Short, maybe a little odd, co-written with Griever. Thanks for the edit
go to Skelethin.
Disclaimer: I don't own
Naruto.
---
"Fighters and
weapons."
---
Hyuuga Neji fights because
that is his legacy. Within the milky shine of the Byakugan, within the soft
movement of the Jyuuken there is the strength and pride of generations. Hyuuga
Neji hated the Hyuuga clan, but loved the ancient blood in his veins and the
fluid death of his taijutsu style. The ancient style of the Hyuuga was a
foundation of Hyuuga Neji' genius pride even more so than his bloodlimit was.
Cold, precise and hateful,
Neji's Jyuuken was like poisoned needle. His fight with Uzumaki Naruto has
shown him will and passion beyond the cold blaze. From the needle, Hyuuga Neji
has become a spear bearing pride in himself. His eyes don't just see - they
pierce.
---
Tenten is in some ways more
complex and simpler than anyone. Though both her teacher and her teammate call
themselves the 'Green Beasts', she is the closest to a true beast. Not because
of savagery - she isn't. Not because of rage - she doesn't feel it.
Tenten fights for love.
She loves the sound of the
edge cutting the air. She loves the weight of the sword in her hand as she
strikes. She long ago fell in love with the sun reflecting of the pure and
uncorrupted steel. That is what she loves, that is what she wants. She wants
the perfect weapon. Tenten is a beast. Pure. Direct. Deadly. Weapons are her
claws, but the pure spirit is her fang.
---
Lee fights, because that
had always been his dream. Lee chases his dreams with single minded ferocity
worthy of the Azure Beast. Lee is, in many ways, a perfect living weapon. He
knows doubt, but not hesitation. He understands feelings, but doesn't let them
stop him. Lee knows death - save Uzumaki Naruto he knows it better than anyone
- yet he does not, will not stop.
If Neji is like a spear,
offering the dazzling possibilities of attack, reach and power, Lee is like a
knife. Simple. Crude. Deadly. Lee cuts through expectations of others and
doesn't waver from his goal. This single minded devotion will kill him, but it
will also make him a legend.
---
Shikamaru didn't fight
until he learned to treat it as an intellectual exercise. Like shogi, like go,
like chess or hundreds of other games. The game of advantage, of strategy, of
tactics of gain and loss. The game of war.
Shikamaru learned to lead
when his first mission failed. but his teacher's death had taught him to fight.
And under the lofty promises of protection, under the noble guise of caring... Shikamaru
is scared. Because that fight, that one, fatal fight against an S-rank missing
nin wasn't fear. It wasn't vengeance or even uncertainty.
It was the pure moment of
clarity, when the world made sense for that one fatal moment. When the plan
crystallized in his mind's eye and had been made reality by the slightest of
nudges. It was an arrow that had been shot by Shikamaru's mind to the bullseye
known as victory. Deep in the shadows of his mind, Shikamaru longs to pull that
string again. He has many arrows left.
---
Kiba, among rookie nine,
fights to protect. For Inuzuka the pack is all, the pack takes precedence, it
must be protected and kept strong. There is no finesse or philosophy in Kiba's
brutal, uncompromising style. It is victory. It is guts. It is bestial and
pure. Konoha has no idea just much of a boon Inuzuka Clan is to their village. They
have no idea why Kiba is the one who crushes three older chuunin who dared to
talk trash about the Konoha's jinchuuriki. The pack is the pack, and while the
whole village can't be one, a small group can.
The rookie nine have no
idea they had just become a part of an extended family. But when Hyuuga Neji
unleashes his Jyuuken on that day and shadows block people's moves and the
insects buzz... Kiba smiles. And howls as he breaks bones. He might be simple,
he might be blunt like a mace, but he won't break.
---
Shino fights because it is
required of him. He doesn't particularly like violence, nor does he enjoy death.
It is a waste. Shino hates waste. His fights are quick, simple, direct. No
waste, no fuss. Simplicity and logic are his power. The insects give the
sophistication and the means. Sometimes it is better to let the things flow its
own way.
He doesn't judge, he
doesn't try to be moral. He does what he has to and keeps his thoughts to
himself until it is time to act. Danzo is very surprised when his shinobi
explode around him in an orgy of black death. Uzumaki Naruto is an important
part of the village. Shino hates waste. He absolutely detests it. And while
Inuzuka know the pack, Shino knows the swarm. His loyalty can be even more
deadly than any fang. It comes in thousands and is as swift as it is final.
His last few hours in ANBU
prison Danzo spends huddling in the corner and hysterically killing any
cockroaches he can find. When Tsunade kills him, he is almost glad to die. Shino
is like an executioner's axe. Calm, sharp and final.
---
Hinata fights for will. For
will to know victory, for will to become the victor that no one can argue with.
She is a creature of absolutes - which is why her fear and doubt hold such a
powerful grip over her mind. She longs to know no fear, to shed the darkness
and walk within the sun proudly.
Thoughts, emotions and fear
make her lose. Yet still she stubbornly tries to walk the path to the sun,
inspired by one who is like she wants to be. Hinata loves Naruto. She loves him
the desperate, unstoppable love of a devout priest loving his god, a possessed
man loving his icon. She loves Naruto like a thirsty man water. Hyuuga Hinata
doesn't want to be with Naruto - she wants to be Naruto. That love is her love
of the sun, of pride and refusal to give up.
Paradoxically, it is when
Naruto is gone and she has on respite, no way of drawing strength from his
presence, is when Hinata takes her steps to the light. The fight is quick, cold
and brutal - so like Hanabi. Hinata breaks. Her fight is raw, savage beyond
thoughts or doubts. Hinata reaches her zen in the eye of the storm. Her Jyuuken
is far from artistic, regal precision of Neji's, or almost clinical power of
Hiashi's. It is a hammer - savage, direct and brutal.
---
Chouji fights because he is
a shield. It is his belief and his power. He is not so arrogant to believe that
he can protect everyone, but he can shield those by his side as best as he can.
That is what he does, time and time again with unwavering determination.
Despite the mastery of his
family's fighting style, he is not a good shinobi, nor a great killer even if
his powers alow him to kill enemies by the score. He shields his friends
knowing death, ever since the retrieval mission. He doesn't let it stop him. As
far as he is concerned he is living on a borrowed time and he intends to make
the best of it.
---
Sai used to fight because
he was trained to. Crafted into a soulless tool, not even a weapon but simply a
tool. As shapeless as the ink he uses, but without its color. Sai remains
efficient, deadly and expertly trained, but now he is an artist, if a pragmatic
one. But there is nothing pragmatic in some of his actions, even though Sai
would disagree.
He is swift, quick, deadly
and his smile is as eerie as it used to be, his manner just as disturbing. His
smile was still eerie and his manner just as disturbing when he walked into
Tsunade's office and gave her a detailed report on Root and even more detailed
account of Danzo's plans.
Sai is an artist, an artist
who had found inspiration. Protecting its source was very pragmatic from his
point of view.
---
Ino fights because such is
her pride. Not pride as a kunoichi, nor pride as Konoha's soldier. Her pride
had been laid low once - it shall never happen again.
Power is not her way and it
never will be, but Ino becomes one of the sharpest weapons in Konoha's arsenal
following her own path. Quick, deadly and precise, Ino dances. Her dance is
intricate, her ripostes quick and her blue eyes read deeper than Byakugan can
imagine and predict better than Sharingan ever could. Before it begins, before
it fully forms, Ino knows. Ino can see things as they happen, her mind and eyes
see with unnatural clarity of a born killer.
She has no need for fancy
taijutsu or grand ninjutsu nor power to crumble mountains with bare hands, as
Sasuke learns as he dies. She lures, she dazzles and kills. Her pride is sharp
like a perfectly honed edge wrapped in silk.
---
Sakura fights because she
is afraid and because she hates. She is afraid of being the useless waif of
Team 7, afraid of rejection, afraid of love, afraid of herself and great many
things. She is afraid of Ino's pride and always had been, for her sharp eyes
see Sakura better than she herself ever could. When the blue eyes of her best
friend gain that almost otherworldly clarity, she quietly steps aside, allowing
Tenten to take her place as Ino's best friend.
She is afraid of Tsuande's
pity and she is afraid of the lack of jealousy in Shizune's eyes. But most of
all she is afraid of love. Every time she sees Naruto, every time she smiles,
she hates herself and her fear grows even stronger. The young medic longs to
tell him, to kiss him, to say a simple 'I love you' and her gut wrenches each
time she sees his sunny smile.
Because she sees Sasuke,
she sees the traitor who left her, love that should never be and she desperately
fights, loathing the fact that she can't tell the man she loves she loves
another as well or that she cries herself to sleep sometimes. It is why she
doesn't begrudge Naruto when he moves on, nor does she criticize his choice. Nor
does she begrudge Tenten's cold eyes each time the weapon mistress sees her or
Temari condescending, dismissive attitude. She forfeited that right long ago.
Driven by her fear she fights and improves, but she still fears that little
girl inside and hates her with every fiber of her being.
---
Temari is much like her
battle fan. At first glance blunt and simple, until it opens and unfolds more
beautiful and more powerful than one might imagine. Her mind is quick, her
powers formidable and her spirit unyielding. She learned the lesson of fear
early in her life, but that only made her learn the lesson of courage and
power.
While her weapon might seem
elegant, it is deadly and brutal, much like Temari herself. She wears no
extensive make-up nor jewelry, her hands have calluses and her nails are
cracked from handling her battle fan.
She smirks as she fights,
unafraid to draw pleasure from the humiliation and death of her opponents. She
laughs as she unleashes the storm and rides the wind with savage glee. She
knows subtlety, but she has little use for it - she will break, cut and rip
apart with the power of a hurricane until she achieves her goal, which Tenten
learns twice. Despite that, she can be rejuvenating and calming like a warm
breeze, which Naruto learns intimately. Temari knows what she wants and is not
afraid to go to any lengths to take it.
---
Naruto fights. As much as
he screams of his goals, of his ninja way and parrots the words left him by the
Sandaime, he knows. He fights. He fights because that's what he is and who he is.
Combat is his zen, the
battlefield is his carnival and war is in his blood. He is no killer, but he is
a warrior down to the smallest particle of his being. The seductive song of war
echoes in his mind with every fight and murmurs even in a time of peace.
Naruto is a sword - simple,
sharp and lethal, but offering hundreds of options despite it's apparent
simplicity. He isn't a tool - for tools have other uses. He is a weapon of war.
It calls to him and he is afraid of losing himself in a way that has nothing to
do with Kyuubi. It takes Akatsuki to draw him from the sheath of fear and
discard it along the way.
Naruto doesn't lose himself
- he finds himself and feels more complete than he ever had in his life. The
future is a shifting thing and he cuts like a blade through it.
---
Itachi fights because he
doubts. Has doubted, ever since one day when he heard, in his father's voice,
in the customary words of "As expected of my son" a mockery instead
of an affirmation.
He doubts himself, his
achievements, his goals, even his own eyes, while he dreams of climbing until
he can look down on the world and shout out: I am!
And be able to believe it.
Itachi is like the silk
cloth that you discard out of hand when you unrap it from around your priceless
blade ... and when the dust has settled, and the Akatsuki's Seal-beast lies
broken into a million pieces, and red clouds are bathed in equally red blood
one remains unstained.
---
Kisame doesn't. He is an
oddity, because he doesn't wonder. He doesn't worry. He doesn't doubt. He
doesn't justify.
He knows. And doesn't care.
He fights because it's what
he is, and it's what he loves, and he won't stop until he lies broken. Shattered.
Grinning like a maniac, even as blood froths at his lips and his heart stops
beating, and Uzumaki Naruto briefly bows his head in respect.
A sword can only comprehend
peace after it is shattered, after all.
---
And Madara?
Madara is a word. A word
spoken into the right ear. A word spoken into the wrong ear. A word that turns
the tides and cuts as deeply as any steel, and wants to bind the world itself.
A word which wants to be a
sentence. A sentence which dreams of being a book.
A word which dies as it is
smothered, choked, and strangled into death by the tattered silk of a simple
cloth.
---
Gaara, not entirely unlike
the Konoha Jinchuuriki, fights because that is his nature. He fights to live,
and lives to fight, and that is the one truth that the very core of him is
built around.
Against the Ichibi, against
those who would try to harm him, or against himself ...
When one day the Elders
congratulate their newly elected Kazekage and compliment him on this change in
him that had taken root after his return from Konohagakure, he merely shakes
his head ruefully.
Because these fools don't
see that he hasn't changed at all. He was merely shown things from a different
perspective.
Gaara is a fire, roaring
unstoppably forward, because he knows that - were he to ever stop - he would
die.
And, truth be told, he
wouldn't have it any other way.
---
If asked as to why he
fights, Sabaku no Kankuro wouldn't give you a straight answer if his life
depended on it.
Were anyone who actually
knew him to find out the truth, they would likely spend the next several days
in a shocked stupor.
Kankuro fights because he
loves. Because he sees it as his obligation, though he knows that he would have
been content with simply spending his days on perfecting his art. In his room,
locked behind the bars of a cage and covered by a white tarp, lies porcelain. Fine
dyes, silks, spooled strings and preserved blocks of even finer woods. Half-finished,
they linger in a half-life, and there are moments when the Suna nin is tempted
to unlock that discarded section of his life again.
He's a feint and a parody
that didn't used to be a weapon once, but had to become one. And he dresses and
acts like one, all kabuki-clad and made-up ...
Kankuro is a Manrikigusari,
and his self-made chains make him stronger for it, as he winds his way and
striked from odd angles, throwing himself and his puppets into battle like
counterweights.
Because Kankuro, for all
his perverted posturing and mockery, loves his brother and sister more than
life itself, and turns his passion for creating beauty into a grotesque art of
death.
And, at the end of the day,
he firmly believes it was worth it.
---
Uchiha Sasuke once fought
because he was guilty.
For failing his parents.
For failing his brother.
He fought because duty said
he had to.
Now, he fights because he
is ashamed. Because if he didn't, he would have to take a moment and look at
himself. And he knows he would see something he'd just as soon spit on as look
at.
Uchiha Sasuke is a kunai. Chipped
and rusted in places ... still well balanced, still somewhat useful, but
wasting away being flailed to and fro, indiscriminately, in the vain hope that
if he does just a bit more, his edge would somehow be honed ...
Uchiha Sasuke is a kunai
that dreams of being a sword.
---