Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 2: The Daitengu

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Chapter 23 – The Curse of Time Part I

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In the dimension that once belonged to Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Daitengu is face to face with Kobo Uchiha, Tsubai Minamoto, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki. He looks around, and then to his opponents.

"We can still avoid this battle. I won't fight unless I'm in danger. I don't have such intentions." he says.

"Then why did you want to achieve this stronger, bigger and more powerful form?" asks Tsubai.

"To live, my child." answers Sojobo, as if it was obvious. "When I was trapped inside of Inosawa, I wasn't free. This body and appearance are the real me. Any living thing would have wished the same… Just so you know, I'm in no way hostile to your kind as long as you are not to me."

"Bro you just used us to destroy the capital a minute ago!" yells Naruto, speaking for himself and Kurama inside him, who's recovering from the mental damage that Sojobo caused.

"… Fair enough…" answers Sojobo. "But did I really have a choice?"

He looks at each of the present persons one by one, starting with his heir.

"Tsubai. I now understand that giving you a chance was a mistake. You're no different from your ancestors after all. Like them, you think you can use my power as a gift without paying me back. You, like all of them before you, take it for granted."

He then looks to Naruto and Kobo.

"You two young boys… I don't even know what you're doing here. Maybe you're just donkeys that would follow Indra in any battle he takes…"

Finally, he turns to Sasuke, who's the sole reason why his life is at stake now.

"And you… Is there any reason for you to fight other than fear? I haven't done anything at this point, except fighting for my life and family while you were hunting us down. You forced them to turn against me, to fear me, for no other reason than your instinct. How am I a threat to this world, or even just to your village? The only reason you want me dead is because you're afraid. Afraid that something more powerful than you could live in peace… I assume I'm only the beginning of your long quest of insecurity. To you, since you're yourself so on the verge of madness, anything stronger than you has to be an embodiment of evil. But let me tell you what it really is… You're just taking the power away from this world. When, eventually, this power will come after you, and it will, you'll finally understand what you were running from all this time… However, I am not that power. I have no interest in you, or in a fight against any of you."

Naruto, Tsubai and Kobo just stand still, like hypnotized by this tirade. Meanwhile, Sasuke just clenches his teeth, angered by these words. He pulls out his sword and runs to the Daitengu. He leaps from the ground to fall from above, and tries to strike him. Sojobo lifts his right forearm up and stops the blade that leaves absolutely no mark.

"AS IF WE COULD REALLY COEXIST WITH SOMETHING LIKE YOU!" yells Sasuke to his enemy's face.

"As expected…" he calmly answers. "Nothing but hate and violence, powered by fear and ignorance… Since you're insisting so much for another battle, let me show you this time, why they call me The Curse of Time."

Sasuke doesn't give him a chance to move first. He steps on the ground, and immediately attacks Sojobo again with the sword.

Chidori Katana

He covers the blade in lightning and slices Sojobo many times with various angles and positions. Sojobo's body lights up and he moves fast enough to dodge all of Sasuke's hits. Naruto activates Kurama's cloak and jumps in to help Sasuke.

"Quit your bullshit. We sense nothing but bad emotions coming from you!" he says as he joins his friend to beat the tengu up.

The Daitengu still manages to dodge them both. Naruto keeps up while containing his surprise when he sees the monster's astonishing speed for the first time. The mighty duo keep unleashing their power on the two and half a meter tall creature until they both manage to hit him, but with no effect.

Even with the strength of Kurama's chakra and the lightning of Chidori, Naruto's punches and Sasuke's sword, can't deal any damage to the Curse of Time's shell. As he sees them both unsettled, the Daitengu takes advantage and kicks Naruto away. When he does, he and the jinchuriki notice something that seems to go on between their two chakra.

There is a sort of connection formed between Naruto's Kurama chakra cloak and the Daitengu's body. Their chakra are being sucked out and absorbed by each other uncontrollably, but at the same time and speed. Energy is simply flowing between their bodies like they are one. Neither of them loses chakra, they simply deal it continuously. Sojobo pays close attention to this link, before he's brought back to the fight by Sasuke who's still going on offensive.

"Interesting…" says Sojobo while resisting Sasuke's efforts. "It seems like there's a strange connection I'm unaware of, between the Kyubi and me… Or would it go for every Biju? Then maybe I'm more than just a failed creation."

Sojobo stops dodging the Uchiha's hits and promptly catches his hand. He bends over to look at Sasuke right in the eyes and opens his third eye, revealing it to his opponent. When he sees the spiral pupil, Sasuke recognizes it as something he ha seen only through ilusions a few years ago. He already saw it, when the Rikudo-Sennin appeared during the war and told him the story of Indra.

This was the Mangekyo Sharingan owned by the God Sage's son. An actual relation between Indra and Sojobo exists, and it explains why he calls him by this name. But now is no time to speculate. Right now Sojobo attempted to trap Sasuke in a genjutsu with this Mangekyo Sharingan. But it has no effect on the gaze of his unique left eye. Seeing his failure, Sojobo just raises his leg and strongly pushes Sasuke back in the air, like he did Naruto a few seconds ago. Sasuke quickly lands back on a knee and a foot, and looks back at his target. The Dojutsu he just saw on the Daitengu's forehead made his memories of the war resurface. He reminds himself of the Rikudo-Sennin's tale, of the Juubi, and of Kaguya.

"I already met a god monster like you before." he yells at Sojobo. "I know what it is. Nothing but a pain in the ass."

Bansho Ten'in

He attracts Sojobo to him. While he channels as much lightning as he can through his sword with Chidori, he thinks of how durable his enemy seems to be now. Any amount of Raiton feels insufficient compared to the enemy's durability. But judging by the fact that he still dodges most of their attacks, even when taking them wouldn't hurt him, Sasuke guesses that Sojobo himself isn't yet aware of how much this form can take before breaking, or of if it can even break.

When the monster he's pulling reaches him, he tries to stab him in the abdomen since he's too short to reach his neck, but it doesn't go through. Even worse, the blade breaks when it collides with the white shell. Close enough now, Sojobo grows long claws on one hand and tries to rip the Uchiha's face off.

Susanoo

The Susanoo's rib cage appears to cover Sasuke right in time to block Sojobo's fingers. But the raw strength of the tengu still is enough to send him flying several meters away. As soon as he sent his enemy out of range again, the Daitengu turns his head to where Naruto was standing and doesn't see him. Through the eyes of Tsubai, who's only spectating the fight for now, Sojobo localizes the jinchuriki, falling down on him from above.

Naruto shapes his cloak into 9 Biju Chakra Arms that fall onto the Daitengu. To counter this, the bottom of his own robe turns into as much Chakra Arms too. These arms, as big as Naruto's, go up and stop each of them. Behind them Tsubai and Kobo finally decide to get involved. Tsubai goes first and joins his hand to make a handsign

Jikanteido

He uses the jutsu to stop time… But nothing happens. Time keeps flowing normally. Tsubai just keeps running toward Sojobo, not understanding what blocks his jutsu. The Daitengu, seeing his own back through Tsubai's gaze, makes one more Chakra Arm that quickly grabs Tsubai and lifts him off the ground.

Katon – Goryuka

Kobo throws a giant dragon fire ball toward Sojobo who senses it coming and reacts. He tries to grow an 11th limb from his robe, but can't, as if just one more than Naruto was his limit. Out of options, all the chakra arms he uses vanish and let Tsubai and Naruto go.

Mutai

Before the fireball or any of the Biju limbs can reach him, he lets himself fall back and deep in the ground using Amabie's ability to swim through solid.

Tsubai and Naruto both land back on their feet. Them and Kobo look around, ready for the tengu's next move.

Deiton – Deiteimu

The ground under Tsubai and Kobo's feet quickly turns to mud and starts to swallow them down. Under Naruto, two big white and long clawed hands emerge from the soil and grab his tendons. Naruto feels it when the hands start to pull him down and hurries to cross his fingers.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

A clone appears in front of the original and grabs his hands to hold him on the surface. More than that, the clone strongly pulls Naruto to him and rips him and Sojobo, who's holding his legs, out of the ground. They both make a straight somersault as they fall back to the ground. Naruto lands first behind his clone. The Daitengu, before getting to the ground, turns around mid-air and tries to decapitate the Kyubi's Jinchuriki with his leg.

Ameno Tejikara

Sasuke switches with the original Naruto and has the Susanoo's rib cage, covered in black flames, all around him. Sojobo's kick hits it and shatters it on contact, but he notices the black flames too late. Sasuke is now defenseless in front of him, but the Daitengu's leg caught fire. In reaction, He makes the skin on his leg go off like a broken shell, only to be replaced by fresh new skin underneath. The shedding skin falls off to the ground, still burning.

Sasuke looks at this and thinks. This detached part of his shell is, slowly but still, being consumed by the Amaterasu's flames. Sojobo's quick reaction to get rid of the fire means one thing: Among all his weapons, Sasuke may be able to hurt him with the heat of his Enton. Sojobo sets foot on the ground in front of Sasuke, looks at the burning piece on the ground and back at Sasuke. He puffs, having made the same observation as the Uchiha, and raises a hand.

"I'll curse you off right now." he says as black chakra gathers as a very tiny orb in his palm.

Meiton – Black Hole

Sojobo flies back but the dark orb stays there, in front of Sasuke. Suddenly, a strange is emitted by it. The wanderer clenches his feet to the ground and sees the piece of burning skin being pulled in the spot where the black orb was. When it reaches where the orb is, the skin and flames are completely crushed and disappear. Sasuke can't see the orb anymore. All he feels is the gravitational pull coming from where he last saw it. After the shedding skin, Sasuke sees the Naruto clone that stood behind pass in front of him and be absorbed and crushed too.

Shinra Tensei

Thinking quick to resist the attraction, he creates a pushing force that opposes it, but it only helps him to handle the pull a bit. He's still being attracted and can't step back. He can't even move at all. He's just standing there, doing his best to not meet the same fate as the clone. He focuses on maintaining the Shinra Tensei, for it is the only thing that keeps him away from a certain death now.

His vision slowly fades away, but it's not his eyes that are being affected. It's the light that surround him. Even the nearby light is being sucked into this strange force. Air and space are being distorted around him so much that he now can't hear anymore. He feels stress and power through all the nerves of his body, disturbing his chakra flows. As he feels all his senses, and strengths slowly fade away, he closes his eyes to focus on his mind, which is, with the almighty push he's still maintaining with all his strength, all he has left now.

Sojobo's speech from earlier is resounding in his brain. Sasuke always was a hunter. He started this life a long time ago, since the moment he found his parents' corpses lying in front of his brother's blood-stained sword. Itachi was the first person he hunted down. Then it was Danzo, then Kabuto, the fake Madara, and finally Naruto. He failed to defeat the last one. And this is what made him change his path.

Katashiki, those who came before, and now Sojobo and those who'll come after him… They aren't the same as those before. His first hunts were quests for vengeance. Now, it's a quest for forgiveness. He was an avenger, but now he's a protector. The people he hunts are dangers to him and to everyone. The Daitengu's words didn't reach him, because he knows better than anyone what purpose he fights for.

This fight can't be his last. He still has many other people to find, like the two other Otsutsuki clan members that Katashiki mentioned. He still has many sins to be forgiven, and many people's trust and respect to earn back, because of the damages caused by his past life and actions. He owes it to them. To Sakura, to Naruto, to Kakashi, and to Kobo and Tsubai… He owes it to himself too.

However, no matter how far he pushes his determination, he can't change the fact that his senses faded away, and that his mind and strength are next on the way. Soon enough he realizes that his chakra has started to be sucked out too… Suddenly he sees it. This feeling, his chakra being absorbed, makes him think of a possible way out. Sojobo is a chakra entity that makes nothing but chakra-based jutsus and no Natural energy emanates from him for now. He's like a body of chakra, separated from nature. This means that whatever jutsu this is, it isn't natural energy, and Sasuke can absorb it thanks to the Rikudo's eye.

Sasuke decides to take action, now or never. He focuses back on reality and concentrates to sense the chakra flow around him. He lets go off his almighty push and stops resisting the dark pull. As soon as he does, his body is thrown forward. He feels the intense pressure of it through all of his body and struggles to stay awake. His black cloak gets caught first in the invisible hole and is ripped off his back. His body's next. Pulled closer and closer to the fatal point, he feels his body being distorted with space. Managing to focus enough strength, he lets his hand go forward to the dark hole first.

Gakido

He uses the Rinnegan's ability to absorb Ninjutsu and eats up the origin of this cosmic pull… And succeeds. While he does, he's surprised but lightly terrified by the incredible amount of mass and chakra that was put so quickly and so easily in such a small object. But, he's free. After only a few seconds in this deadly trap, he feels like an eternity had passed. Now calmly standing with both his feet on the ground, he wonders if it really is just a feeling.

He is standing in the middle of a giant crater that's at least 200 meters large. All the matter that was in this area was swallowed by this tiny orb, except for Sasuke. Sasuke closes his eyes and tries to detect Sojobo, Naruto, Tsubai and Kobo's chakras around. He feels Sojobo, who's the biggest of them all, and Naruto, who's chakra is covering all an area. By focusing more and more, he manages to also feel Kobo, but can't find Tsubai. He opens his eyes and runs to find the place where the battle is now taking place. There he finds a gigantic crowd of Naruto clones. In the middle of it, he feels and sees chakra flowing in the air.

"Why are we even all here?" asks one of the clones to another. "This bastard monster can see the original because of this weird connection between our chakras."

"Yeah, We're not even given a chance to be useful." answers the other who then turns his head and notices Sasuke standing aside.

When he sees him. He makes a bright smile and disappears to alert the original. Sasuke looks awkwardly at the clones that are near him. They all turn to see him and make the same bright smiles.

"There you are!" yells one of them.

"Shut up…" answers Sasuke, back to reality, and out of his emotional thoughts. "Where's Tsubai? I can't feel him."

"I don't know!" exclaims one of the clones. "That white giant bastard caught him at some point, just looked at him with that eye on his forehead, and Tsubai vanished."

"He vanished? Is he dead?" worries Sasuke, before realizing how absurd this idea is, as Sojobo still needs Tsubai alive.

"No. He said something like he'll retrieve him later." adds a clone.

"… And Kobo? I feel him here. How's it going?" he asks, ready to get back to the battle. "Did you guys find a way to hurt him?"

"Hell No! We beat him up like nothing, but we just barely scratch him." desperately say many Naruto's together. "How can someone be this durable?"

"I found a way to hurt him." confidently tells Sasuke.

"If only it was the only problem with this guy…" complains the nearest one. "He doesn't take damage But he's also too fast and too strong. Even for me. And with all the powers he has… This thing is even more powerful than Katashiki and his soul shadows."

"… Didn't you find any weak point?"

"Well at least we found one. Before he disappeared, Tsubai told us that he couldn't stop time here. And since Sojobo wasn't using this jutsu either, we guessed that he couldn't do it in this world."

"Okay but wait a second… How did all this happened in only a few seconds?"

"A few seconds? What do you mean? You vanished within the first minutes of this fight. But we've been fighting our asses off for almost two hours now."

At these words, Sasuke doesn't answer anything. He just stays agape and thinks again of the feeling he had earlier. He really spent hours trapped in this jutsu. To him, it seemed like only a few seconds of struggle. Between this, his abilities to stop time, to control our past through our memories, and to doom the Minamoto clan to their premature death… He sees Sojobo truly stood true to his words when he said he'll show him why he's called The Curse of Time. But the worst about this is that Sasuke feels like there's even more to that nickname.

Normally, all this would scare and demotivate anyone. But Sasuke is more pissed off than anything else. Now that he's seen a piece of the Daitengu's true potential, he realizes why he's dangerous. Over the fact that a being with such powers and so much mysteries surrounding him can't be good news. His power could be coveted by the other superpowers, like Katashiki who was aiming for Tsubai's tengu.

"Naruto…" says the Uchiha with his hand raised toward the nearest clone. "Give me your chakra."

The clone simply claps in Sasuke's hand and passes the Biju Chakra Mantle onto him. He then smiles and disappears too, to send his knowledge back to the original again. Meanwile, the original sees all his clones disappear one after another while Sojobo avoids all their hits and blows them up in a single touch. But they keep him busy, and Naruto takes advantage of it to prepare a new attempt.

Wakusei Rasen Shuriken

He throws a planetary shuriken orb to Sojobo in the back. But the Daitengu senses it coming, thanks to the variation he feels in Naruto's chakra, through the link that connects them.

Jinton – Hakuri Kekkai

He suddenly stands still, and all the clones that kept boxing him are separated in half as a part of their body disappears, dismantled by the barrier that just formed around him. The same goes for the Rasen Shuriken who's also dismantled when it reaches its target. Sojobo turns his elongated body to face the original Naruto, standing by Kobo's side, behind him. Naruto makes an annoyed face while he looks at Sojobo, but he changes his mood when he receives his clone's chakra and thoughts back to him. He looks aside and back at Sojobo with a smile on his face.

"Uchiha boy." he says to Kobo. "Time to go strong again." he adds as he activates his sage mode again.

Sojobo stares at him and doesn't say anything. The three of them stand still for a moment. Suddenly all of Naruto's clones disappear at the same time, which results in a large gas cloud covering the whole place. The original Naruto grabs Kobo and jumps back in the air. Sojobo feels him moving and wonders what this move's purpose might be. As he suddenly feels an intense concentration of chakra in the distance he turns to where Sasuke is. There he sees nothing but a colossal object go through the air.

In the distance, The complete body of the perfect Susanoo is standing. It's throwing it's enormous sword down to the ground with both its hands. As it goes through the air, it separates the clouds and splits the sky in half. Sojobo chooses to stand still, hoping for the barrier around him to dismantle the sword like it would dismantle anything else. But the movement of the sword and the presence of the Susanoo are enough to shatter the ground under Sojobo's feet just as the blade gets nearer. Destabilized, Sojobo is forced to move and his barrier jutsu wears off.

Susanoo's spectral sword strikes the ground and hits right where Sojobo stands. Naruto and Kobo, who were running away from the impact, are still disturbed and pushed far away by the strength of the blade's landing. Sasuke's slices the ground in half, and makes a split in the land. A split so long that the end of it can't be seen by any of them, even by himself who stands many hundred of meters above in the sky.

With just this single sword movement, that sliced the skies and lands in half and shattered the ground so strongly it became a total different place within an instant, Sasuke only aimed to hit the Daitengu, and succeeded.

End of Chapter 23 – Next Chapter: The Curse of Time Part II