Chapter 51 - Triple Rashomon

Ekyt resisted the urge to drink the fourth cup of sake. That much would have made him drunk for the first time in his life. Passing out would be soon after that. Not that Ekyt would have minded that at this point- it just seemed to be in bad taste to do that when you were the best man at one of your closest friend’s weddings.

They really did a number on me…everything aches…damn Akatsuki… Ekyt thought to himself, keeping his face impassive. It was nearly midnight, but this party would go on for three more hours. After that, Hayate and Yukao would have a short honeymoon. Then Ekyt would begin training. Damned if he was going to wait until then. After seeing his life flash before his eyes so many times in the last few days, Ekyt knew what he had thought his strength level was before wasn’t as high as he’d hoped.

According to wedding tradition, the bride and groom always left early. Once they did, Ekyt could leave, too. He should have been having a good time, but he knew he had done a good job of at least faking it. Ekyt stood up, when he felt something jingle in his kunai pouch, making a slightly different tone that his kunai. Of course!

The library…Lady Tsunade said to take it easy…so I’ll take it easy. I could really use the quiet. Right now, I could use a transformation jutsu and slip out…weddings are so rare that just about everyone in the village is here.

Ekyt’s thought process was disrupted.

“No!”

Ekyt swiveled around, instinctively yanking the bar stool between his legs and out in front of him as a weapon. He dropped it, then brought it up quickly as a bottle flew toward him. Old habits died hard.

Neji, apparently drunk, was pestering Hinata. Hinata clearly wanted no part of it, but Neji kept pushing her. No one dared get involved, as Neji was a strong jonin. Seeing this, Ekyt strode over.

“What’s the problem?” he demanded. Hinata squeaked and ducked behind Ekyt as Neji took a swing at her. Ekyt, in turn, gave Neji a hard shove just as he threw the punch, so Neji was off-balance.

“You’re drunk? Is that all? Pardon me, Hinata, I’m sorry for getting involved.” It was clear now that Neji was no threat. He just kept coming back, and Ekyt kept shoving him away. Finally, Ekyt lost his patience and cracked Neji on the chin with a hard right hand. Neji hit the floor. Team Gai swept in and picked him up, nodding silently to Ekyt in thanks. Drunk Lee got fighting prowess- drunk Neji got a big mouth.

“Are you okay?” Ekyt asked matter-of-factly to Hinata. Hinata gave him a tiny smile and thanks, blushing from her own drinks. She hadn’t had any sake until tonight, and it was clear she was hit pretty hard by the rice brew. Seconds later, she collapsed, Ekyt moving to catch her.

Through Neji’s bleary, drunken eyes, it sure looked like the two were hugging. His consciousness promised to deal with Ekyt later, maybe when he didn’t feel so much like yawning in Technicolor.

--

5:00 am.

--

Ekyt entered the library, deep in thought. As such, he forgot the hole in the floor. Typical of Ekyt, he also forgot to focus his chakra in time for the short fall and landed painfully on his side.

“Ugh…that hurt,” Ekyt admitted. He remembered where he was and immediately drew a knife- this library was dangerous. The last time he had been here he had been attacked by a HUGE snake, apparently a defense mechanism by Orochimaru. In this dingy basement, there was undoubtedly going to be some kind of trap. Ekyt was ready for it when it hit- three genjutsus.

Three?! I’ve never thrown off three before! Alright, stay calm, you can do this. First genjutsu: False surroundings-release! (An extra hundred feet of books disappeared) Second genjutsu: Hell viewing- release! (The corpses of half the village disappeared away from Ekyt’s feet.) Third Genjutsu: Death Foreseeing-re…re…damn it! I can’t do it!

Some genjutsus grew worse the longer you stayed trapped in them. This was one of them. Ekyt saw his death- several times. He felt himself losing control. Releasing the first two genjutsus had weakened him- in order to release a genjutsu, you have to halt chakra flow to your brain. But doing so makes you susceptible to more genjutsu, since the chakra ‘cushioning’ your senses is gone. So Ekyt saw himself being gutted, eaten by snakes, devoured by a faceless ninja, hung, thrown off a cliff, drowned, and burned.

I’ve got to break this! Release! Release! No good…one choice left! Ekyt had already had a kunai in his hand, so he didn’t have to fight that too much. All while seeing himself falling to the ground many times, at varying speeds, as though watching a flipbook, Ekyt forced himself to bring his kunai up. He then plunged it down into his leg. The genjutsus shattered like glass, leaving Ekyt to deal with the pain of a stab wound. It was a routine thing in this line of work, but you never quite got used to the pain. Especially outside of combat, when you didn’t have adrenaline to help you. Still, Ekyt stayed calm and applied a Chakra Scalpel to heal himself. The electric blue light illuminated a scroll that caught Ekyt’s eye. Once he had healed himself, he reached down and grabbed it. A chill went through him as he saw it’s author was Orochimaru. The notes were scrawled strangely and chillingly, and clearly done over a period of time, as inks of different colors had been used.

“Shinigami gates> Triple Rashomon- defensive jutsu. Dual blood tribute, summoning technique. …” There were no pictures to describe just what this ‘Triple Rashomon’ was, and Ekyt had never seen Orochimaru use it. That made it interesting, but scary as hell. Still, curiosity of the unknown was a human trait. Ekyt knew he shouldn’t, but he had to find out what this was. He’d ask Lady Tsunade first. If she couldn’t answer, then he’d go ahead and try it for himself.

--

Kurenai noticed Hinata was lackluster in practice today. At first she shrugged it off as just being tired from the night before, maybe even a little hung-over. But as the day went on and Hinata stayed the same, Kurenai couldn’t fight her motherly instincts anymore.

“Hinata, is something wrong? You’ve been sluggish today…” Kurenai always chose her words carefully with Hinata, even know that she was older and stronger.

“Sorry sensei,” Hinata whispered. “I was just thinking of Nar…!” Hinata blushed and played with her fingers, looking anywhere but at Kurenai’s eyes.

Ah. Boy trouble.

“Well, Hinata, if you want something, reach out and take it. Besides, you’re a kunoichi- use your skills. Find out what Naruto TRULY wants. Things may not be as they seem.”

Word on the street was that Naruto and Sakura weren’t as close as they appeared. Both of them talked incessantly about Sasuke, leading Sakura to worry more, and Naruto to retreat into a defensive shell. It was clear they liked each other- they just had one big thing in common, and that was the problem. If Sasuke had been gone altogether, there wouldn’t be an issue. But him in the village, after that nasty breakup with Sakura…there were stories. Mostly wishful thinking, really- such a pretty young girl seemed to have such bad taste in men! First a would-be traitor, then the demon fox container. The ‘words’ were, of course, just wishful thinking by the village. There was no truth to the words.

“Oh, no sensei! I don’t want to make trouble for Naruto! Or Sakura!”

With a kunoichi’s cunning, Kurenai smiled. “Well, maybe you could get some help. I think I know just the guy to help you.”

--

“Triple Rashomon?” Tsunade asked, reading the scroll. “If Orochimaru invented it, it’s no good…But…” Tsunade smiled widely, “It couldn’t hurt to try the jutsu just once to find out what it does. It won’t kill you, Orochimaru would never do that. But you’ll do it by yourself, in training field number four.”

“Fair enough, M’lady. Thank you.” Ekyt bowed his thanks, then stopped. “A drink some time?” he asked pleasantly. Tsunade raised her eyebrows.

“You want to drink with me? Is that a date?” Tsunade asked, half-serious.

“No. It never hurts to take the boss out though, right?” Ekyt replied with a grin. “Stay on the good side of the brass. Call it a celebration for me joining ANBU.”

Tsunade smirked. “Fine by me- shall I bring Shizune and Sakura?”

“The more the merrier. Naruto is welcome, too.”

--

In a field by himself, Ekyt bit both his thumbs. He took a deep breath, then called the jutsu.

“Triple Rashomon!”

Two seconds later, Ekyt’s eyes grew wide. Four giant, house-sized gates made of metal and wood (With a heck of a lot of chakra behind them) appeared where Ekyt had directed. They stayed still, and didn’t seem to do anything other than be there. Knowing Orochimaru, that wasn’t the case. So Ekyt reared back and fired several jutsu at the door.

“Dance of the Sickle Moon! Dragon’s Ember Jutsu! Dragon’s Fire Circle!”

Once he was done, Ekyt looked around the gate to check the other side. Not even a dent in the first gate, let alone the other three.

This is great! It might just stand up to the Chidori or the Rasengan. Maybe Kakashi-sensei and Lady Tsunade might help me out…

-

Lady Tsunade punched, and Kakashi used his Lightning Blade. The two most powerful attacks in the Leaf Village, and they only opened a small dent in the Rashomon’s first game.

“Kakashi-sensei, maybe you should copy my handsigns, so you could use the jutsu too…” Ekyt said thoughtfully. That made sense. Tsunade paid close attention, too, so Ekyt made the signs slowly. Kakashi copied them flawlessly, as did Tsunade.

“Nice find!” Kakashi congratulated Ekyt.

“Thank you. I think I’m going to go rest for a couple hours, that took a lot of chakra. Especially doing it twice.”

--

Ekyt knew why he was doing this- to make sure Tsunade kept on liking him. Asking her to go get a drink…the best way to this Hokage’s heart was through the alcohol content in her blood. Ekyt really wanted one last party- after this, he knew, training would consume him even more. There was no choice anymore.

Ekyt, Tsunade, Sakura, Naruto, Shizune, and Genma all wound up drinking. Ekyt felt a little conspicuous- he was the single one in the group.

I should sit next to Lady Tsunade…if people thought we were dating, it would make my reputation…wait, since when have I ever cared about my reputation?

Hinata found the group next, asking to speak with Ekyt. Right about then, Ekyt became conscious of the glares he was getting- next to Tsunade and Hinata, two good looking women…and he was single. How that must have looked!

“Sure,” Ekyt replied in answer to Hinata’s question. Tsunade was really drunk anyway. “What’s up?”

Hinata poked her fingers together, not meeting Ekyt’s eyes. “I was curious…do you…do you know anything about Naruto and Sakura?”

Ekyt didn’t have to guess at what she meant. “As far as I know, they’re happy. If it helps any, I know how you’re feeling…” Ekyt was suddenly super-conscious of his feelings for Sakura.

“Y-You do?”

“Yeah. I really liked Sakura,” Ekyt said with a sad smile.

Tsunade, at that exact moment, was telling a tipsy Sakura and Naruto about Ekyt’s old affection for Sakura. Ekyt vaguely overheard, and he was horrified. But he ignored that, focusing on Hinata.

“If you like him, you should just say it. Don’t wait- I did, and I regret it. Naruto won’t make fun of you for it. And if he says no, well, you’ve got an answer either way, right?”

Hinata thought Ekyt made sense. “Right. Thank you, I’ll do my best!”

--

The next day, Sakura woke up, not remember any of last night.

“Must’ve been fun…ow…never getting drunk again though!”

“You can say THAT again,” Naruto murmured. They had been sleeping on opposite ends of Tsunade’s desk. Tsunade herself was asleep on the desk, while Genma and Tsunade were laying in a corner.

Ekyt walked in, bright-eyed and ready to go. Upon seeing the room, a sweat drop grew.

“Uh, good morning? Everything okay this morning?” Ekyt chanced. By the groans, he guessed that this room was full of hung over people. That’s when he saw a ray of hope.

“So, uh, good talk last night, huh?”

Everyone blinked at Ekyt. “We talked?” they slurred as one. “About what?”

Ekyt had to force himself not to laugh with relief. “Nothing important! Ah well, back to work!”

Tsunade, I WILL get you for this if Sakura ever remembers what you said!

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