The Acrimony Anomaly [Naruto Fanfic]

Ups and Downs

     Of course, the Third Hokage had to talk her down from her adrenaline high from even speaking of brutally slaughtering the snake-bastard. So, she had the preliminaries to worry about, not that she had enough to worry about anyways.

     "I wanna be first!" Tsubaki complained as she stood in the lines and being congratulated on making it that far.

     The Hokage grew a tickmark in record-breaking speeds, "Tsubaki, I am in the middle of something. Stay quiet or you'll be disqualified."

    "I won't help you from snake-bastard then."

    "All the matches are randomized-"

     She narrowed her eyes and replied coldly, "Then whoever randomizes it better have me first or they're dead."

     The genins swore that they could hear someone trembling nearby. Hiruzen cleared his throat and continued, "Well, until I was rudely interrupted."

     She casually stuck up her middle finger but he ultimately ignored her. "You will have one-on one battles that are totally random- may I remind you all- that will decide who moves on to the actual battles for Chunnin rank."

     Everyone that made it retreated to the viewing platforms and a part of the wall suddenly moved up to show a grid of glowing lights. The amount of the bloodlust in the air made the hope to Kami that Tsubaki would be picked first and that there wouldn't have to be another accidental casualty in the Konoha ranks.

    She pleaded innocent on the last one and explained that the man had happened to be in the way of her jutsu. No one else had dared to be in the training grounds near her again.

     The names flickered by before landing on two.

Tsubaki Uchiha vs. Subaku no Gaara

     One eye winked flirtatiously at the boy when she hopped down into the arena. He was still immune to her charms and perhaps would always be but it was still fun to mess around with him. "You ready, sweetcheeks?"

    She picked up on Kakashi Hatake's groan in annoyance at the nickname. She was ready to throw an insult at his old-man hair but Hayate had coughed out a, "Begin!"

     "I'll go easy on you, Baby Cakes."

    She started off light with her Katon: Fireball jutsu. He blocked it in a wave of sand. Grinning, she pounced upon him and past the sand barrier.

    Quietly, she whispered in his ear, "Anime in the streets and hentai in the sheets.. Tonight. 9p.m. My parents won't ever be home."

    Most boys at that age would instantly accept her offer. With her smoking bod, flirty attitude, and op-ness... Who wouldn't want that?! However, with the densest character in The Acrimony Anomaly, it just doesn't work like that.

     He swiped her off with a slash of his sand with his neutral expression. It was unreadable and Tsubaki couldn't help but get frustrated. "Why aren't you trying?"

    Suddenly, sand arose from the cracks in the tiles and upturned a bunch of them. He had been distracting her to prepare his weapon. "Well played."

     Taking a stance, she prepared to take the brunt of the force, wanting to know just how bad Gaara wanted to win. 

M̴͓̠̼̭̰̓͛̐͊͜͠ͅa̸̖͍̰͓̭̍ḵ̸̢̱̂ẽ̶̯̹͔͚̊̈̋̇̅̀͑̀͠

    Her left arm suddenly pulsed and a sharp pain ran through it. She grit her teeth at the pain and scowled at the word that echoed through her mind.

     "Defend yourself!" Naruto hollered, "You can win this!"

    She could feel hot lighting dancing across her skin and spelling out the words that rang and scared her whole body. 

     "What are you doing?!" Hashirama yelled, a bit concerned at what was happening.

    She clicked her tongue and tried to move her arm but it only made her wince in pain.

Y̴͍̹̥̫̯̤̜̝͔͎̓̊̊̈́ȭ̴̢̹̬̖̰͎̼͋ù̷̮͔̞̤̣̱̤̠̽̋͐̔̓͑̑r̸͙̭͕̝͎͙̯͎͓̙͐͐̓̊͒͊̌̿̇

     Taking a deep breath, she willed her chakra to her body, trying to spread it out evenly to help buffer some of the damage. 

     Her arm suddenly fell limp at her side and she cursed herself internally. Why now? It was just dreams- why is it doing this now?!

     Instead of fear, she felt anger and could feel it rising like a boiling kettle by the second. The people on the sidelines could tell that something was wrong. 

     "Get out of there!" Sakura screamed as the wave was a few centimeters away from her. It was only a matter of time before she was buried beneath the grains.

C̴͇͈̓̋̐͊̂͐̃̾ḣ̵̢̙̖̣̱͔̮̓͗͆̔̓ơ̸͎̯̈̂̿͋͊͋̾ï̴̯͇͓̥̅̽̈́͝ć̷̨̖̘̲͎͖͋͊̕͝è̶̢̧̘̰̣͔̥̥̲̉̔̊͜.̷̡̹͇̜̺̱͓̐͒ͅ

     The pain became unbearable and she couldn't help but release a scream. Her eyes suddenly morphed into their Mangekyo Sharingan state and she moved to the opposite side of the wave, narrowly missing the blow. Her hair was covering her eyes but she could still see through it.

     Her left arm had moved and in a blink of an eye disabled the boy. She had just hit him on his back pressure point. Tsubaki hadn't even processed what had happened until her was on the ground unconscious.

     She deactivated her Sharingan and just stared cold-heartedly at the ground. She hadn't expected to be attacked by those words when she was awake but it gave her a huge warning sign. 

     Over the course of her new life, she had not accomplished fixing up any of her main mistakes and instead formed bonds and friendships that she didn't deserve. That in itself was a mistake.

     Clutching her arm, she walked on out, not daring to even look at anyone's face in fear of what she would see. 

    No one stopped her. After a performance like that, who would. They saw red in the eyes of an Uchiha, which was a big, bad 'stay away' symbol. Only Hashirama had seen her Sharingan until then, so it seemed as though she had just awakened it. Sasuke, however, had the sneaking suspicion that the presumption wasn't true.

     Tsubaki Uchiha had made way to an empty room and proceeded to roll up her left sleeve. The words were etched on her skin but seemed to be drifting across her arm. The words changed from a neat cursive to even a messy handwriting like Naruto's. However, the same words still appeared: Make your Choice. 

    At that moment, she promised to always wear long sleeves from then on. No one needed to know about it and she wasn't ever planning on telling anyone about it as long as she lived.