Chapter 69

Soon enough, more of the people in blue came running, pulling out strange metals like the ones the others had pointed at him earlier, but those ones seemed incomplete. *BANG* A loud sound echoed out. He felt danger and twisted himself quickly. Unfortunately, whatever it was still hit him in the chest. It felt like he had been stabbed with hot kunai or blade, and it hurt like hell.

He tried to resist the pain and run towards one of the men in blue. The others pulled out more of those strange incomplete rectangle weapons and pointed them at him. Kazuma was going crazy. What sort of strange genjutsu was this? He felt if he could use his chakra then he would easily evade whatever kunai or weapons they were tossing at him, or maybe even defend with his earth wall

More bang sounds sounded out as he felt pain in both his arm and left leg. He Forced himself to run quickly, but with his injured leg and no chakra, how far could he run? Eventually, he run into a dead end with nowhere else to run. He felt weak from the blood loss, and surrounded by the oddly dressed black and blue wearing men and women. "Rorschach! Rorschach you bastard, let me out of this place!" He screamed out with all the might he could muster.

Suddenly, the men made way for another man. He looked quite important, with the way he was dressed differently from the others, and with the respect they seemed to be giving him.

"Rorschach, is that you, you bastard! Let me out!" Kazuma leaned unto a wall to prevent himself from falling.

"I do not know who this Rorschach is. My name is Smith, Agent Smith." He walked closer to Kazuma without worry and added, "It would seem you are of some use, so allow me to be the first to say, 'Welcome, to our Matrix'" Before he plunged his hand into Kazuma's chest. Kazuma felt pain he had never felt in his life, as silvery liquids began to spread out from his chest; or more specifically, the hand in his chest. The more it spread, the more he felt himself 'lost' for some reason, and it terrified him. Worse was, he had no power whatsoever to stop it.

After what felt like an eternity of torture to Kazuma, he could no longer feel anything. There was no pain, no anger, no doubt; nothing. Kazuma was no more. Agent smith pulled out his hand as the silvery liquid seemed to recede until finally, in place of Kazuma, another Agent Smith appeared. The both nodded to each other and turned to look at a roof top where a pink-haired Sakura stood, watching the whole thing, and nodded to her as she nodded back.

---

Outside reality, only a second had passed. The eyes of Kazuma dimmed after he had been swallowed by that huge mouth, but quickly regained light. He fell to his knees and began to breath heavily. He had sustained some injuries in the 'Matrix' which harmed the psyche so he needed to catch his breath. In no time, Kazuma stood back up and looked around before looking at Rorschach and nodded slightly.

He turned to Chiriku and smirked before disappearing with flicker. Chiriku tried to stop his friend but he left before he could try to say anything. Everything that happened from the moment he was 'swallowed' to when he fell to his knee had been very short but very strange.

He felt the person that stared at him just now was not the man he fought by and with, all those years ago. He turned to the person responsible to enquire, but Rorschach only shook his head to indicate not to. Chiriku felt pained. Differences, they may have had, but they were still comrades, friends.

He took in a deep breath and turned to Rorschach and asked, "How confident are you to help the boy?"

"Fairly. Unlike the others, a tailed beast has not exactly been sealed into him. The chakra has only been cultivated into him. I am fairly sure if it is extracted, he will not die like the others. 40% sure." Chiriku's eyes widened. 40% was not high. It was less than half the assurance. 'He does not even have 50% assurance.' Chiriku thought.

"Hey, people have survived surgeries with far less chances. So, we doing this or not?" Chiriku took a deep breath and nodded. He indicated for me to follow him as we walked towards the Fire Temple. Standing at the Front of the temple, I a good look at the sealed gates that were claimed to be impregnable.

'I wonder if I could destroy it with my current physical strength.' I was tempted to test it out.

"Impressive isn't it? Only those with our chakra type can enter. No one can use any kind of force to enter. You would have to wait for me here." Chiriku smiled and explained when he saw me looking at the statues and gate.

"Yet they were broken down by a child." I shook my head and leaned against the side. I saw his face twitch from my statement as he coughed out of embarrassment before walking in. The two guards at the gate frowned and glared at me.

"What? It's not like it is a lie." I shrugged and looked away, no longer concerning myself with them. A few moments later, Chiriku arrived with a young boy of about eleven, wearing monk clothes and a bandaged right arm in tow. He had a deep scowl on his face and looked like he started his rebellious stage quite early. He was Kazuma's son, Sora.

It was unfortunate that Sora did not arrive during the little scuffle by the grave. I guess things did not work 'coincidentally' like how novels make them seem. No, they have worked a few times for me, although in my case it felt like it was working against me; like Danzo showing up.

Sora looked at me for a little while and his scowl deepened. I heard him mutter the words 'Weirdo' under his breath. I wanted to punch him so bad. Kids don't appreciate art one bit. I turned slightly to the side and found the guards looking at Sora with hate and disgust.

"Ah, so much for Monks. Only strong enough to take out their weakness and fears on a kid." They both turned to me and glared at me but I did not pay them any mind. "Chiriku, your Monastery really needs proper cleansing. I could help you." I suddenly released a dense amount of killing intent, making everyone present freeze. I barely sent any in the way of Sora, but as a pseudo nine tails, his body was reacting to it.

As quickly as it came, it went away just as quickly. The two men at the gates were pale as paper with their backs drenched cold. "Just kidding." I laughed loudly and turned to Sora. "See, they are only strong enough to bully a kid." I wanted to wink at him, but I remembered I had my mask on.

"Follow me kid." Sora was still out of it but followed nonetheless. After walking to the forest, Chiriku explained things to Sora. He did not want to believe what he was hearing. He knew there was something wrong with him, but he did not know it was because there was something inside him. He agreed straight away for me to take it without hesitation. I admired him completely. Even at the risk of death, his determination never wavered.