be your speciality."

"Could you stop chasing me for a second?"

"I almost died, Himari died,…" tells Tsubai. "The village was destroyed. Meanwhile, your sorry ass was chilling in the capital. If it wasn't for Naruto and Sasuke, we'd all be dead."

"What? Himari? She's dead?"

"Like you give a fuck? Lately you even hired mercenaries to kill me so you could keep living your pathetic life."

"You MUST die, son. It's not just me. It's more. Your life, this curse, your tengu. It all fuels the life of something bigger. By killing you I'm keeping the world from running into a great danger."

"Whatever you're talking about… I know a bunch of people now. No threat is big enough for them."

"It's not just a threat. He's more than anything that ever touched this world. He's… God. He can't be dealt with like any enemy. And YOUR life makes him stronger."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"… The Daitengu." says Riku after a few seconds of hesitation.

When these last words come out of his mouth, some sort of feather blades start raining on him and Tsubai. While being pierced through by these feathers, one of these reach his neck and cut through it. Tsubai, standing in the middle of this rain, holds his sister tightly against him to shield her from any damage. The blades fall on him too, but don't touch any vital organ. Still, the wounds make him go dizzy and fall to the ground. The rain stops. Before he faints, he sees the lifeless, severed body of his father in front of him and tries his best to see what caused this. Behind him, all he can see is a silhouette with large wings floating above them in the sky. Still holding his sister, he falls unconscious next to her.

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Some hours later, in the village, Sasuke did as promised to Tsubai, and just brought Himari's body to her home village and friends, at the hostel. He now leaves the hostel accompanied by Natsuri.

"I'll try to bring Tsubai back before the funerals." he says.

"Thank you sir… I can't believe what happened…" answers Natsuri, lost and shaken by what he brought upon them.

"It wasn't for nothing. Tsubai's still there thanks to Himari." explains the Uchiha, trying to ease the receptionist's mind. "She was the hero at a moment where neither me or Naruto could have been."

"… I understand… Also, Tsubai came to visit this morning, but I don't know where he is now."

"I see… Is the leader back home?"

"Yes he is. He should be in the mobile home that's further away on the beach with Miss Saori."

"I'll go see him then. Good Bye."

Sasuke goes the direction that Natsuri gave him. He thinks about Tsubai's father and the relation he seemed to have with his son. Meeting with him will probably be awkward, but he has to find Tsubai.

"Sasuke?" asks a woman standing by the beach.

Sasuke turns around, and sees a young looking red haired woman that he seems to recognize.

"It's me. Dariha. Dariha Heihachiro. We met at the time of the dragon's attack. You helped the villagers and took us to my dad's cave."

"Yes I remember you." says Sasuke, now remembering. "Did things go as expected afterwards?"

"Yes, you did a good job. There's just, obviously, my dad's shop that was destroyed."

"Sorry about that."

"No no, don't be. It's not as if it was the only building destroyed…" says Dariha, grateful. "And how are YOU doing since that day?"

"Could do better… I need to find Tsubai." says Sasuke, staying focused on his objective.

"Ah yes, That's what I wanted to tell you. I saw him and his dad sooner today. It looked like they were fighting."

"What happened?" asks the Uchiha, confused and uneasy.

"I don't know. His dad was crawling on the ground, and he was holding someone in his arms. They went to the forest this way."

"Thank you." says Sasuke while looking to this direction.

He heads to the forest to find clues about what happened to Tsubai, but only finds a dead body. After turning the body around and seeing the symbol on his suit, he understands that this person was Riku Minamoto. The leader of the clan was just lying dead next to his village. On the scene, Sasuke also finds what looks like feathers scattered around. Judging by the positions and orientations of some of them, he concludes that they shot thrown down as weapons from the sky. One last thing gets Sasuke's attention: blood stains.

Sharingan

This blood, it isn't the leader's blood. It belongs to someone else. He can also feel remains of Tsubai's chakra around. He decides to follow his traces to find him. These feathers must be the power of another Tengu. He has to find Tsubai before he gets out of his hands.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountain, Tsubai opens his eyes, lying on the ground. He doesn't know how long it's been since he saw his dad, but he remembers what happened at last. When he raises his head to see where he landed, all he sees is a woman sitting by his sides, looking at him. She has a blue dress and very long black hair. She has a skin tone very similar to his and shining blue eyes. Tsubai looks at her more closely, speechless, and notices she's also very tall for a woman. For a moment, Tsubai thought he didn't wake up yet, and was just dreaming this.

"He's awake" says the woman before standing up and stepping back, bringing Tsubai to reality.

Tsubai sits on the floor and looks around him to see what is up. The woman goes to stand in a round of people surrounding him. There are six people standing around him and some faces he never saw.

A pale man with white hair and clothes, black eyes, and black strands going from his eyes down his cheeks. He's the man that was in Riku's mobile home earlier today.

A tall muscular brown man with gray hair, green snake eyes and white whiskers on his cheeks, wearing a dark gray sleeveless vest with fur on his shoulders.

A young girl that looks about 16 years old, with mid-long light brown hair, brown eyes, white skin, wearing white and red clothes.

A middle aged man with grey hair who greatly resembles Tsubai's father but shorter. There, Tsubai recognizes his uncle, Moritaka Minamoto. What is he doing here? By looking around, Tsubai also recognizes Ritoru, that he saw earlier today.

"Tsubai." says Daikoku in his host's mind. "There's something odd with this place."

"Daikoku… This Ritoru guy is here. Does it mean…?" answers Tsubai, glad to hear his tengu's voice.

"I can feel it. They're all yamabushis or in path to become one." explains Daikoku. "But more important I feel something different here behind them."

Tsubai looks where his tengu feels something. To clear his view, every yamabushi steps aside to reveal what is sitting on a sort of throne behind them: one last person. A white blonde haired man, who's almost as tall as him. He looks a lot like Ino Yamanaka for some reason. He's not wearing any top or shoes, just black trousers with some kind of white skirt. His topless body reveals a tattoo that also resembles something he already saw: the marks that appear on Naruto when he uses his Biju Chakra Mode, except this man has them only on the right side of his body. Tsubai only now sees that the man has Saori, still unconscious, lying on his lap.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, my child." says this man while standing up from his throne and holding Tsubai's sister in one arm. "But the turn of events have brought you to meet with me in person."

"Did you just say 'my child'? Who are you?" asks Tsubai.

"This man…" says Daikoku. "…is Inosawa Yamanaka, the founder of the Minamoto clan, but he died like 300 years ago. The one who controls the body now is…"

"I'll introduce my own self, child." interrupts the man, like he's talking to Daikoku. "My name is Sojobo. I'm the true founder of the Minamoto clan. I'm more well-known as the Curse of Time, the spirit of the mountain, or as you heard of me, the Daitengu."

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End of Chapter 10 – Next Chapter: The Daitengu