"So how the hell am I supposed to beat that guy?" Naruto asked as I stood up and stretched.
"Well... that I don't know I'm afraid," Motoi replied honestly.
"Hey-! Hold on! Octopops trained here too, didn't he?" Naruto asked, "I can just go and ask him!"
He seemed to remember something.
"No... he's never going to tell me," he shook his head, shutting down his own idea. Did Naruto annoy B or something?
"Not with his attitude," he frowned.
"Perhaps..." Motoi nodded.
I went to go over but stopped myself at the edge of the lake and quickly took a step back again.
This place gives me the heebie-jeebies.
"Naruto, try thinking a different way," I said, "no violence. Just use your head. I'm sure you can figure it out."
It was silent for a moment but then Naruto stood up.
"Hey, Motoi, can you help me out?" he turned to us, "can you tell me more about Octopops? Like how he grew up and what his personality is like? Maybe I can get a few hints from all that stuff. Then I can figure out what's different between us and why he can control his tailed beast."
He's thinking just a little bit too much, I think.
"To be honest, I don't like to prattle on about other people," Motoi said, "but Naruto, you're also a jinchuriki, just like Master B is... and controlling the nine tails will lead to world peace. So, I'll do it."
"Ah! Thank you!" Naruto celebrated a little.
I glanced over at the waterfall. My vision flashed and I saw me stood there but my eyes were black and red. I looked pissed but also filled with sorrow.
This place is messing with not only my head but my eyes too...
"While you do that, I'm going to go on a walk and get some air," I said, "I'll be back soon."
They nodded and I walked away from the group. I rubbed the corners of my eyes as I walked.
"That waterfall..." I shook my head and frowned, "no. Stop thinking about it. It'll just give you a headache."
I made my shadow rise up and made it take on different shapes as I walked. Stopping, I dropped my shadow back to where it was supposed to be and looked back to the direction the waterfall was in.
"Come to me," a voice whispered to me through the wind, "let's see who is stronger. Darkness or resolve."
Suddenly a loud shout echoed through the area.
"That sounded like Motoi," I hummed before jumping through the trees in the direction the shout had come from. When I reached them, Naruto, Yamato, Motoi, and B all on one spike. They seemed pretty down.
"You know that I tried to kill you," Motoi said, "so why did you help me?"
What the what? I was gone for like three minutes. How'd they end up out here, fighting a squid and trying to kill B?
"You know... I don't remember that happening," B said as I dropped down on the spike behind the group, "but what I do remember is Motoi and me, Motoi and me, Motoi and me spending time together. Training hard like birds of a feather. Me made mistakes but it was no disaster, and we were always bursting into laughter. The two of us smiling, the best of friends forever. The times Motoi and me spent together."
The two-fist bumped, and Naruto celebrated it, Yamato just watched in silence and I kind of just stood there not having any clue in what the hell just happened.
I guess if it's ok now then I don't really need to know.
Cloud shinobi are so weird...
"Big sis Shikarei? When did you get here?" Naruto noticed me.
"Like a minute ago?" I replied, "I can't ever leave you guys alone. You cause trouble wherever you go. Come on, let's get back to the waterfall, 'kay? You have a demon to face."
"And what about you?" Motoi asked.
"It seems I have no choice in the matter," I replied with a sigh, "the waterfall is already messing with my mind plus it seems that I want to meet me.
°🥢°
We reached the waterfall and both me and Naruto sat down on the mound.
"We got this," I smiled at him.
"Are you sure you do?" he asked, "this is your first-time going in."
"Well, if I lose my personality, smack me up a bit and shout at me," I told him, "that should bring me back."
I placed my hands on my knees and closed my eyes. The world turned black before changing to a misty version of the waterfall.
"You actually came," an echoing version of my voice reached my ears as I stood up. My gaze met that of myself. But she wasn't me. Merely the mirror version of myself. I am the light, and she is the dark.
"You wanted to speak with me. There must've been something you wanted to say," I said, "especially because you went as far as to use my eyes against me to show yourself. So, speak. Tell me. What is it?"
"I just wanted to remind you of something," she walked forward, brushing her hair out of the way, unlike mine, hers was let down, sat just below her shoulders, "you can't trust anyone. Especially not that village that you hold so dear."
"So, you called me here to start to try break my resolve," I said as we both stared each other down, "what makes you think you can?"
"I have many things in my heart, in our heart, that will start to sway you," she said, "shall we start... from the beginning..?"
Yamato's PoV
Naruto stood up, we all stood in anticipation. He turned and grinned at us.
"It looks like..." Motoi started.
"It went well," I finished his sentence.
"It's too early to celebrate, you hear me, fools ya fools?" B asked as he walked over to Naruto and Shikarei, "what do you say? Shall we start trying to control the nine tails power? From this moment, I'm going to be your instructor, so prepare yourself to suffer death or tort-arr."
"Yeah! Bring it on!" Naruto exclaimed, "but first we need to wait for Shikarei."
We all looked at her.
"Her shadow seems to be doing some strange things," I said as Naruto joined the rest of us on the opposite side of the water.
"She's not the type to fight her fears," Motoi said, "so I think... she's trying to line it out, talk through it and figure out what exactly is wrong."
"She's a Nara daughter! No little water can stop her!" B rapped, "she got her own power, just believe in her. Yay-eah."
We stood and watched in silence for about five minutes and then suddenly her shadow shot up and spun around her.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked.
"Is she using jutsu outside while in her head?" Motoi asked.
"I've never seen any Nara do that before, whether it's Shikarei or a normal Nara," I said.
"Is it her darkness?" Naruto asked.
"Just watch, fool ya fool," B exclaimed, "Shikarei Nara will be coming out soon."
Shikarei's PoV
"I won't be swayed by your petty words," I said as I moved another piece on the shogi board that this weird world had created.
"You won't?" she asked, "then why is your shadow doing that?"
I turned to see my shadow doing some weird ass possessed dance that I definitely wasn't causing.
"What're you doing?" I asked.
"I'm not doing anything," she shrugged as she moved the king.
I feel like I've been playing this endless game for hours, how long have I been in here? Is Naruto out?
"The village has been your designated cause of death for many years," the other me decided to continue her speak I'd been listening to before this, "they say in shogi the king of the game is the children of the village. Or at least that's what your father taught you, correct? Oh. Sorry, our father. However, I think that the king should be the game masters life. I mean-- you play so many moves to protect others. How selfless, that's not like us, is it? We're actually very selfish. We don't want to die to protect the future, we don't want to die to protect some random person who could create the next threat."
I stared at her.
"You obviously don't know us very well, huh?" I shook my head with a disbelieving sigh, "I'm totally opposite to that. I'll happily give up my life if it means that the children of our village can grow up in happiness and without threat of danger."
The table was suddenly thrown to the side, shogi pieces flying everywhere as I was pushed to the floor by my darker self.
Her hands pressed against my throat as she shouted at me.
"Why can't you see the truth?! Dying for such a blind cause! The village will deceive you just as they deceived Shisui and Itachi. You'll die just as they did, you'll die either a hero or a Villain!" she shouted loudly, her eyes, if possible, becoming darker by every word, the veins popped out like a Hyuga's, however, they were black as night and pulsing like there was a heartbeat within them, "You're not appreciated by the village! No one cares for you. They don't even care for your friends! What about Himari, huh?! Just think about how she would've been brutally murdered in front of you by Danzo if he'd found out who her father was! Maybe he'd even add her eyes to his collection! You're saying you'd die for a village as dark as this?!"
I was struggling to breathe... Damn, this girl got a grip.
"Y...es..." I managed to force out, "I...f th...at's wha...t I ha...ve to... d...o."
Her eyes glowed as she glowered at me.
"You're a fool, Shikarei Nara," she spat, "a fool who will end up dying to the hands of her own people."
I managed to pull her hands away from my neck and gave her a serious, unwavering look.
"If that's what awaits my future then so be it," I told her, "if I'm killed by my village, or even my closest friends, then I'll accept it. Just as you should. No place is perfect, and every village has a dark side. Whether it be a coup d'état or it be the manner in which the village is run. Every place has a dark core, but it's not the core that keeps the village alive and bustling..."
"Then what is it?" she asked.
"It's the people," I replied, "their sacrifices they make daily. It could be as simple as deciding to retire early from being a ninja to raise a child or closing the business for a couple days to help their family member become healthy again. Or it could even be losing their life for the future. Things like this and many other things like stepping up to protect someone being bullied when others wouldn't, or speaking up against something wrong, or even teaching something new... It's all what makes the village function and it's what keeps it running."
She frowned at me.
"Take Pain's attack for instance. The whole village was destroyed with one attack," I said, "at times like those, it's easy for people to lose their way and give up. If the village didn't have sacrifices the built up the community it had then our village would no longer exist, the villagers wouldn't be working together to repair everything. The ninja wouldn't be tirelessly training to fight in the fourth great shinobi war just so that one day, their children and their children's children may have that moment of peace and harmony, no matter how brief it may be."
The veins started to retreat back into her eyes, and they dulled down.
"Is that true?" she asked, "is that why Itachi died? Why Jiraiya died? Lord Minato and Lord Hiruzen? Is that why... We were forced to fight at just five?"
I knew it.
I'm not talking to myself as me.
Her form changed.
I'm talking to the child that I didn't have the luxury of being.
I looked at the child version of me, her eyes were still dark, but she was crying. That's an improvement, I suppose.
"We really need to learn to let things go and move on," I said as I knelt down in front of her and hugged her, "I'm sorry that you had to go through so much pain without any kind of break. But that's just how life is, it's never always fair to us. Some people get to be more privileged than others, there's no denying that, and some people are born simply to take on a lot more than they should have to."
"Why did we have to suffer though?" she cried, "did we... do something wrong?"
"No," I shook my head, "it's just the way the world works."
I watched as her eyes turned to the glowing blue that I was more familiar with.
"Thank you," she whispered before her body faded away and I found myself opening my eyes again. There was a shadow dancing around me, as I stood up, I dismissed it and sighed.
"Shikarei!" Naruto ran over to me and grinned, "did you do it?"
"Yes," I smiled at him, "How long did I take?"
"A while," he said, "I finished half an hour ago."
"Oh jeez--" I cringed and turned to everyone before bowing apologetically, "sorry for the trouble."
"It's fine. It seems that you've faced the darkness inside you," Motoi said, I nodded and smiled.
"Turns out my darkness was just the misunderstanding that the child in me had," I sighed, they all gave me confused looks, "never mind. Anyway, since Naruto has done this... shouldn't we get onto the next step of his training?"
"Yo you're right," B rapped, "follow me, Naruto, yeaaah!"