23 Chapter 22 (1/2)
I was initially at the Torture and Investigation building trying to wiggle my way out of a therapy session that was prompted by Yamanaka Inoichi, Ino-chan's father. I was tricked to go there by Shikaku-sama early in the morning when I picked up my issued Jounin flak jacket. The former director of the TNI was quick to pick up my symptoms and immediately hit me with a set of questionnaires. We were regrettably at the highest point of tension in our session and the anger of my brain being poked around was close to a boiling point. It was then that I was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of smoke, I noticed that I had been summoned. Hitori had summoned me back to our home. I wonder why? A question that was answered immediately.
”Hika--”
I heard Hitori screaming for me but then she was muffled suddenly. When the smoke finally cleared, I saw them. Danzo was standing smugly as he looked over me. There were two masked shinobi accompanying him--one was forming a seal to stop Hitori's movement as intricate symbols were wrapping her body while the other one, an Aburame held out his hand and thousands of Kikaichu emerged out of his body and had engulfed us in a hemisphere of Kikaichu. In that instance, I knew that escape wasn't an option, so a fight was my only way out of that. I saw that her eyes were still frantic as her sights were set onto me. My fingers were balled into a shaky fist, fuming with anger that was still there from the therapy session previously.
”What is the meaning of this?” I asked as veins were showing around my Byakugan. Danzo even dared to laugh darkly at me.
”Your silly threats meant nothing to me boy. Do you think that a brat like you stood a chance against me? Every man has a pressure point even when the man seemingly claiming that he is the strongest shinobi. I'll be sure to destroy everything you hold dear until you are left to nothing but a shell of a human. Starting with this bratty girl,” Danzo said and my anger had risen substantially as he had truly hit my pressure point but then the most dreaded thing happened.
The sound it made when it made contact with her skin was a sledgehammer towards my shrill shard of sanity. The sight of the katana piercing through her chest was a deep, bloodied gash on my throbbing heart and mind. The blood that was pouring was my very last ounce of consciousness watered away as I screamed in agony. Something inside of my head had popped and all that I could see now was a pulsating red tint that was shading my sights that was gnawing on my consciousness. A booming chuckle could be heard around me. At some point, we had been transported away from the Hyuuga Forest but that had slipped off my mind entirely. Something else had taken the helm of my body and I was at the passenger seat. I did not incline to do, feel or say anything apart from the scorching pain of grief, wrath, and loneliness.
”Emotion is a weakness, Hikari-kun. That will only hinder your ability as a ROOT. Don't worry, when I am done with you, you will be a doting servant of mine in no time,” a dark-haired man was devilishly chuckling at me. I should have recognized the man's voice but my ears were ringing too loud that it fueled my anger more. My body unconsciously went forward to thrust a fist at the voice. With an explosion of blood and flesh, his entire left limb was incinerated.
”It seemed that I had underestimated your strength and speed. But no matter,” the man gritted as he tore away his robe and bandages revealing his right side that was filled with red eyes. One of the eyes closed as his previously lost limb had miraculously returned. Fist upon fist was exchanged and he kept restoring his lost body parts until one of his wind jutsu managed to cut me diagonally across my torso and I roared in pain.
”Izanagi, the power to rewrite reality in exchange for one's sight. A miracle power bestowed upon the Uchihas. Suits me well, don't you think? Honestly, I think this jutsu is way too overpowered to only be able to use by the Uchihas. I've always wanted a Hyuuga in ROOT but that damn Hiashi wouldn't even let any of his people come near me until you came along. His people were wise enough to keep away from me. That said, never knew that a Hyuuga could be lost to such hatred,” the man bragged and I was still too angry to reply that I merely grunted at his words.
”You want to see true power? I'll show you,” I growled coarsely like a feral animal as I tore off my headband and the Rinne-Sharingan pierced through him. Unconsciously, nature energy flooded my chakra network and a red-hued-black-Otsutsuki chakra-robe appeared on me as the ringing in my head became much more intense. I yelled out in pain throughout the moment until the Gudoudama appeared behind me. It was then I completely lost myself, I had become my wrath.
I roared before I made my move on him in a blink of an eye. Although he was ready to take me on, even he was nothing compared to me. Rage had completely controlled me and I held no desire to hold back. My hands went to make a flurry of hand seals.
”Shin; Jikai Koutan!” I roared and the ground was shaking beneath us. The man was quick to form his own set of seals as hundreds of tree branches emerged from the ground and he was struggling to avoid getting caught. Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke appeared and along with it, a strong cutting wind was sucking in my jutsu. I didn't waste time to find out what was summoned, one of the Gudoudama changed its form into a Kodachi and when I grabbed the blade, I immediately teleported behind him slashing off his right hand from the elbow down. A technique that I had never before thought of, it was an efficient killing technique. He jumped away from me as he struggled to block his wound from expelling too much blood and when he was sure that he was far enough, he tried to activate his Izanagi. Unfortunately for him, his Sharingan was already in my control since before I even slashed off his Sharingan-filled-hand. I could see the confusion in his eyes as the jutsu failed to activate.
”Danzo-sama!!” the Aburame send out his Kikaichu at me. My hands went through another set of seals and a few of the Gudoudama flew out from me.
”Shin; Musekiyojin!” I screamed and the Gudoudama formed a black-hued barrier around us. When the Kikaichu touched the walls of the barrier, they were vaporized in an instant.
”You dare to try to fight God's wrath with insects, human?” I monotonously said in a coarse voice. I knew the voice wasn't mine but I didn't have a slight ounce of patience to care. I snapped my gaze to face the old man once again and he seemed to fail to stop the bleeding.
”And you, puny old human, how brave of you to wake up a slumbering god for the sake of your greed? Let show you a god's greed instead,” I growled before I teleported in front of him. He was surprised as he tried to push me away instinctively but my forefinger was already at his sternum.
”Shin,”, I gritted and the tip of my finger glowed in a black hue. ”Kami no Grido.”
The man's insides begin to boil under my fingertip. He puked out blood as fire burst out of his mouth.
THIRD PERSON POV
Blood was pouring out of Danzo's mouth as Hikari's technique, the Divine Greed of a God ran its course through the man's body. With the effects of the Izanagi had been negated due to the Rinne-Sharingan, the cunning councilman was at a dead end and he decided to chuckle.
”This is not the power of a Hyuuga, Hiruzen hid you well. I could already taste its endless possible...” Danzo coughed up more blood before he finished the words. There was a sound of bone cracking and something piercing through a body. Hikari's hand had gone through the man's sternum in an instinctive move and a blazing fire emanated around the wound. The boy withdrew his hand and choke out the old man's throat, revealing a wide gaping hole. Danzo's ROOT operatives were slowly waking up from their stunning reverie as the situation couldn't become any clearer. Their master had been defeated.
”Danzo-sama!!!” the rest of the ROOT screamed for him and this had added more irritation to Hikari's rage.
”Putting your loyalty to this dying greedy filth when there's a God present. Aren't you are being too disrespectful to me?” Hikari's voice roared in rage before his eyes were calculating and showing signs that he was ready to set off murdering them instead. They finally admitted that he had somewhat become an entirely different being. The ROOT operatives were shivering in fear when they saw how despicable the boy's expression was. His red eyes were pulsating with a wide devilish grin that was plastered on his face and his tongue was also licking Danzo's blood that he was bathed in and his Rinne-Sharingan, that sole eye was reaping away their soul, bit by bit. On cue, the dying man laughed heartily and Hikari immediately flicked off half of his head in the blink of an eye
”Look at you. One push is all it takes to tip your balance of mind towards insanity. You are no different than any of us. With this, You will seek blood to slain. I seemed to have found the suitable heir,” Danzo said as he was silently weaving some sort of hand seals.
”You will have to make use of us to quench your bloodlust. I am confident that the ninja world will tremble at the sight of our power. I hereby name you, Hyuuga Hikari as my successor. Protect the leaves with its roots,” the man announced before he slumped lifelessly. Unseen to Hikari, Danzo's blood had formed some sort of seal onto the boy's chest.
”Do you think your worthless little party deserves me?!!” Hikari thrashed at the man's now lifeless body. When there was no reaction from the man, his anger was boiling to its limits. In his blinding rage, he tossed the corpse to the barrier walls and broke the jutsu before he lashed out on the ROOT operatives that were bowing to him. Loyal to the end, they had already accepted Hikari as their new leader. They were unmoving as Hikari attacked them. His presumed calm and peaceful demeanour had long since diminished as if he was sort of possessed by the Jaashin himself. Walls upon walls were broken down, beating upon beating was thrown on them. Some of them were unluckily mangled to death while most were fatally wounded and one of them, the pale white one, had decided that enough is enough.
”We have to calm Hikari-sama somehow,” he said and the previous Aburame nodded at his comment though he knew how futile it was to do so.
”We did kill his fiancé right in front of him. It's our punishment for our sins to this God,” the Aburame said.
On cue, a loud voice of a bird was heard shrieking on top of the headquarters before an enormous red bird burst through the ceiling. The enraged Hikari was startled for a bit before he continued to lash out at the bird that had appeared in front of him. To their amazement, the large bird managed to pin Hikari down. He was still struggling and thrashing to get out of the bird's grasp before the bird slowly shrunk down and morphed into a glowing human that they had previously slain.
”That is not a henge...”, the pale ROOT said, deadpan. The girl's glowing hands went to touch Hikari's cheeks.
”Look, I'm still alive,” the girl coaxed but Hikari was still stuck deep inside his mind that he didn't wake up from his worst breakdown to date.
”Oho, another meat to prey upon!” Hikari roared with laughter as he thrashed around to get a bite of the now woman that was holding him down.
”What the fuck happen?!” she snapped at the rest of the ROOT operatives.
”We had killed you in front of his eyes and he went mad. He had killed Danzo-sama for your sake but his rage won't calm down. Hell, he became more feral when Danzo-sama named him his successor and died before Hikari-sama could retort the man's last words,” the pale white boy said. Hitori stared at his face until she was certain that the boy was telling the truth. She grabbed Hikari's face and brought him closer until their foreheads touched. Hitori's body began to glow brightly until it pained them to look directly. When it reached it's the brightest intensity, the light suddenly dissipated. They all could now saw Hikari that was blinking his eyes furiously at the sight of Hitori that was sitting on him. His sage mode had faded away along with the light.
”You are alive?!” Hikari exclaimed and everyone present was breathing a sigh of relief.
”Of course I am. I'm immortal, you silly, silly boy,” Hitori was now crying and slumped down onto his chest. Hikari was going to bring his hand to hug her but he noticed that it was caked crimson in blood. He was panicking yet again and was close to hyperventilating. He immediately pushed her off and scratched away the now dried blood from his hands.
”I've killed somebody,” he croaked in despair and his self-hate was off the charts at the moment. Hitori put a finger on his mouth to shut him up and neatly locked the boy's scratching hand in one grip.
”Do not do that, you kill to avenge me. It's a noble thing to me and proved how much you love me. Plus, you are a shinobi. You will bound to kill someone, sooner or later. So, suck it up,” she scolded him. The boy closed his eyes and drew a heavy breath.
”I thought I had lost you,” Hikari breathed and Hitori tightened her hug on him. No word could be heard from either party for quite some time. Hikari then noticed that they weren't alone and his hand was quick to fetch Fudo Masamune from its sheath. He was taken aback when the men kneeled before him. Most of them were bleeding profusely and somehow, cuts and bruises had mottled their body as some was gathering the pieces of human flesh that were scattered around the area.