Pov: Kyo Yamanaka.
*click*
The handcuffs fall to the floor and I rub my wrists gently as the ninja to my left points at the sleeping child.
Who sleeps mid-day like this? At least the kid doesn't look like a slob, maybe he did a night shift.
"This is the boy, use your jutsu before he wakes up" The masked ninja commands.
"You mean before the Uchiha find out? The clans leader met with me yesterday you know, makes me wonder what you all want with me of all people" I turn and raise my brow.
"Enough stalling. The deal has been made" The ninja responds.
"My repayment has been fulfilled- this is merely a thank you for correcting your mistake, tell that master of yours that I expect all my charges to drop. Every penny that he framed me for taking" I scowl at the ninja.
"That same attitude nearly cost you your life, the Uchiha clan head gave up on you Kyo. Lord Danzo didn't, do not forget that" The ninja warns and I scoff before slicing open my palm.
The blood moves to drip over the child in front of me and I close my eyes as the rhythmic drops of blood tap against skin.
My other hand performs a few hand signs and I move my chakra to merge with his.
[Memory walking Jutsu]
Focusing on a few key words:
Rest.
Motivation.
Effort.
I twist my chakra to find the memory in which he relates to those key words, hopefully dropping me into the most impactful moments.
-The Restful Memory-
Pov: Takumi Uchiha.
Hn.
I could have sworn I was dreaming about that dance again, but tonight must be my unlucky day.
I look up at my old ceiling. One I very rarely ever saw.
My old body aches and the feeling of usefulness overwhelms me- the itch to march engulfs me and the old fool enters the room.
I am conflicted about this nightmare.
I am unsure if all my problems started or ended here.
Was it right to reincarnate?
Was it wrong to rest?
...
Every so often this memory visits me, asking the same dreadful questions I don't wish to answer.
The worst part being that I am growing too lazy to answer, rust grows like mould and covers me in procrastination.
I just wish to sit in my disgusting stew of inevitability and hope it doesn't rise to drown me- knowing that it will drown me eventually.
I watch our conversation once more, the old fool reincarnates me and I am resurrected as a child.
...
Hn. A pitiful child.
No Aura.
No family.
No power.
No respect.
Just, some child.
Pov: Kyo Yamanaka.
?
I cannot understand a single word that was said, might need to visit the library to get some foreign dictionaries.
But images are clear enough to tell a tale.
Possession? I see it plainly now- it is all clear what has happened... that elder used a crazy ninjutsu to revive this kid, but why? Who is he? Who could possibly revive someone in such a way?
No wonder Danzo snuck me out despite the fact that my execution should be soon.
He needed me to confirm some thoughts on a spy within our walls.
I delve deeper- looking for more memories.
-Motivational Memory-
Pov: Takumi Uchiha.
Hn? Another memory?
Young, probably sixteen.
My rapier stabs and slices at the tree in front of me and I follow a rhythm that ties my stances together smoothly.
"My Prince, how can you keep up with the instructor- I am dying over here!" An old friend calls.
Lucius, he trained the [Reaper of Duels] Art with me.
"Just say the line and fall. Do not expect to keep up with someone like me, it is to be expected of you" I smirk and deliver another set of stances.
"You- never mind... I can't keep up. Charismatic Golden haired and handsome warrior who never fails you!" Lucius yells and falls to the floor.
...
"Lucius, don't mean to be a nerd but that's a safety sentence- ya' use it when you need to urgently end training, not when you normally end training" My unfortunately charismatic teacher at the time slowly walks over.
"Haaa, nerd" Lucius smiles at our teacher and then furrows his brow.
"Wait- why is it a sentence? Shouldn't it be a word?" He asks.
"It used to be a singular word, 'Help' but your duelling partner over there decided he needed a tougher goal to reach for in an emergency. So I gave him something appropriate in return" The teacher nods and picks Lucius off the floor.
"Little murderous prince, please don't tell your duelling partner the wrong safety word" My teacher steps in front of me.
I still stab at the tree around him, he stands exactly where the stance can still operate while avoiding him and hitting the target behind himself. A true master of his craft.
"Lucius can handle a tougher challenge" I answer.
"But does he need to? Not everyone is you" My teacher shifts his foot and gets in my path, I shift the stance upwards and am forced to look him in the eye.
"My apologies. I will conduct myself better tomorrow" I apologise and the teacher steps away.
"You better, I need you on your top form. This entire empire does" He tells me as he walks away to another student.
I silently slash at the tree in front of me.
Cold bark, the most common tree surrounding the capital- lives in the snow and freezing to the touch.
Sucks up cold essence and hardens to an insane degree, I used to need Aura to wound them before I unlocked my second aspect.
...
I haven't had this dream in a while, I think I had it once during my formative years as an Uchiha but none after that.
Makes sense, I have become less motivated recently.
'Not everyone is you'
I thought about that sentence quite a lot in my past life, said so casually but it was probably the first time anyone told me that.
I was used to getting lectured privately by discreet individuals who don't tend to speak much alongside the old fool.
So when I heard it my mind realised something profoundly simple.
All those threats and motivations my Old fool engraved into me? This was why- because no one else could do what I did.
And I made sure no enemy could ever prove that.
...
But they did in the end.
This memory is lost, useless. Unneeded.
Pov: Kyo Yamanaka.
That definitely confirms it- this memory is in a body older than the one I am using this jutsu on.
Does he have someone else's memories? If so- why?
How did he obtain them? That first memory... could he have conspired to posses a child with some unique jutsu? It feels less like revival and more like possession the more I delve into it.
He may just be a spy, maybe this next memory could confirm it?
-Effort Memory-
Pov: Takumi Uchiha.
*BOOOM!*
In the next memory that suddenly emerges my ears are assaulted- blood spurts and the tree line I was watching carefully changes to the peak of a mountain.
The tallest one- just north of the capital.
Looking around me, with now deaf ears I see that I was chucked from this mountain.
*Woosh!*
A blur explodes from the peak and launches at me- *CRASH!*
my shoulders feel the impact of the ground and so follows the rest of my body, but before my feet even reach the floor the man who digs his knees into my gut smiles and raises his fist.
*WHABABABABABABABABABABA!!!*
Myriad punches assault me- the speedster strikes so fast that my body simply descends into the earth below, as my feet rise from the blasts so powerful and assumingly loud.
I wouldn't know after he broke the sound barrier in my ear the first time, sharp senses did not help in this battle.
He reels back and stands up- his fists are all cut up from impacting my sharpened flesh.
Frowning before turning into a blur-
*BANG!*
The shockwave flips me up and around as I slam into a nearby tree, falling to my knee my second aspect forces me to my feet despite the pain.
Unyielding. If I think hard enough I will not yield to any wound, so long as I believe an attack won't hit me it won't have dealt damage, the pain still aches and the wounds will come however.
A very useful technique, allowed me to ignore wounds until a battle is finished and Aura no longer fuelled that technique.
However it had the downside of needing concentration, causing me to be unable to use second aspect abilities apart from it while active.
Focusing harder my ears start to hear again.
*BANGBANGBANG!*
I see the explosions that he leaves in his wake and look at the completely destroyed forest around me.
I imbue the snow and dust falling around me- causing it to become extremely sharp.
*Wooosh!*
The wind reaches me after he arrives- my eyes just barely catch the after images of him using the shockwaves to blast away the dust and snow.
'He slowed down to remove the dust- acknowledged.
He knows my sharpness can kill him if he runs through it- acknowledged.'
This was when I nearly died by actual combat wasn't it? That assassin trained and sent to kill me specifically.
They found a kid with the first aspect of speed.
And the second aspect of spite.
He can't live through such high speeds, he is fast but not durable- however his spite allows him to live long enough to see this battle through to the end.
Much like my unyielding nature does.
Truly an assassin made to kill me.
*Crack!*
Thunder follows his fist as it smashes across my face, I spit blood and by the time I look up the scenery has changed again.
The sea.
He ran from the empire to the sea that quickly?
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
The explosion just starts following us.
*POW!*
An upper cut sends me to the clouds- I start to fall and watch him sit still in the destroyed beach.
Why this memory? Why those two memories? What is happening? This is not some coincidence- this is an attack against me.
I watch the memory again.
Blasting into the sand I imbue the explosion of my landing with sharpness- and yet the speedster conjures a blast of his own to disperse the sand enhanced.
Causing him to slow down.
*flick* *BAM!*
He grips my throat and carries me across the water.
The memory keeps going, like an endless scene that never stops.
Hours upon hours of me getting beaten by a blur and occasionally casting my sharpness over dust, snow, water, rain and much, much more.
Explosions, speed and pain.
Hours turn to days and days turn to weeks.
I don't stop that one technique, Imbuement after imbuement- I create the same scene a thousand times.
And a thousand times more.
All that effort, leads into my greatest victory.
As my back slams into the cliff face I imbue the stones and dust that bursts from that impact- the speedster slows down to match his explosions and my sharp mind recalls every moment before hand.
Every move he will make, every habit he has formed.
His fist raises up to beat me- and I scowl as it slams against my skull so quickly that I don't notice it until moments after the impact.
He kicks me so hard I fly up past the cliff, grabbing some dirt as I sail upwards- reaching the clouds I stare as he waits again, almost like every time before.
This is the one- he mixes up his moves every so often but I have memorized this set of movements he has performed twenty times before out of thousands.
Running back he readies to sprint up the cliff face and meet me mid-air.
Twenty times he has done this in the thousand of attempts before.
He runs up and I throw my imbued dirt- causing him to slow down before he leaves the cliff face, following after his shockwaves he hones in on me as I fall.
The shockwave knocks away all dust and dirt and I smile as I spit at him- to which he twists his body and dodges the saliva imbued with sharpness.
The spit, the dirt, the mid-air bonus and the memorized pattern grants me a second of free time.
One second as his fist inches next to my face.
One second as the blur is now in front of me.
One second as I fulfil the promise I made to my Old fool.
He is preparing for my failure right at this second- waiting for me to die.
And he will watch me prove him wrong again.
In this battle- on this day- within this second.
I win again.
I switch my unyielding technique to another, my body immediately tears apart faster than even he moves.
As it awakens to something more.
My body twists as my face feels the force of being punched a million times all at once- before the blur notices it.
I am right next to him.
He favours hurting me across the left side- so much so that when I cancel my unyeilding technique, the millions of hits cuase me to shift to his right side.
In that one second I move faster than him, thanks to him.
And I use that beautifully crafted whole and full second to quickly jab at him.
One jab- I can get one jab out in a second.
My arm outstretches in this beautiful moment as my fingers reach out to slash at him and I calmly slide them into his ribs.
*CRASH!*
We both fall to the floor and as the dust settles he grips his side as he stands and I watch as a broken mess on the floor.
"Haaa- my spite, will not let me die Emperor" The man laughs at my sorry state.
"Spite versus unyieldingness, Sharpness versus speed. We are both at the peaks of our aspects, no one can best or deny the use of them" I tell him, with the voice I still have left.
"And yet here you lay, the new world will rise in the wake of your empires fall" He gloats, walking towards me slowly to emphasize how little power I hold in such a state.
"Equal power leaves only skill to decide the outcome. You made this battle your last to cover the gap you never could cross" I gloat myself.
"Still with that mindset? Your dead. This is the end" He mocks me as he kneels.
"You think I am dead?" I choke out both blood and a laugh.
"Of course, you won't be able to get up in this state- you lost, and cannot win" He smiles as he stares into my eyes.
"Watch me" I smile wide.
"I'd love to, but I have a report to deliver before I die" He stands up and takes a breath before-
*COUGH*
Coughing up his lungs, blood drips from his lips.
*Whisper* *Whisper* *Hush* *Wooosh*
Voices start to assail my mind but I ignore it to ensure he dies.
"What- is this...?" He chokes out.
"Legends say that when you reach the third aspect you become one with the world around you, capable of techniques unheard of. Capable of affecting others in ways I was restricted before... but now, the oxygen in your lungs that I pierced is carrying my sharpness" I stop smiling and inform him.
"Impossible, that's- not- that's a myth!" He yells out.
"You underestimated me child" I scold.
"I was built to kill you! Every part of me was designed to exploit your every weakness and not allow you a chance at beating me! You cannot just win- that's not reality! Fate favours no one!" He yells.
"Fate, favours none but I!" I raise my mushed arm up and it reforms as I slam my hand into the floor to pick myself up.
My mind rushes with pain from an outside source but I ignore it as I stand whole again.
"Bullshit! You hid awakening the third aspect from everyone! You lied to protect your power!" He throws dirt at me as he feels his limbs weaken, the blood carrying that sharpened oxygen across his whole body.
"Fool, you pushed me hard enough to awaken it. You gave me no choice!" I laugh out loudly as I step closer.
"That's not right- that's not real!" He screams his lungs out as I stomp on his weak ankles and place my foot against his chest.
"Accept reality. For it is now mine to rule!!" I force my Aura to maintain my sharpness, my body reshapes because being mush is not sharp, and a sentence like that is no longer insane- I can turn from mush to peak physical standard in moments now.
'With this power reality might as well be mine, who else can match me? Fight me on equal footing?'
"You- You-" He spits out vile blood as his Aura builds.
'I can actively see his Aura building now, my senses are sharp enough to notice its smell, it's noise and it's sight!'
And yet I had no clue as to what exactly was building up- I had yet tasted failure but I soon would.
This is the moment I lost everything.
Effort.
Every scrap of effort I stuffed into this life.
Every moment of adrenaline poured out onto the ground.
Every single moment of my life turned upside down.
As he spat blood his spite launched at me- I attempted to cut it but was never going to be faster than him.
That spite, that curse.
That made those ghosts overstay their welcome- cruelty wounded me in a way I had never seen before.
A curse that answered everything my effort questioned.
Nothing.
My effort led to nothing.
No future. No power. No love.
Hn.
A memory I loathe.
And now I am too lucid to not realise that my mind is being kept awake for a reason, someone is messing with me.
And if they want to see these three memories I will grant them a fourth.
Pov: Kyo Yamanaka.
...
That power...
...
I felt it- akin to a god.
It wasn't chakra. This isn't a possession by an enemy ninja.
This is a reincarnation of an alien, and a deadly one too.
I slowly back out of his mind, weaving my jutsu to keep him asleep and hopefully unaware of my presence.
"Where are-" Another memory blinks in and out.
Someone else's voice echoes in his head.
"Are-" A second voice plays.
"You-" a third.
"-Going somewhere?" And a fourth memory plays out to complete the sentence.
In our language? He is using his recent memories in this world.
I gulp.
"You cannot leave. Not until my sword cleaves your head from that neck of yours" That voice I heard before, from his past life.
The aliens true voice speaks in our tongue.
I retract my chakra quickly-
*#^$&$&$^@^@&@*!*#^#^#*@*@&#%#%*
A pain I have never felt before assaults my mind and I fall to the floor as I reel in pain.
What was that last memory he showed me? Why did it hurt so much?
I try and get up but the disorientation hits me like a boulder jutsu.
"It was not physical weakness that kept me bed bound, be grateful that you left the second that cursed pain started" He scoffs at me.
I look around but fail to find the Anbu agent.
Did he leave when the alien woke up? But I need to tell him- anyone that this kid isn't who he says he is!
I crawl backwards while facing the kid who yawns and stretches as he gets out of bed, sliding into his slippers and rubbing his eyes awake.
"Alone are you? Who sent you?" He asks me as he walks behind me and closes his door.
"I-" I try and speak but he cuts me off.
"Never mind, you might leave unanswered questions and a line of people I need to kill. I am far too lazy to care about any of that now" He crouches down to look at me as I fall to the floor.
"Burned or buried? A third option is a hassle" He frowns.
...
Can a god help me here?
"Oh good, you look as if the pain has numbed you- caused you to go into a state of craziness. Since you can't reply I will scatter your ashes in my garden, hopefully that is how you want to be honoured" he shrugs and pulls a kunai from my belt.
*Slash*
And slices my throat open.
Thanks for reading! :)