Chapter 82: Chapter 80: Storm Training (part 5)

- You lose, Naruto.- said Homura while pointing a kunai at the back of Naruto's neck.

- kuh- A surprised Naruto could not stop shaking as he tried to get a glance at Homura, whose voice was coming from behind him.

Homura had taken Naruto's back and was pointing a kunai at the latter's neck.

Ready to stab him at any moment. 

The match was over.

Nothing. There was nothing that Naruto could realistically do now to physically remove himself from that position. Any wrong move and he knew that he would die and the match would end. 

The A.I. understood that much.

- First rule of combat is to never take your eyes off the enemy... you taught me that well; perhaps a bit too well.- Homura said those words to Naruto while slightly remembering all the deaths he had suffered at the hands of this A.I. character.

He was both grateful and furious. Since his pride had been dragged through the mud and he had to swallow it back, only to be forced to spit it out once again; every time Naruto showed him a more humiliating ways that he could deal with him.

Homura had grown a very large amount of resentment but also far more humility toward his own abilities and his way of thinking.

Being called a genius had gotten to his head, he thought he was special.

Though now he understood that it was far from the truth.

One single jutsu, that was known to most talented shinobi was enough for him to understand how weak he truly was, and worse, in the real world he was much weaker than the current version of himself who won. 

Granted, Naruto used the Kage bunshin no jutsu (The shadow clone jutsu) and its variants to a ridiculous degree that no ninja alive could recreate but it remained factual to him that if he could not circumvent this jutsu in any way or took it lightly he would forever lose to Naruto.

This made him believe that he has to train much more than others prior to becoming a genin or he will be left in the dust like other characters in the same age bracket as Naruto and Sasuke.

After all he is no real genius, he had no real talent.

Nothing came easy to him.

Everything he knew, and most skills he had gained were the results of him pouring years and hours of blood and sweat to achieve something.

But if he could use the time he would get here to hone his abilities while sleeping than perhaps he could elevate the playing field.

He needed to fix his way of fighting and refine his abilities or be left behind.

He could not blindly follow or perform well.

The things he would be taught at the academy, wouldn't be enough.

However he had seen the show and with C's help he could recall the usage of many hand seals.

Though he had no idea what they truly meant.

He didn't believe it would be enough to perform any jutsu by that fact alone, he didn't truly understand what it meant to use chakra, the knowledge wasn't exactly hidden but since the majority of people don't use or have very little chakra, it is either something some who have more stumble into using it by accident or are taught by others.

Nonetheless, it is something that requires a lot of hard work to use it efficiently for normal people.

However, Homura is not truly a normal person. No wielder of a kekkei genkai truly is; at the very least in a physical sense.

Such was the fate of all those who are born different than others, if given a pushed they would shine much brighter but also break much faster. Because such is the fate of all those who stand out from the rest.

Contrary what he had believed, he now understood how much knowledge could be more incremental than being born special physical gifts.

Anyone gifted could die from a mistake just any one else. But one who had prior knowledge could plan ahead and avoid never be put in the same situation.

And Homura possesses an assortment of knowledge, when it came to ninjutsu even if he didn't how to use it or how it could be used to his benefit. 

But now, he has to see and understand what he needs or more likely which jutus he needs to make his own, in order to even have a chance at survival.

The world he had found himself in was brutal.

It wasn't enough to be good.

One  had to be the best, to assure their survival.

But not even that was enough to truly thrive or avoid death's cold embrace.

The original show itself pointed that out.

Nonetheless, only the best of the best get to survive and have a chance of leaving a mark at shaping the direction the future might take.

It was some thing Homura came to realize after suffering so many defeats.

Even if it was all fictional, he had died and lost more ways that he could recall.

Thus he was not just able to learn the lesson he needed to learn, he now embodied it.

And for that alone, he was grateful for the fake Naruto in front of him.

- Since I won't be able to tell the real you, at least instead I will get to say it to his fake and weaker copy. - So said Homura as he was ready to end the match.

Ready to deliver the final blow.

Pointing a weapon at someone was at first, a very hard thing for him to do it. Even if the person he pointed it at was a mere recreation and a mockery of what his unwilling friend will be able to perform in the future.

But he nonetheless had to say it to the image of Naruto he had inside his mind.

These long and repressed feelings, after spending what felt like an eternity they had spent together.

He had to voice them out before it was all over.

Even if he did not expect the figment of his imagination in front of him to be able to respond in kind.

Though the unthinkable still happened regardless of Homura's expectations; as he never anticipated a response to shared with him by the A.I. but it nonetheless did.

-Hmph! if you say so Homura. (Naruto)

After all this time, the thing in front of him could only say its usual lines or variations of the same sentences, thus, Homura was shocked at what just transpired in front of him.

Still, seeing the thing in front of him acting like a real person to this degree was beyond terrifying.

Perhaps it could be said to be macabre even. 

At least enough so that Homura relaxed the grip of his hand on the kunai he was holding slightly.

- !? What the... Ah!- Said a shocked Homura who tried to figure out what had just transpired, but soon let out a surprised cry as Naruto saw an opening to try to escape its current predicament.

- Kaaagh!!

However, as he did so Homura inadvertently sliced off his neck causing the match to end prior he could escape. 

*Winner Homura*- immediately said the voice of the game system, before a gruesome scene took place.

And soon after that both Homura and Naruto respawned to their usual spots as if by magic, though in front of Homura a small window asked him if he wanted to continue fighting the same opponent; on which he quickly pressed the option to not further continue on the screen on display.

- *sigh* the way the respawn system acts, no matter how many times I experience it... feels weird.- said Homura as the entire field and character in front of him dissipate into a sea of blue data particles.

-...Still, that was weird... is the program evolving or was it something else?- said Homura, remembering the odd action that the Naruto A.I. took near the end.

The fears of a program evolving past what was expected of them terrified Homura.

He was glad that C, had not yet gained sentience or seemed to be gaining a form of sentience. He feared what an all powerful computer inside his mind could do to him.

If it went rogue, taking control of his body without himself noticing was a possibility. 

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A true nightmare that Homura had to pretend that he did not fear such a possibility or believed that it could happen since he would be at its mercy and everyone else he knew too.

However such thoughts were useless if he had no way of dealing with them, he still had enough time to fight a bit more before he could wake up.

So he scrolled the list of characters within the Naruto universe.

Weighing the pros and cons one by one.

- (It's weird how used to stabbing people I am now... even if those people are fakes. But those game characters are merciless and only think about winning above all else. No matter how many times or if you give them a chance to surrender.)

After stabbing characters so often, Homura had grown accustomed to the fact.

Even if they do not spray blood when stabbed or the match resets as soon as a fatal injury has been acknowledged, the fact that he could feel the piercing or stabbing of other people's skin or textures, in this case, it simply never felt right with Homura.

He was no murderer after all.

Nor he had the desire to kill anyone in particular.

Even without a family or a house to call his true home, Homura lived a pretty uneventful life and spent peaceful days with people he cared about.

Nothing in his day-to-day life, had him feel the need to hurt others without a reason.

It is why he even felt bad about hurting Uryuu both physically and mentally but he was now past that event.

Still, he had no other choice but to follow the game settings in place.

He could only question them.

He didn't create the game in question.

Though technically he did. Twice even...but having no memories of having done so, it was hard to reconcile his feelings with facts.

He believed that for now, he had no better alternatives.

The game was created with penalties in place and a set of hard to change rules.

If a character is hurt on a fatal spot it is instant death unless the character in question cannot die from such injuries.

Orochimaru and Naruto were among the few but also of the many characters who could regenerate quite fast; unless they were dealt a deadly blow.

- ( I... understand why this game was not very gamer friendly. Characters' tactics were put on the level of real people and not in the normal game setting. It explains why Naruto gangs up on people with an army of clones...no self-respecting game developers would create a game so broken on arrival) Thought Homura as he tried to make sense of the experience he went through while trying to figure out who to fight next.

It was getting harder for him to choose, but he wanted to prioritize more on practical combat experience for his next challenge and also face an opponent who was good at using weapons.

Naruto wasn't exactly the type to use weapons as part of his core fighting strategy, and Homura wanted to fight someone he could steal from fighting techniques or at least gain practical experience in fighting ranged fighters; he felt that it was his weakest area of expertise at the moment.

He trained alone and sometimes with Might Guy, a taijutsu specialist, that he never truly focused on avoiding projectiles or fighting at long range.

He hardly had any options to deal with that type of opponent, and most who did had a vast arsenal of long-range/powerful ninjutsu which defeated the fact that he wanted to face them for training.

It defeats any point of him wanting to train at this early stage, if training involved or consisted of him having to counter a shock wave or dodge lightning.

Thus, the reason why it was taking too long.

Naruto characters weren't exactly big on pure melee types of fighting.

Most rely on ninjutsu to close the gap between their opponents.

Searching through a different franchise was probably Homura's best bet for him to find the most useful opponent that fitted his criteria at the moment.

It was certainly what he thought as he came to an end of all the fighters he knew about within the Naruto franchise.

- (... jeez, those 2 morons. They were just as stupid and lazy as the other ones that came before and after them)...*sigh*...I feel like a new man just having my thoughts spelled out clearly. Huh? Who is that?

Homura looked at the profile of a character from a different franchise that he did not remember.

The blond young man, seemed attractive and looked like the type of characters anime girls usually like it. 

He looks serious but also quite cool with his slightly short haircut, but his blue and white scheme clothes seemed to have been overly stylized.

It looked like a uniform that took inspiration of Japanese and western uniforms at once.

Still, his character profile looked slightly like what Homura was looking for, he even had a short katana that did not seem to be too heavy.

He was likely a speed type of character from Homura's deductions.

- His name is... j*n K*saragi... Well it doesn't matter.- said Homura as he pressed on the face of the character he wanted to fight against.

The man suddenly materialized in a seemingly hurt state since his left hand was holding his face while, while his posture seemed to be leaning a bit backward. 

But the words it would spout soon after would take Homura for a loop.

- Nii-san! Where are  you Nii-san!!! fufufu...hahahaha!!! (J*n)

The man started laughing maniacally for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

- Huh? - a dumbfounded Homura could not understand what just occurred in front of him.

The seemingly serious and heroic character had turned out to be a madman.

- I will slice apart anyone and anything until I find my way back to you. Kukuku.(J*n)

The man said while looking at Homura in a psychotic way, who immediately clicked the "no" button on the screen asking if he wanted to proceed with the current match-up.

- Nope.- he clicked

He was sent back immediately to the character roster.

- I can't believe I almost faced a psycho with an extreme fascination with his brother.., I guess looks can truly be decei- huh?

Homura once again fell onto another character wearing glasses and had quite an agile build.

He seemed to be both a long-range and close-range fighter.

At least from his description as Homura spotted reading.

Regardless of who he truly was or from which franchise he hailed from, he nonetheless fitted Homura desired mold.

Since he wanted to be both a long-range and close-range fighter who prioritize on speed/agility.

- Yuk*hiko... M*roku... from the Get B*ckers franchise, huh? I don't remember who he is but he can't be that strong since I don't remember even reading or watching...whatever manga or anime that was... right?

A puzzled Homura clicked on the image in front of him and immediately after a young effeminate man with glasses and a kind smile on his face appeared in front of Homura.

He also held in his right hand, a thin sword.

He then bowed slightly.

Which Homura did the same after being surprised by the gesture.

Overall he seemed to be ready to face him.

- (How polite. Unlike the previous psycho this one seems to be a decent guy, I finally made a good choice it seems). 

Chapter end.

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