“Well, here I go, ma’am…” Aisha hesitantly declared, the visuals of her body stretched out like a crazy nature’s spaghetti as the girl’s speed messed up how light flowed around her body, Regalia was not prepared for such outburst of speed and she realized that she was about to pay for underestimating this child. Luckily for her right before she pulled off her defensive technique by coating her body in her golden sand the little girl stopped halfway and fell to the floor.
“I dropped my sword, I apologize…” she cried out afraid that Regalia or whoever else would flip out in anger and yell at her.
“These swords truly are too big for you…” Regalia smiled, trying her best not to appear shocked or afraid by the incredible speed of the young one. Had she taken the moment to exhale and wipe away the sweat that broke out running on her forehead after witnessing the girl’s inhuman speed she’d have given away her own intimidation.
“Nonsense, my brother wields them and I wish to prove that I am just as worthy as he is. I can do this, just give me another chance…” Aisha rubbed her eyes with knuckles as her entire face blushed in shame.
Regalia smiled and swiped her hand to the side ordering her sand to move out of the gourd and form a whole bunch of strands, jets and defensive walls around her. Her enemy was that of speed far surpassing her own, this girl was quite close to moving faster than lightning and she had not yet awakened her Sharingan as far as Regalia saw it.
“Your brother… He said that you’re about one half of his skill level, does that mean that he’s double the trash you are? That still makes two piles of trash…” the young ninja offended her opponent. It was Regalia’s intent to play on her opponent’s emotions, to make little Aisha angry so that she stopped thinking about all those people watching and judging her, so that she stopped screwing herself over.
“What? How dare you!?” Aisha screamed out, her body disappeared, completely untraceable by even the few ninja standing in the crowd. Loud thuds and bangs could’ve been heard as the girl’s invisible body bumped into one sand wave after another breaking through them with her mere speed. Loud sounds of steel grinding against sand could’ve been heard as well “ the little one had drawn her blades and meant to cut Regalia down.
The young woman turned to her back where Aisha’s last image flashed, the speed of this girl was insane, the natural limit and the fastest that the ninja’s body was recorded to go was the speed of light. There were multiple samurai in the Iron Country who were told to have reached that speed. It was not that the ninja’s body was incapable of handling more, it was just that the laws of physics themselves placed a barrier on the human body. There have been strange events recorded whenever a swordsman, thirsty of fame, has tried it. This world or any other in this Universe did not sustain any higher speed than that. Strangest things happened whenever someone tried it, people just broke down or flat out evaporated or reality itself imploded and created large cataclysms.
For a moment there Regalia was starting to worry that this girl may not realize that barrier, that perhaps no one in her family knew enough about her abilities to explain it to her. It was not that Aisha’s speed approached a place anywhere close to those limits, it was more that Regalia could neither perceive nor move in to counter in time. The body of the young girl was flashing all around her with afterimages and fake out attacks “ the young one was shoving her superiority in Regalia’s face like most Uchiha were known to do.
“Don’t you dare offend my brother!” Aisha’s scream emanated through the public as the girl flashed right through her opponent, cutting once for each word and then fading out from everyone’s perception again. Old man Aziz turned at Jiou at disbelief.
“Why didn’t you tell me my daughter was capable of this? I can’t follow her movements!” Aziz shouted out
“That’s because you try to follow them, you must use your Sharingan to predict her movements and evade or counterattack before they happen…” Jiou continued to observe the small scuffle with his Sharingan still active.
“Her body will collapse if she doesn’t stop, she’s augmenting her own body to withstand the pressure, such children cannot possibly understand or prevent the risks of conscious chakra augmentation” Aziz mumbled to himself.
“I’ll interfere before she goes overboard, I’ve seen her move faster than sound without much problem while fully managing to fight properly. She isn’t approaching her mass limit yet” Jiou replied grabbing his swords and gripping their handles more tightly. As the body broke those impossible speed limits it was crushed by their increased mass for which they had to augment itself with chakra to withstand it. It was said that samurai that moved at light speed had to deal with literally infinite mass placed on their bodies which greatly strained their movements. Wise ninja withheld their bodies from going too far…
“Don’t tell me you’ve been training her in secret!?” Aziz grinded his teeth feeling both angry at his son for possibly teaching his sister things she may have been to young and naïve to learn and a little proud of his own blood.
“Don’t worry, she’s too fast for her own good, she can’t properly track or perceive her own movements to she takes extra time, she won’t break herself, she physically can’t” Jiou tried to calm his father down feeling very proud of his sister and the power she displayed but also grateful that her opponent drew that power out from her.
A slash that Regalia couldn’t have possibly seen or predicted cut at her from below, a powerful shockwave fired through the entire crowd picking up their cloaks and outright knocking people off their feet for well over half a kilometer away. Regalia’s body lifted up into the sky with sand struggling to keep up with the young lady. Aisha’s body leaped up, her feet kept kicking the air below her to propel her upwards as ground crushing gusts of wind fired off from sheer force and rage behind each kick.
Within mere moments the young Uchiha girl flashed up just slightly above the flying Regalia, the young girl thrust her blades into the older one’s body a great number of times bombarding her body with stabs, stabbing the girl over twenty times per second almost like an automated weapon. Then with a finishing slice Aisha cut her opponent’s body clean in two letting the body of her enemy dissolve into thousands of flesh chunks.
However instead of blood the pieces of Regalia’s body bled with sand as the woman’s entire body dissolved into grains of sand surrounding the young Uchiha. Aisha slammed down onto the arena from so high up that the entire arena cracked and collapsed into pieces.
“The fight is over…” Regalia’s voice could’ve been heard from the public, people parted and moved away from where the voice could’ve been heard leaving the young woman exposed in a wide circle as she lifted her fist up into the sky.
“Sand Style: Temporal Shift” she mumbled under her own nose pressing her fist hard, at that instant Aisha flipped over on her back and started crying like a baby despite there being no visible changes to her body. It was a powerful genjutsu transferred through the kunoichi’s sand, with her desperation to move as fast as possible and cut as hard as she could the young girl breathed in a lot of it, got even more into her eyes and under her clothes.
“We’re done here, I assume?” Regalia looked at her friend hurrying her to leave. The friend of the victorious ninja couldn’t keep her pride and joy inside of her pointing out hundreds of time that she was actually with Regalia and how she couldn’t wait for the great inauguration ball.
*****
Later at the Uchiha estate things couldn’t have been more heated up. Some members of Jiou’s family couldn’t stop yelling how stupid of an idea it was to let Aisha out to fight Regalia and how lowly their entire elite clan must’ve now looked having lost to some Sabaku nobody, especially in such a shameful manner. Sister of their prodigy and future hope of the entire clan whined like a baby and while it may have been due to an illusion cast by her opponent the civilians would not see it that way.
That night however quarrels of entirely different matter occupied Jiou’s room. Right after the young Uchiha prodigy calmed his sister down and listened to the young whippersnapper scream in anger over how embarrassed she was, almost like her childish shyness was taken away together with her dignity, Jiou’s father entered the room and asked for an audience with him. Jiou once again tried explaining to Aisha just why her opponent spoke so rudely but the capricious brat didn’t relent and her anger did not cease one bit. After a worrisome sight the young man left her room heading for his own.
“Have you decided who will you invite to the ball?” his father angrily asked, while he was clearly annoyed by that day’s fiasco, he was also too proud in his daughter’s previously unseen display of skill to scold her any more than public humiliation did.
“No, nor do I intend to. I do not seek love, I seek power, isn’t that why you gave birth to me, isn’t that what you are so proud of?” the Uchiha prodigy asked, clearly stepping over the line but caring very little. He was not loved, he was not given birth to or respected for his social skills or some special bond of his father with his mother, he was only alive because he was supposed to be the best his clan had “ strongest male bonding with the strongest female, the greatest Uchiha elite to be born in centuries.
“That is exactly why me and your mother wish for you to find love, son. Was my lesson about the source of Uchiha power lost on you? Must I repeat it?” Aziz angrily tapped the young man’s forehead as if trying to hammer the lesson in with his fingers.
“The greatest source of Uchiha strength is their unparalleled power of love. That is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life. I consider your little family bond to be mostly Platonic, at least as far as mother and your love is concerned, and yet I’ve achieved greater power than most Uchiha manage in their entire lifespans, that’s because like my sister or your brother they fall victims to their own power and stop seeking for more. They enjoy it and flaunt it in their opponent’s faces, I care little for such things…” Jiou pushed his father’s arm away and tried to walk away on him but father grabbed his elbow.
“Son… That is why I wish for you to uncover the greatest power of the Uchiha “ Mangekyou Sharingan and as the scriptures say the key of that power is through love!” the old man yelled out waving around like an old creep which he was, how this pathetic old bag of bones could’ve once been the mightiest Uchiha in the world was beyond Jiou’s understanding.
“I see, well then, do you think so little of our clan that this “Mangekyou Sharingan” was not awakened for entire ages? Where was it all this time? Truly there must’ve been at least one of us who loved strong enough to awaken it!” Jiou angrily yanked his elbow but his father’s grip did not falter, the old man had more strength in him than his appearance could’ve suggested.
“That’s because it may not be the only element… I may happen to know… The finishing touch of the formula but true unparalleled Uchiha love is a key component. One must also experience… Something else entirely…” Aziz whimpered like a widow talking about the loss of her beloved.
“Don’t tell me you knew the secret of the Mangekyou those entire years but never willed to awaken it? What could be so incredibly scary to shake the mighty Aziz Uchiha off of the idea of inheriting the power of Uchiha unheard of for centuries?” Jiou laughed out in a joking tone but the look in his father’s face betrayed that this was no joking topic for the old man. After witnessing the look on his father’s face the young man lowered his head and turned away.
“Very well, I shall wed this Regalia girl from today, the one with all those rumors floating around her. She’s incredibly strong and does not flaunt that power needlessly, she appears to be a person I can tolerate. Perhaps in a couple of years this “true Uchiha love” shall peek its head” Jiou smiled.
“I warn you son, do not play with this, if this Regalia invites no feelings of love towards you and you only speak thusly to make me calm myself there is no use for it. May as well declare out loud that Mangekyou Sharingan does not interest you like your old man to whom the price of acquiring it seemed too steep” the old man shook his hand as a warning to his son.
“One more thing, let’s say I would be interested in that sort of power, if true love is all it needs, I do feel like I love you, mother and Aisha sometimes. Would you three not qualify for this “price”?” Jiou asked purely out of curiosity, the air whistled around him as his father’s fists pummeled his face a couple of time before the boy even had a chance to react sending him down on the floor.
“Don’t even think about that, ever. The price is too inhuman to pay even when the woman one loves is concerned, family is out of the question entirely!” Aziz declared and left the hall. Jiou got back on his feet and laughed to himself.
“Regalia it is then…” he said to himself and then laughed out again.
*****
The very next evening the great Kazekage inauguration ball was already firing up. Jiou was noticed and invited to dance by countless young women seeking his attention but the young man decided to follow his father’s advice and stop playing around. He needed to find that specific young woman who has peaked his interest and the one that may have fit his father’s description of “true love”. The young man still had no clue as to what exactly the other part of the equation was, he just hoped that his old man would not bring that secret to his tomb.
“Regalia, so you got the invitation then? I have to say I remember you from the Academy but our paths seem to have gone separate ways once you left to the Land of Tea…” Jiou faked a smile approaching the young woman in an impressive red dress he had noticed among all the guests.
“If by invitation you mean your Uchiha cohorts following me around the whole time and insisting on doing my hair, make up and paying for my dress… Yes, it was a lovely invitation but it’d have been even lovelier if my friend could’ve made it, I thought she had the invitation?” the young Sabaku lady smiled uncomfortably. Her well done black hair and red eye shadow combined with the striking job that the Uchiha assistants did on her made her feel quite out of her comfort zone in the ball.
“Yes, well, despite her rather important family roots she is quite bothersome…” Jiou nodded, “You are the only one I care to entertain myself with”.
“Uchiha modesty in all its glory…” Regalia smiled deceitfully as the smile came while trying to offend her host just so she could see his true intentions. A man like that would not have invited her there without a reason.
“Well, in my defense, I do truly love you and therefore wish to appear more than I actually am. I thought that was the widely accepted custom of courtship?” the Uchiha prodigy bowed extending the young lady his hand.
“That is rather quick…” Regalia accepted the invitation by taking the hand and following Jiou’s lead onto the dance floor. She wasn’t sure why she accepted his offer to come here or to play this game, whatever it was. Maybe it was just refreshing to see all those other girls who constantly dissed her feel jealous of her for once, maybe she just liked the guy deep inside. As far as the girl was concerned curiosity was all she felt.
“Well, that is why I invite you to dance before I propose…” Jiou smiled.
“You don’t dance nearly well enough to skip the drink phase”
“There is a drink phase? I was not informed of that…”
*****
One couldn’t have been entirely sure if the evening progressed more awkwardly or magically for the two. On one hand Jiou did have this strange confidence and he always made the impression that while he didn’t really need this relationship he wanted it. Such strange appearance and act was quite strange to Regalia who was always widely regarded as an outcast around whom everything blew up and fell down when the man with the eyes of red came for her. However the young Sabaku prodigy also had the shame of seeing the eyes of Jiou’s sister every time the two passed her on the dance floor. The young one appeared to have held quite the grudge on her after the big fight…
“Well, are we now ready for the marriage and eventually “true love” phase?” Jiou asked after flipping up a small cup of rice wine. Both Regalia and Jiou have had more than their fair share of those and yet it wasn’t like any of them needed it to say it how they thought it.
“Look… All this… It’s really lovely and you’re really cool and this is basically the dream of every girl ever but… Well it’s not really a “but”, it’s more like a…”
“I don’t like “buts” make it not a “but”…” Jiou angrily shook his head downing another cup of rice wine.
“I’m trying to, don’t just stop me and then ask me to keep going… Well, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about me, that everything I do ends up in things around me being destroyed and people around me getting killed” Regalia decided to see how her strangely charming new friend would react if she told him the truth about her, maybe later if it went bad she could’ve just played it all down to the excessive amounts of alcohol in her blood at the moment, not that any of them had reached the excessive point then but a woman’s life was not above a little lie and acting…
“You know I’ve been thinking, you always wish to control time with your sand, I mean that’s why you have that genjutsu thing with it right? I was thinking what if you increased…” Jiou started mumbling something unrelated before Regalia placed her finger on his lips but he gently pushed it away.
“The speed of the sand to where it moved past the speed of light and so then you could actually manipulate the time around the area where you use it without suffering the risks that the speed of light places on the human body… Sorry, your topic was boring so I just changed it…” Jiou finished his explanation and then shrugged.
“No, you have to hear this. Those Jashinists in the Land of Tea, they weren’t killed by me, they were killed by a man who is after me. A man you would need to accept as a part of your reality if you decided to actually love me”
“Wait, I still reserve the right to kill this man and delete that part of reality, right?” Jiou joked but then saw Regalia’s terrified eyes and realized she was telling the truth.
“You don’t understand, he’s not like anyone someone can meet in this world. He is completely invincible every time I tried to fight him, he always finds me. He’s a sensor I think… He eats chakra of people but for some reason mine is incredibly tasty to him which is why he chooses to keep me barely alive each time he catches me so that he could have some more of it once it regenerates. Every time he touches me it feels like… Like being desecrated in the worst way possible, like he tears everything positive and bright about me and devours it like an animal. Several times he mentioned being a “predator of ninja”…” Regalia almost broke down into tears with the few wet drops that fell out from her eyes dragging a bunch of her make up with it coloring her face crimson red as if she cried bloody tears.
“Sir, I’ve not yet seen your invitation…” somewhere further away an unintelligible complaint of a bouncer reached the guests.
“Well, I suppose part of loving someone “truly” includes killing whoever bothers them, I’ll do that then if you agree to become my wife…” Jiou nonchalantly waved his palm around.
Right after the young man finished a loud splatting noise echoed as the clothes of each guest around the entry point dyed with blood of the bouncer. Regalia turned her head around shocked by the crunchy sound of the scene as her eyes opened wide and her weightless lips flipped over to whisper.
“Not now…”
A well-dressed gentleman stood in the center of the entry, his fist was right where the persistent bouncer’s head once was before an effortless backhand swing demolished it into a burst of blood similar to how a bubble bursts from the pressure. The oversized man towering to almost twice the size of a normal person was smiling awkwardly with his eyes fixed on Regalia and his tuxedo was completely surrounded in black shroud like substance that was coming off from his pores, the only clearly intelligible feature of his frame were those demonic glowing red eyes, like two infernal light bulbs with no irises to them…
The Kazekage inauguration ball was about to turn into a literal bloodbath.
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