Valley of Spirits: Ride the Lightning

As Aoi blocked Keith's attack using the Raijin sword, he swung upward and hit said genin, knocking him away. In fact, Keith had been hit with the backlash of his own jutsu as well as the legendary blade that, supposedly, was created by the Thunder God himself.

As he was thrown away into some trees, a massive electrical surge began building up, arcs flying out of his body and scorching anything they hit.

He was in such pain, he almost wanted to die.

Then, he remembered his reason to fight. His friends could very well need him, and the man he'd been trying to kill for so long was right in front of him!

Somehow finding the will to stand, the pain suddenly vanished.

His body was still crackling with electricity, but now…

"I'm abso-fucking-lutely WIRED!"

With that declaration, Keith jumped to his feet and launched himself towards his opponent, using a stream of electricity for propulsion.

Aoi was, needless to say, shocked beyond belief. The backlash of chakra—and the sheer amount of elecricity from that collision—should've killed him, or anyone else!

He quickly threw some senbon, only to be deflected with an electromagnetic barrier.

Grinning like a madman, Kieth shouted, "Now let's try this again. Take two: Lightning-Style: Electromagnetic Murder!!"

But when Aoi tried to block the attack this time, he found that the Raijin sword wouldn't activate. And just before he was burned to cinders, he realized what had happened.

'That bastard… absorbed the power of the Raijin sword…'

________

As Tira's ringblade tore through another corpse-to-be, she leapt to the rooftops and cut a sniper in half before throwing it like a boomerang, shredding apart yet five more bandits.

Having seen that, the remaining enemies turned and fled. With a smile like a shark, she started pursuing them as she asked, "What's the matter? Dontcha wanna play wit me?"

The tone of her voice almost had half the men stop in their tracks. One guy actually did stop to ask what the game was, only for the Iron Thrush to sing as it ripped out his throat. Then, before anyone else could try to escape, Tira began to perform one of her most powerful jutsu:

"Ninja Art: Demonic Tides!"

A massive water dome spread out over the bandits, spinning like the Maelstrom it truly was. The various scum could only look on in horror as the hurricane-like waters descended towards them before it began to rip them apart like a giant meat grinder.

As it tore away their flesh, the blood mingled freely with the water, proving beyond all doubt that to the Angel of Death, souls were all the same.

_______

As Yakumo and Carnage continued killing the numerous men who had attacked the village under their protection, Yakumo suddenly yelled, "Hey Carnage, what's the name of the game?!"

Grinning as he understood what she was getting at, Carnage drew himself to his full height, seemingly turned into a monster from Hell, and shouted out, "SLAUGHTER SPREE!!!!!"

As he practically went into overdrive on the killing, everyone suddenly smelt ozone as, in a blinding flash, ten rogue genin were incinerated.

Levitating in the air, lightning flashing from his arms and legs, Keith yelled, "Enter… Electro!"

At that, Electro began his own slaughter spree via ball lightning, incinerating groups of the enemy units with each attack.

Between Electro's onslaught and Carnage's berserker rage, the remaining forces were destroyed in a matter of seconds.

As Keith lowered himself to the ground, bringing the ambient electricity into his body, he began stumbling. When Naruto (now reverted) caught him, the Human Dynamo said, "Whoa, that really took a lot out of me. Guess I'll have to start getting used to full-scale manipulation like that."

Shaking his head in an effort to get his bearings, Keith allowed Naruto and Yakumo to take him back to the Village.

___________

Three days later, as the group was walking through the Main Gate, the Gatekeeper Chunin asked, "Ah, Team Anko, you've returned. Who do you have with you?"

Tira and Onimaru introduced themselves, before the group continued on their way to report.

Anko said, "Our mission went as follows: a few days in, we were ambushed by Tira here, who appears to be my half-sister. We decided to allow her to join us on a trial basis. Then, at the site, we found that Aoi Rokusho was leading the bandits. Keith single-handedly killed him, while Naruto, Yakumo, and I fought the bandits out in the open. Tira and Onimaru disposed of the few that made it to the village. I recommend that Tira join us with minimal security clearance for a couple of months, and Onimaru has requested to join the civilian militia."

With a big puff of smoke, Hiruzen sighed before saying, "I will take all of this into consideration. In the meantime, Team Anko, here's your payment."

Faster than the eye could see, Keith grabbed it, started counting, and upon finding exactly as much as they were supposed to get, equally divided between himself, Anko, Naruto, Yakumo, and after a moment of thought, Onimaru and Tira.

Having been paid, the group left the tower.

_____________

Change II: Warp

Shortly after Team Psycho had left the building, Team 9—consisting of Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten Akayomi under the tutelage of Might Guy—entered to get their own mission. Since Team 9 had been active for a year longer than Team Psycho (officially Team 6 or Team Anko), they were much more accustomed to going on C-rank missions.

Sighing in advance to deal with Guy's obsession with the Power of Youth, the Hokage started looking for mission scrolls above D-rank. However, it seemed that there were no remaining C-rank missions—there was, however, a low B-rank mission available.

Looking spandex-clad Jonin in the eyes, he asked, "Guy, do you think that your students are ready for a B-rank mission, or should I have Team 10 go with you?"

Wanting his pupils to get the experience this would entail, but at the same time he didn't want to put them in too great of a danger.

However, his faith in his students compromised with his concern for their safety, and he said, "I believe that we would be able to complete the mission ourselves, but for safety's sake I think we should make this a joint mission with Team 10, if that's your recommendation."

Hiding his joy that Guy was supressing his enthusiasm at the moment, Sarutobi brought in his son's team as well.

Asking them if they agreed, (and they did), Sarutobi started briefing the eight shinobi on the mission parameters.

"I have recently received intelligence reports about an outpost of bandits and rogue ninja—genin to chunin level—near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves."

Asuma asked, "But didn't Team 7 go on a mission there just recently?"

"Yes. Let me tell you about the current situation there. While Gato was controlling Wave, the average standard of living was very poor, although bandit and missing-nin attacks were kept under control. When Team 7 put Gato six feet under, the bandits and other various threats began growing more bold. Today, it's rare not to be attacked. However, most of the people there are still grateful to us for having helped them before. Now, they have requested our help once more. If we aid them, then they have promised to trade with the Land of Fire exclusively. Meaning that our business opportunities would skyrocket. Your mission, therefore, is two-fold: for one thing, you will give whatever aid you can to the people of Wave. This mainly involves reconstruction work and similar tasks to help them get back on their feet. But the primary purpose—at least at the beginning—will require all of you to perform at the level of Chunin and special Jonin."

Guy asked, "Lord Hokage, what is the main purpose of this youthful mission?!"

Sighing, he said, "If you knew, Guy, I don't think you'd call it 'youthful.' The main mission here is…."

Closing his eyes for a moment before observing the ninja in front of him, he finished: "Seek and destroy."

______

As the teams set out for the Land of Waves, Shikamaru asked Ino why she was being so quiet. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but it's not normal for you."

"Well Shikamaru, I've just been thinking about a lot of things. I've been thinking about the mission, my life in general, and so many other things."

The lazy genius would've inquired further, but found doing so much too troublesome.

But if he had asked, then she eventually would have asked him out.

___________

The group had recently arrived in Wave, and Team 10 was barely holding on to their sanity. Lee wasn't too bad about the 'youth' anymore, but Guy was practically worse to make up for it. After a couple of days, Ino finally lost it and yelled at Guy to "get over your goddamned mid-life crisis!"

That, strangely enough, shut him up for a fair while.

Which left Asuma torn between reprimanding Ino for her language and blessing her for silencing Guy. In the end, he compromised by doing neither.

After setting up camp and a brief discussion, they decided that they would patrol the region in six-hour shifts. Team Guy volunteering to go first, they started to scout one area at a time.

For three days, things were relatively uneventful. Team 10 had located and destroyed a number of bandit hideouts, and so had Team 9. The more experienced Team Guy was secretly amazed at the skill shown by the rookies, so they were quite surprised when Ino stumbled into their base of operations carrying a near-dead Shikamaru, her clothes in tatters and her body very badly bruised as she mumbled, "They got him… the bastards got Choji…"

Then she lost consciousness.

It turns out that a group of rogue genin from Hidden Rain had ambushed Team 10 while they were patrolling—and since Asuma had left to destroy another target area, they hadn't stood much of a chance. Ino remained unconscious for two days.

Quickly preparing to mount a rescue operation, Guy and Lee went to rescue Choji while Neji and Tenten were told to guard Shikamaru and Ino.

They were also under orders to inform Asuma of what had happened as soon as he returned.

___________

Guy and Lee were fighting off a large mass of chunin with their Taijutsu, when Lee decided to press his advantage. Biting his thumb and spreading some blood on a seal, he summoned his Goblin Glider.

Jumping onto it as his armor's helmet system activated, he flew into the air while throwing a number of Pumpkin Bombs.

Knowing that intimidation was half the battle, he also began a shrill laugh that, combined with his appearance and his weapons, made his and Guy's enemies swear they were dealing with a monster from Land of Brimstone (I assume you know which Land of Brimstone I'm talking about…).

_____

(Meanwhile, with Shikamaru…)

Shikamaru found himself in a sea of darkness, drifting on the tides of shadow.

No matter which way he looked, he couldn't see anything—it was as though he were blind.

"Am I…. Dead?" his voice rang out over the endless expanse, echoing off of nothing and yet everything.

And then, he 'heard' a voice without a sound, 'saw' a form without a shape. It asked him a question, but it was more like reading the words written on paper than hearing them spoken aloud.

"'Do you wish to be dead?'"

Somehow able to understand that that he was dealing with something he knew nothing about, Shikamaru said, "No. As troublesome as it is, I want to live."

The shapeless form—or perhaps a formless shape?—seemed to smile, or something like it, as if overcome by an old memory.

"'Then live as my incarnation on Earth, Shikamaru Nara. I am Khonshu, and if you would live, then you are my avatar. Look upon your visage reflected in the sea of Time, and return to the place you wish to be.'"

The genin shouted, "But I can't see anything!"

Laughing, Khonshu told him, "'But child, you have yet to open your eyes…"

And in the real world, Shikamaru's eyes flashed open as his body was engulfed in white light.

___________

(With Guy and Lee…)

The green-clad shinobi had finished defeating the guards at the enemy outpost and about to break in and rescue Choji when he appeared directly in front of them.

Gone for three days, it was clear that the people who captured him had apparently done something to his body.

His shirt had been torn to shreds as his muscle mass had increased over tenfold, and the rest of his clothes weren't in much better shape.

He now stood a full foot taller than anyone else his age, had eight-pack abs, and muscles that looked like they could crush bone with sickening ease just by flexing them normally.

His voice was roughly the same, if a little bit deeper. "What took you so long? I've had the guys inside busted up for a while now."

His face also looked more adult-like, and Choji's body didn't have any type of wounds at all.

Worried for his comrade and friend, Lee asked, "Choji, what on Earth happened to you? You look like a freakin' bodybuilder!"

Shrugging, Choji just said, "Well, the guys who caught me put in a giant tube and used some weird medical jutsu on me with seals. One minute I'm in pain and unconscious, and the next thing I know, I'm buffer than Hulk Hogan and kickin' ass like Chuck Norris."

______

Meanwhile, the group at Base was also under attack. A rogue chunin from Waterfall had summoned a demonic lizard, which Neji was doing his best to fight. Tenten was grappling with the chunin himself, while Ino was still recovering.

It seemed as though the Leaf ninja were doomed, but as Shikamaru's body became engulfed in white light, the tide began to change.

Temporarily blinded, the lizard reared up in pain.

Seizing his chance, Neji cried out, "You're in my range of divination! Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!"

Repeatedly stabbing the massive beast with the equivalent of chakra-formed knives in the heart, Neji's final strokes were powerful enough that they actually pierced the monster's skin and entered the giant, beating heart. Quickly pulling out his hands, Neji saw that they were now glowing with a pink aura around them.

Deciding to worry about that later, though, he turned and saw Shikamaru dressed in a white robe and hood wielding a bo staff with which he was beating the shit out of the assailant.

Then, launching him into the air, Shikamaru gathered white energy around his hand before releasing it in a pair of crescent-shaped blasts that tore apart the victim.

Now turning around to face his friends, Shikamaru lowered his hood just as Asuma, Choji, Guy, and Lee returned.

With everyone now looking at everyone else, Tenten broke the rather awkward silence.

"So… who wants to explain first?"

Choji sighed and told them his story, then Asuma explained his delay of return due to combat. Ino and Tenten recounted the attack, and Neji told them about his battle with the demon lizard. Everyone then looked to Shikamaru.

Sighing heavily, he said, "I'm only going to say all of this once, so pay attention, as it's really troublesome. Apparently, I died and have been resurrected as the earthly avatar of a foreign moon god with powers I don't know much about yet, and in exchange for continued life here I am to carry out his will… or something to that effect."

Ino's jaw had dropped for two reasons: one, both of her friends had changed significantly (Choji was built like a tank—and it seemed that all of his fat had turned into muscle—Shikamaru was an avatar of a moon god) and yet they still seemed relatively normal personality-wise.

Two, someone she knew had died and been brought back to life.

"So Shikamaru, should we give you some kind of title or something, considering your apparent divine role now?"

Shrugging, he said, "Nah. I'm still Shikamaru. And I'm also Moon Knight. But for the most part, I'm just Shikamaru. So we'll stick with that, 'kay?"

Nodding, they then focused on Neji, whose hands had by now stopped glowing.

Until, of course, Neji tried to focus his chakra again. This time, his Byakugan activated, but his hands were glowing pink rather than blue like they normally did. When Lee saw this, he said, "Neji! You told us that that first happened when you plunged you hands into the heart of the summon, did you not? I read about something similar happening to a warrior many centuries ago—the power of the monster apparently fused into his body, allowing him to control his chi. It also gave him the power of the "Iron Fist". Sadly, though, I don't remember any more than that."

Looking at his hands, Neji asked himself, "Iron Fist, huh?"

One thing was absolutely certain: from then on, nothing was certain.

______

The title for the first part of the chapter comes from the Metallica song and album.

FYI: You guys had me emo for a week or so with the almost complete lack of response to the last chapter. In fact, I think Chap 3 had the most reviews (10)—and the previous chapter had the LEAST reviews (5)! WTF is up with that?! Did it really suck that much, or were you really that lazy? I actually care what you have to say. Let me spell it out for you in nice, big letters:

YOUR INPUT MATTERS, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHITSTAINS!!!!

(*Exhales*) I feel so much better having gotten that off my chest. Also, the reason I merged Change II: Warp into this chapter was so that you guys would ave more than just a measly 2.5 pages to read. IN ADDITION, Shikamaru wasn't supposed to happen until the second Chunin Exam (Forest of Death). Oh and if anyone can guess who the final member of Team 7 is (I mean the Marvel character they represent), you will receive the MechaUltimaZero Award for Reader Excellence. Here's a hint: go back and reread the first couple of chapters! Dirty Reid, I bet you $20 you can get it if you decipher the clue "reply".

Translations:

Akayomi: I couldn't find a translation for "Bloody Moon", so I went with this. If a suitable translation is found within 48 hours of this posting, I'll change it. Otherwise, I won't.

New Poll: Should I turn Guy into the Naruto-verse equivalent of Captain America? Yes, it sounds weird, but I think I can make it work.

Original Jutsu:

Ninja Art: Demonic Tides: the user summons a massive amount of chakra and floods the area with it, much like the Hidden Mist Jutsu, but instead of saturating the water droplets with their chakra and letting it hand, he or she must instead circulate the water in a dome around the targeted area like a whirlpool. This technique bears great resemblance to both Giant Vortex Jutsu and Water Prison Jutsu. Once the water dome has been formed and begins rotating, the user must begin compressing it towards the ground, eventually grinding their opponents into oblivion. The blood from those killed in the jutsu is used to help keep it going, and helps to increase the fluid pressure and rotation speed. Upper A-rank, borderline S-rank.