I don't own solo leveling or Naruto
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"Run."
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"Cling to life."
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"Live in pity."
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"Then when you possess the same eyes…"
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"Come and face me."
Sasuke watched blankly as the vivid memory of his parents getting cut down played in front of him. The blood on the floor crystal clear in the moonlit room he remembered. The swirling three tomoe gaze of the man he used to admire holding the sword that did it.
He'd long ago passed the question of why. Because it didn't matter. No question mattered other than why he was standing before him, still haunting him.
"Foolish little brother, why are you still here?" That man said. No. Itachi said. "I can tell you why." he offered, with a slight smirk. "Do you want to know?" Itachi's voice was suddenly behind him, his breath brushing against his ear.
He knew.
"If you know then tell me." He said.
"I don't have enough hatred." Sasuke said, his voice devoid of all life. He wasn't angered by his words currently, not like he would have been just a few hours prior.
"Why is that, Sasuke? I'm still out there somewhere. I'm still waiting for you." Itachi manifested in front of him this time. His sharingan shifted into that sickening pinwheel shape. Mangekyou Sharingan.
"I'm dead now. Why does it matter? I failed." Sasuke's onyx coloured eyes fixed Itachi a blank stare. "I won't be haunted by you in the afterlife," he spat.
"Then, why am I here now?" he asked pointedly. Suddenly the scene changed to a blood stained street scattered with corpses and weapons.
"You're not here." he denied.
Itachi smirked knowingly. "Are you sure?"
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Indra felt a twitch in his right arm and smirked. "Not quite yet, incarnate. I'm sure you'd be quite disappointed if all those people down there ended up dead."
He activated the sharingan and swooped down to the battle. The chirping of a thousand birds accompanied the lightning in his palm. He zipped and dashed past the vines in his path before thrusting his arm forward to cut through the vine monster's arm.
"Uchiha?" Tae Shik questioned when he saw the form of Sasuke dropping down beside him. He saw the kid bleeding profusely from his left shoulder; an open wound that he either ignored or really didn't seem too bothered by.
"Hn." Sasuke glanced at him with a sneer. He rolled his eyes at the typical response he'd expected from the Uchiha but visible disdain was a new one from him. He didn't have time to ponder when the monster swung at them. They avoided it but being in the air meant that the vines spilling from the missed punch would pounce on their vulnerability.
Both Sasuke and Tae Shik sliced through each vine with surgeon-like precision. When they landed on the ground Tae Shik took the minute of reprieve they had to address the situation.
"Thanks for buying us time, kid. Ripping off that thing's arm certainly distracted it long enough for us to gain some distance." he said and he saw the kid give him a simple nod. "Are you sure you don't want that looked at? It won't bother you in the fight?"
"That's a good point. It will certainly be bothersome to have this body bleed to death after I've only just awoken after all these centuries." The boy grimaced in slight pain at the shrug of his shoulder.
'I also don't have a lot of my own mana to work with and I can't draw on the boy's drain chakra reserves. I'm truly in a pinch.' Indra grimaced in realisation.
'What? That's not Uchiha's voice. Is he possessed?' Tae Shik thought in shock. He had a terrible sense of foreboding in his stomach that whatever was currently going with Sasuke wasn't normal; not that everything else related to him ever was. But now that he took the time to notice it, Sasuke's whole demeanour was different, far more ruthless, calculating and malicious, similar to himself more than anything else.
"Who are you?" he demanded and he saw 'Sasuke' just let off a scathing smirk, "I don't think my identity is something you should be concerned about right now. However, you can refer to me as Indra at present." Indra explained. Tae Shik looked ahead to see the monster steadily reattaching the severed limb and realised that this Indra character was right. He quickly took initiative and ordered Binna to heal Indra because right now he would be their best chance at coming out of this skirmish alive.
Indra blinked feeling his muscles, skin and bone repair themselves thanks to Binna's healing magic. His palms glowed purple absorbing whatever excess magic that Binna left over from her loose control at the moment. 'I have a few more minutes to play with thanks to that girl's healing magic.' he thought.
He still would needed to end things quickly before his time was up and to that he would need to ensure there would be no distractions. He barely gave the group a glance as he addressed them, "You people better stay out of my way. My incarnate seems to care for you so it'll be a bother if you ended up dead just because you got caught in the crossfire."
"What? What are you talking about? Who are you?" Hei-ran demanded, a touch of fear entering his voice due to the pressure that Indra was releasing.
"It doesn't matter. Just stay out of the way, mongrel." Indra reiterated before turning away to the on rushing vines. He activated the 3 tomoe sharingan in his eyes before making the ram hand seal and channeling his mana into the chakra powered eyes. The pattern of sharingan swirled and spun into a red void before black lines adorned the iris and formed a spiral pattern. An evolution of the sharingan that only few of Indra's bloodline could ever hope to attain. The Mangekyou Sharingan.
"Amatersau."
When the words left Indra's mouth a torrent of ungodly black flames spawned on the monster's head. Blood leaked from Indra's left eye but he didn't pay it any mind as he rushed forward with Chidori in hand. The vine fused Ogre cried out in agony as its face was eaten by the black flames, sending tendrils to the on rushing Indra. Indra cut through each vine with his improved eyes keeping track of every movement and unorthodox strike.
'This is a little too much to keep track of. I need some space,' He decided, turning his head to the open sky above.
He zipped and dashed up the vines, using them as footholds, to get into the air and held up a single hand sign to swirl the power behind his right eye.
[Kagustuchi]
The already existing black flames crowning the monster's head formed into a bed of flaming spears that pierced through its head. And it was from there that Indra was able to spot the movement of invisible light with his Mangekyou Sharingan. 'There! Finally snuffed you out of your hiding spot then.' Satisfaction boomed in Indra's chest at this discovery.
He wasn't able to take advantage of this fact when a wall of vines came over head and forced him to put up a cross guard to block. He was dragged down to the ground with vines trenching him through the ground. 'Bloody hell! Not gonna make this easy for me, are you?'
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"What is this?"
Sasuke saw him clad in that unaesthetic orange and blue jumpsuit of his, unconscious on the cold hard muddy ground. Every time he thought back to this pathetic sight complicated emotions stirred deep within his core.
"Why didn't you kill him that day?" Itachi was behind him whispering those words.
Anger burned in his chest at the sound of his voice. "I'm nothing like you and I don't have to explain myself to you either!" he lashed out with a vicious right hook. However, he did nothing but strike at empty air. "Just leave me alone!" he screamed out furiously.
"That doesn't answer my question." Itachi's voice sang, but there was no physical manifestation.
Sasuke glared at empty space wondering what he could do to get that smug bastard to show his face again. "Itachi! Show yourself!"
It was a horrible, dark chuckle that reverbated in Sasuke's ears, "My, my, have I stuck a nerve? I didn't think this was going to be such a difficult question for you?"
"Itachi, why are you doing this?" Sasuke grounded out.
"Why?" Itachi repeated. "Shouldn't you be asking why you're so weak?"
"What are you talking about?" Sasuke gained an incredulous look.
"You left the village to gain more power didn't you? From the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. Obviously things haven't worked out that way, but from where I'm standing you would have been better off with the Leaf."
Suddenly the scene shifted to when he was having his chakra drained by that gigantic tree monster. Its soulless yellow eyes bore into him as its spear stabbed into his collar bone, draining away not just his chakra but the curse mark along with it.
"How disappointing it is that you've stagnated once again. Since arriving in this new world you've formed ties again. Choi Jong-In, Cha Hae-In, Lee Baekhyun and even Sung Jinah. Let me ask you this, Sasuke. Do you even want to kill me?"
Sasuke widened his eyes, appalled at the suggestion. Flabbergasted as to how he could even ask such a thing. "What are you talking about?" he spat. "I want to kill you more than anything. You killed Mother, Father, Shisui, and everybody else! You are truly evil, Itachi Uchiha, and you deserve worse than death for leaving me all alone."
Sasuke bowed his head as tears of frustration bubbled to the surface.
"Now I'm left wondering where all that hatred went? It doesn't matter what I want anymore. I'm dead… so it doesn't even matter… I failed."
Itachi materialized himself once again, this time with a small smile on his face.
"That's it then? You're dead, nothing matters anymore. So… you regret it?"
"Regret what?" Sasuke's voice sounded hollow to even his own ears, he had truly accepted his fate and maybe he was a little bit glad his torment had ended.
"Leaving everything behind."
He sensed a shift in the air and when he looked up he saw his own saddened and pathetic expression directed at him.
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Indra recovered and sped away from the vines on his tail. He didn't want to expend more mana than necessary so he elected instead to slice through each vine that would come too close with Sasuke's blade. He managed to circle around the main body and dash at frightening speeds towards the chest area, stabbing through it with all his might.
"Damn! Running off now are we?" He taunted, wiping the blood off his face.
"That guy…" Hei-ran murmured in awe. He watched Indra glide through the air, weaving past vine after vine like he was flying. "I've never seen anyone move like that? Is he even human?"
"He's definitely different from before and those black flames. Where did they come from?" Jeaha pointed out. Even from a distance he could tell that he could only hope to conjure up black flames like those in his dreams…or nightmares.
"Regardless, he's helping us out and our best course of action would be to stay out of this battle. We're not on his level at all." Bora gripped her staff tightly in frustration. Watching the way the boy zipped about with the blade reminded her of Cha Hae-In and her flawless sword technique, it was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.
'Well, if I make it out of here then there's no way Choi Jong-In will be able to keep this hush-hush. Sasuke or Indra or whatever he is will definitely be the Association's top priority.' Tae-Shik thought.
Indra's eyes gleamed a menacing red in the darkness, chasing down the scurrying spirit of the forest. With the divine eyes that could see all things, he was able to track the wayward soul trying to dim its presence the closer and closer he approched, grasping it in his hands. It was defenseless without an avenue of escape or retreat anymore.
"Don't run, soul of the trees. Your end is near. Although I must thank you for getting rid of that snake's presence within my incarnate."
His hand was covered in a dark purple hue as he reached and grabbed the vine that the soul resided in. He coated his other hand in the same purple hue and stabbed into the vine to extract the spirit of the forest. An intangible amalgamation of force and power, a power he had in his grasp.
"Such, such, such… Power!!"
Without a medium to speak through he heard the voice in his head.
"Your purpose doesn't end here but your autonomy does. You will become the bond that ties two souls together, the link to the vast wells of power that dwell within their core. Surrender and submit. Die for me."
Indra enclosed his palm and crushed the soul into particles that quickly rushed in and merged with the cursed seal on his shoulder. It shone a brilliant golden light before shimmering down to radiate a dark purple hue and then returning to the black tattoo it once was.
Indra sighed, smiling at a mission well done. Once his incarnate had recovered the power of the forest would have already merged with the curse seal and all he would have to do is play the waiting game. 'Tch, that pesky Kakashi Hatake. He used an impressive sealing jutsu on the curse mark…' After centuries in limbo, wisps of his presence passing generation after generation, he finally was able to breathe air again. Although all he knew was gone he still desperately wanted to exist and when given the chance Indra nor anyone else ever truly wanted to die.
He rejoined the group watching the vine infused Orge collapse in on itself. "Well that's that then. Well done ki-" Tae-Shik caught himself, gulping nervously from Indra's glare, "Err, I-I mean Indra."
Hei-ran eyed him with amusement, 'He's never stuttered like that.' He turned, frowning at Indra, 'Although, I get it. This Indra character is way more intimidating than Sasuke,' Even if it was the same face and body, Indra just had a certain aura that Sasuke didn't. If Sasuke was a cold, calm arctic chill then Indra was a raging, icy blizzard.
"The boss has been defeated unfortunately, so I imagine the gate will be closing soon." Indra informed them.
"Urgh… What happened to the kid? Did you kill him or something?" Yon probed for answers. He was holding onto his side painfully after being struck and a barrage of vines. Binna had exhausted her reserves buffing Jeaha and Bora's magic so he would have to wait for medical attention.
"My incarnate will wake soon so you can place your worries elsewhere. In fact I would've expected a little gratitude for saving your lives." Indra remarked snidely.
"Huh? What did you just say?" Yon grit his teeth in anger, but a hand to his mouth from Bora quickly shut him up.
"Our apologies, Indra. Thank you for helping us out. We wouldn't have been able to beat that thing without suffering casualties." Bora bowed respectfully, forcing the suddenly bashful Yon to do the same. He rolled his eyes at them, but returned a nod. He started to feel a twitch in his left arm and bowed his head to hide a smirk.
"Well, I think my time is done here…"
"Excuse me?" Tae Shik uttered. He watched Indra jerk suddenly and violently, collapsing to his knees causing panic to stir within the group. He quickly caught Indra in his arms, his head lying on his chest. "What the hell? What's up with you now?" he grumbled, trying to hide the apprehension seeping into his voice.
"Shut up. You're being loud, dumbass."
The words whispered in his chest were crystal clear as if shouted on the rooftops. He'd never been so relieved to hear that voice again. "Whatever kid. Just go to sleep and stop being such a bother."
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Choi smiled, accepting the cup of coffee his new assistant had bought for him. He breathed in the rich aroma of the cup of coffee before taking a small sip. The nervous air around the site was due to his presence he'd figured, them not being used to seeing their guildmaster sitting out and waiting with them for the attack force to clear the dungeon of monsters. He nodded politely for every stiff greeting he was given from the passing members of the mining and collection teams.
"They've been in there for some time now don't you think, Master Choi?"
He couldn't help but share a similar sentiment but looking down at the time on his watch, no more than 3-4 hours had passed.
"It's to be expected. This is a low A-rank gate and despite all of them being A-rank in magical ability, these recruits have never worked together before so that's another factor to consider."
However, he couldn't shake the strange feeling that something had taken place. Whether it was good or bad, he'd hopefully find out soon enough.
He perked up seeing a foot exit the blue portal ahead of him. Hearing the calls of the other teams, he ignored them to make first contact. His eyes landed on Lee Bora, the woman he entrusted to lead them through this dungeon and although a little surprised at the scratches and grime riddling her person. He supposed that it would be expected. She was leading, guiding and testing a group of powerful individuals that have never worked together.
"You look pretty banged up," he joked.
"Yeah…you should see the other guy."
"Hahaha, I think I wi-" He stopped himself when he laid eyes on the thirteen boy lying in the arms of Monitoring agent, Gang Tae Shik, being the last to come through the slowly closing portal.
This was a fact noticed and pointed out by many others except Choi Jong-In as his priorities lay elsewhere.
"What happened to him!"
Brushing past Lee Bora, a significant shift from his usual light hearted demeanour, he had an angry, almost panicked look strickening his face.
"Tch, don't give that look. I didn't do anything?"
"I think that's the problem." Rage bubbling to the surface, the ground beneath Choi cracked from the pressure of his aura.
"Hey, I wasn't the one who sent a kid there. Maybe you should think about that before you direct your anger at me." Tae Shik retorted, although he couldn't stop the trail of nervous sweat trailing down his neck.
"What?"
"Sir, I think he means that." Bora tried to diffuse the growing tension between her boss and the agent, who she shot a look that said 'What are you doing?'
"He's very capable of speaking for himself."
Choi wasn't an unreasonable person nor was he ever one to malicious flaunt his superiority like so many others in this world, but this man whether he wanted to or not had undermined his authority with that comment. He wouldn't strike out, but he would make sure that this hunter would squirm in his presence for ever calling him out in front of his subordinates like that.
"Well?" He tilted his head to the side. His affinity for fire magic caused the air in his immediate vicinity to heat up and judging by the sweat trailing Tae Shik's head, it was taking effect.
'Good.'
"Mrgh…"
He was snapped out of his power trip by the groaning of Sasuke, squirming in the agent's grasp. He didn't look outwardly harmed but injuries that weren't visible to the human eye are all the more prevalent and dangerous.
"Give him here. I'll take him to get treated." He demanded of Tae Shik. He handed the teenager over without protest and Choi stalked off with Sasuke in his arms, assistant trailing behind him.
He would later come to find out that the mining and collection squads were never able to collect any profits from the dungeon because it closed as soon as the attack force stepped out.
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Woo Jinchul found his car riddled with bullets and smashed into a telephone pole. He was thankful for installing that tracking device in his car which enabled him to track the car to this location, in the slums of the city where petty crime, burglary and murder ran rumpt. Leaving the bus stop he thought that if he wasn't a hunter he'd think twice about coming dressed in such a nice black suit.
"Not here?" He peeked through the broken windshield of the abandoned vehicle. "So where'd you run off to?" He looked around, outwardly unbothered, but very much annoyed about the night's events. He looked down and spotted a trail of blood that led to a distant alleyway up ahead and figured it had to have come from the bozo that trashed his car.
He made the distance in quick time and spotted a man getting beat up by two young delinquents.
'If I was a betting man…' he thought, making out even in the darkness that the man being beaten was the bozo he was looking for.
"Hey, you two! Beat it, it's past your bedtime." he said.
"Huh?" One of the delinquents ceased their punches to give him a once over. "Who do you think you're talking to, stranger?"
"A bunch of hooligans with no discipline or respect for authority. Now let that man go." he demanded calmly.
"Make us asshat." The hooligan taunted, arms open wide.
Jinchul sighed, exasperated. "Such a bother…"
He blitzed over and stood behind them with his hands in his pockets. Although they were hooligans he didn't want to have to give them a concussion or break their bones or anything like that. He'd just spook them away.
"Ah, what? Where'd you?" The both of them scrambled to a fighting stance frantically.
"Let him go and I can promise I'll only break your jaw." He said from behind them, startling them. They were like tiny rabbits compared to a tiger that he was and it was that difference that they felt, saw, and knew.
"Scram." It was one word and they eeped before running off from whence they came.
"Hehe hehe…" Jinchul raised a brow at the man laughing on the floor. "I didn't think getting your face bashed in was funny." he said, sarcastically.
"It isn't, but I fucking wish you would have given at least one of them a good right-y but it's too much to ask for I suppose." He grumbled out, entering a coughing due to all of the injuries on his body.
"You've certainly had quite a night, stranger. Being chased by an entire gang, stealing a high level Hunter Association operative's vehicle and then getting assaulted by two delinquents. I'm sure you could've pictured better ways to spend the night."
"Tell me about it." The beat up man agreed, rising to his feet — albeit very painfully. "The name's Sook. I didn't quite catch yours. What with you crashing into me with your car." He held out his hand to be shaken.
"Woo Jinchul." He answered.
He maintained his unimpressed glare, not accepting the offered hand. Sook saw this and retracted his hand awkwardly.
"Right… So, what happens now? You taking me in for questioning or something?" He sighed.
"Ah, so you already know how these things work. Good, I'm taking you to SPD." Jinchul grabbed by the arm and dragged him away.
"Argh! Hold up a sec, you fucking psycho! I can't be taken to a police station, the guy's got eyes and ears everywhere. He'll kill me in no time." Sook tried to shrug off Jinchul's grip but to no avail.
"What guy? What are you talking about?" he frowned, grip tightening and voice dangerously low.
Sook could feel his aura as an awakened being himself and knew that he stood no chance of escaping this man. "Uh, I can't explain right now, but if you get me somewhere safe then I'll let you know."
Jinchul remained unimpressed but inwardly debated considering his words as folly, but he couldn't deny that he was intrigued about what he had to say. Those gang members wouldn't try gunning him down for absolutely nothing after all.
"Hmm… No." He answered eventually much to Sook's shock and horror. "Uh, what do you mean 'no'? Did you not just hea-"
He was cut off by a swift chop to the neck, slumping over unconscious. Jinchul picked up his listless and lightweight body and stalked off into the night.
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Chapter 26! YAY! I sorry this took forever coming out but I was deliberating on the direction I wanted to take Sasuke in and Indra is another factor that was hard to figure out. The conversation with 'Itachi' was the most troublesome and I still felt like I didn't do it justice, but tell me what you extraborlated from their convo. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Comment what you think Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan abilities should be in the future. I already gave his canonical abilities to Indra.
Other than that I hope you enjoyed this and I'll hopefully get the next chapter out soon.