Naruto: Rise of the Red Moon - CHAPTER THREE UP! The 4th Great War draws near!

[CarlinFan]

Naruto: Rise of the Red Moon

 

Hi, all. This is my Naruto fanfic. It is somewhat centered upon Sasuke, but all prominent characters will get their moment in the sun, don't worry.

 

This fic's starting point is roughly chapter 493. It is not AU, with the possible exception of time periods that have been largely undefined, like the Tribal Wars preceding the founding of the Hidden Villages. The fic's rating is PG-16. That's the main gist of things; I'll add anything I forgot to mention here.

 

Please post constructive criticism if you can. Questions are appreciated and will be answered relatively promptly. If Crab, Weather Report, Phantom Roxas, etc. is reading this, please post a review if you have the time. Any wild Pichus caught posting on this topic will be caught and sold to Team Rocket. Thank you.

 

[spoiler=Plot]

Read the damn fic. I'm not going to tell you in advance. :)

 

 

 

[spoiler=Prologue: The Recruits]

6:55 PM, Hidden Location, Meeting Room

Koji leaned back against a wall, brushing a strand of black hair out of his face. He cast his eyes about the other shinobi in this room with him. They were a rather motley crew, all things considered.

 

The nearest of them, a dark-skinned man with unkempt white hair past his shoulders (probably from Kumogakure) sat in the windowsill, spinning a mean-looking hooked knife in his hand as he gazed out at the forest below. Koji's eyes told him the man's chakra was extremely powerful, an aggressive storm of lightning and wind that seemed to threaten to tear the man's body apart. This was in stark contrast to the man's peaceful, almost empty expression.

 

A young woman with bright red lips and long silver hair leaned against a wall opposite Koji. A Kirigakure Hunter-nin mask rested on her right temple. Two swords were crossed on her back. Her left hand was busy fiddling with her hair, while her right held an orange hardcover book. The cover depicted a man and woman running hand in hand. The back cover was emblazoned with a red circle with a line through it, a warning of the book's graphic content. Koji recognized it as 'Icha Icha Paradise', rather surprising reading material for a woman, let alone a shinobi. Her chakra seemed very subdued, a brooding mixture of earth and water. She looked up at him slyly, giving him a smile. He chucked under his breath, nodding at her.

 

At the circular table in the room's center, a man sat crosslegged on a bench. He was very young, appearing to be only 19 or 20. His back was adorned with an absurdly high number of swords, nearly a dozen blades of various length criss-crossed atop his gray tunic. His psyche evidently still shared some of its childish fascinations, as he was using a water ninjutsu to shape moisture into a pair of six-inch figures, who he controlled with his thoughts. The moisture figures were locked in a gory battle atop the table, dismembering each other, tearing off limbs, and striking each other in the head repeatedly. The figures' gory activities were made slightly unsettling by the expression of childish glee on their controller's face. Koji was surprised that one so young had such masterful control over water, as the boy's figures had been pummelling each other for the past ten minutes, and the boy showed no signs of even the slightest exertion. His chakra was a violent maelstrom of water.

 

The last of the room's occupants leaned against a wall, looking out the window. She was a woman who appeared to be 21 or so. She wore a baggy red shirt, a white sash, and red pants. Her long pink hair was thrown over one of her shoulders. Koji examined her chakra, finding it perplexing and intimidating at once. She had water chakra at least as powerful and dangerous as the boy's, but the chakra seemed to be a guise. Koji thought of it as like a shirt, something helpful for one to wear but potentially dispensable and replaceable. He would have to keep an eye on her; she seemed particularly dangerous.

 

Koji cast a glance over to the doorway, where the boss would be entering sometime soon. He couldn't wait to get his first assignment. He was restless, and it had been far too long since he'd made someone's chakra network explode. The boss better have a damn good reason for taking so long.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter One: Recuperation]

7:00 PM, Madara's Base

Rain fell between the vertebrae of the giant skeleton that formed Madara's base, thudding rhythmically upon Sasuke's head. The droplets slid down his temples, moistening the collar of his black tunic as he finished unwrapping the bandages around his eyes. According to Madara, the transplant procedure had gone remarkably well. Sasuke's fraternal relation with Itachi had something to do with that, Madara was sure. All that Sasuke knew was that his eyes were full to bursting with power, and he needed to release some of that energy as quickly as he could.

 

Sasuke let the bandages around his eyes slide out of his fingers. They fell to the ground, brushing against his legs before landing near his bare feet. Sasuke opened his eyes for the first time in eight hours.

 

He had to close and open them again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Madara had told him this is what would happen, but it was still shocking.

 

Sasuke's vision was perfect. Every detail of the valley around him stood out in perfect clarity. His vision was as good as it was before he awakened the Mangekyou... no, it was better. Sasuke could now easily make out individual raindrops, and his long-distance vision was just as amplified. Madara hadn't been exaggerating when he said the Eternal Mangekyou granted the user perfect sight.

 

Sasuke extended his right arm before him, spreading his fingers. "Susanoo."

 

A massive, translucent red arm materialized around Sasuke's own. Sasuke smiled at how much less energy it took to activate this power compared to before. He clenched a fist with his own arm, the phantom limb mirroring his actions. Sasuke extended his left arm, materializing another crimson appendage. Now he was grinning.

 

Sasuke spread his arms out, the entire Susanoo body appearing in a flare of crimson chakra. The body smashed through the vertebrae above Sasuke, bone hailing down around him. As Sasuke lowered his arms to his sides, Susanoo's mask and cloak wove their way around the body thread by thread. Sasuke reached up, gripping a bone protrusion with Susanoo's arm. He easily pulled himself up, vaulting up onto the spinal cord. He fell into a sprint, blazing forward before launching himself off of the spine. Sasuke flew through the air, hurtling towards the cliff face at the far side of the canyon. He pulled back his right fist, punching through the cliff and causing a small avalanche of rock. As Sasuke landed on the canyon floor, he punched the cliff again. Now a massive torrent of boulders fell towards him. Sasuke held his left arm before him, generating a massive Yumi bow horizontally mounted onto the chakra aura's left arm. With his right arm, he drew back the string, a chakra arrow forming along his left arm. He pulled the string back as far as he could before releasing the arrow. It plunged into the avalanche, burying itself in the rock face beneath.

 

Sasuke smiled, making a one-handed seal.

 

With the seal, Sasuke released the arrow's chakra. It detonated in a crimson flare, sending boulders flying and carving a depression into the rock face. Sasuke momentarily basked in the glory of his newfound power as rain and rocks fell all around him.

 

As the last of the boulders fell to the ground, Sasuke became aware of a strong chakra behind him. "I see you've become acquainted with your newfound power."

 

Sasuke deactivated Susanoo, wiping sweat from his brow. He turned to see Madara standing in the shade of the spinal column covering the entrance to the Akatsuki base.

 

"It's... amazing, to have this much energy flowing through me. It feels like having the power of a god at your fingertips. Is that what it's like controlling the Kyuubi?"

 

Madara ignored the question. "Come inside. There are some people you should meet. But first... Zetsu, if you would?"

 

Out of the ground between the two, a pair of green jaws attached to a body's shoulders rose from the ground. Between the jaws rested a head that was black on one side and white on the other. Sasuke instantly recognized Zetsu, Akatsuki's espionage specialist, though he couldn't sense his chakra. That was one of Zetsu's abilities; he could suppress his chakra to prevent others from locating him through it. Combined with his ability to melt through the ground, it wasn't surprising that Madara had selected him.

 

Madara inclined his head at the plantlike Akatsuki. "Zetsu, did you manage to rescue Sasuke's teammates?"

 

Zetsu nodded curtly. "Yes. It was something of a pain killing all those Samurai, but the job's done as you requested." Zetsu spread his arms, palms turned down. "Kagerou: Unsou."

 

Beside each hand, a body began to rise from the ground. Their attire was identical, samurai armor over Akatsuki cloaks. However, one had bright orange hair, while the other's was white. Sasuke breathed a mental sigh of relief at the sight of Juugo and Suigetsu. Beside the latter lay the two pieces of the Guillotine Sword, which was damaged in the battle with the Raikage's guards.

 

Suigetsu and Juugo both fell to their knees, coughing violently. Sasuke could see dark green mucus flying from their mouths.

 

"Apologies," Zetsu began. "My Transportation technique works by using spores filled with oxygen to aid the target in respiration while they're transported underground. It can be... less than comfortable." The bouts of coughing lasted another few moments, after which Suigetsu turned to face Sasuke.

 

"Bastard. You abandoned us." Suigetsu spat on the ground in Sasuke's direction, flipping his former superior the bird. Juugo smirked at his ally's petulance. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

 

"Dumbass. You didn't think I had an extraction plan for you two? Why the hell would I leave a pair of shinobi as lethal as you to the dogs?"

 

Suigetsu sputtered for a moment, confounded. He gave up after a moment, muttering a curse. Juugo chuckled at him. Suigetsu gave him the finger without turning away from Sasuke. "What about the Guillotine Sword, huh? What the f**k do you have to say about that?"

 

Sasuke sighed. "Find a blacksmith. It can't be too hard to kill him afterwards."

 

Madara cleared his throat loudly. "Children, as entertaining as this is, there's work to be done." He beckoned to them. "Come with me. There are some important people for you to meet." With that, Madara turned to walk back into the Akatsuki base. The others followed. Sasuke could almost feel Suigetsu glaring daggers at the back of his head.

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter Two: Introductions]

7:03, Madara's Base

The five Akatsuki members entered the cave that served as Akatsuki's base. The entrance lay beneath the spinal cord of the giant skeleton outside, opening into a massive underground chamber at least fifty yards high. A massive stalagmite rose from the ground up to the cave's roof, a miniscule speck of light barely visible at its crown. Intricately carved stairs wove around the column leading up to the roof of the cavern. An underground river circled the stalagmite and led off deeper into the chamber. The entrance dropped off into the river three yards in, a four-foot gap separating the cave's opening and the stalagmite.

 

The first thing Sasuke noticed was that a small boat was docked on their side of the gap. A man in a black cloak sat inside, reading some sort of textbook by the light of a lantern mounted by a hook onto the boat's prow. The man's chakra was extremely familiar to Sasuke, an ominous energy that exuded murderous intent. The problem was that the chakra's owner should be dead. Sasuke would know, as he'd killed him. Orochimaru's body should have been food for the scavengers days ago. Unless...

 

Madara held up a hand for the others to stop. He paced over to the boat. "You all know that Akatsuki's ranks have suffered tremendously over the past few weeks, largely due to the actions of Sasuke-kun here. As a result, I've had to begin a recruitment drive of sorts. This man is here to join our organization. Would you introduce yourself?"

 

Sasuke tensed in apprehension as the man in the boat closed his book. Sasuke reached for his Kusanagi, gripping the handle tightly as the man calmly reached for the lantern, removing it from the hook. He stood, turning to face the group. The lantern cast a sinister orange light upon the man's face, reflecting off of his glasses.

 

"Kabuto." Sasuke stated his former comrade's name in an icy voice, pulling the sword an inch from its sheath. He heard Suigetsu raise the bisected Guillotine Sword. Juugo's chakra sharply flared. "It's been a while."

 

The medic-nin reached up with his free hand, pulling back his hood. Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Juugo all flinched at the sight of Kabuto's face.

 

Kabuto's hair was cut to shoulder length, no longer bound in a ponytail. His face was dotted with scales, his skin a sickly white the same shade as Orochimaru's had been. His eyes were yellow with slitted pupils. Most chillingly, Sasuke saw a forked tongue flick out from between the Medic-nin's lips for the briefest of moments.

 

"Indeed it has, Sasuke-san. I see we've both changed to a certain extent. Your eyes have grown magnificently, and I, well..." Kabuto spread his arms, revealing his scaly forearms, "I suppose I've taken after Orochimaru-sama a bit too much."

 

"How'd you do it?"

 

Kabuto laughed. "Simple. I injected his blood into mine and implanted some of the undecayed tissue from his body. It appears his will survives beyond the grave; he's already taken over much of my body. In fact, I'd say we share a mind."

 

Sasuke's grip on his sword tightened. "I suppose you made some sort of deal with Madara for my body."

 

Kabuto cast a glance at Madara. The orange-masked shinobi shrugged in a way that suggested he was hiding something. "What can I say? The boy's perceptive, Kabuto." Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. Something was off.

 

Kabuto chuckled. "Yes, he is. But don't worry, Sasuke-san. Madara's dedicated enough to the Uchiha clan that he probably won't hand you over. He knows you're the only hope for repopulating the clan. Maybe he'll gamble that you're tough enough to fend me off, or perhaps he'll simply kill me himself. Who knows?" Kabuto let out another burst of laughter. "Besides him, of course."

 

Sasuke smiled. Madara really was a devious old bastard, using his own descendant as bait to draw Kabuto and obtain his service. But something was strange about the way Madara was acting. Perhaps Kabuto had figured out a weakness of Madara's? But what could it be?

 

Madara ignored Kabuto's banter. "Just like the old Akatsuki, you'll be placed in two-man teams." Sasuke subconsciously reached for his sword again. Madara wouldn't put him with Kabuto, would he? "However, Zetsu isn't going to be a team member, and Kisame is currently undercover shadowing the Hachibi. That means there are only five of us, which is hardly enough to wage a war with, regardless of our connections and networks. As a result, I've found five more shinobi to bolster our ranks. They're waiting for us up in the meeting room."

 

Madara turned, hopping across the gap to the stalagmite. The others followed, Sasuke making sure to stay behind Kabuto. Madara led them up the stairs in single file. Sasuke cast a glance over his shoulder to ensure the others were following, which they were. He found the sight of Zetsu's green jaws bumping against the stalagmite oddly amusing.

 

Surprisingly, Juugo was the one to break the silence. "What are these new Akatsukis like?"

 

"They're all mass murderers, of course," Madara began. "Two of them suffer from psychological disorders. One is directly related to a Kage. Four have killed members of their own family. One of them is only 17. He was a Seppuku Squad member before we recruited him."

 

Suigetsu cocked an eyebrow. "Seppuku Squad?"

 

Madara laughed. "Ah, yes. My apologies. I forgot that nobody since the days of the Shodaime Kages was open about their use of the Squads. When the villages have a shinobi that's too useful to kill but too dangerous to set free, they place seven exploding tags on their body and put them in squads. These squads are sent on the messiest, most dangerous, and most secret missions, the type of thing that you'll get killed just for knowing about. Each squad has a supervisor, a sensor-nin with great agility and an affinity for keeping their mouth shut. Their family is usually held hostage. Anyways, the supervisor keeps an eye on the squad during missions without directly participating, and if a squad member is captured, the supervisor blows them to bits. Not the kind of thing the villages would want to be open about these days, as you might surmise."

 

Suigetsu let out a low whistle. "By 'too useful to kill', how skilled do you mean? I'm pretty sure that even Konoha would have killed a missing-nin like Orochimaru on the spot, and he was one of the Sannin."

 

Madara scoffed. "Sannin is just a title that happens to sound good and work well for PR. Aside from Zetsu, none of you would know that the Daimyo run massive propaganda machines about the Hidden Villages in their cities. They have to, given how much money they spend on them. Shinobi are glamorized, used as mythical figures for the citizenry to worship. I think they make TV shows about us. The Sannin were very good, make no mistake, but they only really reached Kage-level by 50 or so. The ones that I'm talking about, the ones that get put in the Squads, are the Minatos and Itachis. That's the wrong way of describing them, because Minato and Itachi wouldn't let themselves get captured alive, but that's the level of talent I'm talking about. The Squads hold the ones that even Jonin don't have the classification to hear about, the ones that disappear from their Genin squad and get a gray vest and animal mask before they've finished puberty." Madara paused. "You'll see what I'm talking about when you see our own ex-Squad-member in action."

 

By now, the group had almost reached the top of the stalagmite. Sunlight streamed through a hole in the cave's room, one that Sasuke knew led to the meeting room where team Taka had first met Madara and Kisame.

 

Madara stepped out into the meeting room, stepping to the side to allow Sasuke and the others through. As Kabuto doused the lantern and took a place beside Madara, Sasuke emerged from the cave. He found that his Eternal Mangekyou removed the need for his eyes to adjust to differing light. Sasuke took a spot at Madara's side opposite Kabuto as the others stepped out of the cave. Madara gestured at the five shinobi who had been waiting inside the room. "Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the new Akatsuki."

 

--------

 

7:07 PM, Konohagakure, Hokage Building

 

Tatsuji closed the door behind him. "You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?"

 

Tsunade looked up from her papers at Tatsuji. "Yes. Sit down." She waved at the armchair in front of the desk before returning to her paperwork. Tatsuji immediately knew something was off. Even for him, the ANBU Captain, Tsunade didn't put a chair out for a simple mission assignment. The unlabeled black binder on Tatsuji's side of the desk only heightened his suspicions. Was he here to select a team of some sort?

 

Tatsuji let none of his apprehension show as he sat down in the chair. He leaned back against it, closing his eyes for a moment. He hadn't slept more than six hours in the past week. His team had been on a mission to rescue some rich Daimyo assh*le's daughter from a gang of Ronin. Naturally, the Ronin were former Samurai of the Land of Iron, and as always, the intel had only reported a fraction of their numbers and completely disregarded the fact that they operated out of a goddamned castle built to withstand attacks from an entire army of shinobi, let alone a four-man team. Tatsuji had expected a quick stabbity-stab in-and-out rescue mission, not a seven-day seige.

 

"I wanted to thank you for your performance on your last mission," Tsunade began. "I understand the intel was faulty."

 

"No sh*t," Tatsuji snapped. "Give me the names of the sensors who collected that data and I'll personally ensure they don't make any more 'oversights' like that again." Tatsuji's hands had risen to mime quotations on the word 'oversights'. "It was one of those Hyuuga brats, wasn't it?"

 

Tsunade sighed. "Kurenai's genin squad."

 

Tatsuji laughed. "Of course. Daddy Hiashi probably had the Daimyo over for afternoon tea before he brought the mission to you. Can we do something about those Hyuuga Main Clan bastards? I'm really getting sick of their arrogant holier-than-thou crap."

 

"Tatsuji, no offense, but shut the hell up."

 

Tatsuji leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk. His blood-splattered gray ANBU gauntlets left a mark on the wood. Neither he nor Tsunade bothered to comment on it. "Alright, so what did you call me here for?"

 

Tsunade set her pen down, resting her head on her palms. It had always struck Tatsuji how beautiful she was. She looked 30, not 50. She'd gained five years or so since the Pain attack, which Tatsuji had missed because he was out killing giant snakes or deranged missing-nin or some other crap. At least Yamato had been quick about rebuilding everything. The new Hokage Building actually looked pretty much the same.

 

"I've been talking with the Jonin and my advisors about this for a while, and we've all reached the same conclusion. I hate having to give you this mission, but it needs to be done. It's just as well Naruto's off training with Kirabi while you go out to do this."

 

"And 'this' is..."

 

Tsunade opened the binder in front of him. Inside was a list of names atop a thick stack of papers. Tatsuji instantly recognized several of the names; a few of them had even been with him on the last mission.

 

"I want you to pick a squad from here. They have to be the absolute best."

 

Tatsuji was getting annoyed now, and didn't bother hiding it in his tone. "And why, pray tell, do they have to be the best?"

 

Tsunade closed her eyes and sighed. It wasn't the 'shut the hell up' sigh, Tatsuji knew that one; it wasn't the 'let me sleep dammit' sigh either. No, this was one Tatsuji had only heard once or twice before. It was the sigh of a Tsunade who was about to say something that hurt her physically to, but that she knew she had to.

 

Her eyes opened back up, fixing Tatsuji with a surprisingly intense stare. "Your mission is to kill Uchiha Sasuke."

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter Three - Meet & Greet]

Chapter Three - Meet & Greet

7:07 PM, Madara's Base, Northwestern Land of Fire

 

"If you'd all just gather around this table here, we can begin." Madara waved towards the large, round stone table in the center of the room. Sasuke watched as four of the five Shinobi already waiting in the room moved towards it. The fifth, a deranged-looking boy a few years older than Sasuke, already sat at the table watching a pair of moisture figures rip each others' heads off. Sasuke moved forward with Suigetsu, Juugo, Kabuto, and Zetsu. Madara disappeared in a vortex of spacial distortion, reappearing beside one of the shinobi. Long silver hair cascaded down her back. She had an athletic build, callused fingers, and scarred hands. Her Kirigakure Oinin mask (with a slash through the Kiri insignia, of course) and twin swords told Sasuke that she preferred the feel of flesh parting under a blade to crushing her foes with jutsu, though his eyes told him her chakra had a dual Earth/Water affinity. Madara turned to Zetsu. "Zetsu, I believe you have some business to attend to. Why don't you get to that now?" Zetsu nodded at Madara, disappearing into the ground.

 

"Why don't we all introduce ourselves? It's pretty standard procedure in most shinobi teams to say a bit about ourselves at the team's formation." Sasuke remembered something similar years ago with Team Seven. "We're going to be working together in a war, so we might as well know what we each can do. Let's go around and say who we are and why we're here." Madara gestured to Sasuke. "Sasuke, why don't you start us off?"

 

Suigetsu held up a hand. "Wait a second. Aren't we a terrorist organization or something? Why are we doing f*cking team-building exercises?"

 

Madara cast an annoyed glance at Suigetsu. "Would you rather not know what your teammates can do when you've got two dozen ANBU breathing down your neck?" Suigetsu's hand promptly dropped. "Since you're so eager to join in the discussion, why don't you go first, Suigetsu?"

 

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. "Fine. Hozuki Suigetsu. Joined to get away from Otogakure and collect all seven swords of the Mist. I'm a water manipulator. I can change myself into water, and I know some Water Jutsu. I'm a swordsman too. That's the gist of it."

 

Madara nodded. "Alright. Who's next?"

 

After a moment of dead silence, the silver-haired woman beside Madara began to speak. "I guess I'll introduce myself. I'm Takei Akari, former Hunter-Nin from Kirigakure. I use a lot of Water and Earth Jutsu, since the material for them is already present, which saves you a lot of chakra. You've all probably heard of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, and his 'Reign of Blood', as they called it. He imprisoned me and my teammates for failing a mission and was going to have us executed. Madara-san here led the coup d'etat against Yagura." She cast a glance over to Madara, and Sasuke could see an unhealthy level of devotion in her eyes. "He saved my life. I've been working for him ever since. I owe him my life, after all."

 

Somebody loudly cleared their throat, drawing the attention of all present. The man who had cleared his throat had Byakugan eyes and short, fairly spiky black hair with a widow's peak. Sasuke looked him up and down. His armor was uncharacteristically bloodstained for a Juuken practitioner, though he shared the uncallused hands of a Hyuuga. His forehead was bare, and Sasuke had heard that the foreheads of Hyuuga Branch Clan members were emblazoned with a green curse mark. Sasuke figured this man must be a Main Clan member. He wore an ANBU uniform sans mask with his Hitai-ate slung across his body from his upper right collarbone to his left chest. The metal plate, marred in the style of Akatsuki, was positioned to cover his heart. "Now then, before Akari goes further than simply eye-f*cking Madara," At this Akari blanched, letting out a cry of surprise, "I'm going to explain who I am. My name is Hyuuga Koji. I use Lightning jutsu at long range and Juuken at mid-to-close. I used to be a Konohagakure ANBU until an... incident occurred regarding a relative of mine and those Main Clan sheet-eaters." Never mind, then, Sasuke thought. I suppose he isn't a member of the Main Clan. "I committed a certain crime and was forced to leave the village. I wandered for a while, living off of bounties from the Bingo Book until Madara found me and I entered his employ." Koji smirked. "Though, in a significantly different capacity than Akari appears to be."

 

Akari chuckled at Koji. "Jealous?" Madara rolled his eyes at their jokes. Sasuke could tell nothing was actually going on between the two.

 

Koji laughed in an exaggeratedly nervous way. "I think somebody else should probably go now."

 

The man Sasuke had seen playing with Ninjutsu water constructs interjected himself into the conversation. His messy black hair framed a confident, almost charismatic smile, contrasting sharply with eyes glittering with violent madness. Nearly a dozen swords adorned his back, mostly Katanas with a couple Nodachis."I'll go. My name's Minamoto Kagetake. I use Water jutsu, a bit of Wind, and tons of swords." He gestured to the menagerie of blades on his back, his smile widening to a deranged grin. "Violent disembowelement is my hobby, one I'm particularly good at. I once eviscerated a man with all of these swords at once. I was in the Kirigakure Seppuku Squads for five years. I didn't care about my own life, but they had my parents hostage. Madara and Zetsu killed my handler and got my parents and me out. And that's basically it. Now, anyone else?"

 

"I might as well get my turn out of the way," Sasuke began. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I fight with Fire and Lightning jutsu, this Kusanagi sword," Sasuke gestured to the blade on his belt, "and my Sharingan." Now his voice took on a steely edge. "Konoha forced my brother to kill our family, and for that I'm going to kill everybody in the village. That's it."

 

"I guess I should follow Sasuke-san." Juugo brushed a stray hair out of his eyes as he spoke. "I'm Juugo, though some know me as 'Bipolar Juugo'. I have a Kekkei Genkai that allows me to produce an enzyme that boosts my chakra levels and reshape my body. I can also consume and regenerate tissue. I know some earth jutsu too. Sasuke-san broke me out of one of Orochimaru's prisons, and he's the only one who can keep me from completely losing control of my powers. I go where he goes, and in this case he goes here."

 

Madara turned to the shinobi standing farthest from the table, whose face tightened in anxiety. He was extremely tall and muscular, with a sleeveless black vest and black pants. He was nervously toying with a hooked knife, spinning it back and forth and tossing it between his hands. To Sasuke, he looked like a shaven version of the Raikage. "N," Madara began, "Why don't you tell us something about yourself?" The man who Madara had addressed as 'N' made a noncommittal grunt. Sasuke found the way Madara was addressing him strange, like he was talking to a child. "N, just tell them your name, why you're here, and how you fight."

 

N grimaced for a moment before reluctantly opening his mouth to speak. "My name is Yotsuki N. I fight with Lightning and Wind jutsu. I'm from Kumogakure. My parents abused me as a child and used me as a weapon for the village. Madara got me out of there."

 

Madara nodded at N's words. "Now then, Hoshimi, Kabuto, you two are the only ones left. Which of you-"

 

Kabuto cut Madara off, a sinister smile on his face. "I'll go first. My name is Yakushi Kabuto. All you need to know about me is that I... inherited many of Orochimaru's abilities, and I'm here to complete his greatest ambition and destroy the five villages while I'm at it. Now then, Hoshimi?"

 

The woman in the baggy red and white clothes tossed her bright pink hair over her shoulder, playing her fingers over a small scroll at her waist. "Yamanaka Hoshimi. My powers are varied and my reasons for being here are personal. That's all I'm going to share."

 

"Wait," Suigetsu began, "Where's Kisame?"

 

"He's currently away on a mission." Madara said no more about the matter, stepping forward and reaching into his cloak. His hand emerged holding a rolled-up sheet of gray paper that looked vaguely familiar to Sasuke. He leaned forward, unrolling it on the table. Emblazoned on the paper was a map of the continent. Madara made two quick seals, placing his palm on the map. Ten small blue pillars appeared in a circle in the northwestern Land of Fire. Sasuke now recognized the map as drawn on an alternative form of Chakra paper. Instead of reacting to one's elemental affinity, this form of the paper conducts small amounts of chakra for various purposes, such as, in this case, strategy meetings.

 

Madara pointed to the pillars. "This is our location. We're going to be attacking here," several domes appeared at various locations throughout the map, indicating the minor villages like Hoshigakure and Kusagakure. "eliminating the minor villages. Our strategy for now is to cut the villages' support out from under them and hit locations they depend on. You know, farms, factories, and the like. Once we've weakened their foundations, we'll destroy them."

 

"What about the Jinchuuriki?" asked Sasuke. "They're the biggest threat to us right now. Is there a plan to deal with them, or are we just going to overpower them?"

 

Madara chuckled. "I told the Five Kages that I was planning to capture all nine demons, recreate the Juubi, and use its power to project Tsukuyomi on the moon. I wasn't sure if they were stupid enough to actually believe me. Zetsu and I tried to be very convincing about it, mentioning the 'Moon's Eye Plan' here and there when we were in forests and might be overheard. It apparently worked, as Killerbee and Naruto have been moved away from the frontline. If the Kages keep acting this stupid for the remainder of the war, this might be easier than I expected."

 

"So where do we strike first?" Kabuto asked.

 

"Zetsu's off setting up there now."

 

"Setting up where?"

 

Madara pulled a kunai from inside his cloak, stabbing the blade down into a small country bordering Konoha. Kabuto leaned in, glancing down at the map. He smiled.

 

---------------------------------

 

Konohagakure, Hokage's Office, 7:13 PM

 

Tatsuji cocked an eyebrow at Tsunade. "A 16-year-old with an over-inflated ego? You need an elite ANBU team for him?"

 

Tsunade opened a drawer on her side of the desk, removing a folder. She slid it over to Tatsuji, who moved the binder to the side and inspected the folder's contents. He saw it was a dossier on Sasuke. The first page contained basic information on his appearance, physical attributes, chakra affinity, and the like. Tatsuji turned the page, finding a biography of the Uchiha. He scanned it for a few moments before deciding to study it in depth later, turning the page again. This page was what he was looking for, combat information on the boy.

 

Tatsuji saw that the boy specialized in Lightning shape manipulation and Fire ninjutsu. He was also apparently proficient in use of the Sharingan, as he'd injured a number of Samurai and even the Raikage with his eyes during the attack on the Five Kage Summit. Sasuke was a swordsman, and was known to channel Lightning chakra through his Chokuto. There was conflicting information as to his summon contract, as he'd been reported using snakes against Deidara, while Konoha trackers had seen him use birds of prey against Danzo.

 

Tatsuji raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He actually hurt the Raikage?"

 

"And killed Danzo, as well as nearly killing Haruno Sakura. He managed to hold off the Raikage's bodyguards, Kazekage-sama and his siblings, and the Mizukage before Tsuchikage-Sama incapacitated him."

 

"Any recommendations for the team?"

 

Tsunade rubbed at her eyes. "We'll talk about it tomorrow. You look like you could use some sleep."

 

Tatsuji smiled. "Amen to that." He reorganized the papers and closed the folder, placing it atop the binder. He tucked them under his arm as he stood. "I'll take a look at these tomorrow morning." Tatsuji turned, walking out of the room. "See you tomorrow, Hokage-Sama."

 

------------------------------

 

Kusagakure General Hospital, 7:15 PM

 

Zetsu knelt atop the hospital's roof. He pulled the grate from the hospital's air conditioning unit, pulling back his left sleeve and sticking his hand inside the unit until it was a centimeter from the whirring blades of the fan. He made a one-handed seal. "Houshi no Jutsu."

 

The skin on Zetsu's left forearm began peeling, pieces flaking off and entering the air-conditioning system. He let the jutsu continue for a few moments before deactivating it. The skin on his arm was now red and irritated. It would take about forty-five minutes for his skin to heal. In the meantime, he'd check in on Kisame before activating the jutsu's second stage and returning to Madara. That should give the spores enough time to disperse.

 

Zetsu had only done what Madara had proposed be done here once before. It was 30 years ago, in Rangakure, the Village Hidden in the Storms. Or, at least, it had been Rangakure until Zetsu had been hired to create a diversion for an Iwagakure recon team to sneak into Konoha's territory. They'd asked him to be creative. So that's what he did.

 

The first Konoha Chuunin to arrive on the scene had vomited on the spot. His teammates, who emerged from the forest a moment later, had reacted similarly. They'd all needed therapy for years after. Zetsu had since been referred to as the "Master of the Abattoir".

 

Zetsu smiled as he hopped off of the hospital's roof into an alley. He activated Kagerou as he fell, melting into the ground.

 

The Iwagakure shinobi had called Zetsu a depraved, violent psychopath when they gave him the money. He'd smiled, and told them he was no more violent than most shinobi... just more creative.

 

 

[Azure Flame Kite]

Nice first two chapters, man; they could stand to be a little longer, but pretty good.

[CarlinFan]

bump.

[namelessk]

I liked this. It was really interesting. The first two chapters were awesome as well, and I'll be looking forward to more of this.

[CarlinFan]

Bump. Chapter Two posted. Please comment and/or review.

[.:Blu:.]

Very interesting, just overall awesome, hope Chapter 3 comes soon ^_^

[CarlinFan]

Third Chapter posted. Sorry for not waiting, Ryuujinn.

[CarlinFan]

Bump.

[CarlinFan]

Bump.

[namelessk]

All of your chapters up till now have been awesome! Keep up the good work. :) Hoping to see Chapter 4 up soon. I can't wait.

[CarlinFan]

Bump. C'mon, people, I don't bite. Give it a try.

[rhstanley3]

started reading... only finished prologue and first chapter, but it's already gripped my attention... I'll have to finish it as soon as I have some time on my hands. :) as soon as I do, I'll write a quick review on what I think about it.

 

EDIT: I figured that I would just edit my previous post instead of double posting. Anyways, I greatly enjoyed what there is. Very nice style, and fun to read. Keep up the good work. I kind of think, however, that the first half of the third chapter should have been the second half of the second chapter; the parts where all of the characters are introducing each other. You don't have to change anything, that's just what I think. Anyways, i'm watching this, and will be anticipating chapter 4.

[rhstanley3]

Things that go bump in the night

[CarlinFan]

Thanks for the comments. Also, I'll take care of bumping this (I'm not sure if there's a rule about only thread hosts bumping them or not). Besides, I'm already a decent way into chapter 4.

[rhstanley3]

cool, can't wait for the next chapter.

[rhstanley3]

when will the next chapter be up?

[CarlinFan]

Not sure, but sometime soon.

[rhstanley3]

awesome, I can't wait >:D

[CrabHelmet]

Once upon a time, a man named Theodore Sturgeon observed that ninety percent of everything is trash. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world of Fan Fiction, where the majority of works are garbage, riddled with endless clichés, plot holes, and character derailments and totally lacking in any redeeming qualities.

 

The remaining ten percent, however, is to die for, and occasionally there arises a tale that transcends the standard fare. These masterpieces rival or even surpass the original work itself in terms of quality. They feature original, clever, epic plots, with rounded and dynamic characters populating a well-developed world. The dialogue is realistic and enjoyable to read; when exposition is necessary, it is introduced at a sensible pace and keeps the reader immersed; the characters remain sensibly true to their canon characterizations and are not forced to act like idiots to develop the plot; and the overall experience is something that leaves the reader feeling simultaneously satisfied and hungry for more. And it goes without saying that these brilliant works are heavily proofread to ensure the eradication of any errors.

 

This is not one of those stories.

 

If you are a fan of quality fanfics but you are a foe of mediocre-to-bad fanfics, then you've come to the wrong place - because today is a day for Foe Fiction.

 

This is a Naruto fanfic that starts from around chapter 493 of canon. My complete knowledge of Naruto hasn't grown since I last reviewed one of these things, so yes, I am still horribly unqualified to do this. Let's go!

 

Prologue: The Recruits

6:55 PM, Hidden Location, Meeting Room

 

The statement that this takes place in "Hidden Location" amuses me. But at any rate, we're skipping this prologue and going to Chapter 1.

 

If you've read a lot of Foe Fiction, then there's something wrong with you, but more importantly, you're probably noticed that most stories seem to think that description is optional, giving us little more than the hero's name and hair colour before jumping into the latest Battle City clone. CarlinFan here, however, seems to have chosen the opposite route. The entire prologue is a description, told from the eyes of one guy, of a bunch of people sitting in a room doing nothing. That's it. The whole thing is him looking at them and describing them in turn. Nothing happens at all. I am seriously not cutting anything out here.

 

Oh, and Chapter 1 doesn't even take place in the same room with the same people that the Prologue described.

 

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against description. I love description. Some of my best friends are descriptions. But description is like a fine wine: it's probably good in and of itself, but when underage kids use it, they're liable to make fools of themselves. In this case, our author got so caught up in just writing a pure physical description of a bunch of people we don't know that he forgot to include, you know, the story.

 

A lot of bad fanfics open with a section that consists purely of description.

 

They call it Chapter Characters.

 

Now, this isn't as bad as your standard Chapter Characters. It's in the story itself, written in paragraph form, and the description is actually pretty good. But that still doesn't get around the fundamental problem that you're opening the story by dumping an encyclopedia of exposition on our heads at the outset.

 

Not to mention the fact that most good authors can describe a scene without creating a separate chapter to do so.

 

Chapter One: Recuperation

7:00 PM, Madara's Base

 

I'd also have thought you'd be able to establish a setting without just announcing each scene's time and location like that.

 

Rain fell between the vertebrae of the giant skeleton entombed in the ground around Madara's base, thudding rhythmically upon Sasuke's head. The droplets slid down his temples, moistening the collar of his black tunic as he finished unwrapping the bandages around his eyes. According to Madara, the transplant procedure had gone remarkably well. Sasuke's fraternal relation with Itachi had something to do with that, Madara was sure. All that Sasuke knew was that his eyes were full to bursting with power, and he needed to release some of that energy as quickly as he could.

 

I have no idea who these people are or what's going on or why some guy apparently just received an eye transplant from his brother, but the writing here really is pretty nice. It's a welcome change from Riley narrating how much the world loves him.

 

Sasuke let the bandages around his eyes slide out of his fingers. They fell to the ground, brushing against his legs before landing near his bare feet.

 

It does sometimes give off a vibe of trying too hard, though. But that's still better than YCM's standard of not trying at all.

 

Sasuke opened his eyes for the first time in eight hours.

 

He had to close and open them again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

 

Sasuke's vision was perfect.

 

How often does one hallucinate having better vision than normal? Even when I'm having a dream where I'm a bird or something, I don't end up with superhuman bird-vision.

 

Every detail of the valley around him stood out in perfect clarity. His vision was as good as it was before he awakened the Mangekyou... no, it was better. Sasuke could now easily make out individual raindrops, and his long-distance vision was just as amplified. Madara hadn't been exaggerating when he said the Eternal Mangekyou granted the user perfect sight.

 

If he was promised perfect sight, then why was he so surprised when he ended up with perfect sight?

 

Sasuke extended his right arm before him, spreading his fingers. "Susanoo."

 

What does that mean!? You either explain or I'll stop this early and set off the bomb!

 

A massive, translucent red arm materialized around Sasuke's own. Sasuke smiled at how much less energy it took to activate this power compared to before. He clenched a fist with his own arm, the phantom limb mirroring his actions. Sasuke extended his left arm, materializing another crimson appendage. Now he was grinning.

 

The author's note said that Sasuke was going to be the main character, and the very start of the very first chapter seems to consist of Sasuke getting a bunch of power-ups, from superhuman vision to enhanced magical abilities (or maybe not magic but something else that the Narutoverse uses that's just like magic). And from what I've heard thirdhand, he's already really powerful in the canon and has a lot of the canon storyline focused around himself...

 

I really don't want to call Mary Sue on this - not after how bad Riley was and not with this story's writing quality. And there is insufficient cause to call Mary Sue on this - so far. (I'm not even familiar enough with canon to say whether these superpowers are commonplace or game-breaking.) But when the very first thing you do with the character you chose to be your protagonist is to give him some extra superpowers, that is definitely an early warning sign.

 

Sasuke spread his arms out, the entire Susanoo body appearing in a flare of crimson chakra. The body smashed through the vertebrae above Sasuke, bone hailing down around him. As Sasuke lowered his arms to his sides, Susanoo's mask and cloak wove their way around the body thread by thread. Sasuke reached up, gripping a bone protrusion with Susanoo's arm. He easily pulled himself up, vaulting up onto the spinal cord. He fell into a sprint, blazing forward before launching himself off of the spine. Sasuke flew through the air, hurtling towards the cliff face at the far side of the canyon.

 

There's some awkwardness in the writing here stylistically, with virtually every sentence beginning with either "Sasuke" or "He", but the fact that I'm actually complaining about something like that instead of just saying "Is it that hard to spellcheck your stories!?" for the millionth time is very refreshing.

 

He pulled back his right fist, punching through the cliff and causing a small avalance of rock.

 

"Avalance"? Is it that hard to spellcheck your stories!?

 

As Sasuke landed on the canyon floor, he punched the cliff again. Now a massive torrent of boulders fell towards him. Sasuke held his left arm before him, generating the Susanoo Bow he'd used against Danzo.

 

It's already hit-or-miss when fanfic writers pull out references and callbacks to things that happened in canon when those references basically serve no purpose beyond fanservice, but if you are going to do that sort of thing, the last thing you should then do is explicitly call attention to the callback. That just looks terrible. Yes, we get it - or, to be more precise, I don't get it but your target audience does - you referenced the canon. If it's not going to be relevant, just leave it as an Easter egg; don't explicitly state that it's a reference and then dance around expecting everyone to applaud you for being so clever.

 

With his right arm, he drew back the string, a chakra arrow forming along his left arm. He pulled the string back as far as he could before releasing the arrow. It plunged into the avalance, burying itself in the rock face beneath.

 

AVALANCE

 

Sasuke smiled, making a one-handed seal.

 

With the seal, Sasuke released the arrow's chakra. It detonated in a crimson flare, sending boulders flying and carving a depression into the rock face. Sasuke momentarily basked in the glory of his newfound power as rain and rocks fell all around him.

 

My favourite Canadian province is Newfoundpower.

 

As the last of the boulders fell to the ground, Sasuke became aware of a strong chakra behind him. "I see you've become acquainted with your new abilities."

 

Which is probably a good thing, because if you didn't know what you were doing, you could have blown yourself up with that exploding arrow pretty easily.

 

Sasuke deactivated Susanoo, wiping sweat from his brow. He turned to see Madara standing in the shade of the spinal column covering the entrance to the Akatsuki base.

 

More seriously, it's much better to show off Sasuke's new abilities by having him use them and showing us what they do than by simply having someone tell us what they can now do. I approve of this.

 

"It's... amazing, to have so much energy flowing through me. It feels like having the power of a god at your fingertips. Is that what it's like controlling the Kyuubi?"

 

Well, that answers my question about how powerful these abilities are in this universe. Apparently, CarlinFan's first act as author was to give Sasuke god powers.

 

Madara ignored the question. "Come inside. There are some people you should meet. But first... Zetsu, if you would?"

 

A pair of green jaws attached to a body's shoulders rose from the ground between the two Uchiha. Between the jaws rested a head that was black on one side and white on the other. Sasuke instantly recognized Zetsu, Akatsuki's espionage specialist.

 

And to complement the Narutoverse's ninjas not using stealth, its espionage specialists are instantly recognizable.

 

Madara inclined his head at the plantlike Akatsuki. "Zetsu, did you manage to rescue them?"

 

Zetsu nodded curtly. "Yes. It was something of a pain killing all those Samurai, but the job's done as you requested."

 

Madara: "Did you rescue them?"

Zetsu: "Are you referring to the people to whom I think you are referring?"

Madara: "Yes, I am referring to those people."

Zetsu: "Good. Well, killing all of those samurai was a pain-"

Sasuke: "Which samurai?"

Madara: "The samurai being discussed."

Zetsu: "Indeed. Anyhow, the job is done."

Sasuke: "What job?"

Zetsu: "The job."

Madara: "Was it completed as requested?"

Zetsu: "Indeed, that job we are discussing was completed in that manner."

 

I hate it when people deliberately speak in absurdly ambiguous terms just to deny the readers information. It's a cheap way of trying to build mystery and suspense that just backfires by creating really awkward dialogue, and in many cases leaves the reader not so much intrigued as annoyed. This use is a bit better justified than most are, since Madara and Zetsu might be trying to deny Sasuke information, but in that case they should be discussing this in private without first calling Sasuke over anyhow.

 

Zetsu spread his arms, palms turned down. "Kagerou: Unsou."

 

Beside each hand, a body began to rise from the ground. Their attire was identical, samurai armor over Akatsuki cloaks. However, one had bright orange hair, while the other's was white. Sasuke breathed a mental sigh of relief at the sight of Juugo and Suigetsu. Beside the latter lay the two pieces of the Guillotine Sword, which was damaged in the battle with the Raikage's guards.

 

And if you are going to use ambiguous dialogue to create mysteries, don't then proceed to start revealing the answers in the very next paragraph.

 

Suigetsu and Juugo both fell to their knees, coughing violently. Sasuke could see dark green mucus flying from their mouths.

 

Ah, the perils of third-person limited done wrong.

 

In third-person limited, we see the world as a character - usually the protagonist - sees it. We see and hear only what they see and hear, but we also find out what that character is thinking.

 

Since the story is obviously in third-person limited, we know that everything we see is what Sasuke sees. That means that, instead of saying "Sasuke could see blah blah blah", you can just say "Blah blah blah". This sounds much less unnatural and avoids pointless repetition. The exception, of course, is when we are interested not in blah blah blah but in the fact that Sasuke was able to notice blah blah blah or Sasuke's reaction to blah blah blah; here, however, blah blah blah is happening in plain sight in Sasuke's presence, and if Sasuke has any thoughts on the matter, the author hasn't decided to share them with us.

 

"Apologies," Zetsu began. "My Transportation technique works by using spores filled with oxygen to aid the target in respiration while they're transported underground. It can be... less than comfortable." The bouts of coughing lasted another few moments, at which point Suigetsu turned to face Sasuke.

 

"At which point" doesn't agree here; the first part of the sentence discusses the duration of the coughing but does not refer directly to its ending. "After which" or something similar would be more appropriate.

 

I know all of this sounds nitpicky, mainly because a lot of it is, but everything about this story gives off incredibly strong impressions that it's a first draft - a fairly well-written first draft, especially by YCM's standards, but one in need of revision.

 

"Bastard. You abandoned us." Suigetsu spat on the ground in Sasuke's direction, flipping his former superior the bird. Juugo smirked at his ally's petulance. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

 

"Baka. You didn't think I had an extraction plan for you two? Why the hell would I leave a pair of shinobi as lethal as you to the dogs?"

 

..."Baka"? Really? You're going to throw random Japanese words in here for no logical reason? They're obviously speaking Japanese the whole time, with the story written in English via translator convention; why would that single word, which has a really straightforward English translation, be left in Japanese? Come on, this is just amateurish. Gratuitous Japanese is like the hallmark of bad anime fanfiction.

 

Suigetsu sputtered for a moment, confounded. He gave up after a moment, muttering a curse. Juugo chuckled at him. Suigetsu gave him the finger without turning away from Sasuke. "What about the Guillotine Sword, huh? What the f**k do you have to say about that?"

 

Sasuke sighed. "Find a blacksmith. It can't be too hard to kill him afterwards."

 

Wait, if this sword is so important, why can it be repaired by a simple expendable blacksmith? And if it isn't so important, why does it have a special name, and why is Suigetsu so concerned over its destruction?

 

Eh, I suppose that would probably make sense if I actually read Naruto.

 

Madara cleared his throat loudly. "Children, as entertaining as this is, there's work to be done." He beckoned to them. "Come with me. There are some important people for you to meet." With that, Madara turned to walk back into the Akatsuki base. The others followed, Suigetsu glaring daggers at the back of Sasuke's head.

 

And so the chapter ends with the narrative rules being broken. This is third-person limited, told from Sasuke's perspective... but now we suddenly hear about what Suigetsu is doing behind Sasuke's back where Sasuke couldn't possibly see him. Did Sasuke's new supervision include the ability to see through the back of his own head? Or did it include mind-reading powers?

 

On the whole, this fanfic was actually not terrible. Sure, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either, which is pretty impressive considering that this is YCM. The description was well done, and showing off Sasuke's powers instead of simply stating them is definitely the right way to go; on the other hand, the prologue went rather overboard with the description, the only plot development that I as a non-Naruto fan could really see was the protagonist instantly gaining superpowers, and and while the writing was mostly pretty good, it still reads like a rough copy. And how could you be such a baka as to not use MSWord's spellchecker?

 

It's not exactly a Hopeless Paradise, and there's nothing terrible unique about it to make it stand out from the crowd, but as it stands it's decent and has potential, and with a bit of cleanup and proofreading, it could - assuming that more actually happens in the later chapters and Sasuke doesn't become a Mary Suesuke - end up being a fairly good fanfic.

[CarlinFan]

Thanks for reviewing it, though I would've preferred one of the later chapters, as there's more content and no gratuitous Japanese (or at least I don't think there is). Apologies for not using spellcheck; My laptop only has wordpad, and we lost Microsoft Office disc when the house was being redone. Also, the powers Sasuke gets in this chapter are powers he's already obtained in the manga. I'm revising it and will post the redone first chapter soon.

 

EDIT: Revised chapter up.

[CrabHelmet]

Sorry, I didn't know at the time that Sasuke's broken power-up was canon.

 

The spellcheck thing is still inexcusable, though. You could always have waited until you had access to MSWord. Or you could have gotten Firefox or Chrome and used their spellcheckers. Or you could have, you know, proofread competently. But throwing something up with spelling errors just because you've lost MSWord makes no more sense than does driving around with flat tires because you saw that you had flats and then just decided to drive like that instead of fixing them.

[CarlinFan]

Not an excuse; just the reason.

[rhstanley3]

Wait' date=' if this sword is so important, why can it be repaired by a simple expendable blacksmith? And if it isn't so important, why does it have a special name, and why is Suigetsu so concerned over its destruction?[/quote']

 

Just as a side note, the sword is one of seven legendary swords in the canon that were used by seven different swordsmen. The swordsmen were all legendary for their exploits, and the swords became famous for their unique appearances and deeds, and in some cases, abilities. (btw, when i say deeds I mean bloody histories) The Guillotine is one of the seven swords and is one that doesn't have any real abilities besides looking cool and being a "great-sword" (you know, the swords that are overly broader than a broad sword and longer than a long sword). All seven swordsmen came from the village hidden in the mist, and it's Suigetsu's goal to obtain all 7 swords. And the swords are irreplaceable. All part of the cannon, just to fill you in :)