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ANNOUNCEMENT:
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CHAPTER 3
When it came to death, a shinobi might often think about how they would pass, however, it was those who were truly seasoned that knew better than to bring it into the light of the public conversation. Whatever your opinion, it was best to keep to yourself on this matter. Despite how many of your comrades likely shared your thoughts and concerns over it. Discussing death was like opening a door you couldn't close again. Most shinobi would accept that they likely wouldn't get to see old age, and neither would their children who followed in their footsteps. Sometimes the only way to cope was to harden the heart but in turn, it meant becoming something less human. Sakura didn't think about death. Not her own anyway. She had trained with the intention of preserving her life and saving others. Right now, however, she couldn't remember that.
Right now, all she could think about was the pain coursing through her body. She was floating somehow, but it felt like she was in a pit of thick liquid with no room to breathe. It clung to her, heavy and suffocating, dragging her down into its depths. She struggled, her limbs flailing, but the weight was unbearable, every movement was like daggers piercing her skin. She wanted to move, to claw her way to the surface, to breathe. But the more she fought, the deeper she sank.
Amid that turmoil, she could hear something fill her ears with words. A voice calling out to her. It was calm but urgent. Was it a man's voice?
"It's up to you now."
And then, suddenly, she was standing and the pain was gone.
The transition was so abrupt that it left her disoriented, her body swaying as though the ground beneath her had shifted. She blinked, her vision clearing slowly, and took in her surroundings. The world around her could only be described as dream-like, as there was no possible way for the scene before her to exist in reality unless it was an illusion.
The sky was dark, not the kind that promised a storm, or night, it was just a dull grey, with no shift in hue. It was a world covered in a thickening fog, with a forest, a dying forest. Fog curled around her feet, thick and cloying, as though it sought to swallow her whole.
The forest around her was dying, no everything around her seemed to be dying. Trees stood like skeletal sentinels, their branches bare and twisted. Leaves fell from their branches, not in the gentle drift of autumn, but in a frantic, unnatural cascade. They turned to ash before they hit the ground, disintegrating into fine, gray dust that coated the earth like snow.
"What… is this place?" she whispered, her voice trembling with the weight of the situation as common sense evaded it. She started moving forward, trying to find a way out of this place that wrapped a blanket of discomfort around her. She pushed through the fog, trying to find any sign of life.
And for a moment, she thought she found it.
Far out into the distance, hidden behind the curtain of mist, Sakura could make out the shape. Human. That much she was certain of. The figure in the distance stood amidst the dying trees. It was tall and slender, its form obscured by the fog, but there was something familiar about it. Sakura approached cautiously still. There it stood, its skin was white, pale as freshly fallen snow, a tone no living human could hold, devoid of any signs of blood flow, of pulse. It was her, but wrong. The other Sakura's skin was as pale as moonlight, her hair a stark white that seemed to glow faintly in the dim light. Her eyes were pools of darkness, the irises a sickly yellow that burned with an unnatural light. She smiled, a twisted mirror of Sakura's own expression, and the air around her seemed to warp, as though reality itself recoiled from her presence.
Behind this unnatural figure, a phantom of a face loomed over her, its features jagged and grotesque, a haunting echo of the creature that had attacked Sakura in the village. The pressure in the air intensified, pressing down on Sakura like a physical weight, making it hard to breathe. She took a step back, her heart pounding in her chest.
"Who… who are you?" Sakura couldn't keep the tremble from her voice.
The other Sakura tilted her head, her black-and-yellow eyes narrowing in amusement. "What's with that look on your face, huh?" she said, her tone of voice mocking, but there was a guttural scrape to it that spoke of nothing natural. "You can't tell?"
Sakura's fists clenched at her sides. "There's no way you're me."
The mirror being laughed, a sound that was both familiar and alien. "Well, that's neither here nor there," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "But are you sure? Now's not the time for your pitiful overthinking. Though, I suppose that's all you've ever been good at."
Sakura's jaw tightened. She hated how this thing spoke, as if it knew her inside and out as if it had lived her life alongside her. "I want answers,"
"I can give them," she said. "I'll start with the obvious: you're going to die."
Sakura's breath caught. "What?"
A pale hand went out in a grand gesture, arms spreading wide to encompass the world around them, "Take a look around! This world is falling apart, along with your soul,"
She was taught not to lose her composure, no matter the situation, it was like walking into battle and willingly taking off your armor and dropping your weapons. Even so, she could feel her blood racing, the thumping of her heart reaching her ears.
"How is this happening?"
The other Sakura sighed, as though disappointed by the question. "That isn't the right question," She put her hands on her hips, twirling her finger in small circles in the air. "What you should be asking is, how do I stop it?"
Sakura stared at her, confusion and fear warring within her. "What?"
Yellow eyes rolled the motion exaggerated and mocking. "Is that all you can say? Really, you're slower than you should be." She pointed at Sakura, and Sakura looked down, her stomach twisting in horror, no longer able to stave off her fears and anxiety. In the center of her chest, the skin and fabric had split, forming a hole, a dark hole forming, its edges jagged and uneven. It was small, but it was growing, widening slightly with every passing moment. The void within it was endless, a darkness that seemed to pull at her very being.
Sakura panicked, her hands hovering over the hole but afraid to touch it. "What… what is this?"
The other Sakura's voice was almost bored, folding her arms. "You haven't got much time left. Soon, this world will disappear, and you along with it."
"I don't understand….." Sakura gripped at her hair, pulling hard so that her skelp felt like it was lifting, ready to tear the strands out. Her ears felt like they were flooded with blood, and her knees were becoming lead while her legs felt as sturdy as wet paper. She felt like her throat was in a snake's grip. Before she could fully lose herself something pierced her eyes. A sharp ray of light broke through the dismal skies, giving a spectacular showing of itself. A pillar of light formed far out in the distance.
It was far away, on a hill that seemed to rise out of the ashen landscape. And Sakura could feel something from this, something that gave her an unusual sense of presence and purpose. She was so immersed in it that she had forgotten about her unusual doppelganger.
"Ah, there it is," The other Sakura's eyes flicked toward the light, and she smiled again a slow, predatory grin. Then she turned back to Sakura and held out her hand, her pale fingers beckoning. "Come here."
Sakura hesitated, her instincts screaming at her to stay away. "What?"
"I'll be sure to save the both of us," There was a false sweetness to her words, "Your soul is going to be destroyed at this rate, but I know a way to save us."
Us. That word rubbed against Sakura like nails down her spine. This creature spoke as if they were one and the same, but Sakura felt no connection to it. If anything, it felt like an invader, something that had wormed its way into her and was trying to consume her from the inside out. She glanced at the light in the distance, then back at the doppelganger's outstretched hand.
Her feet dug into the ground as she took off with a heavy burst in chakra, turning to run. Her feet pounding against the ashen ground as she sprinted toward the light. Behind her, the other Sakura laughed, the sound echoing like a haunting melody.
"Ah, she's smarter than I thought. And here I was, hoping to devour her nice and easy. Oh well."
..
..
..
Sakura didn't know why she felt so compelled to run toward that pillar of light. Perhaps because it was the only flash of color in this world of ask and grays. Or maybe because she had become desperate to find some ray of hope and clutch on even if it was an illusion, as the hole in her chest continued to grow its void. Whatever the reason, she knew she had to reach it. Somehow, she felt that if she could just get there, whatever was happening to her—whatever was tearing her apart—would stop.
Her feet pounded against the ashen ground, each step sending up clouds of dust that disintegrated into nothingness, even the air felt too thick to breathe. As though the entire world was trying to hold her back, but she pushed forward, her eyes locked on the light in the distance.
Then the ground beneath her shifted.
It happened so suddenly that she barely had time to react. The ash turned to white, the texture changing from brittle and crumbling to smooth and solid. The ground rose beneath her, lifting her off her feet and sending her tumbling through the air. She twisted her body, her instincts kicking in, and managed to land on her feet, skidding to a halt. Her head whipped fast, chin trying to jump over her shoulder, and that's when she saw 'her'.
Sakura's doppelganger stood there, a sword under her arm as she folded them. Amusement flashed in those yellow eyes that made Sakura feel she was staring at a snake coiled and ready to strike.
Her pale skin seemed to glow faintly in the dim light, and her white hair swayed gently, as though caught in a breeze that didn't exist.
Despite being a powdered mirror image of Sakura, her voice was what really reminded Sakura that this entity was not her. There was too much pride held in her voice as if she could hold the world in the palm of her hand. As if she would never be challenged.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that now,"
Sakura's fists clenched at her sides. "I thought you said we were dying," she snapped. "So why won't you let me stop it?"
"I was telling the truth," She held out the sword, looking at its blade, it shimmered with an unnatural light. It wasn't the type of weapon Sakura herself was familiar with. "You are dying. And I don't plan on letting that happen. However…" She pointed it at Sakura. "I don't plan to have you steering this ship."
Then it attacked. Sakura didn't know which moved faster, the blade or her doppelganger wielding it. Either way, she could feel the air being sliced through, and coming at her. Sakura twisted sharply, her body moving on instinct, but the edge of the blade grazed her cheek, leaving a thin line of blood in its wake. She ducked low, her hands slamming into the ground. The debris disintegrated almost instantly, but it bought her a fraction of a second—enough to dodge the next strike.
The other Sakura's movements were fluid, almost effortless, as though she knew exactly how Sakura would react. She swung the sword again, the blade cutting through the air with a whistle, but Sakura was ready this time. She sidestepped the attack, but she was far from calm. She needed to find an opening, a way to turn the tables. But this other version of her was fast.
She then made an unusual move with her sword, taking the blade and striking it deep into the ground. The white surface rippled, and Sakura felt the world tilt beneath her. She stumbled, her balance faltering, and when she looked up, she was surrounded by a cage of rock, its bars thick and unyielding. It was as if an earth jutusu was used without the hand signs.
The other Sakura stood outside the cage, her sword resting casually on her shoulder. "Your instincts were sharp enough to know where to go. But you're too slow on the draw to hold my reins."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"
"Isn't it obvious? I want to hold the reigns,"
With that, she turned and sprinted toward the pillar of light, leaving almost nothing in her trail. Faster than your average shinobi. Sakura could feel the panic rise in her throat. She slammed her fist against the bars of the cage, the impact sending a shockwave through the rock. The bars held, but they trembled, cracks spreading across their surface. Sakura's hands glowed with chakra as she poured her strength into the next blow. The bars shattered, crumbling to dust, and she leaped through the opening, her eyes locked on the retreating figure.
Sakura took a deep breath, the air sharp cutting into her lungs, after using her chakra there was a fresh pain that entered her chest. Her hands trembled, but she steadied them. Her feet were hitting the ground hard as she followed after the light. She filled her legs with chakra, increasing her speed. It felt as if she was chasing after something that belonged to her, something that was about to be stolen.
She rushed after this imitation of herself, intending to surpass her to reach the goal and although she was fast, it didn't take long for Sakura to catch up by pushing her chakra to increase her speed. She closed the distance between them, her breath coming in ragged gasps now.
The doppelganger Sakura stabbed her hand into the ground, and the world beneath Sakuar's feet shifted once again. The ground rippled like water, but Sakura was ready to face it. She leaped into the air, her body twisting as she avoided the upheaval. The ground rose in jagged spikes, but she danced between them. Her movements were sharp, in avoiding the jagged spikes.
"I won't fall for the same trick again!" Sakura shouted through her hair that whipped in the air.
She landed on solid ground and sprinted past the other Sakura, her eyes locked on the pillar of light. She could see it clearly now—a sword, its blade glowing with an otherworldly radiance, embedded in the ground at the heart of the light. It called to her, its presence a balm to the void in her chest.
But just as she was about to reach it, a searing pain tore through her back. She stumbled, her breath catching in her throat. She hadn't even felt the intent to kill—just the cold, sharp reality of a hand slicing through her. She turned, her eyes blazing with fury, to face the other Sakura.
The pale figure stood there, her fingers dripping with blood, her black-and-yellow eyes gleaming with malice. "Like I said," she sneered, "I won't let you take the reins."
Sakura's vision blurred, the edges darkening as the void in her chest seemed to grow, threatening to consume her. The pull was tempting, like a cup of water to a desert traveler. It would be so easy to let go, to surrender to the darkness.
But then she heard it—his voice.
"Sakura…."
She remembered the promise they had made, to get stronger, to stand together. Was she going to fall before they could finally meet again? She clenched her teeth, her hands tightening around the blade, feeling the iron tear through her skin, spilling blood. She wouldn't give up. Not now. Not ever.
With a cry of defiance, she pulled the sword free from her body, the pain a distant echo as she drove it into the ground. The world shifted once more, the ground rising and twisting like a living thing. She focused her chakra, her willpower bending the earth to her command. The ground coiled around the other Sakura like a snake, trapping her in a prison of rock.
Sakura didn't wait. She turned and ran, her body screaming in protest, her vision swimming. The pillar of light was so close now, the sword within it calling to her like a beacon. She reached out, her fingers closing around the hilt, and the world exploded in light.
Darkness engulfed her, a void so complete it felt like she was falling. But within that darkness, she heard a voice—the other Sakura's voice, faint but clear.
"Not bad," it said, a hint of amusement in its tone. "Partner."
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EARLY CHAPTERS FOR MEMBERS NOW: BUYMEACOFFEE
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (101, 102, 103, 104, 105)
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter (46, 47, 48)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter (37, 38, 39, 40)
-Through the Looking Glass chapter (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
- (Bleach crossover) Kunoichi amongst Reapers: (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia (PART 1 & 2)
- Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi