Chapter 42 - Sixth Sense

(One Week has passed)

Ekyt exhaled, not believing his eyes. Down five floors from the top, near the end of the shelves, Ekyt had found another gem. His eyes lit up as he wrote down yet another bit of history, coupled with a jutsu. It seemed that elemental jutsus were huge, and it was also apparent that the Third Hokage had spent a lot of time in here himself. There was no other way to learn all the jutsus in the Hidden Leaf Village. The jutsu currently in Ekyt’s vision was an elaborate summoning jutsu. It was no animal summon- it summoned materials and elements in their pure form. Water, fire, earth…the materials could then be used in other jutsus. But that meant you had to be able to hold fire, water, and earth in the same manner as chakra. Only one of Ekyt’s attacks could use this jutsu. But still, the potential. Without really looking, Ekyt could tell this was a Hokage-level jutsu. The chakra it used was unreal- just as unreal as the results.

“From what I can gather, you can also position the materials as they appear…so you could pile rocks on an enemy, or rain fire on them. I could never pull this jutsu off…but still, maybe someday. Knowing it is still amazing…”

Ekyt took a second to appreciate the scenery. The library had been carved right into the rock of the mountain. The foyer had stained glass windows, and the very top of the library did as well. Ekyt didn’t know why- there was no place to look, the windows were in front of rock. It was hard to imagine that there was a bustling village outside. But when Ekyt read through the scrolls by the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha detailing the village’s history, it didn’t seem so strange anymore.

Maybe it’s a comfort thing…Humans needs sunlight, or something close to it. I’ve already noticed how brightly it’s lit in here during the day, and how that light dims at night. It’s allowed me to keep track of the days…I’ve been here for seven, and still I’ve barely scratched the surface. I can’t learn all these jutsus…in fact, there aren’t all that many. It’s mostly history, records of people and events…but still…I can’t shake this haunting feelings…I can’t place it at all, but it’s there…ever since I came here and opened that first book, I’ve felt strange things. Almost like a…presence. But I can’t sense if it’s malicious…or just watching…

Ekyt closed his eyes, feeling the cold chill of a presence again. Like someone walked over my grave… Ekyt bit his thumb, deciding that his questions had reached an important level- import enough to ask Lady Tsunade herself what was going on. Why this place was so forbidden, and why…why was there this strange feeling?

“Summoning Jutsu!” Ekyt thought about summon Holly, but her little legs might not be able to handle all the stairs. Instead, Ekyt summoned a hawk. He was impractical in combat, but you couldn’t ask for a faster messenger.

“Taleo, please summon Lady Tsunade. This is getting serious…I need some answers. If she won’t come right away, give her this note.[/b]

Ekyt held the note up to the hawk. The hawk’s eye watched Ekyt’s hand, then took the note in it’s beak. Flying off, it sent dust from an ancient table Ekyt was sitting at flying, causing Ekyt to cough. As he coughed, he banged his knee on the table in front of him.

Chack!

The top of the desk bounced up for a moment. Ekyt wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been looking down. But now that it had…
Ekyt grabbed the top of the desk and picked up the table. To his surprise, he found four green and black scrolls sitting inside the desk. He reached his hand in to grab them, but retracted it quickly.

“What the hell?” Ekyt reached in, quickly grabbing what had caused him to retract his hand so quickly. A snake? “What on earth is a snake doing in here? And how has it survived? It’s cold in here, not to mention there’s no food…Wait, those scrolls…maybe this is one of those protective summons…”

(A protective summon, or guardian summon, is a summon that appears when a person or item it guards is in danger. It’s usually free of the person’s will.)

Ekyt dropped the snake. It slithered toward his leg and tried to bite him. Ekyt stomped, hoping to scare it away. Nothing doing. Instead, the snake-grew? Larger and larger, until it was staring at Ekyt. It opened it’s mouth and hissed loudly enough to open the book behind Ekyt.

Uh oh, this can’t be good…I don’t think this is part of the Leaf’s defenses…

Ekyt drew back as the snake tired to bite again. This time, it would have gotten Ekyt, and could have swallowed him without any trouble. Ekyt had been forced to leap up to the next floor. He hadn’t primed himself well for the jump, and caught his leg on the railing. Thinking quickly, Ekyt hooked his legs onto the railing. That put him at eye-level with the snake again. Without thinking, Ekyt reared back and smacked it right in the eye. Not that it needed it’s eyes to find Ekyt (The tongue on it was enormous!), but that was the only soft spot Ekyt could pick out.


“Ekyt? What the hell? Is this one of yours?!” Tsunade had finally come, and she was greeted with the site of this giant snake trying to eat Ekyt, who was dangling like a worm on a fishing pole.

“Not mine, M’lady! It’s guarding those scrolls!” Ekyt pointed, then pulled back as the snake opened it’s giant mouth to swallow him whole.

“Dragon’s Ember Jutsu!” Ekyt barked, sending a jet of fire right down the snake’s gullet. The snake recoiled, trying to get away from the source of it’s trouble. No dice, as it spun right toward Tsunade. Tsunade didn’t play with it, she grabbed it and tore it in half, throwing the pieces to the side.

“Look out!” Ekyt yelled, seeing the large snake had become many smaller ones. This was TOO familiar. “Flama Succendo!”

Ekyt’s newest jutsu (that he was capable of performing, at any rate) scalded the tiny snakes, but didn’t hurt Tsunade, who was shocked to see Ekyt do a jutsu she hadn’t even heard of since she was a kid. That question rattled around in her mind as Ekyt let go of the rafters with his legs and fell down to the floor below, landing in front of her. He stood up and nodded toward the desk containing the scrolls he guessed belonged to Orochimaru.

“Those are the scrolls, M’Lady. I didn’t ask you here for them, but they’ve moved to the top of my question list…Considering what was guarding them, I’m betting it’s something of Orochimaru’s.” Just saying this triggered something in Ekyt’s mind. The feeling he had been getting…it had been familiar, but implacable. NOW he could place it.

“Lady Tsunade, did Orochimaru spend time in here?”

Tsunade gave Ryouko a mild look as she took the scrolls he had found and thumbed through them. “Yes. He was obsessed. Back then, any jonin could come here to read, or even escape daily life. It was a social place…but after Orochimaru left, most people who came here couldn’t stand it. They could ‘sense’ him. So the Third Hokage asked myself and Jiraiya to place seals and traps all over. It’s the sort of place Orochimaru would come back to…damn, I never should have let you come here!”

Tsunade ran a hand through her hair, looking furious with herself. “If you spend too much time here, it consumes you. All those jutsus and abilities at your fingertips…it’s just too much. The Third Hokage could handle it because his motives were pure. No offense Ekyt, but as pure as your motives for learning are…well, your emotions disturb me. I don’t want you to become obsessed with power like Orochimaru did. There are jutsus that can extend life, end life, bottle life, and even restore life. I don’t want anyone else to learn those horrid jutsus. Especially not you…”

Ekyt nodded, understanding. “I felt the pull…with that kind of power, I could do anything. But…well, something Orochimaru said to me had really been bothering me. It’s the reason I came here. He told me ‘you’ll never fill that void inside you by training alone.’” Ekyt looked at Tsunade, almost desperate for answers. “I can’t fill in the blanks, Lady Tsunade! If I just knew what this void was for certain! Or if it was just another Orochimaru mind game!”

Tsunade forced Ekyt into a hug. “Some things are beyond human comprehension. Orochimaru…he’s not human, he’s a monster. And he’s planted an idea in your head. Think of this: My lover is dead, and I don’t have children. Those are voids in my life, but I’m complete as a person. Shizune just found a boyfriend, but she’s still serving me, helping me fufill the Leaf’s dreams, instead of living out her own. But she’s a complete person. And there’s you…”

Tsunade held Ekyt at arm’s length. “You don’t have a team, or a sensei, or a girlfriend. You don’t have natural ability, and your chakra is powerful, but only average sized. You’re only incomplete as a person because you’re so discontented with who and what you are. Coming to this library, learning all you could…somehow, from you, I don’t sense malice. I overheard you muttering once, something about not being able to kill. Truthfully, that’s what convinced me it was okay to let you come here…”

Tsunade gestured to the shelves full of untouched reading material. “In here is any number of ways to kill. But by the same token, there’s that many ways to protect people. It’s because I know what kind of person you are, and what you would do if you knew those attacks and defenses…that’s why I trusted you to come here. And you haven’t betrayed my trust. By summoning me here, you actually showed me you were concerned about what you had found. Anyone with a heart and a conscience would be.”

Tsunade let go of Ekyt so that she could walk over to the four scrolls Ekyt had uncovered.

“Results of his experiments…names…notes on various Jutsus…” Tsunade read the scrolls, eventually stowing them in her robes. “Ryouko, what I say will undoubtedly hurt your feelings. Orochimaru had the talent to perform any jutsu in here. You do not posses that same talent. I’m sorry to say so, and I know it’s sounds harsh…but it’s a necessary truth. It’s something you have to understand, or you’ll be lost among these records, trying to master them all. Even if you DID have the same talent…well, if you did, you wouldn’t be here.”

Ekyt wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It was clearly supposed to be comforting, although it came off as more insulting than anything. Before he could open his mouth and say something in his defense, Tsunade had continued.

“You possess a talent separate from Orochimaru’s. You’ve done exhaustive research, the same as he has. But you two can’t be compared. He’s the embodiment of evil. You, by the same token, are the picture of loyalty. I know the Third Hokage once mentioned you as a successor to me, before he died. But he knew you wouldn’t take it, because you won’t take a life, and you won’t take a dream. The same reason you stepped aside and let Sakura date Naruto- you don’t want anyone close to you to suffer. You’d take that suffering on yourself first. And that’s why you study- to protect and serve. The void you feel…that emotion, Ryouko. And it may never be filled- a void exists within all of us. Orochimaru is right about that- training alone won’t fill that void. But, in your case, training IS the answer, because of who you are.”

Tsunade sighed a little, seeing the awe-struck young man trying to compose himself.

“May I stay, then? Those evil feelings are gone…and now I have a great deal more to sort out…And, well, it’s not like me to leave twenty floors of books untouched.”

Tsunade smirked, knowing what Ryouko was feeling. “You can stay here and think…but do me a favor and lay off the books. You’re only twenty, save some for later. You’ve got some new jutsus to play with as it is. For now, make this your sanctuary to think. You’ll be healed shortly, and I’ll need you back on missions. Deal?”

“Deal.”

--

As Tsunade left, Ekyt climbed down to where he was, intending to finish off the shelf he was on, then stop. But Tsunade’s words hung in the air, and what they insinuated left a taste in Ryouko’s mouth that he couldn’t wash out.

I could become drunk on power…I could finish all these and have nothing new to learn…so what she’s telling me is to master what I have first, the way I did with my first jutsu. Quality over quantity. I can deal with that. Two jutsus, five floors, countless tidbits of history…yeah, I’ll stop there. This place…it’s so peaceful, it just reminds me of those voids. So, Orochimaru was both right and wrong about them…and about me. Somehow, I really take pride in being so different from Orochimaru. And I’ll never believe that the Third thought I might succeed him one day. But Tsunade’s right- people’s lives and dreams aren’t things I play with.

And that’s why this place is okay for me.
…

I’m gonna stop trying to understand, because I will NEVER understand it. Being cast in the same league as the Akatsuki and Orochimaru…that’s sickening to me. I’d rather be less talented than become a slave to evil ambitions. If I learn these jutsus, I’ll use them to protect. With so much evil on the loose, I’d imagine these jutsus will be getting a workout.

But those voids…maybe I can still fill them, somehow. I’m not content with who I am, and how strong I am, because I’m not strong enough, simply put. I tie my self-worth to what I do. If I’m doing nothing, that’s what I’m worth- nothing. And worse yet, being worth nothing means that I’m worth nothing to nobody. That loneliness again…
…
damn.

Despite knowing two new jutsus (being able to perform one), Ekyt felt even more down. He wasn’t going to be able to sift through his thoughts in here, not right now. He would come back later and study more. For now, it was time to resume life outside, and that meant continuing to pretend everything was alright.

But things were more screwed up than ever in Ekyt’s world.

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